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WxFisch

@ Wxfisch @lemmy.world

Posts
5
Comments
186
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • What is the point of all the information given out by your browser?

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  • In a non-malicious way it can all be helpful to websites to know the capabilities of your device to allow it to change what the site delivers/how it renders. Knowing your GPU allows it to know if your device supports WebGL/DirectX/Vulkan etc., knowing light or dark mode allows for it to set the site the same as your system, if the tab is not active it can pause content, and if you have a low battery the site can try to be less power hungry by perhaps not asking to render a ton of active content. Knowing if your on a mobile device can allow the site to deliver a mobile optimized layout, or if you have touch capability to render buttons larger.

    The fact that advertisers and data brokers use this to fingerprint you as a user is just a non-intended use of good intention features. In reality, if you do hide this information (which you often can using developer tools in many browsers) you’ll find the some sites will just not work or will act wonky and data brokers will still fingerprint you using things like tracking pixels, your IP, or user agent string info that you can’t really hide without fully breaking the web. You only need three or four individual pieces of information to pinpoint specific individuals in most cases so they don’t really need all of it, it’s just easier and more accurate the more information they have.

  • Medication appt Questions

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  • So hopping in a bit later to this but in terms of things to mention I’d include any heart/cardiac issues you have or may have had, even if you aren’t sure. Many (most? all?) ADHD meds can cause elevated heart rate and blood pressure which isn't usually a big deal but can exacerbate existing problems.

    I was put on a non-stimulant (atomoxatine) first because of underlying cardiac concerns and thankfully I’ve been happy with the results. It also lowers my anxiety around taking meds as I work in a job with frequent random drug screenings and while it isn’t a problem to be prescribed a stimulant, it is more of a hassle.

    Lastly, especially for non stimulants, give it plenty of time before you decide if it’s helping or if side effects are too bad. I didn’t really notice a single moment of “wow, that’s a difference” but rather a gradual ability to better manage my distractions and hyperfocus. The side effects also nearly completely went away after a couple of months, and I only get nausea when I change doses or pick up after missing one.

  • What's the deal with AI datacenters using water for cooling?

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  • This is comparing apples and oranges though. Automotive cooling systems are designed for a very different problem set than datacenter cooling systems. The temperature gradients are much larger in ICE systems, they need to be small, light, and portable, and they cool something that generates much more variable heat loads.

    A data center creates a consistent heat load, is stationary, with access to a source of water that is functionally limitless to the operators, cools a much smaller gradient and needs to do so in the most economical way possible to be as profitable as it can be to the owners. Evaporative coolers are dead simple, very effective, and scale very easily which is why they are used.

  • What's the deal with AI datacenters using water for cooling?

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  • It evaporates, that’s how it cools. The water is sprayed over a heat exchanger and gets turned to essentially steam and then new water is pumped in and thus the water is “gone”. It will fall as rain somewhere but likely not near where it was taken from.

    A closed loop system could be used but they are more expensive and require more maintenance so large data centers don’t usually use them unless required to.

  • Self Hosting your mail server, is it plausible?

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  • It really depends on what you want to accomplish, your priorities, the amount of time and effort you are willing/able to put into it, and your risk appetite (not just privacy but also availability of your mail server).

    It is for sure one of the more challenging services to self-host, and IMO doesn’t offer a huge improvement over a hosted solution with your own domain from an actual security and privacy standards point since email is inherently insecure and non-privacy protecting without adding additional not-always-standard layers on top like PGP/GPG, SMIME, one-time passcode escrow systems, etc. that all have their own huge trade offs.

    Your self-hosted server will have downtime as well, some planned but also some unplanned. If your server is down, it can’t accept or send mail obviously which can be an issue (many services will try to deliver again after a back off period, but won’t try forever). Enterprises work around this with load balanced servers and running different services on fault tolerant infrastructure. That increases complexity quickly though and isn't what most self hosters do AFAIK.

  • Removed

    The United States will deploy small modular reactors at military bases in the Pacific by 2028

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  • It’s a combination of conservative designs, robust training, and a zero tolerance safety stance where even minor misses that have any relationship to the reactor or power systems get throughly investigated through a formal process that seeks to understand and learn from mistakes rather than assign blame.

    If anyone is curious, the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) publishes the Gray Book with some history of the Program, the various arms that are involved to make it successful, and how the Program is managed including training, suppliers, labs, and fleet operations and maintenance.

    Turn the Ship Around is a leadership book that also touches on safety and operations of a nuclear sub and is just a good read overall if your looking for a different way to think about bringing a leader in an organization.

  • Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

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  • Email is de facto not private/secure without adding additional layers to it, so using services like ProtonMail or Tuta are putting lipstick on a pig. They give a false sense of security and privacy that just doesn’t exist without a ton of additional overhead and opsec. Unless you plan to only email other Proton accounts, or use janky one-time password secure messages, your email isn’t E2EE, it’s just encrypted on Protons servers which is table stakes for most paid mail services. They are marketing something that just can’t fully work in the real world. You also then make a ton of trade offs like very limited client support (especially on mobile), and can’t even use S/MIME for compatibility with enterprise secure mail solutions.

    To be clear, I think it makes sense to pay for something as critical as email so you aren’t the product, as well is using your own domain for portability. But I don’t recommend folks buy into the false security and privacy promises of services like Proton for email/calendaring.

  • What temp or proxy email services are reliable?

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  • I use SimpleLogin with my own domain and have no problems 99% of the time. Every once in a while I’ll find a site that doesn’t like my .net domain, but those typically won’t take anything that isn’t a major provider. I use that as a sign I probably don’t need to use that service.

  • Cloudless Smart Home: Thread, Zigbee, ...

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  • There are two things in my house I don’t “play” with: internet connectivity and core home functions (lights, locks, garage doors, etc). That doesn’t mean I don’t self host anything or then, but I always start from a mindset of “must work”.

    I run HA on a Yellow (functionally an RPi 5 with radios and storage interface built in). My lights are either Hue running as plain Zigbee devices, or Zigbee switches. I don’t necessarily want more customization with home automation, I want stable, extensible, and easy to use day today. HA checks all those boxes easily. I’ve not done much looking into OpenHAB, but I would caution against going with something for home automation just because it’s more customizable. Sure, it’s great to have an automation routine that turns on your lights when you get home, it’s less great to have an integration that misbehaves and now you cannot turn off a light, or lock your door, or turn down the volume on your music, etc. Be sure to know what you want to accomplish before you buy devices, build automations, and always build things with a manual backup operation option.

  • Why are portion sizes in the US big?

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  • There is, I think, a few things that contribute here.

    1. The US has a very stupid “bigger is better” mentality. So if you go out you expect a large portion because that translates to better (and more value). This is of course not true, but culturally it’s very embedded.
    2. almost everyone I know takes home some portion of their meal from a restaurant. So that single portion is really two, or maybe three.
    3. IME people don’t usually have giant portions at home, they sometimes do of course, but things tend to be more sane for home cooked meals for your family. They also tend to be a lot more balanced, with more veg and grain.
    4. what you see on TV is often sensationalized, and not fully indicative of normal here.

  • Reason Behind Increasing ADHD Rates??

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  • It’s 100% this, it’s the folks that bounce their kegs and fidget in their chairs but don’t feel the urge to actually get up and move. The ones that read 3 books a week in high school because our brains just need something to stimulate them and doing the same math exercises for the third week in a row isn’t cutting it. We are the ones that work in IT now, jumping from fire to fire but never being able to fix the underlying issues (but that’s okay since there isn’t money, time, or people to fix them anyways). We learned to hide the struggle because otherwise we were just called lazy, told to focus more, or work harder. Often we are pretty smart since instead of running in circles at lunch we read yet another book on some esoteric subject (and now have access to Wikipedia whenever we want which is not a blessing). In older parlance we have ADD, not ADHD, in modern terms we are often inattentive type, or combined. If we did well in school and weren’t the TV trope ADHD kid, no one bothered to check us.

  • Why is diagnosis/assessment such an access issue in America and elsewhere?

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  • Maybe my experience is out of the norm, but I did some searching online for recommendations of psychologists that do ADHD evaluations. I called the most recommended and was told they had no open appointments but recommended three others that often have availability. I checked those out, chose one, and made an appointment online. They specifically have adult ADHD evaluation as a service they provide with a defined set of appointments and processes. I did an online appointment first, followed by a ton of surveys and questionnaires (it was I think 5 different forms with 30-50 questions each). My wife also did one. I had an in person appointment with some testing over the course of an hour or so, then a follow up to discuss my diagnosis. Of note, it was a few hundred dollars, paid out of our HSA and covered by insurance as mental health services. I didn’t need to “game” anything. I was on time for appointments, honest, and upfront about everything. I discussed why I was looking into this at 30+ years old (I was noticing it interfering with my work and home life more, and through talking to friends and seeing videos online I started to suspect ADHD was a likely explanation for struggles and experiences I’ve had my whole life). Medication never came up during the evaluation, and afterward it only came up in terms of an option for treatment but advised as part of a larger regime of therapy. Psychologists can’t prescribe anything anyways. I do take medication now though it isn’t a stimulant (what OP refers to as pharma speed which is a gross mischaracterization of stimulant medications for ADHD, but it seems they are aware of that and don’t care about continuing to stigmatize ADHD treatments) and both my wife and I have seen a huge difference in my ability to generally function in ways that are healthy, productive, and much more pleasant. I still need to find a therapist though, been meaning to get on that for the last year or so…

