th0mcat's recent activity

  1. Comment on Sweden has halved its borrowing since facing financial meltdown in the 1990s, without raising taxes – and what Britain can learn from this experience in ~finance

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    Sure, but there are subjectively worse ways through one, and most of the information we have about the UK's austerIty measures shows they ended up poorer because of it.

    Sure, but there are subjectively worse ways through one, and most of the information we have about the UK's austerIty measures shows they ended up poorer because of it.

    6 votes

  2. Comment on Sweden has halved its borrowing since facing financial meltdown in the 1990s, without raising taxes – and what Britain can learn from this experience in ~finance

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12332 https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/339431/1/1938443306.pdf

    The only honest way to turn yourself around financially as a developed country is going to be austerity of some form or another.

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12332

    After the Global Financial Crisis, a controversial rush to fiscal austerity followed in many countries. Yet research on the effects of austerity on macroeconomic aggregates was and still is unsettled, mired by the difficulty of identifying multipliers from observational data. This article, reconciles seemingly disparate estimates of multipliers within a unified and state-contingent framework. We achieve identification of causal effects with new propensity-score based methods for time series data. Using this novel approach, we show that austerity is always a drag on growth, and especially so in depressed economies: a 1% of GDP fiscal consolidation translates into a loss of 3.5% of real GDP over five years when implemented in a slump, rather than just 1.8% in a boom.

    https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/339431/1/1938443306.pdf

    While differences are not huge over the period as a whole, the UK has performed poorly since 2019, relative both to past performance
    and to some other countries. This has taken the form both of a bigger hit to the economy than
    other countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, and a relatively sluggish recovery from it. The EU27 as a whole has done rather better. GDP per capita grew by 14 per cent between 2008
    and 2023, in part reflecting catch-up by some of the former communist countries like Slovenia
    and the Czech Republic, which now have similar levels of GDP per capita to the UK when
    measured on a Purchasing Power Parity basis.

    11 votes

  3. Comment on Halo: Campaign Evolved | Cinematic story trailer in ~games

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    5th? Original, MCC, and this one, what am I missing?

    5th? Original, MCC, and this one, what am I missing?

    1 vote

  4. Comment on US FBI says Google engineer used internal search data to win $1.2M on Polymarket in ~tech

  5. Comment on Starpath | Official announcement trailer in ~games

  6. Comment on Almost a third of Gen Z men agree a wife should obey her husband in ~life.men

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    Yeah I'm going to need to see these crosstabs before I start freaking out.

    Yeah I'm going to need to see these crosstabs before I start freaking out.

  7. Comment on Battery costs just plunged 70% — this changes everything in ~enviro

  8. Comment on Oscar Isaac | Closet Picks in ~movies

  9. Comment on Linux kernel czar says AI bug reports aren't slop anymore in ~comp

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    So I just downloaded that 1-bit model onto Locally AI on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I asked it: The response: Not a single one of these was a correct answer. I'm sincerely not trying to be antagonistic...

    So I just downloaded that 1-bit model onto Locally AI on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I asked it:

    Who was the Wisconsin governor in 1986? Who was the governor in 1999? In 2011?

    The response:

    Here's the information on the Wisconsin governors for the years you asked about:

    1986:

    • Governor: Tom Blaine
    • He served from 1982 to 1986.

    1999:

    • Governor: Tom Foley
    • He served from 1995 to 2003.

    2011:

    • Governor: John K. Kellogg
    • He served from 2007 to 2011.

    Let me know if you'd like to know about other years or need clarification!

    Not a single one of these was a correct answer. I'm sincerely not trying to be antagonistic here: what is the point of an LLM like this if I can't ask it basic questions about the world and expect them to be correct? Is this model not meant to answer questions like that?

    10 votes

  10. Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health

    th0mcat
    Link
    I tried to generate a gift article from Oxford Academic to link to the full study, but ReCAPTCHA kept failing, so I had archive.org grab it....

