limelight79
@limelight79@lemm.ee
- Comment on ‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners 1 week ago:
Mine decided to randomly start rebooting about a year ago. :( Tried everything I could think of to get it to work normally, but nothing helped. I couldn’t rely on it, so I had to replace it. Like you, I hadn’t planned to replace it any time soon.
- Comment on ‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners 1 week ago:
In the US, if you don’t have the loyalty card, you’re paying more for groceries. For the stores we use, any sale prices are contingent upon using the loyalty card. This can add up to $5-$10 per order.
- Comment on Trim around garage door replacement 1 week ago:
Yeah I even have electric metal shears that would make quick work of it… I just don’t want to do it. :)
- Comment on Trim around garage door replacement 1 week ago:
Oooh thanks, I didn’t think of that.
- Comment on Trim around garage door replacement 1 week ago:
Yeah I’ll get one. It’s just trim around the opening.
- Submitted 1 week ago to [deleted] | 7 comments
- Comment on Looks like Lemmy is climbing up to the 2023 exodus days numbers again 2 weeks ago:
Shadow runs lemmy.ca, and states that it is lemmy.ca signups. He’s certainly in a position to have the information available, unlike some random lemming like myself.
- Comment on Might be fun idk 2 weeks ago:
I used to be huge into college football, planning my weekends around when my teams were playing. I drifted away for a few years after they instituted the “targeting” penalty; in particular, there was a game where it was called twice on one drive, one was outright wrong (and overturned upon review*), and the other was borderline. It wasn’t a decision to protest; it was more of a “this isn’t important to me any more” kind of thing.
*It was overturned, but in that first year of the rule, the 15 yard penalty still counted. The player that committed the potential foul was simply allowed to remain in the game. (They have changed this rule since then.)
To be clear, I’m not in favor of people being injured. It was just that targeting penalty that made me realize that football was never going to be a safe game. No sport is completely safe, obviously; there’s always a risk of serious injury. But football seems especially designed to inflict injury, as opposed to other sports where the injuries are more incidental. And that scandal where the New Orleans (I think) NFL team was giving bounties for hits on specific players did not improve my opinion at all.
These days, we’ll watch football games if we don’t have anything else going on or whatever, but it’s not a high priority. We did watch some of the super bowl - in that it was on TV while we were reading or working on paying bills, etc. - but we definitely didn’t stay up late or anything like that for it. There’s not much else on TV during the super bowl anyway.
- Comment on Billionaire Larry Ellison says a vast AI-fueled surveillance system can ensure 'citizens will be on their best behavior' 1 month ago:
After 9/11/01, he said, “You have no privacy anyway. Get over it. We should have a national ID card database.” (paraphrased, but that was the gist)
I’m not disputing that he’s dangerous, but I’m pretty sure his comments are mostly driven by wanting to sell Oracle licenses. Which somehow makes it worse.
- Comment on Too dumb to understand where the gas tank opening is 1 month ago:
There’s a station near me with hoses that are long enough to do that with most vehicles (obviously my pickup wouldn’t fit, but every car I’ve driven is fine). But I don’t think most stations have hoses long enough to do that for anything but the smallest cars.
- Comment on Too dumb to understand where the gas tank opening is 1 month ago:
LOL I was ready to defend the driver, having pulled in on the wrong side of the pump once or twice. I drive different cars, and while most have it on the driver’s side, one vehicle I drive regularly has it on the opposite side, so I have occasionally made the mistake.
But then I corrected it by turning the car around and pulling into the pump on the correct side…
- Comment on Stop whining. Do it yourself. 3 months ago:
Lemmy Explorer will do it…I think. “Newest publish time” sort is what you’re looking for, I think.
- Comment on YSK about Darkpatterns.games, a website that rates mobile games on their "Dark patterns" 4 months ago:
Invested / Endowed Value - Having already spent time and money to improve your status in the game, it’s difficult to throw it away.
Isn’t that every game? I can’t think of a single game, back to old Atari 2600 or arcade games, that doesn’t have this element. Many people are playing to see how far they can get, to beat the game.
- Comment on Not allowed to work from home 4 months ago:
Ha, actually they played themselves on that front. I don’t want to get into all of the details, but basically there’s literally not enough space for all of us to be in on the same day. There used to be, but they shrank the footprint to save money.
Honestly I think the plan from our upper management was to allow a lot of full-time remote working, but that got killed by even higher up people. So, now we have this. I actually think our upper management isn’t really the bad guy on this one and are just trying to make the best of a bad situation, dealing with idiotic requirements coming from on high.
