9000's recent activity
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Comment on What are the best truly unbeatable E2EE, presumably P2P messaging apps? in ~tech
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Comment on What are the best truly unbeatable E2EE, presumably P2P messaging apps? in ~tech
9000 Link ParentIn that case, generally Signal is the most widely-respected solution here. In theory, you can even build the client yourself, if you'd like, since it is open source. You will see arguments online...In that case, generally Signal is the most widely-respected solution here. In theory, you can even build the client yourself, if you'd like, since it is open source.
You will see arguments online about Signal, as they've had some controversies. The main two being that they added their own cryptocurrency (which is barely visible in the app these days, you have to go digging in the settings to find it), and how they added it (they paused publishing their server code for months until the feature was complete). These are, at best, circumstancial evidence to lower trust in them, but absolutely not indications that anything you care about in this post is compromised.
However, of the consumer-focused messaging apps, Signal by far has the best cryptography, track record, and usability. Personally, I would recommend it over Whatsapp, Threema, Telegram, definitely over PGP email, and even over Matrix (if security is your main concern).
I will add a few other notes for context:
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The cryptocurrency doesn't use proof-of-work, from what I remember, so it's environmental impact should be negligible.
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Signal has publicly responded to warrants requesting user data multiple times, indicating that they cannot provide most information about a user.
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Again, the code is open source, and people do regularly audit it. You can also build it yourself, though of course that is more involved. The app is even reproducible, so you can prove that the one on the Play store is the exact same as the one you built locally from source code: https://signal.org/blog/reproducible-android/
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Comment on TRMNL - Open source e-ink "companion" device in ~tech
9000 LinkI've used a similar product, the Inkplate (specifically the Inkplate6). Its enclosure is 3D printed, so it's not quite as clean as some others. Its software is also open source, as they provide an...I've used a similar product, the Inkplate (specifically the Inkplate6). Its enclosure is 3D printed, so it's not quite as clean as some others. Its software is also open source, as they provide an SDK and some example projects, but they don't have an equivalent to the "plugins" here. You have to be comfortable with coding in C. (They might have MicroPython bindings?) It's based on an Arduino ESP32, and some have buttons, touch screens, and color. It's also in the same price range.
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Comment on Non-revolutionary anarchism in ~humanities
9000 Link ParentIn a similar line to @C-Cab's suggestion of a fiction book, I think you might be interested in Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. Your last paragraph is almost exactly the premise of the book.In a similar line to @C-Cab's suggestion of a fiction book, I think you might be interested in Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. Your last paragraph is almost exactly the premise of the book.
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Comment on What are the benefits of using Linux for the less computer competent? in ~comp
9000 Link ParentI know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to say that I believe on Android, emoji updates are tied to system updates. So, if you're on an older version of Android, you may not have support...I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to say that I believe on Android, emoji updates are tied to system updates. So, if you're on an older version of Android, you may not have support for all current emoji.
The emoji in question, 🫣, was ratified in 2021, which is relatively recently. Apps can load custom fonts to provide recent emoji on old Android systems, but I don't know how common that is, and it sounds like it's not happening in your case.
More info on the emoji in question here.
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Comment on Tennessee becomes the first state to pass a ban on drag shows. The bill is so vaguely worded it could also target trans people and Pride celebrations generally. in ~lgbt
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Comment on New Jersey requiring students to learn 'media literacy' to fight 'disinformation' in ~society
9000 LinkI know this is Fox News, so the bar is low, but it's still shocking to me to see a network quote a single person from their own editorial arm¹ for half of an article as evidence that something is...I know this is Fox News, so the bar is low, but it's still shocking to me to see a network quote a single person from their own editorial arm¹ for half of an article as evidence that something is controversial. It's the laziest way of saying "this isn't an opinion piece and is still neutral journalism, because I'm quoting someone's opinion, not saying it myself!" It's intentionally muddying the distinction between both news / opinion and primary / secondary sources.
