gramie

@gramie@lemmy.ca

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m still using my Amazfit Bip. When new, it could go 6 weeks on a single charge. After about 7 years, I still get about 2 weeks – enough for me not to bother looking for a replacement.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It must have been a whole lot more difficult to design and build tall buildings before computers existed⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  They also took into account that a certain number of the workers would die from accidents and disease (see: the Panama Canal) and they were okay with that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm setting up a Windows 11 laptop for my uncle. Is there a sneaky way to make it block right-wing bullshit websites?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  OP was not very specific about what behavior they actually wanted. Changing the host file would prevent the uncle from visiting those sites, but as you say, it would not be subtle.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm setting up a Windows 11 laptop for my uncle. Is there a sneaky way to make it block right-wing bullshit websites?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I suppose you could add entries for those right-wing websites into the “hosts” file, redirecting them to Google or some other relatively innocuous place.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘Not welcome here’: Malaysia lashes out at ‘Zionist’ US envoy pick Nick Adams⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I was in Malaysia a couple of months ago. The country is a mixture of malay, indian, and Chinese ethnic groups. The Malays are the largest group, and most of them are Muslim, so there is respect for Muslim traditions but they are not enforced on everyone.

  For example, in stores they sold beer (very expensive) but there were signs saying that Muslims were not to buy it. I don’t know if that is enforced in any way.

  My Chinese sister-in-law, who is very biased towards China, will admit that Malaysia has the best food in Asia, because of the above-mentioned fusion of cultures. And I can confirm that the food is spectacular!

  I took my wife (who has not traveled very much) to Malaysia because it is different enough from Canada to be exotic, but still has enough comforts and is developed enough not to be intimidating. She found it far too hot and humid, but other than that enjoyed it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Conversely, Japanese people learn to tell the difference between an “o” vowel held for shorter or longer periods, a skill that I find incredibly difficult even though I lived in Japan for 7 years.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is the funniest insult / joke you've come up with on the spot?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  A young woman I knew was complaining that she had made plans to meet a friend in the city (long before most people had mobile phones), but the friend hadn’t showed up so she waited for a long time on the street corner.

  My brother immediately chipped in, “what was his name, John?”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨$440 Charge For A Wheel Scuff Raises Questions About Hertz's AI Rental Car Damage Scanner⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I have had nicks in my windshield due to gravel thrown up by vehicles traveling in the opposite direction.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Man 'refused entry into US' as border control catch him with bald JD Vance meme⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  They’re trying very hard to be Texas north. The Premier of the province is ignoring science and, in many cases, logic. Anti-vax. That’s one reason they have more measles than the entire USA. There is even a fringe group that wants Alberta to secede from Canada and join the US.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duolingo CEO on going AI-first: ‘I did not expect the blowback’⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  For my money (and I do donate every month to Language Transfer, because all the content is completely free) this is the best system for actually learning to use a language, as opposed to memorizing words and phrases.

  You can do it with YouTube audio, SoundCloud MP3s, or the convenient app that does what it needs to without any extra bells in whistles.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A WYSIWYG editor for personal website?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I find Drupal just as easy to set up as wordpress. Most shared web hosts have a script to do everything for you, including installing updates. In fact, I find Drupal’s administration more logical and easier to manage. (I may be biased, since I spent 10 years developing Drupal sites.)

  The other advantage is that, unlike WordPress, Drupal themes and plugins (the Drupal term is “modules”) are almost all open source and free. I find that WordPress has lots of plugins that give you the basic version for free, but then want to upsell you to a paid version.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cory Doctorow on how we lost the internet⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Not only that, but many of his books are freely available epubs with no DRM. You can read them and decide if you like his style before going on to buy the others.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Self hosted Teams alternative?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I like Jitsi, but when I record a session it always silently aborts after about 40 minutes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whats the best way to deep dive into learning a language without apps?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Try Language Transfer. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It is just a set of MP3 files that you listen to. The teacher explains something to the student, and the student tries it out.

