anaximander

I used to work at a place that made smart chargers for EVs. They did all sorts of intelligent scheduling, V2H and V2G, grid response and load shedding, some really clever stuff. The standard for most charger interfaces allows for the vehicle to communicate a load of information to the charger, and almost none of them implemented any more than the bare minimum. I’m many cases the charger can’t even tell how full the car’s battery is, it just has to charge until the car disconnects itself and stops charging, and assume it’s done so because it’s full. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if Teslas don’t communicate as much over OBD as you’d expect given the standard it supposedly implements. Manufacturers seem to be quite content to keep that stuff proprietary wherever they can.

Stoicism says something similar, although it gets there via a very different route.

Continuing to support demand for beef at current rates as the population grows means that beef production must increase. That means we need more cows. Where do you propose we put all those cows? The current solution has been to cut down trees to create usable land. What’s your alternative?

The water level will be affected by the car’s acceleration, which is likely also affecting your inner ear and causing the illusion in the first place.

One thing I often see is people not understanding the difference between secrecy and privacy. They ask why it matters if you’re not doing anything wrong. A UK government minister actually said “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”, and then backpedaled when someone pointed out they were quoting Joseph Goebbels. The analogy I’ve seen is simple: I’m sure you don’t do anything illegal in the shower, but I’m also pretty sure most people would be uncomfortable with a law that required you to have a police officer standing in you bathroom with a video camera to record you showering, just in case.

The other thing is the assumption that any information about you that the government actually has about you will only be used against you if you commit a crime, in which case you’ll deserve it - if you’re not a bad person then it’s fine. This is a double fallacy.

First, we’ve seen that information can be used to do all sorts of things regardless of wrongdoing - if someone knows enough about you, they can use it to manipulate you. I don’t mean blackmail or whatever, although that’s an option. I mean that with a clear enough picture of your preferences and biases and habits, someone can tailor their actions and information to your psychology and make you think whatever they want you to agree with.

Second, it assumes that you won’t ever commit a crime because crimes are bad things and you’re not a bad person. This overlooks the possibility of you being mistakenly accused while innocent, but more importantly it overlooks the possibility that the government will change into something that holds different moral values to yours. Even in the modern world we’ve seen places outlaw abortions, or criminalise homosexuality, or pass laws on what religions you’re allowed to follow. If that happens in your country and you find yourself on the wrong side of whatever arbitrary line they’ve now drawn, you may regret giving them so much information about you - information that lets them identify you, prove that you broke their new rules, and ruin your life in so many ways.

The default principal of any exchange with governments, businesses, or any entity taking your information should be to give as much information as is required for them to perform the operation you’re requesting of them, and no more - and wherever possible to only engage with those entities that you trust to have that information; a trust that they earn by a verified and unbroken track record of ethical and trustworthy behaviour.

Yes.

Also included in this are reviews on things that are not the product - I remember seeing one that was like “great product, but I’m giving it one star because it was delivered late and the delivery driver was rude” - and reviews based on the buyer’s own failings, like “I didn’t read the assembly instructions and put it together wrong, and then it didn’t work properly, so I’m giving it a negative review”.

Pretty sure that’s not a movable planter. It’s literally a circle of bricks around a hole in the paving so you can plant flowers in the soil underneath. It’s not something you can push around. They built it like this, on purpose.

I’ve been a professional software engineer for over ten years now. I didn’t study anything to do with computers until I was 20; I’d been aiming for a different career and was halfway through a degree before I discovered I didn’t enjoy it and wasn’t getting very good grades, so I swapped.

While at uni, I was part of the student mentor program where I did teaching assistant work for the lower years. One of the students in the lab group I assisted was a guy in his forties who’d seen his factory job automated away and decided if computers were going to take his job, he’d go learn how to work with computers and move into the sector that was creating jobs rather than removing them. He was a good student and picked things up quickly. I have every confidence he’s still out there doing well as an engineer.

22 is a perfectly fine age to start. If you’ve got the right attitude - the desire and motivation to focus on your studies and put in the work - you’ll do great.

One thing worth being aware of beforehand though is how a lot of your studying might go. The professor I assisted in those labs told me about an observation that’s been made in the teaching profession, and I saw it in action myself. A lot of computer science and programming is about finding the mental model that helps you understand what’s happening, how the computers work. Until you find it, you’ll be stuck. Then, something will click, and it’ll make sense. The professor told me they don’t see the usual bell curve of grades - they see two. One cluster of students at the bottom who don’t get it, and one higher up who understand. A lot of learning computing is less of a linear progression and more a process of running into the wall until you chance upon the particular explanation or analogy or perspective that works for the way you think, and then suddenly that particular concept is easy, and it’s onto the next one. This series of little clicks is how you progress.

Once you’ve got a few core concepts down it’s easier to work out how new things fit into the mental model you’re constructing, but be prepared for the early bits to have some frustrating periods where it feels like you aren’t getting anywhere. Stick at it, and look around for other resources, other books or tutorials, other people to explain it their way. I frequently saw a student look totally clueless at my explanation, but another student who’d understood what I said would paraphrase it slightly differently, and that was all it took for the clueless student to suddenly understand and pass the exercise. That lightbulb moment is as fun to experience yourself as it is to bring about in others. You just have to hang in there until it happens.

