amonavis's comments

amonavis | 6 months ago | on: Pass: Unix Password Manager

I've been using this combo since many years and it's been working flawlessly across: 2 mobile phones, 2 laptops, 1 Synology server.

amonavis | 6 months ago | on: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

Not everybody wants to play competitively, especially when it's a band of close friends who play almost exclusively with each other regularly.

amonavis | 10 months ago | on: Let's Talk About the Bidet, the Bathroom's Best-Kept Secret

I use the bidet every time I go to the bathroom for a #2, but the analogy you share doesn't really make much impact. The arm is in close proximity of the head and face, it's "there", but the anus is hidden and "far" and this some may feel unbothered with a non-immaculate routine.

amonavis | 1 year ago | on: A buried ancient Egyptian port reveals connections between distant civilizations

Why do they NEED to have a religious state? I come from a country that has a majority from a particular religion and I've never heard such passionate stance to make my country's official religion as theirs.

Feel free to ignore the second paragraph, it wasn't intended for you, it's intended for those who can't identify extremism easily.

amonavis | 1 year ago | on: A buried ancient Egyptian port reveals connections between distant civilizations

You said that India does not have an official state religion, then to support your own point you listed European countries with majority religions implying they are officially state religions then you backtracked.

I don't know whether others are able to see your real intentions through your posts, and maybe Westerners are too politically correct to call a spade a spade, but I know a Hindu extremist when I see one. Tell me you're a staunch supporter of BJP without telling me you're a staunch supporter of BJP.

amonavis | 1 year ago | on: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

To me this is a weird view of government services. I'm paying taxes to have a system serve me, and to have processes support my life not the other way around. Leaving all emotions out of the equation, the job of the jurisdiction under which I fall is so facilitate my legality so I can pursue a productive and enjoyable life. If I'm paying taxes and I'm expected to pitch in the governmental effort, then that's not where I want to be.

amonavis | 2 years ago | on: Show HN: I made a tool to compare time zones

I bought the app long ago, but now I have a problem: their database isn't updated. Where I live the weekend changed from Fri/Sat to Sat/Sun since a year, but the app seems abandoned.

amonavis | 2 years ago | on: Volkswagen Will Bring Back Physical Buttons in New Cars

I can think of many scenarios in which this can be actually dangerous. Not all roads in the world have a side lane in which you can stop at any time. Driving with a foggy windshield waiting to find the proper lane can be very dangerous.

amonavis | 2 years ago | on: Why do people still use VBA?

I spent the first couple of years at my first job like this. Without going through much detail, back in 2006 I had to pull raw network performance data from some 7 elements every hour, then use a tool to convert to CSVs, then load into Excel, perform preliminary analysis, then email the Excel files to another team along with any alarming conclusions if any.

A few weeks into the job I completely automated these in python and all I had to do was turn my laptop on in the morning, then off in the evening, and I was done.

amonavis | 4 years ago | on: Bring Back Our Knobs: Analog vs. Digital (2009)

We own a car (Honda Accord), 1983 model. The light switches in our house date to the 1950's. Never has anything broken.

amonavis | 4 years ago | on: M(57885161) verified as 48th Mersenne Prime

We don't know whether the search for further Mersenne primes eventually gives birth to a new algorithm which will enable further advances in other fields.

amonavis | 4 years ago | on: Nokia 9000 Communicator was launched 25 years ago

Even today NetAct remains a hot mess.

amonavis | 4 years ago | on: SoundStream: An End-to-End Neural Audio Codec

In some countries data consumption is still capped, and reducing bandwidth usage goes a long way in making media consumption more affordable.

amonavis | 4 years ago | on: SoundStream: An End-to-End Neural Audio Codec

Personally for me the issue is not the size but the transfer (think streaming, service migration, etc.)

amonavis | 4 years ago | on: Are animals more conscious than we are?

> Pain is strictly a physical sensation.

Hard to tell that to those with lost limbs who suffer from ghost pain.

amonavis | 6 years ago | on: How to Make Medieval Soap

I'm not sure tbh, Aramex typically charges inbound shipments around $9 per 500 grams. However I must note that I'm not getting the best price. If I take a short trip to villages I can buy in bulk which is way, way cheaper. And these soap bars last very long.

amonavis | 6 years ago | on: How to Make Medieval Soap

I get mine from a small grocery store in my hometown in Lebanon. I pay around $3 for a kilo which contains usually some 8 cubes of soap.

amonavis | 6 years ago | on: I Quit Social Media for a Year

Would you recommend a good resource for container shipping?

amonavis | 7 years ago | on: New flaws in 4G, 5G allow attackers to intercept calls and track phone locations

While I agree that 5G standard is still not finalized, in Qatar Ericsson will start deploying 5G gNodeBs starting by end of Q2. Nokia is modernizing the core network to a fully virtualize one and intercompatibility is mostly solved in this network.

It's usually a cat-and-mouse game, with some commercial deployments solidifying some portions of the standards, while themselves accommodating other portions of the standards from other networks as the technology matures in the upcoming years.

amonavis | 7 years ago | on: What a Newfound Kingdom Means for the Tree of Life

You know this is a problem for the layman like me. I need to get educated on the general aspects of so many things in life. But with science and knowledge always progressing at a fast pace, the "truth" is always evolving. And this makes it a problem because I cannot be 24/7 invested in every single area of my interest, which are many. So I appreciate Jared Diamond and Bill Bryson because they make available to me (random person with a lot of interests but limited time) a quick overview of things, which I gladly accept at a high enough accuracy. It's sort of like Wikipedia, yes not the be-all-end-all reference but gets you started.