AugustusFerdinand's recent activity

  1. Comment on Cars with offensive names in ~transport

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    It is not and the MG Midget predates most of the cars mentioned.

    It is not and the MG Midget predates most of the cars mentioned.

    4 votes

  2. Comment on Polyphia - LET THERE BE LIGHT (2026) in ~music

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    It feels amateurish, honestly. Like an otherwise good, possibly great song, and I love me a choir where you wouldn't normally expect one, is cheapened by a producer that just discovered there's a...

    It feels amateurish, honestly. Like an otherwise good, possibly great song, and I love me a choir where you wouldn't normally expect one, is cheapened by a producer that just discovered there's a distortion filter, cranked it to 8 and laid it flat over the entire song for no reason.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on eMudhra to exit global SSL/TLS certificate business in ~tech

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    Uhh... you had one byte security keys. I don't think counts as "out of proportion".

    However, the level of social media amplification around this incident has brought scrutiny that is out of proportion to SSL/TLS’s place in our business.

    Uhh... you had one byte security keys. I don't think counts as "out of proportion".

    15 votes

  5. Comment on The internet runs on cats and porn. It’s about to get cattier and pornier. in ~tech

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    I often change the titles of the links I make here, but this one isn't editorialized in my opinion. Just a humorous take on potential new domains and the primary people interviewed in the article,...

    I often change the titles of the links I make here, but this one isn't editorialized in my opinion. Just a humorous take on potential new domains and the primary people interviewed in the article, so it stayed.
    While it has a lot of good information in it, it isn't a serious article, so humor in the title isn't taking anything away from it in my opinion, so I posted it as is.

    4 votes

  7. Comment on Non-queer men of Tildes: PLEASE consider before commenting on ~life.women and ~lgbt without careful consideration. We are losing members over this issue. in ~tildes

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    Oh yeah, I have that user labeled "is a jackass, do not engage." for a reason.

    Oh yeah, I have that user labeled "is a jackass, do not engage." for a reason.

    14 votes

  8. Comment on Advice on new PC build in ~comp

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link
    Your memory is much better than mine, got a link to our previous conversation?

    IPS or OLED? WOLED or QD-OLED? Is Freesync Premium sufficient? (@AugustusFerdinand[+] we spoke about this some time ago; has your opinion changed?)

    Your memory is much better than mine, got a link to our previous conversation?

  9. Comment on Advice on new PC build in ~comp

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    Your memory is much better than mine, got a link to our previous conversation?

    Your memory is much better than mine, got a link to our previous conversation?

  10. Comment on Maybe there was an egg cartel after all in ~food

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    Also fortunate in the same sense. Have a local lady that has a hobby farm and a love of ducks, so I get free range, wonderfully cared for fresh duck eggs (sooo good) for $5/dozen for most of the...

    Also fortunate in the same sense. Have a local lady that has a hobby farm and a love of ducks, so I get free range, wonderfully cared for fresh duck eggs (sooo good) for $5/dozen for most of the year (ducks don't lay eggs in the winter). She has chickens as well, so get those when the ducks are being lazy.

    9 votes

  11. Comment on BBC News live streaming on YouTube in the UK and USA in ~news

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    From the article about it:

    From the article about it:

    However, viewers in the UK, watching the channel live on YouTube, may not realise they still need a TV licence to do that.

    But with no guardrails around who's watching, no ability - for now anyway - for the BBC to insist you prove you've paid the fee before you can access its YouTube channels (or its own streaming channels), it's going to be hard to enforce.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Those viral claims about plummeting Russian ‘bot’ activity have no basis in fact in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    How often do you fact check the facts it provides? Follow every source? Read the info within and follow the sources within it? AI is notorious for making shit up. I don't even trust news articles...

    How often do you fact check the facts it provides? Follow every source? Read the info within and follow the sources within it? AI is notorious for making shit up.
    I don't even trust news articles on scientific studies without going and reading the actual study.

    7 votes

  13. Comment on Ukraine struck Yandex data centers, Russian bots went silent—now questions are mounting in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    Hiding behind the technicalities of understanding what words mean... That's a new one. There is no implication in the title. People can feel free to try to talk around it, but ultimately they...

    Hiding behind the technicalities of understanding what words mean... That's a new one.
    There is no implication in the title. People can feel free to try to talk around it, but ultimately they decided to read more into what it says than it does and want to blame the article for them being wrong.

