cynar
@cynar@lemmy.world
- Comment on xkcd #3211: Amperage 3 days ago:
It’s less based on the capacity, and more on how much time is likely a premium.
E.g. motorway services are more expensive, since people need the power and want to get back on the road. It’s exactly the same logic as the price of petrol there.
- Comment on AI Is Destroying Grocery Supply Chains 4 days ago:
PhD level and up are notorious for over specialisation.
My university had a personal assistant, dedicated to 2 professors. Half their job was to make sure they made it to lectures on time. They still managed to be late sometimes.
- Comment on High IQ men tend to be less conservative than their average peers, study finds 1 week ago:
What would you replace it with? While it’s not a good metric for individuals, in group studies, it’s a useful proxy for information processing intelligence.
- Comment on Thoughts about my (potential) first server? 1 week ago:
The rule of thumb with servers is
- Performance
- Reliability
- Power usage
- Noise
- Size
The trick is to remember you don’t actually need much performance. A home server isn’t generally a powerful machine. What matters is that it is always there.
A raspberry pi would actually make a wonderful server. It’s power efficient, small and quiet, with enough grunt to do most jobs. Unfortunately, it falls down on reliability. Arm servers seem more prone to issues than x64 servers. Pis also seems particularly crash prone. Crashing every 3-6 months isn’t an issue for most pi usages. When it’s running your smart home, it’s a pain in the arse.
I eventually settled on a intel NUC system. It’s a proper computer (no HDD on usb etc), with a very low power draw. It also seems particularly stable. Mine has done several years at this point, without a crash.
Bigger servers are only needed when you have too much demand for a low powered option, or need specialist capabilities 24/7. Very few home labbers will need one, in practice.
It’s also worth noting that you can slave a powerful, but power hungry system, to a smaller, efficient one. Only power it on when a highly demanding task requires sorting.
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
I fully agree. It’s the same over here in the UK.
The key is to get a (semi global) get of regulations in play asap. If China can’t sell them, then they won’t make the lower quality products. Unfortunately, getting them back out of circulation will be a LOT harder. The safety rules need to go in early.
- Comment on Do you ever feel guilty for trying to sign up for government assistance programs? 2 weeks ago:
I will say, as a tax payer, if you are eligible for them, FUCKING TAKE THEM! Take every ¢ you can make reasonable use of!
I pay into the pool to provide a safety net to everyone. I’ve bounced off it myself, when I was younger. I want to know that it is doing its job for those that need it.
Proviso, I’m based in the UK. I’m quite sure a lot of tax payers, world wide, feel the same and would also give you “permission”.
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
The problem isn’t when it’s done correctly, it’s when it gets half arsed by cheap Chinese suppliers. A lot of the corner cuts are not easily detectable to layman consumers.
The biggest is matching protection. The solar needs to shut down within ms of an RCD going (RCDs take 30ms). Otherwise it could continue to shock a victim, or risk a fire.
The most insidious would be to stop any with an “Off grid” mode. Grid workers already fear generators being backfed during a power cut. It turns cold lines live, with no warning. Having a switch to get your lights and TV working again would be far too tempting to too many people.
Speaking of the grid. One of the biggest issues is grid instability. Solar can do offline VERY quickly. Micro solar is even worse for this. Without major upgrades on the grid, it’s akin to having a small child “helping” you move heavy furniture up some stairs. In theory you’re better off. In practice you spend more resources countering the chaos than you save.
My personal view is that all new homes should have power feed in capabilities baked in at the mains entry point. It can then have proper cutoff/cutover capabilities, from fully approved parts. No chance of Chinese cheap crap killing people. It also puts the breakers back inline with the power. Home solar (balcony or rooftop), battery backup, generators all can be fed in via a known safe method.
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
It’s also worth noting that some of the issues get a lot easier at 230VAC
We are effectively on twice the voltage. Since P=I^2 R the effective heating is quadrupled. This makes American wiring a lot more vulnerable to overloading than Europe or China.
- Comment on Room temperature IQ is a far bigger insult in Europe than America. 2 weeks ago:
It might be higher than you think. Unfortunately, IQ is only a proxy for intelligence. With “normal” people, it’s quite a reasonable proxy. At the extremes it begins to break down.
