@robryk@qoto.org avatar

robryk

@robryk@qoto.org

I enjoy things around information theory (and data compression), complexity theory (and cryptography), read hard scifi, currently work in infosec, am somewhat literal minded and have approximate knowledge of random things. I like when statements have truth values, and when things can be described simply (which is not exactly the same as shortly) and yet have interesting properties.

I live in the largest city of Switzerland (and yet have cow and sheep pastures and a swimmable lake within a few hundred meters of my place :)). I speak Polish, English, German, and can understand simple Swiss German and French.

If in doubt, please err on the side of being direct with me. I very much appreciate when people tell me that I'm being inaccurate. I think that satisfying people's curiosity is the most important thing I could be doing (and usually enjoy doing it). I am normally terse in my writing and would appreciate requests to verbosify.

I appreciate if my grammar or style is corrected (in any of the languages I use here).

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

erin, to random
@erin@quiescent.nexus avatar

I deliberately chose a sewing machine that contains zero thinking sand - and yet, I get a deadlock due to multithreading issues on my first day of using it.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@erin do you know how modern seeing machines do variable speed control? (I started wondering whether the PSU contains thinking sand.)

b0rk, (edited ) to random
@b0rk@jvns.ca avatar

in git, what ways are there to "lose" a commit in a way that you CAN'T recover using the reflog (so that you need to iterate over every single commit in the repository if you want to find it?

The only ways I know (using git's normal tools) are:

  • using git stash drop or git stash pop to drop a stashed commit
  • waiting 90+ days to try to recover the commit (so that it expires from the reflog)
  • explicitly deleting the reflog in some way (rm -rf .git, git reflog expire, etc)
robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@b0rk

Explicitly deleting the reflog entry/pruning the reflog (git reflog has subcommands for both, git gc can be explicitly given the age threshold).

I'm not sure what happens with the per-branch reflogs when you delete the branch and per-worktree reflogs when you delete the worktree.

foone, to random
@foone@digipres.club avatar

Properly photographing a 3.5" floppy disk for archival is annoyingly complicated. The label has THREE sides!

I've already built an automated system to take a picture of the front of a disk, but really I need to take THREE photos if I want to get the whole thing.

That means either three cameras or I need to rotate the disk 90° and then 180°, which is going to really stress the limits of my mechanical engineering skills.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@foone With some more mirrors you could get all 3 distances to be closer to equal (getting them exactly equal is not that helpful given that even one side is not at a constant distance from the focal point, unless you arrange for some lens arrangement that has an effective focal point very far away).

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@foone

If you let the disk fall/slide into a slot shutter-side-first (and stop it there for a while, presumably with another servo) you could probably use the same camera for front and side.

nisjasper, to modeltrains German
@nisjasper@literatur.social avatar

So my 12 year old kid loves #modeltrains to death: machines, tracks, landscapes, everything. Unfortunately, this is a hobby dominated by grumpy old men, some of whom don't react too cool towards a rainbow family. Are there any familys out there with #trainkids? #Berlin, Germany, wherever? I am thinking exchange of photos or small films, maybe sending stuff to and fro, meetings in Germany at some point. German, English works. Neurodivergent kids/parents welcome. #modellbahn #Modellbau

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@nisjasper

I can't answer your question really (I'm somewhat of a loner and trains are a thing I'm comparatively less into), but want to suggest another potential direction: there are people who are very much into rail signaling systems: simulating them, using them in model rail, restoring physical hardware, operating full country-sized simulated rail networks, ... I don't know whether that's less conservatively-grumpy area.

patcharcana, to random
@patcharcana@furry.engineer avatar

If you had like, a really fine router, like a dremel-bit router, and a steady hand...

Could you make a wooden-substrate PCB?

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@patcharcana Why would you need a wooden substrate for that? Various substrates I've seen were all nicely dremelable (cutting traces with a small dremel always worked really well).

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@patcharcana the most wooden ones I've seen were made from pressboard fwiw

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

"When people are treated unfairly, for example, when they are not allowed to have input into decisions that will affect them, or when they are not given good explanations of why certain decisions were made, the symbolic message may be that the organization does not think highly enough of them (to provide input or to be given good explanations)."