I think it fitting to end by reiterating the only quote —the singular sentence— from the article that actually describes what the bill does:
The law is aimed at helping students better determine credible sources by learning the difference between news and opinion, as well as primary and secondary sources, and improving their research methods and literacy skills.
1: Could they not find any more reputable dissent? Honestly, maybe not. The bill apparently had bipartisan support, according to the article.
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Comment on Where do you acquire books? in ~books
9000 LinkFor physical used books, I've had good experiences with Better World Books! I found out about them through the Internet Archive's Open Library. They seem to have pretty decent prices, in my...For physical used books, I've had good experiences with Better World Books! I found out about them through the Internet Archive's Open Library. They seem to have pretty decent prices, in my experience.
I know this is slightly tangential to your question, but for ebooks, I highly recommend Standard Ebooks for high-quality public domain ebooks. I wish there were a general purpose DRM-free ebook distributor in the style of GOG for games, Bandcamp and Qobuz for music, or Libro.fm for audiobooks. It's strange that all of those other industries have been able to make a DRM-free store work, but ebooks are still always locked down. I'd love to be able to pick up newer book releases without lock-in (nor piracy). I personally refuse to buy DRM-encumbered ebooks on principle; I'd rather pay for a physical book (ideally used) instead. Or just use the library.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
9000 Link ParentI thought this was a good book! In addition to David Starr Jordan and 20th century science, it goes in so many other directions: Topic spoilers, but no plot spoilers The futility of...I thought this was a good book! In addition to David Starr Jordan and 20th century science, it goes in so many other directions:
Topic spoilers, but no plot spoilers
The futility of categorization, discovering the dark side of our heroes, how to avoid the extremes of nihilism on the one hand and ideology on the other, the morality of self-confidence and self-doubt, and a 120 year old murder mystery!This is all on top of the historical accounts! And it's a memoir that's very approachable and not too long of a read. I'd give it 4.5 / 5!
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Comment on Three experiences in ~talk
9000 LinkThat was beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. I hope you keep writing. I hope you find what you are looking for within yourself.That was beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. I hope you keep writing. I hope you find what you are looking for within yourself.
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Comment on Why Koko the gorilla couldn't talk in ~science
9000 LinkThis was very sad. I found it convincing in the specific cases of Koko and Nim Chimpsky, but I don't find the categorical statement ("no animals can be taught to speak" or "language is unique to...This was very sad. I found it convincing in the specific cases of Koko and Nim Chimpsky, but I don't find the categorical statement ("no animals can be taught to speak" or "language is unique to humans") necessarily compelling from just this video essay alone. Yes, there were several attempts to teach animals to speak over two decades, but the video itself documents systemic pedagogical errors (such as relying on food rewards, not using sign-specific grammar structures, and, of course, the abuse) and only follows a few cases. Also, two decades is not actually very long, given the lifespans of these animals. Personally, I find the pedagogical criticisms very persuasive. We don't typically teach children by giving them sweets when they successfully answer a question, for example. It's not implausible, to me, that these failed experiments don't show the weakness of animal intelligence, but instead the weakness of human pedagogy and empathy.
Some people say that it is hubris to think that we can teach animals to speak. I feel like it is hubris to try a few times and write it off as impossible. Now, how to do it ethically is a different question, but one I suspect also has an answer.
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Comment on Your favorite vegetarian recipes in ~food
9000 LinkIf you want something low effort, I've found this black bean and pumpkin chilli recipe very tasty, and it all just cooks in a slow cooker. Between the pumpkin and the spices, it really smells and...If you want something low effort, I've found this black bean and pumpkin chilli recipe very tasty, and it all just cooks in a slow cooker. Between the pumpkin and the spices, it really smells and tastes like autumn. If you do make it, I highly recommend the suggestion to add some raw avocado to your bowl. It really changes the flavor, but for the better!