  It sounds silly, but it works really well, and it is the best language resource I’ve ever used.

  You can use them through SoundCloud (downloadable MP3s), YouTube, or with the simple but very effective app.

  It’s all free, although you are welcome to support the project with donations. I have been making a monthly donation for several years now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Balcony solar is all the rage in Germany. Why not in the US?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Funny, I am on a plane preparing to fly out of Munich as I type this, and in the 5 days I’ve been in Germany I haven’t seen anything I could recognize as a balcony solar panel.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI | The Verge⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just audio. But it is presented in a way that helps you to learn, rather than just remember. If you give it a try, I promise that you will be shocked at how you can retain the knowledge.

  It isn’t enough on its own, however. You need to reinforce the lessons by speaking to people, reading, and/or TV and movies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI | The Verge⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I have found Duolingo much, much less useful for language learning than Language Transfer. The latter actually helps you learn to think in another language rather than memorize things (which is still useful, but not nearly as much).

  Short if total immersion, I have found nothing better than LT.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Coincidentally, I just went on the autobahn yesterday, for the second time in my life. We were driving about 130 but there were plenty people probably going 30 or 40 km faster than us.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Wii Homebrew Community "Built On Lies And Copyright Infringement"⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I used the homebrew channel to convert my Wii from Japanese to North American (games are region-locked). Never used it for posted games.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Consumers make their voices heard as Microsoft's huge venture flatlines in popularity⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In theory there is little difference between practice and theory. In practice there is.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Short summary of dumbphone market in 2025⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I know someone who works in a university group related to privacy issues. He refuses to have a smartphone because of the ease which which almost anyone can track you and your activities. I think he has an old flip phone.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk would like to ‘delete all IP law’ | TechCrunch⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  “Whatabout…”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk would like to ‘delete all IP law’ | TechCrunch⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  But how much do IP laws actually protect the little guy? When a large corporation can bankrupt me by prolonging litigation until I have nothing left, what leverage do I really have?

  There are certainly cases where small creators and inventors were able to overcome this disadvantage, but I suspect that they are the tiny minority, celebrated when they do achieve it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Opinion | I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I guess if you can’t rely on human intelligence, you have to hope that artificial intelligence can do the job.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In the latest Windows 11 preview build, Microsoft removed the “bypassnro” command, which let users skip signing into a Microsoft Account when installing Windows.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Isn’t the money from selling microsoft products enough?

  “Enough money” is a phrase that simply doesn’t make sense for a lot of people, especially the sociopaths that run companies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The System Shock 2 remaster comes out June 26th⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve probably played through it 5 times, using different skill trees.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google Hijacks Restaurants Booking System Leading To No Reservations Being Available.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Definitely a thing for days like Valentine’s.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Exclusive: Microsoft is finally shutting down Skype in May⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I remember a theory that the US government asked Microsoft to purchase Skype and change it from p2p to server-based, so that they could intercept decrypted communications.

  Skype was originally made by a European company (Latvian?).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there any hope for Ukraine to survive as an independent state now that trump is desperately wishing for a peace treaty with Russia, even bypassing Ukraine?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Being Ukrainian puts a completely different spin on it. My comment still holds true for Americans, but I would rather not see Ukrainians ground under the heel of another dictator, especially one enabled by the stupidification of the United States.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there any hope for Ukraine to survive as an independent state now that trump is desperately wishing for a peace treaty with Russia, even bypassing Ukraine?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m sorry, but I don’t see it. The century of American supremacy is coming to a close. You may not want to admit it, because everyone in the US has been thought about American exceptionalism since they started school. China will rise, as will Europe possibly. I think Russia is failing as well. Its current lashing out is the end of their term as a great power.

  The US is a big country, and the fall will be slow, but I don’t think there is a way to stop it now. I suspect that future historians will trace it back to the Nixon era. Come to think of it, every Republican president since then has also been really, really shitty when it came to preserving the health of the democracy.