dhork

@dhork@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK about 15 bean soup.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I prefer 239 bean soup. Yes, it must be exactly 239 beans, not even one bean more.

  If 239 bean soup had even just one more bean, it would be too farty bean soup.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Half of Young Men Would Rather Date an AI Girlfriend Than Face Loneliness or Rejection, New Report Reveals⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  On the other hand, the AI will never talk back, doesn’t want to abandon you to spend time with its own friends occasionally, and doesn’t have a mother who thinks her offspring could do much better. Doesn’t sound half bad, if you ignore the fact that it’s all fake.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is this Lemmy thread full of bots/ Fake comments?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  When I click that link, and go there in a browser, I only see 70ish comments listed. But I also see a lot of removed comments as I scroll down, mostly from a single user. My educated guess is that there was already some chicanery in the thread, which the Mods have dealt with, and you are seeing the result of that.

  As far as what can be done about it, there really is little to be done, as log as Lemmy remains open (and federated). Posts and comments hop around from one instance to the other, and while some instances can take a hard line against bots some other instance can be more permissive then it becomes a game of whack-a-mole. Active, open moderation is the best cure, but takes effort.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I Love Reading 1980s Computer Magazines, and So Should You⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I got the magazines that came with BASIC programs printed in them, you could pay extra to get a subscription that included a tape with the code so you didn’t have to type the whole thing in and risk typos.

  That early foray into BASIC was essential for my early involvement in technology, in spite of what Dijkstra said that one time…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Programmer joke⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yo mama’s so fat, even Dijkstra couldn’t find a path around her.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You handle it by not worrying about it, and living every day to the fullest. Nobody knows how long they have. Why spend it fretting? .

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Yes, you can store data on a bird — enthusiast converts PNG to bird-shaped waveform, teaches young starling to recall file at up to 2MB/s⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Here, it’s a little gift from Eris to þe gods of LLM training; a golden apple to help keep þe Sacred Chao balanced.

  þats awesome

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The entire Social Security database was uploaded on a random cloud server, Whistle-Blower Says⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think it was a “random” cloud server at all. I think the people who bought the data already have it now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is This Social Media?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Since so many people are here because they consider the other platforms to be too enshittified, I like calling Lemmy “Antisocial Media”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A real question about trans athletes and records⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Every organized sport has some sort of governing body, and that body is concerned with making sure competition is fair. (And taking bribes, right, FIFA?) The people who organize the sport should be able to determine what is fair for their sport. Often, there will be some scientific basis for allowing some people and not allowing others, based on hormones or something like that.

  The decisions should be made by people who know the sport and decide what fair competition might look like, not by asshole politicians looking to push an agenda.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Is your dad elderly and needs care because of his age? In the US, depending on the state you live in, you could be considered a “family caregiver” and might be able to collect additional benefits. Some states give out a bit of money to these family caregivers if it keeps those elderly people out of the care of the state.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Crypto mogul Do Kwon, known as ‘the cryptocurrency king,’ pleads guilty to fraud charges⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The main use case for crypto is for peer to peer transactions that do not require the permission of any third party (or government). A secondary use case for crypto is the enablement of self-executing smart contracts.

  The problem is that the financial speculation aspect of crypto has eaten everything else. “Number go up” is now the main use case, and people do t actually transact much with crypto anymore. And the only type of smart contract that has gained any popular use whatsoever is the type that makes more shitty crypto tokens. Any general utility it had years ago evaporated when it became too valuable to transact with.

  Except for those criminals and fraudsters you mentioned: they do put crypto to good use evading government oversight of their transactions. In this respect, crypto is no different than a briefcase full of cash. Yes, you could legally stash a briefcase full of cash in your house, but there are so many better (trackable) places to keep that cash that if the cops found that briefcase in your house wbile executing a search for other reasons, they would cite the existence of that briefcase as proof of sometnig nefarious.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Crypto mogul Do Kwon, known as ‘the cryptocurrency king,’ pleads guilty to fraud charges⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I wonder what the going rate is for a pardon? How much $TRUMP does it take?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fortnite developer Epic Games wins Australian court battle against Apple and Google⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It was always about the game.

  All Epic cares about is their own profit margins and control over distribution.

  These statements contradict each other. If all Epic cares about is money, the other game doesn’t matter as long as it sells.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Drug Enforcement Administration agent used Illinois cop’s Flock license plate reader password for immigration enforcement searches⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Because immigration enforcement is a civil violation, not a criminal one. Imagine if the government said that license plate readers could be used to enforce copyright violations, or defamation. Say a bad word about the President and they will use the system to find your car and wait for you to send you to Alligator Auschwitz without a trial.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What if a billionaire wants to help you?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a scam. Do not engage. If a billionaire really wanted to send you money, they can pay for the lawyers and accountants to make sure it is all above board. Maybe thry make a foundation and give you a cushy job there. That’s how actual billionaires do it.

  Ironically, if it weren’t a scam, then crypto can be the safest way to receive any funds. If you securely generated your own crypto wallet, and sent him an address on a reputable blockchain to send funds to, and he actually sent them, then the money is yours, forever, no backsies.

  Of course, that’s not how crypto scams work, either. They always guide you to use a wallet that they control (and can drain funds out of easily), or tell you to send crypto to them first to unlock something.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fortnite developer Epic Games wins Australian court battle against Apple and Google⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It was never about the games. It’s about who can be the gatekeeper between the game devs and billions of people on the planet. That gatekeeping gig is a genuine racket: they charge 15% to 30% just for the privilege of distributing an app and hosting a bunch of servers for download. Yeah, there’s a lot to that, but is it really worth 30% of the top line? Not even the Credit Card companies, famous for screwing over small merchants, charge that much to process payments.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What brush is the human equivalent of a dog slicker brush?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Looks like you want a brush with super hard bristles. I guess some places sell wild boar bristle brushes, I wonder what the boars think of that…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨OpenAI claims GPT-5 AI model can provide PhD-level expertise.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I know too many PhD’s for that to impress me

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whatever happened to the blockchain/smart contract 'revolution' we were told about?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I know, but it looks derpier that way

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it possible to sell semi-old computers/parts?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨month⁩ 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?)