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Comment on Your favorite vegetarian recipes in ~food
9000 Link ParentI have been so surprised by how good a nice bowl of rice and beans is, considering it's one of the cheapest meals I make. It doesn't take much effort, just some garlic and onion powder, to give it...I have been so surprised by how good a nice bowl of rice and beans is, considering it's one of the cheapest meals I make. It doesn't take much effort, just some garlic and onion powder, to give it flavor. If you want to get a little fancy, you can sauté real garlic and onion (and any other spices you want) in a pot, add in the dry rice and sauté them together for a moment, then add the water straight in to make the rice. Really adds some good flavor to it.
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Comment on To be a responsible citizen today, it is not enough to be reasonable in ~humanities
9000 LinkThe author's conclusion is that the average citizen should realize that: however, he seems to be focusing solely on the harms done from belief, ignoring those that come from belief's opposite:...The author's conclusion is that the average citizen should realize that:
- beliefs shape her practices and, since her practices can affect others, she has a moral responsibility not to put them at risk with her credulity;
- even if a belief seems too immaterial to put anyone at risk, accepting it uncritically weakens her epistemic alertness and can, in time, turn her into a careless, credulous believer who puts others at risk; and
- in her capacity as communicator of belief, she has the moral responsibility not to pollute the well of collective knowledge and instead to strive to sustain its integrity.
however, he seems to be focusing solely on the harms done from belief, ignoring those that come from belief's opposite: doubt. (I take disbelief to be another form of belief, specifically that if you disbelieve x, then you believe not-x.)
If "our beliefs guide our desires and shape our actions" and are thus morally salient, it follows that lacking a belief will have the inverse effect on our desires and actions, and is thus just as morally important.
For instance, real political harm is being done by those people who currently say such things as, "I'm not sure who won the presidential election. There were a lot of fishy things that happened and we should really get to the bottom of it all before we just blindly accept the results." Even if they haven't formed the (harmful) belief that Trump secretly won the election, their skepticism about it bears moral weight. Skepticism does not compel the desires and actions that would come about from the belief that Biden fairly won the 2020 election. Instead, it enables the liars and cheats to further subvert the political process.
Since all three of the author's statements above seem to apply equally to doubt as they do to belief, it's not at all clear to me that "[i]rresponsible practices of belief-formation are the deepest sin of a digital society since the stakes of credulity are simply too high." I don't know how the author would respond to this challenge.
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Comment on Do you carry a knife with with you? If so, what type/company? in ~hobbies
9000 Link ParentSorry, you are right! I swear I looked at the listing, but I hadn't heard the term "cross driver" before, and the photo is very dark. But, that does seem fairly useful! I had never thought about...It does have a Philips head screwdriver on the end
Sorry, you are right! I swear I looked at the listing, but I hadn't heard the term "cross driver" before, and the photo is very dark. But, that does seem fairly useful!
a prybar (which found much more use pre-pandemic)
I had never thought about this as a tool specifically, but there have definitely been times when I needed a prybar and just used the flathead screwdriver, which wasn't really made for that purpose. I bet this does get a surprising amount of use.
is also travel-and-school-safe.
Yeah, I can see the appeal here. I'm pretty used to the over-powered nature of my Leatherman Charge and thus may look for something with pliers if I had this usecase, but it does seem to have a lot of the swiss-army knife features (sans blade) while being of a fixed design, which is cool.
but it also complements a regular knife well - meaning if I don't need to carry around pliers, I can switch out the Leatherman for something that fits better in my pocket at any time.
This is something I hadn't thought about before, but makes a lot of sense! Thank you for mentioning it. I had never thought of these tools as a complement to a classic pocket knife, but I can see the appeal. Especially if you have to travel/work at schools a lot, you can just leave the blade at home and still have the rest of your kit.
