Viewing profile — chesimov

I have recently moved to a macbook pro for work, having used Ubuntu on my prior machine. In my experience, the mac (despite having significantly more modern specs) is more buggy an…

Contraction last 2 quarters in South Africa

I'm not sure I understood your comment correctly - did you return to the same institution 10 years later, or did you go to a new one?

LiFePO4 batteries are significantly safer for a penalty of 14% less energy density

Do mean that a government is less trustworthy than an independendent corporation? That a corporation will better look after the interests of its citizens than a government?

Depending on the class of Bluetooth, the signal strength is around 100 times less than a cellphone.

Some people say this kind of populist stuff (and worse) on campus here too. I feel like some of the polarising optimisations in social media that have happened in the US etc spill …

My anecdote: In undergraduate engineering, a lot of the people around me were on ritalin. I never felt disadvantaged because I felt it didn't give anyone a clear advantage in the h…

This is something I wonder about. I'm certain they never delete anything, because in aggregate all that data is surely very valuable and will be for years to come. However, I hope …

What would be the sort of dispute you envisage?

For me, in both of these videos, the audio is severely mangled (across different browsers). Have never experienced anything like this on youtube before. Does anyone have any idea w…

Also available in SA. You have to share your facebook data with the mobile company though.

There was a recent Icelandic (I think) TV show with a premise along these lines

I also associate succumb with die for some reason, although I'm not sure why. Maybe in the newspapers if they say 'x succumbed to their injuries' it would imply that?

It was a different time - my understanding is that having a multiply redundant system was important for an isolated pariah state. Think of it like the strategic petroleum reserves …

Fair point, but choosing the electricity crisis as an example is not helping your claim - the Apartheid lot left us with something like 50% overcapacity and almost the cheapest ele…

Well, there's an exodus from the rest of the country to the W. Cape. They call it 'semigration'. Property was up 12% a while ago when all other provinces saw a decline I think (exc…

The people you are speaking about, the Bushmen, were wiped out by the Nguni pastoralists and the European settlers. A few descendents remain. They are not in power here. As for Wes…

There is at least one self-sufficient desalination ship for hire that could apparently just about cover the entire city's needs on its own. It is also apparently very exensive so w…

The heaviest offenders have also had mandatory electronic limiters fitted to their properties, permitting no more than 350L per property per day (as of now)

Yes, U-boats sank merchant shipping in Table Bay

On point 4 - my understanding is that the poorest areas (which are at most risk of disease outbreaks) will not have their water cut. Rather, everyone else will have their water cut…

Have a margin - somewhat more bowls and plates than you actually need.

Don't know about other countries but in S. Africa it also exists. We don't have Adderall as far as I'm aware but I know of people who use Ritalin and say it has improved their dail…

Thanks for your explanation, I did not know that this was the case. I had until now assumed that words are a kind of medium for conveying the underlying thoughts which are abstract…