Skyaero's recent activity
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Comment on OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO in ~tech
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Comment on My friend was hit by a car in ~transport
Skyaero Link ParentDriving a car requires proper training. I presume the accident happened in the US. If I compare the 'training' of a learner-driver in the US with that of in Europe, as well as the examination,...Nah, you would have had to not look where you were turning to have hit my friend. If you're at fault for hitting a pedestrian or cyclist in a car in an avoidable situation, you should immediately lose your license and have to re-take a driver's test. If you kill someone, you should never be allowed to drive a car on a public road again.
Driving a car requires proper training. I presume the accident happened in the US. If I compare the 'training' of a learner-driver in the US with that of in Europe, as well as the examination, there is a major gap.
In the Netherlands, on average, you have to drive about 40 hours with a qualified and certified trainer before you are ready for a (strict) examination. Passing percentage is around 50% at the moment. You also need to do a theoretical examination, which is difficult by itself.
I know the UK, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Sweden are similar. Finland is even more strict and requires a roughly 2 year of lessons!. Training involves the presence of pedestrian and (especially in the Netherlands) cyclists.
The United States has roughly twice as much traffic related deaths that Northwestern European countries.
I do agree that infrastructure definitely plays a role. Countries like The Netherlands and Denmark have a long history of good cycling and walking infrastructure, providing safe and fast travel.
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Comment on Gardeners of the northern hemisphere, how did it go this year? in ~hobbies
Skyaero LinkI have an allotment in the Netherlands. The cold stayed longer in spring (just like last year) than is normal, delaying growth of young plants. July was particularly bad month (relative cold, lots...I have an allotment in the Netherlands. The cold stayed longer in spring (just like last year) than is normal, delaying growth of young plants. July was particularly bad month (relative cold, lots of rain, little sun) further delaying warm vegetables like pumpkins and courgettes.
But summer did last longer. It is still (record-breaking) warm (yesterday was 21 °C) with plenty of sun. Our february vegetables (pakchoi, spinach, mizuna) is almost ready for harvest. The main enemy is the number of hours of light, which is fastly reducing, now less then 11 hours a day between sunrise and sunset.
Next week a cold snap is expected with single digit (°C) temperatures.
No complaints about harvest, some produce did better than others, e.g. it was a bad carrot but amazing potato and onion year.
Despite the IPCC stating that spring is starting earlier, the past two years, spring has started later. This makes it hard to time when saplings can go in. We lost a lot of plants to late spring frost in both years.
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Comment on Israel-Gaza Conflict Discussion Thread in ~news
Skyaero Link ParentIn my humble opinion, I think you are brushing over a number of elements a little too easy I think Jordan and Lebanon would strongly disagree with you. After the six-day war in 1967, PLO militia...In my humble opinion, I think you are brushing over a number of elements a little too easy
There's no reason for a Palestinian to be murderously angry at the Saudi Arabian government, when they themselves chose to emigrate to Saudi Arabia.
I think Jordan and Lebanon would strongly disagree with you. After the six-day war in 1967, PLO militia (led by Yasser Arafat), moved from the by Israel captured West-Bank to Jordan. Within Jordan, the PLO acted by themselves, disregarding authority from Jordan. Within three years this led to 'civil' war (Black September) in Jordan. The PLO lost and moved to the South of Lebanon, where the exact same thing happened. To this day, Hezbollah still controls the South of Lebanon as it is their own state.
There won't be any Arabic country taking on Palestinians. If countries with similar cultures and religion won't adopt Palestinians in fear of civil unrest, why would you think placing them in Europe will solve all the things?
You write about Europe as you don't live there. Europe has a major problem with integration of other cultures and religions that have come forth out of 70 years of migration. Adding a few million more people, mostly radicalized, is going to create a lot more civil unrest.
Yesterday, in several major European cities, hundreds of Palestinians and Palestine-supporters went to the streets with flags, celebrating the attack on Israel that has cost hundreds, if not thousands of civil lives, including western foreigners, such as Germans and Canadians. Tensions are already high.
