Microsoft has been strong in Bavaria since Ballmer visited them to sell them Office after his vacation in Switzerland in the 2000s.
Bavaria should be called Ballmvaria or Microsovaria.
Readit NewstheGeatZhopa commented on German state Bavaria goes all-in on Microsoft cloud heise.de/en/news/Bavaria-... · Posted by u/baumschubser
theGeatZhopa commented on Show HN: Notifikai – Set and get reminders through simple text messages notifikai.com... · Posted by u/libiny
Hey, appreciate the thoughtful feedback, seriously. You’re right that if someone already lives inside their calendar or reminder app, they probably don’t need Notifikai.
But that’s not who it’s for. Notifikai isn’t trying to reinvent the calendar, it’s for people who never open those apps, don’t want to set them up, or prefer the simplicity of text. A lot of people (especially outside the tech bubble) still rely on SMS every day — contractors, drivers, field workers, or anyone who wants to set a quick reminder without dealing with apps, permissions, or notifications that get lost behind do not disturb.
And “offline” here doesn’t mean airplane mode, it means away from apps and data. The whole point is: no downloads, no logins, no setup, no app fatigue, just text and get reminded.
So you’re right, for you, this might not be solving a problem. But for people who don’t want to open Google Calendar, who don’t use iPhones, or who prefer texting over tapping through settings, this is the simplest possible way to stay organized.
Different tools for different habits. Notifikai just happens to fit the kind of person who’d rather send a quick text than fiddle with an app.
Point.
theGeatZhopa commented on We built a internal tool that Claude refused to help us with · Posted by u/AZargaryan
I think what you say is true in theory, but if you look at large companies with no lack of talent, they are either publicly monitoring or taking monitoring to an unlawful level.
https://www.jpmorganchase.com/content/dam/jpmc/jpmorgan-chas...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/10/25/microsoft...
The problem is when you go over the line, read messages and start controlling the employees. But on the other hand if you go work in a warehouse you still need to clock in and and out, and if you are late they deduct the hours from the paycheck.
In my opinion tools like this are okay if they act as that "clocking in/out" device, rather than allowing employers to spy conversations happening privately (which I would not tolerate). But if an employee is averaging 5h of work and they are contractually paid for 8h, that is also an abuse in a way, https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed/ just saying there are 500k+ people here :)
While it's true for the statement "But if an employee is averaging 5h of work and they are contractually paid for 8h, that is also an abuse in a way", it is still a thing of trust.
An employer has interest in that, the employee also has own interest. Both are contrary :)
In countries with strong employee protection laws, the employer have to swallow such things or try to put them into contract. But not everything written into contract is legally binding and valid, even when signed by both parties. So in case of a trial there might be surprising outcomes.
The thing is, what do you do with:
- employees spending hours on the toilet. Its not of employers business. There might be medical problems which are private problems of the employee
- smokers, who leave for a smoke every 20 mins
- the ones spending more time at the coffee, than keyboard
- the ones who are working in the background and solve problems of others and fail to committ own because of this
- other reasons might be health issues or some other problems not related to work, but severe enough not to be able to work fully and 100% of the time.
All of this is usually handled by contract and laws. As for smokers, one needs to clock out when written in contract. If it's not written in contract, than the employer accepts this and can't use this as a reason for ending the contract later. One needs to clock out if lunch time/ break (that's not a problem actually and is legal)..
And such..
There are possibilities. If an employer doesn't like an employee, he can fire. If the employee thinks it's unfair, he can bring it to court. The court decides the dispute. Often, the cancellation of contract is trialed not legal for reasons..
So. If an employer wants 150% output, then he needs to do it like Elon musk. If an employee does like such work culture, you will get 150% output. But first you need to find such people.
But aggregation through different services and data is spying. That can't be compared to clockin/out, because the clock shows only the start and end time. Not what has been done when, which service is used, when the user was online or away...
You do not read the private messages, but you can't differentiate whether the employee was on the toilet or did stare on the wall for hours. Such levels of control are bad in my opinion. Good HR and team leaders can handle such things without spying on employees.
Once I witnessed a discussion:
"Your status is always set to away in teams. We expect you to be available and online at any time during working hours"
"I am being payed for doing things and not to keep the teams window open and focused with mouse all the time"
Discussion ended there and the question has never been asked again.
