m-ee (u/m-ee) - Readit News

m-ee commented on Gig workers in Africa had no idea they were helping the U.S. military restofworld.org/2026/gig-... · Posted by u/JeanKage

fnands · 18 days ago

In case you didn't read it:

It's about Somali speaking gig-workers in Kenya transcribing and translating audio for a company called Appen, that then gets passed on to the US military to train translation systems for the US military that presumably get used in US military operations in and around Somalia.

The workers don't get told what the data will be used for or who the final client is.

m-ee · 18 days ago

To maybe save others a google. Appen is an Australian company focusing on linguistics/translation. Different from Appin, the hack for hire service out of India.

m-ee commented on California DMV approves map increase in Waymo driverless operations dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle... · Posted by u/NullHypothesist

krat0sprakhar · 4 months ago

> then I’d wait 10 minutes, then they’d cancel. Rinse and repeat for 30 minutes,

This is such a common problem in SF (esp in odd times / from the airport). Waymo has been a lifesaver in these situations.

m-ee · 4 months ago

Used to happen to me constantly trying to go across the bay bridge in either direction when I lived in Oakland. I didn’t even mind the cancelations so much but the worst was when they would try and hide around the block, close enough to say they’ve “arrived” to try to get me marked as a no show and pocket the fee.

m-ee commented on AI isn't replacing jobs. AI spending is fastcompany.com/91435192/... · Posted by u/felineflock

diamond559 · 4 months ago

Actual Indians, as always. Humans are cheaper, and have the capacity for long term memory formation.

m-ee · 4 months ago

The long term part is overstated in my experience. People move around a lot at these offshoring firms as better opportunities arise. In my experience by the time you find someone competent they’re already interviewing for a better role. Constant churn trying to find the next one.

m-ee commented on Alaska Airlines' statement on IT outage news.alaskaair.com/on-the... · Posted by u/fujigawa

dvdbloc · 5 months ago

Has anyone else noticed their website has been having a ton of issues in the last few weeks as well? In terms of bookings failing and trips not appearing? Just my anecdote but software issues seem to have become very frequent over there…

m-ee · 5 months ago

They’ve always been pretty bad but it feels worse post Hawaiian merger

m-ee commented on A laser pointer at 2B FPS [video] youtube.com/watch?v=o4TdH... · Posted by u/thunderbong

nerdsniper · 5 months ago

Do you have any better recommendations?

m-ee · 5 months ago

There was a Rohde and Schwarz rep that was pretty active on those forums when I still paid attention to it, might count for something.

Hard to justify going with the legacy brands as hobbyist with what comes out of China these days. Rigol and Sient make very capable hardware although h the UI can be a bit painful if you’re used to something else. Micsig produces very capable probes for a small fraction of the cost of the legacy players even high end specialty stuff like optically isolated probes. Those are still thousands but try pricing the equivalent from tek or Agilent, it would buy you a sedan.

m-ee commented on A laser pointer at 2B FPS [video] youtube.com/watch?v=o4TdH... · Posted by u/thunderbong

nerdsniper · 5 months ago

Honestly I think if we each wrote a nice personal letter to Keysight they’d probably gift him one in exchange for the YouTube publicity. Several other electrical engineers on YT get free $20-50k keysight scopes not just for themselves, but once a year or so to give away to their audience members.

And yes, this person could make use of it. His videos are among the highest quality science explainers - he’s like the 3B1B of first principles in physics. Truly a savant at creating experiments that demonstrate fundamental phenomena. Seriously check out any of his videos. He made one that weighs an airplane overhead. His videos on speed of electricity and speed of motion and ohms law are fantastic.

m-ee · 5 months ago

Keysight is not very hobbyist friendly these days. A year or two ago it broke on the Eevblog forums that they were refusing to honor warranties/service contracts unless you had a corporate account with them. If you were just a guy with a scope you would be SOL.

m-ee commented on Doing well in your courses: Andrej's advice for success (2013) cs.stanford.edu/people/ka... · Posted by u/peterkshultz

storus · 5 months ago

That won't work at elite schools like Stanford where a hard class average is like 98% and 94% will give you B+ due to the opposite curve being applied.

m-ee · 5 months ago

I went to Stanford and that was absolutely not the case. I once got an A on a midterm with a 65%

m-ee commented on Stanford’s Department of Management Science and Engineering poetsandquants.com/2025/0... · Posted by u/curioustock

TMWNN · 7 months ago

Can Stanford undergrads coterm in MS&E with any undergraduate major?

m-ee · 7 months ago

Yes, I knew people who cotermed in MS&E (and other masters programs) with a different undergrad major. I think you just need to make sure you fulfill whatever prereq courses they ask for but my knowledge is old at this point. I imagine you’d be fine going from any engineering major to MS&E, but if you were an English major who happened to take a bunch of math and physics that would probably work too.

m-ee commented on Stanford’s Department of Management Science and Engineering poetsandquants.com/2025/0... · Posted by u/curioustock

apparent · 7 months ago

Of the famous founders, over half were Stanford undergrads and therefore likely were "coterm" students. That means they just added a year to their degree and got this degree tacked on. That saves lots of time and money compared to going to Stanford as a master's student. There are a lot of things that are "worth it" if you don't have to move apartments/cities and get it for half the price — but which are not nearly as worth it if you're paying double and add the friction of moving to the area in order to enroll.

m-ee · 7 months ago

I’m not sure how it factors into the overall admission statistics but getting accepted for a coterm is, or at least was, significantly easier and more straightforward. In my time it just meant a GPA above a certain cutoff, a letter of rec from a professor, and non embarrassing GRE scores. A very good letter of recommendation could make up for deficiencies in the other two. It’s not exactly a super selective elite club like the article implies if you’re already there for undergrad.

m-ee commented on Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience myvolvoex90.com/... · Posted by u/prova_modena

vtbassmatt · 8 months ago

I own a 2011 3 hatchback, bought new in 2010. Besides wear items, I think I’ve replaced one belt and one hose. It’s only on its third battery and 2nd/3rd lightbulbs all around. Absolutely the most reliable car I’ve ever owned, whether I measure by problems/mile, problems/year, or dollars/year.

I also have a Miata (ND - 4th gen) that gets driven less than 3K miles/year. No problems there other than Mazda’s buggy CarPlay (and insane choice to disable the touchscreen when in motion).

m-ee · 8 months ago

I believe there’s a way to enter dev mode on the infotainment and reenable the touch screen while in motion. Try looking on YouTube. I found the method for my 2014 but neglected to actually do it since I prefer the center console wheel anyway.