Pepetto's recent activity
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Comment on How to brew solar powered coffee in ~food
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Comment on AGI and Fermi's Paradox in ~science
Pepetto Link Parentthen: " if the universe beyond 8000 light years from the core is so big, where are all the aliens (or alien AGIs) beyond 8000 light years from the core " ?then: " if the universe beyond 8000 light years from the core is so big, where are all the aliens (or alien AGIs) beyond 8000 light years from the core " ?
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Comment on Advice on Fairphone in ~tech
Pepetto Link ParentOh, might need to try out calyx OS when it comes out of pause then. The bugs I mentioned happened for only a total of 3 weeks out of 2 years, and might be because of the way I use my phone (I play...Oh, might need to try out calyx OS when it comes out of pause then.
The bugs I mentioned happened for only a total of 3 weeks out of 2 years, and might be because of the way I use my phone (I play around a bit with settings, and use an always on VPN to torrent in the background, so it's no surprise I'll always be the one impacted by bugs) or I may have a faulty unit (but the spontaneous repair makes me think it's software).
How is the usability of the stock photo app with calyx/iode? The default one on eOS is awfull (not great quality and an infuriating 1 second delay between taking the picture and pressing the button) so you have to go in the settings to use the original fairphone photo app (which isn't open source) which works quite well. -
Comment on Advice on Fairphone in ~tech
Pepetto LinkI got a FP5 about 2 year ago. I got it through elementary even thought I'm in Europe because I wanted to degoogle. It works ok, mostly, but don't expect a completely seamless experience. Mostly...I got a FP5 about 2 year ago. I got it through elementary even thought I'm in Europe because I wanted to degoogle.
It works ok, mostly, but don't expect a completely seamless experience. Mostly little stuff but occasionally more serious like ignoring the sim when on for longer than 10 min and requiring a reboot, or self reboot for no reason. Those problems have always resolved by themselves with the next update within 1 or 2 weeks.
I don't mind a little more friction for using my phone, and I'm a tinkerer, so I don't mind but my wife would never tolerate this (she is an iphone user).
The way I see it, there are 2 reason to consider FP:
- the ethical fabrication part make it worth the effort.
- the long term software support. (10 years is incredible if you can tolerate using that phone for that long)
The hardware repairability is just bling. Most phones still have repairable screen (granted, not as easily, but I don't break my screen that often) and plenty of phone offer removable battery.
From a sustainability point of view, the biggest impact you can have is from using your phone as long as possible, and FP make kind of subpar product which don't make it easy not to want to upgrade. You might be better off getting a second hand iphone and keeping it for as long as possible.
Not shitting on FP, I believe in their mission (even if I disagree on some of their decision like not having wireless charging for BS reason, but knowing my phone wasn't made by a child slave is nice), but mass production and quality control are hard, economies of scale are a thing, so getting in with FP right now is still paying $600 to get something equivalent to a $200 phone.
TLDR : phone mostly works most of the time if you don't mind tinkering a bit. Nowhere near iphone or Samsung level of reliability. Might be worth it depending on what you value.
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Comment on Paid e-mail providers - your experiences, how you use them and how I would use it in ~tech
Pepetto Link ParentYes, that is true, but at that point you might as well ask your recipient to create a tutanota account... About exactly the same amount of hassle.Yes, that is true, but at that point you might as well ask your recipient to create a tutanota account... About exactly the same amount of hassle.
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Comment on Paid e-mail providers - your experiences, how you use them and how I would use it in ~tech
Pepetto Link ParentAlso worth mentioning, all that encryption is used end to end only if you communicate with another tutanota adress. Otherwise you're juste sending a regular email. And when receiving email from a...Also worth mentioning, all that encryption is used end to end only if you communicate with another tutanota adress. Otherwise you're juste sending a regular email. And when receiving email from a regular adress, it is encrypted at rest in your inbox but not until then... The encryption of pretty much all provider is incompatible between them.
Proton mail is probable the most widely adopted at this point, even thought they are worse than tutanota, and seem kind of scammy...Not shiting on tuta. It's what i use personally, but it's no silver bullet. You have to set your expectation appropriately when it come to emails.
This is the same problem as facebook being only interresting because everyone is on it.
