mcv

@mcv@lemm.ee

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lara Croft games are the nightmare of any real archaeologist, biologist and paleontologist.⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Of course not. That big government warehouse with all the boxes. I’m sure “museum” is a nickname they use for it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lara Croft games are the nightmare of any real archaeologist, biologist and paleontologist.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Same with Indiana Jones. Maybe he’s slightly less terrible about it than Lara Croft, but the fact that he cares only about that golden idol and not about the entire temple complex around it with apparently still active traps, makes him a terrible archaeologist.

  They’re both very effective adventurers and tomb robbers, though. And at least Lara Croft doesn’t pretend to be any better than that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Telegram and xAI agreed a one-year deal to distribute Grok; Telegram will get $300M in cash and equity from xAI and 50% of subscription revenue⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Or is xAI paying for access to Telegram conversations to train Grok?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fediverse Social Media Guide⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Over 60?! Can we please classify Friendica as over 50? I feel old enough as it is.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s worth remembering that there was a time when the highest US tax bracket was taxed at 90%, and that didn’t stop the US’s longest period of sustained economic growth.

  Ridiculously high tax rates for ridiculously high incomes have been done before and are entirely feasible.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  There are a few exceptions. JK Rowlings became a billionaire simply by writing some really popular books, and even stopped being a billionaire by giving much of her wealth away. As far as I can tell, she didn’t become an asshole until later.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m willing to say more positive things about him. His dedication to Linux is great of course, but I’ve also heard that people working for him get a lot of freedom to choose what to work on. And no crunch. In the games industry, that’s pretty good.

  So yeah, he seems to me to be one of the better among the tech billionaires. But in the end, he’s still a billionaire, and he’s god that ridiculous fleet of super yachts.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  There was a time the same was true for Elon Musk, before he suddenly decided to jump the queue. I really hope Gabe isn’t going down that path.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft shuts down email account of International Criminal Court chief prosecutor⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It doesn’t matter that they’re forced by law. That just means no US company is safe. It still means you need to get your stuff out of there.

  And yes, your data and email can be safe, because EU law requires your data to be safe. It is becoming impossible for international tech companies to obey both US and EU law, and if you want your stuff to be safe, you should choose one that obeys EU law.

  Mind you, Microsoft is actually planning to do something about this; they’ve suggested (but not yet implemented, I think) separating their EU based servers into a separate daughter company under a European board. But until they actually implement that, your data isn’t safe.

  And your data is even less safe with some other US tech companies which have a longer history of flaunting EU data protection rules in order to exploit your data.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft shuts down email account of International Criminal Court chief prosecutor⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Doesn’t change the fact that they did it, though. Although “US govt forced MS to shut down prosecutor’s email” would indeed have been more accurate.

  The question still remains to whether corporations should bow to tyrannical demands. I think they do so too eagerly and should fight it more. If they don’t, that’s a pretty clear sign to anyone that your data and email simply isn’t safe in their hands.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I know one example of advertising that I liked: the creators of Penny Arcade had only advertisements for computer games that they liked. And they made those ads in the same art style as their own comic.

  Advertisements are good when they’re an honest endorsement. Any others are inherently deceptive and often invasive.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How your showerhead and fridge got roped into the culture wars⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  There are also showers that reclaim shower water while you shower. Most water goes down the drain clean. It’s apparently easy to separate that from water that’s mixed with soap and dirt, and send it back op the shower again. This can dramatically cut back on your water use much more effectively throttling the water flow.