r0ertel
@r0ertel@lemmy.world
- Comment on What would remain for a future species if humans were to vanish tomorrow? 4 days ago:
A totally not serious answer. Today, I was sitting across from a Starbucks and staring at the logo. It is really weird. I started thinking that if something were to happen to civilization, all these cups, sleeves, merchandise and plastic stir sticks emblazoned with the Starbucks logo may cause future archaeologists to think that we worshipped some half fish woman thing (or whatever the logo is supposed to be).
Alternatively, this xkcd could be fun to do.
- Comment on FTC’s click-to-cancel rule has been struck down by federal judges at the eleventh hour 5 days ago:
States have argued successfully to tax cross state commerce. That’s why you get charged local sales tax even when ordering from a company that does not have a presence in your state. I don’t see this as any different, but someone will need to go first to set the precedent.
- Comment on FTC’s click-to-cancel rule has been struck down by federal judges at the eleventh hour 6 days ago:
This is the FTC’s rule, but nothing prevents each and every state from implementing a law to do the exact same thing, except slightly differently than every other state, making it extremely costly for the companies to implement.
- Comment on Supreme Court to decide whether ISPs must disconnect users accused of piracy 2 weeks ago:
I keep my seedbox in the planter at the coffee shop down the road with free WiFi.
- Comment on Supreme Court to decide whether ISPs must disconnect users accused of piracy 2 weeks ago:
I couldn’t afford one of those fancy 2-cassette boomboxes, so I had my friend bring his tape deck and we put them real close together in the quietest room of the house and recorded that way. Having several siblings meant that there were no quiet places, so we used the empty garage when my parents were at work. The audio was autrocious, tons of echo and static, but I played that tape thin until it snapped.
- Comment on Supreme Court to decide whether ISPs must disconnect users accused of piracy 2 weeks ago:
Several countries require proof of ID to purchase a SIM card.
- Comment on ELI5: How to put several servers on one external IP? 3 weeks ago:
My mantra is “plan to be hacked”. Whether this is a good backup strategy, a read-only VM, good monitoring or serious firewall rules.
- Comment on Why do some people hate drinking water? 4 weeks ago:
It doesn’t make sense to me that I don’t like drinking water. When I lived in the desert, I would drink it all the time, but it’s a habit that I’ve fallen out of. Strangely, I went back to the desert on a trip and immediately resumed drinking water again.
For me, I don’t like the taste. I can taste the chlorine and fluroride and other stuff in the water. I have an RO system with carbon filter and then I need to have it near freezing. Even then, I need to put stuff in it like berries, cucumber or mint. I don’t drink pop, sports drinks or other stuff like that. I do drink tea and coffee.
Yeah, my doctor told me that I’m dehydrated, so I’m trying.
- Comment on Why do some people hate drinking water? 4 weeks ago:
It sounds like somebody needs to spend more time watching documentaries on the mating habits of freshwater fish!
- Comment on Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task 4 weeks ago:
Are you referring to the AI search results? If so, I’ve fallen into a similar strategy. I’ll search for something, usuaply how to do something then read the AI result. If it’s what I’m looking for, then I’ll click through to the referenced articles. The AI result is usually too vague. Part of my problem is probably bad searching skills on my part. I’ll often find what I’m looking for way down the first page or sometimes the second page of results. The AI cuts through that searching page after page or tells me that I need to change my search terms.
- Comment on Half of companies planning to replace customer service with AI are reversing course 4 weeks ago:
I suppose that makes perfect sense. A corporation is an accountability sink for owners, board members and executives, so why not also make AI accountable?
I was thinking more along the lines of the “human in the loop” model for AI where one human is responsible for all the stuff that AI gets wrong despite it physically not being possible to review every line of code an AI produces.
- Comment on Half of companies planning to replace customer service with AI are reversing course 4 weeks ago:
I was thinking about this the other day and don’t think it would happen any time soon. The people who put the CEO in charge (usually the board members) want someone who will make decisions (that the board has a say in) but also someone to hold accountable for when those decisions don’t realize profits.
AI is unaccountable in any real sense of the word.
- Comment on Console display options 1 month ago:
It’s a VGA connection and, yes, my primary concern is resource usage. I’m running 2-3 VMs on it so that I can easily migrate the VM around.
- Comment on Console display options 1 month ago:
I had plain old
top
and it was boring. I did not know how many alternatives there were.I’ll also have to check out cmatrix.
- Comment on Console display options 1 month ago:
This is an excellent idea!
- Submitted 1 month ago to selfhosted@lemmy.world | 16 comments
- Comment on Do you actually audit open source projects you download? 1 month ago:
Generally, no. On some cases where I’m extending the code or compiling it for some special case that I have, I will read the code. For example, I modified a web project to use LDAP instead of a local user file. In that case, I had to read the code to understand it. In cases where I’m recompiling the code, my pipeline will run some basic vulnerability scans automatically.
I would not consider either of these a comprehensive audit, but it’s something.