Do I think the current people of Germany still owe some moral debt for the Holocaust?
How long would you like to have Germany pay its 'debt' for? Have not learned anything about the ending of the First World War and the major impact the Treaty of Versailles had on the start of the Second World War?
Lets displace millions of Germans and create an Islamic state with millions of radicalized people in the middle of Europe. What could possibly go wrong?
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Comment on What is your cloud backup service of choice? in ~comp
Skyaero Link ParentI believe 'zero-knowledge' in cryptography has a different meaning and that's were the discussion was coming from. Spideroak since then calls it 'No-knowledge'. But it is end-to-end encryption...I believe 'zero-knowledge' in cryptography has a different meaning and that's were the discussion was coming from. Spideroak since then calls it 'No-knowledge'.
But it is end-to-end encryption based on 2048 bit RSA and 256 bit AES encryption, both data and folder/file names
At the time I became a customer, they were the only one offering secure backups.
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Comment on Getty Images to debut its own AI image generator which will be trained on Getty’s own data in ~arts
Skyaero LinkWonder what the photographers feel about Getty images using their own photos to make them obsolete ...Wonder what the photographers feel about Getty images using their own photos to make them obsolete ...
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Comment on What is your cloud backup service of choice? in ~comp
Skyaero LinkI'm using Spideroak (One Backup). Started using it when it was their main product and consumers were a bit part of their revenue. Since then they have branched out, mainly towards cybersecurity...I'm using Spideroak (One Backup).
Started using it when it was their main product and consumers were a bit part of their revenue. Since then they have branched out, mainly towards cybersecurity services for government and military. It is a little harder to find the service, but it is still there (and for some weird reason, on the crossclave domain).
What I liked about Spideroak was that it is a full backup solution. It makes incremented backups of your files, encrypt them locally and then send it into the cloud. Without password, no decryption.
Had to put a backup back once in the roughly 8 years that I'm a customer. Worked like a charm.The desktop application is light, runs on Windows, Linux and Mac, has both a UI, but also powerful
command line options.I believe I pay around $60 per year for 150 GB of storage.
It uses a desktop tool that works
I pay like 70 bucks/year -
Comment on Energy efficiency of different land transport means in ~transport
Skyaero Link ParentWorse, the reference used for that number is a dead link. It also depends on a country-by-country basis as train usage in the US is different than that of e.g. The Netherlands. For the latter, an...- Exemplary
Worse, the reference used for that number is a dead link.
It also depends on a country-by-country basis as train usage in the US is different than that of e.g. The Netherlands.
For the latter, an older study (1997) I could find yields roughly an average of 100 J per km per passenger for trains. That is 5 times better than a Tesla 3. And I can only presume that in the last 25 years, trains have become even more efficient.
Additionally, Tesla's fuel economy does not include the use of airco or heating, while these numbers are included in the above study for trains.
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Comment on In Spain, dozens of girls are reporting AI-generated nude photos of them being circulated at school: ‘My heart skipped a beat’ in ~life.women
Skyaero Link ParentIANAL, this is an interesting question. You could argue that the app is meant as a joke between friends and only to be used with consent of the person. If the company was smart, they would include...IANAL, this is an interesting question. You could argue that the app is meant as a joke between friends and only to be used with consent of the person. If the company was smart, they would include the matter of consent in their TOS. They could argue that if their service is abused to disrobe minors, its fault lies with the perpetrator.
The question is whether that will hold up. Pirate Bay or Mega in Europe are great examples. While these services have a legitimate base (sharing files through torrent or a storage platform isn't illegal if there is no copyright infringement), most courts have ruled that the majority uses the service for downloading of copyrighted material.
And then comes the next issue: pirate bay is blocked in many countries. In the Netherlands, the ISPs are (by court order) blocking urls to the pirate bay. But it is nothing more than a DNS-level block and you don't have to be that tech-savy to circumvent such a block.
Even if ClothOff app would face legal consequences, the apk package is probably already floating around the more grey areas of the internet. It won't stop people using it.
