pallas's recent activity
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Comment on San Francisco-based startup Andon Labs has put an artificial intelligence agent nicknamed “Mona” in charge at an experimental café in the Swedish capital in ~food
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Comment on San Francisco-based startup Andon Labs has put an artificial intelligence agent nicknamed “Mona” in charge at an experimental café in the Swedish capital in ~food
pallas Link ParentReading the article, I feel like that's somewhat less of a concern in this instance, because it's clearly a marketing stunt rather than an attempt to run a real business, and because the agent is...Reading the article, I feel like that's somewhat less of a concern in this instance, because it's clearly a marketing stunt rather than an attempt to run a real business, and because the agent is trying to do management, while the cafe is actually staffed by normal human employees interacting with the customers. Having the agent make 'silly' mistakes with ordering also adds to the 'experimental' marketing.
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Comment on WIFI APs and other network stuff in ~comp
pallas (edited )LinkTo give a different opinion on Ubiquiti: their hardware is often good, but their software is not. For APs in particular, they have a horribly designed and overly heavy management software that...To give a different opinion on Ubiquiti: their hardware is often good, but their software is not. For APs in particular, they have a horribly designed and overly heavy management software that seems partially intended to sell their cloud and separate-hardware alternatives to running it, when the software should be largely needless in the first place. They've also made questionable choices around longer-term support, for example, deciding to largely abandon support for an entire line of their routers. The remaining Unifi APs I have now have been reflashed to run OpenWrt, and I've been significantly happier with them; I'm still deciding what to do with my EdgeRouter. I'd note that my problem is not that Ubiquiti's software is too complicated; I usually run into problems with it lacking or poorly supporting features I need.
Despite it seeming primarily intended for simpler networks than mine, I've been reasonably happy with OpenWrt; the depth of support it has for esoteric features through packages, the reasonably modern and reasonably standard Linux, and the decently frequent updates make it comparatively easy to work with. It lacks a multi-device management system, but it is simple (perhaps simpler) to manage devices through standard multi-device systems like Ansible. I've found that the Ansible+OpenWrt works quite well with LLM-based management.
Despite my network being perhaps overly complicated (multiple sites, some with multiple internet connections, some with multiple APs, some VLANs that assign BGP-routed IP space, etc), OpenWrt has been able to support everything I've needed (though it doesn't actually deal with BGP for me). The only significant lingering problems I have with OpenWrt at the moment are that babel routing will sometimes mysteriously fail and need to be restarted, and that the upgrade system seems largely designed around the assumption that you'll be physically near the device.
There's also the difficulty in selecting hardware for it: "OpenWrt compatible" can mean anything from the device easily and fully supporting current OpenWrt, to the manufacturer having their own outdated and wonky modified version (eg, Gl.Inet), to installation involving significant hardware challenges.
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Comment on Looking for general monitor advice in ~tech
pallas LinkMonitor advice strongly depends on what you want, and what you're using the monitor for. A good image can mean different things: do you want a good image for text? Publishing? Photography? Video?...Monitor advice strongly depends on what you want, and what you're using the monitor for. A good image can mean different things: do you want a good image for text? Publishing? Photography? Video? Games? Something else? Image quality and refresh rate feel like two very different things to me.
In general, as someone who cares about pixel density and image quality, I'd strongly disagree with the advice here about 1440p at 27": that's 109 ppi, less than the 138 ppi of 2160p at 32", where I find pixels to be noticeable and use 1x UI; my laptop screen, on the other hand, is 256 ppi, and pixels are happily not noticeable. 4k at 27" would be 163ppi, which still seems on the low side to me. But I'm interested in image quality for scientific publishing and for photography; I also don't find high refresh rates to be a substantial benefit.
For color quality, I'd note that while gamut specs can be useful, and provided calibration profiles are a good sign, a good calibration device can significantly improve colors, especially if you have multiple monitors and want them to be consistent.
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Comment on Are there alternative ways to invest savings? in ~finance
pallas Link ParentTo add another caveat, as someone who, in years past, had to arrange loans between family members for significant sums: you need to be careful with interest rates and loan terms, as there may be...He gives them an interest rate that’s lower than what a bank would give and they give him a return rate that’s higher than what the market will give.
