Omnicrola's recent activity

  1. Comment on You can now translate sign language automatically with these amazing Raspberry Pi glasses in ~tech

    Omnicrola
    Link
    This is an article (XDA-Devs), about an article (Tom's Hardware) about an actual project page(hackster.io)

    This is an article (XDA-Devs), about an article (Tom's Hardware) about an actual project page(hackster.io)

  2. Comment on Residents in southern Illinois county to vote on non-binding referendum to separate state from Cook County in ~misc

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    Or the sentiment of some counties in western Oregon to join Idaho. These kinds of things are all over the place wherever you have urban/rural dichotomies in different sections of a state.

    Or the sentiment of some counties in western Oregon to join Idaho. These kinds of things are all over the place wherever you have urban/rural dichotomies in different sections of a state.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Kroger’s panopticon: Making criminals of grocery shoppers in ~tech

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    I felt like this single sentence invalidated most of the author's complaints. This article frames it like Kroger is trying to implement all or many of these tactics in all their stores to combat...

    My store is used as a test for new security ‘features’.

    I felt like this single sentence invalidated most of the author's complaints. This article frames it like Kroger is trying to implement all or many of these tactics in all their stores to combat shrink. Instead this author has the unfortunate honor of being a guinea pig.

    That doesn't invalidate the author's commentary about why the security procedures are a bad idea, but it's a bit hyperbolic.

    7 votes

  4. Comment on Transformers One | Official trailer in ~movies

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    I avoided clicking on the link all day, thinking "ugh, another one?" but now I'm glad I did. This looks great.

    I avoided clicking on the link all day, thinking "ugh, another one?" but now I'm glad I did. This looks great.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on An FDA-approved device offers a new treatment for tinnitus in ~health

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    This is the key. Having that FDA stamp ostensibly means that a device has gone through a rigorous evaluation of both safety and evaluation, same as any medication. That process is neither quick...

    and one newer option – a device approved by the FDA to treat tinnitus

    This is the key. Having that FDA stamp ostensibly means that a device has gone through a rigorous evaluation of both safety and evaluation, same as any medication. That process is neither quick nor cheap, which is why it has that price tag attached to it.

    Frankly I'd be suspicious if it was cheaper (at least to start). If it's effective market forces will drive the price down eventually.

    What that doesn't stop someone from doing is making a cheap replica using a factory in China, and selling it for "non-medical purposes" that is "not intended to treat or cure any medical condition". It's a thin line to walk though.

    5 votes

  6. Comment on ‘Heroes’ reboot in the works from series creator Tim Kring in ~tv

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    Oof. Cancelled after one season? That does smell distinctly of monkey paw shenanigans.

    Oof. Cancelled after one season? That does smell distinctly of monkey paw shenanigans.

  7. Comment on ‘Heroes’ reboot in the works from series creator Tim Kring in ~tv

    Omnicrola
    Link
    I'm compelled to point out the lesser-known but IMO much more well done "people-with-abilities" show The 4400 that was created within the same era (early 2000s). I'd much rather someone reboot...

    I'm compelled to point out the lesser-known but IMO much more well done "people-with-abilities" show The 4400 that was created within the same era (early 2000s). I'd much rather someone reboot that show, it was way more interesting and had much more compelling characters. The original had some excellent actors too, among them Mahershala Ali, who absolutely shines in it.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on The Yorkshire Pudding recipe battle royale in ~food

    Omnicrola
    Link
    I don't have anything uniquely interesting or earth-shattering to add, but I will strongly advocate for using tallow if you have it or can find it. I took the trimmings from a brisket and melted...

    I don't have anything uniquely interesting or earth-shattering to add, but I will strongly advocate for using tallow if you have it or can find it. I took the trimmings from a brisket and melted it down in the oven and then let it harden in mini-loaf pans. I keep the cubes in my freezer. That stuff is gold.

    5 votes

  9. Comment on Truong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud in ~finance

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    This has been part of my personal viewpoint for a number of years now. The concept that the death penalty is useless as a deterrent. IMO if a person commits any crime "worthy" of the death...

    This has been part of my personal viewpoint for a number of years now. The concept that the death penalty is useless as a deterrent.

    IMO if a person commits any crime "worthy" of the death penalty, they have demonstrated that they are de-facto mentally unwell and normal rational thought has gone straight out the window. They are therefore likely incapable of properly judging their own actions and consequences, and the severity of the punishment becomes irrelevant.

    8 votes

  10. Comment on Truong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud in ~finance

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    The death penalty seems like a step too far. Life in prison would suffice, IMO. Though from reading this article I have the suspicion that she didn't get tried and convicted because someone...

    The death penalty seems like a step too far. Life in prison would suffice, IMO. Though from reading this article I have the suspicion that she didn't get tried and convicted because someone finally caught her, but because the political winds shifted and she didn't follow and/or pissed off the wrong person. She was conducting her fraud brazenly for years. Rich people don't go to jail because they commit a crime. They go to jail because someone(s) more rich/powerful than them got tired of dealing with them.

    The scope of this fraud is kind of wild though:

    Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% of Saigon Commercial.

    They accused her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.

    The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% of all the bank's lending.

    According to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement.

