mild_takes's recent activity
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Comment on US Supreme Court strikes down Donald Trump's tariffs in ~society
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Comment on Some of my family members aren't convinced that ICE isn't overstepping and that they are just deporting people that broke the law, can you help me share unbiased links that proves they are? in ~society
mild_takes Link ParentThe person I heard make that comment probably wouldn't have cared. There was a discussion about another co-worker (an immigrant, not sure what his current immigration status is) who people had...The person I heard make that comment probably wouldn't have cared.
There was a discussion about another co-worker (an immigrant, not sure what his current immigration status is) who people had seen come up in the court docket for intimidating a court official or something weird like that. This guy asked why we weren't just deporting him. I said "because we don't even know if he's guilty or not for starters" to which he responded "so what?". I more or less left the room after that.
For additional context I'm in Canada so... ya. This almost a year ago and he was also a guy who thought Elon Musk was the most qualified person to run DOGE. I could say more but my point is the guy was in lala land, only cared about himself, and was incapable of having his mind changed.
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Comment on Palantir was allegedly hacked, exposing CIA collusion and deep-rooted global surveillance/meddling in ~tech
mild_takes Link ParentThis made me laugh out loud. Is this guy a Russian mouth piece?They plan to achieve this by keeping Russia busy with meaningless peace negotiations.
This made me laugh out loud.
Is this guy a Russian mouth piece?
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Comment on US Supreme Court strikes down Donald Trump's tariffs in ~society
mild_takes Link ParentYa. Other countries can do whatever they want; this ruling doesn't affect them at all. Regardless of what the USA does, the damage is done already: Canada is making trade aliances with other...But given the US stance towards trade partners, couldn't those countries just leave the tariffs up as a deterrent to trade with the US (which affects US biz), until they get something they want from the US?
Ya. Other countries can do whatever they want; this ruling doesn't affect them at all.
Regardless of what the USA does, the damage is done already: Canada is making trade aliances with other countries (including China). China is buying soy from anywhere but the USA and that's not going to change. NATO members are creating new defence pacts that don't involve the USA. Many countries now have concerns over US defence products. Several European governments are trying to switch away from Microsoft products due to concerns over digital sovereignty. Europe is also working on a new payment system to completely cut out american payment processors (Visa, MasterCard, Paypal). This is just part of what's going on I guess.
What I would like to see is for people to start cutting out American media consumption as well as stop using US tech products/services. Media is a huge industry for the US and helps keep them culturally relevant while the tech industry is also large and is throwing in with Trump at the moment.
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Comment on Some of my family members aren't convinced that ICE isn't overstepping and that they are just deporting people that broke the law, can you help me share unbiased links that proves they are? in ~society
mild_takes Link ParentThe only person I've ever heard make that kind of comment seemed normal on the surface but the minute politics or the government got discussed you'd quickly realize he's a kind of insane.The only person I've ever heard make that kind of comment seemed normal on the surface but the minute politics or the government got discussed you'd quickly realize he's a kind of insane.
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Comment on NASA chief classifies Starliner flight as “Type A” mishap, says agency made mistakes in ~space
mild_takes LinkI haven't really been following any space news for a while (actually most news) so I didn't catch the drama with that flight before. This (and that earlier linked article) are wild. It really...I haven't really been following any space news for a while (actually most news) so I didn't catch the drama with that flight before.
This (and that earlier linked article) are wild. It really makes me wonder what NASA was thinking and whats wrong with the culture in that organization? Also Boeing... I guess I expected as much from them at this point but I thought they'd try a bit harder with the space side of things.
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Comment on The AI disruption has arrived, and it sure is fun (gifted link) in ~tech
mild_takes Link ParentI had a discussion with my mom about it once when I was a kid. She thought hydro was a root word (I don't know if that the right term) for power and I was trying to explain that it was water. She...I had a discussion with my mom about it once when I was a kid. She thought hydro was a root word (I don't know if that the right term) for power and I was trying to explain that it was water. She didn't believe me.
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Comment on The AI disruption has arrived, and it sure is fun (gifted link) in ~tech
mild_takes Link ParentYou're in BC I take it then? BC Hydro banned crypto mining, we should either put a higher cost on power for AI data centers or just ban them from using our power as well.my hydro bill
You're in BC I take it then?
BC Hydro banned crypto mining, we should either put a higher cost on power for AI data centers or just ban them from using our power as well.