To add another caveat, as someone who, in years past, had to arrange loans between family members for significant sums: you need to be careful with interest rates and loan terms, as there may be significant legal constraints that may apply very unevenly. In our location, usury laws placed legal maximums on interest rates that applied to personal loans between family members but did not apply to banks, and the legal maximum could be below standard bank rates or potentially market return.
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Comment on Networking: DHCP+VPN, LAN communication query in ~comp
pallas LinkI'm rather confused here: explaining how your Wireguard tunnels are set up, and how your routers are set up, would be helpful. Are you running the VPN on your client, or on a router? A more...I'm rather confused here: explaining how your Wireguard tunnels are set up, and how your routers are set up, would be helpful. Are you running the VPN on your client, or on a router?
A more reliable solution here might be to run the VPN tunnel on your router, perhaps by adding a separate VLAN that has its default route go through the tunnel. Then your client device has a single default route to a single gateway, which sends outbound traffic to the VPN and things in 10.5.0.0/16 to your VLANs.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk
pallas (edited )Link ParentOddly enough, I do recognize you, but had never heard of Bauke, and am not sure why I would recognize him, or know that he was on a list of users we should be particularly deferential to, or that...Oddly enough, I do recognize you, but had never heard of Bauke, and am not sure why I would recognize him, or know that he was on a list of users we should be particularly deferential to, or that there was such a list to begin with. Depending on what threads people frequent, they may end up seeing some set of users more or less often, I expect. From my perspective, I just suddenly started seeing several threads about surveys of personal questions, then went to a site that had no contact or privacy information at all, and thought it was quite odd.
That my (EU) university is increasingly aggressive about insisting that we all fill out their 'voluntary' survey including questions about gender, sexual orientation, etc, which is 'anonymous' and supposedly for statistical purposes except in that it is directly linked to our accounts, and, in the fine print, has a list of numerous administrators who can view the non-anonymized data directly, at a university with a culture that always seems to just have unfortunate specific circumstances around how they treat individuals that obviously has nothing to do with their gender or sexual orientation, may have also primed me to be skeptical of any sudden 'hey, let's answer some fun questions about ourselves'.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk
pallas Link ParentThanks for posting that. To be honest, I've only ever dealt with GDPR in either completely non-personal contexts, or, as an academic with an indistinct personal-non-personal boundary, in my own...Thanks for posting that. To be honest, I've only ever dealt with GDPR in either completely non-personal contexts, or, as an academic with an indistinct personal-non-personal boundary, in my own personal contexts. When this was brought up, and someone pointed out it was an individual with a hobby site, I looked into that, and most of what I found seemed to say the opposite; the GDPR itself also says something rather different, though there is a distinction between Article 2 and the recitals as well. But what you post is actually an official EU site.
You could see, for example this stackexchange discussion, or this one.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk
pallas (edited )Link ParentI asked where the privacy policy was, and suggested that it seemed like it wasn't GDPR compliant. Bauke gave a reasonable answer. Some others responded with what seems like an odd interpretation...I asked where the privacy policy was, and suggested that it seemed like it wasn't GDPR compliant. Bauke gave a reasonable answer. Some others responded with what seems like an odd interpretation of Article 2, 2(d), but is on an official EU site.
Yet I now have people saying my comment was "an inappropriate answer to anyone on tildes", that I am "glaringly wrong", that I should just "not do the damn survey", that I am "bitching and moaning", that I should have said something like "Hey I'm sorry...", that "you yourself don’t understand it", that it "was super gross", that I should have known who a particular user was and should have thus should have treated them differently...
Perhaps there are cultural differences involved here, but I'm perhaps a bit confused as to why I should be expected to be so deferential to someone I am apparently supposed to recognize by name, while having expletives and insults thrown back seems reasonable. While this double standard seems dismayingly common on Tildes, it is confusing. Perhaps it is that Tildes, while more of an attempt to make a better, smaller reddit initially, has become more of a modern take on an old web forum of friends.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk
pallas Link ParentThat does not give an exemption from the GDPR, and from just a basic best practices standpoint the project could do much better as well. I realize that this is a hobby project, but I think the...This is someone's hobby project.
That does not give an exemption from the GDPR, and from just a basic best practices standpoint the project could do much better as well. I realize that this is a hobby project, but I think the person doing it might not realize how creepy it could look from some perspectives, or the legal problems they may be creating for themselves.
