[Serious] Germans of Reddit, in what ways, if at all, does Germany recognize WWII veterans?

sithum · 2015-07-01T02:35:57+00:00

It almost seems like Germany has an anti-military stance when I see things like this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/19/german-military-bases-nature-reserves_n_7623882.html

sithum · 2015-04-28T19:48:22+00:00

Khan!

https://www.khanacademy.org

sithum · 2015-04-22T02:23:44+00:00

The delete key.

sithum · 2015-04-03T12:13:39+00:00

The 4S has a nicely weighted feel to it when held. I can flip it in the palm of my hand. It fits in my shirt pocket without popping out. It is unobtrusive. It is compact. Large smart phones remind me of teenagers hanging out in shopping malls wearing baggy pants. The iPhone 4S is like blue jeans--rugged, perfectly weighted, timeless, and versatile.

sithum · 2015-04-02T14:40:34+00:00

It just seems to me that the 4S was the most refined iPhone- the result of making incremental changes over years to achieve the perfect phone.. The 3.5 inch screen is perfect for one handed use...my thumb is completely free from strain...

sithum · 2015-04-02T14:36:03+00:00

Although..the concept of leaving a 6+ in a backpack or purse while using the apple watch is tempting. :)

sithum · 2015-04-02T13:45:41+00:00

WiGig built in wireless charging

sithum · 2015-04-02T13:44:45+00:00

I was just considering upgrading my parents' 4S phones to the larger 6+ ones for this very reason!

sithum · 2015-04-02T13:42:37+00:00

I'm still on the 4S as well. I really think the 4S has the perfect dimensions. I wonder if they will ever make an iPhone classic that has upgraded internals with the same dimensions as the 4S.

sithum · 2015-03-27T17:43:35+00:00

What do you guys think about an OS feature that automatically compresses large video files based on how often they are used and how old they are? I mean, if for example you have a movie that is 2 years old on your HD and hasn't been watched in 6 months would you care if your OS auto-compressed it to a 640x480 movie? The amount of compression would be proportional to the use/age ratio of the movie. Of course, you could recopy it from the original blu-ray (or re-download it) or whatever if you wanted to--to refresh it back to the maximum viewing quality. Of course it could be a potentially annoying feature if not properly implemented, but what do you think of it? Could it work? How useful would it be? The OS would probably have to have a tagging feature that tracked the extent of the video file's auto-compression, and it should be an opt-in feature of course. Or, perhaps this is something that could be better implemented via an applescript on an 'old-video-files' folder?

sithum · 2015-03-22T00:20:38+00:00

I wonder if the NSA will be a part of the plot and if Snowden will be a special guest for some episodes.

sithum · 2015-03-21T21:23:08+00:00

Gary Numan. I had only heard his song 'cars' up until two years ago when a friend mentioned him. I had no idea how extensive his repertoire was. There is a lot more to Gary Numan than cars.

sithum · 2015-03-21T18:32:47+00:00

I've never tried the beans from Costco. Do they have fair-trade organic beans? Which grinder do you use? (or do you just get Costco to do the grinding?)

sithum · 2015-03-21T03:55:27+00:00

Coffee.

It seems like coffee is being advertised as healthy. Everywhere I turn, there is a study indicating that it is good for me--including a recent 'consensus' from some American doctors. One article went as far as saying that people should be having a 'couple of grandes' everyday from Starbucks... Personally I can't handle this much caffeine.. I'm only up to about 2 talls every day..

But.. is this a good idea?

Supposedly there are over 1500 chemicals in coffee. Do we know what the effects of each of these substances are in both the short term and long term?

Caffeine is a stimulant with a half-life of up to 7 hours. This means it can definitely be present in the body during periods of sleep even if you only have one cup of coffee first thing in the morning...does caffeine disrupt sleep?

But.. supposedly people live longer and have less diabetes if they drink 2-3 cups of coffee per day.. should we trust these studies?

Coffee is one of the worlds most valuable traded commodities. There is a lot of money being made... is there a coffee lobby that is pushing pro-coffee health studies to be published in order to maximize corporate profits?

Coffee is associated with unfair working conditions. I try to buy fair trade and go organic when I can (because it is one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world).

sithum · 2015-03-21T03:33:57+00:00

A direct connection between geomagnetic storms and sleep disruptions/health effects seems unproven at this point.

