DeaconBlue's recent activity
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Comment on Good software development habits in ~comp
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Comment on I've added ~society for topics related to politics, law, policies, and similar societal-level subjects in ~tildes.official
DeaconBlue Link ParentThis is me as well. The filtering system sounds useful but is a good way to end up turning a forum into (even more of) an echo chamber. If there are enough topics that I can't do a quick scan of...This is me as well.
The filtering system sounds useful but is a good way to end up turning a forum into (even more of) an echo chamber. If there are enough topics that I can't do a quick scan of what seems interesting once a day or so then I might use it.
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Comment on Thoughts on a Democratic postmortem in ~society
DeaconBlue LinkI live in a deeply red state, so there was no chance of Harris doing anything of consequence in my area. Even with that said, I was surprised at how little people knew about the dem side of the...I live in a deeply red state, so there was no chance of Harris doing anything of consequence in my area. Even with that said, I was surprised at how little people knew about the dem side of the aisle.
I talked to some people that were genuinely confused that Biden was not on the ballot when they went to vote. I talked to some people that had no idea what Harris' first name was.
There is clearly a general communication issue here. I don't know if it was just accepted that my deep red state wasn't worth any effort.
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Comment on American election mental health thread in ~health.mental
DeaconBlue LinkI am not doing great. I have a young daughter and it is terrifying to me watching her autonomy be ripped away every year. I had considered leaving the US before, and this will hopefully seal the...I am not doing great. I have a young daughter and it is terrifying to me watching her autonomy be ripped away every year.
I had considered leaving the US before, and this will hopefully seal the deal. I am going to start reaching out to some people that I know around the world about job openings.
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Comment on Winamp deletes GitHub repository after a rocky few weeks in ~tech
DeaconBlue LinkThis whole situation has been very funny to watch from the sidelines, but it really feels like this is going to hurt any efforts to get old abandonware source code made public.This whole situation has been very funny to watch from the sidelines, but it really feels like this is going to hurt any efforts to get old abandonware source code made public.
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Comment on Paralyzed man unable to walk after maker of his powered exoskeleton tells him it's now obsolete in ~health
DeaconBlue Link ParentI remain optimistic about the situation. People are willing and able to DIY hack medical technology when they have access to the hardware. I know of several people that had homebrew closed loop...I remain optimistic about the situation.
People are willing and able to DIY hack medical technology when they have access to the hardware. I know of several people that had homebrew closed loop insulin pumps long before anyone was even close to getting them FDA approved by hacking the firmware of old pumps and rolling their own software.
The niche is obviously smaller for exoskeletons, but the importance is so much higher.
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Comment on License plate readers are creating a US-wide database of more than just cars in ~tech
DeaconBlue LinkI am not sure why people seem surprised or offended by this. Google cars roam the streets every day and have been for years. The rules on photographing from public spaces is well defined. I hate...I am not sure why people seem surprised or offended by this.
Google cars roam the streets every day and have been for years. The rules on photographing from public spaces is well defined.
I hate it, but it would be naïve to think this wasn't happening. It is the cost of living in an area with few rules on recording in public compared to somewhere like Germany with (as I understand) strict public recording laws.
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Comment on Guest Passes for Nebula now available in ~tech
DeaconBlue LinkI have a lifetime pass and I want Nebula to succeed, but I have to say that there isn't currently a whole lot that I would want to share with friends and family in the current state. The bar to...I have a lifetime pass and I want Nebula to succeed, but I have to say that there isn't currently a whole lot that I would want to share with friends and family in the current state.
The bar to tell a friend or family member to download a new application and sign up is pretty high for me, because I think that it is important to not fill your device with a ton of distracting bloat. Right now, the most interesting stuff on Nebula is also on YouTube. I don't want to use YouTube, but I understand that most people are totally fine with the current state of the service (or fine enough to not see the value in changing).
If I am going to tell someone to try something new, it needs to be different enough to the status quo to justify the effort of setup. Nebula isn't there yet.
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Comment on When the mismanagerial class destroys great companies in ~finance
DeaconBlue (edited )LinkOpening statements like this always annoy me. The article opens with this as a blatant failure of the CEO because they were not an engineer. The rest of the article is more or less fine, but it is...Ultimately, Otellini declined. He thought the initial costs would be too high and the resulting sales too low. Since then, Apple has sold 2.3 billion iPhones.
