Cycloneblaze's recent activity
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Comment on EU says TikTok faces large fine over "addictive design" in ~tech
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Comment on EU says TikTok faces large fine over "addictive design" in ~tech
Cycloneblaze Link ParentIf you know a better way for us to collectively impose consequences on bad actors who do harm on a societal scale, I'm all ears, but governments seem like a pretty good solution to me.If you know a better way for us to collectively impose consequences on bad actors who do harm on a societal scale, I'm all ears, but governments seem like a pretty good solution to me.
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Comment on Two small word games in ~games
Cycloneblaze Link ParentOh, that's why I could barely make any words on the Unzip... I wasn't even seeing half of the letters! I don't see a better way to display the game board at the minute, but a hint to mobile users...Oh, that's why I could barely make any words on the Unzip... I wasn't even seeing half of the letters!
I don't see a better way to display the game board at the minute, but a hint to mobile users to turn their screen (or scroll to the right) would be very helpful 🙂
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Comment on You are being misled about renewable energy technology in ~enviro
Cycloneblaze Link ParentThe point being made in the video is about switching energy sources from fossil fuels to solar power. It hasn't got anything to do with products which are made from petroleum. I mean the quote is...made almost entirely with fossil fuels
The point being made in the video is about switching energy sources from fossil fuels to solar power. It hasn't got anything to do with products which are made from petroleum. I mean the quote is "powered by petroleum products", you can't expand that to include other uses of petroleum.
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Comment on Newcastle council is looking into restoring a ferry route between the UK city and Bergen in Norway – it last operated in 2008, when it was cancelled due to rising oil prices in ~transport
Cycloneblaze Link ParentThat's not true. While the UK was still an EU member, as a UK citizen you needed to bring a passport to enter the Schengen Area. Ireland was (and is) in the same situation, and to this day I need...That's not true. While the UK was still an EU member, as a UK citizen you needed to bring a passport to enter the Schengen Area. Ireland was (and is) in the same situation, and to this day I need to use a passport to enter the Schengen area from a flight from Ireland, just the same as I need to pass passport control when entering Ireland on a flight from a Schengen area country. The UK (nor Ireland) never signed the Schengen Agreement and they both got an opt-out when it became EU law, which Ireland retains.
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Comment on Newcastle council is looking into restoring a ferry route between the UK city and Bergen in Norway – it last operated in 2008, when it was cancelled due to rising oil prices in ~transport
Cycloneblaze Link ParentThey were never part of Schengen, hence the border checks.They were never part of Schengen, hence the border checks.
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Comment on New books aren’t worth reading in ~books
Cycloneblaze LinkWell good that the topic link's now been changed from an X post to the source, but given the source is a Substack with other scintillating posts such as "The Family is the Foundation of...Well good that the topic link's now been changed from an X post to the source, but given the source is a Substack with other scintillating posts such as "The Family is the Foundation of Civilization: Why weakening the family dooms society" and lines like "Rhodesians never die" - on a t-shirt! - I don't think I'll be reading further.
I am sort of interested what @cloud_loud found interesting in the original topic that motivated sharing it here, though.
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Comment on Hacktivist deletes three white supremacist websites live onstage during hacker conference in ~tech
Cycloneblaze LinkThis is what anti-fascism and anti-racism look like. You don't let white supremacists start up social networks to network and align and recruit new followers, then just wring your hands and wonder...This is what anti-fascism and anti-racism look like. You don't let white supremacists start up social networks to network and align and recruit new followers, then just wring your hands and wonder what a bad sign this is. You act against it, you combat it, you stop it. We aren't powerless against Neo-Nazis. When we fight, we show people what is right, and we win.