Hence, efforts should be made to go after perpetrators that use these apps to embarrass or blackmail others and those who participate in the distribution of those pictures. The new Digital Service Act in Europe is a step forwards as it requires cooperation from Instagram to find the people behind these blackmail accounts.
But also schools and parents play a role. I don't have kids, but if I would and found out my son was participating in these kind of activities, he would find himself without a smartphone/tablet/computer for a long time plus some serious education on the consequences of his actions.
And I think therein lies the last problem: parents involvement in what kids do online is relatively low and therefore supervision of a kids dumb, evil and not-full-grown brain that cannot foresee consequences is lacking.
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Comment on Why investing in new nuclear plants is bad for the climate in ~enviro
Skyaero Link ParentBaseload is the exact opposite of flexibility. Baseload presumes (almost) continues operation. It's the minimum power that we need day and night. With the introduction of renewables, it occurs...Baseload is the exact opposite of flexibility. Baseload presumes (almost) continues operation. It's the minimum power that we need day and night.
With the introduction of renewables, it occurs more and more where the supply of (almost free) renewable energy exceeds that of the demand. These moments are not season bound and occur throughout the year in many countries. At that point, there is no baseload.
The call for flexibility is to adjust to the new market, in which the supply of energy is highly variable. There are many ways to look for flexibility, the aforementioned storage is one of them. But baseload isn't one of them. Nuclear power as we know it today, only works as baseload. Unless a new reactor design is developed which allows for (cheap) flexible power output, nuclear has no future in our energy system.
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Comment on Feature highlights #13: Cinematic camera & photo mode | Cities: Skylines II in ~games
Skyaero LinkSo far, I've seen a lot of graphics improvements in CS2 over CS1, but mechanically it seem to work all the same. I wonder if there are major improvements there is well. I loved building my first...So far, I've seen a lot of graphics improvements in CS2 over CS1, but mechanically it seem to work all the same. I wonder if there are major improvements there is well.
I loved building my first city and getting all the achievements. After that, I was bored out as building and managing a city isn't very challenging in CS1.
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Comment on EU ‘gatekeeper’ list has five American and no European companies in ~tech
Skyaero Link ParentNuance: in the US (and maybe Canada) that is. Most European countries have legalities in place to prevent such a thing.plus they could just bankrupt anybody by dragging it out.
Nuance: in the US (and maybe Canada) that is. Most European countries have legalities in place to prevent such a thing.
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Comment on GitHub slated to mandate 2FA in ~comp
Skyaero Link ParentThat SMS/Text message is less secure than an authenticator is correct, but it is still more secure than not having MFA at all.That SMS/Text message is less secure than an authenticator is correct, but it is still more secure than not having MFA at all.
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Comment on What is your framework for back of the envelope/ MVP style software design? in ~comp
Skyaero LinkIMHO an MVP does not bother with number of users or performance in general. An MVP tests if there are customers for the product that you are building and are willing to pay for it. So the...IMHO an MVP does not bother with number of users or performance in general. An MVP tests if there are customers for the product that you are building and are willing to pay for it. So the important part is the core concept of your product.
I don't do much from scratch anyways. I'm in the Microsoft environment (i.e. Asp.Net), which comes with all the basics: MVC framework, Identity (login) provider, ORM (Entity Framework) and deployment in Azure. With the latter, I also don't have to think about things like disk IO etc. Even in terms of UI you could stick with a fixed template like Bootstrap (although my experience is that bootstrap does so much wrong when it comes to good practice of HTML/CSS, that it is a giant bitch to unclutter it).
It literally how I build a number of applications that found their way to paying (early adopter) customers. They don't care about UI or performance, they care about the functionality and the support. Now we are in the phase to improve the software and move to wider adoption.
It is always cheaper anyways to scale up something in the cloud anyways then to optimize the software. By the time software optimization is a must, you are far from a start-up anymore and have a significant amount of paying customers.