I also think there are some artificial factors keeping it at one day a week, for now. It might go up to two at some point in the future, but a lot can happen between now and then. And two days might start running into that space limitation again, and they won’t easily be able to expand the footprint - nor will they want to spend the money.
- Comment on Not allowed to work from home 4 months ago:
After four years of work from home, since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ll soon have to start going back in once a week. I know, that’s a lot better than many people that have been forced into 5 days a week or similar bullshit, but it’s definitely one more day a week than I want to go in. DC area, too, so you know traffic is going to be a nightmare, as always.
I’d even be willing to go in quarterly or whatever for special meetings. But weekly? We’ve proven we can do this.
They’re pushing this whole “hybrid” working and “rethink how you work!” and “it’s all about teams!” But they didn’t require any sort of coordination on coming into the office for teams, or anything along those lines - it’s a free for all. So instead of sitting at home on a call, we’re going to be sitting in cubicles on phone calls. It doesn’t make any sense.
And even if they had decided teams should coordinate in-office days, my area in particular works with so many different teams that we’d still be remote for most of them. Or in the office every day, which would not go over very well.
But I’m sure the Popeye’s (fast food chicken place) across the street will welcome us back. The one that has survived over four years without us. No one I know has ever gone there.
We’re going to lose a bunch of people as a result. And hiring is a disaster that isn’t likely to be resolved any time soon. It’s gonna be a fun few years…
Counting down the days until I can retire. Unfortunately, there are too many, I’ll have to deal with this. Or find a completely remote job.
- Comment on There you go little guy 4 months ago:
I can see those kinds of things working in or near cities, but out where I am - fairly rural - there’s just too many miles of road to install a bunch of speed humps or similar things. It would take a monumental amount of money. They don’t even have shoulders on most of the roads. I admit even I speed when I’m driving them, although I’ll slow down for bends in the road so as not to clobber a deer, cyclist, pedestrian, etc. that might be lurking out of sight.
(I got into a fun argument here on Lemmy a few months back with someone who insisted horse and buggies should have lights, and I was like, “What happens when you come around the bend too fast and there’s a tree laying in the road?” He just couldn’t accept the problem is the driver, not the horse and buggy. Basically, that’s what’s wrong with drivers in the US: We, as a group, have a bizarre expectation that things will always go to plan.)
I’m also nervous about these solutions for another reason - I’ve seen towns install those kinds of calming measures in a way that hurts cyclists. In one example, they extended the curbs out to the lane, which does slow down traffic - but it forces cyclists who could previously ride on the shoulder into the lane, thereby further enraging drivers. I had one asshole pass me in that very narrow section some years ago, so now I make sure to ride in the middle of it, so they’d actually have to hit me. They won’t do that because they don’t want to damage their precious car, so I’m safe.
And I say this as someone that lives in an area that’s actually pretty good for cycling, that is, most drivers are actually pretty good about passing safely and all that.
- Comment on There you go little guy 4 months ago:
Interesting. Mostly what I see is people slam on their brakes near the camera, then take off again after it.
My theory: There’s so little enforcement of the traffic laws here, they might as well not exist. You’re almost certain NOT to get caught, so people will do whatever they want and will practically always get away with it. I don’t really want to argue for more cops, but when I’ve driven in areas with more traffic enforcement and visible police presence, people tend to drive much more sedately.
I drive and ride bicycle, and I would LOVE if the cops came riding with me some time. I see some of them doing the 100 mile ride for charity in our county, so I know they have people on the force who ride fairly seriously. Join one of our regular group rides wearing cycling clothes (not police gear), get another cop stationed ahead in a car or motorcycle…and start pulling over some people who buzz us or roll coal. Word would get out very quickly.
- Comment on Home Depot 5 months ago:
I didn’t see anyone link to the original!
- Comment on Oh Elon 5 months ago:
Wasn’t he on some sort of advisory committee during Trump’s first term? My memory is that they disbanded basically because it was a waste of time, for obvious reasons. Let me search…
- Comment on Make this thread look like it's your first day on the internet 5 months ago:
My 56k modem was internal, so not much to look at.
But the Hayes…
- Comment on Make this thread look like it's your first day on the internet 5 months ago:
I still have a Hayes Smartmodem 1200 here. Aluminum case and all. It’s a work of art.
A useless work of art. But still…
- Comment on Some basic info about USB 5 months ago:
Yeah. I grew up in the days of serial ports and parallel ports, and USB in general is so much better for most purposes. (I recall plugging my first mouse into the serial port…but wait! Where will my Hayes Smartmodem modem plug into then? Also, don’t plug and unplug things from the serial port while the computer is running.)