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@grimalkina

Do they mean peers you're likely to interact repeatedly with, like to interact exactly once with (because of organisational distance), or both? (I expect this to at least sometimes differ significantly between the two groups, because in exactly one case trust between two individuals can exist.)

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Someone said it's important say this publicly in the US: so I will. (And I think each of us should, online and to friends)

This November I will vote for Biden.

I would regard not voting for Biden, particularly in: PA, OH, MI, WI, IN, IL,VA, GA, FL, AZ, ME, NC, NH, etc. as a huge error. I'd be disappointed to find out anyone I knew didn't vote. It's one of a long list of things we need to do. We can't skip it.

And still? We deserve better choices, and in the future we shall have them.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@futurebird

What do you think about various vote swapping arrangements with voters from states that are closer to even than yours?

mwk, to random
@mwk@donotsta.re avatar

is a container with the right mixture of H₂ and O₂ a "force multiplier" for a spark? or is it a force unto itself?

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@mwk The multiplication factor will vary greatly over spark size, so it's kinda a stretch to call it a multiplier.

robryk, to random
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

The most recent (about chains) claims that the cooling bath for hardening is water (it's surely oil: water would visibly boil and Leidenfrost effect would make cooling insufficient).

I've used WDR's contact form to tell them that and we'll see what happens.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

Or maybe I'm wrong, Leidenfrost causes it not to violently boil, and the colling is fast enough for their purposes?

patcharcana, to random
@patcharcana@furry.engineer avatar

My toxic trait is that I consider myself an autodidact but I reflexively mistrust the kind of people who would actually describe themselves that way.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@patcharcana

Why is that a toxic trait? Communication is not only direct and literal, stuff is also communicated via choosing to say something or not. Compare e.g. someone who proudly describes themselves as originating from a farming family in e.g. communist Poland, vs. someone who, if asked, would say so, but doesn't broadcast it very much.

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

I order some Products from the United States.

The cost is $88 CAD.

There's a fixed international shipping cost of $48 CAD. Frustrating, but that is what the shipper has, so okay.

A couple days later, I get an email from UPS asking to pay the import duty fee. The import fee is $51 CAD.

That is more than half the cost of the product itself. I'm overall paying more for shipping+import fees than for the product.

When I moved here I assumed I could buy stuff from USA cheap because of NAFTA :(

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@mcc Is it duty or VAT or both?

robryk, to random
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

Swiss law on prescriptions is weird.

There are categories of medicines (Abgabekategorien) with a clear demarcation between requiring a prescription (A-B) and not (D-E). Notably category C is missing, because it was eliminated in 2019 (it used to be "can be sold in pharmacies only but without prescription" IIUC). Some of the stuff from C went to D, some of it to B.

That would be clear. However, "this medicine was once in C" is an exception to the requirement for prescriptions for medicines in B! (See https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2018/588/de#art_45) Thus, we effectively still have C, but it's way more confusing.

This story was brought to you by a pharmacy wanting a prescription for KCl from me. (Which I'm really amused ended up in B, given that it has a similar safety profile to table salt afaik: you can overdose on it, it can have bad interactions with your other medications or diseases, it's kinda hard to overdose without really trying.)

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

(I was very surprised by the requirement and pharmacist was very surprised by my surprise, so I think they were unaware of this exception applying as opposed to not willing to apply it.)

koakuma, to random
@koakuma@uwu.social avatar

> by default, the rsync command will delete any partially transferred file if the transfer is interrupted.

I hate this why is the default like this :akkocry:

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@koakuma

I think it wants to guarantee per-file atomicity. (IIRC it transfers into a temp file that then gets renamed atomically if possible.)

whitequark, to random
@whitequark@mastodon.social avatar

should i get a centrifuge for 13x75 tubes y/n

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@whitequark

Aside: not sure where you spent your childhood, but depending on that you might not know about and find https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrocyte_sedimentation_rate interesting (ISTM that there's a clear split of countries that use ESR and CRP as the standard test for inflammation).

eta, to random
@eta@eta.st avatar

petition to add EEPY to errno(3)

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@eta Shouldn't it be EEEPY?

Martin__Hope, to random German
@Martin__Hope@sueden.social avatar

An welchen Viren sind die Menschen in Bayern in KW 17 erkrankt?