Opening statements like this always annoy me. The article opens with this as a blatant failure of the CEO because they were not an engineer.
The rest of the article is more or less fine, but it is an absolutely absurd premise to base the rest of the article on. In 2005, Moore's law was still in full swing. Companies were throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck everywhere. Choosing not to invest in the iPhone was not some massive failure as CEO nor would investing have shown them as some kind of fortune teller.
Even more, being an engineer would not change the fact that the iPhone and Apple in general were (and are) as much a social status symbol as technically capable machines. I don't think that it would have made more sense to an engineer to invest in it than a non-engineer. Apple was, at this time, doing the "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC" ads. They were leaning hard into social status, not machine specs. That is not a way to win over engineers in my experience.
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Comment on YouTube Premium is getting a big price hike internationally in ~tech
DeaconBlue LinkGiven that the big draw of premium is the lack of advertisements, I want to ask about the current state of youtube's advertising. I think the other big draw is sponsorblock, which is just another...Given that the big draw of premium is the lack of advertisements, I want to ask about the current state of youtube's advertising. I think the other big draw is sponsorblock, which is just another adblocker.
I was part of their tests for the threat model where they said they'd restrict views after blocking ads X number of times. I was never restricted from viewing anything despite not caring about the message.
I was also part of their tests for in-stream ads. These sufficiently annoyed me that I closed the website as soon as they popped up (which is likely a win for the advertising team at Google).
It seems like they have removed both of those from me at least. Are they still doing both or either of those things? Is there some new fancy measure that they have in place that I am not part of some A/B testing on? I don't use the site often enough to say that I've noticed anything in at least a few months.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
DeaconBlue LinkI have been making it a point to learn Rust. I don't have a lot of practical applications for it, but it seems worthwhile to learn a new language now and then to keep sharp. To try to solve...I have been making it a point to learn Rust. I don't have a lot of practical applications for it, but it seems worthwhile to learn a new language now and then to keep sharp.
To try to solve interesting problems, I tried solving this image manipulation problem and I am going through the Advent of Code.
It is a very interesting language. I don't know if I will find a lot of uses for it, but I do like it enforcing "good" code.
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Comment on Taskmaster Series 18, Episode 1 - 'The faceless facilitators.' | Full episode in ~tv
DeaconBlue Link ParentI always feel like the first couple of episodes of each season are weak on the live portions while everyone is still learning to read each other in the context of the show.I always feel like the first couple of episodes of each season are weak on the live portions while everyone is still learning to read each other in the context of the show.
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Comment on How to spot a good fake ID (2021) in ~life
DeaconBlue LinkDifferent places have different security features too! Colorado has a really cool system where the pictures are not in color, but are instead lasered onto multiple layers through what I can only...Different places have different security features too!
Colorado has a really cool system where the pictures are not in color, but are instead lasered onto multiple layers through what I can only assume is magic, which makes it almost look 3D?
I once worked at a company that was helping get this system set up and only knew about it tangentially but the samples were always very cool.
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Comment on Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and vastly cheaper than mined diamonds. Beating nature took decades of hard graft and millions of pounds of pressure. in ~science
DeaconBlue LinkSerious question here - Is the quality of the gem relevant to a substantial portion of the population when it comes to buying them for jewelry? In the groups that I am around, everyone kind of...Serious question here - Is the quality of the gem relevant to a substantial portion of the population when it comes to buying them for jewelry?
In the groups that I am around, everyone kind of falls into one of the following camps:
- I don't want a "fake" diamond no matter what
- I don't want a "real" diamond because of a myriad of ethical issues
- I don't want to spend a substantial amount of money on a rock, let's go on a vacation instead
It is very possible that I am not in the kind of circles that are relevant to this topic though, and I would like to hear what the rest of the world's outlooks are.
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Comment on My experience buying a used low-range EV a year later in ~transport
DeaconBlue Link ParentUnfortunately I can't help on that front, but there are relevant responses in the thread that I linked that you might find valuable. I took a gamble on mine that the battery was not shot.Unfortunately I can't help on that front, but there are relevant responses in the thread that I linked that you might find valuable. I took a gamble on mine that the battery was not shot.