And USB-C is even better. My tablet needs a charge? Well my laptop charger is right here… My phone is low and needs a quick charge? Well my USB-C tablet charger will give it a decent boost very quickly. No worries about getting it plugged in the wrong way, either.
I have a docking station for my work laptop, so when I had to replace my personal laptop, a laptop that supported USB-C power delivery was mandatory. I don’t use it with the docking station very often, but knowing I can without an issue is great. My wife also has a Macbook that works on the docking station, too, in case she ever wants to use my dual monitor setup. All three laptops, from three different brands, are just plug in and go.
- Comment on Oh no! I dropped (5£ to) Anna's Archives. Beware the mess, people. 5 months ago:
The second one gave me a message that the domain has been seized. :(
- Comment on Elon Musk loses fight with ex-Twitter staffer, must pay $600K 6 months ago:
Shouldn’t it be an X 2.0? Did he just deadname his own company?
- Comment on USA | Police Are Increasingly Encrypting Their Radios to Block Scrutiny by Journalists 6 months ago:
A “local news” Facebook page is all up in arms about this. The page sometimes provides useful information about road blockages and the like. I’m pretty sure he just listens to the scanner all day and posts what he hears. Our local emergency services (police, fire, etc.) are replacing their radios with encrypted ones soon.
But I’ve wondered if they were simply replacing old radios, and encrypted radios are now what is available - i.e., buying unencrypted radios now might be like trying to buy an old cell phone that doesn’t do digital communication. Of course, there are solutions to the issue that emergency departments could take in the name of transparency, like streaming the communications online.
- Comment on Google Is the Only Search Engine That Works on Reddit Now Thanks to AI Deal 7 months ago:
Some subs are very negative. I remember antimlm was, as well, people spent all day mocking people who got involved in MLM schemes. I subbed for a while because my wife was in one, and I was hoping for help, advice, tips, etc., but it was all just mocking them and calling them “hon bots” or whatever the term was. I had to unsub, I don’t need that negativity in my life.
The hobby subs, on the other hand, always seemed extremely supportive, or at least the ones I was in were. For example, the radio control (cars, planes, boats, etc.) sub members were totally into it and totally supportive of whatever it was you were doing. It was inspiring and made me want to get back into the hobby. Those kinds of subs were the best part of reddit, and unfortunately we haven’t recreated that energy for things like that here - just not enough users.
- Comment on Elon Musk says SpaceX HQ officially moving to Texas, blames new CA trans student privacy law 7 months ago:
Uh shouldn’t it be Earth?
- Comment on NSA Claims It Can’t Watch a Tape It Recorded in the 1980s 7 months ago:
Can I bitch about that redaction for a bit? Someone hit our car while it was parked on federal property. There were cameras, and the security people figured out who did it (and called them, and they denied it). When we finally got the police report, all of the information for identifying the guilty party had been redacted, along with the officer’s name and any other useful information. For a literal fender bender. Shitty driver got away with it. The police report was completely useless. I can only imagine my insurance company was like, “We waited 3 weeks for THIS?” They might as well have sent over a blank page.
I get the idea behind redacting stuff in general, but that one just pissed me off.
- Comment on Is a cloud backup an acceptable backup for a home server? 7 months ago:
Because I didn’t know it existed until now. :) I’ll have to look into that, thanks.
- Comment on Is a cloud backup an acceptable backup for a home server? 7 months ago:
This is a tough one. The problem with local only backups is, what if there’s a fire?
I use Amazon Glacier to store my pictures. It’s $0.0036 / GB per month, so I pay less than $2/month for ~535 GB of storage that I’m using right now. There is also a cost for downloading, but if I need it, I’m going to be happy to pay it (and the costs aren’t crazy). Uploads are free.
(The other problem with Glacier is that it’s not really an end-user-friendly experience, nor is it something easily automated. I use SimpleAmazonGlacierUploader, a Java program someone wrote, to do it. You can also upload to S3 and have it archive things to Glacier automatically - I’ve never tried this but it should work.)
I considered getting my brother or a friend to build two storage servers (with RAID5 or something) that we’d each keep at home, and just sync to each other. Good if you have a friend or family member willing to do it (or at least host your offsite box). Down sides: Cost to build it, time to build and maintain it, cost to replace things that break, plus cost for electricity. I’ve been using Glacier for many years, so by now maybe I would have spent less on that theoretical backup system, but I also did not have to worry about it.