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Comment on ‘Worthless’ forest carbon offsets risk exacerbating climate change in ~enviro
Skyaero Link ParentPlanting new trees would be a better start than trying (and failing) to protect existing forests. Additionally, these trees could be cut in 10 or 30 years and the wood used for construction (e.g....Planting new trees would be a better start than trying (and failing) to protect existing forests. Additionally, these trees could be cut in 10 or 30 years and the wood used for construction (e.g. as a replacement for a lot of concrete and brick-build houses). This way, the carbon is not only permanently captured, it also avoids emissions from other building materials (concrete is a big offender when it comes to emissions), it also creates room for a new tree.
The IPCC generally looks at the GWP of green house gasses at a term of 100 and 400 years. Still challenging periods for wood/trees, but not unrealistic either.
DAC has potential, but at the moment it is mainly used by fossil fuel companies (hi Shell!) as an excuse to keep polluting, rather than tackling emissions at the source. And most of the DAC projects are paid for by tax-payers, not by the fossil fuel companies.
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Comment on How would you rewrite the ending of a show that had an unsatisfying finale, or imagine an ending to a show that was canceled prematurely? in ~tv
Skyaero LinkThe Expanse. while season 4 til 6 have bigger problems than just the (rushed) ending that are not easily fixed. The ending of the series in season 6 was underwhelming. For almost two seasons, we...The Expanse.
while season 4 til 6 have bigger problems than just the (rushed) ending that are not easily fixed. The ending of the series in season 6 was underwhelming.
For almost two seasons, we have Marcos building up a fleet for the belters, made out of all kinds of combat ships, including martians one. Everything in these seasons feels like a built-up to an amazing space battle between an allied fleet of the combined UN and (remaining) Martian ships and those of Marcos. Only for the combat to never take place.
It's almost literally 'poof' and Marcos' ships are gone. I would change the ending to the big space fight.
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Comment on ‘Worthless’ forest carbon offsets risk exacerbating climate change in ~enviro
Skyaero LinkFor those that don't want to read the entire article: You can offset carbon emissions, e.g. pay 16 dollars CO2-compensation for your flight between Paris and New York 90% of this money is used to...For those that don't want to read the entire article:
- You can offset carbon emissions, e.g. pay 16 dollars CO2-compensation for your flight between Paris and New York
- 90% of this money is used to protect forests and/or slow down deforestation, rather than e.g. planting new trees.
- According to a scientific paper in the peer-reviewed journal Science, the majority of the deforestation protection projects have failed anyways and have in fact had little to no impact on the speed of deforestation.
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Comment on Python in Excel: Combining the power of Python and the flexibility of Excel in ~comp
Skyaero LinkThis is such bad news. Excel sheets with VBA or the upcoming Python stuff are hard to maintain, test and document. I have seen giant monoliths of spreadsheets within organizations that no one had...This is such bad news.
Excel sheets with VBA or the upcoming Python stuff are hard to maintain, test and document. I have seen giant monoliths of spreadsheets within organizations that no one had knowledge on how it worked, but everyone relied on the results. Such thinks are just setting up giant f-ups within the company.
There are also major risks involved with scripting. Excel isn't containerized, which means scripts can access your file system.
My general rule of thumb: if you need scripting (VBA or python) for a task in Excel, then Excel is the wrong tool for the task.
Microsoft should therefore discourage, not encourage, organizations to use scripting in Excel.
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Comment on Chandrayaan-3 lands on moon in historic moment for India in ~space
Skyaero LinkMajor congratulations to India and all the hardworking people that have made this possible. A great achievement and proof of India's continued technology progress.Major congratulations to India and all the hardworking people that have made this possible. A great achievement and proof of India's continued technology progress.
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Comment on Hahaha we live in hell: "how do we pay for parking?" in ~tech
Skyaero Link ParentI would add a fourth to that for parking garages: debit/creditcard, where you use the card to open the gate when driving in/out.I would add a fourth to that for parking garages: debit/creditcard, where you use the card to open the gate when driving in/out.
That is a curious decision. It is not that Shear has such an amazing reputation as CEO at Twitch. Major issues, including in the internal organization were left unresolved