throwaway473825 (u/throwaway473825)

throwaway473825 commented on Welcoming Discord users amidst the challenge of Age Verification matrix.org/blog/2026/02/w... · Posted by u/foresto

shevy-java · a day ago

> Since then Australia, New Zealand and the EU have introduced similar legislation

I am not aware that the EU pushed legislation onto us here in central Europe with regards to "Age Verification". I am not saying it has not happened (I simply don't know right now), but this needs a source rather than just a statement. From what I remember, local media in german critisized the UK, so it would be strange to see the same legislation suddenly come into effect here.

Also, it seems we did not really win a lot if a private company operates matrix.

throwaway473825 · a day ago

The EU will probably wait until the launch of a digital wallet that can do anonymous age verification. Otherwise it won't get enough political support.

throwaway473825 commented on Discord says 70k users may have had their government IDs leaked in breach theverge.com/news/797051/... · Posted by u/PaulKeeble

petre · 4 months ago

Don't governments require them to chech people's IDs to make sure they aren't kids?

throwaway473825 · 4 months ago

It depends on the implementation. The EU's European Digital Identity Wallet will allow users to prove that they are over 18 without sharing any other personal information.

throwaway473825 commented on Discord says 70k users may have had their government IDs leaked in breach theverge.com/news/797051/... · Posted by u/PaulKeeble

SamDc73 · 4 months ago

Not sure what you mean by "like europe" because in Europe they are trying to implement `European Digital Identity (EUDI)` for age verification, which will make stuff like this even worse ....

throwaway473825 · 4 months ago

On the contrary, third parties will only get to know the age of the users, not their identities.

throwaway473825 commented on Visa and Mastercard: The global payment duopoly (2024) quartr.com/insights/edge/... · Posted by u/bilekas

godelski · 7 months ago

I'm not a big fan of crypto but I've always wondered why the US wouldn't want to create a highly secure private coin that's pegged to the dollar. I mean you put a very small transaction fee on it (can be far less than Visa's 2%) and you're suddenly generating revenue from tons of global transactions, benefiting from the status of the dollar being the global currency. You even get to "tax" illegal transactions, and as a consumption "tax". It would only work if it was highly private (effectively like cash) as no one else wants to be handing all that data over but it still sounds like it would be a big win to many parties (well not the authoritarians? Maybe?). Everyone will be "banked", you get digital payments everywhere, and you even probably reinforce the reliance on the US dollar. Is the demand for control so much greater than the demand for money combined with providing a public good? I know there's still challenges to resolve but a guy can dream, right?

throwaway473825 · 7 months ago

You're describing a CBDC, not a coin. Why isn't it being done? Because commercial banks are vehemently against that. The current administration in particular will never go against the big banks.

throwaway473825 commented on Visa and Mastercard: The global payment duopoly (2024) quartr.com/insights/edge/... · Posted by u/bilekas

norman784 · 7 months ago

The EU is also now pushing WERO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment)

throwaway473825 · 7 months ago

That's a commercial service backed by some European banks. It's not at all comparable with a non-profit service like Brazil's Pix.

The closest EU equivalent would probably be the planned digital euro, but the banks are fighting tooth and nail to prevent that.

throwaway473825 commented on Electric cars produce less brake dust pollution than combustion-engine cars modernengineeringmarvels.... · Posted by u/tzs

SV_BubbleTime · 7 months ago

Wow.

Well, I like that the people that think like this also probably live I places where you are actually driving a coal powered car.

Like the clowns in Hawaii that have extra subsidies for EVs… their power comes directly from burning crude oil.

I’m an automotive EE, and and the truth about EVs is in a rush to push them out the door, the media and politicians have set the tech back at least a decade by pretending it is something it’s not.

EVs for most people outside of California. Make a great town vehicle or second vehicle.

A ban on ICE… wow.

throwaway473825 · 7 months ago

> Well, I like that the people that think like this also probably live I places where you are actually driving a coal powered car.

That's still an improvement for both global and local emissions.

throwaway473825 commented on Electric cars produce less brake dust pollution than combustion-engine cars modernengineeringmarvels.... · Posted by u/tzs

Joel_Mckay · 7 months ago

Sure, first we spend a trillion dollars for over capacity electrical distribution grids and generation plants.

B100 is almost carbon neutral, and has the energy density necessary for commercial logistics. Finding responsible manufacturing methods is far more feasible.

EV only make sense with distributed generation like home solar. =3

throwaway473825 · 7 months ago

Biodiesel doesn't solve the pollution problem. It's also very expensive, and often produced in an unsustainable way.

throwaway473825 commented on Solar-plus-storage technology is improving quickly volts.wtf/p/solarstorage-... · Posted by u/mooreds

jdlshore · 7 months ago

The linked article addresses that. Modern batteries are lithium-iron, without the rare cobalt and nickel. Sodium batteries are also in development, but lithium is turning out to be so cheap and abundant that investment in the sodium batteries isn’t economical.

throwaway473825 · 7 months ago

Sodium-ion batteries have extreme good performance in low-temperature environments. CATL is working on sodium-LFP dual-power batteries to get the best of both worlds:

https://www.catl.com/en/news/6401.html

That's mainly for EVs though.

throwaway473825 commented on Solar-plus-storage technology is improving quickly volts.wtf/p/solarstorage-... · Posted by u/mooreds

bityard · 7 months ago

> Putting tariffs on solar equipment imports is an insane self-defeat. We should be importing as much cheap solar and battery gear as we can get our hands on.

The tariffs are going to impact me heavily because I had planned on buying a shitload of solar in the next 3-5 years. If the price on solar triples in that timeframe (as the price on other things has in the last few years), I will not be "going solar" after all except for a few small hobby projects.

That being said, we should not lose sight of the fact that the REASON solar is cheap right now is because it manufactured almost exclusively in the far east, at cost, subsidized by a communist state, to stifle worldwide competition. I don't think that is good for the world either. There is likely (hopefully) a middle ground here somewhere.

throwaway473825 · 7 months ago

> subsidized by a communist state, to stifle worldwide competition

China primarily wants to cut oil and gas imports. Exports are a bonus.

throwaway473825 commented on Solar-plus-storage technology is improving quickly volts.wtf/p/solarstorage-... · Posted by u/mooreds

DoesntMatter22 · 7 months ago

Probably pretty doable in Europe. For one most people don't have air conditioning and that's a big suck of electricity. And if you aren't using electric for heat then realistically your electric draw is not going to be that high

throwaway473825 · 7 months ago

Heating generally uses much more energy than cooling, and even more so if something is burned.

However, it's true that places with low heat pump adoption tend to have few ACs. For example, ACs are rarer in Germany than in Norway, despite Germany being warmer.