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Comment on A fluid can store solar energy and then release it as heat months later in ~science
mild_takes Link ParentI was just thinking of recharging in the summer and discharging it in winter and didn't consider a daily/weekly cycle. Maybe if you had a TON of space dedicated to it or if you were in a climate...a reasonably-sized 500L tank (roughly the size of a large water-heater tank) would hold sufficient heat-energy to keep your home heated for ~3 days.
The complementary assumption there, is that you would also have a solar-recharging system on your roof that is constantly replenishing the thermal energy.
I was just thinking of recharging in the summer and discharging it in winter and didn't consider a daily/weekly cycle. Maybe if you had a TON of space dedicated to it or if you were in a climate that isn't too cold but still has lots of sunlight. There are already concepts of how to do something similar by just storing heat in a big thermal mass (concrete wall) or heating up water but I feel like those are more just to even out heating from sunlight and get you through one day when its sunny.
only works on far-UV energy, something like 5% of available solar energy (as compared to 20+% for current photovoltaics)
I completely missed this part of the whole thing. I guess it would make no sense to do that vs just doing a bunch of regular solar panels and either net meter it or store the extra in a battery... which is what they're comparing this to I guess. For some reason I thought it was soaking up heat directly and that's why I was going through the thought process of storing energy in the summer to use in the winter.
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Comment on A fluid can store solar energy and then release it as heat months later in ~science
mild_takes (edited )Link ParentI'm in an average coldish part of Canada (sorry don't want to be more specific than that). My gas bill for December said it was 8.9 GJ or 8900 MJ. Let's round that to 10 GJ or 10,000 MJ. They say...But, another thing the article doesn't really spell out in plain terms ... how big a tank do you need to store useful amounts of heat? Eg, a 100-gallon tank in the basement, "fully charged" would be able to heat your home for ... how long? Two hours? Overnight? A week?
I'm in an average coldish part of Canada (sorry don't want to be more specific than that). My gas bill for December said it was 8.9 GJ or 8900 MJ. Let's round that to 10 GJ or 10,000 MJ. They say they got 1.65 MJ per kg let's round that to 2.0. So my house would take 5000 kg of this stuff. Let's assume it has the same density as water so 1kg = 1L, thats 5000 L or 5m cubed or (easier for me to visualize) a cube that's 16.4 feet on each side. THATS FOR ONE MONTH.
Obviously I'm making some assumptions here and really ballparking this but it's a LOT of whatever this is.
Ballparking it some more, I think if I had an imaginary tank that was the same footprint as my house (imagine underneath the basement floor) then it would need to be 1 foot deep to heat my home for the whole winter. That doesn't feel right (like I made a mistake) but I have a hard time visualizing area and volume, also the error bars on that guess are pretty big. Also my hot water tank is powered by gas so keep that in mind.
Edit: please don't trust my math either
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Comment on archive.today is directing a DDOS attack against my blog in ~tech
mild_takes Link ParentSnippet from the Ross Ulbricht Wikipedia article under "arrest and trial". I find the whole story of his arrest pretty interesting. Also the fact that he got pardoned.I'm pretty sure I remember that being behind the Silk Road guy and a stack exchange post or something like that.
Snippet from the Ross Ulbricht Wikipedia article under "arrest and trial".
The connection was made by linking the username "altoid", used during Silk Road's early days to announce the website, and a forum post in which Ulbricht, posting under the nickname "altoid", asked for programming help and gave his email address, which contained his full name
I find the whole story of his arrest pretty interesting. Also the fact that he got pardoned.
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Comment on Need a replacement for my old macbook pro, should I just get another one? in ~comp
mild_takes Link ParentYikes. You have other more modern machines though right?I've got a 20 year old PC with Windows XP
Yikes.
You have other more modern machines though right?
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Comment on Nine dead after shooter opens fire at Canadian high school in ~news
mild_takes Link ParentI thought I'd add a new comment with new details. Official report from the RCMP was that two guns were involved; a long gun (so maybe still a shotgun?) and a "modified" handgun. Handguns are...I thought I'd add a new comment with new details. Official report from the RCMP was that two guns were involved; a long gun (so maybe still a shotgun?) and a "modified" handgun.
Handguns are restricted in Canada so you need to jump through more hoops to buy one AND theres some sort of ban on the purchase of handguns as of a year or two ago. This ban basically means you can own one and take it to the range (like before) but you can't buy one or transfer ownership of one.