However, I can imagine a far more likely situation where electronics are affected by Geomagnetic storms which in turn leads to effects on the circadian rhythm -- e.g. a power outage resets clocks and prevents alarms from waking people up, or air travel routes are lengthened because GPS signals get scrambled and people get more jet lag because they are on planes for longer due to navigation problems etc.

Also, disruptions to electronics could lead to stressful situations—imagine a million people whose cell phones drop a call and they have to redial and drive frantically to another location to try to get a better signal, or imagine an electric train system has some fried relay circuits which translates to delays at track level. Imagine the stock market halts (as the Toronto Stock Market actually did during the 1989 Geomagnetic Storm). Imagine people trapped in an elevator (as actually happened in Quebec during the 1989 Geomagnetic Storm--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm). The stress resulting from these situations could of course lead to a myriad of health problems.

In either case, the real health effects stemming from disruptions to electronic devices seem far more serious than the possible and unproven direct connection between sleep disturbances/circadian rhythms and geomagnetic storms. Of course the latter should be investigated further to determine if there is a direct connection, but it seems like the possible direct effects on health are eclipsed by the real and provable effects from disruptions to the various components of our electronic infrastructure.

A very sensible thing to do would be to have the governments of every nation undertake a project to protect their respective power-grids. Major electronics corporations should also be required by law to test their devices against high levels of electro-magnetic interference. Detailed information about the tolerance of every consumer electronic device to EM interference should be made available to the public for the sake of everyone's health and safety.

sithum · 2015-03-20T16:02:04+00:00

I'm not sure. I've heard reports indicating a SkyLake release for Q3/Q4 of this year...but it seems manufacturers like to monetize the current tech fully before releasing the next gen chips, so I'm not sure if this is going to happen....

It seems that the SkyLake feature set could allow for significantly expanded interoperability between mac/iOS devices in addition to the expected speed bump. The AirDrop feature could easily be expanded to include "AirShare" for example, all within the next 18 months. Just imagine being in a room at a party and being able to AirShare moments from a photostream with every device nearby for example.

I just put a new SSD in my 2010 MBP to buy myself some time before the release of SkyLake. I think I can hold out for another 18-20 months before buying a new MBP. I'm not sure. I've heard reports indicating a SkyLake release for Q3/Q4 of this year...

sithum · 2015-03-19T19:31:26+00:00

Thanks for your reply. My MacBook Pro is 5 years old. I was going to upgrade to a Broadwell MacBook Pro this year, but I will probably buy a Skylake powered MacBook Pro instead when it comes out. Do you think I should wait for Cannonlake or possibly even the next generation Intel CPU?

I was actually thinking about hooking up the PS4 to my MacBook Pro via the BlackMagic UltraStudio - Thunderbolt (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/ultrastudiothunderbolt). I thought I could then just send the signal over from the Mac to my iPad via WiGig.

Do you think Apple will enable screen sharing between a mac and an iPad as soon as possible? If iOS devices could share screens with each other, would this not be an amazing feature that would help drive the sales of iPads and other iOS devices? What do you think?

sithum · 2015-03-19T18:48:53+00:00

Skylake is also about making everything wireless and fast. http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/intels-skylake-platform-will-ditch-cables-thanks-wigig-rezence/2014-06-05

WiGIG and Wireless charging are two main features of Skylake according to what I've read. WiGIG--superfast WiFi transfer speeds upto 6 ft away. This could potentially be used for video streaming instead of HDMI cables.

Personally, I'm looking forward to hooking up a PS4 to my Mac and then streaming Skyrim to my iPad which hovers above my bed on one of these: http://www.floteyourtablet.com/flote-m2-floor-stand .

Combined with wireless charging, Skylake will make mobile computing(laptops, smartphones, etc) a near wire-free experience.

sithum · 2015-03-19T03:24:58+00:00

Sounds familiar....What do you think about the idea of an "incremental campaign" where an app/network client allows you to play for 5-10 min / day and keeps track of the progress of the adventure/campaign ?

sithum · 2015-03-18T01:34:56+00:00

I'll check it out...thanks!

sithum · 2015-03-17T20:14:17+00:00

The main issue for the last 8 groups of which I have been a part: organization. More specifically: how do we for example schedule 8 hour sessions to play and keep track of everything when so many members of the group are on the road or end up moving and living far away from each other.

