But then you look at Japanese (and other far east) websites and they're full of info, buttons, links, etc. Like old western websites!
I've always wondered why we diverged so much on UIs between eastern and western countries. Chinese characters pack information in a way that our alphabet doesn't, but that can't be the only reason, can it?
100%. I'm also a Spaniard and immigrating next year to Bay Area and I can say that I'd only move to a handful of cities in the US. The cultural shock was too hard in places outside major metros. And I've lived in South East Asia!
E.g., around CalPoly most people just... Went home after work? No meeting up to do something, have a drink, etc. They just went home and stayed there. I found it super strange.
I wouldn't call it "passé" as such, I think it's just very difficult because everyone is basically going in wildly different directions and there's no unity or commonality. Why spend a lot of time and effort being friends with people that you have absolutely nothing in common with, and frequently find to have repulsive opinions?
Per this thread https://twitter.com/tw__astro/status/1624908400902504451 it seems my time is a bit off, though. I took the filename and just checked the time offset in the video. Was considering checking metadata but thought 'nah, those few milliseconds difference'. However, exiftool says 2023:02:13 02:59:29, file name is 20230213_035256.mp4. Adding those three seconds to my previous guess comes out to the tweet's time.
As I write this, I'm still... what's the word, excited? Thrilled? Like, I'm still not down to baseline relaxed. It's really just five seconds of light show, but looking at an astronomical event unfolding, knowing this is hundreds of kilometers away in northwestern France, the tiny voice in the back of your head as you see it explode "could they have been wrong about it being just 1 meter?" I wasn't truly scared at any point but the combination of feelings and awe is still a little bit with me.
I just returned to Spain and went through this Cl@ve thing only to realize it cannot be used for a lot of "federal" (estatales) services nor for the "state" (comunidad autónoma) services.
In Spain we have so many layers of bureaucracy that it's making me glad I left. Public notaries, the State Registry, and the Cadastre, are some of the most archaic institutions I've had the misfortune of dealing with. They even look at me like I'm an alien when I ask about digitized records (escrituras) or at least an index.
On the other hand in Singapore I paid my taxes and my company taxes in literally less than 5 minutes. In Finland I had an integrated citizen experience. Even in Germany, despite the reputation, things were somewhat integrated between the tax authority and the social security.
It depends a lot on whera re you. In Galicia is somewhat doable, for example, although they have their own service calle Chave instead of cl@ve (because why not?).
The Catastro is now digital too, I managed to get a nota simple through their website.
But yeah it's always a lot of friction. There's a clear lack of integration that makes everything difficult.
That's all good in theory. In practice, it's just a massive time sink for citizens. I know because I'm going through some of it right now for regularizig an inheritance and I've wasted so much time, but having this data separate has brought nothing to my privacy. In fact, given the legacy systems, I'd argue I have less privacy because there are fewer (or no) controls.
On the other hand, when these connected systems are in place it's not like employees can just tap your name and get the data, there is some Auth process with your eID/certificate.
It all boils down to people's trust in the government. In Scandinavian countries that trust is high. In Southern European countries it's very low (and much lower in the US).
A little off-topic, but: I just found out about Comma.ai and... is it really legal in the US? I know it wouldn't be in most (all?) EU countries, as modifications to the vehicle require certification by a professional engineer.
It's kind of terrifying that anyone can modify their vehicle as they please and drive it on the road with everyone else.
Everywhere in Europe. Every European language other than English (that I know of) uses "billions" for 10^12 and something like "milliards" or "thousands of millions" for 10^9.
I worked for years at ESA and at least there this was not true at all. Most of us came from pretty normal backgrounds and had a passion for engineering.
It's definitely not a place where "money ambitious" people go. It's not particularly well paid compared to other engineering jobs (and I think this is even more true at NASA). What we all had in common was fierce passion and a sense of fulfillment that I haven't found anywhere else yet.
Genuinely asking: what other alternatives would you consider? Open or closed source, either way. Grafana seems pervasive around me and I always like to compare alternatives.
I've always wondered why we diverged so much on UIs between eastern and western countries. Chinese characters pack information in a way that our alphabet doesn't, but that can't be the only reason, can it?