meff's recent activity
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Comment on Has anyone else noticed an inceased number of sites and apps that won't work over a VPN? in ~comp
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Comment on Has anyone else noticed an inceased number of sites and apps that won't work over a VPN? in ~comp
meff Link ParentHow does this work? Does TorGuard have an allocation of generally residential IP blocks or are they just careful about keeping their IP reputation clean?How does this work? Does TorGuard have an allocation of generally residential IP blocks or are they just careful about keeping their IP reputation clean?
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Comment on /r/antiwork: A tragedy of sanewashing and social gentrification in ~tech
meff Link ParentThe article, and your post, bring up something I find puzzling. Being a "nerd" isn't an irredeemable condition. Different folks have different moments in different parts of their lives. One can be...Being a nerd is awkward but harmless (and often rather productive) but if you have to hide "deeper" to get a break from society, you'll find the weirder dungeons of the internet. Incel culture, red pill forums, bizarre right-wing conspiracy theories. In the name of making nerds "cool", the mainstream has made the space hostile towards the people who truly needed it.
The article, and your post, bring up something I find puzzling. Being a "nerd" isn't an irredeemable condition. Different folks have different moments in different parts of their lives. One can be a mess at one point in their lives but largely get it together and become happy and productive in another portion of their lives. Some so-called "nerd"s have plenty of social and empathetic skills and other folks who have all the regular trappings of success could be leading a life of pain and suffering on the inside. Online spaces also don't attract all sorts of oddballs or mentally ill, rather a specific type who is often introverted and/or has issues socializing in real life. In fact, there's a lot of gatekeeping in nerd spaces. Lots of women, PoCs, and neuroatypical folks who don't have classic "nerd" traits often feel excluded from nerd spaces.
So my question is, what is a "nerd", what do we (as a society) owe "nerd"s, and why do we owe them this?
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Comment on Popular subreddit r/antiwork goes private after Fox interview in ~tech
meff Link ParentThanks you've actually articulated something that's bothered me heavily as well. The rhetoric always seems to hold the end-goal of world socialism in mind, not the actual complaints of people...It's a problem that bothers me with a lot of leftists. Communism is the goal, bringing up the problems it would supposedly solve seems to be the afterthought that are brought up after the fact to justify it. We can just say many Americans don't have job mobility, rather than "work isn't voluntary."
Thanks you've actually articulated something that's bothered me heavily as well. The rhetoric always seems to hold the end-goal of world socialism in mind, not the actual complaints of people struggling.
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Comment on Popular subreddit r/antiwork goes private after Fox interview in ~tech
meff Link ParentFrom my reading, the reason people are angry is because they think this person "stole" their movement. The original mods were leftist anarcho-communists and anarcho-socialists. The majority who...The way this whole thing blew up and people are picking it apart it so gross. I feel bad for this person. I don't think they did anything wrong. I don't thing they deserve to be ripped apart. If anything I think they did fine and this is so overblown.
From my reading, the reason people are angry is because they think this person "stole" their movement. The original mods were leftist anarcho-communists and anarcho-socialists. The majority who came to inhabit the sub were more moderate reform-minded folks. Then this mod went on a public TV interview and pushed her more radical position. Reading the sub, people feel used; they feel that the mods used the enthusiasm of the more moderate base to advocate for a more radical position. The anger came afterword.
From reading the drama yesterday, I do think people were tearing into Doreen too much, in really petty ways at that. But a lot of pretty negative things came out about her (regarding female rape and sexual assault). There was also lots of suspected sockpuppeting by suspected alt accounts of Doreen. Some folks in the sub dug into the posting history of other mods, and it was fairly checkered as well. I'm not affiliated with this movement, but there's certainly a lot of skeletons in the closet from what I can tell.
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Comment on Popular subreddit r/antiwork goes private after Fox interview in ~tech
meff Link ParentThe problem I've seen in a lot of online communities is that there's little philosophy or doctrine involved. Most of the communities originate around shared feelings and not shared ideas. Feelings...The problem I've seen in a lot of online communities is that there's little philosophy or doctrine involved. Most of the communities originate around shared feelings and not shared ideas. Feelings are irrational by definition, and while perfectly valid (we are human after all and our feelings define our experiences) don't often reflect a shared reality. r/antiwork from what I can tell (I'm not a member so take my words with some doubt) is unified by people and their feelings of resentment for their jobs. Some folks are motivated by anti-capitalist political doctrine, some around reform for labor rights and labor organizational rights, some by left market anarchism, and some who are simply interested in the place of collective bargaining for North American labor. This diverse group has no real focus; most of them simply hate their jobs and the shitty situations they find themselves because of the lack of labor rights and awareness.
