sudojudo

DuckDuckGo (Bing) and Startpage (Google) work fine for me 90% of the time. To keep things mixed up, my new browser tabs use Startpage, while DDG is the homepage. The !bang syntax at DDG can be especially handy, and Startpage provides a proxy for every link. Both search engines allow you to set up a personal URL, or cookie, with your custom settings (appearance/features/privacy/etc.). Simple and handy, not a giant Orwellian beast that's tracking my every move.

Like others have said, Google doesn't seem all that great these days (better flush that browser cache before searching!). The 10% of the time that the others don't provide adequate results, Google doesn't either. I've gone from instantly hopping over to Google when the alts don't provide good results, to adjusting my terms a few times before finally trying Google.

Google still works best when I want to buy something, which isn't surprising.

Not a hack, but the universal remote in my living room is a Palm m500 running NoviiRemote. It works better than anything else I've tried, and people are giving old Palms away; think I have three of them at this point.

Also, it's fun to tell people that it's my work PDA when they notice it. Beam me your business card. Oh, your iPhone 9000 can't do that? Okay then.

Those Reddit comments, wow. Every single user that endorses the service writes with the same broken English.

Totally legit, astroturfing.

That said, anyone dumb enough to buy a hitman online would probably trust those comments. I mean, just look at all of the satisfied Redditors that have come forward to talk about the murders they helped commit. It must be true! Did you see the videos? Here, look at the videos. LOOK AT THEM!

Good point. But, for pedantry's sake, your analogy is backwards. The person you're replying to is questioning the accuracy of Fakespot, which would make them a competitor. A shill would be endorsing the service, or placing doubt on the critical comment, as you have done.

It varies, heavily. There are many calculators out there that try to answer this question, just drop "youtube revenue calculator" into your favorite search engine and a bunch will come up.

Take the estimates with a grain of salt, but they'll give you an idea of what's involved. I've seen some content creators laugh at the numbers that are predicted for them, and others have shown surprise at their accuracy. So again, it varies.

>You joined less than a year ago.

Cool it with that. Some of us regularly make fresh accounts, for various reasons, like privacy.

HN doesn't heavily revolve around points (karma/upvotes/whatever) and a who's-who of posters, which is refreshing. Ironically, your statement is pushing toward that type of system, which would bring in more of the very users you're complaining about.

The top comments are fine, so continue to let the little arrows on the left do the judging. This is a story about penis size, even the most serious commenter will be tempted to wise crack.

Now this is my type of dystopian future; those are very cool, like something straight out of Bladerunner. Fashion with a function, all that's missing is a clear raincoat.

You'd have to be pretty vigilant, and it would require others to do the same. There'd have to be an equal, or greater, amount of photos tagged as another person. Who is this other person, anyhow? Where's their account? All data says it's Jill_the_Pill, so she must use pseudo-names. Flag her account for further investigation.

It's best to just stay off of Facebook if you care at all about privacy. At least, that's the underlying message that I get from this, and every other story I read about the site.

Years ago, I read about a hat that some Hollywood stars had found useful for fighting paparazzi. Mind you, I don't recall the source, and it my have been tabloid nonsense.

The hat had a circle of IR LEDs (or something of the sort) emitting 360 degrees of invisible-to-the-naked-eye light. Photos of anyone wearing the hat had a similar effect to using a flash in a mirror, the subject was completely washed out by light.

Again, I'm not sure if this was bogus or not, but it seems the demand for such a product is only going to become greater. Hell, I'd buy one.

Does anyone with expertise in this area know if this type of device is technically possible? I'm voting no, otherwise we'd be seeing these devices everywhere, and there would be laws against wearing them.

I get what you're saying, and it's absolutely true. But, at one point I had to step back and look at Reddit as a whole, and decide if I wanted to be a part of the overall community. Do I want to actively ignore my neighbors by wearing blinders, or should I just move to a new neighborhood, where it doesn't hurt to look out my window?

Ultimately, I decided to move. The overwhelming ugliness that has infected Reddit is a hassle that I'd rather not deal with, and that I don't want to be associated with.

Bad users aside, there's also the matter of the warranty canary, rampant guerrilla marketing, bots, and admins messing with the algorithms and UI for monetary reasons.

Circa 2010, I absolutely loved Reddit; I went to meet-ups, modded subs, spoke of narwhals baconing, the whole nine yards. That place is gone now though, and the proof is in the fact that you, an assumingly decent user, has to say ignore the defaults (i.e. the backbone of the site), it's still okay... in certain places! Again, you're on point; there's still no substitute for many its educational, enthusiast, and hobbyist subs, anywhere else online. But, the main decks are flooding with sewage, and many of us want to be clear of the ship, and the waters around it, before the whole thing goes down.

Reddit has suffered from Eternal September for quite some time.

There's a really good article on this subject that I can't seem to locate. But, if you put Reddit into the Wayback Machine, you'll see the frontpage transform over time, from something like Slashdot in 2009, to a meme image board in 2012, to a cleaned-up, marketing-friendly, image board in 2014, to the Facebook-feed-like mess that you see today.

