notabot

@notabot@lemm.ee

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do some say they own or have bought something that they technically haven't (e.g. domain names, expensive things, etc.)?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not sure where you are, but typically even if you rent rather than owning you pay the normal taxes, either directy or via your landlord, so they have little to do with owning a property, and more to do with occupying one, as a proxy for the demands you put on communal services. In most places you would also not lose your home for not paying them, you’d get dragged through the courts, possibly jailed for some period, and the tax authority in question would just end up with a lien on the property, entutling them to recompense when you sold or refinanced it.

  I’m not discounting the possibility you live sonewhere with different property tax laws, but you’ve been making extremely broad and general statements that don’t match reality in many places.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨China bans compulsory facial recognition and its use in private spaces like hotel rooms⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The rules also ban the use of facial recognition equipment in public places such as hotel rooms, public bathrooms, public dressing rooms, and public toilets.

  Why was there facial recognition, or any other sort of camera, in those places in the first place? Has something been mangled in the translation, is it a fuss about nothing, or were organisations genuinely going “hmm, we need to check your face before you can use the restrooms”?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I tried THIS and it actually works all the time⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  According to the book, there’s no need for them to eat it, you just have to give it to them, although I think they may have mixed up ‘fascinate’ and ‘confuse’.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Would it be a bad idea to show up at a protest outside a Tesla dealership with a sign that says "Deny Musk, Defund Doge, Depose Trump"?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Foil will do nothing against ultrasonic or any other acoustic weapon, but may, possibly, be of limited use against microwave weapons should they use them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨HP Inc settles printer toner lockout lawsuit with a promise to make firmware updates optional⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Why allow depreciation? You wouldn’t have bought it with the reduced functionality, and it’s going to cost you time and effort to remove it and replace it with something else. Inflation will reduce the value more than enough.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How likely is the US government going to identify and arrest every online user who have disagreed with the current administration?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The trick is not to arrest most if the really high profile individuals who are critical of the state, but encourage rumours about why they’ve been spared to discredit them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm looking to buy something like a reverse wheelbarrow, what do I call that?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I think you’re going to struggle to find something that can carry 200lb and be collapsible. Most carts seem to either be for much less than that, or much more. I found several that looked a bit like what you may want by searching for ‘vendor cart’.

  You may well be better off building/comissioning something to your spec though as a lot of the bigger carts are designed to be food stalls when stationary, so they’re probably unnecesarily heavy. I think you’d be able to make something along the lines of what you wanted with parts from your local DIY store.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨xkcd #3058: Tall Structures⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  From what I can find, an average sweater uses between 3-6000 feet of yarn [1]. Apparently an ‘ideal’ altitude for for skydiving is 14000 feet [2]. That puts you around the same altitude as high altitude aerostat radar systems[3]. It would have to be a fairly voluminous sweater, but it’s probably just about within the realms of possibility. It’s chilly at that altitude, so maybe it was made with several layers for extra warmth?

  I’m no wool-ologist, and even less of a jumper out of planes, but these were the sources I used to get my figures:

  [1] www.blackeryarns.co.uk/…/wool-ball-lengths/ [2] friendlyskydiver.com/skydiving-altitudes/ [3] en.wikipedia.org/…/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why's everyone freaking out about Firefox Terms of Service? Isn't it Open Source?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The current intention may not be malicious, but it leaves the way open for changes that are to slip in. If they were worried about services like translation being concidered ‘sales’, which is a reasonable concern, they should have split them out of the core browser into an extension and put the ‘might sell your data’ licence on that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Apple turns off iCloud encryption feature in UK following reported government legal order.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Both. Do both. Make it easier for them to address the issue than ignore you. Depending on which side of the aisle your MP is on, focus your letter on either “those evil <other side> are doing thus terrible thing, I know you’re bold enough to stand up to them.” or “this policy seems to have the following problems, and it’s leaving you open to attack from <other side>. It’d be a shame if you lost your position over it.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Russia-aligned hackers are targeting Signal users with device-linking QR codes⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  What I find particularly concerning is that the were able to “hide javascript commands that link the victim’s phone to a new device” in the payload of a qr-code. I can’t see any valid use for javascript in the group joining process, I would expect the code to just be a signal URI with the relevant group ID, so is there sone external javascript interface being exposed?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do I shrink heatshrink in an explosion proof room?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Would self amalgamating tape work? You have to stretch it and wrap it fairly tight, which can be fiddlyvon small diameters, but it’ll seal the joint and doesn’t peel off and get nasty like electrical tape.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cola facts rule⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Lies! Look at the picture, they’ve managed to pick up sone coke. It’s a matter of quantity rather than ability.

  If they’re lieing to us about that, what else are they lieing to us about?

  Wake up sheeple etc…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK: This May Have Been Unstalled on Your Device Recently⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  In the play store, don’t forget to flag it as innapropriate.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When you forget that you hired THEM because you weren't skilled enough to do it yourself⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  So their standard hourly rate is $100, but for $75 more they’ll teach you how to do it? That might not be a bad deal, depending on the task, and how frequently you’ll need to do it in future. Even if you had to go to the super delux “do it while I watch” option to really get to grips with it, it might be worth it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Could Trump Force X To Become The Everything App For Government Payments⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m sure he could and would. All he’d need to do is dictate that X is the only payment provider all government departments may use to improve ‘efficiency’.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AND THEY DIDN'T STOP EATING⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Further research shows that they blew everything up trying to deal with the ancient, insatiable, worms they released on themselves out of curiosity. Upon reflection, it is probably better that we didn’t arrive earlier.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AND THEY DIDN'T STOP EATING⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  We’ve got to leave something interesting for the alien xeno-archaeologists of the future to uncover.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Plat plat plat⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I had not considered the concept of an army of bipedal, running, neurotoxin coated, suicide frogs, and now that I have, I intend to stay far away from amphibians, just in case. I still think they should each sport a set of human like teeth though, just to really drive the point home.

  Kudos on ‘Kermitkaze’, that gave me a good chuckle.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Plat plat plat⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The issue is you’d really need an evolutionary pressure for them to develop that attack behaviour. It could be defensive, but jumping on the thing you’re trying to fight off is a rather bold strategy, especially when the results aren’t instant. Alternatively, it could be an attack behaviour, allowing them to take down larger prey. Thus just leaves the issue of how the frog would consume its meal. They could probably evolve to swallow smaller prey, but the obvious adaption, which I think we’d see in this case, would be for the frogs to evolve teeth.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Effort require Effort⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Oof, that sounds rough. Are these the kids got hit hardest by the pandemic lockdowns? If so, maybe there’s a glimmer of hope that this is an aberration and next year will be a bit more 'normal ', if you can get through this year with your sanity intact. It’s got to be rough on the kids too, the ones who aren’t causing trouble must still be struggling to deal with itm and the ones who are just sound desperate.

  I enjoy teaching, or at least, transferring knowledge and experience, I’ll do it to pretty much anyone who sits still long enough, and I’ve been told I’m good at it, but you couldn’t pay me enough to teach a classroom full of kids all day, so you have my respect for that.

  Good luck, and I hope things get better for the kids and teachers everywhere.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK: You don't own your Kindle e-books.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I enjoy reading dead tree books as much as anyone, and whilest the publisher/distributor can’t take it away, there are plenty of ways you can lose access to them. Fire and flood being the two obvious ones, whereas digital books can be backed up offsite. It’s also easier to carry many books when they’re digital compared to physical.

  For books I care about I try to get both a physical and a (drm free) digital copy for the best of both world.