dhork

@dhork@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s even dumber, because it’s not about the budget, it’s about the allocation of funds to certain departments and the authorization to spend that money, which comes after the budget. Some other countries separate budgets and appropriations like this, but those other countries put in those safeguards you mention, because they want government agencies to function even if the politicians are having a snit.

  In the US, thanks to “small-government” Republicans, we make it extremely difficult to spend any money without explicit authorization. And since we also have no concept of a no-confidence vote, politicians ca basically hold government funding hostage if they want. The politicians that are doing this right now know they won’t have to face another election until next November at the earliest. (Senators serve six year terms, and it’s telling that all of the Democrats who cotes for cloture on this bill are either retiring or not up for election next year…)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whatever happened to pickup artists? Did they evolve into alpha males or ascend to a higher plane?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  My quick take is that all that stuff mattered when people had to go out to find other people: to parties, bars, concerts, and other public places. They had to actively attract people to initiate a conversation. Now all those third places are dying, and most couples meet online, which means they have done all the superficial selection stuff already, which changes the game.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨THE FEDIVERSE IS TOO INFECTED WITH REDDITISM!!⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT YOUR CAPS LOCK KEY IS STUCK

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Plot twist: this is just corporate shilling, too, trying to convince us it’s only 15%…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How are computer chips designed?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Is there like a programming language of some sort where a compiler converts syntax into circuitry layouts?

  You are looking for something like System Verilog (Or VHDL).

  Both these languages let you describe hardware. They can both go down to the circuit and transistor level, but people won’t write that by hand. Rather, they will write code that is a description of digital hardware (flip-flops and the logic between them), and then let tools synthesize their description down to individual logic cells and simple functions. Often, chip fab houses have “standard cell libraries” that implement the most common logical functions, and the tools stich them together based on the higher level description.

  Then there is all the verification that needs to be done, not just verification that the design is doing what it needs to do at all times, but that every individual chip is make correctly. Defects do happen, and you want to find them as early as possible in the process.

  Lots and lots of expensive tools and specialized knowledge! A good middle ground are FPGAs. These are special chips with lots of generic logic building blocks, and ways to programmatically make connections between them. You can write the same VHDL or Verilog for FPGAs, butt the tools map the logic to the FPGA vendor’s chip instead.These still require tools and specialized knowledge, but much cheaper than a fully custom chip.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Would one run faster without arms?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It depends on how big your arms are. I bet you can run around with a pistol but not with heavy guns…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Could the internet go offline? Inside the fragile system holding the modern world together⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  There are two ways to interpret the question.

  If you go with “will the internetworking between independent diverse networks ever go offline”, the answer to that is most definitely “no”. With so many independent entities involved, and so many redundant connections, data will find a way to be routed to where it needs to go. Perhaps a coordinated attack on undersea cables might disconnect continents from each other.

  But if you go with “can the commercial Internet that companies use to sell stuff ever go offline”, I think we’ve seen that the answer to that is “yes”. As more and more commerce moves “to the cloud” I think people are ignorant about how concentrates computing in a few distinct geographical areas and companies. Yes, I am aware that those companies are very good at 24/7 operation and site reliability. Until they fire so many people that they aren’t reliable anymore.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are there really no stupid questions?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sea Lioning comic

  Probably not the very first use of the term, but it’s how I came to learn about it

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Help figuring out my pressure washer?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Percussive maintenance

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨"Analog bags" are in. Doomscrolling is out.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Those are rookie numbers

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨"Analog bags" are in. Doomscrolling is out.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Take up knitting. I’m serious.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What are some good uses the new ballroom can have after the Trump regime is over?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “Modernizing” being euphemism for planting lots of listening devices for his friends in Russia paying customers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How gamers were nickel and dimed in 80s and 90s (besides arcades)⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Your phones don’t have letters on the buttons?