When I first joined, the default frontpage was fine. But after time, I had to edit out default subreddits from the main feed. The final straw, in around 2013, was not being able to escape trolls and punsters, anywhere on the site.

These days, if I browse Reddit, I restrict myself to heavily moderated subs, like /r/askhistorians and /r/askscience, and subs with less than a thousand subscribers. Anywhere else on the site is like visiting the Facebook page of a 14-year-old Nazi womanizer with a Trump infatuation.

AOL and Windows 95 ruined everything!

The author links to that video in the article, which shows that she's aware of the games that are played.

They're using bully tactics. Did they have to show up on her family's doorstep? No. Did they really have people watching out for her in five cities? No. Was there any reason they couldn't communicate through her lawyer? No. Did they have to speak to her in person? No. Do they have the right to circumvent her legal counsel (or make threats to do so)? No.

They're just playing mind games, like they're trained to do. Spooks gonna spook.

Asimov summed it up nicely:

Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'

Pretty sure the up-tick has more to do with socioeconomics and the drug war than anything else.

I don't have any sources at hand, so take this with a grain of salt. But, I've often seen it argued that Reagan era drug policies were detrimental to poor minorities, especially black men. The problems we see today are the trickle-down effects (couldn't resist) of turning an entire generation of fathers into disenfranchised criminals.

>I lost 40 lbs after high school by working out

Nice work. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it should be noted for anyone struggling to lose weight: Weight loss is 99% diet (calories in, calories out).

Work out all day long, but if you're at a caloric surplus, you're going to gain weight. Never work out, but eat less than you burn, and you'll lose weight.

That said, there are countless benefits to regular exercise, so don't overlook it.

Six months later: https://twitter.com/internetofshit

I've got an anecdote!

Back in college, I worked a part-time job caring for high-functioning individuals with developmental disabilities, in a home health care environment. There was probably one male for every twenty females on staff.

There was an incident where I was working overnight and my manager hadn't filled prescriptions during her day shift (she was the only one with the authority to do so). One of the residents, having not received their medication at the usual time, was having panic attacks. The situation elevated to the point of my having to call paramedics.

I'd followed the chain-of-command. First, I tried contacting my co-workers, but they couldn't help. Next, I called my manager, but she ignored the calls. Then, I tried her supervisor (a man), and he was so angry about a lowly night worker contacting him during off-hours that I got nowhere. This all happened over hours, not minutes; the resident had become violent and was quite ill (not sure if it was withdrawals, anxiety, or both). I was out of options, so I called the hospital.

The next day, I arrived at work where my manager, her boss, and someone from HR, were waiting for me in the office. They had drawn up paperwork outlining the reason for my dismissal. It was sexual harassment. Apparently, my manager ignored my calls because I was infatuated with her and called constantly. The whole fiasco the night before was just my way of getting her attention.

I had never once contacted her at home. I did not like her on a personal level, let alone find her attractive. I was already in a happy/healthy relationship (15 years later, I'm still in that relationship).

This event ruined me emotionally, and was one of the worst experiences of my life. The looks people gave me that day made me want to crawl into a hole and die, I didn't want to leave the house for months.

Another kicker is that I was the only person in the entire company that was licensed to distribute and handle medication; a qualification that I'd picked up at a previous job, that had helped me land this position. In the eyes of the state, my manager should never have been in charge of handling prescriptions. The rabbit hole deepens.

About a year later, I heard through the grape-vine that my old manager had been promoted to a senior administrative position.

Europe doesn't seem to be immune, there's Bashar Mustafa at Goldsmiths University in London; the diversity officer who wants to #killallwhitemen. Sure, that's just one person, but there's a whole community of young students supporting her.

Though it's not Europe, Canada is worse about this stuff than the US. Lots of (as a hardcore lefty myself I hate saying this) progressives turned regressive via sexism and racism, under the guise of neo-feminism. Petulant children who think all white men are rapists and want them discriminated against accordingly. It's unreal, and it has given the right lots of ammunition to fight equality and humanism.

On another note, I want to point out the irony of Huffington Post calling out these issues. That paper panders to spoiled brats.

That is already out there too, with Purism Librem laptops.

The commenter you're replying to would be better off giving his money to a company that puts privacy (and FOSS) above all else, instead of trying to bribe a lost cause (let's not forget about the 3 times Lenovo has been caught with nasty factory-installed malware on their consumer laptops).

Here's the Librem laptop homepage: https://puri.sm/products/

Thank you. onewaystreet touched on something that's quite bothersome to many of us: End-user apathy via argumentum ad populum. Using (or buying) adware, malware, and spyware is not normal, and everyone isn't doing it.

When that ugliness rears its head, people need reminded that it's not normal, it's abusive. These companies aren't poor startups trying to make ends meet, they're corporate empires who are exploiting their users in every way possible.

Apologies for being preachy, this topic really gets under my skin.

I used AllAdvantage back in the day, mouse moving script and all. Ran it 14-16 hours a day on a second computer and made $40-$60 a month. Can't complain.