  14. Comment on Ukraine struck Yandex data centers, Russian bots went silent—now questions are mounting in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    So assumptions about what an article means by the title instead of what it actually says. Did you think Project Hail Mary was about religion or football?

    So assumptions about what an article means by the title instead of what it actually says.
    Did you think Project Hail Mary was about religion or football?

  15. Comment on Ukraine struck Yandex data centers, Russian bots went silent—now questions are mounting in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    What's misleading about the title? It mentions nothing about social media bots.

    What's misleading about the title? It mentions nothing about social media bots.

  16. Comment on Those viral claims about plummeting Russian ‘bot’ activity have no basis in fact in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    This "article" (let's be honest, it's a long comment) amounts to "I have no proof that nothing happened, but don't believe anything happened either." So I'm unsure how it's "important enough to...

    This "article" (let's be honest, it's a long comment) amounts to "I have no proof that nothing happened, but don't believe anything happened either." So I'm unsure how it's "important enough to create a new topic" since it is effectively nothing itself.

    The other thread (and the overall social media response, which as usual misses the forest for the trees in an attempt to get as much individual attention as a poster can) is typical of people reading what they want to read, not what is actually said. The article says it's automated traffic, it explains what that is, there is a single mention near the end of the article that says quite clearly:

    The decline in automated traffic also prompted speculation about possible links between Russian digital infrastructure and online political activity in Europe, particularly involving Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
    Czech Member of the European Parliament Tomáš Zdechovský drew attention to claims that online activity supporting AfD had declined after the strikes. The Ukrainian publication The Page highlighted his October 11 remarks questioning whether disruptions to Russian infrastructure had affected the party's online support.

    Russian data centers hit. Speculation about whether this might impact Russia's well known social media astroturfing. And that's it.

    6 votes

  17. Comment on What Flock actually costs cities across America in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link
    Fucking HOAs...

    WIRED examined contracts from over two dozen cities and towns that shed light on how Flock’s pricing and business model functions, and how it stacks up against its peers.

    When Flock was founded in 2017, it originally sold its license plate readers to private homeowner associations (HOAs). By the time the company decided to sell to police departments in 2019, it had an in: Rather than starting a camera network from scratch, police could start by accessing the cameras that HOAs were already using.

    Fucking HOAs...

    14 votes

  19. Comment on How Ukraine uses precision drone strikes to hobble Russian oil refineries in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    ...and... 66% of major refineries hit. Half of 54 strikes have damaged distillation units. Another third have hit secondary units. So 83% of strikes take out a refinery by some amount/for a period...

    At least two-thirds of the 36 major Russian refineries tracked by market analysis firm S&P Global Energy were hit between April 1 and Aug. 31, some as many as five times, at a rate of one strike every three days, according to a Post analysis of a subset of Ukrainian strikes.

    ...and...

    Of 54 strikes analyzed by The Post and reviewed by the experts, more than half appear to have damaged the desalting and distillation units, the examination found. More than one-third of the 54 appear to have hit nearby secondary processing units, which further refine the distilled materials into more valuable products like gasoline, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas.

    66% of major refineries hit.
    Half of 54 strikes have damaged distillation units.
    Another third have hit secondary units.
    So 83% of strikes take out a refinery by some amount/for a period of time.
    83% of 66% is 54.78% and that's a low end assumption since some sites are hit once, some hit multiple times, some get both units with one hit, etc. etc. in combinations.
    So I mathed it in my head to 50-66%, I may be wrong though and welcome someone correcting me if they have better info.

    5 votes

  20. Comment on How Ukraine uses precision drone strikes to hobble Russian oil refineries in ~society

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    What's also interesting is this bit... ...showing that drone warfare really is going to be a numbers game. Only 2-3% of drones getting through is enough to take out 50-66% of Russia's major...

    Ukraine is going for the "Our drones will blot out the sun" strategy.

    What's also interesting is this bit...

    András Rácz, a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations who has conducted research on drone operations in Ukraine, said that even if only 2 to 3 percent of the drones reach their target — a number he called “realistic” — they will inflict significant damage.

    ...showing that drone warfare really is going to be a numbers game. Only 2-3% of drones getting through is enough to take out 50-66% of Russia's major refineries.

    6 votes