From his own comment, he’s signing the NDA because it’s the only way to find out what Meta want, and he figures knowing is better than not knowing. At no point has he indicated that he’s going to work with them at all, and an NDA doesn’t give them control or any guarantee of cooperation.

£5 says he comes back and says “I can’t discuss details because of the NDA, but… no” and it goes no further.

Apparently the viewport was rated for 1300m, and they were driving to 4000m. The fact it survived as long as it did is testament to the manufacturer’s standards. The fact that it failed is utterly unsurprising.

Also the inspector they hired to verify the sub’s safety was denied when he requested equipment to scan and test the hull integrity, was fired when he raised these concerns, and was sued for leaking company secrets when he tried to report it to OSHA.

Honestly the only surprising part is that it survived the previous thirteen dives before this one.

Interviewers don’t mind you describing flaws in a company to explain why you left, if those flaws are real flaws. What they hate is when a candidate blames their failings on the company rather than honestly identify and take responsibility for their own shortcomings.

What that means is that if you’re going to say something bad about a former employer, keep it brief, stick to factual, provable things with minimal emotive content, and describe how that meant they’re a bad fit for you. If you can describe a way your employer did things badly, explain why you weren’t in a position to change it, and then describe a better way that you wish they’d do and that happens to line up with how your potential new employer does do things, that can be a good way to show you’ll fit in because you agree with their practices or management style or whatever it is.

Plus Logitech gear is, in my experience, pretty well made. My Logitech joystick lasted easily ten years, and I’ve got a Logitech mouse that’s about twelve years old and still works fine.

The EU is also working on Right To Repair legislation that iirc has something to say about reasonable prices for repair supplies and spare parts. In that case, even if only Apple-made batteries work, they’d still be affordable, or at least within a reasonable percentage of what they actually cost and not marked up enormously.

Parts of it may actually be required under EU law. GDPR requires that anyone holding data on EU citizens comply with certain things, including a request to delete certain kinds of data. The EU has shown themselves willing to go after sizeable corporations for violations; most Lemmy instance operators are much smaller. This should probably be addressed before people find themselves on the wrong end of lawsuits.

This is why Right To Repair is a big deal. Not just because it reduces waste by fixing what might have been thrown away, not just because it allows you to do what you want with the device that you supposedly own, and not just because it breaks the monopoly and requires pricing of repair services to actually be competitive - although all those things are important. It’s also because if a device can be repaired, some people will be encouraged to learn how to repair it, and in doing so they’ll learn a valuable problem-solving mindset. We need to be mindful of how we first introduce young people to technology to avoid this learned helplessness and instil the attitudes that will allow them to function when they’re adults and it’s now their job to look under the hood and make it all work.

A whole generation has been raised with tech that just works and if on the rare occasion it goes wrong, it goes very wrong and either needs IT/Customer Service/etc to fix it for you because the problem is very technical, or it’s just broken and you get a new one. This means they have no problem-solving skills because none of the problems they’ve faced were solvable, and they’re scared to get it wrong because getting it wrong breaks things in ways that are bad and expensive. Coming into an environment where trial and error is now not just ok, but expected, is a reversal of some deeply ingrained habits for them. That doesn’t mean they can’t learn, but it does make it a bit of a culture shock for them.

Honestly I think that’s just a failing of community ethos. It’d be nice to bring back the expectation that people make the bare minimum attempt to check the rules of a community they’re trying to participate in, and let moderators just assume that everyone has read the sidebar rules. If you haven’t, and you break a rule by accident… well, tough luck, you’ll get the same treatment as everyone else. Next time, read before posting.

When you speak, those in hearing hear your words, and then they’re gone. You speak again, and can choose to say things differently. Thus, the spoken word evolves. New phrases, new pronunciations.

When you write, the written text exists and persists, potentially for a long time. At various times in history, writing has been something that took time or expensive materials, so it was less common to do it for trivial or short-lived purposes. It’s easy to forget in the modern digital age with the disposable, ephemeral nature of Twitter and text messaging, but by its very nature, writing is designed to last. Therefore, it evolves more slowly.

That brutally simplifies a whole field of linguistic research, but it’s an explanation.

As a space behind your house where kids can run about and play, that is safer and nicer to look at than a concrete or bare-earth yard, then I totally support it, particularly if you’re in a climate where they don’t need much help. As a big pointless expanse to look at and not use for anything, or in parts of the world where keeping the lawn requires massive effort and expense and continual watering, it’s a huge waste. And if you’re going to have a lawn, at least put some flowerbeds around with pollinator-friendly plants.

My garden has a lawn, because I have a toddler. It also has deep borders stuffed with plants, and at this time of year you can’t go half a minute without seeing a bee or a butterfly or something. Also, in this part of the world I don’t have to do much to keep it looking good, besides mowing it and chucking a bit of seed on the occasional worn spot.