gary's recent activity
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Comment on Mac advice for a long time Windows user in ~tech
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
gary Link ParentWe should read comments with the assumption that the commenter is coming from a well-meaning place. I haven't seen many comments that are problematic if taking that POV. Some of what feels mean...We should read comments with the assumption that the commenter is coming from a well-meaning place. I haven't seen many comments that are problematic if taking that POV. Some of what feels mean may really just come down to how it's framed. For example, you say that some arguments read as
exlusionary and 'what if inclusivity is actually bad, though?'
but I don't think most of the commenters would say that inclusivity is bad as a goal. I think they are saying that sometimes, the goal and actual implementation are far apart. @vord mentions how the increase in social groups for specifically girls is apparent but there's a dearth of groups for boys. @CannibalisticApple echoes something similar with the (former) Boy/Girl Scouts. Taken together, I think there's a reasonable question to be asked about whether or not these actions have now harmed an innocent group.
Inclusion should 100% be the goal, but intent only goes so far. Is there not a better way to build an inclusive society? There are many well-meaning individuals that end up causing problems and we should be allowed to discuss that.
P.S. Another thing to consider is that you know you are from a marginalized group, because you are you, but you don't know if the other commenters are or not! Let's assume that they're not privileged individuals that lack understanding. The left is a large section of a wide spectrum and different opinions can co-exist on the same team.
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
gary Link ParentNot really, because the "communism" reference shows up once and is not expanded upon, but the inclusion of the US directly after the oil nationalization implies that oil was the primary motivator...Not really, because the "communism" reference shows up once and is not expanded upon, but the inclusion of the US directly after the oil nationalization implies that oil was the primary motivator for the US. Overall, the inclusion of the US here is just incorrect if you want to talk about the oil angle.
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
gary Link ParentThe US joined the UK in deposing Mossadegh because it was afraid of the spread of communism, not oil. Oil was the UK's reason. The US acted as mediator for a couple years as they viewed Mossadegh...The US joined the UK in deposing Mossadegh because it was afraid of the spread of communism, not oil. Oil was the UK's reason. The US acted as mediator for a couple years as they viewed Mossadegh as a bulwark against the spread of communism, before paranoia over the Tudeh party and a change of administration to Eisenhower caused the US to finally agree to British plans.
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
gary Link ParentEven if a few more important targets were taken out yesterday, it's not likely the rest of the government/military would have just stepped aside and let Machado assume the reins. And the US is not...Even if a few more important targets were taken out yesterday, it's not likely the rest of the government/military would have just stepped aside and let Machado assume the reins. And the US is not putting any boots on the ground in significant number to enforce it, so the Venezuelan military is still in charge at the end of the day. Trump's only move would be winning over a faction in the existing government/military, but it's not clear that they did so before executing their operation. We'll have to see if there was a plan for the days after.
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Comment on Tablet suggestions? in ~tech
gary Link ParentReviews I've seen peg it at around 4 hours of battery life and poor hardware performance (aside from a nice display). Seems like a terrible tablet. iPad for general tablet use, Surface for...Reviews I've seen peg it at around 4 hours of battery life and poor hardware performance (aside from a nice display). Seems like a terrible tablet. iPad for general tablet use, Surface for laptop-first, Android if you can't stand the other platforms, and Linux never (for tablets).
I love Linux, but there's no significant drive within the community to build even a passable tablet experience so it'll remain poor for the foreseeable future.
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Comment on Leaving Apple behind after eighteen years in ~tech
gary LinkThis part isn't true. It depends on each individual app and how they handle sending push notifications. Signal only sends empty messages that trigger Signal to fetch data and rewrite the empty...You can encrypt all you want, and it won't matter if Apple is just going to hand it over by way of the notification contents.
This part isn't true. It depends on each individual app and how they handle sending push notifications. Signal only sends empty messages that trigger Signal to fetch data and rewrite the empty push notification to display the actual message contents, so the messages never pass through Apple/Google servers.
Apps can also send an encrypted message through Apple servers and then the phone locally decrypts that message and writes the decrypted message into the notification. Here's the documentation for that.
Best of luck with your pursuit though; I can respect a desire for privacy.
