ACS_Solver

33 ms·

271.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
Yeah, that's the crux of the matter. I'm one of the rare (outside the HN bubble at least) tech users who try hard to retain control of data and avoid cloud providers. I've never used Gmail, I have a Google account but almost
272.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
I have nothing against private charities but see them only as a complement to state-run programs. The social improvement that comes from people having healthcare/education/etc requires that the vast majority of people have it, not
273.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
I'm a software engineer working in Sweden, a country I chose because of its strong welfare society among other things. With a good salary, I'm paying more tax than the majority of Swedes, my marginal tax rate is over 50%, and in t
274.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
> Your first/native language isn't a problem, your second language is difficult I don't think so - I rather think this is exactly what early exposure gets around. Growing up with two languages, you understand and speak two
275.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
Some totally anecdotal points. It seems like it's far easier with early exposure to languages. I speak six languages, and don't find languages too difficult, which I attribute largely to having grown up speaking two languages from
276.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
I wonder if that's easy to adapt to Linux? I get around the same issue by emailing files to the reMarkable [0] but that's a solution that relies on having your own email server and is therefore less user-friendly than what you do,
277.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
There's definitely some nostalgia involved, but I feel some things from the previous Internet have been lost. Discord communities are at least a reasonable approximation of the old IRC channels, and there are other modern analogs to &q
278.
by ACS_Solver 8y ago
People sometimes overlook the fact that the FSF is clearly a political organization, the GNU project places politics over technology, and Stallman himself is a political activist first and foremost. Yet people forget this and treat GNU stuf
279.
by ACS_Solver 9y ago
Old English is a fairly poor example because it was basically replaced by another language through conquest. While languages do evolve, it's a gradual process and they remain understandable for centuries. Shakespeare, Dante and Goethe
280.
by ACS_Solver 9y ago
> At the same time, each language is a barrier between people, one that prevents ideas to be shared and stories to be told. The fewer such barriers we have, the easier it becomes to understand others. Literally. That is a strong case for
281.
by ACS_Solver 9y ago
Genuine question: why is Bitcoin, for instance, not a currency? I understand it's obviously not a fiat currency, it's not backed by any state. Bitcoin is, though, in circulation, is convertible into numerous goods and services, or
282.
by ACS_Solver 9y ago
In the dot-com bubble, there is a huge difference between the underlying technology and all the failing dot-coms. The bubble grew, and burst, because of the many companies that had little other than Internet buzzwords and got crazy valuatio
283.
by ACS_Solver 9y ago
Same code for the two addresses. Liepāja is a major city by local standards but still only has some 80k people and about 15 postal codes cover the entire city. No two streets in the same city are supposed to have the same name per our natio
284.
by ACS_Solver 9y ago
To offer a counterpoint though, translations are important for the older generations. I notice that, compared to many other European countries, we have far fewer computer/technology users that are older, say 60+. Latvians in that age g
285.
by ACS_Solver 9y ago
I'm a native Latvian speaker, always set every UI to English, for many reasons. One is that I started using computers before any mainstream software was available in Latvian, so I am used to English being the language of all computers.
286.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
Latvia, abysmal voter turnout, but the same system pretty much. Elections on a Saturday, voting stations open from 07:00 to 20:00, and you can vote at any station. No advance registration, no requirements other than being able to identify y
287.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
People's situations may vary, but most of the ones you list differ in two important ways. One, they need to make an effort to invade your privacy. Yeah, my neighbours could observe my daily routine, my electric company may do more than
288.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
Never claimed otherwise, although my steps are enough to expose far less data about myself than the average Internet user. These steps are also completely usable in everyday life without sacrificing much time or convenience. On the comparat
289.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
I also prefer Cyanogen, although I like having access to the Google Play store even on that. While that's tied to my Google account, it's an informed choice, I am fine with Google knowing what Play Store apps I have installed, and
290.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
When I send an unencrypted email, I consider that to be data out of my control, but at least my incoming mail is not getting scanned by anyone.
291.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
Yes, I think this is right. I have very privacy-conscious tech habits, and companies have some data on me, but probably far less than on the typical user of modern services. Some ways I protect myself: 1. Google account - I have one because
292.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
I still don't see how this is a boost to transparency. I tend to think of transparency in terms of the government being transparent, not me being able to get information on random people. How does society as a whole benefit when I can
293.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
This is perhaps my least favorite thing about Apple's software concept, but at the same time I have to admit they've made it simple for the masses, and it works. The iOS file concept seems to be closer to how people without knowle
294.
by ACS_Solver 10y ago
I have the opposite experience, I moved to Scandinavia (Sweden), and this is still one of the weirder things to me. I like the ideas of transparency in general that are prevalent, but I don't see how publishing the tax returns of indiv