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286 karma · joined November 24, 2016

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FTA··on How to Write a Thesis (1977)
It's all part of the yak shaving necessary to finish a thesis.
FTA··on Day of the Tentacle
Site seems down...archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20190610020009/https://www.filfr...
FTA··on Amazon Jumps into Freight Brokerage
That website actually looks to be run by Uber, not Flexport.
FTA··on Bacteria can travel thousands of miles through the air on their own
Link to the actual study (which the article never provides): https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2018.009...
FTA··on Ralph Nader: Greedy Boeing’s Avoidable Design and Software Time Bombs
I usually have less severe jetlag on the 737 MAX 9s compared to the Airbus fleet. I think it's the level at which they pressurize the cabins. In any case, like others have said, it really depends on the airline and seating configuration therein.

Also regarding the climate change, as I understand it, the MAX 9 changes were designed to _increase_ fuel efficiency.

FTA··on The Zipper Rule on German Roads
I try to follow the zipper rule when getting on the freeway. The problem I run into quite often in CA (and the thing that frustrates me the most in urban driving) is when people behind me on a highway on-ramp cut across the solid white line to "get ahead". That then forces me to have to slow down while they pass so I don't ram them from the side. If you factor in other through-way cars already in the lane, this can really congest merging and you get major backups in the rightmost lane.

A similar event comes to mind when you come across someone sitting in the left lane going under the speed limit but completely unaware or bother for the people passing them.

So I guess my point is, while these are great in theory, they don't really work in practice without buy in from the herd (I use herd as this problem can be framed in a similar light as vaccinations and herd immunity).

FTA··on Spotify in Talks to Buy Gimlet Media
They have been. It may just not be completely visible beyond their Live at Spotify recordings (which, from the copyrights on those albums, I imagine Spotify still has to pay close to the same royalties for).

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-is-creating-i...

FTA··on Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
My recent Lyfts have had a line included in their post-ride text message that says I should tip my driver to show appreciation for the ride. I rather pay a few dollars more for my ride fare to have the tip built in than deal with this social pressuring.
FTA··on The IPO of Virgin Trains U.S.A.
I recently took the Brightline train between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and was absolutely impressed. It felt as if I had been transported to Europe and aboard a DB train. Staff were professional and competent, stations were bright and clean, and the train was quite fast (in some places). I have an optimistic outlook for their SoCal train.

This is all in stark contrast to my experiences on Amtrak, full of half-caring staff and dirty cars on a train that would be hours behind. I get it, they don't have ROW since they don't own the tracks, but if the long distance trains left stations nearly on time, then they would be able to meet most of the scheduled sidings and pass with ease.

FTA··on Vitamin D and cancer prevention
Another consideration is the pollution you're breathing when walking or deeply breathing while running. Particulate matter, ozone, and carbon monoxide could very well cancel out the benefits of receiving that Vitamin D production you get in some months.
FTA··on Archive dump from the Galileo magnetometer patch
JPL is run by California Institute of Technology and the work they do is under contract to NASA, so I would be cautious about calling things that stem from there a public domain government work.
FTA··on Why You Can Focus in a Coffee Shop but Not in Your Open Office
Sorry, I was trying to describe myself in different respects. 1) Introverted, 2) Worrying about others' thoughts.
FTA··on Why You Can Focus in a Coffee Shop but Not in Your Open Office
To me, there's something slightly numbing to the part of my brain that craves distraction when I'm surrounded by other people going about life like normal--be it the workers cleaning tables, a first date or friends meeting, or the steady stream of people ordering. I also get a similar numbing feeling when vacuuming or showering that allows me to focus conceptually on a hard problem.

And oftentimes it's the novelty of a place that helps inspire some creativity when it comes to writing.

As others have pointed out, it's hard to shut out conversation from coworkers especially if you don't know if they are talking about work related to you. But when you're in public, you know those conversations don't pertain to you and you can feel no back-of-the-mind guilt about shutting them out (which, as an introvert worrying about others' thoughts, _is_ an issue).

FTA··on Show HN: Send a fax to 50 countries, no signup, account or subscription required
FTSite: ''Simple, straightforward, pricing. $1 for the first four pages, $0.25 for each additional page.''

Twilio charges are generally under $0.25/min for outbound phone calls in the U.S. and $0.01/page for programmable fax. If you choose not to opt for Twilio Fax API, lambda function to encode and send the fax is a fraction of a penny instead. So there's probably some room for profit margin either way.

FTA··on Judge Recommends ISP and Search Engine Blocking of Sci-Hub in the US
Ever since I heard about Sci-Hub, I knew judgements along this line would be incoming eventually.

The only way to solve the science publishing problem is from the top down: lean on scientific funding agencies for them to mandate results must be published in an open access journal. Take it a step further and say none of this "pay-us-super-extra-money-on-top-to-open-your-article-up-early" garbage either.

Hesitation from many scientists to publish in open access is that many full open access journals are not as popular and thus you lose some impact or credibility to the works when publishing in them. But if everyone is forced to migrate to open access, that will go away--perhaps with a few years of turbulence.

Otherwise, the behemoths like RELX and Wiley will endlessly pursue any sort of effort to open up their copyrighted material (and rightly so within their legal rights), just like the RIAA and music sharing.

FTA··on The harrowing world of a trauma cleaner
Link to the actual essay: http://narrative.ly/the-secret-life-of-a-crime-scene-cleaner...

The Guardian link is an interview with the author of the essay who talks about a cleaner that the author shadowed for a few years.