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Comment on The iPhone 16e is good, actually in ~tech
gary LinkThat's a large difference between the 16e and 17! I saw articles about the 16e being manufactured in Brazil, which would avoid import tariffs. Perhaps the 17 isn't being manufactured in Brazil (yet)?That's a large difference between the 16e and 17! I saw articles about the 16e being manufactured in Brazil, which would avoid import tariffs. Perhaps the 17 isn't being manufactured in Brazil (yet)?
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Comment on The iPhone 16e is good, actually in ~tech
gary Link ParentNow a smidge taller again and heavier, but the 17 is worth considering too. The consensus in the Apple camp is that the 17 is the best bang-for-buck non-Pro iPhone in a long, long time.Now a smidge taller again and heavier, but the 17 is worth considering too. The consensus in the Apple camp is that the 17 is the best bang-for-buck non-Pro iPhone in a long, long time.
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Comment on Paramount launches a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery in ~movies
gary Link ParentLooks like there was always variance, but that there was a bit of a change in the recipe recently! I wonder if older bottles will become sought after; I sadly only have a new bottle.Looks like there was always variance, but that there was a bit of a change in the recipe recently! I wonder if older bottles will become sought after; I sadly only have a new bottle.
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Comment on How Wall Street ruined the Roomba and then blamed Lina Khan in ~tech
gary LinkSkimmed the piece, so maybe it got addressed, but it seems like a bit of yes and no. Stripping down the company and neglecting research was bad, but a lot of that research was for robot usage in...- Exemplary
Skimmed the piece, so maybe it got addressed, but it seems like a bit of yes and no. Stripping down the company and neglecting research was bad, but a lot of that research was for robot usage in the military. I think the idea was that you can't focus on both military applications and vacuum appliances simultaneously and do both that well, so the investors aggressively wanted iRobot to focus on vacuum appliances. Which isn't that unreasonable of a direction either.
That pivot might have gone alright, but here's where the article neglects to mention that iRobot spent a long time not innovating. There were cheaper competitors that had LiDAR mapping out floorplans for efficient vacuuming while, at the same price point, your stupid Roomba would just randomly run in a direction until it bumped into something and repeat. It fucking sucked. My parents had a Roomba and I had a Roborock. Worlds apart in functionality despite being about the same price.
No, Lina Khan did not kill iRobot, but it's not totally fair to pin the blame on the investors either. iRobot seemingly rested on their laurels as first-movers and stopped adding real value over the years.
Research that, according to an iRobot spokesman, was intended “to spur innovation in robotics and robotics-related areas.” Mesdag argued that the money should have been used for share buybacks to boost the stock value instead of for research…
“In my trips to Wall Street,” Dyer told the panel, “one of my analyst friends took me to lunch one day and said, ‘Joe, you have to get iRobot out of the defense business. It’s killing your stock price.’ And I countered by saying ‘Well, what about the importance of DARPA and leading-edge technology? What about the stability that sometimes comes from the defense industry? What about patriotism?’ And his response was, ‘Joe, what is it about capitalism you don’t understand?’”
The above is about the defense side of research. I don't see where this stopped iRobot from focusing on the most obvious of obvious which is: make the vacuum cleaner not just bump into shit randomly as your best algorithm for cleaning. They eventually added it.. late and more expensive.
EDIT: The first Roomba with LiDAR was released this year. The first Roborock with LiDAR was released in 2019. Roborock wasn't even the first to do it.
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Comment on Paramount launches a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery in ~movies
gary Link ParentDo you happen to remember roughly when you tried it? I heard a rumor that the recipe changed but I can't tell if that's true or I just got used to it. I agree that it's not as bad as people say it...Do you happen to remember roughly when you tried it? I heard a rumor that the recipe changed but I can't tell if that's true or I just got used to it. I agree that it's not as bad as people say it is though; we just like scaring people.
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Comment on Twenty years of digital life, gone in an instant, thanks to Apple in ~tech
gary Link ParentSynology, Hyper Backup to an S3-compatible destination. Automated to run once a day with incremental uploads. Can set backup retention period. It's a set-it-and-forget-it solution.Synology, Hyper Backup to an S3-compatible destination. Automated to run once a day with incremental uploads. Can set backup retention period. It's a set-it-and-forget-it solution.
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Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech
gary Link ParentI'm no fan of Rokus but the example doesn't prove that apps can use the internet at any time. Maybe they can! But one way that the protocol could work is the device wakes the app with the stream...I'm no fan of Rokus but the example doesn't prove that apps can use the internet at any time. Maybe they can! But one way that the protocol could work is the device wakes the app with the stream url when casting locally. Apple TV doesn't support that same cast protocol, so the only way for YouTube to work with "casting" on Apple TV is for the app to be active and listening. Again, I've never looked into the protocol, but there are reasonable ways to have it work without running the app 24/7 on Roku.