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Comment on The gift card accountability sink in ~finance
Cycloneblaze Link ParentIt sounded more to me like your comment just prompted some self-reflection than that your comment was trying to call them out on their attitude. I think your tone was fine, for what it's worthIt sounded more to me like your comment just prompted some self-reflection than that your comment was trying to call them out on their attitude. I think your tone was fine, for what it's worth
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Comment on Proposed amendments to Denmark's laws on copyright and broadcasting would see VPNs limited for common uses under changes to combat access to illegal streaming services in ~tech
Cycloneblaze Link ParentI don't know, is it undoubtable? There's nothing to say that a greatly expanded digital surveillance infrastructure would actually be used to prevent more crimes. Sure, it's likely that some...I don't know, is it undoubtable? There's nothing to say that a greatly expanded digital surveillance infrastructure would actually be used to prevent more crimes. Sure, it's likely that some number of crimes could be prevented with it, but there would also be some number of additional civil rights violations, and the opportunity to wield that surveillance infrastructure for selfish purposes might become more interesting than using it to prevent crimes. Hell, if deployed by a corrupt government - or inherited by one - you might imagine, being corrupt, that they would use it to preserve organised crime!
So actually, I think nacho misses the point with the effects of banning tools like VPNs, but I don't think we necessarily need to accept their premise either.
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Comment on EU drops 2035 combustion engine ban as global electric vehicle shift faces reset in ~transport
Cycloneblaze LinkHow disappointing. What rank hypocrisy for Volkswagen, famed cheater on emissions tests, to act like they care about emissions from the cars they build. Their support for this climbdown should...How disappointing.
"Opening up the market to vehicles with combustion engines while compensating for emissions is pragmatic and in line with market conditions," said Germany's Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker by volume.
What rank hypocrisy for Volkswagen, famed cheater on emissions tests, to act like they care about emissions from the cars they build. Their support for this climbdown should have been a poison pill.
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Comment on Proposed amendments to Denmark's laws on copyright and broadcasting would see VPNs limited for common uses under changes to combat access to illegal streaming services in ~tech
Cycloneblaze Link ParentWho are these serious human rights organisations, who are these "other groups" who are saying that mass surveillance of digital communication is the only way to prevent crimes? Because I can think...I want to reiterate: There's still no workable solution in this thread to mass surveillance of digital communication. That's not something to forget. I also want to remind everyone that all these law enforcement agencies all over the world, serious human rights organizations, all sorts of groups we should listen to are saying it's the only way.
Who are these serious human rights organisations, who are these "other groups" who are saying that mass surveillance of digital communication is the only way to prevent crimes? Because I can think of a few who would say that the ability to hide your digital footprint is a paramount civil right.
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Comment on Statement from Mozilla's new CEO in ~tech
Cycloneblaze Link ParentYeah the strategy document has a lot to dislike, what jumped out at me: Not for me they won't! And I'll stop using Firefox and Thunderbird if this is what they transform into!Yeah the strategy document has a lot to dislike, what jumped out at me:
New AI-native interfaces will replace traditional browsers and email clients.
Not for me they won't! And I'll stop using Firefox and Thunderbird if this is what they transform into!
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Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk
Cycloneblaze LinkI'm quite familiar with how far north I am, to a whole number of degrees, and judging how far east I am on the same scale isn't difficult since I'm so close to the meridian. That's good enough to...I'm quite familiar with how far north I am, to a whole number of degrees, and judging how far east I am on the same scale isn't difficult since I'm so close to the meridian. That's good enough to locate myself on like, a national level. I wouldn't know well enough to navigate in my city or anything.
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Comment on You’re probably using the wrong dictionary in ~books
Cycloneblaze Link ParentI would not call Webster's Dictionary a thesaurus. A thesaurus gives you alternatives for words. Webster's intention was very much to give definitions for words. He did so in a very different way...I would not call Webster's Dictionary a thesaurus. A thesaurus gives you alternatives for words. Webster's intention was very much to give definitions for words. He did so in a very different way to modern dictionaries, but they were still definitions.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
Cycloneblaze Link ParentThere was also an AWS outage in us-east-1 earlier this year, which has pretty much the same impact on end users, so that contributes to a recency bias as well even though it's not Cloudflare.There was also an AWS outage in us-east-1 earlier this year, which has pretty much the same impact on end users, so that contributes to a recency bias as well even though it's not Cloudflare.
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Comment on Bun is joining Anthropic in ~tech
Cycloneblaze Link ParentOkay, lots of tech companies have their issues but you cannot be collapsing the distinction between "AI company" and "tech company" so easily here, I'm sure you're familiar with plenty of...Okay, lots of tech companies have their issues but you cannot be collapsing the distinction between "AI company" and "tech company" so easily here, I'm sure you're familiar with plenty of AI-company-specific reasons why people might actively not use their products!