Additionally, on any of my server deployments, I have firewall rules which would catch “calls to home”. I’ve seen a few apps calling home, getting blocked but no adverse effects. The only one I can remember is Traefik, which I flipped a config value to not do that.
- Comment on Geologists doubt Earth has the amount of copper needed to develop the entire world 1 month ago:
This smells a little funny, as others have suggested. I read an article a while ago that suggested that we’re not running out of raw materials; we’re thinking about the problem wrong:
Chachra proposes that we could – we must – treat material as scarce, and that one way to do this is to recognize that energy is not. We can trade energy for material, opting for more energy intensive manufacturing processes that make materials easier to recover when the good reaches its end of life. We can also opt for energy intensive material recovery processes. If we put our focus on designing objects that decompose gracefully back into the material stream, we can build the energy infrastructure to make energy truly abundant and truly clean.
This is all outlined in the book How Infrastructure Works from Deb Chachra.
- Comment on ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows 1 month ago:
I read recently that the lidar on many self driving cars can wreck the CCD on most phones. I don’t know how it works, but maybe parking one of the cars by your front door will solve your problem.
- Comment on What are some of your favorite prints/models? 1 month ago:
- Comment on Unhappy with the recently lost file upload feature in the Nextcloud app for Android? So are we. Let us explain. - Nextcloud 1 month ago:
The issue does not exist with the version installed from F-Droid. I think the Play Store version is a different build with the feature disabled as a condition of hosting it on the Play Sore.
The Android app itself still works with the permission, and we released new versions on the external F-Droid store. So the limit is a “purely” Google Play Store-related problem.
- Comment on Renovating a converted patio 2 months ago:
I don’t know the building code for your area or if it would even work with the other stuff in the area, but the idea is to lay at least 2x2’s every 16", put Styrofoam between the 2x2’s, lay plastic or tyvek or some vapor barrier over it all then lay down plywood and carpet on top of that. It’s a lot of work to retrofit this into an existing space, but if you’re starting over, it may be worthwhile.
I had a townhouse on a concrete slab and in the winter, the cold would transfer through the concrete to the point that when it was below 0F, the water lines running through the concrete would freeze up.
- Comment on a site for making bots for the fediverse 2 months ago:
Probably true, but there were still some useful bots that I enjoyed on a regular basis like the metric conversion bot, the invidious link switcher and the remindme bot.
I think that Lemmy will allow you to use bots only if you declare them as such which should allow users to block or allow to customize their own experiences.
- Comment on Renovating a converted patio 2 months ago:
In addition to the other advice, if it is reasonable to do so, you would benefit from raising the floor up a bit to add insulation and a vapor barrier. The concrete will draw in the cold and humidity.
- Comment on Pluralistic: The enshittification of tech jobs 2 months ago:
I’d take those last 5 bullets. I’ve worked hard to gain salary only to find that it didn’t matter. Every review I’ve ever had was a lie. If I was given a good raise, I was told that it was my hard work. If it was a bad raise, they found one item to give me ‘satisfactory’. A bunch of us shared our salaries over drinks one evening and we all were about the same. That was a big surprise to me.
Back to the point of the original article, employees talking is bad for employers. Unionization is one way to solve the collective agreement problem, but there are others. When employees (or any group for that matter) organize, they can make things happen.
- Comment on Pluralistic: The enshittification of tech jobs 2 months ago:
I hear this argument against unionization all the time:
During those days the only thing a tech union would do would make your life balance better, but at the cost of your salary.
It feels like fear mongering when there are no data to back it up (this is not a knock against your post, it’s a complaint against the argument against unionization). I only know one person in a union and they have limited anecdotal data that shows that the cost of being in a union is offset by salary gains.
- Comment on OpenPin is an open-source project to revive Humane's dead Ai Pin - Liliputing 2 months ago:
For those too lazy to click through to the article and don’t know what an Ai Pin is;
The Humane Ai Pin is a wearable, internet-connected AI device designed to offer a phone-free way to interact with an AI assistant from anywhere.
- Comment on People in the office who don't take used K-Cups out of the machine are the new equivalent "you kill it, you fill it" 2 months ago:
I have the same policy with public toilets. If you flush at the start to verify that it’s working and flush at the end then it’s double the flushes. That’s why I only flush at the start. All my coworkers complain, but they’re not concerned with the environment like me! So wasteful!
- Comment on What programs do you wish a good FOSS alternative existed, but doesn't or most of the FOSS alternatives simply aren't good? 2 months ago:
It’s the only reason I keep a windows VM around. Windows is getting so naggy though. Every time I boot it up, it wants me to update it, install virus scanner and ser up my user on microsoft vs local.
- Comment on Do you use your blinker in a car? 2 months ago:
Obsessively. I’ve been driving German autos since college, including BMW’s and most BMW owners are jerks. The only exception is when I hung out with the local BMW club one summer. They drive crazy fast, but are some of the most courteous drivers on the road.