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FTA's comments

FTA | 7 years ago | on: Ralph Nader: Greedy Boeing’s Avoidable Design and Software Time Bombs

I usually have less severe jetlag on the 737 MAX 9s compared to the Airbus fleet. I think it's the level at which they pressurize the cabins. In any case, like others have said, it really depends on the airline and seating configuration therein.

Also regarding the climate change, as I understand it, the MAX 9 changes were designed to _increase_ fuel efficiency.

FTA | 7 years ago | on: The Zipper Rule on German Roads

I try to follow the zipper rule when getting on the freeway. The problem I run into quite often in CA (and the thing that frustrates me the most in urban driving) is when people behind me on a highway on-ramp cut across the solid white line to "get ahead". That then forces me to have to slow down while they pass so I don't ram them from the side. If you factor in other through-way cars already in the lane, this can really congest merging and you get major backups in the rightmost lane.

A similar event comes to mind when you come across someone sitting in the left lane going under the speed limit but completely unaware or bother for the people passing them.

So I guess my point is, while these are great in theory, they don't really work in practice without buy in from the herd (I use herd as this problem can be framed in a similar light as vaccinations and herd immunity).

FTA | 7 years ago | on: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare

My recent Lyfts have had a line included in their post-ride text message that says I should tip my driver to show appreciation for the ride. I rather pay a few dollars more for my ride fare to have the tip built in than deal with this social pressuring.

FTA | 7 years ago | on: The IPO of Virgin Trains U.S.A.

I recently took the Brightline train between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and was absolutely impressed. It felt as if I had been transported to Europe and aboard a DB train. Staff were professional and competent, stations were bright and clean, and the train was quite fast (in some places). I have an optimistic outlook for their SoCal train.

This is all in stark contrast to my experiences on Amtrak, full of half-caring staff and dirty cars on a train that would be hours behind. I get it, they don't have ROW since they don't own the tracks, but if the long distance trains left stations nearly on time, then they would be able to meet most of the scheduled sidings and pass with ease.

FTA | 8 years ago | on: Vitamin D and cancer prevention

Another consideration is the pollution you're breathing when walking or deeply breathing while running. Particulate matter, ozone, and carbon monoxide could very well cancel out the benefits of receiving that Vitamin D production you get in some months.

FTA | 8 years ago | on: Archive dump from the Galileo magnetometer patch

JPL is run by California Institute of Technology and the work they do is under contract to NASA, so I would be cautious about calling things that stem from there a public domain government work.

FTA | 8 years ago | on: Why You Can Focus in a Coffee Shop but Not in Your Open Office

To me, there's something slightly numbing to the part of my brain that craves distraction when I'm surrounded by other people going about life like normal--be it the workers cleaning tables, a first date or friends meeting, or the steady stream of people ordering. I also get a similar numbing feeling when vacuuming or showering that allows me to focus conceptually on a hard problem.

And oftentimes it's the novelty of a place that helps inspire some creativity when it comes to writing.

As others have pointed out, it's hard to shut out conversation from coworkers especially if you don't know if they are talking about work related to you. But when you're in public, you know those conversations don't pertain to you and you can feel no back-of-the-mind guilt about shutting them out (which, as an introvert worrying about others' thoughts, _is_ an issue).

FTA | 8 years ago | on: Show HN: Send a fax to 50 countries, no signup, account or subscription required

FTSite: ''Simple, straightforward, pricing. $1 for the first four pages, $0.25 for each additional page.''

Twilio charges are generally under $0.25/min for outbound phone calls in the U.S. and $0.01/page for programmable fax. If you choose not to opt for Twilio Fax API, lambda function to encode and send the fax is a fraction of a penny instead. So there's probably some room for profit margin either way.

FTA | 8 years ago | on: Judge Recommends ISP and Search Engine Blocking of Sci-Hub in the US

Ever since I heard about Sci-Hub, I knew judgements along this line would be incoming eventually.

The only way to solve the science publishing problem is from the top down: lean on scientific funding agencies for them to mandate results must be published in an open access journal. Take it a step further and say none of this "pay-us-super-extra-money-on-top-to-open-your-article-up-early" garbage either.

Hesitation from many scientists to publish in open access is that many full open access journals are not as popular and thus you lose some impact or credibility to the works when publishing in them. But if everyone is forced to migrate to open access, that will go away--perhaps with a few years of turbulence.

Otherwise, the behemoths like RELX and Wiley will endlessly pursue any sort of effort to open up their copyrighted material (and rightly so within their legal rights), just like the RIAA and music sharing.

FTA | 8 years ago | on: American Red Cross Asks for Ham Radio Operators for Puerto Rico Relief Effort

I've been a Technician for many years. I have worked numerous local responses: parades, athletic events, smaller scale weather disasters. It was really rewarding, especially when a family member was actually participating in the event, and you felt awesome knowing you're keeping watch and helping to direct and dispatch help where needed. I met a lot of folks who were much older and had amazing stories. One in particular drove his RV with his wife down to LA shortly after Katrina and, using a ham radio and bag phone, helped relay a lot of the communications flowing out of the area.

Unfortunately the bar to get a General license is much higher than Technician, even without the Morse Code. There are a ton of regulations and rules you need to be familiar with that are often not related to E&M. This unfortunately kept me from ever upgrading and being of use in large scale disasters like this. I can understand to an extent why the licensing is still required; otherwise you will have these spectra flooded with people probably using them for commercial purposes with no regulation to cut them off.

Basic ham communications are still absolutely critical in major disasters. A few others have touched on this, but bandwidth and throughout for communication is increased with the advent of digital interfaces to the radios to the point that you can essentially establish a data connection over the air. Godspeed to those who make the trek.

FTA | 8 years ago | on: Disqus comments adding third-party ad-tracking

Time and time again we see "free" companies on the internet have three Lorenz attractors that they evolve towards: 1) users being heavily limited in features without paying a large enough sum of subscription money to subsidize others, 2) sell everyone's data and continue to operate, or 3) disappear.

FTA | 8 years ago | on: Street View of 80s NYC

I can't remember the URL and I'm on mobile, but I recall a a site that did this for USSR photos. It was very interesting to see photos of Chernobyl pre-incident.

Unfortunately trying to construct street level from this technique would be difficult as people would have to manually geolocate to an extent, which would generally grow the older the photos are. But I think sites like Mapillary and OpenStreetCam don't have a required freshness of photos, though I've found by accident Mapillary has a minimum at 1 epoch time.

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