I think this is a good time to either form a proper umbrella group to advance the rights of labor in North America or for the community to split into philosophically cohesive groups which can effectively advocate for and agitate toward change.
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Google is wrong. Apple’s iMessage is actually a failure.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life
meff Link ParentIf these outlets can't hire for long enough and don't increase wages, they'll have to fold anyway. A lot of mismanaged businesses in our area which were barely scraping by paying their employees...Literally every retail outlet in a 10 mile radius of me, big and small, has a sign along the lines of "due to staffing shortages" and/or "we're hiring." Those signs were non-existant or very minimal apart from major chains before.
If these outlets can't hire for long enough and don't increase wages, they'll have to fold anyway. A lot of mismanaged businesses in our area which were barely scraping by paying their employees (and themselves!) minimum wage ended up going under. Most of the big chains around here have started paying service positions more to deal with the labor shortage which is putting wage pressure on smaller businesses making them go under. For mismanaged businesses I'm not holding my breath, but the sad thing is watching small businesses go under because they just don't have the margins to pay better. Inflation is complicated.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life
meff (edited )Link ParentTo preface this I think that lease-to-own programs are predatory garbage and that the government needs to step in and put regulations around these programs. Treatment and wages aren't the same...There's a shortage of decent treatment of those workers.
To preface this I think that lease-to-own programs are predatory garbage and that the government needs to step in and put regulations around these programs.
Treatment and wages aren't the same thing. The reason workers are treated so terribly is because trucking is an extremely low margin business that makes most of its money through volume. During any economic downturn, truck drivers and rail conductors/engineers are usually the first to get furloughed because these margins are so bad. Trucking companies run most of their employees down to the minimums and look the other way when their employees break those minimums.
The Federal minimums are absolutely absurd. Here's a few choice excerpts:
Drivers must take a 30-minute break when they have driven for a period of 8 cumulative hours without at least a 30-minute interruption.
So you can be forced to drive for 8 hours continuously with only a 30 minute break.
May not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time does not extend the 14-hour period.
So you can be forced to work 14 hours on and 10 hours off. That's barely enough time to sleep and grab dinner. Forget seeing your family. A 14 hour day could potentially mean having only a single 30 minute break all day. These conditions are horrific.
The solution here, IMO, would be to raise the minimums to be actually decent for truckers. This will effectively increase driver costs for trucking companies, but is the only way I see to actually convince more people to enter the industry. This is entirely within the Federal government's control and other than complaining from the trucking companies themselves, should be something the government can enact with little fanfare (that is if they believe their constituency/beliefs align with this.)
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life
meff Link ParentAre you sure that's the case here? Truck drivers require CDLs and training. Most adults who are working in another field would have to put in the money or deal with the opportunity cost of leaving...Are you sure that's the case here? Truck drivers require CDLs and training. Most adults who are working in another field would have to put in the money or deal with the opportunity cost of leaving their job(s) while getting a CDL and training. The pay increase to account for this opportunity cost would probably not be financially feasible for most trucking companies to handle. Or rather, that's what I can think of without looking into the details of this shortage, of which this article has none of.
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Comment on Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 has raised $3,416,729 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation in ~games
meff Link ParentOne thing I'd like to note is that some of the techniques used in runs in AGDQ can be quite technical and easy to miss, and in the past the hype crowd has helped me pay attention to something...One thing I'd like to note is that some of the techniques used in runs in AGDQ can be quite technical and easy to miss, and in the past the hype crowd has helped me pay attention to something fiddly that I might have skipped and let play in the background.
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Comment on After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful in ~tech
meff Link ParentApologies I think I may be talking past you here. I'll try to do better next time, have a nice day!Apologies I think I may be talking past you here. I'll try to do better next time, have a nice day!
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Comment on After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful in ~tech
meff Link ParentRight, but how many people own their own domain name and run email through them? When I first ran my own email (more than a decade ago at this point), I let the domain lapse. I was just 1 day late...I've had the same email address for the last 20 years, without thinking much about it at all.