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Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk
Pepetto LinkFund a dedicated task force (with every field expert, scientist, historian, but also teachers, burglar and special agents) tasked with secretly improving, and fact checking every museum I ever go...Fund a dedicated task force (with every field expert, scientist, historian, but also teachers, burglar and special agents) tasked with secretly improving, and fact checking every museum I ever go to. They'd meticulously make every museum the best museum it could be (massive background info for every piece, with how sure we are of that info, presented in an engaging way).
If the museum collection is too poor, they'd steal stuff from other museum (or elsewhere, including private collection) to populate the ones I'm about to visit.
That may be too positive for the world as is, so they restore the museum to its usual crapiness after I visited it. -
Comment on Help choosing a new linux computer? in ~tech
Pepetto Link ParentYou're running out of "benefit of the doubt" for framework because of what some other company did? I would encourage you to recalibrate, taking into account that the internet makes you easily...You're running out of "benefit of the doubt" for framework because of what some other company did?
I would encourage you to recalibrate, taking into account that the internet makes you easily aware of every bad thing done by each 8 billions humans.
Eventually, companies will decide to stop trying to support progressives, if any misstep is met with a disproportionate reaction
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Comment on Data removal services? in ~tech
Pepetto (edited )Link ParentI think brokers use any sources they can get, no matter how reliable, official or authoritative. It's quantity over quality. For one, some countries don't broadcast their citizen's private info,...I think brokers use any sources they can get, no matter how reliable, official or authoritative. It's quantity over quality.
For one, some countries don't broadcast their citizen's private info, yet broker still operate there.
And the GAFAM sure seem to try very hard to collect info about us for a world where only official sources are trusted by brokers.
Of course they don't read blogs (until AI manages to make that viable, if it hasn't already), but they do use "non authoritative sources" like dating app profile, browsing history, type of people you interacted with, ect.
I really don't see how they could get valuable data about you at scale any other way.
Unless I'm mistaken, the Optery link you provided earlier mentions some broker require a linkedin account as proof of identity.Some data brokers require Linkedin URL
As LinkedIn is a social media, at least some broker find social media authoritative enough.
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Comment on Data removal services? in ~tech
Pepetto Link ParentOptery does seem much less scamy than it's competition and I completely agree emailing everyone yourself is way too time consuming to be worth it. I'd like to nit-pick the "optery doesn't just...Optery does seem much less scamy than it's competition and I completely agree emailing everyone yourself is way too time consuming to be worth it.
I'd like to nit-pick the "optery doesn't just send emails with your info to everyone" point:
The link you shared says that Optery only provides your info (only the "minimum required info by the broker", but they freely admit that can include everything for some broker) to brokers who they've identified already have some of your info.
But they encourage their optional "expanded reach program" in which they do just contact every brokerParticipation in Expanded Reach is entirely optional and can be disabled at any time via your Optery dashboard.
Not sure if this means that expanded reach is toggled on by default? I hope not.
Expanded reach programe [...] that expands the universe of data brokers we remove you from significantly
So not sure how valuable the Optery service is without expand reach... They don't say how many they cover without it (but to be fair, I wouldn't know how to interpret that number anyway...).
As it is, my read of this is that if you object to sending data which they might not have to brokers, then even Optery's service isn't desirable (even without expanded reach, as brokers can request info they don't already have, as "necessary" to process your deletion).
Mailing everyone yourself isn't reasonable (and brokers can still "require" you to provide more info about yourself than is reasonable).
I still think just outputting lots of fake info about yourself (to poison broker's database, it's actually fun), use a VPN (a well reputed one like mullvad, not the spy ones) and multiple browser ( which you regalarly reset), and shedding your online identities regularly is the only sane way to maintain some kind of privacy.
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Comment on Data removal services? in ~tech
Pepetto LinkI've looked into getting one of those service a few years back and ultimately decided not to use them. Those compagnies juste send mass emails on pour behalf to every databroker and companies that...I've looked into getting one of those service a few years back and ultimately decided not to use them.
Those compagnies juste send mass emails on pour behalf to every databroker and companies that they can. Those emails necessarily contain your definitely correct information (full name, email, adress) to check against their database.