At the very least, some information how what data is being collected here and how/where in the process it in being anonymized would be a good idea. If this is being done without any cookies or link between IP address / browser and submission, for example, that's very different than if those are being stored (allowing links to be made between individual submissions to different surveys).
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Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk
pallas (edited )LinkWhere is your privacy/personal data policy? Where is your data protection contact? This appears to be an anonymous site (tildes.community), with no contact information, asking for personal data,...Where is your privacy/personal data policy? Where is your data protection contact?
This appears to be an anonymous site (tildes.community), with no contact information, asking for personal data, with no privacy policy and no data protection contact. It seems unlikely that this is GDPR-compliant.
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Comment on Income tax will be dead within five years as AI jobs crisis grows, says Monzo founder in ~tech
pallas (edited )Link ParentLand value taxes can be very open to abuse, depending on how corrupt the system is. The abuse just looks different than evasion of taxes like income tax: rather than trying to obscure the taxable...I personally think the types least prone to evasion are land value taxes
Land value taxes can be very open to abuse, depending on how corrupt the system is. The abuse just looks different than evasion of taxes like income tax: rather than trying to obscure the taxable thing, the abuser tries to influence the assessed value of their land downward, or the assessed value of other landowners upward.
A land value tax is perhaps more prone to this abuse than a property value tax, as property values often at least have comparable, concrete sale values to base them on, whereas deciding the value of undeveloped land, when there may not have been any sales of undeveloped land or even be any undeveloped land in an area, can be much more open to interpretation.
I've actually known people who have had problems with the hostile use of land-value-like taxes in a corrupt country, where they have been politically unpopular and pushed into selling property to politically well-connected groups over extremely dubious valuations that made their land very valuable, and I would not be the least bit surprised if those groups then turned around and used the actual sale value, and their connections, to drastically reassess the property.
And yes, this was in a corrupt country, and in countries with more transparency, and less corruption, there might be open data that could raise questions as to why there were significant discrepancies in assessed value between certain nearby properties. But my point is that land value is open to significant abuse, like many other taxes.
Wholesale energy, on the other hand, I'd mostly agree with you. It has the advantage of being a tax that is based on specific, measurable quantities.
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Comment on I’m traveling internationally for the first time and could use tips! in ~travel
pallas (edited )Link ParentIf using Wise, I'd note that Wise has a extremely low withdrawal limit before it starts charging a percentage fee for withdrawals. Checking for my account, for example, it charges a 2% ATM...I think which bank's ATM is best for that may depend on what bank you use in the US and it may be different with things like Wise or Revolut though
If using Wise, I'd note that Wise has a extremely low withdrawal limit before it starts charging a percentage fee for withdrawals.
Checking for my account, for example, it charges a 2% ATM withdrawal fee after 100 USD equivalent per month. On top of that, it charges a $1.50 per withdrawal fee after two withdrawals per month, and there is then any ATM-owner fee. Wise seems to be trying to discourage cash withdrawals and encourage card use without explicitly saying so. With the addition of deposit fees and conversion fees, Wise is probably more expensive for cash withdrawals than just using a normal US debit card.
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Comment on Industry initiative launches Euro-Office as true sovereign office suite in ~tech
pallas Link ParentIt could also extend beyond PR, too: organizations or individuals might have strong preferences, or even requirements, for open source. At least in my experience with EU agencies, for example,...It could also extend beyond PR, too: organizations or individuals might have strong preferences, or even requirements, for open source. At least in my experience with EU agencies, for example, FSF/OSI-approved licenses can have significance and be specified for some things. By seeming to have this as AGPLv3, it would be acceptable in those circumstances.
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Comment on Industry initiative launches Euro-Office as true sovereign office suite in ~tech
pallas (edited )Link ParentAs far as I can understand, OnlyOffice is essentially admitting that their claimed use of AGPLv3 is intended as a scam, and that the software is not meaningfully open source. Their two 'additional...As an aside, OnlyOffice are currently arguing that license violations have occurred, despite their use of a (modified) AGPLv3 license.
As far as I can understand, OnlyOffice is essentially admitting that their claimed use of AGPLv3 is intended as a scam, and that the software is not meaningfully open source. Their two 'additional requirements' amount to:
- Any derivative work must use the OnlyOffice logo, and
- Derivative works have no right to use the OnlyOffice logo.