  Image

  Long ago, before cell phones blew up how many numbers people used, American seven digit numbers were often referred to as a combination of letters and numbers

  Image

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AWS crash causes $2,000 Smart Beds to overheat and get stuck upright⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “Eight Sleep confirmed there’s no offline mode yet, but they’re working on it.”

  There’s an offline mode, all right. Unplug it!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there any way the average American can insulate themselves from the AI bubble bursting?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I will be the contrarian in the room and say that you shouldn’t really do anything different – unless you know that you are going to need that money in the next year or two.

  Let’s take the S&P 500. Yes, we know there is an AI bubble, and the same 7 tech companies are knee deep in it. But it turns out that bubbles make money, until they don’t. In fact, a good chunk of the growth in the S&P over the past two years has been in those 7 companies.. If you had made this bet 2 years ago, you would be a big loser now.

  So what do you do? Don’t panic sell. You can’t time the market. Sell when you need the money for something else. Sell when you have a purpose. But don’t be too upset when the bubble finally bursts, and it all dives 25% (or more!) . That was never real money anyway.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Introverts of our era spend their time on their computers, but what did introverts do before? Like when literacy rates were lower (pre-1950s)? Or before the printing press?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Introverts probably had it much better back then. You couldn’t physically take your work home with you. Your news came once a day, to the front porch, and was not constantly bombarded at your eyeballs. When you were home, you only interacted with your immediate family, unless you had someone physically over to visit. Or if someone called in the telephone, which you could always just not answer.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How does Edward Scissorhands pee?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Carefully

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How would you quickly describe Lemmy to a non-fediverse person?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  What would win in a fight, a hundred Lemmy-sized Reddits or one Reddit-sized Lemmy?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How would you quickly describe Lemmy to a non-fediverse person?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I call it “socialist Reddit” or “anti-social media”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Software by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that, when linked up with the correct hardware, becomes a Stingray for detecting Stingrays.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Based on this link, the proper thing to do should be to report it to the FCC. I am not sure how much Trump’s FCC will pay attention to the report, though…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Was the fall of Rome this stupid?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_White_House

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “Peak X” is a phrase that is often used to convey the highest point in a long term trend. And if we are past that peak, that implies that the trend will continue to be lower and lower for the foreseeable future.

  Consider the nation’s supply of 18 year olds that would normally enter college. We can’t just create more 18 year olds on demand, couples would had to have gotten busy 19 years ago to produce today’s supply of 18 year olds. With birth rates declining, not only are there fewer 18 year olds now than before, but those 18 year olds will be able to make fewer humans when they all get busy with each other later.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Idiots, who have no problem spending what little money they have on Patriotic Merch. So, the perfect customers to shove Patriotic ads at…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Sinclair seems to have some experience producing their own Fantasy shows (masquerading as News Content). They don’t have to put in that much effort to capture the attention of the MAGA crowd.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I wonder what is worth more to ABC/Disney, all those direct subscribers, or these affiliates that are consolidating into two or three big media companies?

  This might be the beginning of the death of the affiliate model. What would happen if Sinclair simply stopped affiliating with ABC altogether? They own enough stations that they can do their own thing. Would it matter if there is no ABC station in Mobile, Alabama, if people who still want to watch can stream it?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Memecoins Are Coming to the Stock Market⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Sweet! If this pumps my Dogecoin to $69 I can retire

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Define a while? Last I knew, the Schengen area lets US citizens on the Visa Waiver program stay for a rolling 90 days out of 180. So, you could go for nearly six weeks before leaving, then once you stay out for six more weeks and some days fall off your ledger you can come back.

  You can play games and leave the Schengen area but not go back to the US. The UK has its own requirements,and since you likely meet them you could go there and chill for six weeks waiting for your Schengen access to time out.

  This all implies that you have the means during this gap year to fund it all yourself. If any country suspects you are working without authorization, they will escort you back to the US, albeit in a much kinder fashion than we are doing it to their citizens.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK about 15 bean soup.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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.