    I tried to generate a gift article from Oxford Academic to link to the full study, but ReCAPTCHA kept failing, so I had archive.org grab it.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20260331140529/https://watermark02.silverchair.com/bgag015.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAA3kwggN1BgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggNmMIIDYgIBADCCA1sGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQM_gcvuGN-Ua4lS_eGAgEQgIIDLHdlUIFwncZkrV2UYdz3C8vuySirpGOrSX5ZKnhn_2K7HlxTdkhedwtv1rNdIW9MwRYIK2pMVtnmkbxG8jj27x55adGHHr9rcw3EEd0x-kbgZjR8J7MwWyfhEuutAqiClZ0jiIufSmeNvX1TuBDOv5zUaCbWcR4B2mwShamQx0hEzuLeT-4RC2lQJ6qwcVzXAQcyf5BWlr2mrhNIwhguGApMZWIJgObea8-4s74LlMbAuOtI1_H7rNkFJRMM6N77RfvZQPikkZn_k2UFGGcA0Qhw9Tu2W5c_3nY1GZlxI5oBzb9-DgI8NTmNfpbvZmcgjIk3DESpcZTN18A3jbMJt5wPAQICO_oLkD0_IIJ63ecs6QN5gNoEu6LWiS82L6qaP9n6Ab1vcbDo2Lal15gBfu1J0HUg3-FJA4-aHWo4YNY77DmlaH2OGjoqN-SIDGi5kov9xge8oXE0jIyKVg4lvWYWgd1jIFItJZRHH-qFGMyV9eAwuYs0FTmLLZwcl9AibfGgWDMaDWGHbNCQTpSZ-hJSBsNUofjMu7pCjZt_6NOU2FQOvGsK0NLv6dAL0S8MGuuNekoBluit3wW__wFoCT72HaACumAveR5y7WxPuAuv5lkLSrCtP8dFHPEVABwSC7CHv5eWNAx4fF6gl1VEWI0fg1yk-_RU_i0Z-P58a0jyCnUJYtovK3m5HNDEyiZEPkWD_ntl2YpZ6cJMYU6Msp1LorGtAWGpDz2zaa-1SeWPR9owO9QBFOL_ZyzNfPijZq-hRYWSgCnzFx6tn7_1zTjj9ZW0ZHZ3FDyRmL0O3w9ursViruV2dbR_mm8dGK-yDXvhqyYWoel9ksC6fJvA_l2gY6DSDAyeZr8KKN8WPt7opY3AQJz2RaDpA45sZDoQzr5Yy0b9cnakPAOot8S6Jzk89LgLbUk6e-SEDRx2mKuekT6sfAH3GfSMmnPWsZNGSyZqvled2GrqKZ2GS55Y5-8Pu4GDqWde0wDBnEYZfN6mRniwd0OVcR0k4yPJrBt5QX47VRyhmWiCwfWf_0BW-oZdYuQl6fX_xMvoN7BEzLOKaJ0x5aLWgSvCTOj7

    4 votes

  11. Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    Yep. To support your comment, symmetrical internet on CATV's inherent issue is both how they use the spectrum and the limitations of DOCSIS. (My knowledge of HFC/CATV is 11 years old so some of...

    Yep. To support your comment, symmetrical internet on CATV's inherent issue is both how they use the spectrum and the limitations of DOCSIS. (My knowledge of HFC/CATV is 11 years old so some of this could be wrong)

    Cable providers were given the 5-1000 MHz from the FCC. DOCSIS in North America divides this into "channels" of 6MHz, so about 160 channels. Most of the time, 5-50MHz was used for upload, and the rest was used for download OR analog TV channels. DOCSIS 3.0 allowed providers to bond those channels together to boost throughput for both download and upload, but only 4-8 channels for upload and up to 32 for download. This is changing with DOCSIS 4.0 rollouts (completely different multiplexing), so theoretically CATV providers will be able to do symmetrical Gig at somepoint.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on Epic Systems’ mythical and sprawling campus in ~design

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    Gentle pushback from someone who lives in the area. I believe the requirement is that you have to live within 30-45 minutes of the Epic campus. People commute from Madison, Sun Prairie, Monona,...

    the requirement to live in Verona

    Gentle pushback from someone who lives in the area. I believe the requirement is that you have to live within 30-45 minutes of the Epic campus. People commute from Madison, Sun Prairie, Monona, Mt, Horeb, Barneveld, Middleton, Waunakee, etc. Verona isn't a company town in that sense, but the population (for Verona but for especially Dane County) has definitely exploded since Epic's campus went in.