    For those in the US looking into this, check out psychologists, they are fully equipped and qualified to evaluate and diagnose various types of neurodivergence in people and are easier to get appointments with than most psychiatrists (if you are diagnosed and want to try medication as a treatment option you’ll still need to find a psychiatrist, but that can be easier with a diagnosis in hand). They are generally cheaper since they aren’t medical doctors, and many insurance plans still cover their services. Don’t skip or miss appointments, especially on purpose. It isn’t going to help in a diagnosis and is likely to just make it harder to get help you need and are trying to get. Lock in on that hyper focus and be that person that’s there 20 minutes early (because with an appointment in the afternoon can you really do anything else that day anyways?). Call around, or email, most offices want to help and seem willing to point you to other providers if they can’t help you. Be prepared for a wait though, it’s common to get an appointment 3-6 months out in many areas (more reason not to miss appointments on purpose!).

  • Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer("An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me"); pulls story

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  • I would hazard to guess they are investigating how the use of AI was missed in their editorial process, how they missed the incorrect quotes, and who violated their journalistic standards by using an AI to directly write article text since it’s a coauthored piece.

  • Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer("An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me"); pulls story

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  • In typical Ars fashion, the editorial team appears to be looking into what happened and are being fairly open about at things: https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/

    I will be very disappointed if this was BenJ or Dan [edit: I had messed this up, it wasn’t Dan but Kyle Orland that coauthored it] Kyle using AI to write their article since both have had really good pieces in the past, but it doesn’t sound like this is some Ars wide shift at this point. Like all things, it makes sense that it will take time for them to investigate this, Aurich (the Ars community lead and graphic designer) was clear that with this happening on a Friday afternoon and a US holiday on Monday, it’s likely to be into next week before they have anything they can share.

  • New user about to jump into Proton

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  • I use them because I still have access through the last renewal I had, but won’t be renewing anything other than SimpleLogin once it runs out (and even that I may try and self host, not sure yet).

  • How do I avoid becoming one with the botnet?

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  • Eh, it can be a lot of work but doesn’t have to be. I’ve automated backups, and if you follow current best practice guidance from industry, you should use long pass phrases and not worry about regularly rotating them. For things like SSH keys, you can rotate them if you think you’ve had a breach but in normal usage there isn’t a huge benefit security-wise since they functionally can’t be guessed and would need to be stolen. If an adversary steals your SSH keys then you’re already pretty hosed as the next step is for them to establish another backdoor to access your server without needing your key.

  • TIL “sleet” does not have the same meaning in all English speaking countries

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  • Yes, hail is from thunderstorms and is generally larger, ice pellets are winter precipitation and almost always smaller. Hail usually lasts only a few minutes, ice pellets can last many hours.

  • How do I avoid becoming one with the botnet?

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  • Honestly it’s not a ton of time. A few minutes to run patches every few weeks, and the initial investment to plan, install, and configure your services (but then that’s the fun part no?). Self hosting IMO isn’t a great way to save time and money, or even to get out of the pocket of big tech. If those are your goals you’re better off looking at hosted solutions that are Open, and likely paying for it since running IT stacks isn’t free. Self hosting is a hobby, something you do to learn and because you enjoy it. It is hard sometimes, takes time, and comes with risks, but so do most other hobbies.

  • How do I avoid becoming one with the botnet?

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  • It doesn’t usually matter what the service is, the basic concepts are the same. If you want to access a service you host on your internal network from another external network you either need to use a VPN to securely connect into your network, or expose the service directly. If you are exposing it directly you should put it (or a proxy like NPM) in your DMZ. The specifics of how to do this though will vary from service to service and with your specific network config.

  • Dull Men's Club @lemmy.world
    WxFisch @lemmy.world

    Changed the oil in the car today

  • ADHD @lemmy.world
    WxFisch @lemmy.world

    Effects of missing Atomoxetine Doses?

  • ADHD @lemmy.world
    WxFisch @lemmy.world

    Testing Option in Pittsburgh Area

  • What is this thing? @lemmy.world
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    What are the white antennas on this pole

  • Memmy - An iOS client for Lemmy @lemmy.ml
    WxFisch @lemmy.world

    Double upvote on new comment