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Comment on Nine dead after shooter opens fire at Canadian high school in ~news
mild_takes Link Parent@unkz links some relevant news clips below but beyond that I can only give you rumor, mainly from Facebook (barf). The shooter was 17 or 18 year old (??) trans woman. I don't know tumbler ridge...I would still like to know more about the event itself and the leadup to it - was this school specifically targeted, why was it done, did the shooter use a banned firearm, etc, but it's too early to ask for that info and this article did all the rest right.
@unkz links some relevant news clips below but beyond that I can only give you rumor, mainly from Facebook (barf).
The shooter was 17 or 18 year old (??) trans woman. I don't know tumbler ridge but I'm fairly certain theres only one high school so the shooter was either a current student or recent graduate of that school.
Two family members were found dead in the alleged shooter's house.
The weapon was supposedly a shotgun (nothing more specific) so very unlikely to be banned or restricted. The use of a shotgun would kind of explain some of the reports of people being injured by "shrapnels" on the news so I think this is likely.
Theres no word on motivation but there is going to be some wild culture war shit happening because the alleged shooter was trans (especially male to female because the culture war is only worried about male to female) and RUMORED to be on a heavy dose of anti-depressants. Also their YouTube and reddit accounts were already both found, shared, and now scrubbed.
Also speaking to culture war and political reprecussiom... after the last mass shooting in Nova Scotia (2020) then PM Trudeau banned a bunch of military style rifles and other semi automatic rifles and was SUPPOSED to implement a gun buy back that is only just sort of starting to happen right now. There is a whole other discussion to be had about this but I'll keep it short and say gun owners aren't happy and they aren't exactly lining up to hand in their now prohibited guns.
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Comment on Nine dead after shooter opens fire at Canadian high school in ~news
mild_takes Link ParentThey used the emergency alert system thing for phones. I guess that's poasibly tied to Google maps somehow as well.They used the emergency alert system thing for phones. I guess that's poasibly tied to Google maps somehow as well.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump’s stifling of dissent reaches a new level: The editorial board tracks twelve markers of democratic erosion (gifted link) in ~society
mild_takes Link ParentThats good to hear, but at the same time I would expect them to limit it to specific poling locations that lean more Democrat. You just need to scare enough people into not showing up to vote....Thats good to hear, but at the same time I would expect them to limit it to specific poling locations that lean more Democrat.
the districts and precincts most targetable would likely be the ones most determined to fight back.
You just need to scare enough people into not showing up to vote.
Putting on my evil facist hat... I would:
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collect info on and infiltrate the communication networks people are using to track ice agents
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trump starts talking about how corrupt this election is going to be and how many undocumented people will be illegally voting
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pause ice raids between when mail in ballots start and when the deadline is.
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after mail in deadline passes start ramping up rhetoric again
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do aggressive crackdowns leading up to the election
ON election day
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use ICE to try scaring people away from some key voting locations
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flood social media and the previously mentioned communication networks with fake news/images/reports of ICE agents cracking down at ALL of the relevant voting locations that they would need to supress to do it correctly
Thats just my half thought out process for what I expect to see.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump’s stifling of dissent reaches a new level: The editorial board tracks twelve markers of democratic erosion (gifted link) in ~society
mild_takes LinkI think the midterms is where we will see if they go full autocracy using ICE to influence voter locations or not.I think the midterms is where we will see if they go full autocracy using ICE to influence voter locations or not.
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Comment on Bethesda X Nintendo Switch 2 | Reveal trailer in ~games
mild_takes LinkI guess New Vegas is too risque to port?I guess New Vegas is too risque to port?
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Comment on Wired vs. wireless mouse and keyboard? in ~tech
mild_takes LinkI've been using a Logitech G305 for my mouse. It has some dongle so it's not on Bluetooth and it's pretty responsive and it's cheap. It uses a single AA battery that lasts months. I'll never go...I've been using a Logitech G305 for my mouse. It has some dongle so it's not on Bluetooth and it's pretty responsive and it's cheap. It uses a single AA battery that lasts months. I'll never go back to wired, screw that.
As for the keyboard... I do need an upgrade but I find the wire to be such a mild inconvenience that I havent bothered looking at wireless options.
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Comment on AntiRender: remove the glossy shine on architectural renderings in ~tech
mild_takes Link ParentAnd the electrical boxes. So many electric boxes on that bridge.And the electrical boxes. So many electric boxes on that bridge.
I'm not confident of that either and instead I think this is the beginning of the end of an empire.