dhork
@dhork@lemmy.world
- Comment on Whatever happened to the blockchain/smart contract 'revolution' we were told about? 3 days ago:
VISA handles 65,000 transactions per second. That’s one of the major reasons we’re not seeing more widespread adoption.
I thought they were gonna fix that by running a bunch of bar tabs
- Comment on At this point who in the world could stop Trump over doing something totally illegal? Like lets say using bunker buster bombs to destroy DEM cities? Or is USA communially FUCKED? 1 week ago:
The US President is not subject to laws, when acting in his official capacity, unless at least 1/2 of the House and 2/3 of the Senate vote to impeach him. So winning the election is a license to do illegal things, if you have enough political support.
- Comment on New Executive Order:AI must agree on the Administration views on Sex,Race, cant mention what they deem to be Critical Race Theory,Unconscious Bias,Intersectionality,Systemic Racism or "Transgenderism 1 week ago:
I know, but it looks derpier that way
- Comment on Is it possible to sell semi-old computers/parts? 1 week ago:
I collect old stuff too. There are only a handful of things that have been useful over the years, mainly USB devices. People who work with hobby embedded devices can also make use of RS232 serial equipment. It might be worth holding on to a single old monitor that can also do VGA. Or a single SATA DVD drive in case you find some old discs you need to read. I have a box of C-64 stuff I am never getting rid of. The kids will have to figure out what to do with that when I am gone.
But all those old ISA cards? Parallel printer port cables? Zip drives? Yeah, nobody wants them. Maybe you can list those old Apple talk dongles on eBay and make a hundred bucks, but you also have to deal with shipping them and stuff.
Just be careful when disposing old drives. I have a stack of busted drives that I won’t get rid of because I don’t know if anyone will be able to pull the data with the right equipment. Every now and then if I get too bored I take one apart to play with the magnets, I figure it’s safe to discard the platters if I scratch them up good.
You may want to look for local “electronics recycling” places. They might charge a fee, and if they find something they can refurbish and sell they will do it. But then you have more space to accumulate new stuff.
- Comment on Why do some companies like a utility put out ads? 1 week ago:
I bet the local energy provider is owned by a large conglomerate, and they want you to think that the company is locally managed and any profits they make go back into the community, instead of to the Corporate Overlords…
This can be particularly important for heavily regulated industries, as their profits are contingent on the local politicians continuing to like them. So while I am sure a significant portion of their budget goes to greasing palms to make sure politicians take care of them, they also need to make sure the voting population is not hostile to them, so that they don’t get some grass roots movement going that elects hostile politicians.
- Comment on New Executive Order:AI must agree on the Administration views on Sex,Race, cant mention what they deem to be Critical Race Theory,Unconscious Bias,Intersectionality,Systemic Racism or "Transgenderism 1 week ago:
Brett Kavanaugh: Hold my beer, I got this!
- Comment on New Executive Order:AI must agree on the Administration views on Sex,Race, cant mention what they deem to be Critical Race Theory,Unconscious Bias,Intersectionality,Systemic Racism or "Transgenderism 1 week ago:
I read through the thing, and it’s a doozy. he seems triggered by the fact that AI might make a picture where Washington is a black man, or Hamilton is Latino. I hope he hasn’t been to Broadway lately…
- Comment on New Executive Order:AI must agree on the Administration views on Sex,Race, cant mention what they deem to be Critical Race Theory,Unconscious Bias,Intersectionality,Systemic Racism or "Transgenderism 1 week ago:
How do? You can say whatever you want on America today, as long as the President would agree. How is that not Freedom~tm~?
- Comment on To win the show Alone, could someone smuggle a GPS locator inside of their anus? 1 week ago:
Then that’s more feasible. It also means that it doesn’t have to try to operate while safely stowed. The contestant can remove it and then turn it on. They might even be able to strategically bury it somewhere. The small amount of dirt above it will attenuate the signal, but if buried in a place with an open view of the sky they will get a much stronger signal than they would in a building.
We are spoiled with how quickly the GPS in our phones work, but they already have a good idea where they are from the cell towers, and they can also get information on which satellites are in view from the Internet. If the GPS receiver had to work without access to those resources, it may take minutes to get a fix.
Then, it also has to get communicate the position data: if there is no cell service, that would have to be some sort of satellite communication or other long-range thing.
- Comment on To win the show Alone, could someone smuggle a GPS locator inside of their anus? 1 week ago:
Many of the trackers that would easily fit (like AirTags) don’t actually have their own GPS receivers, they piggy-back on the receivers in iPhones that are in bluetooth range (and also use those iPhones for the cell communication back to Apple).
- Comment on To win the show Alone, could someone smuggle a GPS locator inside of their anus? 1 week ago:
You may be surprised to find that GPS signals are quite low power by the time they get to Earth. Receivers employ a bunch of trucks to extract the signal out of noise. It does not take much in the way to attenuate them to the point where they are useless. If a receiver is embedded in a body cavity it is unlikely to work well unless it has a direct full-sky view – which is especially troublesome for that particular body cavity.
It might be easier to embed a tiny receiver in someone’s skin: in their shoulder, or the nape of their neck. A strategically-placed tattoo could help cover it up. The receiver would also need power so you would either need to embed a power source in it (which may be larger than the receiver itself) or work out some RF power source nearby. (But if you didn’t know where in the world they were, how would you know where to place the power source?)
- Comment on Is the periodic table still getting new additions? 1 week ago:
My (flawed and amateur) understanding is that they create new elements by smashing together atoms on particle accelerators to see if their nuclei stick. If you can create an atom with a new number of protons in its nucleus, in a manner which can be repeated, then you have created a new element.