    3 votes

  13. Comment on Disney’s boy trouble: studio seeks original IP to win back Gen-Z men amid Marvel, Lucasfilm struggles in ~movies

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    My wife and I watched 4k77 a few weeks ago with Digital Noise Reduction (DNR), it was her first time ever seeing A New Hope, it looked pretty good to me. From what I hear, 4k80 has pretty poor...

    My wife and I watched 4k77 a few weeks ago with Digital Noise Reduction (DNR), it was her first time ever seeing A New Hope, it looked pretty good to me.

    From what I hear, 4k80 has pretty poor image quality, solely because the only film sources they could find were in tough shape. People recommend to just watch the Blu-Ray as Lucas made very few changes to it when he made the Special Editions.

    4k83 people rave about as far as color/picture quality, so I'm excited for that.

    4 votes

  14. Comment on 'The Wheel of Time' cancelled after three seasons in ~tv

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    Just think of Bloodline as a mini series and only watch the first season, ignore the last 5-10 minutes of the last episode. The second season is okay, and the third middling to bad. The first...

    Just think of Bloodline as a mini series and only watch the first season, ignore the last 5-10 minutes of the last episode.

    The second season is okay, and the third middling to bad. The first season is such an incredible slow burn, and the scenery is absolutely stunning, so glad they got to shoot on location in the keys.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Let’s talk about the bidet, the bathroom's best-kept secret in ~health

    th0mcat
    Link
    Reposting my last comment about bidets for anyone wondering about taking the plunge.

    Reposting my last comment about bidets for anyone wondering about taking the plunge.

    You can add one of these (https://a.co/d/cJwAk5L) without modifying the toilet and it doesn’t need a power outlet. The water is cold, which might take some getting used to, but it is a powerful stream and does a fantastic job. I have almost no handyman experience and was able to add it in about 40 minutes.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Ethernet working but not working? At an absolute loss. in ~comp

    th0mcat
    Link
    Do you have any experience with Wireshark? Starting a packet capture then plugging the cable in will at least tell you if your NIC is seeing inbound traffic.

    Do you have any experience with Wireshark? Starting a packet capture then plugging the cable in will at least tell you if your NIC is seeing inbound traffic.

    5 votes

  17. Comment on Peter Watts on ‘Blindsight’, ‘Armored Core’ and working with Neill Blomkamp in ~books

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    Apparently I need to read Blindsight now!

    Apparently I need to read Blindsight now!

    3 votes

  18. Comment on Moonlight: Open source game streaming client in ~games

    th0mcat
    (edited )
    Link
    For anyone wondering about performance/input lag of Moonshine and Sunshine: When my wife was in the hospital last year, I brought my tablet and modified GameSir G8 to test out a remote stream....

    For anyone wondering about performance/input lag of Moonshine and Sunshine:

    When my wife was in the hospital last year, I brought my tablet and modified GameSir G8 to test out a remote stream. WireGuard’d into my network, fired up Diablo 4, almost no discernible lag and picture quality was great.

    Specs:

    Desktop: Ryzen 3950X, 32GB RAM, RTX 3080, game at
    2800x1752 60fps.

    Home Network: 1 Gig fiber, Palo Alto PA-440

    I was pulling 250Mb down on the hospital WiFi, which was probably the biggest determining factor.

    7 votes

  19. Comment on The real problem with toilet paper: Where it comes from in ~enviro

    th0mcat
    Link Parent
    You can add one of these (https://a.co/d/cJwAk5L) without modifying the toilet and it doesn’t need a power outlet. The water is cold, which might take some getting used to, but it is a powerful...

    You can add one of these (https://a.co/d/cJwAk5L) without modifying the toilet and it doesn’t need a power outlet. The water is cold, which might take some getting used to, but it is a powerful stream and does a fantastic job. I have almost no handyman experience and was able to add it in about 40 minutes.

    12 votes

  20. Comment on Bethesda’s Oblivion Unreal Engine 5 remake could be releasing sooner than you think in ~games

    th0mcat
    Link
    Unrelated to the content of the piece: did anyone else’s screen become a full-screen ad multiple times while in the middle of reading the article?

    Unrelated to the content of the piece: did anyone else’s screen become a full-screen ad multiple times while in the middle of reading the article?

    1 vote