"Bayern Influenza Sentinel mit SARS-CoV-2 (BIS+C)"

Von allen akut Erkrankten hatten:

Influenza-Viren: 2,1 %
RSV: 0,0 %
SARS-COV-2: 3,7 %

(n = 191)

Auf andere Viren wird im BIS+C generell nicht getestet.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@tobi82 @Martin__Hope

Das ist hier beschrieben: https://www.lgl.bayern.de/gesundheit/infektionsschutz/molekulare_surveillance/bis_c/index.htm

tl;dr Einige Arztpraxen nehmen Abstriche von allen mit Atemwegbeschwerden und das ist die Anteil von verschiedenen gefundenen Erregern.

mark, to random
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

Portland, OR to San Jose, CA.

  • Plane - 2 hours and costs $180.
  • Train - 25(!) hours and costs... $170.

There's just no way ground-based mass transit in its current format competes city-to-city.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@mark

If the train was something like 13hrs it might actually have been competitive if it was a night train. (I'm pointing this out, because there's a range of travel times where travel taking longer might not be a bad thing and might be actively preferred by many people.)

robryk, to random
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

TIL that a traffic warden standing with your back or front to you does not necessarily mean "stop" in Switzerland: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1979/1961_1961_1961/de#chap_7

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

Look, when computer science departments have some of the worst learning outcomes of any department on campus maybe they SHOULDN'T be elevated as the experts on how students should "learn with AI" with the only reason being "computers"??? Just saying. I will gladly listen to the absolute heroes in CS who HAVE centered teaching and ARE incredible teachers but I guarantee their colleagues aren't.

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@trenner @grimalkina

I also didn't know that and am wondering how widespread that is (both geographically and for CS-adjacent departments like ones that teach robotics or computational math).

luckytran, to random
@luckytran@med-mastodon.com avatar

It appears that some universities are banning masks of any kind at sites where they are holding their graduation ceremony. This is ableist, exclusionary, and completely unacceptable.

(Photo: Dr. Mary Donegan)

Sign at UCONN listing prohibited items which includes masks of any kind

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@driusan @luckytran

Your shirt is obviously an improvised weapon usable for strangling and smothering! Your blood is a liquid, please remove all of it before coming inside! Your shoe is a projectile (remember Bush?) -- you can't have those. Your phone is an artificial noisemaking device, so it also stays out. /s

I'm really perplexed by umbrellas -- so what should people do if it's raining? I'm also amused by "batteries", insofar the word lost its original meaning and is used to refer to single cells too, and by the ban on monopods and tripods, but seemingly not bipods (except they are also improvised bats and projectiles).

promasu, to random German
@promasu@chaos.social avatar

Was ist bei der los?
Ich wollte gerade ein Ticket buchen und soll dafür meine Identität verifizieren?

Ihr habt eh alle Daten von mir und euch bislang nicht dafür interessiert. Am Automaten muss ich mich auch nicht identifizieren.

Davon abgesehen ist es echt nicht geil, wenn man sich mit seinem Online-Banking irgendwo anmelden soll...

@digitalcourage @netzpolitik_feed @bfdi

robryk,
@robryk@qoto.org avatar

@wortfechterin @jobook @boran_gregovic

Das ist nicht wirklich die Frage von der eingdeutigen Identifizierung, sondern von geprüfter Identifizierung. Wenn man ein persönliches Ticket kauft (ich glaube alle DB E-Tickets waren seit lange persönlich, oder nein?), muss man natürlich sich identifizieren. Aber es ist fraglich, ob das irgendwelche Zusicherung benötigen soll: man muss sich bei der Ticketkontrolle schlussendlich irgendwie ausweisen.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • anitta
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • InstantRegret
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • ethstaker
  • Youngstown
  • vwfavf
  • slotface
  • rosin
  • ngwrru68w68
  • khanakhh
  • PowerRangers
  • provamag3
  • Durango
  • everett
  • mdbf
  • modclub
  • cisconetworking
  • osvaldo12
  • GTA5RPClips
  • tacticalgear
  • cubers
  • normalnudes
  • Leos
  • tester
  • megavids
  • All magazines
    •