FTA··on American Red Cross Asks for Ham Radio Operators for Puerto Rico Relief Effort
I've been a Technician for many years. I have worked numerous local responses: parades, athletic events, smaller scale weather disasters. It was really rewarding, especially when a family member was actually participating in the event, and you felt awesome knowing you're keeping watch and helping to direct and dispatch help where needed. I met a lot of folks who were much older and had amazing stories. One in particular drove his RV with his wife down to LA shortly after Katrina and, using a ham radio and bag phone, helped relay a lot of the communications flowing out of the area.

Unfortunately the bar to get a General license is much higher than Technician, even without the Morse Code. There are a ton of regulations and rules you need to be familiar with that are often not related to E&M. This unfortunately kept me from ever upgrading and being of use in large scale disasters like this. I can understand to an extent why the licensing is still required; otherwise you will have these spectra flooded with people probably using them for commercial purposes with no regulation to cut them off.

Basic ham communications are still absolutely critical in major disasters. A few others have touched on this, but bandwidth and throughout for communication is increased with the advent of digital interfaces to the radios to the point that you can essentially establish a data connection over the air. Godspeed to those who make the trek.

FTA··on Google Is Close to Buying HTC Assets to Bolster Hardware
Hmm, never happened on my phone at all. Maybe I got a good batch. Again--I said it was only anecdotal :)
FTA··on Disqus comments adding third-party ad-tracking
Time and time again we see "free" companies on the internet have three Lorenz attractors that they evolve towards: 1) users being heavily limited in features without paying a large enough sum of subscription money to subsidize others, 2) sell everyone's data and continue to operate, or 3) disappear.
FTA··on Street View of 80s NYC
I can't remember the URL and I'm on mobile, but I recall a a site that did this for USSR photos. It was very interesting to see photos of Chernobyl pre-incident.

Unfortunately trying to construct street level from this technique would be difficult as people would have to manually geolocate to an extent, which would generally grow the older the photos are. But I think sites like Mapillary and OpenStreetCam don't have a required freshness of photos, though I've found by accident Mapillary has a minimum at 1 epoch time.

FTA··on Google Is Close to Buying HTC Assets to Bolster Hardware
Anecdotal, and nothing super groundbreaking, but my HTC One M9 has a camera I'd say gives the iPhone the besg running for its money out of any Android I've seen. The phone is also an absolutely solid build...many years of ownership and I've never had a case, yet I've dropped it on at least six occasions with no problems. I'd say HTC is the Nokia of smart phones when it comes to durability. Finally, the software experience--up until ATT nearly FUBARed it with OTA trash--has been extremely pleasing.

So it's an elegant phone at a price a few hundred dollars cheaper than an iPhone with honestly a very similar feel all around. Unfortunately, though, I don't plan to buy a new version beyond what is currently available if they are vacuumed up by Google.

FTA··on Apple blocking ads that follow users around web is 'sabotage', says industry
I've found the formula for "news" slideshows is N+int(N/5) as ads seem to be inserted in after every 5 X that are X.
FTA··on Gas Pump Skimmers
I had no clue until a cashier did it for me in a European country. There may be a little logo like this either on your card or on the materials when you get your card: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_smart_card#/media/....

Once it was demonstrated to me, I went back and found out the cards I've had since 2013 (pre-chip).

FTA··on Gas Pump Skimmers
You just hold the card over the screen and it reads (I believe) an RFID chip in the card. No swiping or card insertion required.
FTA··on The Incredible Growth of Python
All the scientists I know on Python (N > 30) use matplotlib and (numpy or scipy or pandas). Some niche libraries for certain data formats are also necessary. These libraries are compatible in 2 and 3, and are easy to install with pip or conda, so everyone I've shown them to has made the jump quickly from Matlab, IDL, and others.
FTA··on Boeing 787 In Flight Entertainment System Security fun
Looks like decompression is checked for in a function that catches behavior for DECOMPRESSION, PA, and WEIGHT ON WHEELS (no entertainment on ground when heavy devices should be stored):

https://github.com/x8BitRain/InFlightEntertainment-Scoot787/...

which then weaves through various functions similar to the above states. So I think your guess is on track!

FTA··on Juicero Is Shutting Down
While I agree, I don't think it's the case every VC desires to appeal to the average consumer. Companies ranging from Gucci to Rolls Royce to Tesla have made a good business for themselves knowing what the above average consumers they want to cater to like. Thus VCs, like any company, should be judged as to how well they know their target audience. At their price point, Juicero clearly wasn't wanting to appeal to the average consumer. But they instead missed the mark in appealing to their target market--the wealthier than average.
FTA··on Court: Locating suspect via stingray requires a warrant
FTA: "But because Ellis was believed to be involved in another shooting that happened one day earlier on January 20, 2013, the judge felt there were exigent circumstances" [that didn't require a warrant].

So then they don't _necessarily_ require a warrant. It seems like nowadays, with the Patriot Act and similar law measures, you would have to completely ban in all cases something you don't want authorities to abuse. Otherwise, they will have an excuse for being unconstitutional they can take advantage of.

FTA··on Show HN: Pastel, build better websites with sticky-note feedback
If you're looking for a free alternative, Genius has a web annotator service [0], available either through their site or self-hosted. Registration is required to make annotations, though.

[0]: https://genius.com/web-annotator

FTA··on How YouTube perfected the feed
I've had luck stopping suggestions I don't want by deleting the video that triggered them in my watch history.
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