Readit News logoReadit News
sandermvanvliet commented on Our European search index goes live   blog.ecosia.org/launching... · Posted by u/maelito
anon191928 · 19 days ago
oh yeah, democracy with actual, real kingdoms (10 of them or how many?) kings and constitutions that gives real rights to king. Const. that actually puts king above law and says "sacrosanct".

what democracy? Yeah some of them have it but not EU and all.

sandermvanvliet · 19 days ago
Most are constitutional monarchies in which the monarch is a head of state with no or very limited political power.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchies_in_Europe

sandermvanvliet commented on ChatGPT now performs well at GeoGuesser   flausch.social/@piegames/... · Posted by u/dredmorbius
al_borland · 4 months ago
Maybe limit the time the AI is allowed to think? In the post it showed the AI thought for almost a minute.

I’ve seen Rainbolt ID an image based on some dirt and nothing else. I’d want to see AI be able to do that before saying it’s a solved problem.

sandermvanvliet · 4 months ago
“This is the gradient of Senegal”
sandermvanvliet commented on How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?   twitter.com/dieworkwear/s... · Posted by u/taubek
phkahler · 5 months ago
I've always wondered why the supply chain has exponential price increase at each step. The example given (guessed at) is the factory produces the shoe for $12.5 and sells it to Nike for $25. Nike then sells it to Footlocker for $50 and they then sell to a customer for $100. Everyone expects to mark up their costs by about 100 percent. Why is that the case? Even if we say the markup isn't 100 percent, why is it a percentage of cost at all? If the shoe factory can make $12 then why can't Nike and Footlocker both make $12 and retail the shoe for $50?

I'm not saying things should be different, just wondering why it is the way it is. If Footlocker was also selling some cheapo shoe for $50 presumably they do the same amount of work to bring that to the store. Are they only paying $25 for those? Why does it cost half for them to handle a cheaper shoe?

sandermvanvliet · 5 months ago
Isn’t this simply taking advantage of what the market is willing to pay?
sandermvanvliet commented on Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?   civileats.com/2025/02/18/... · Posted by u/greenie_beans
AllegedAlec · 6 months ago
Purportedly the Netherlands, but the research was badly performed.

KNOWN PFAS contamination was around heavy industry, and yeah, if you live near those regions, maybe don't. Otherwise proceed with scepticism and/or some testing.

sandermvanvliet · 6 months ago
Netherlands indeed. We live downriver from known contamination in Dordrecht and around heavy industry in Rotterdam area
sandermvanvliet commented on Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?   civileats.com/2025/02/18/... · Posted by u/greenie_beans
qq99 · 6 months ago
As someone who once built a large coop [1] then just bought a pre-built shed for the 2nd coop, it's definitely _not_ the _monetary_ solution. You will probably lose money overall for quite some time. I'm still probably underwater.

BUT, there are definite upsides:

- Chickens are very sweet animals, and are quite intelligent. You will grow to love all the silly things they do. You can pet them, they are super soft, and can become quite tame. They can purr.

- I'm told the eggs taste way better, I don't really notice it because I really only eat my own eggs, but perhaps I just got used to them

- It's fantastic to get ~8 free eggs per day (from 13, 3 are not laying this winter)

- Morally/ethically, it seems like the best way to eat eggs if you're caring for them in a loving manner (compare to factory farms)

Consider the downsides:

- You may have to euthanize a chicken, likely by hand (literally) via cervical dislocation. It still ranks among the worst things I've ever had to do in my life. Imagine euthanizing your dog or cat by hand...

- Predators, foxes and hawks, you need defenses

- Veterinary services can be harder to find. Most vets don't want to deal with chickens. However, it also tends to be cheaper than a vet for a dog/cat.

- Your wife may one day want a chicken to live inside the house. You may one day agree to this, and then miss it when the chicken is living outside the house again...

- If you really like eating chicken, you may end up finding it difficult to eat them again in the future after you develop a bond with them.

I think there are more upsides than downsides, but you should think about these downsides before taking the plunge. Don't let it dissuade you. Overall, they have enriched our lives immensely and I would recommend it to others!

1: https://www.anthonycameron.com/projects/cameron-acreage-chic...

sandermvanvliet · 6 months ago
Some other downsides:

- The smell… Chicken crap is horrible. Our neighbour has chickens, we have flies. Lots of black flies.

- Bye bye garden… My dad has two chickens (did I mention the smell?) that free roam and absolutely tear up everything looking for a tasty bite.

- Can’t eat the eggs This isn’t necessarily a chicken problem but mostly a problem with chemical industry. We’ve had a lot of PFOA/PFAS contamination and public health advise says to not eat eggs from backyard chickens

sandermvanvliet commented on Mission Accomplished? Heat pump adoption has a long way to go   heatpumped.org/p/mission-... · Posted by u/ssuds
alistairSH · 7 months ago
Is air-con just that rare? A heat-pump isn’t all that much complicated than a ducted air-con. Here in the US, most HVAC service companies can/will service all types (pure AC, heat pumps, various furnaces, etc).
sandermvanvliet · 7 months ago
Air con is fairly rare here in NL although you do see more units popping up so it may be getting more popular.
sandermvanvliet commented on Mission Accomplished? Heat pump adoption has a long way to go   heatpumped.org/p/mission-... · Posted by u/ssuds
camgunz · 7 months ago
Hey to all you NL people (we're in Den Haag) - I've been researching solar water heaters and they look really promising? I've read they even work in winter. Is that wishful thinking in a country like NL?
sandermvanvliet · 7 months ago
They work in winter provided there is enough sun.

If there’s no sun you’re looking at a different energy source which typically means electricity so you’re back to the demand problem when the weather is poor regarding renewable power.

sandermvanvliet commented on Mission Accomplished? Heat pump adoption has a long way to go   heatpumped.org/p/mission-... · Posted by u/ssuds
CalRobert · 7 months ago
Also in NL and I work for a heat pump company - I don't know the specifics but for as long as I've worked here we've never not been hiring heat pump techs. (https://quatt.recruitee.com/)

I actually am hoping that better grid coördination could help a lot with the problem you describe, there's a few companies in the space but I can't think of big ones in NL. In the UK you have Octopus Energy which has effectively made a (virtual) power plant by managing individual assets.

sandermvanvliet · 7 months ago
Jedlix had been acquired by Octopus in fact and specifically for the virtual power plant tech + EV integration.

What’s more challenging is that when it comes to EV charging in cities not a lot of people actually have their own charging station and need to use public ones. That means they’re in use all the time and “throttling” them causes availability problems.

One of the challenges would be to get people to charge their cars during the day when there usually is a power surplus (especially with solar when the weather is decent) but that’s a behavioural change that takes time.

sandermvanvliet commented on Mission Accomplished? Heat pump adoption has a long way to go   heatpumped.org/p/mission-... · Posted by u/ssuds
hagbard_c · 7 months ago
Another problem in a densely populated country like the Netherlands is noise pollution by heat pumps. One of my friends has been in a conflict with his neighbour over just that which has cost a lot of time and money and probably can not really be solved entirely as the law is written, the distances between houses and the noise signatures of heat pumps and whatever sound-dampening enclosure they are stuffed in don't meet. This is not a problem where I live (Sweden) since we have way more space and build less densely than in the Netherlands.
sandermvanvliet · 7 months ago
This definitely also is a problem for the reasons you point out: density.

Have heard a few stories about it and it’s also a quite common topic in HOA meetings when someone wants to place an aircon unit.

u/sandermvanvliet

KarmaCake day594March 25, 2014
About
Staff Engineer at StackOverflow
View Original