It might be worth trying him on some of the easier IQ tests. Autistic minds tend to like focused puzzles, which make up the bulk of IQ tests. That’s actually the source of the “idiot savant” stereotype. A massive over-focus on a small subset of “puzzles”
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
What matters is the differential. A breaker limits the input. E.g. to 16A. A plug in solar provides an independent input. E.g. 10A. Under certain circumstances, multiple loads, up to 26A total could exist on the spur, without the breaker being triggered. This could put up to 26A down some of the wiring of the spur.
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
I think the issue is that, if you have a circuit designed and protected for X, then put Y solar in, you can get a situation where X+Y is flowing down some of the wires. It’s more than they are rated for, but the breaker doesn’t see it.
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
I have a friend who works for the UK grid. He visibly winced when I mentioned the plug in back feeding systems a while back. They’ve had a few close calls with “off grid” setups being used on grid.
Apparently even properly installed solar is a serious problem, though that’s more down to the sudden demand shifts it creates. It throws off their predictions and threatens grid stability at times.
I’m a big fan of solar, at all scales, btw. We just need to remember that the grid is not just a dumb system, it has a lot of active parts that were never designed or intended for use with microgeneration.
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
Back feeding power is always problematic. A proper system should detect and match the mains before providing power. Once they become normalised then lower quality kit will start hitting the market.
The problem comes when they have to do line work etc. The power is intended to only flow 1 way, so turning it off, and making it safe is easy. It only takes 1 dodgy plug in solar to deliver a lethal shock to someone working on the line. Even worse, it could suddenly appear either by being plugged in, or the sun coming out, so a tested safe line can suddenly become hot.
It’s worth noting that fixed solar can also have this issue. However, it’s a lot easier to regulate and enforce with fixed installs.
- Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket. 2 weeks ago:
There are some interesting new technologies hitting the market. They use vibration to extract energy, rather than rotation. This is a lot more efficient at small scales. While they are extremely situation specific, they can outperform solar for some areas, particularly in winter.
- Comment on No One, Including Our Furry Friends, Will Be Safer in Ring's Surveillance Nightmare 2 weeks ago:
Fully agreed that it needs to be done right. I’m definitely not the best person to try and write it.
It also needs to be area specific. A predominantly republican area would need a different message to a predominantly black community.
Has Amazon ever actually said it wouldn’t sell the results of face tracking to data brokers? I can easily see it happening. It’s a lot of tasty data to them.
- Comment on No One, Including Our Furry Friends, Will Be Safer in Ring's Surveillance Nightmare 2 weeks ago:
A better option might be a leafleting campaign.
It would need to bypass the “I’ve nothing to hide” effect. E.g. “Does your friend have an ex they don’t want to know where they are? Facial recognition would easily put them on your doorstep. Would you like a visit from them?”
Leaning on the ICE issues right now would also work in some areas.
If someone mocked up a few variants for different demographics, that could actually help.
Also, does anyone know an easy layman alternative to ring, that is more ethical?
- Comment on Is the Raspberry Pi Still an Affordable SBC? I Don't Think So 2 weeks ago:
They are excellent in the hobby world. It’s generally when you need to do a bit of quick logic, an ESP32 can be dropped in to do it. E.g. change the colour of an led depending on a sensor.
They also form the core of a lot of IoT devices. Simple sensors and relays that can connect to WiFi and throw up a simple web interface. ESPhome, tasmota and WLED exist to make this extremely easy.
They are basically the hobbiest electronic multi tool. Powerful enough to do most jobs without bothering with code optimisation. Cheap enough to throw in and leave there.
- Comment on Legal action over 'unfair' Steam game store prices given go ahead 3 weeks ago:
I thought that only applied to steam keys?
You can sell your game for whatever you want elsewhere, but if you want them to be able to install via steam, you can’t undercut steam itself.
- Comment on Do old people still remember their childhood? Do people just start losing their memories and their sense of self as they get older? 5 weeks ago:
Various studies have shown this to be true. When you access memories, they become malleable. The brain makes various minor updates and repairs. It fixes holes, where bits have been forgotten, and pulls in new data, that wasn’t known at the time.
The core of the memory is often intact, it’s generally self referencing, and fairly stable. It’s the small details around it that can shift.