One relevant reason here might be: how stable are Anthropic's finances? If finances become a problem a small non-priority team might go poof, and that's not a great outcome for anyone else using Bun's software.
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Comment on Reality check: EU Council chat control vote is not a retreat, but a green light for indiscriminate mass surveillance and the end of right to communicate anonymously in ~society
Cycloneblaze Link ParentIt's not a news article, it's more like a press release. If Breyer didn't write it himself, someone on his staff* probably did, but the purpose is to set out his position on the chat control...It's not a news article, it's more like a press release. If Breyer didn't write it himself, someone on his staff* probably did, but the purpose is to set out his position on the chat control policy. An actual newspaper could use it to get background on the Council vote or to quote him. I find the writing and style unremarkable for a press release from a politician like this, but it's certainly different from other kinds of writing.
*I don't know if he has any staff right now, he did when he was an MEP.
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Comment on Some people can't see mental images. The consequences are profound. in ~health.mental
Cycloneblaze Link ParentI think having an internal monologue should be described as the condition!I think having an internal monologue should be described as the condition!
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Comment on Pennies are being canceled and the US Mint won't make any more. What does that mean? in ~finance
Cycloneblaze Link ParentI agree with you on the legality, I'm a little surprised no-one else mentioned it. I think it's a failure of Congress more than anything else. On the impact of rounding, I had the naive assumption...I agree with you on the legality, I'm a little surprised no-one else mentioned it. I think it's a failure of Congress more than anything else.
On the impact of rounding, I had the naive assumption that if transaction totals (not individual item prices) are uniformly distributed, then digits which round down appear as often as digits that round up, resulting in no net impact on you. So I looked for some statistics. I found This recent report from a Federal Reserve Bank and this analysis by a Canadian economics student back in 2013; both suggest that there will actually be a negative impact on consumers based on transaction totals, especially for small numbers of items (which makes sense because if you buy one or two items priced x.99, your total is x.99 or x.98). However they both also suggest that the vast majority of payments already end in 5 or 0, so aren't rounded. I guess you know how common this is for you with the things you buy.
Worth noting that it will be gradual; pennies are still legal tender and they'll only disappear gradually, so businesses will also only introduce price rounding gradually. In Ireland where I experienced it, it was a little more coordinated (the Central Bank basically conducted an information campaign to get retailers and customers aware of rounding all at once, but it was never mandatory) but I expect it'll be a lot more haphazard there. Also since rounding will not be a legal mandate in the US either (as far as I can see), you could always just ask to pay with exact change when it will make a difference to you.
When exactly is this going to happen - when does it ever happen? It's completely kneecapping ourselves to insist that the only way we have to bring these bad actors to heel is to hope that everyone, individually, will coordinate against them to bankrupt them. Moreover, it's fundamentally reactive - if this happens it's only going to happen after the harm has already been done. We can do better than that.
I don't view the government as a third party separate from me or TikTok. I view government as what happens when we decide collectively how we want our society to be structured. I think it is a tool that allows us to do things that would be completely impossible individually or in ad-hoc gatherings, things like imposing consequences on extremely powerful and wealthy corporations, or laying out sets of rules to prevent harm to all of us on a societal scale. (And I don't think one's individual relationship with Bytedance the corporation is anything sacred.)
Now I know, if we're talking about the US, that it's hard not to adopt such libertarian tendencies when you see how the very significant power of the administration is being weaponised (although my first worry would definitely not be about them regulating social media apps...) But I think that's kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater - it's clear that the US government has been captured by a bunch of selfish and disorganised fascists, and they're destroying as much state capacity (see mass layoffs across all government agencies, see the abdication of the CDC's mandate to prevent disease) as they are abusing. They are doing that because "the government" is largely made up of reasonable people doing their best to implement sensible policies that benefit society, and that really gets in the way if you want to conduct fascist oppression with impunity. I don't think the problem was that the state capacity was there in the first place. I think the US would be worse off without it. Again, they know this, which is why they are trying to break it.