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Comment on My experience buying a used low-range EV a year later in ~transport
DeaconBlue Link ParentYeah, the 110 is practical specifically because it's a low range.Yeah, the 110 is practical specifically because it's a low range.
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Comment on My experience buying a used low-range EV a year later in ~transport
DeaconBlue Link ParentI would choose this one again in a heartbeat. The value would be hard to beat. For a ICE Camry in the same price range, I would need to go back to around a 2012 model. I considered some of the...I would choose this one again in a heartbeat. The value would be hard to beat. For a ICE Camry in the same price range, I would need to go back to around a 2012 model.
I considered some of the Nissans from the same year (give or take) but I really liked that this was not just an electric car, but the Golf was an offering from VW that they just threw a different motor into.
Most other models besides the Leaf were trying to get longer range. I wasn't going to put down twice the money for more range when the short range covered better than 90% of my trips.
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My experience buying a used low-range EV a year later
A little over a year ago I posed some questions on Tildes about used electrics. Shortly after that topic, I went put and purchased a 2016 VW E-Golf. I think that my experiences might be useful for...
A little over a year ago I posed some questions on Tildes about used electrics.
Shortly after that topic, I went put and purchased a 2016 VW E-Golf. I think that my experiences might be useful for anyone that is considering an electric but struggles with range anxiety or just wonders how practical a car with low range would actually be. When looking at used car prices, I was shocked at how cheap a low range electric car was compared to longer range EVs. I picked mine up for $10,500 out the door.
For context, I live on the outside of a small city in the Midwest. It gets cold here. I am also in a two car household, the other being a hybrid. There are two adults and children in the house.
The Golf has a roughly 20 kWh battery. Over the year that I have driven it, I have averaged 4.5 miles per kWh. That sounds like a range of 90 miles, but that doesn't tell the whole story. On cold days when resistive heating has to be run, the mileage drops by around 30%. On a nice mild day, I can get it up to 6 mi/kWh on a trip if I am off of the highway.
I did not need to install any additional charging abilities in my garage. I have the charger plugged into a random 110V outlet in my garage. I was prepared to shell out a bit of money for an electrician if the 110 circuit didn't cut it, but over a year of use I have not actually run into a scenario where I needed to use more than the trickle charge.
I work a hybrid setup. Twice a week I need to drive into the office around 20 miles away. The office does have some electric charging stations on a 220 circuit but I have not felt the need to charge there on any occasion.
The shorter range does mean that some coordination is required between the two adults in the household. If one of us needs to travel out of town for work or something involving the kids, the other has to limit their travel. In practice for our house, this annoyance ends up being more a concern for which vehicle needs car seats than a concern for mileage. Exactly one occasion this year we have had to adjust plans to deal with having a limited range vehicle.
Overall, I really have been thoroughly happy with the low range EV choice as the primary vehicle in a two vehicle household with a backup for longer range trips.
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Comment on Oracle's $115 million privacy settlement: What consumers should know in ~tech
DeaconBlue LinkWow, before taking any costs out each person having their data illegally collected and used is worth just over $.50The $115 million settlement fund will be used to pay valid claims submitted by class members, as well as attorneys' fees, administrative costs, and other expenses related to the lawsuit.
impacts an estimated 220 million U.S. residents
Wow, before taking any costs out each person having their data illegally collected and used is worth just over $.50
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Comment on This behavior is by design in ~tech
DeaconBlue LinkI think that this is why things like advertisements in Windows don't just annoy me, but actively offend me. Those ads were not a mistake or a bug or even a designer just playing around. They are...I think that this is why things like advertisements in Windows don't just annoy me, but actively offend me. Those ads were not a mistake or a bug or even a designer just playing around. They are the result of countless meetings about how many they could put in before it became a problem for the business.
On the other hand, it is why I absolutely adore pretty much any new game that comes out with its own style. Astral Ascent, Ori, Don't Starve, whatever, they all have their own aesthetic that had effort put in and I love them for it.
Regarding 1:
A lot of people get quite far in their careers before they learn that squash merges are a thing. Sometimes people are afraid of polluting the history with a bunch of tiny commits, but you can keep the one line changes out of the final history by squashing the entire feature into one commit when merging.