JoshuaFalken
@JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world
- Comment on Engineer at Elon Musk's xAI Departs After Spilling the Beans in Podcast Interview 1 hour ago:
Oh to live in the parallel universe where those local and state governments tell them to pack up their data centre and shove off once their carnival leases expire. The sonic schadenfreude would be felt around the globe.
- Comment on In just 15 years, the average U.S. homebuyer went from 39 to 59 years old: Top analyst reveals how the housing market has warped in one generation 6 days ago:
“It’s not enough anymore to say, ‘I can work hard,'” Dimon said in a recent interview with CNN. “In the old days, you could be in 10th grade, go get a factory [job] in Detroit, and eventually you could afford a family, a home, a car, and that may not be true anymore.” - CEO, JPMorgan
If only there were something that could be done about that, Mr Eight Figure Salary.
- Comment on Has Canada's government done anything concrete to reduce dependence on the US since Trump took office? Maybe even since the first term? 1 week ago:
To chime in from the Great White North, I agree with much of what you’ve written, though I haven’t spoken to anyone that thinks Canada has moved too slow.
What’s been done so far has happened as efficiently as government workings can be done, but when I go to a restaurant I don’t skip the entree if the waitstaff brings out the appetizer with haste.
- Comment on Has Canada's government done anything concrete to reduce dependence on the US since Trump took office? Maybe even since the first term? 1 week ago:
For a question as broad as ‘what is this country doing about that other country’, it might be a good idea to drop the editorial names and instead include position descriptors. Canadian politicians don’t have the same name recognition as American counterparts.
Mark Carney is Canada’s Prime Minister, who won the position over Pierre Poilievre.
- Comment on These glasses solve many central-vision problems. For $5000. 2 weeks ago:
Must be some Big Cane executives.
- Comment on YSK Tempur Mattresses fail quickly and the warranty is fake 2 weeks ago:
I’ve done some time in waste handling, and about a decade ago I had the opportunity to work with a mattress recycling outfit. They had set up a disassembly line that would separate the various materials within a mattress, it was very interesting to see.
My memory is failing me now, but they were sending about half the material to some other outfit that used in it production of some kind. So at least some recycling was happening through them.
The mattress industry is wild even without managing the product’s end of life. So many of the same mattress get wrapped with slightly different fabric and stitch work and sold under a different name and whatnot. Personally when mine meets its end I’m going to try a tatami instead.
- Comment on Cory Doctorow proposes how to break free from US digital domination 2 weeks ago:
No please, I have already had enough irritating news this year. I wish to live in the funnier version I created where Mr Ping stays within earshot of this trader guy and serves up some delicious rolls on request.
- Comment on Cory Doctorow proposes how to break free from US digital domination 2 weeks ago:
Without being able to read that article, I choose to interpret that quote as if a renown personal chef was on offer for a number of years to provide world class sushi rolls whenever the mood strikes.
- Comment on Cory Doctorow proposes how to break free from US digital domination 2 weeks ago:
Oh I hadn’t meant an actual stadium, moreso stadium-level money for public works That said, there are stadiums that are defacto multipurpose community centres. Those aren’t half bad.
- Comment on YSK Tempur Mattresses fail quickly and the warranty is fake 2 weeks ago:
Your post has reminded me of this video that calculates how many mattresses you might own if every time a mattress company tried to get you to buy mattress, you did.
It goes rather off the rails once the problem of where to put them becomes a concern. It’s worth a good laugh.
- Comment on Cory Doctorow proposes how to break free from US digital domination 2 weeks ago:
It surprises me from time to time just how cheap some of these politicians sell out for. If I could get together with my neighbours all contributing $50 and buy a legislator or two, we could probably get funds for a stadium.
- Comment on Samsung smart fridges have started displaying ads 1 month ago:
That’s true, but in my experience, people that have landlords and people buying their own major appliances are two demographics that don’t overlap.
- Comment on Samsung smart fridges have started displaying ads 1 month ago:
I look forward to our future where these companies incentivize landlords with a slice of the pie to install ad laden versions of every appliance. What a utopia we live in!
- Comment on LLMDeathCount.com 2 months ago:
Kill death ratio - or rather, kill save ratio - would be rather difficult to obtain and more difficult still to appreciate and be able to say if it is good or bad based solely on the ratio.
Fritz Haber is one example of this that comes to mind. Awarded a Nobel Prize a century ago for chemistry developments in fertilizer, used today in a quarter of food growth. A decade or so later he weaponized chlorine gas, and his work was later used in the creation of Zyklon B.
By ratio, Haber is surely a hero, but when considering the sheer numbers of the dead left in his wake, it is a more complex question.
This is one of those things that makes me almost hope for an afterlife where all information is available from which truth may be derived. Who shot JFK? How did the pyramids get built? If life’s biggest answer is forty-two, what is the question?
- Comment on Valve's new hardware will NOT be loss leaders 2 months ago:
I’m not sure cost can be set aside from a price discussion when they’ve explicitly stated it won’t be a Costco rotisserie chicken.
With the number of consoles sold this generation, I’m not sure where the limit is for what people will spend to play the games they want. With console pricing has trailing budget gaming PC’s, I could see a number of people getting a Steam Machine in lieu of the next Playstation or Xbox.
What would be interesting to see in the future is the split between units sold to lifelong console players making a change, and pre existing Steam users with stuffed libraries buying one for the couch. If the latter make up the majority of sales, but they priced it like a chicken, that’ll be a problem pretty quick.