Roku makes a ton of money on ads and selling data so that's reason enough for me to avoid them!
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Comment on China’s growth is coming at the rest of the world’s expense in ~society
gary Link ParentI read this a few days ago and remember the takeaway being that China's increasing share of exports is causing other countries' exports to drop. In the past, China's increasing exports would still...I read this a few days ago and remember the takeaway being that China's increasing share of exports is causing other countries' exports to drop. In the past, China's increasing exports would still lead to some positive growth in exports for other countries because China needed to import machinery and raw materials, but as China has become more self reliant, that has decreased. This is the first time where an increase in Chinese exports leads to a decrease in rest-of-world exports.
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Comment on Rapid Support Forces massacres left Sudanese city ‘a slaughterhouse’, satellite images show in ~society
gary Link ParentFrom my understanding, the RSF have intentionally been targeting the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa tribes, driving them away from their land or killing them. The same victims and perpetrators as...From my understanding, the RSF have intentionally been targeting the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa tribes, driving them away from their land or killing them. The same victims and perpetrators as during the Darfur genocide.
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Comment on BairesDev - Palette app in ~tech
gary Link ParentI had never asked to move to another team until we got a BairesDev contractor.I had never asked to move to another team until we got a BairesDev contractor.
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Comment on Rapid Support Forces massacres left Sudanese city ‘a slaughterhouse’, satellite images show in ~society
gary LinkThe satellite imagery evoke a sense of horror, but it still puts great distance between the viewer and the bodies. It's not at that level, but "one death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a...The satellite imagery evoke a sense of horror, but it still puts great distance between the viewer and the bodies. It's not at that level, but "one death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic". If you have the stomach for it, there's many videos out there showing the killing. It is so much worse than the satellite photos.
I read on Tildes and and Reddit semi-frequently that the world would be a better place if the US were not the world police; that it would be better if the world were multi-polar rather than uni-polar. Well, as the US retreats inward, where are these other powers?
Russia: mired in its own immoral war.
Europe: underfunded militaries and economically challenged.
China: they only care about things that directly affect their financial interests, for good and for bad.
United Nations: ... -
Comment on US shoppers, drawn by steep discounts, power through Black Friday in ~finance
gary Link ParentUniqlo's selvedge jeans are around $60 CAD IIRC and they're solid. Would recommend that versus paying $100 for Levi's.Uniqlo's selvedge jeans are around $60 CAD IIRC and they're solid. Would recommend that versus paying $100 for Levi's.
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Comment on Swiss reject millionaire inheritance tax in ~society
gary Link ParentI think it's important to note that while rich people should be taxed more (my opinion), the narrative that they don't pay anything in taxes is also an exaggeration in the opposite direction. Rich...I think it's important to note that while rich people should be taxed more (my opinion), the narrative that they don't pay anything in taxes is also an exaggeration in the opposite direction. Rich people do frequently sell equity, which triggers taxation if they made a profit. If Swiss billionaires/millionaires moved, their stock sales may result in fewer taxes paid to Switzerland.
"Stock market secondary buying/selling" feels to me like you're implying that it's not a useful use of money, at least not in a way to ordinary people, but that's not correct. The only reason that stocks have the value that they do is because a system for resale exists. If stocks could not be resold, then the initial price of a stock would be far, far lower. Kiss goodbye to the concept of a stock market as we know it, driving the amount of money available for investments down by a ton. While the effect of a secondary sale is not felt by the initial seller, the fact that the first sale could even happen is a result of there being the potential secondary sale.
In addition to the awesome gestures with a trackpad, I highly encourage getting out of the "tap-to-click" mindset of Windows users coming from shitty trackpads. If you (@first-must-burn) take advantage of the fact that a "physical" click on a Mac trackpad feels the exactly same anywhere on the trackpad, you can save time by just clicking rather than tapping.
Tapping is popular on Windows because most trackpads there physically move, so different points on a trackpad will feel different and have different resistance. On a Mac trackpad, it's a pane of glass mimicking a click by using a vibration upon sensing pressure, thus allowing for a consistent feel anywhere. Adjust the pressure required to click to your preference!