I feel this does more harm than good. You get law abiding compagnies to delete you at the cost of sending out your info to everyone.
Also, compagnies have to keep a record of the request, so there is now a permanent record of your info in every compagnie imaginable (even those that comply). (And email is not very secure).
And you broadcast to everyone that you value your privacy, making you a very juicy target.I concluded that I'm much better off doing it myself, or poison the data by giving fake info into my account.
It may seem drastic, but the low effort way to have ok privacy would be to periodically change phone number (and redo all your accounts).
Not saying you should abandon trying to acheive privacy, but have resonable expectation, and i think incognito and deleteme type compagnies are mostly privacy theater.
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Comment on Acts of kindness you've experienced recently? in ~life
Pepetto LinkWe could look out how for occasions to be the next person's random act of kindness. If every random act of kindness generate 2 more, we'll soon be swimming in it, world peace, infinite love,...I felt like I could have done more. Like thanked them with more words or given them a small reward etc. I was overwhelmed by the unusual situation that I didn't have any time to think.
We could look out how for occasions to be the next person's random act of kindness. If every random act of kindness generate 2 more, we'll soon be swimming in it, world peace, infinite love, transcendent humanism.
I'm only half joking. -
Comment on Probiotics: hype or helpful? An interview with Professor Jens Walter. in ~health
Pepetto Link ParentThey are not so different because most of our antibiotics are "stolen" from microorganisms and barely modified. (they are chemically synthesized, but the structure is mostly the same as naturally...They are not so different because most of our antibiotics are "stolen" from microorganisms and barely modified. (they are chemically synthesized, but the structure is mostly the same as naturally produced antibiotics).
There is a billion years chemical war between microorganism going on everywhere including our guts. Many resistance mechanism are preexisting and only need to be slightly modified or upregulated to make microorganisms more resistant.
but many resistance mechanism are costly (either it make some enzyme less effective, or it cost energy to maintain) so microorganisms tend to revert back to non-resistant when they no longer need it (they usually keep a dormant copy of what they need to become resistant again, leading to "induced resistance" phenotype). Over time we get a kind of equilibrium.If anything, our use of antibiotics (massive doses) would impact gut bacteria's antibiotics use (smaller dose to hamstring the competition) much more than the other way around.
Multi resistant super bug are the microorganisms trying to adapt to an environment of high antibiotics use (hospital). -
Comment on Modos debuts an open-source e-paper with a 75-Hz refresh rate in ~tech
Pepetto Link Parentdefinitely less efficient than a regular "slow" eink display, their crowd funding page says consumption is "high" instead of "low" (for all other eink panel drivers). the only hard numbers I can...definitely less efficient than a regular "slow" eink display, their crowd funding page says consumption is "high" instead of "low" (for all other eink panel drivers).
the only hard numbers I can find are
E-paper power supply with up to 1 A peak current on the ±15 V rail to support large panel sizes.
so I guess 30 Watt peak if updating the panel is most of the consumption and the driver itself consumes little? I have no idea if that is actually the case...
OLED screen uses about 40-80 Watts, but highly dependant on the brightness of the scene outputted (15-130 Watts at the extreme dark and bright) (warning, these are order of magnitude, I didn't research more than 5 minutes).so this high refresh rate eink is only slightly less energy hungry than an OLED panel but their strengh are kind of complementary: eink is better in bright environment, reading (I hope it can step down from 75Hz when displaying a static text document, I would love for my device to be very energy efficient most of the time, but still be capable of displaying videos occasionnaly if I need it to, at the price of efficiency during viewing), and keep displaying when off. OLED is great when in a dark environment, for color (movies).
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Comment on Denmark has proposed scrapping its tax on chocolate, cake and other sweets, as well as coffee, to help consumers cope with high food prices in ~food
Pepetto Link ParentWell, if Wal-Mart increases prices until people stop buying (simplifying obviously, they increase price until enough people stop buying that it makes less profit overall), then supply has no (or...I'm kinda confused how you got to that conclusion.
Well, if Wal-Mart increases prices until people stop buying (simplifying obviously, they increase price until enough people stop buying that it makes less profit overall), then supply has no (or very very little) impact (as long as supply is more than demand).
