Monument

@Monument@lemmy.sdf.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What exactly are they teaching in our schools?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  From my recent garage sale:

  A sign beside a road that reads “Garage Salad” and features an arrow pointing left

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Palmer Luckey says he wants to 'turn warfighters into technomancers' as Anduril takes over production of the US Army's IVAS AR headset from Microsoft⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  My girlfriend asked why I carry a gun around the house? 
  I looked her dead in the eye and said, “the motherfucking decepticons”. She laughed, I laughed, the toaster laughed, I shot the toaster, it was a good time.

  …. I don’t know. It’s just what came to mind when I thought of household appliances being hijacked.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Palmer Luckey says he wants to 'turn warfighters into technomancers' as Anduril takes over production of the US Army's IVAS AR headset from Microsoft⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I did a quick search, so I’m basically an expert now. imaginary hair flip

  So, some flashlights have multiple brightness modes. I guess that’s controlled via a tiny, low power microprocessor.
  And if it’s a computer, it can be hacked!

  So the firmware does things, depending on the capabilities of the hardware in the flashlight, but you can set it to override defaults for brightness, change how many levels of brightness you have, add (or remove) a blinky SOS mode, sleep timers in case it’s accidentally left on, and even add a way to check the battery percentage via a button press pattern, that the flashlight responds to with a series of blinks.
  No lie, kind of fascinating stuff. I like to hack other stuff, like smart appliances (replacing firmware so it doesn’t share my data, but I still get to use it as a smart device). I don’t think I would be into talking to my flashlight via Morse code, but I can see the appeal as both a hobby, and for folks who need flashlights as safety equipment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Eatin’ on the roof⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I went through a rough patch awhile back that saw a lot of “yes”’s to things just to keep myself from being still enough to let my thoughts catch up to me.

  A friend invited me out one Tuesday night, to a bar within walking distance of our apartments. We got a table on the patio and got deep in our cups late into the night. The vibe started to shift and I suddenly realized something – last call was an hour and a half ago. But drinks had kept flowing - just reappearing while we chatted with the crowd (that was drinking and getting high on the patio) clustered around us. But there was no crowd outside of our group. In fact, all the patrons had gone, and we were apparently just partying with the bar staff, getting to know their life stories. After a spell, I got self conscious and moved to leave. I tried to pay, and they just waved me off.
  It was honestly kind of a magical experience. I never did food service or bar work (I chose the retail/manual labor early career skill tree). It felt like a forbidden peek into their lives.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it time to ring the alarm on internet door cameras?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Same. I went with them as a “good enough” option when I needed cameras because I have had a good experience with Anker products, but they’ve slowly enshitified to the point that I’d drop them in a heartbeat if the budget was there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Humans are notoriously hard to kill on purpose but laughably easy to kill by accident.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  They always catch the people who search for “most popular way to get away with murder” but they rarely catch the ones who search for “most embarrassing way to die.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sounds like a fun place to work⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Not that bizarre of an explanation. The workplace is a porn studio. She found that it improves productivity if folks aren’t distracted while working. Seems reasonable.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Most likely. Unless you have testicles, in which case you may have testicular cancer.

  In either situation, take another test or two, and then prepare to speak to medical professionals.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨UnitedHealth updates data breach impact to 190 million people, nearly doubling previous estimate⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve never been a UMH customer, but about 7 months after the breach happened (November), I got a letter from the company handling customer complaints for Change Healthcare, telling me an unbeknown amount of my medical and or financial information was leaked to unknown parties via some unknown method. If I had questions, I could call the company handling customer complaints.
  When I called to ask how Change came to be in possession of my medical data, that they then lost, and subsequently failed to inform me of the situation within my state’s statutory notification window for having your data hacked, the representative told me they didn’t know, and would not be able to find out what company had entrusted them with my data.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨After years of concerns raised by scientists, EU has banned Bisphenol A from contact with food⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s a great step in the right direction, but unless they ban other bisphenol compounds, they are just ‘moving the problem around’ because popular substitutes like BPS and BPF are just as, if not more dangerous.

