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ratsmack

1,849 karma · joined August 17, 2013

Just an old guy.
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ratsmack··on CPSC: Do Not Buy or Use Universal Chargers with Micromobility Due to Fire Hazard
All devices should have circuitry to limit current to an acceptable charge rate, and be fused to catch surges.
ratsmack··on Even desert plants known for their resilience are burning and dying in the heat
A common problem during summer months.
ratsmack··on [dead]
> It’s not clear that Musk was involved in the account’s suspension, but Rocketto and Nellis aren’t all that crazy to think that the X CEO might be behind it.

Good question... what's the real story?

ratsmack··on Octopus farming in the U.S. would be banned under a new bill in Congress
> ... roughly as intelligent as a 7 year old kid.

Maybe a 7 month old, but surely not a 7 year old.

ratsmack··on The Empty Brain
Great article and explains very well the reason that AI should be renamed PSI... Poorly Simulated Intelligence.
ratsmack··on Tiny fern has the largest genome of any organism on Earth
There's a reason for everything.
ratsmack··on Amazon Defends Its Use of Signal Messages in Court
If two executives talk across a table during lunch, is it required to record it? What if they sit across the table from each other and send text messages over Signal instead of talking... is that somehow different where it would be required to record the conversation for all to see?

Where does personal privacy start and end?

ratsmack··on Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
Greed is not a requirement of Capitalism though.
ratsmack··on Computers Reduce Efficiency: Case Studies of the Solow Paradox (2023)
The problem is that complex systems have not made us more knowledgeable and capable, but instead they have become a crutch.

https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/complex-systems-wont...

ratsmack··on Suddenly, Chinese Spies Seem to Be Popping Up All over Europe
Interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
ratsmack··on Despite what Microsoft says, ntttcp is no better than iperf3
I think that's pretty normal for companies to spend money in an attempt to protect themselves from government overreach. I have never used TikTok and probably never will, but I take exception with the attempt to ban them, because the whole thing doesn't pass the smell test.

>Why are us officials trying to ban TikTok? US officials warn TikTok's management is beholden to the Chinese government and fear Beijing could use the social media app to influence the 2024 US elections, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing in March.

I guess we need to ban all search engines and social media too.

ratsmack··on Tesla uses new state law to shed Austin's environmental oversight of its factory
So Tesla is just following the local laws. What is news worthy here, I'm just not seeing it.
ratsmack··on Google fires 28 employees after sit-in protest over Israel cloud contract
There is an appropriate time and place for protests, but apparently these protesters weren't able to figure that out.
ratsmack··on WD launches 4TB SD card
SanDisk is still SanDisk and I don't consider them to be Western Digital. Their products have always been dodgy and I still have heartburn over some of their thumb drives where it was impossible to remove the shovel-ware installed on them. It will continue to be nothing other than Samsung products for me in the foreseeable future.
ratsmack··on Google threatens to cut off news after California proposes paying media outlets
There is no love lost between me and Google, but then I have zero regard for "news" organizations that are attempting to strong-arm funds from Google for their failing business model.
ratsmack··on Elon Musk Threatened with Arrest
Thank you :-)
ratsmack··on MA family among Tesla owners waited hours to charge after solar eclipse
There are many other EV's on the road, but you only ever hear about Tesla's and quite often it's something with a disparaging tone. It makes me wonder if it's Tesla's competition using guerrilla tactics.
ratsmack··on A site that tracks the price of a Big Mac in every US McDonald's
Is there a way you prevent them from identifying your scraper?
ratsmack··on FT is losing control over comments
I agree mostly, but there will always be the fringe lunatics that will need mod intervention. And then there's the spam issue.
ratsmack··on Why LA vegan restaurants are putting meat back on the menu
It seems that it would be fairly easy to support both clientele.
ratsmack··on Google calls Drive data loss "fixed," locks forum threads saying otherwise
I'm pretty sure Google has multiple levels of redundancy and still failed.
ratsmack··on Google calls Drive data loss "fixed," locks forum threads saying otherwise
Redundancy can fail.
ratsmack··on Google calls Drive data loss "fixed," locks forum threads saying otherwise
I might also note that Comcast is a legal monopoly.
ratsmack··on OpenWRT Docs "have reason to suspect a security compromise"
It seems to me that excursions into various websites has increased this past year. Every day or so someone else reveals that they have been compromised, and these are usually only higher profile sites. One has to wonder what might be the total number of sites that are compromised on any given day.
ratsmack··on Congress spent billions on EV chargers. But not one has been built
>States and the charger industry blame the delays mostly on the labyrinth of new contracting and performance requirements they have to navigate to receive federal funds.

So, in other words, it's wrapped in a blanket of bureaucracy.

ratsmack··on 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users
>“We believe that the threat actor may have then, in violation of our terms of service, accessed 23andme.com accounts without authorization and obtained information from those accounts.”

It's funny that they had to note "without authorization".

ratsmack··on DoorDash raises minimum pay to $29.93 per hour in NYC
Tipping in the US has become an obligation or entitlement and is rarely associated with the actual service anymore.
ratsmack··on Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta
Just like so many organizations within government, universities have no accountability... status quo rules.
ratsmack··on Why Life Does Not Really Exist (2013)
This views it somewhat as a system of dependency.
ratsmack··on Microsoft is planning an 'Advanced Windows Settings' panel for power users
I don't know why both MS and Linux don't have a tool like IBM's AIX SMIT GUI that generates a CLI/shell command from a menu based dialogue. This was a great tool for those seldom used admin things you needed to do.
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