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ljcn

270 karma · joined August 4, 2017

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ljcn··on Don’t Trust Facebook with Your Love Life
Subjectively. By the quality of the argument.
ljcn··on Burgundy wine investors have beaten the stock market
The cheapest platforms in the UK are £5-10 per trade - $10 doesn't sound expensive.
ljcn··on What happens when you launch Google Chrome for the first time?
I hoped at one point Brave would follow more of a patreon-like model - block ads on pages and give the site my money in exchange. Unfortunately they've gone for showing me different ads.
ljcn··on Zen 2 Missives – AMD now delivering efficiencies that are double that of Intel
'Hear hear'
ljcn··on Caviar was a free bar snack
I don't know much about fish or live near the Pacific, but neither of the links in my comment (sibling to yours) suggest sockeye is a bad choice. In fact NE Pacific 'early summer' sockeye is a recommended choice, and many BC sockeye fisheries have MSC certification.
ljcn··on Caviar was a free bar snack
There are good ways to check:

US: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/

UK: https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search

Both have mobile apps I believe.

ljcn··on Upmem Puts CPUs Inside Memory to Allow Applications to Run 20 Times Faster
Indeed, like how the best CPU reviews don't just report the power consumption but also the energy consumed to do a given benchmark (power integrated in time for a fixed amount of work).
ljcn··on Scientists Have Been Underestimating the Pace of Climate Change
Just yesterday - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/children-happines...

Parents with grown-up children report being happier than those without children (but those with younger children are the least happy).

ljcn··on Oil Needs to Fall Below $20 to Compete With Green Alternatives
I think the distinction is that many people are familiar with green energy being subsidised and surprised that oil & gas (often large, established, wealthy, and profitable companies) are too (at least in terms of tax breaks).
ljcn··on Despite High Hopes, Self-Driving Cars Are ‘Way in the Future’
That last point about materials is interesting. Commercial extraction of aluminium was only discovered in the late 1880s and Duralumin (an early alloy) wouldn't be invented until 1909. Thanks to these discoveries and the Great War the prediction was way off.
ljcn··on Radiotrophic fungus
I know nothing about this but just did a little reading. It seems some direct nuclear to electricity methods are 90% efficient.

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-convert-nuclear-ener...

PIDEC sounds like it works well with conventional IV gen reactors, achieving an extra 40% efficiency. ICC (a kind of DEC) seems suited to fusion and can exceed 90% efficiency.

ljcn··on Terence Tao's Raw Notes After His Princeton Comprehensive Exams (1999)
Reminds me of George Dantzig, who solved two unsolved problems in statistics because he mistook them for homework.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-unsolvable-math-proble...

I wonder how many other breakthroughs have occurred in a 'hard' problem that was thought to be 'easy'.

ljcn··on Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
https://xkcd.com/1314/
ljcn··on BMW is accelerating electrification plans
Yes the last time I checked this was the case. Most western cities are clean enough that cycling is still a net-win.
ljcn··on BMW is accelerating electrification plans
In addition non-negligible sources of particulates are tyres and brakes wearing down.
ljcn··on BMW is accelerating electrification plans
It is an interesting question. The best option is almost certainly to not use a car (walk, cycle, or bus instead). The emissions are much lower[1] (absolute and per-distance) and you might get some health benefits.

If a car is needed it depends how you're planning to power it.

This answer[0] does a great job of looking at the energy inputs of building a car. I thought the up-front cost would be higher but the emissions from producing a car are comparable to the emissions of using the car for a few years.

So if the choice is between a used ICE car and a new EV and charging it with renewable energy, it's (surprisingly) probably worth buying the new EV.

If you're planning to charge it with power from a coal plant though you should probably get the used ICE car.

[0] https://www.quora.com/How-much-energy-is-required-to-build-a... [1] https://ecf.com/news-and-events/news/how-much-co2-does-cycli...

ljcn··on Investigating the impact removing password masking has on consumer trust (2014)
The keyboard itself could encrypt the keystrokes before sending them to the OS? That could work. Moves the threat to attacking the keyboard firmware.
ljcn··on Facebook moderators break NDAs to expose working conditions
It's well known that viewing graphic material can trigger PTSD, e.g. in the police force. These moderators will be exposed to similar.
ljcn··on Boston’s Seaport District may be a testing ground for climate change adaptation
Yes, here are a few articles from Tamino's blog. Note the first one is #1 in a 7-part series

https://tamino.wordpress.com/2018/12/28/sea-level-rise-u-s-e...

https://tamino.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/boston-sea-level/

https://tamino.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/moon-over-miami-bost...

The last one (and related posts) is worth a look even though it isn't what you asked for because it discusses how an apparently small increase in sea level can lead to a surprising increase in flood frequency.

ljcn··on Study finds that a GPS outage would cost $1B per day
Thanks, I wasn't familiar with the jargon or the electronics.

The original post said "might" but it seems that's exactly what cell sites use (GPSDOs).

ljcn··on Study finds that a GPS outage would cost $1B per day
AFAIK this isn't how it works; the GPS provides a reference so the skew of the crystal can be measured as it drifts.
ljcn··on The Race to Become the Beyond Meat of Fish
That's not a fair comparison, unless the restaurant also brews its own beer.

A better drinks comparison would be choosing from the menu between a 'Jose Cuervo Authentic Margarita' and a margarita mixed fresh by the bartender.

I agree with the OP - in a restaurant I would always order a made-from-scratch dish (the house margarita) than a factory-made burger (the premixed margarita).

ljcn··on Google's Captcha in Firefox vs. in Chrome
I don't know how the image captchas work but the old-fashioned type-the-words captchas asked you one it knew the answer to and one it didn't. By giving unknown words to multiple users and finding a consensus they could move words from the unknown to known set.
ljcn··on Toyota announces sustainable vehicle ecosystem [video]
Actually having now read a link elsewhere in this discussion (https://www.thedrive.com/tech/26050/exclusive-toyota-hydroge...)...

It seems that _liquid_ hydrogen escapes from small containers fairly quickly (weeks) and requires temperatures close to 0K, so cars use pressurized hydrogen _gas_ (700 bar for the Mirai) which doesn't escape.

_Mass_ storage of liquid hydrogen is no problem (months).

ljcn··on Toyota announces sustainable vehicle ecosystem [video]
The Mirai uses carbon fiber tanks for this reason.

Some good info here on the transportation problem: https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/features/japan-taking-a-...

ljcn··on With greater longevity, the quest to avoid infirmities of aging is more urgent
The "recommended routine" at r/bodyweightfitness

https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...

I've been doing it for about a year and it's excellent. The only "equipment" I bought are some wooden gymnastics rings.

ljcn··on I Grew Up Gifted, but My Life Didn’t Turn Out the Way I Expected
The parent comment said there would be a niche for you, not (necessarily) that it would be lucrative. You might be more valued there (in the "we're lucky we found this guy" way if not the cash way).
ljcn··on Refurbished Samsung Android Phones Sans Google Now Available
It's now free to unlock on most networks (not EE) during contract, and MUST be free once the contract has ended.
ljcn··on How Fragmented Is Android?
Ubuntu is heavy though. You can install the latest Slackware on a 486 with 64 MB of RAM.
ljcn··on How we found the source of the mystery signals at Parkes Radio Telescope (2015)
Not a single reference in the OED.
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