sonaxaton's recent activity

  2. Comment on Where do you go to veg out online? in ~tech

    sonaxaton
    Link
    Honestly, as someone who loves learning random facts about the world, especially math and science, I sometimes spend hours just browsing Wikipedia. I often start with some mundane everyday concept...

    Honestly, as someone who loves learning random facts about the world, especially math and science, I sometimes spend hours just browsing Wikipedia. I often start with some mundane everyday concept that I thought I knew everything about, inevitably learn something new about it, and then get lost in a sea of obscure tangentially-related topics. There's just so much there to read, and while the actual content isn't always well-written, the links to primary sources can be fascinating as well.

    35 votes

  3. Comment on What's the oldest tech you use, and why do you still use it? in ~tech

    sonaxaton
    Link Parent
    I think I have the same Wacom Intuos3! I don't use it much but it comes in handy occasionally when I need a stylus input for signatures or drawing games.

    I think I have the same Wacom Intuos3! I don't use it much but it comes in handy occasionally when I need a stylus input for signatures or drawing games.

  5. What can a software engineer do to help the US?

    ~society Ask
    The current political climate in the US sucks, and I want to do something about it. I'm a software engineer and I've been feeling lately that I need to apply my skills towards something more...

    The current political climate in the US sucks, and I want to do something about it. I'm a software engineer and I've been feeling lately that I need to apply my skills towards something more important and impactful than building a product for a private company. Honestly, I like my current job for many reasons, and it's been mostly quite fulfilling up to this point, but every executive order by Trump feels like a step backwards and makes me less comfortable with not being involved in the opposition.

    I'm looking for advice on what I can do to meaningfully contribute to progressive causes and resist the threat that this administration poses to our democracy and society. What kinds of organizations are doing the most in this area, and would be in need of a software engineer? How can building software help with this problem (if at all)?

    For context, I live in Massachusetts, so while I feel proud of how my community and local government is pushing back against Trump, I'm also well-aware of how much worse things are, and will get, for people elsewhere.

    29 votes

  6. Comment on BYD unveils new super-charging EV tech, to build charging network in China in ~transport

    sonaxaton
    Link Parent
    Some quick math: a typical gas-powered car with a 16 gallon tank that gets 40 MPG and fills at a gas station in about 5 minutes can drive for 600 miles. These EVs can charge enough to travel 250...

    Some quick math: a typical gas-powered car with a 16 gallon tank that gets 40 MPG and fills at a gas station in about 5 minutes can drive for 600 miles. These EVs can charge enough to travel 250 miles in 5 minutes. If we compare directly in units of "miles of range per minute of refueling", the new EVs stand at 50 miles/minute and typical gas-powered cars at 120 miles/minute. That is genuinely impressive how comparable those are. Both refueling rate and total range are actually becoming competitive with gas-powered cars!

    19 votes

  7. Comment on Your favorite game OSTs in ~games

    sonaxaton
    Link
    The Shapez and Shapez 2 soundtracks by Peppsen are fantastic, as is the rest of their music.

    The Shapez and Shapez 2 soundtracks by Peppsen are fantastic, as is the rest of their music.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on What chemicals/substances do you keep at home? And what do you do with them? in ~life.home_improvement

    sonaxaton
    Link
    I have a big jug of white vinegar that I only use for cleaning my humidifier every week.

    I have a big jug of white vinegar that I only use for cleaning my humidifier every week.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on Great shows with interesting premises? in ~tv

    sonaxaton
    Link
    I'm watching Station 11 at the moment and I think it'd be exactly what you're looking for.

    I'm watching Station 11 at the moment and I think it'd be exactly what you're looking for.

    4 votes

  10. Comment on Had an amazing trip to New Mexico. Has anyone else been? What would you suggest for a return trip? in ~travel

    sonaxaton
    Link
    Bisti Badlands is an amazingly scenic area for a hike. Feels like you're on another planet there. Highly recommend. I hiked there a few years ago after some heavy rains and we followed a group of...