Right, but how many people own their own domain name and run email through them? When I first ran my own email (more than a decade ago at this point), I let the domain lapse. I was just 1 day late for the renewal period and after that had a domain squatter acquire the domain and try to extort me for it back (probably because they saw SMTP traffic on the domain). It was a gigantic hassle porting my stuff to a new domain, but it eventually went well. I continued hosting my email for years and years until I switched to having Fastmail host my email for me. This isn't for the faint of heart though.
I keep writing variations of this same post on every tech forum so apologies if this comes out a little "clipped". The experience of the last 30 years on the Web has shown that people don't want to run their own servers. They don't want to buy their own domains. They don't want to configure their own things. I'm not the only one who says this; Moxie, the founder and ex-CEO of Signal, has long held this position as well. But tech people continue pointing to the "freedom" that the Internet offers them that only other highly technical people like themselves take advantage of. In practice most people trust a larger provider to handle the complexities of the Internet for them. In practice, most people are using GMail to send and receive emails. I struggle to see why this is such a difficult message to get across to technical folks. It would be like forcing everybody to be their own car/bike mechanic to drive/ride; I can guarantee you many fewer folks would drive/ride if they had to.
Most IP Messengers already tie identity to phone numbers. Carriers are required by law in many countries to allow number porting; the porting and and their ubiquity is why phone numbers are so often used by IP Messengers as forms of Identity. Porting numbers is usually a fairly turnkey process due to the legislation. Moving domain names requires a lot more work, which is why in practice phone numbers are a decent (but not good) form of Identity. There are more robust, decentralized ways to do this such as the W3C's Decentralized Identifiers or DIDs of course.
In general I want to see messaging be useful to average people not just the technically inclined. Until the email porting experience is as simple as the phone number porting experience, I don't think email will be that messenger.
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Comment on After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful in ~tech
meff Link ParentBig +1 from me. The problem with this is that it works in urban areas but not in a lot of rural areas, and the lesser developed the country, the larger the problem is. A lot of the same rural...I broadly agree, but my point is that we already have SMS covering all of these cases. I'm saying keep SMS as-is for an emergency fallback, and focus efforts on an open, device-agnostic, carrier-free IP based solution for actual daily use.
Big +1 from me.
A lot of the examples you gave about PSTN were more relevant when it was the only game in town - nowadays resilience is often best achieved by having a multitude of redundant options. PSTN was bulletproof because it was a single point of failure on essentially all real-time communications. Similarly, if I lose my carrier-linked device, or my carrier goes down in my area, that's the end of my ability to use SMS.
The problem with this is that it works in urban areas but not in a lot of rural areas, and the lesser developed the country, the larger the problem is. A lot of the same rural areas that have bad tower coverage also probably have very few utilities offering high-speed internet.
But I think I'm just quibbling over details at this point. I'd love to see SLA-enforced government-mandated IP-messaging networks by the carriers.
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Comment on After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful in ~tech
meff (edited )Link ParentOn the contrary, I think communication should always be about the long tail. Let's think about the circuit-switched PSTN networks of developed countries (since copper lines were in terrible shape...I'd rather the effort went into a modern IP based system to cover the bulk of usage, with SMS itself remaining for that small window where you've got some signal but not quite enough, rather than focusing on a carrier-centric solution just for the sake of that one circumstance.
On the contrary, I think communication should always be about the long tail. Let's think about the circuit-switched PSTN networks of developed countries (since copper lines were in terrible shape in most developing or underdeveloped countries.) Telecoms (lol, basically Ma Bell in the US) used to offer 2-4 nines of reliability. Governments also mandated that PSTN lines had separate power on them, so in the event of an emergency, one could use a PSTN line to, if nothing else, at least receive information about what was going on, if not send out emergency communications. Of course circuit-switching's lack of packetization and the much lower bandwidth of PSTN lines meant that in truly terrible local events, the PSTN circuits would be saturated quickly. In the more "standard" tail events, like say a power outage, or a home emergency, you had a communications line to emergency authorities that was guaranteed to be up >= 99% of the time. Then of course due to the nature of circuit-switched networks, you had very low latency on these networks, so you're never going to start breaking up when you're trying to dial emergency authorities or family members. This isn't theoretical, I remember having local infrastructure blow during a heatwave in the late '90s, and having phone calls to our power provider be the only way for us to receive information as to the status of the repairs. If this was over an IP messenger, and the IP messenger ingress points lost power, we'd be SoL.
