ben-schaaf (u/ben-schaaf)

ben-schaaf commented on Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month theverge.com/tech/875309/... · Posted by u/x01

rdm_blackhole · 2 days ago

It's funny how pointing a fact is called whataboutism.

You trust the EU's pinky promise a keep their word that your ID will be safe and secure and never tied to what you say, the content of your messages or who you send them to. If that is so, then go ahead and use it. That's your business.

> whatever negative aspect

The EU literally wants to read your personal messages because it doesn't trust that you are not some criminal in disguise. Instead of the state having to prove that you are criminal breaking the law, it wants to read everything you send and store the data permanently in case you break the law one day. If you think that is acceptable and that is an entity that can be trusted, then I don't know what to tell you.

ben-schaaf · 2 days ago

> It's funny how pointing a fact is called whataboutism.

What do you think whataboutism is?

ben-schaaf commented on Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down idiallo.com/blog/teaching... · Posted by u/firefoxd

phantom784 · 11 days ago

Noise from neighbors is the biggest thing that drove me to move to a single-family home.

ben-schaaf · 11 days ago

Noise is one of the things that improved moving to an apartment for me. We've got bylaws about noise with quiet periods, bans on bothersome noise, a smoking ban and a (loud) pet ban. We also have better windows that block noise, and decent noise insulation in the floors despite the hard flooring.

Compared to suburbia where neighbours started mowing at 7am, loud parties went late into the night and dogs barked all day, it's oddly quiet.

ben-schaaf commented on Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability apple.com/newsroom/2026/0... · Posted by u/meetpateltech

eloisant · 16 days ago

OK for vanilla, however most of the fruit artificial flavors are compound that have nothing to do with the elements from the natural fruit but at some point, someone in the food industry decided it tasted "similar" to the natural fruit.

For some of them, like cherry or coconuts, the artificial flavor tastes nothing like the natural flavor.

ben-schaaf · 15 days ago

To my knowledge benzaldehyde is the most common cherry flavor, and I agree it doesn't taste much like cherries. It's also a naturally occurring compound we produce from cassia oil, and it's naturally contained in almonds, apricots, apples and cherries.

As for coconut there's Lactones, which - you guessed it - occur naturally.

> OK for vanilla, however most of the fruit artificial flavors are compound that have nothing to do with the elements from the natural fruit but at some point, someone in the food industry decided it tasted "similar" to the natural fruit.

Care to provide a source?

ben-schaaf commented on Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability apple.com/newsroom/2026/0... · Posted by u/meetpateltech

ExoticPearTree · 17 days ago

You can nitpick and be pedantic about the wording I used, but if you equate artificial flavors or ingredients with natural ones…

ben-schaaf · 17 days ago

Could you describe the difference between the artificial flavour vanilin made in a lab, and the natural flavour vanilin extracted from a vanilla bean?

ben-schaaf commented on Internet voting is insecure and should not be used in public elections blog.citp.princeton.edu/2... · Posted by u/WaitWaitWha

BurningFrog · 21 days ago

Australia really uses erasable pencil markings to vote?

I would feel much better if they required ink.

ben-schaaf · 21 days ago

Someone needs to gain physical access to the ballot after voting in order to erase it. If they can do that they can just as well make it invalid using a pen, or they can just tear it up.

On the other hand, disappearing ink has been around for a long time.

ben-schaaf commented on C++ std::move doesn't move anything: A deep dive into Value Categories 0xghost.dev/blog/std-move... · Posted by u/signa11

adrianN · a month ago

Is pushing to a moved-from vector even legal? I thought in general the only guarantee you have after a move is that is save to destruct the object.

ben-schaaf · a month ago

The state of a moved-from value is valid but unspecified (note, not undefined). IIRC the spec says vector must be `empty()` after a move. So all implementations do the obvious thing and revert back to an empty vector.

ben-schaaf commented on C++ std::move doesn't move anything: A deep dive into Value Categories 0xghost.dev/blog/std-move... · Posted by u/signa11

tsimionescu · a month ago

Can you show an example of what you mean?