So.. if it's legally possible, then one can try to control at this level. I wouldn't even sign sich contract and if I would learn it's done behind my back - that minute I would just leave and not come back again or answer any calls/mails. But that's me :)
theGeatZhopa commented on We built a internal tool that Claude refused to help us with · Posted by u/AZargaryan
I dunno, in Europe this kind of spying on employees is forbidden by law, so yes - for me it's very controversial and I would not willing in to such a contract. Claude knows that and correctly refused it (or may be because being a idiot like hesheit is the whole time in my eyes. @claude: if you read it, yes, my dumb fellow!)
Generally, it's up to you to trust your employees or to use such or other methods of control. The most easy and legal way: count finished tasks. If there are not enough tasks done, get rid of. No need to think whether the employee is to dumb, lazy, cheating.. But aggregation across all tools and services is kind of control that an employer should be ashamed of. No trust, bad employer.
Europe is not the center of the world. It may be different in other countries. Would also like to hear what guys from such countries say about such levels of control :)
theGeatZhopa commented on Show HN: Notifikai – Set and get reminders through simple text messages notifikai.com... · Posted by u/libiny
"I kept forgetting small daily tasks when I was away from my phone or offline." -> "No app, no setup, no logins—just plain SMS"
If you keep forgetting small daily tasks when away from phone, how does receiving a sms actually remind you when you're away from the phone? Or offline (what may mean no signal, no (mobile) internet, active airplane mode, empty battery or switched off devices)
Moreover, when a mobile phone is needed for SMS receiving to be remembered of a daily task at a certain point in time - why not use the preferred calender app or reminder app that is on device and of one's choice with a reoccurring event set?
I use the built-in alarm clock app to alarm me to "take your pills" at 9pm daily, at 7am it's urging me to wake up, at 8pm it reminds me to be at movies, etc.. I don't even have to think about or remember the tasks.
I think its "I found a method to solve a pain in the a*. Now I search for actual pains in a*es in pain." Or in other words: "problem solved. Now let's produce a problem".
Also, group reminders for my daily tasks? Daily summaries of my daily tasks? Integrations into what? Outlook? Calender apps? My digital wall clock?
Sorry mate. You solve something that is solved already. I ain't gonna give you my mobile number.
But if no one enforces the law on the rulling power, the law doesn't work.
If there is no one who makes the laws, the law won't exist ;)
So we have the important three:
- judiciary
- law making by Legislature
- executive powers for enforcing law
It's one of the most important things to keep them separated and not interweaved. The three powers control each other and the fourth one controlling the controlling:
- journalism and it's covered investigations or whistleblowers
And then you need the rule of law that the law is the only law.
This ground pillars of democracy.
The trigger was pulled because a ferric material, probably the firing pin, was brought into an intense magnetic field, bypassing any of the normal safeties typically involved with a mechanically actuated firearm. You do not under any circumstances take a loaded firearm into a place without environmental consideration. The mechanical safeties in a firearm are all secondary to the primary safety which is your brain. If you don't use your brain, that isn't a problem with the firearm. That's a problem with you. By the way, that ferric metal part is required by law in most jurisdictions so the damn thing will show up using most conventional metal detecting technologies.
>It could also happen in a sauna with one sitting alone and having the gun put aside.
Horse hockey. Most rounds will only go off at 275° Fahrenheit and above, and if they aren't chambered, aren't a problem. Yes, people have set out to deliberately set off ammunition to characterize the thermal sensitivity of it, and most primers are specifically designed to be more shock sensitive than thermally sensitive. If you're in a 275° sauna with a loaded firearm with a round chambered and pointed at yourself, I would still categorize that as a you problem, not an it problem.
https://www.thefirearmsforum.com/threads/cook-off-temperatur...
>Its not supposed to shoot without pulling the trigger.
The trigger was literally pulled by the executive decision to introduce the loaded firearm to an environment that replaces the dominant form of safing, the mechanical interlocks, with an alternate triggering mechanism. It wasn't magic. You take ferromagnetic thing near big magnet, big magnet pulls magnetic thing (firing pin) forward, firing pin strikes primer of chambered round. ND.