IP Messengers have limited governmental oversight or guarantees. While I'm guessing WhatsApp and Messenger may commit themselves to an SLA internally (though I haven't found evidence of it publicized), I doubt some of the smaller IP Messengers have any SLA of any kind. Then latency goes out the window also. If I'm in an area of poor connectivity and get hurt, I'd much rather have a working messaging solution than a not-working one. Why optimize for the "happy path" (high connectivity situations), when those situations are already adequately taken care of by residential or business wired internet solutions? IMO the true value of a communications network is its reliability.
I don't think sacrificing openness or interoperability is worth sacrificing for the life-saving benefits of a truly tail-capable communications network. There's also lots of people that still live in rural areas that are only served by low-quality links to local towers that don't work all the time. Instead of offering them poor QoS just because we want to embrace the openness of the internet (which IMO is quite selfish), we should offer them quality messaging solutions. I don't think it's responsible for a developed nation's government to say "well the Internet is open but Verizon's network was not, so the reason you can't send an emergency text in a rural town is because we value the Internet more than your communications, hope you weather your situation well."
IMO I think it's high time for governments to impose regulations upon IP messengers, like the ones they used to do around the old PSTN network. Base the regulation around the # of users located in the regulating country that you have (so you don't burden small providers). Regulations should require SLAs and standards for interoperation so that carrier networks are reachable outside of their closed networks.
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Comment on Your two-day shipping is causing potholes in ~enviro
meff (edited )Link ParentFWIW the US has a world-class freight-train network and is one of the only countries in the world that relies heavily on freight to move goods and natural resources intranationally. Building...FWIW the US has a world-class freight-train network and is one of the only countries in the world that relies heavily on freight to move goods and natural resources intranationally. Building distribution centers and retail businesses along train tracks would be a massive undertaking as there's little prior art. Train cars optimized for these routes do not accelerate and decelerate in the safer ways that passenger rail does, though with PTC that might not be as much of an issue anymore. Because loading and unloading these trains is a bespoke process, there's no guarantee that freight cars would be at grade with folks loading and unloading freight, and indeed any modifications needed to load/unload at grade would probably require expensive infrastructure improvements that would both be borne by retail businesses (which means they won't be able to/want to pay for it) and have to be approved by code in what is mostly a commercial area (and given zoning restrictions in the US, I doubt a commercial zone would easily approve of the modifications necessary.) Not to mention the costs/uproar with acquiring the RoW, laying down the trackage, etc.
Much more impactful, IMO, would be to mandate that freight trains in the US are electrified. Right now mots of them run diesel locomotives and have little intention to electrify because of the costs associated.
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Comment on After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful in ~tech
meff Link ParentI'm not talking about the regular case where you're just sending messages on the train or something. Think about a conference or a concert or if there's an emergency (say an active shooter) or...I'm not talking about the regular case where you're just sending messages on the train or something. Think about a conference or a concert or if there's an emergency (say an active shooter) or something. I also do a lot of outdoorsy stuff in the forests and mountains (when I can) and there have been several times when I don't have a strong enough connection to use an IP messenger but I am able to send SMS.
I've been to Comiket in Japan several times and haven't been able to use any of my my IP Messengers at all except Telegram and even then Telegram was slow. I've been to concerts where I could SMS friends but couldn't use Messengers.
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Comment on Moxie Marlinspike: My first impressions of web3 in ~tech
meff Link ParentOh I fully agree. (Let me go back to drinking my Di-Hydrogen Monoxide.)Oh I fully agree. (Let me go back to drinking my Di-Hydrogen Monoxide.)
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Comment on Moxie Marlinspike: My first impressions of web3 in ~tech
meff Link ParentA Non-fungible Token is a term of art. If you have 100 Ether, then each Ether is fungible for another. There's no way for a smart contract (without a lot of work at least) to distinguish one Ether...A Non-fungible Token is a term of art. If you have 100 Ether, then each Ether is fungible for another. There's no way for a smart contract (without a lot of work at least) to distinguish one Ether from another. If you create a unique token, say a badge with your name on it, another token is not fungible for this token. The reason the terms "Fungible vs Non-Fungible" exist is due to the ERC standards used to define the spec for the tokens.
Unfortunately as IPv4 space continues to become more crowded, this is inevitable. I'm not sure of any Mullvad issues specifically but the more competition there is for addresses, the more likely that a bad actor has at a given point in time used an IPv4 address for blockable reasons.