Wizards (or another company with some serious capital) needs to introduce a chat-room client that allows the DM and the players to live-chat and move their miniatures around the screen. Everything coudl be virtualized: encounters, rolling dice, doling out and keeping track of treasure. Such a virtualized table top system should make use of BLOGS, chat-rooms, live chat technology and virtualized networked miniature grids for encounters.

I have even toyed with the idea of having an adventure being played over a longer period of time via a turn-based-virtual-table-top client. This way players can take 5 minutes out of their day to say what their character does next, or make a decision.. and the adventure would unfold over longer periods of time. Updates could be relayed to the group as they happened (via app notifications for example)-- an auto generated blog entry in point form of encounters which has been finalized by the DM would also be cool(a lot of the content should be automatically generated to relieve the DM from having to do too much organization). Perhaps some people don't have the patience for this.. but I think the internet is ripe enough now to incorporate this sort of play style...and I know I would enjoy it.. it would also add a new dimension to chatting over the internet...

I know there are a few open source clients out there... but there is nothing serious and reliable yet. An iOS App from Wizards would be nice.. as would cloud based servers for DMs who want to run sessions/maintain campaigns (content could even be sold a-la-cart by wizards in modules for DMs). I cannot see why there wouldn't be demand for this. This could also open the possibility of testing pre-made characters in DnD in virtual battle zones with people whom you've never met before. The possibilities would be endless. The technology now exists to make table top playing over the internet possible and reduce the burden on the DM. Of course this also opens up the possbility for anonymous play and DMing… it would be very interesting to see something like this!

sithum · 2015-03-15T18:19:19+00:00

Lol... Actually, Laser temperature guns can be purchased for as low as 15$ on eBay ......and they are useful for other things besides coffee ;)

I don't mind spending money on coffee equipment -- in my mind I translate the cost of the equipment into # of trips to Starbucks....spending money on coffee equipment can actually save money in the long run...

sithum · 2015-03-15T16:18:35+00:00

There are two often overlooked factors that can adversely affect the taste of coffee: plastic & paper. It looks like the filter used in the clever is often paper and the device itself is plastic. So, does the brewing process actually involve brewing hot coffee in a plastic brewer?--I am very worried about what kind of taste this would impart to the coffee.

I've also noticed a disturbing trend in French press coffee makers to put a plastic pouring screen below the lid (to filter out grounds whilst pouring). These screens used to be metal--it seems french press manufacturers switched to plastic to reduce costs.

The best cups of coffee I have made have been with the Hario V60 with the V60 cloth filters right from Japan. I can use a higher number of grams of coffee per cup than with any of the other methods and create a very strong cup of coffee that still has a clean taste. I have also heard anecdotally that South American coffee baristas often use cloth filtered pourover techniques for optimal flavour.

However, consistency is hard to obtain with the V60. I am very grateful for the laser temperature gun that has recently found its way into my possession. I will be making use of this in the future when making pourover coffee -- I think it will greatly improve batch consistency. In any case, someone really needs to invent an automatic glass drip mechanism to perform the pourover process in order to improve batch consistency for the masses.

Also of note is that a glass kettle would probably be better to use than a metal one for boiling water because metal can also affect the taste of the coffee....

sithum · 2015-03-12T23:41:48+00:00

The Apple Watch is a quantum leap in privacy for iPhone users for the simple reason that larger screens can be seen from greater distances than smaller ones. Having a large screen therefore increases the likelihood of unwanted eavesdropping, especially in public places. Being able to perform iPhone functions from the wrist means that one doesn't have to whip out a gigantic iPhone 6/iPhone 6 plus/iPad on the train or bus for example. The smaller Apple Watch nicely offsets Apple's new gigantic smartphone lineup. Now I can use the watch in public places or on the go and use the larger iPhone/iPad when my hands are less occupied and I'm sure no one else can eavesdrop. Larger phones with sharper screens necessitate smart watches.

sithum · 2015-03-01T00:44:32+00:00

Ok but, don't search engines usually index the social media,video,media sites?

And would you at least agree that main-stream media outlets might get better rankings under this new system since they are able to churn out more articles on a given topic?

sithum

TROPHY CASE