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Comment on Do you carry a knife with with you? If so, what type/company? in ~hobbies
9000 Link ParentCan you talk more about how you use your Shard? I've never found a very compelling use case for the keychain/wallet tools, particularly those made without blades. They often aren't big enough for...Can you talk more about how you use your Shard? I've never found a very compelling use case for the keychain/wallet tools, particularly those made without blades. They often aren't big enough for something like pliers or a philips head screw driver, so often they seem to be some combination of bottle opener + flat head screwdriver, which has never seemed that useful to me. But I think I am clearly missing something. Can you speak a little to what sorts of things you use this for?
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Comment on Do you carry a knife with with you? If so, what type/company? in ~hobbies
9000 Link ParentI also carry my Leatherman Charge everywhere! It's super convenient. A little heavier than some of the other tools listed in this thread, but it's tool selection and quality are excellent. I have...I also carry my Leatherman Charge everywhere! It's super convenient. A little heavier than some of the other tools listed in this thread, but it's tool selection and quality are excellent. I have needed and used every tool on it. The only issue I have had is that the wirecutters have gotten close to unusable (I don't have the replaceable kind), but Leatherman offers a lifetime warranty so I could probably send it in for that.
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Comment on The Road to the Tildes 2020 Census: Pandemic Boogaloo in ~tildes
9000 Link ParentI agree with you and kfwyre that this is much better from a privacy standpoint. The trade off is that it is much less useful from an analysis standpoint, as you can't really correlate anything....I agree with you and kfwyre that this is much better from a privacy standpoint. The trade off is that it is much less useful from an analysis standpoint, as you can't really correlate anything.
But, it's still interesting, and I think this is a fine choice for a somewhat informal census.
I'm not one of the people likely to do analysis, so I don't actually know how they would feel about this method of releasing the data
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Comment on The Road to the Tildes 2020 Census: Pandemic Boogaloo in ~tildes
9000 Link ParentThis is a very real concern. kfwyre is not the only person who would be so identifiable, it is surprisingly easy to do for most people if you have the will-power, some basic information, and some...This is a very real concern. kfwyre is not the only person who would be so identifiable, it is surprisingly easy to do for most people if you have the will-power, some basic information, and some basic statistics.
My understanding is that the current state-of-the-art for dataset anonymization is differential privacy1. This may be much too complicated for Grzmot to implement single-handedly (I don't know if there are any good libraries/programs that can do this automatically), but it would make it more tolerable to publicly release the data.
We could also look into k-anonymity, as that is easier to implement, but it still may not be sufficient for a survey with only 250 responses2.
1: The Wikipedia article is super math-y. For an explanation targeted to laypeople, check out the minutephysics video on it.
2: My source is last year's results.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
9000 LinkI'm currently reading Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. I really am enjoying the sort of anarchic political vision he's putting forward in the book. It kind of reminds me of solarpunk. It's clearly...I'm currently reading Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. I really am enjoying the sort of anarchic political vision he's putting forward in the book. It kind of reminds me of solarpunk. It's clearly somewhat preachy and utopian, but he's not afraid to portray the dark sides as well. At the same time that it explores a sort of left-libertarian/anarchic vision, it's an exploration of transhumanism and LGBTQ+ characters. It's also honestly pretty graphic (both violence and sex).
All in all, a book with mediocre writing, interesting political ideas, fun characters, and an aggressive plot. I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5, but am thoroughly enjoying reading it.
You may already know this, but a more formal way of thinking about this is "threat modelling". In particular, that helps you think holistically about your situation, your goals, potential plans, and various tradeoffs. A malicious e2ee client sending clear text off of your device is definitely a valid threat! But there are also plenty of other threats, and it's not immediately clear how to rank / address all of them. For instance, others in this thread have mentioned manually encrypting your own messages, but that comes with lots of risks too. (What if you forget or get lazy? What if you do it wrong? What if the metadata is just as important as the data? What if it doesn't give you desirable properties like perfect-forward secrecy?)
The EFF (which is a American digital civil liberties nonprofit) has a Surveillance Self-Defense site, which helps you think through these things. Specifically, their page on threat modelling might be helpful here. It also has guides to lots of other settings, apps, and habits that can help you harden your security posture.