  BPA-Free Isn’t Always Better: The dangers of BPS, a BPA substitute - Yale Scientific

  BPS and BPF are as Carcinogenic as BPA and are Not Viable Alternatives for its Replacement - PubMed

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It's 2025 now, what are the games you'll be starting the year with?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I started playing No Man’s Sky again recently. My game from XBox didn’t transfer to Steam and I didn’t feel like trying to troubleshoot it, so I just started fresh. I’ll probably play that until my new character has unlocked everything.
  I also picked up Stray and haven’t yet gotten into it much. I also recently bought Everspace, but haven’t even started the game yet. Soon, though.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Clippy's coming for you⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I have ADHD you glorified staple.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨M4 Mac Mini Power Button Has New Bottom Location⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A base plate that’s got a spring under it, except for a little nub that pokes the power button.
  Terrible if you live in earthquake-prone areas.

  Wait. Are we describing a bump stock for your computer?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The grand prize⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If I had one of those in my living room, my house would collapse.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Intuit possibly succumbs to the Streisand effect⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Shirley you’ve heard of absurdist humor?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Clean energy workers are desperately needed, but many don't know these jobs exist⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I wonder if the relevant units of government creating standards for these jobs would help.

  Plumbers and electricians have to be licensed in many areas. I’m sure building codes require building permits.
  Wheels of government take time to turn, but requiring installation companies use licensed installers, and handling the licensing and vetting in the same way electricians and plumbers are handled is a good place to start. Definitely always loopholes in the construction business, but a formalized and licensed profession is a way to improve pay.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Smart TVs take snapshots of what you watch multiple times per second⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well. That’s it. Get the flamethrowers. Time to burn down the Amazon.

  No. Not the one that’s already burning. The other one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨2real5me⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s actually gander neutral now. We’re all just silly geese.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mozilla is going to shut down their Mastodon instance⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My understanding is that they are focusing on adding in “AI” features in a big way, and that’s why they cut development on the other work. 🫤

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨No Man's Sky adds fishing, a fishing skiff, a new expedition, deep-sea diving and loads more⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A boat load more, one might say.

  Not me, of course. But someone.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨USA | Democrats Attacked a Muslim Woman for Protesting Biden’s Speech. She’s a Harris Delegate.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I have twice typed up huge novels and deleted them.

  The very, very simple answer to your question is that I do not think the Democratic Party is liberal. They are a centrist party that pretends to encompass the left because U.S. election law is set up in such a way that only two parties can prevail at a national level.
  The why? Those are the novels I keep writing - Election law/electoral finance laws and money. The parties won’t fix the laws, and money skews right. Thus, even the ‘left’ party is in the center.

  I say I’m liberal because that’s where I fit with the understanding I have. I did stipulate a U.S. liberal, because - the ‘spectrum’ has always been understood by me to be roughly defined left to right as revolutionaries, liberals, centrists, conservatives, and reactionaries.
  Reduced even further, it’s just left, center, right. Liberal, centrist, conservative.
  Because I view liberals as separate from centrists, and the Democratic Party as centrist, I don’t view them as encompassing my beliefs. (And, there are a number of actions they’ve taken or not taken that run contrary to my beliefs, too.)

  I think that I overlap with leftists on about 90% of views, honestly, but I’ve been attacked and told I support genocide in leftist communities when literally the only thing someone knows about me is that I don’t want republicans to gain power. I’m probably sort of sensitive to the assumption that liberals are supportive of every action of the Democratic Party. My ‘liberals that want revolution’ was a bit of an intentional reversion to the overly broad grouping. Not intended to be an insult - more or less a dumb joke best accompanied by a shit-eating grin.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨USA | Democrats Attacked a Muslim Woman for Protesting Biden’s Speech. She’s a Harris Delegate.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I am a liberal in the U.S sense. Not a leftist, nor a democrat, and certainly not a nazi.