The device is designed to prevent the pin moving forward under typical usage conditions via push by mechanical safeties (which depending on the strength of magnetic field and the material they are fabricated from could compromise their function as well), but has no constraint on pulling. Why? Because no one is generally considered to be daft enough to waltz into an MRI or other Big Frigging Magnet with a loaded firearm with a round chambered, especially after it has been pointed out that all metal on your person must be safely stored for access to the MRI. This is a glorified lesson on why when your life is at stake, you double up on safety. Don't just trust that hydraulic jack. Use a jack stand. You can't even make the argument that the firing train shouldn't have ferromagnetic parts, because most jurisdictions require metallic components capable of being detected by a metal detector.
Things the user could have done to rectify the situation as an increasingly responsible firearm owner:
A) Clear the round in the chamber. No round locked in, no problem, still jeopardizing the MRI machine, but no discharge risk. B) Put the weapon in the same locker everyone else puts their metal stuff in as procedures state. No risk to anyone's property at that point.
I'm sorry, but you won't convince me this was a failing of the weapon. This was a tragic, but nevertheless self-inflicted ND on the part of the wielder. No one else can be blamed for this gentleman's egregious lapse in vigilance, understanding of rudimentary physics, risk management, and the operating principles of his everyday carry.
you know, you're right :)
just to add, it's not only the trigger that can put into movement by the magnetic forces, or some secure-hinge, it also can be heat induced by magnetic fields / induction / in the bullet itself.
I stay with my view, though. When the gun were not brought in, it could not go off and, thus, no fatality. Its the gun & bullet that killed its possessor and not the MRT or the process of "bringing it in". The same would not happen with a printed, non-magnetic gun (if we put aside the bullet's ferromagnetism, if any..). So two guns - both brought in - one goes off - which one killed?? Like you said, horse hockey.
I could follow the argument "its not guns killing human, its the bullets" :)
Human still killed human. Gun did not walk into MRI. It was carried in. Man kills self by eschewing due care when in close proximity to MRI should be the headline.
you're right the headline could be written differently. But I'm not with you on "Human still killed human, because Gun did not walk into MRI" -> when the argument is "not guns kill humans, its human kill humans", this imply one takes a gun and use it intentionally - which is always the case when the bullet is fired up with finger-force and is directed towards smthg. Here, the gun was not used, there has not been a finger on the trigger, but it went of. Just because the gun was carried in, it doesn't make "Human killed Human". Guns are carried to a lot of places they should not be carried to without any incident. Here the gun went off without pulling the trigger :)
it could also happen in a sauna with one sitting alone and having the gun put aside. Of course, "why do you bring a gun into a sauna? Its your fault.." No its not. Its not supposed to shoot without pulling the trigger. So one can carry the gun to any places without being shot by it.
Do expressions like "as a European" imply that you're simply expressing the politics of the political world you live in and not your own individually derived opinions? When someone says "as a European," I somehow intuitively know what they're going to say on a given topic.
It's strange to me.
both. I live in a world with certain rules & regulations - and so my experiences and individually derived opinions are based on this. There is no possibility for me here to, for example, make experiences and derive individual opinions, like "experienced it on my own, so by that I came to the conclusion...". The handguns and weapons are simply not allowed.
The comparisons to other countries regulations & rules I learn from media coverage, let me derive an individual opinion. This opinion can be contradicted and revised by experiences I may make in the future. For now, I think - it's better not to posses a gun. Even I think it's a lot of fun to go on a shooting-range without years of certifications, which are needed, if you want to do it here. Also, not possessing a gun let the policemen be relaxed on this topic and not to start shooting because of the fear "it might be a gun, one reaches for in the pocket.", for example.
"as an European" is just to express that "I live in a different world with other rules and so my thinking is based on that". It's not an offense. Its rather a framing in the start of an discussions, so each participant already knows the positions and can adjust the discussion-style/arguments/...
Why do you feel strange? You're given the information about your discussion partner upfront and don't have to do the work of finding out, with a possible discussion-breaking argument? How can I do otherwise? Not mentioning it at all would do it, but then I may have to explain why I think like that and not the other way.. You care to explain your view on this, my friend? :)
They also could have brought tea with them. Which is not allowed by story. But they did exactly that: "not allowed substance were brought and consumed"
But cool mind playing puzzle.