thothamon (u/thothamon)

thothamon commented on Apple previews Lockdown Mode apple.com/newsroom/2022/0... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

corytheboyd · 3 years ago

If Apple could somehow make phone and sms not useless due to spam that'd really save the average person. They must have the resources to throw at something like this. I'm not claiming to be an expert, I'm not saying I'm right, but phone spam is fucking awful.

thothamon · 3 years ago

Phone spam as in text messages? Your email is a whole other thing

thothamon commented on Windows OS, Services and Apps: Network Connection Target Hosts (2021) helgeklein.com/blog/windo... · Posted by u/pmoriarty

TacticalCoder · 4 years ago

Is it really as bad as you make it out to be? I've got everything at home: old non-retina MacBook Airs running OS X, a M1/retina MacBook Air running OS X, Windows (well, wife's computer) and then Linux laptops and desktops.

Fonts on my main Linux "workstation" may not be as perfect as on the M1 Mac I use from the couch but it's because my 38" monitor ain't retina and it's a far cry from making "browsing uncomfortable".

Yes, many of the CSS stacks (even for the big sites which really should know better) are totally broken when it comes to Linux (they don't list enough fonts that various distro will have by default, they list fonts that many distro will not have by default and unsurprisingly end up defaulting to shitty fonts) and as soon as one site started using that one CSS stack, they all started the copy/pasta. But I wouldn't go as far as saying that browsing on Linux is "uncomfortable": many people do that on a daily basis and are perfectly happy.

Also not all websites have broken CSS font stacks for Linux. Some saw the light.

thothamon · 4 years ago

I have Ubuntu running in Parallels on an iMac, retina display, and the Ubuntu fonts seem noticeably less "nice" to look at than the Mac. Now, I didn't take the Pepsi Challenge here, i.e. a blind test, so it might just be internal bias -- but to me, the Mac fonts are noticeably better.

thothamon commented on Moving the Linux Kernel to Modern C lwn.net/SubscriberLink/88... · Posted by u/chmaynard

freedomben · 4 years ago

The amount of fear I see from people around C is so surprising to me. Not saying you fit into this, but so far my anecdata suggests that it's largely people who don't know (or know very little) C. Especially among CS grads whose main exposure to C was in the stack smashing exercise in a security class, all they know about C is the part that was intentionally made vulnerable so it would be easy to exploit. Unless you're being wildly negligent and reckless with your programming, C is really not that scary.

thothamon · 4 years ago

C is unsafe by default. You should have to do something explicit to use unsafe features.

thothamon commented on Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy bbc.co.uk/news/science-en... · Posted by u/playpause

vcdimension · 4 years ago

The Chinese & Japanese governments are investing in space based solar which solves the nighttime problem: https://wonderfulengineering.com/china-is-aiming-to-build-a-...https://nextrendsasia.org/japan-pioneer-of-transferring-sola...

But we really need more energy storage, and there are plenty of good ideas in this area too: better batteries, gravity bases systems, crowd sourced storage, etc.

thothamon · 4 years ago

I don't know much about the physics, but it seems like you'd want square miles of solar panels, even in space, and then there's the problem of getting that energy back to earth. On the other hand, in space you'd get a lot of light frequencies that are rarer on Earth. It's not clear to me if those could be harnessed somehow. Regardless, it's a creative idea.

thothamon commented on Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy bbc.co.uk/news/science-en... · Posted by u/playpause

jeffbee · 4 years ago

Consensus among geologists is that substantial portions of that island did in fact drift away from what we know as France.

thothamon · 4 years ago

Plate tectonics has everything moving, so although I am an amateur, it seems the fact that the British Isles are moving away from Europe doesn't prove much.

thothamon commented on What’s Wrong with “Multiplication Is Repeated Addition”? (2008) denisegaskins.com/2008/07... · Posted by u/harperlee

thothamon · 5 years ago

I think the author is trying to say that _from a teaching point of view_, thinking of multiplication as a kind of addition is suboptimal.

Because you can indeed multiply through repeated addition (which she acknowledges), repeated addition is one valid way to look at multiplication. But it might not be the maximally helpful framework for students.

thothamon commented on Ask HN: Co-founder wants me to leave but won't entertain a buy out offer · Posted by u/fortydegrees

Talanes · 5 years ago

>Internet advice about things like this is always bad even when it is meant well

Even if it's telling you to get a lawyer?

thothamon · 5 years ago

It's difficult to account for every possible case while still remaining brief.

Seeking expert knowledge is good advice in most situations. If you have the time, and the issue is potentially costly or valuable to you, then you should almost always gather the best information before deciding.

thothamon commented on Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust grounds washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/saurik

marshray · 5 years ago

Apple doesn't have a monopoly.

You're free not to buy an iPhone. Most people don't.

thothamon · 5 years ago

It does have a monopoly on third-party software running on Apple devices.

thothamon commented on Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy businessinsider.com/tech-... · Posted by u/jacksonpollock

fxj · 5 years ago

As an employer I am looking for an expert who does excellent work. I don't care where he is located and I am willing to pay good money for good work. Experts are a rare resource which will always be expensive no matter where they are located. My 2 ct.

thothamon · 5 years ago

Agreed. Unless the long-term need for software begins to decline, if you are skilled, hard-working, and able to communicate and work well with others, a lot of people will hire you.

thothamon commented on Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy businessinsider.com/tech-... · Posted by u/jacksonpollock

foolfoolz · 5 years ago

when the work is remote we don’t need remote-california to save 10% on wages. we will go to remote-ukraine or estonia and hire twice as many engineers

thothamon · 5 years ago

And then you would be committing the classic blunder. Putting more engineers on a late project makes it later.