Netflix increased price just because it could get away with it. Supply hadn't changed, demand hadn't changed.The optimal point won't be the same. It'll be somewhere in the middle, depending on the dynamics of the demand curve.
In my mind, even if price go halfway back up after tax cut, that is still undesirable since that's equivalent to the state losing (not earning) 2 dollars so that consumer can spare 1 dollar and the big store can earn 1 more dollars.
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Comment on Denmark has proposed scrapping its tax on chocolate, cake and other sweets, as well as coffee, to help consumers cope with high food prices in ~food
Pepetto Link ParentSo... Are you agreeing that my initial comment is 100% correct (with some important nuances brought about by u/EgoEimi) ? The one where I say prices mostly depend on how much buyer find acceptable...So... Are you agreeing that my initial comment is 100% correct (with some important nuances brought about by u/EgoEimi) ? The one where I say prices mostly depend on how much buyer find acceptable and will let the sellers get away with. And if we lower the taxes, people are still used to the old prices, so the sellers will just raise the prices back to what they where before the tax break.
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Comment on Denmark has proposed scrapping its tax on chocolate, cake and other sweets, as well as coffee, to help consumers cope with high food prices in ~food
Pepetto Link ParentThank you, price difference between bordering countries finally makes a bit of sense! But then since streaming service can (and do) raise their price so long as the customers globally tolerate it,...Thank you, price difference between bordering countries finally makes a bit of sense!
They probably calculated that they can raise prices and lose a few customers but make more money overall.
But then since streaming service can (and do) raise their price so long as the customers globally tolerate it, why assume it's any different for supermarkets?
Whats stopping Walmart from raising the price of mashed potatoes to as high as it can go (after calculating the optimum balance with customer loss)?
And to circle back to this thread's topic, wouldn't removing taxes on Netflix/chocolate just mean that Netflix/chocolate_sellers will raise their prices accordingly (to return to the same optimal point)? -
Comment on Denmark has proposed scrapping its tax on chocolate, cake and other sweets, as well as coffee, to help consumers cope with high food prices in ~food
Pepetto (edited )Link ParentThank you for taking the time to explain this to me. This makes a lot of sense. I did indeed forget about the third world coming into the competion for luxuries. But how does that square with my...Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. This makes a lot of sense. I did indeed forget about the third world coming into the competion for luxuries.
But how does that square with my exemple of regional products being more expensive in their home region? Shouldn't price equalize as supermarkets rearrange which location stock more of the products.
Why are the exact same products sometime half the price in spain than in france, if not because the supermarket adjust it's expectation to locals' income.
Also, how about the web service industry: Youtube and Netflix prices increase for example. Can they not keep building datacenter, why would they send the signal to consume less?
Don't feel like you have to put in even more time to explain again if you don't feel like it, if you don't I'll go read a book, no worries.
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Comment on Could a space traveler accelerate at 1g forever? in ~space
Pepetto Link ParentDon't know who thought it up first, or if both arrived to that idea independantly, but that's also the principle behind Alastair Reynolds's Atalanta. Edit: apparently, both got the idea from an...Don't know who thought it up first, or if both arrived to that idea independantly, but that's also the principle behind Alastair Reynolds's Atalanta.
"It was a ramscoop," Dreyfus said. "A starship built around a single massive engine designed to suck in interstellar hydrogen and use it for reaction mass. Because it didn't have to carry its own fuel around, it could go almost as fast as it liked, right up to the edge of light-speed."
Edit: apparently, both got the idea from an actual real life theoretical engine. The Bussart ramjet
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Comment on Data centers don't raise people's water bills in ~tech
Pepetto Link ParentI know it's not the same scale, but isn't this like Watercooled desktop PC? I mean sure, you have to periodically flush and refill the loop so consumption isn't literally zero, but it's pretty...I know it's not the same scale, but isn't this like Watercooled desktop PC? I mean sure, you have to periodically flush and refill the loop so consumption isn't literally zero, but it's pretty damn close...
Yes, this is one of their weakest article so far IMO.
Solar panel are definitely not low tech (try making a solar panel), which is fine, but here we have plenty of just as (or more) effective lower tech for the job.
as plenty of people pointed out, it's much better to make a solar kettle and just use a french press.