Skip Navigation
Jump
SD cards finally expected to hit 4TB in 2025
  • Yeah, I've filled 256GB pretty easily by recording on an action camera all day, maybe for a couple of days. 4TB would be very convenient for a holiday.

    3
  • Jump
    The XZ-Backdoor shows again the problem of FOSS maintainers regarding support and donations
  • Yeah and this still wouldn't cover something like xz-utils because I would only be aware of end user projects and not the libraries behind them. I'd have to draw up entire dependency graphs.

    11
  • Jump
    two pc's to one tv split screen?
  • OP: 1000018058

    Jokes aside, I think what you're looking for is called a multiviewer. You want a 2x1 multiviewer to get a view like that, though it might be split vertically rather than horizontally.

    19
  • Jump
    Ferrari's first electric car will literally roar, CEO promises
  • Yeah, I don't think it's completely quiet and it also adds up.

    I love the combination of auto stop/start, hybrids and electrics in the city. No idea what the real environmental impact is but the silence at traffic lights is amazing.

    3
  • Jump
    HMRC will close tax helpline for half the year
  • Ah, maybe one of my experiences isn't common. Mine started after a benefit was added and somehow not reported, which probably was my employer's fault but I didn't get anywhere with them. Reporting it seemed to clear it up.

    I have had it where a second employer totally messed up which just involved waiting until April. Then another where a previous employer failed to produce a P45 and I just had to push them for it. Those are probably more common and, you're right, the hotline didn't help.

    I've been at a small company where I've overheard directors talk about how they purposely didn't produce a P45 out of spite of someone leaving. It relies on good faith far too much and is confusing to navigate.

    3
  • Jump
    Americans baffled by lack of parking lots at Taylor Swift's Aussie shows
  • Brit here. I think we're the same? I've never gone to a concert by car. It's usually in a major city and it's just easier by train. Not cheaper, though.

    I've had friends tell me they've been stuck in car parks for hours while leaving concerts, so people obviously do it. It's just not a great idea.

    I guess it'd be different if we had massive car parks instead of train stations, which is becoming more the case with shopping.

    2
  • Jump
    HMRC will close tax helpline for half the year
  • This would really suck if you were put onto emergency tax, which temporarily takes away your tax free allowance.

    The government would temporarily take £209.50 a month extra while the useless chat bot would be unable to help. After 6 months you'd be short by £1,257 which, for some, would be devastating.

    4
  • Jump
    Any tips to help a scientist become a better programmer?
  • If you don't already, use version control (git or otherwise) and try to write useful messages for yourself. 99% of the time, you won't need them, but you'll be thankful that 1% of the time. I've seen database engineers hack something together without version control and, honestly, they'd have looked far more professional if we could see recent changes when something goes wrong. It's also great to be able to revert back to a known good state.

    Also, consider writing unit tests to prove your code does what you think it does. This is sometimes more useful for code you'll use over and over, but you might find it helpful in complicated sections where your understanding isn't great. Does the function output what it should or not? Start from some trivial cases and go from there.

    Lastly, what's the nature of the code? As a developer, I have to live with my decisions for years (unless I switch jobs.) I need it to be maintainable and reusable. I also need to demonstrate this consideration to colleagues. That makes classes and modules extremely useful. If you're frequently writing throwaway code for one-off analyses, those concepts might not be useful for you at all. I'd then focus more on correctness (tests) and efficiency. You might find your analyses can be performed far quicker if you have good knowledge about data structures and algorithms and apply them well. I've personally reworked code written by coworkers to be 10x more efficient with clever usage of data structures. It might be a better use of your time than learning abstractions we use for large, long-term applications.

    5
  • Jump
    Curious
  • Good to know the name, I've seen it invoked a few times.

    In fact, I had this recently at work where I questioned a decision only for them to retort with one similar characteristic which a prior suggestion of mine shared. This was also a modal fallacy as they only used that one characteristic to come to a conclusion about both.

    You also see it all of the time in politics unfortunately, a lot of "yeah but you also..." where we should be hearing good justifications.

    1
  • Jump
    Has anyone used briar ?
  • I've used it for the exact same purpose, great minds think alike. It's perfect for that scenario given there's no internet.

    I just don't use it much otherwise because apps like Signal are far easier to move my friends and family on to and they're more than good enough. The metadata privacy Tor would provide would give me a lot of peace of mind but I know it'll never happen.

    3
  • Jump
    Has anyone used briar ?
  • I've used it for its Bluetooth chat functionality when I want to chat with my friend on a plane and we haven't paid for allocated seats. It works really well as long as you're not too far away.

    I haven't used the Tor functionality though. I'm happy with Signal as a middle ground between privacy and usability for friends and family.

    2
  • Jump
    Some Thoughts on Coupling
  • I really liked how coupling is described as "knowing." I find we talk about "does x need to know about y?" more than we do "is x overly coupled to y?" because the former is a relatable indicator of the latter.

    6
  • Jump
    Euler diagram of the terminology of the British Isles
  • Interesting though as it shows what "hard Brexit" was. Not in the customs union, economic area or council; just yeeted all the way out.

    The best part is the voting slip never defined any of it and, if taken literally, the UK would still be in the EEA.

    3