- Comment on I'm about to get fired. How do I make sure my next job is a better place to work? 5 weeks ago:
That’s true, but they are also not likely to take you on either. They are part of the 95%+ that will not be interested.
- Comment on I'm about to get fired. How do I make sure my next job is a better place to work? 5 weeks ago:
A thing to note is that staff tend not to leave good companies. That means they recruit FAR less than you would expect.
A useful method would be to make a list of all the companies you can find that seem to both be going fine, but not obviously recruiting.
Getting your foot in the door with them is the hard part. First thing is to check if you have any contacts there. Ex-coworkers, or people who are friends with a staff member. If so, try and leverage that contact to get your C.V. to them. Failing that, a polite phonecall to HR or the boss (depending on the company), with a follow up email is the best bet.
This method still has a 95%+ failure rate. The aim is to get your C.V. in front of the right person when they need a role filled, but haven’t started the recruitment process yet.
- Submitted 1 month ago to showerthoughts@lemmy.world | 84 comments
- Comment on How long after starting Vitamin D supplements should you notice results? 2 months ago:
Vitamin D helps if you are dealing with S.A.D (seasonal affective disorder). Basically, our brain gets to go into a state akin to hibernation. Unfortunately, modern life isn’t compatible with this. The effect is tiredness and low mood.
SAD seems to be triggered by low vitamin D, low exposure to sunlight, and the cold. The exact trigger levels vary from person to person.
If you’ve not tried it yet, a daylight lamp could help a lot, combined with the Vitamin D, it trucks the brain into thinking it’s still warm and bright outside. You want a hot in the morning, as well as one in the mid to late afternoon.
Failing that, accept your need to hibernate, and plan it in. It’s not ideal, but not fighting it will also help your mood.
- Comment on Steam Hardware [new Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and VR headset Steam Frame, coming in 2026] 3 months ago:
It does have a pci-e socket… 😁
- Comment on Steam Hardware [new Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and VR headset Steam Frame, coming in 2026] 3 months ago:
Steam’s main thing is that they have recognised that killing the golden goose is a bad thing for everybody. They have consistently played for long term growth and profits, over purely short term gains.
Steam has made mistakes, but their demonstrated values have been shown to be mostly compatible with mine. I can work with that.
Also, them being privately owned means that they are less have seagull investors swooping in and demanding short term gains now now now.
- Comment on Controversial startup's plan to 'sell sunlight' using giant mirrors in space would be 'catastrophic' and 'horrifying,' astronomers warn 3 months ago:
The aiming is still a problem. The Hubble is relatively small. Even then, it can’t track fast enough to image the moon, let alone the earth’s surface.
Any useful reflector would be measured in Km^2 . Aiming that, with the same precision as Hubble would be a tall order. Added to that, the mirror would have to be light enough to launch. You’re basically trying to aim a sheet of tinfoil, as large as a stadium (minimum), with active tracking.
- Comment on Nearly 90% of Windows Games now run on Linux, latest data shows 3 months ago:
I’ll take compatible.
Most people game on windows. It’s monolithic nature also means that they will mostly encounter the same bugs.
Linux has a wider base of functionality. A bug might only show up on Debian, not Ubuntu.
End result, they spend 60% of their effort solving bugs, for 2% of their base. That’s not cost viable.
Compatibility means they just have to focus on 1 base of code. All we ask is that they don’t actively break the compatibility. This is far less effort, and a lot easier to sell to the bean counters.
Once Linux has a decent share, we can work on better universal standards. We likely need at least 10% to even get a chance there.
- Comment on Fictional 3 months ago:
We do, light travels 1 lightsecond per second.
Oh, and 1 lightpicosecond is around 2.998mm.
100 lightpicoseconds is also very close to 1’.
- Comment on How would you quickly describe Lemmy to a non-fediverse person? 4 months ago:
I’ve found comparing it to email works well. It’s about the only (mostly) decentralised service that most people have used.
“It’s like Reddit, but is decentralised, like email is.”, “This makes it far harder to manipulate to hide information.”
- Comment on Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15 - Ars Technica 4 months ago:
That’s exactly what I do. I also have IoT devices that are still trucking along a decade later. I fully expect them to likely do a decade more.
Both Tasmota and ESPhome provide open source firmware for many IoT devices. They throw up a local API interface that other systems can talk to. Providing legacy support is as hard as using HTML put and get commands.