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northwest65

Re: on Tuesday November 26, 2024 @06:04PM (#42251107)
> I just wasted a day investigating something for nothing

Nah not for nothing, they paid you. If they want to pay you for dumb shit, that's on them.

You'll have to find a way to let go of the frustration though, that's the real problem here. I just try not to get caught up in what the business is doing, it's just a job, and their goals will never ever ever align with my own, so no point sweating it.

I work at a small company now. When my boss does something stupid, I tell so and why. Sometimes I need to change tact because that's what the business demands, but sometimes he's like huh you're right (generally for technical reasons, although the cognitive cost of task switching is real) and we stay the course. Either way it's nice to have somebody listen at least.

Re:Volkswagen to Invest $5.8B in Rivian Through Joint Venture on Tuesday November 12, 2024 @08:36PM (#42122016)
I've never met anybody that shuns even VW for VW's reputational issue!
Re:3600 MHz Raspberry Pi 5 with Liquid Nitrogen on Tuesday November 12, 2024 @08:30PM (#42121983)
I think it's because CPUs don't run faster just because they're colder, they run faster when you overclock them. Often to get them stable at higher clock speeds you need more voltage, which at some point demands more cooling to mitigate that.

AFAICT doing interesting but ultimately trivially complicated stuff as a youngster can still result in scholarships etc, Ahmed Mohamed comes to mind.

Only nerds are dumb enough to think that adding LIDAR to every crosswalk in the world isn't a completely ridiculous idea.
They don't actually have to. The 5th and 6th fleet coupled with the various large air bases in the vicinity would have little trouble it pancaking the entire site before the Turks managed to make off with anything if it really came down to it. It's tanks all the way down.
Re:How Olympics Officials Try to Catch "Motor Doping" on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @05:53PM (#41051362)
I feel sorry for the poor bastards that had to go to Tokyo. As I understand it, clapping the other super fit athletes is a great part of the experience of competing (father was an athletics coach).
Re:How Olympics Officials Try to Catch "Motor Doping" on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @05:51PM (#41051341)
Should hurdles be made in a range of sizes to be fair on short competitors?
Re:Don't use 7-segment displays [pdf] on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @05:29PM (#40921381)
I'm not a professional, but I find an LCD or OLED is a lot easier to drive from a microcontroller than a 7 segment or 4. Like a hell of a lot easier.
Indeed, I too chuckled at that. Do you remember those hobbyist kits from the 80s for building your own electronic ignition unit? (i.e. points replacement)
At one of my first jobs, the workshop foreman would sidle up beside another mechanic who was working under the bonnet, casually put his arm on their shoulder or whatever, then touch a plug. It would make the other mechanic jump, but he himself seemed impervious (well steeled more like) to the effect.
Re:Boeing Starliner launches first crewed mission on Wednesday June 05, 2024 @07:16PM (#40591752)
> contributing to huge risks to democratic systems all over the world

Perhaps it was the weird hyperbole about democracy his comment was targeting?

Re:7.4 earthquake in Taiwan, 34km depth on Tuesday April 02, 2024 @09:18PM (#39912641)
Think of it as a 3m tall bulldozer the width of the country with effectively unlimited pushing power. Watch some videos of the Japan tsunami, it's basically an unstoppable force that gobbles up everything in it's path. Very uncool.
Re:7.4 earthquake in Taiwan, 34km depth on Tuesday April 02, 2024 @09:07PM (#39912595)
As somebody who has been through more than 10 thousand quakes, it's as significant as the force itself.

7.4 @ 300km deep you just yawn and roll over. @10km deep you pray your concrete roof tiles don't come through the ceiling and kill you in your bed... you basically just lie on top of your wife, give thanks for the time you did have, and hope for the best.

Re:Profession by Isaac Asimov (1957) on Sunday March 10, 2024 @04:35PM (#39662332)
No, I don't think they do paint a wrong picture, and it is helpful for people to say it so others realise they're not the only ones thinking it.
I think the implication is, that like the Maoris in New Zealand, they're only faux indigenous, as they arrived on boats. Probably doesn't matter much as there is no grift to be had.
Re:Website is hosted on ESP32 ($3 chip) on Sunday November 05, 2023 @04:40PM (#38155929)
Then leave whatever tech backwater you live in and move to the first world.
Re:Yes, You Can Use Lightguns on LCDs– Sometimes on Sunday October 15, 2023 @07:21PM (#37894321)
That's great! As another rank amateur I learn quite a few little tidbits from your thread... I'd never ever heard of a resistor array till now!
You can feel it with the pad of your thumb.
Liquefaction was one of the more miserable results of the Christchurch earthquake.
Re:Heat Pumps – The Well-Tempered Future of A/Cs on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @07:49PM (#36608904)
Sure they can, you can absolutely use heat pumps to brute force it, been there done that.
Re:The Dumbest Excuse for Bad Cities [video] on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @08:07PM (#36412540)
> attempts to improve alternative public transit will come at the cost of their commute

It does, every 4 lane road we have changed to a 2 land road with cycle lanes has done that here.

> They see public transit as an inferior form of transportation

Well, it is. It doesn't go where people want to go any time they want to go there. Periodically people are assaulted using it, something you can avoid when using a car simply by locking your door.

> and cycling as a hobby to pursue exclusively on sunny days.

They're wrong about that however.

Public transport sucks, it is unsurprising that people won't give up their car-centric lifestyle for it.

Why not?
Similar situation here. I have on occasions seen all sorts of crazy looking split keyboards around the internet. They've looked interesting, but pricey, I can't touch them, and the MS ergo keyboards have served me well so I've not taken it any further. This will be what makes me take it further, maybe some interesting keycaps (maybe black!)
Re:The Runner Who Leads Every Pack and Then Vanishes on Sunday February 26, 2023 @10:05PM (#34952448)
I'm sure I saw on TV that they use what is basically a giant LED strip on the inside of the course, which as I understood was a 'pacer light'. Seems to strip the strategy out and reduce it to a purely physical contest, which doesn't seem an improvement.
Re:Was the $5B that VCs plugged into escooters worth it? on Sunday February 19, 2023 @08:34PM (#34863945)
Maybe because they're an eye sore?

Some people probably resent that if they were the ones leaving their product lying around all over common areas, such as footpaths, so they could make a buck, they would feel the weight of the local municipality. But they have to put up with it because a VC backed company can move faster than local government because DiSruPtive?

Yeah, fuck 'em, harvest them for 18650s I say.

I low key enjoyed COVID, it gave me a week of free time to read.
Re:The secret lives of MI6’s top female spies on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:27PM (#34072025)
Kiwi! But yes, polite way of saying my hearing is fucked. Odd phrase... if I were to use that in the context of actual fucking, I'd consider it a vulgar way to put it!
In New Zealand, during the first quarter of next year, they're putting in 4 new petrol stations in my city alone, FWIW.
Re:The secret lives of MI6’s top female spies on Wednesday December 14, 2022 @03:57PM (#33990433)
As somebody with that attitude, it's because I find it quite zen just to relax and be groomed by a professional. I won't shut down conversation, but I won't initiate it either.

The other thing is that decades of motorcycling without ear plugs has rooted my hearing, so talking to people with thick accents (I'd say 50% of hairdressers here are immigrants) can't be tiring, which is the opposite of why I actually enjoy getting my hair cut. There's a nice Korean lady I sometimes see who chats away merrily, but I feel like an arsehole having to ask her to repeat herself the whole time.

That's a polite way of putting it.

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