Hopefully it shakes out well and indie game developers reap some well deserved rewards.
- Comment on Mullvad Leta shutting down 2 months ago:
I’m adding this to the list of things that I would have used if not for learning about it from a shutdown announcement.
- Comment on Controversial startup's plan to 'sell sunlight' using giant mirrors in space would be 'catastrophic' and 'horrifying,' astronomers warn 2 months ago:
I disagree they are bozos. I’m actually coming around on the idea. Not the mirror thing of course, but the VC grift using a flashy idea. Millions of dollars and the only thing you make is a slideshow? Brilliant.
- Comment on Controversial startup's plan to 'sell sunlight' using giant mirrors in space would be 'catastrophic' and 'horrifying,' astronomers warn 2 months ago:
This reminds me of the venetian shade idea. ‘Trillions of dollars’ hahaha okay let’s see who wants to pitch in.
- Comment on Sliced off the tip of my thumb, what are some good one handed games? 2 months ago:
Fruit Ninja comes to mind.
- Comment on ProtonMail Logged IP Address of French Activist; Should You Be Worried About Your Privacy? 2 months ago:
Could you elaborate on this comment?
- Comment on Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like 2 months ago:
That would be interesting if it were a thermal camera. Though as you point out, I wouldn’t be spending extra money on such a feature.
- Comment on Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like 2 months ago:
Haha, that was intentional. It’s amusing to present an argument and wholly undermine it in the final line.
I don’t see much use for a dedicated kitchen screen. Though for someone that does have a use case, the fridge is the only place I see it going other than a wall. More cost effective to use a tablet, we agree.
- Comment on Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like 2 months ago:
Haha, that was intentional. I don’t see much use for a dedicated kitchen screen. Though for someone that does have a use case, the fridge is the only place I see it going other than a wall.
To follow a recipe on a fridge screen might also involve having an island to be able to face it while prepping, so even that scenario I have trouble seeing utility.
- Comment on Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like 2 months ago:
Cupboard doors are too high; dishwashers are too low; ovens have too many windows; countertops are too horizontal; and the backsplash is too far away.
As far as surfaces where screens could go, a fridge is a pretty good contender. I don’t have anywhere else in my kitchen I could put a dedicated screen. When I’m following a recipe, I just pop a tablet on the windowsill.
- Comment on Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like 2 months ago:
Those people should have just slept in their fridge, problem solved!
- Comment on ‘There isn’t really another choice:’ Signal chief explains why the encrypted messenger relies on AWS 2 months ago:
I’m going to call bullshit on the underlying assertion that Signal is using Amazon services for the sake of lining Jeff’s pocket instead of considering the “several” alternatives. As if they don’t have staff to consider such a thing and just hit buy now on the Amazon smile.
In any monopoly, there are going to be smaller, less versatile, less reliable options. Fine and dandy for Mr Joe Technology to hop on the niche wagon and save a few bucks, but that’s not going to work for anyone casting a net encompassing the world.
- Comment on The AWS Outage Bricked People’s $2,700 Smartbeds 2 months ago:
Most people don’t even consider things like this. That’s why companies keep getting away with it. It’s not the customer’s fault.
- Comment on Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement 2 months ago:
I could. Presumably so could the others commenting on this post. But then what are we to do about the privacy or tech illiterate people we’ve carried to Signal over the years?
It’s easy to winge about just doing what you perceive as the optimal solution. It’s more difficult when you need to navigate the path to get there from where we are now.
- Comment on American cops think they're what American firemen ARE. 3 months ago:
To my surprise, you’re right. Brigades letting buildings burn didn’t happen - at least not by company decree.
The most I’d ever looked into it was to see what those plaques looked like. I appreciate you countering the idea, it led me to an interesting read of this correction article that seems a great summary of what really occurred.
Primarily it seems they all just worked together for reasons that, after reading them, are painfully obvious and I can’t believe I hadn’t considered even the first one.
- preventing fire spread from buildings uninsured to those insured
- quick efficient response was good advertising for the insurance company
- resolving fires in uninsured properties is an act of charity and displays goodwill
The article by Paul J Sillitoe is worth the read, but here are some highlights for anyone interested:
More recent writers have more firmly rebutted the notion of letting uninsured buildings burn. In 1996, an insurance company history referenced, in 1702, “the first of many recorded examples” of insurance fire brigades working together to fight fires. The insuring fire office recompensated the other offices whose men who had assisted. The “erroneous myth”, is said to have originated only in the 1920s. Originally writing in 1692-3, Daniel Defoe noted that the firemen were “very active and diligent” in helping to put out fires, “whether in houses insured or not insured”. Only two occasions have been reported (in 1871 & 1895), though, where insurance companies threatened the authorities that they would cease attending fires in uninsured properties. With no reward, no water, and no insurance interest in a burning building, it is not difficult to envisage firemen standing back on occasion, jeering and generally interfering with rival brigades fighting a fire in which they did have an interest. Or, alternatively, simply packing up and going home. Arguably, therefore, the legend of insurance fire brigades letting uninsured buildings burn originated in the first half of the 18th century.
- Comment on American cops think they're what American firemen ARE. 3 months ago:
Once upon a time fire brigades were private entities operated by insurance companies. When they heard of a fire nearby, they’d roll up and only take action if the plaque on the building had their company name on it. Domestic authorities these days certainly resemble that behaviour.