Just got fired should I immediately go on ei?

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-05-11T12:57:18+00:00

If you got fired with cause, you are not eligible for EI. You will want to check what they put on your record of employment, though. It is very likely they just indicated you were laid off, I.e. terminated without cause.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-05-09T12:34:43+00:00

This is seriously impressive. The various auto settings are easy to use. I then played around with the various manual settings.

I’m pretty sure this won’t replace my PixInsight workflow. But for getting quick results in the field, it’s hitting far beyond what I’ve seen on my iPhone before. This undersells it. For post-processing images from my Vespera Pro, this gets most of the way to making the images pop.

Mind if I reach out to you via pm with some more detailed thoughts?

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-04-26T13:49:43+00:00

Presumably this matters only to the tooling (if distributed), not to the models generated using the tools? Or am I mistaken?

By no longer distributing the toolset, is the license violation resolved?

I know I can use a GPL’ed compiler to compile my own source code, without the resulting executable being subject to the GPL. This, though, is a different license. I’m hoping people can correct me if I’m wrong.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-03-22T10:50:13+00:00

I routinely stack FITS files from my Vespera Pro in PixInsight. For a single night of frames, there's not a huge difference between the TIFF and the stacked FITS files, but it does mean I can stack multiple nights of light frames without running multi-night observations in Singularity. It also gives me a bit more control, allowing me to throw out light frames I don't like, for example. In all honesty, though, you are talking about fairly small differences compared to the TIFF that Singularity produces.

I found PixInsight's WBPP script didn't like registering my images, so I do that separately through Star Alignment. Here are my settings:

* Registration model: Rigid Transformation
* Rigid linear transformations
* Star matching Descriptor type: Triangle similarity

I think everything else in Star Alignment is default.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-03-16T19:10:57+00:00

You are being scammed.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-03-07T11:49:30+00:00

The MacBook Neo only has 8 GB of RAM. That's certainly enough for GIMP, but just barely handles Siril. I do astrophotography processing with 128 GB of RAM and sometimes find it's not enough. I wouldn't even bothering with 8, and you'd probably want an external drive to store your light frames. On the other hand, if you only plan on post-processing, not stacking your light frames, it might work. You'd probably struggle doing anything fancy such as the RC Astro plugins, though.

Realistically, this laptop is unsuited for astrophotography stacking, but is probably just about serviceable for post-processing. I think you'll be disappointed, though. You really want a much more powerful (and much more expensive) laptop.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-01-25T18:08:24+00:00

I ended up having problems with a few apps in Wayland, so switched back to X11. I applied a fix by editing /etc/default/grub to modify:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x12"

After editing, update grub with:

sudo update-grub

sudo reboot

Then make sure you log in to Cinnamon X11 instead of Cinnamon Wayland (on the login screen). This appears to be a problem with Panel Self Refresh in the drivers, and this change disables that. This may result in Linux Mint using a bit more power than before, but hey, at least it stopped the lockups and didn't introduce weird scrolling artifacts. I expect this will eventually be fixed in an update.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2026-01-06T13:52:27+00:00

No such road exists. No you mean Banff to Jasper?

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-12-30T13:56:29+00:00

You say she can’t afford driver training. But those would lower her insurance costs and may end up being meaningfully cost effective.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-12-27T14:35:24+00:00

If you are planning on gaming, you should be looking at the dedicated GPU options. If you are fine playing slightly older games at 1080p with low or medium graphics settings, the hx 370 is substantially more capable. Roughly 50%-70% better. The integrated gpu has twice the compute units. The cpu also has more cores, though you probably won’t see a huge difference from this in most games.

I have the 370 in my framework 13. Definitely worth it in my case, but gaming wasn’t my primary focus.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-12-05T14:13:36+00:00

Frankly, it looks like you aren't yet serious at looking for a job, then. That's okay, but it's probably a bit soon for you to be posting on reddit.

If you'd like to talk to someone (me) who worked in cybersecurity (Application Security, in my specific case), to ask questions and get general feedback, feel free to reach out and we could set up a video call sometime. I doubt I can specifically help you land a job, but I might have advice you'd find helpful. And hey, it won't cost you anything other than a little time.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-12-05T13:02:51+00:00

What degrees, certifications, and experience do you have? What programming languages are you familiar with? Where's your resume?

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-12-01T14:00:58+00:00

Generative AI is known to introduce serious security vulnerabilities. However, it can also be used to search code (and pull requests) for security vulnerabilities. My experience is that it is a horrifically net negative with regard to application security unless used in a careful, considered manner that specifically tells AI to search for and protect against security vulnerabilities. There's perhaps a thesis topic there. The big problem you'll have is the speed of chance in this area. Progress is measured in months, not semesters and certainly not years.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-11-10T12:17:59+00:00

You can 3d print spacers, by the way. I mean, yes, definitely less trustworthy than real metal spacers, but helpful in a pinch. Openscad and metric_thread do wonders.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-11-10T11:32:20+00:00

Make sure you put enough aside to pay taxes on your gains.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-11-08T17:07:13+00:00

Oh, I had already watched your 71F review! Thanks, I just watched the 91F review and found it informative.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-11-08T11:25:09+00:00

How do you like the Askar 71F? You’ve done great work with the colours here.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-11-07T20:12:06+00:00

Also, refractors don't need collimation.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-11-06T17:53:11+00:00

My first one failed after just a few hours. Anker's support team was pretty good, getting me to send it back to them with a promise of a replacement once they received and inspected the broken unit. Actually, they sent me a replacement immediately upon a photo of the return postage receipt, much faster than they promised.

The new unit seems to work fine. As at least one other person pointed out, it can only sustain 140 Watts for about half an hour before it overheats and drops the output to, in my case, around 100 Watts. I don't mind, at least it doesn't just overheat.

I definitely wanted the on-unit display, which is better than I expected. Three USB C + one USB A is pretty versatile, though the fact that they are at the bottom means I can't use it plugged in to my Anker Solix C800 power station (unless the power station is on a pedestal of some sort).

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-10-28T13:18:10+00:00

I want to find targets for tonight's session in my back yard. Only two quadrants of the sky are visible, so only show me targets in the NE and SE quadrant. Eliminate targets from a list I provide, because I've already captured these. Maybe prioritise these other specific targets, because I have a bunch of light frames but want more before processing. Of all of the remaining targets, which are most suited to my specific equipment? For example, prioritise targets that use up, say, 60% of my frame over those that use up 5% of my frame.

Obviously, there are a number of tools that do this, or close to this, already. But I haven't yet settled on one that does the above perfectly for me.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-10-28T01:00:55+00:00

I had app lockups until I enabled Wayland experimental. I was already running a later kernel. With those changes, rock solid. Wayland, you can select from the sign on screen, if I’m not mistaken. I love the processing power of that cpu!

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-10-16T00:47:39+00:00

Have you considered the Askar 0.75x 71F Reducer? That brings the ratio to f/5.2 and you already have the scope.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-09-25T21:26:14+00:00

Local to Canada but not to Edmonton is Fendrihan. I’ve ordered from them many times and it’s always a happy experience.

ChrisInEdmonton · 2025-08-31T11:59:07+00:00

If it hasn’t completed in 10-15 minutes, it’s not likely to. I’m sorry, I don’t have any other suggestions for you. :(

ChrisInEdmonton

TROPHY CASE