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artificialidiot

152 karma · joined February 5, 2013

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artificialidiot··on BMW Ends Combustion Engine Production in Germany
A car is not just four wheels strapped to an engine.
artificialidiot··on Battery electric vehicles are like Concorde
What's with the constant bad mouthing of EVs that I've been seeing on social media for the last 3 months? They have been on the market for the last decade and there are no unknowns about them.

Is the competition with chinese EVs so hard that only way out is to buy out the public opinion?

artificialidiot··on UV-emitting nail polish dryers damage DNA and cause mutations in cells
They emit UVA which has less energy and body has better defenses for it, but it is not as readily blocked as UVB or UVC, although some would imagine the resin and pigments for this application are designed to absorb UVA more.

I think most risk has to do with manufacturers' lax attitude for safety and consumer expectations and impatience.

Not that it is a particularly healthy thing to radiate oneself with UV but what is life without some color.

artificialidiot··on PicoCAD – A tiny modeller for tiny models
I never thought I would feel nostalgic about j2me. So cute.
artificialidiot··on Python multi-level break and continue
I think it boils down to "early exit" v.s. "single return" style. More than likely, the average programmer will pick the style they've been taught at school or whichever was preached more.

I think early exit constructs improve readability and python already offers a lot of syntax open to abuse at this point. (things you can write with nested list/dict comprehensions with if conditions/expressions scattered..)

artificialidiot··on Ask HN: What are the purchases under $300 that have improved your life?
1. Air filter 2. Dehumidifier
artificialidiot··on Lon Lat Lon Lat
Yeah, it is actually silly if you don't have a decent DEM, though you can get away with a geoid approximation if you only want to render a pretty picture for someone navigating to the nearest ATM.
artificialidiot··on 'Dutch reach' rule change to Highway Code welcomed
There is a side mirror on the car. Use it.
artificialidiot··on What’s the jankiest piece of tech you’ve seen a company depend on?
TYPO3 CMS
artificialidiot··on Nokia XR20 Mobile
I used my E6 for almost ten years (replaced the battery once). 3~4 years is just the life of the lithium battery. Nowadays it is the software's fault that perfectly serviceable devices are out of use. I give about 1½ years before they give up.
artificialidiot··on Audi abandons combustion engine development
you won't be able to pump at a gas station but you'll still be able to buy cans of racing blends.
artificialidiot··on Google-Free Android Smartphones Are Now Available in the U.S.
Nokia X worked pretty good without google. Shame it was killed along with Nokia itself.
artificialidiot··on Many small queries are efficient in SQLite
I am working on an app that needs some GIS features. Spatialite and GDAL cover my use case. You can even eliminate GDAL if you don't retrieve data as binary but it is useful in other places too.
artificialidiot··on The Art of Oatmeal
I like rolled oats with yogurt and spices (pepper, chilli and thyme mostly). Not sweet, not slimy..
artificialidiot··on Let's Build a Can Stirling Engine (2000)
iirc panasonic had one generator. small scale internal combustion engines are popular because power to weight ratio allows the same design to be used in other equipment and it has near instantaneous power regulation.
artificialidiot··on Why shaving dulls even the sharpest of razors
I think that blue bar is just for lubrication. You can shave just with water if enough of it is there
artificialidiot··on Relax for the Same Result (2015)
Riding a bike works like that. 2-3 minutes is a huge difference in terms of power output required. Headwinds can sap your power. Going slightly above your average feels like a headwind. A coach potato like me can output about a hundred watts on a good day so if you have money to spare and want to go faster, buy upgrades. 3 watts here, 2 watts there and you are at +10% ;)
artificialidiot··on Opinions I have formed about the “geospatial industry”
I agree to all points. For point 6. Mapbox is a big contender for ESRI's current position.

For 8. Openstreetmap, GDAL and associated open source ecosystem offers a solution to proprietary format and API of the month problem to a degree. It is not surprising that there is no money flowing if mapping is not a core business of the users.

Aerial and satellite imagery is the heavily regulated and lucrative part of any mapping solution. If you are allowed and able to obtain that, you can probably get by just selling the raw imagery without geospatial processing.

artificialidiot··on Studies show Alzheimer’s occurs more often in people exposed to polluted air
Half the world economy is dedicated to run the automotive industry. Not happening anytime soon sadly..
artificialidiot··on Kolonya: Turkey's unique hand-sanitizing method
Well I did a better research and yea, you are right. Traditionally, all bottles have something like "80 proof" on them. Apparently, it is not English proof but French proof which is same as ABV.
artificialidiot··on Kolonya: Turkey's unique hand-sanitizing method
It is not 80% alcohol, it is 80 proof which is 40%. Article is wrong about effectiveness.
artificialidiot··on Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
cat whisker detector
artificialidiot··on FLIF – Free Lossless Image Format
Yes. If you examine PNG format, it actually uses pixels around a pixel to predict its value and compress the difference, which is much closer to 0 values. It actually uses zlib to compress just like gzip.
artificialidiot··on SystemE: A lightweight systemd replacement written in Emacs Lisp
FirefoxOS
artificialidiot··on Washington pressures TSMC to make chips in US
You have a good point about tech getting bigger. What worries me is that tech starting to profit more from war. Surveillance , GIS, AI, chips, robotics... are already a huge area and expanding. It is not a stretch to imagine a scenario like facebook signing a deal to provide intelligence, google or amazon providing infrastructure.
artificialidiot··on Things that I think will be important in the next decade
low effort intelligence collection. I wouldn't mind "investing" into those companies if I were an agency employing who are basically incompetent crooks.
artificialidiot··on Estimates that mineral levels in vegetables have dropped by up to 90% since 1914
my own experience is that I have to eat a sickening amount of meat to get enough minerals so I started to get some supplements. apparently vegs that I can buy are little more than starch and sugar.
artificialidiot··on Google Employees Say Their Careers Were Stymied After Reporting Harassment
one who reports harassment today will report illegal conduct tomorrow. not good for doing business nowadays. you must be domesticated to be any use to coroporations.
artificialidiot··on Microsimulation of Traffic Flow
It is fun to watch cars changing lanes like maniacs as if it matters.
artificialidiot··on Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports
so collecting superfluous intelligence and racial profiling is the answer.
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