  I really bristle at the notion that there’s no room between liberals that want revolution, and party-line toting democrats.
  There are literally dozens of liberals who don’t view the Democratic Party as representing them, but also aren’t all that interested what happens under Christian fascism if normal people don’t vote, or corporate takeover if the people overthrow the government. (Because, after the military, only large corporations have the organization, capital, and manpower to direct society - and they would, if given the chance.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Breakthrough barium titanate solar panels are 1000x more powerful than existing panels⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Have you ever realized just how broken you are?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A few weeks ago, a mom was at the hardware store with her young son – he was about five years old.
  For some reason, we crossed paths a few times, And each time she was talking with her son about the things they were buying in the projects that they were buying them for. But what Caught my attention first was he asked her ‘What if we can’t do it?’ and she responded with ‘Well then we learned how because we can figure it out.’
  This woman was endlessly, encouraging towards her son, and it was clear that she was setting him up to have an attitude of feeling like he was capable of tackling things in life. Which is something that I didn’t get us a kid - I was often told that I couldn’t do things or the things were beyond my capability and that if my mom didn’t know how to do something that it was basically impossible for me to figure out how to do it as well.

  I was so impressed by their interaction, that when I saw her later while I was checking out, I actually said something to her and after she figured out I wasn’t trying to pick her up, she took a moment and like… just looked satisfied. I was happy with the interaction.

  Beyond the fact that I mostly grew up without a father and my mother was very self focused to the point that it was pretty detrimental to me, I also grew up with undiagnosed ADHD that I only learned about in my early 40s. I am constantly discovering ways that I feel broken in the world, so you are not alone.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Have you ever realized just how broken you are?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You are not a machine and you have the right to happiness. I hope you find it.

  I recommend therapy, if you haven’t tried it, and if it’s not working, I suggest different therapists, or different types of therapy. It’s okay to tell a therapist you’re not getting much out of their style/your relationship with them, and ask for their assessment of what you should be looking for. Then go look at that. Keep trying until you find something that clicks.
  If it helps, in your shoes I would view it as a continuation of your parental duties. When she moves out, or maybe has kids of her own, you can continue the relationship with her and your grandchildren as your genuine, authentic, and - perhaps - happy self.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Quick Chat⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I have this notion that one day it would be nice to be neighborly enough to just put out a sign that says “fresh coffee”, “brunch”, “Beer on tap” or whatever as a signal that people should drop by for a chat.
  But I’m not really in my neighborhood’s demographic. It’s an older neighborhood, and the only folks close to my age seem like extreme introverts.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨ICANN approves use of .internal domain for your network⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, I just realized I completely goofed, because I went with .arpa instead of .home.arpa, due to what was surely not my own failings.

  So I guess I’m going to be changing my home’s domain anyway.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How does Ohio have stock for the new cannabis stores that just opened?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A dispensary near me just got in 200mg edibles for $3. Both me and the attendant were sort of suspicious of it (new brand, new product), and I stuck with my usual brands, which vary between $12 and $20 for the same quantity.
  But 2 years ago, my ‘usual’ was $18-$25 for 100mg.

  They’re definitely racing to the bottom, and we’ve already had a few local grow ops go under as bigger outfits are taking advantage of economy of scale/better planning.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How does Ohio have stock for the new cannabis stores that just opened?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They can’t import because that would involve transporting the product over state lines, which is interstate commerce, and in federal jurisdiction, where it’s still illegal. (At least, they can’t import legally, or document any importation.)

  They probably … uh… fax or teleport? seeds to new grow operations that get set up between the law’s passage and implementation. I hear that stuff grows fast – like a weed!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘It made me cry’: photos taken 15 years apart show melting Swiss glaciers⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I went to Iceland last year, and our guide told us that the glacier we were about to hike was half a km (1600 feet) closer to the trail head 10 years ago.