The down-side was the overhead, it was a noticeable strain on my computer, which is what prompted me to set it up on a dedicated machine. Pretty sure I was on dial-up then too, which just made things worse.

There was a large group of us on IRC all doing the same thing. Little jerks like us ruined it for everyone.

Between NoScript and Random Agent Spoofer, nothing is correct except my resolution and a couple of plug-ins (like Flash and VLC).

Shutting NoScript off doesn't make too much difference, and I don't think RAS does that much (some sites seem to see through it), so it must be one of the other addons (uBlock Origin, Disconnect, BetterPrivacy, HTTPS Everywhere).

There are two communication platforms that people in this age nearly always have access to: Email and telephone, with Facebook taking a close third (unfortunately). Call your close friends/relatives, email the others as a group. If that's not enough, increase the frequency or include option three, Facebook. This system works well, because even granny can check email and click on links.

There are surely other platforms that streamline these things, but good luck getting everyone to use your service-of-choice. Just keep it simple, phone numbers and email addresses. Want everyone to see your vacation photos? Email a link. Aunt Bertha in the hospital? Call and start a group email discussion. Don't complicate things, stick to the KISS philosophy.

If you're spending too much time on those things, and that's what is taxing, just back off. If the people that are important to you feel the same way in return, they won't have any problem with that, because they care about you. If someone is high-maintenance, it's their problem, not yours.

...probably obvious and not what you want to hear, but there's my two cents.

You're forgetting about chi and lifeforce, those alone are worth the extra $300.

Throwing away a plastic container after every serving is what chi is all about, those other products simply don't have it!

Are these fossils the origin of the unicorn myth? None of the articles I've stumbled across have an image of the actual fossil, I'm curious how similar it is to a horse skull. They were surely extinct well before the mythology, but their bones were around. The unicorn myth comes from the Indus Valley, which isn't too far away, relatively speaking.

Reminds me of the ancient Greeks turning elephant skulls on Crete into the cyclops.

>Apps that make socializing easier?

Every single social media platform in the world is trying to cover this.

>I find dealing with my social life to be really exhausting.

That is a first-world problem if I've ever heard one. How is it exhausting? Are you so popular that there are too many events to attend? Are you stuck on Snapchat and Facebook 10 hours a day? Maybe you just need an app that deletes all of your social apps.

>Is there anything that makes it easier or simpler?

Do you just need something that will push posts out to all of your social media accounts, something like Sendible?

Apologies if any of this comes across as condescending, it's just that it's a strange predicament you're in, and you're being a bit vague. My overall answer is to back off the socializing and learn to enjoy time by yourself, because if you can't do that, you'll never be happy. Get away from screens and live a little.

First, don't set deadlines that make things difficult. Give yourself time to do the job properly. If the client is too demanding, they're going to be a problem in other aspects of the job as well. Gaining respect first comes from respecting yourself.

Second, get plenty of quality sleep, that means no caffeine/alcohol for 6-8 hours before bed, and allowing yourself at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Third, when working, get up and walk around once an hour, for at least five minutes. Have a healthy snack, do some push-ups, walk around the block, anything but sit.

Fourth, exercise! Do something that makes you sweat for at least 30 minutes a day. This one is a must, no excuses.

Fifth, stretch. This can be done during your five minute breaks. If you do nothing else in this list, do wrist flexor and extensor stretches (look them up). Otherwise, your coding career can get cut short (speaking from personal experience). Stretching takes 2-3 minutes and can make a world of difference; do them every time you're feeling stale. It's not possible to stretch too often.

Next, eat right. Keep your diet light, skip the soda and chips; eat fruits, nuts and veggies, drink water. You're already sitting on your ass all day, don't make it worse by fueling yourself with garbage.

Finally, have some hobbies that don't require a screen. Go hiking or biking. Play a sport. Learn an instrument. Bird watch. Build a tree-house. Catalog all of the different bugs in your yard. Whatever, just get away from screens.

All of this is obvious and a no-brainer, right? Well, look at the people who have been in a field for 20-30 years, the ones who stick to the above are easy to spot; they're the fit, happy, healthy people. The others are easy to spot too, because they look like hell. Get into these habits before you need to, you'll be saving your future-self a lot of trouble.

Hope that helps. Time for my workout...

The page won't even load for me, that's good, right? Paranoid mode FTW!

Turning off NoScript and Random Agent Spoofer doesn't help. Still running: uBlock, HTTPS Everywhere, Disconnect, and BetterPrivacy.

Wow, you just solved everything!

Seriously though, water tables don't respect property borders, and runoff doesn't stop at fence lines. If that happened, there would be no issue.

These people aren't stupid, and the last thing they want to do is ostracize themselves from their peers by raising environmental concerns. They're forced into these positions by a lack of alternatives.

Dealing with this is a large part of the job. Picture a small community, or group of families, fighting a major corporation that just repeats "the science isn't conclusive" and "we worked within legal guidelines and can't be blamed". Outside firms have to be hired, by people whose livelihoods have been squashed, to do extensive, and expensive, testing. It's frustrating and sad.