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FluffyKitty

86 karma · joined May 5, 2019

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FluffyKitty··on Megapack: Utility-Scale Energy Storage
Probably just the simple economics of cost of land vs cost of construction of a new building + ongoing maintenance.

I'm sure if they ever saw need to place this in a city they would construct a building. But for now, it's probably cheaper to just build out where land is cheap (and possibly closer to generation source) and then transport the energy to where it's being used.

FluffyKitty··on Fast Software, the Best Software
Thanks for taking the time to respond!
FluffyKitty··on Fast Software, the Best Software
I used the Fastmail site today after a long time to change some setting and noticed the UI had been updated. Really liking the new look, great job to you and your team!

I was interested in what front-end library you guys were using so I did a bit of searching and found a twitter post about OvertureJS. I know this is kind of random, but I'd love to understand how you guys came to the decision to build a framework from scratch instead of relying on Angular/React. What kind of technical limitations did they have that you guys wished to tackle with Overture?

FluffyKitty··on Show HN: PyDist – Private Python Package Hosting
For those looking to secure their systems from external source failures, I'd recommend taking a look at Sonatype's Nexus Repository [1]. It supports a wide range of package sources and has the option to self-host.

I almost didn't know that Github was down the other day because all the packages I was using were already cached on Nexus.

[1] https://www.sonatype.com/nexus-repository-software-component...

FluffyKitty··on Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China
I believe the usual answer to this is that you need a certain percentage of working poor to do the types of menial tasks we haven't been able to automate yet. If they could make more money elsewhere who would do those jobs? If those jobs suddenly paid more, than the price of food would go up and then we would have other problems. I think a key example is the current shortage of farm hands in California [1]. It's causing the price of some produce to go up, and also leading to some wasted crops.

Now, I'm not arguing that it _should_ or has to be this way. I'm just highlighting the usual arguments made when discussing why the rich may conspire to keep some people poor.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2018/05/03/607996811/worker-shortage-hur...

FluffyKitty··on Windows 10 Debloat Script
That is an interesting take on it. I guess my problem with debloating is two fold.

One, when I bothered trying to debloat my Windows gaming machine in the past, many of the changes would be undone when windows updated from time to time and this was frustrating.

Second, I don't know what the advisability of running a bunch of unvetted scripts is. Sure it's open source, but who is actually going to go thru and read all those scripts one-by-one before running them.

FluffyKitty··on Windows 10 Debloat Script
But given that you are only gaming on Windows, why run the debloating script?
FluffyKitty··on Windows 10 Debloat Script
I have to ask, for anyone that cares this much, why bother with Windows at this point? Wouldn't it be easier to just use Linux?

I know the usual argument is that you need Windows to game, but why make your gaming instance your main work instance too? Why not dual boot and use Linux for work and Windows for gaming?

FluffyKitty··on TurboTax to charge more lower-income customers
If you're in Canada, and want to stop supporting TurboTax, I recommend giving SimpleTax.ca a try. It's free for everyone, but you can donate after you file your taxes if you want. I was also very impressed with their privacy policy [1].

[1] https://simpletax.ca/privacy

FluffyKitty··on Sweet.js – Hygienic Macros for JavaScript
I actually work on a JS project that needed to heavily rely on macros to reduce build file size (the project is from before ES6 and rollup.js). I ended up going to MetaScript [1] as all of its syntax was based on comments. So all the other tooling and code highlighting worked without issue.

[1] https://github.com/dcodeIO/MetaScript

FluffyKitty··on How much money can you make on Mechanical Turk?
Possibly Expensify? There was that news that came out a bit ago that their "SmartScan" actually fell back on Mechanical Turk [1] even though it was sold as a AI-type thing.

[1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/expen...

FluffyKitty··on Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads
Yeah, I have to agree here. If this is a build server, I'd argue that they should be running Windows Server and just disable the UI all together.
FluffyKitty··on Preserving Laptop Stickers on MacBooks
It's weird that this is being talked about as if it's not something that companies/sellers have been offering for ages.

This "special" car vinyl with the air channels is 3M's Controltac product. You can find many sellers on eBay/AliExpress [1] or the myriad of other Chinese web stores offering this product.

[1] https://www.ebay.com/itm/Surface-3M-Skin-Decal-Sticker-Cover...

FluffyKitty··on Magic Leap Says Ex-Engineer Copied Headset for China
There is quite a bit that can be done. IANAL, but I can point to this episode of Planet Money that has a similar situation: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...
FluffyKitty··on Why we can't have privacy on the internet (2018)
Is running a server really that cheap if you include the up front costs, maintenance, and your own time? What about the costs of having an offsite backup?

As someone who also has their own personal server, I can definitely say it's not cheap.

FluffyKitty··on Leaks indicate 2018 gas attacks in Syria may not have happened
Based on the information in the article, the following items would have been required to stage something like this:

- Foreknowledge of the bombing by the Syrian/Russian coalition, including time and place.

- A high probability that there would be many people suffering from hypoxia following the bombing.

- False canisters ready to be deployed to the area.

While not wholly impossible, it does seem unlikely to me, and as such I believe that the headline is a bit of a stretch.

I think it would be more accurate to focus on OPCW and they way it compiles and presents it's findings.

FluffyKitty··on Anxiety might be alleviated by regulating gut bacteria
For me personally, anxiety would cause me to have gut issues (i.e. bloating, feeling sick, diarrhea, etc). After a while, the reverse started happening too, things like feeling bloated triggered my anxiety.

Just changing me diet to include a lot more fibre and cutting back a lot of processed carbs helped reduce the stomach problems which resulted in less anxiety.

FluffyKitty··on Anxiety might be alleviated by regulating gut bacteria
I can add another anecdata point for that one.
FluffyKitty··on Minimum pay at Basecamp is now $70k
While it is probably nigh impossible to find a facilities company that would pay the staff that much, I don't think simply saying it's another company and therefore out of their hands is a valid argument. You could've said the same about Nike in relation to the factories that used to supply them and use child labour.
FluffyKitty··on Updates to Works with Nest
Heh. Someone should have reconsidered that title given the recent controversy with Nest devices having hidden microphones.
FluffyKitty··on ZombieLoad: Cross Privilege-Boundary Data Leakage on Intel CPUs
It really is going to depend on what test you are running. HT has the greatest effect when the running process has a lot of "downtime" for things like memory retrieval or any I/O as it allows for other processes to make use of this downtime. So if your tests are just doing calculations with very little file/network I/O it could very well be in the 9% range.
FluffyKitty··on Bokeh: Private, independent, and user-funded photo sharing
Not to be a cynic for the sake of being a cynic, but with a service like this, how can they guarantee that they will continue to respect privacy moving forward? What's to prevent changes in policy within the platform?
FluffyKitty··on Applying the Gestalt Principles to Code
>Not sure this is the type of article for juniors.

Most definitely. I worded that poorly. I meant "my juniors" as in those with less experience than I, but not fresh out of the oven devs.

FluffyKitty··on Applying the Gestalt Principles to Code
Wow, this article does such a good job of concisely explaining these concepts I've been trying to put into words for so long! Definitely going to be sharing with some of the juniors.