Essentially, no derivative works are allowed. If they are allowed to refer to this as AGPLv3, then software being AGPLv3 has no meaning. The FSF has sent lawyers after scams like this before; hopefully, if OnlyOffice tries to enforce these terms, the FSF will become involved again.
If there were doubts about the need for a fork, however, OnlyOffice's response seems to make the reason clear.
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Comment on 'Banal and hollow': Why the quaint paintings of Thomas Kinkade divided the US in ~arts
pallas Link ParentThat's what happens when I'm trying to write in different formats in different windows...That's what happens when I'm trying to write in different formats in different windows...
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Comment on 'Banal and hollow': Why the quaint paintings of Thomas Kinkade divided the US in ~arts
pallas (edited )Link ParentHe was pretty well known for his behavior. It's a bit odd that this article references it so obliquely.Some of it was adultery related, maybe some abuse, I can't really remember.
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Comment on Air Canada CEO will retire this year after his English-only crash message was criticized in ~transport
pallas (edited )Link ParentTo agree with you here: I think Americans may not realize that, perhaps because they don't have an official national language, the US, and particularly the US government, is often quite a bit more...The disconnect may be that you are not familiar with what it's like to live in a country with national languages, and unequal enforcement of language rights (apologies if I'm incorrect).
To agree with you here: I think Americans may not realize that, perhaps because they don't have an official national language, the US, and particularly the US government, is often quite a bit more accommodating of other languages than many countries, and that in turn may make people less offended by cases like these, or less likely see them as part of a wider discrimination against their language or promotion of another. That's likely even more the case when compared to countries that, as you point out, say they have multiple national languages, sometimes quite vocally, but in practice treat them very unequally.
All those government forms available in multiple languages in the US, for example? In many countries, including many progressive European ones, they often don't exist. Sometimes, they don't exist in languages that are legally official, and that they are supposedly required to exist in. The ability to deal with the government in other languages? Yes, it's not always available or great in the US, but in other countries, it may be legally prohibited. Can you refer to a government agency by its official name, in a nominally officially language, in a professional context, and not be laughed out of the room and told to refer to it by its name in the right language? That's not guaranteed.
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Comment on I think Tildes moderators and admins may need to make a decision regarding how to handle Harry Potter related posts in ~tildes
pallas (edited )Link ParentI would enjoy it if there could be spaces online for the sort of discussion you hope for, but I don't see how Tildes can be one of those spaces. Look at what became of this person's attempt at...I see Tildes as a place that does foster discussion and empathetic and considerate communication, refreshingly so, and I think we should try and continue that whether or not the topic is heavy or divisive.
I would enjoy it if there could be spaces online for the sort of discussion you hope for, but I don't see how Tildes can be one of those spaces. Look at what became of this person's attempt at discussion, or what remains of it, with them presumably banned, their identity and words gone, while responses to them remain.
I've actually often in those spaces in person, even recently, but there is perhaps a wider question as to whether they can exist publicly online. Talking with people directly, in person, perhaps creates a certain empathy, as does the ability to curate the people who are in the discussion, and the confidence that what is said is heard only there.
Tildes is ultimately a space for discussion within a narrow American and Western European progressive capitalist viewpoint, sometimes masquerading as something other than capitalist but ultimately intolerant of views to the left as much as to the right, aggressively enforced by a handful of regulars whose names show up again and again, and backed by moderating actions. There's nothing wrong with it being that space, but it would perhaps be better if the community were more open and honest with itself about what Tildes is.
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Comment on Thinking of getting Proton and using it as my day-to-day email, but I have concerns in ~tech
pallas Link ParentFastmail has the problem that it is not only not targeted to the security conscious, but is Australian. Australia's laws are particularly bad for privacy and security; there was a significant...Fastmail has the problem that it is not only not targeted to the security conscious, but is Australian. Australia's laws are particularly bad for privacy and security; there was a significant discussion of this around the Assistance and Access bill a few years ago.
I perhaps interpreted your initial comment differently, in your calling out specifically 'underpaid labor', which made me think of places that, for example, suggest that an AI is doing work like customer service or image processing, when it is actually being farmed out to extremely underpaid contract laborers in poor conditions. Here, in this being a marketing stunt, I expect it is more likely to be the opposite: the AI is likely being overseen by higher-level employees who are not underpaid, but are very invested in the marketing. That it tends to make 'cute', but not ruinous, errors is not surprising.