The last new element that was created with a natural process was found sometime in the 1930s. Many of the artificially generated elements are extremely unstable. Our labs may be the only place in the universe they are made, that aren’t inside stars.
- Comment on Google develops AI tool that fills missing words in Roman inscriptions 1 week ago:
Who knew this inscription wad about “Biggus Dickus” all along?
- Comment on “You can't be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book or anything else that you've read or studied, you're supposed to pay for” Donald Trump said 1 week ago:
It tracks, his entire career has been spent getting other people to pay for stuff for him
- Comment on YSK Billionaire Rupert Murdoch owns Sky News, The New York Post, The Sun, The Times,Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. He is the most powerful businessman in the West 1 week ago:
He owns the Sun and the Sky? Is he gonna buy the Land next?
- Comment on YSK Employers do NOT verify your total work history unless you're applying for a government position. 1 week ago:
Good advice, but it depends. Some people don’t want to show a gap in their resume, for any reason. It all depends on the story you want to tell. If you think the experience is directly relevant to the story you are looking to tell, put it in.
Did you do some temp work in your field for few months between full-time gigs? Probably best to include that, especially if you learned or applied relevant skills. Did you end up working in a different field to make ends meet instead? Probably best to leave that out, unless you can relate that unrelated experience to what you want to do now.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 weeks ago:
Asking about “return” is kinda useless in this context. AI is frequently being integrated into things that people didn’t ask for, and making them more shitty.
And while Bitcoin mining does generate a return, there is nothing inherent in cryptocurrency that says it must consume electricity to generate these returns. Ethereum transitioned to an algorithm which secures it’s network just as well for a fraction of the energy cost. Bitcoin only consumes so much energy because it’s developers are stubborn.
But to answer your question, people think that AI applications will consume fully half of all datacenter power by the end of this year, and if it does it will likely have a higher energy footprint than BTC.
- Comment on Is it sexist to say "I've never worn a wet dress before" 2 weeks ago:
She might be conflating it with a wet t-shirt contest
- Comment on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Platinum Edition is free to claim on Epic 2 weeks ago:
Did 7 get any better with the updates? I bought it on release but it couldn’t hold my attention for more than an hour, and I haven’t been back.
- Comment on YSK: Do you have documents to prove you are a US citizen? If not, here's how 3 weeks ago:
I know it is possible for some people to get a second, valid passport if they travel often enough, so that they can travel when one is being renewed, or if they travel between countries where a visa stamp from some other country might deny them entry.
Maybe “I look brown so ICE may confiscate my passport without due process” can now be a reason to get a second valid passport …
- Comment on YSK: Do you have documents to prove you are a US citizen? If not, here's how 3 weeks ago:
This is why a passport card is so awesome. Only Costs $30 on top of the passport fee, you can easily keep it on your person, and if ICE confiscates it because “we think it’s fake” you have your actual passport at home that your lawyer can bring to the facility to get you out, once he finds you.
- Comment on McDonald’s AI Hiring Bot Exposed Millions of Applicants’ Data to Hackers Who Tried the Password ‘123456’ 3 weeks ago:
I guess I need to change the password on my luggage
- Comment on When does Trump finally start taking accountability? 3 weeks ago:
Donald Trump has not been held accountable by anyone since his father died. Even when he was convicted of felony paperwork violations, his punishment was to get elected President (again!).
- Comment on If I found voter irregularities in my home district do I have to hire a lawyer to prove it.? Or just let it go and the Florida Orange win? 4 weeks ago:
I think your best bet would be to go to the local Democratic party. You don’t have the cash to contest this; they do. They also (depending on the local laws) probably have local officials on the local elections boards, so they are in the best position to evaluate your claims. There may be a simple explanation…
- Comment on What is the "dip"? 4 weeks ago:
Yup
- Comment on Why doesn't the US government just tax illegal immigrants a little bit more than the Average american? Then use those funds to fix infastructure or a new WPA of the 21st century? 4 weeks ago:
Interesting, I didn’t know this at all. Thanks for the links.
But I wonder how much longer this program can be kept up, now that this administration has made it clear they want all these people to leave, and will dispatch masked thugs to do so. Seems like applying for one of these TINs now is basically putting a sign on your back saying “Deport Me!”
- Comment on Why doesn't the US government just tax illegal immigrants a little bit more than the Average american? Then use those funds to fix infastructure or a new WPA of the 21st century? 4 weeks ago:
People who are in the country illegally do not have authorization to work. You can’t tax them at all, at least officially, without giving them the authorization to work.
Now, of course these folks are working, and either getting paid without their employers declaring them, or paying them and withholding taxes with fraudulent identities, both of which are illegal for the employer as well as the employee. So, unofficially, they may be paying taxes, but if the authorities knew they were illegal they would probably be deported, especially in today’s hyper ICE environment.
A solution like you propose would acknowledge the basic humanity of these people, which is against everything the ruling party here stands for. So it will never happen.
- Comment on Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? 4 weeks ago:
Stat Trek has always had Socialist Utopia vibes. And the new stuff on Paramount+ is undeniably woke…
- Comment on Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? 4 weeks ago:
It’s only logical
- Comment on Iran Disables GPS, Joins China’s Beidou — The End of U.S. Satellite Dominance? [19:23 | JUN 28 2025 | GVS Deep Dive] 5 weeks ago:
Iran could decide to purge itself of all GPS-reliant devices and use Beidou devices instead. They could go the extra mile and intentionally jam the GPS frequencies in its territory (or even broadcast their own signal to confuse receivers in enemy bombs), as long as those frequencies are not also used by Beidou.
But you’re right in that GPS is a global system and the US is raining down RF everywhere in the world, whether the people there like it or not.