    32 votes

  11. Comment on With a near-unprecedented official license for its fan server, 'City of Heroes' lives again in ~games

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    There's enough that the group running it offers it for free. Last I checked, they only open donations up to pay for the server costs once a month, and it is usually met within 24hrs. Then anyone...

    There's enough that the group running it offers it for free. Last I checked, they only open donations up to pay for the server costs once a month, and it is usually met within 24hrs. Then anyone who wants can play for free. Which I have immense respect for, especially in the modern economic landscape of Season Passes and micro-transaction cosmetics.

    I played it when it originally came out, and it was a cultural milestone in the evolution of MMOs. Once WoW came along it declined in population but as with all games, there will always be a hardcore fan base.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Donald Trump’s lawyers told the court that no one would give him a bond. Then he got a lifeline, but they didn’t tell the judges. in ~misc

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    Agreed. The failure here is not "the system" in the legal sense, it's in the social sense. For any other presidential candidate in any other era, any single event or even single verbal mis-step...

    Agreed. The failure here is not "the system" in the legal sense, it's in the social sense. For any other presidential candidate in any other era, any single event or even single verbal mis-step that Trump has uttered would have immediately ended a politician's career. Trump is not special. At all. He merely happens to exist in a time when a lot of people are collectively lashing out in anger and frustration, and see him as exemplifying the behavior that they think they want in a leader right now.

    9 votes

  13. Comment on California store sells returned Amazon packages — still in the box in ~finance

  14. Comment on Taskmaster Series 17, Episode 1 - 'Grappling with my life' | Full episode in ~tv

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    The two of them seem like a fun pair. They where on Seth Myers last week to talk about the new season and discuss some other behind the scenes bits. https://youtu.be/EsJTS8KldvE?si=K_8U093JzbYifL13

    The two of them seem like a fun pair. They where on Seth Myers last week to talk about the new season and discuss some other behind the scenes bits. https://youtu.be/EsJTS8KldvE?si=K_8U093JzbYifL13

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Your muscles keep time too. How circadian rhythms affect your workout and your health. in ~health

    Omnicrola
    Link
    I found this really interesting. I recently (finally) managed to get myself going to the gym a few times a week, and had noticed it did seem harder (and it's all hard right now) at different times...

    I found this really interesting. I recently (finally) managed to get myself going to the gym a few times a week, and had noticed it did seem harder (and it's all hard right now) at different times of the day. Although I think for me personally it's because I'm often chronically dehydrated.

    Some interesting bits:

    Circadian rhythms involve more than just the central clock in the brain, because every organ and tissue has its own molecular timekeepers, what scientists call peripheral clocks.

    This was new information to me, I thought it was mostly a brain thing.

    "Just because the afternoon is the best time, on average, over a certain population does not mean that it's the best time for every individual," he says.

    "The phase of the clock is trainable," and that can be shifted to potentially maximize your performance, she says.

    The study is yet to be published and has limitations — it would be hard to pull off the same carefully controlled and invasive experiment in humans. But the idea that consistency matters is echoed in the human data, as well.

    Glad to know I'm not stuck to always have to put more effort in whenever I go to the gym at the not-usual time.

    "If we can learn how to synchronize the circadian system better, we could potentially prevent some of those health issues or help ameliorate them," says Shawn Youngstedt, a chronobiologist at Arizona State University.

    This guy wins the "most awesome sounds-like-scifi job title of the week" award.

    Lots of other interesting observation and speculation in the article, it was a good read.

    14 votes

  17. Comment on Nobody warned electric vehicle owners how quickly they would burn through tires in ~transport

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    Oh god, the one that's worse than that is pulse drivers. These are the folks that when they finish getting up to speed, immediately let off the accelerator. Not all the way, but enough that the...

    There’s no reason to be so herky jerky.

    Oh god, the one that's worse than that is pulse drivers. These are the folks that when they finish getting up to speed, immediately let off the accelerator. Not all the way, but enough that the car then slows down a bit, so they ramp it up again. And repeat. It's like slow-motion whiplash.

    I've ridden with people that do this that are otherwise good drivers. It's usually not even noticable if they're just another car on the road beside you, but if you're a passenger it's nauseating.

    5 votes

  18. Comment on Playtron’s wildly ambitious gaming OS aims to unite stores, lure “core casuals” in ~games

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    This definitely feels like a solution in search of a problem.

    This definitely feels like a solution in search of a problem.

  19. Comment on ADHD productivity fundamentals in ~health.mental

    Omnicrola
    Link Parent
    I love encountering usage of this term in the wild. I frequently explain this term to student software dev interns so they understand later when I point it out in meetings, it's such a great...

    bikeshedding

    I love encountering usage of this term in the wild. I frequently explain this term to student software dev interns so they understand later when I point it out in meetings, it's such a great shorthand for steering people back to the main topic of discussion.

    8 votes

  20. Comment on Sci-fi author Vernor Vinge dead at 79 in ~books

    Omnicrola
    Link
    What an amazing storyteller. Rainbow's End is one of the most interesting visions of the near-future I've read, I often recommend it to other people who work in XR.

    What an amazing storyteller. Rainbow's End is one of the most interesting visions of the near-future I've read, I often recommend it to other people who work in XR.

    2 votes