    Bisti Badlands is an amazingly scenic area for a hike. Feels like you're on another planet there. Highly recommend. I hiked there a few years ago after some heavy rains and we followed a group of surveyors mapping the new landscape as it's quite dynamic.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on How Donald Trump won, and how Kamala Harris lost the US election in ~society

    sonaxaton
    Link Parent
    Can you elaborate? What about NYT or other media outlets contributed to this situation? Not arguing, just curious what you're referring to.

    Can you elaborate? What about NYT or other media outlets contributed to this situation? Not arguing, just curious what you're referring to.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Movie of the Week #40 - Edge of Tomorrow in ~movies

    sonaxaton
    Link Parent
    Man, 2014 was a good year for movies; your top 5 are some of my all-time favorites.

    Man, 2014 was a good year for movies; your top 5 are some of my all-time favorites.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Scavengers Reign (2023) - Best sci-fi I have seen in years, aside from Dune in ~tv

    sonaxaton
    Link Parent
    Agreed with your take on a second season. I'd love to see more, but I wouldn't feel like I'm missing anything if they didn't.

    Agreed with your take on a second season. I'd love to see more, but I wouldn't feel like I'm missing anything if they didn't.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Scavengers Reign (2023) - Best sci-fi I have seen in years, aside from Dune in ~tv

    sonaxaton
    Link
    I loved this show! Such a uniquely interesting world that simultaneously felt familiar, as it was clearly populated with things we would call "life", but that life was utterly alien. Such an...

    I loved this show! Such a uniquely interesting world that simultaneously felt familiar, as it was clearly populated with things we would call "life", but that life was utterly alien. Such an atypical story too, just about raw survival and the brutalit and beauty of nature.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on James Webb Space Telescope spots the two earliest galaxies ever seen in ~space

    sonaxaton
    Link Parent
    Purely speculating, but I wonder if some phenomenon of the early universe could be affecting the redshift in a way to make the galaxies appear older than they are? Do redshift measurements assume...

    Purely speculating, but I wonder if some phenomenon of the early universe could be affecting the redshift in a way to make the galaxies appear older than they are? Do redshift measurements assume a linear relationship between the amount of shift and the age that could be inaccurate?

    1 vote

  16. Comment on James Webb Space Telescope spots the two earliest galaxies ever seen in ~space

    sonaxaton
    Link
    For some reason I find myself skeptical that the scientsts' confidence in this measurement of the age of these galaxies is greater than their confidence in all the established theories about the...

    For some reason I find myself skeptical that the scientsts' confidence in this measurement of the age of these galaxies is greater than their confidence in all the established theories about the early universe it defies (knowing little about either subject). But I hope it is true because that means we're learning something new!

    1 vote

  17. Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech

    sonaxaton
    Link
    I use Perplexity AI for internet searches all the time, I think it's great. With most of my searches, I generally know what I'm looking for or know the right keywords to get the source I'm after,...

    I use Perplexity AI for internet searches all the time, I think it's great. With most of my searches, I generally know what I'm looking for or know the right keywords to get the source I'm after, so I use a normal search engine. But occasionally I have a much more open question or I don't have the right words to describe what I'm looking for, and Perplexity is great for that. I particularly appreciate that it includes references to its sources in its answers so if you're confused by or skeptical of its answer, you can see where it got it from.

  18. Comment on What's your favorite Wikipedia page and why? in ~talk

  19. Comment on The spirit of “view source” in ~tech

    sonaxaton
    Link
    I love the suggestion the author ends on of having a standard metadata tag for linking to the source code of a website! Combined with browser support to easily navigate to that source, it seems...

    I love the suggestion the author ends on of having a standard metadata tag for linking to the source code of a website! Combined with browser support to easily navigate to that source, it seems like a great way to enable curious would-be developers. It's like taking the idea of "open source" a bit further to "easily accessible source".

    11 votes

  20. Comment on How is your experience with various programming ecosystems? in ~comp

    sonaxaton
    Link Parent
    The fact that Rust packages are so easy to get high-quality documentation for by just writing code comments, and you can very easily include code examples in the comments which are actually...

    The fact that Rust packages are so easy to get high-quality documentation for by just writing code comments, and you can very easily include code examples in the comments which are actually compiled and run as unit tests, is amazing to me. Such a simple concept that works really well and is a huge boon to the package ecosystem.

    7 votes