My claim is that, if I call `foo(std::move(myObj))`, it is statically knowable if `foo` receives a copy of `myObj` or whether it is moved to it. Of course, `foo` can choose to further copy or move the data it receives, but it can't choose later on if it's copied or not.

Now, if I give `foo` a pointer to myObj, it could of course choose to copy or move from it later and based on runtime info - but this is not the discussion we are having, and `std::move` is not involved from my side at all.

ben-schaaf · a month ago

No, it is not statically knowable if it is actually moved.

    void foo(Obj && arg) {}

Does not move `arg`. It's fairly easy to write code that assumes `std::move` moves the value, but that can lead to bugs. For example:

    void some_function(std::vector<int> &&);
    void some_function2(std::vector<int> &&);

    void main() {
        std::vector<int> a = { 1 };
        some_function(std::move(a));

        a.push_back(2);
        some_other_function(std::move(a));
    }

The expectation is that `some_other_function` is always called with `{ 2 }`, but this will only happen if `some_function` actually moves `a`.

ben-schaaf commented on I switched from VSCode to Zed tenthousandmeters.com/blo... · Posted by u/r4victor

biztos · a month ago

I was a big TM user who ended up on ST because I needed more of the community integrations and so on... which are now turning into a weakness of ST.

I'm still on SublimeText because I can't deal with the sluggishness of VS Code, and I'll pay for the latest version, but I am starting to worry about the future of what is still a great editor. Rust coding in particular is a bit of a nightmare.

The sad thing is that both of these were the products of business models I enthusiastically support and want to see more of: the solo dev (TM) and the small business (ST), or maybe it's solo dev pretending to be small business, I can't really tell.

ben-schaaf · a month ago

> or maybe it's solo dev pretending to be small business, I can't really tell.

Certainly small business :)

ben-schaaf commented on France targets Australia-style social media ban for children next year theguardian.com/world/202... · Posted by u/belter

swat535 · a month ago

It doesn't even have to be a private monopoly, it can be a public service.

For example in Quebec, liquor stores are managed by the government, called "Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ)" or legal cannabis is managed by "Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC)".

I don't see why other restrictions can't follow the same pattern?

ben-schaaf · a month ago

Other than the criminalization, I like the idea. I'm purely criticizing the privatization.

ben-schaaf commented on France targets Australia-style social media ban for children next year theguardian.com/world/202... · Posted by u/belter

triceratops · a month ago

I'm going to restate my proposed age verification system here. I've posted it several times as a comment on this website. It works as follows:

1. A private company, let's call it AgeVerify, issues scratch-off cards with unique tokens on them. They are basically like gift cards.

2. AgeVerify's scratch-off cards are sold exclusively in IRL stores. Preferably liquor stores, adult stores, and/or tobacco/vape shops. Places that are licensed and check ID.

3. Anyone who wants to verify their age online can purchase a token at a store. The store must only demand ID if the buyer appears to be a minor (similar to alcohol or tobacco purchases). The store must never store the ID in any form whatsoever.

4. Giving or selling these tokens to a minor is a criminal offense. If a store does it, they lose their liquor or tobacco license. Treat it just like giving a minor alcohol or tobacco.

4a. Run public service announcement campaigns to communicate that giving an AgeVerify token to a child is like handing them a cigarette. There should be a clear social taboo associated with the legal ban.

5. The buyer of the AgeVerify token enters it into their account on whatever social media or adult website they want to use. The website validates the code with AgeVerify.

6. Once validated, the code is good for 1 year (or 6 months or 3 months, adjust based on how stringent you want to make it) - then it expires and a new one must be purchased.

7. A separate token is required for each website/each account.

8. The website is responsible for enforcing no account sharing.

No identifying information is stored anywhere. Kids find it very hard to access age-restricted materials online, just like the vast majority of kids don't easily have access to alcohol or cigarettes.

ben-schaaf · a month ago

A private monopoly sounds like a great idea. A profit incentive for access to social media definitely won't result in the price of these tokens skyrocketing to extract as much money as possible.