scirocco's recent activity

  1. Comment on Cameras/software for watching roofs in ~tech

    scirocco
    Link
    I'd start with razor wire/concertina wire. You can order it pretty cheaply at vevor.com Making your location more of a hassle than the one across the street will have a much larger deterrent...

    I'd start with razor wire/concertina wire.

    You can order it pretty cheaply at vevor.com

    Making your location more of a hassle than the one across the street will have a much larger deterrent effect than cameras, which won't do much to actually prevent the damage.

    3 votes
  2. Comment on “I don’t see how we can save it.” in ~life

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    I too appreciated the style and one paragraph in I thought --- this guy should submit to The Sun Either as-is or in longer form, this kind of thing is very relatable to the audience there, and...

    I too appreciated the style and one paragraph in I thought --- this guy should submit to The Sun

    Either as-is or in longer form, this kind of thing is very relatable to the audience there, and being actually published might be a nice thing.

    Check it out. Your prose deserves it.

    https://www.thesunmagazine.org/

    2 votes
  3. Comment on The real problem with toilet paper: Where it comes from in ~enviro

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    Virtual no logging happens in actual "old growth" forests. Managed logging happens periodically in a generally sustainable way, if we are talking about Canadian logging. Areas will be selectively...

    Virtual no logging happens in actual "old growth" forests.

    Managed logging happens periodically in a generally sustainable way, if we are talking about Canadian logging. Areas will be selectively logged (not clear but) on a decades-long rotation, with enough trees standing to provide at least minimal habitat to allow the local fauna to move to denser locations as they find desirable.

    Modern forestry practices are pretty sophisticated and (in Canada at least) noone is slash-and-burn clear-cutting trees for any purpose, let alone to feed pulp mills

    21 votes
  4. Comment on Donald Trump vs Kamala Harris: Who is leading in the US presidential election polls? in ~society

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    This is a very late reply ---sorry First, I do think that Bernie would have beat Trump in any of the three elections a Trump ran. Hillary's anointment was inevitable. I don't think pushing left...

    This is a very late reply ---sorry

    First, I do think that Bernie would have beat Trump in any of the three elections a Trump ran.

    Hillary's anointment was inevitable.

    I don't think pushing left would have helped Harris a whole lot, but then again neither did being pals with Cheney.

    Today, the Democrats are continuing to do more of the same by suppressing and sidelining their best and most vocal young members.

    Snubbing AOC in favor of Connoly was a huge mistake. In the current climate, they need to be fighting-mad and loud and screw the norms and the establishment.

    Both of those are already throughly dead and the DNC hasn't gotten the memo.

    1 vote
  5. Comment on a/s/l? Tildes user survey question. in ~tildes

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    51/m/DC area The passport card is a good call. Running into an old friend who's a Canadian of Haitian descent but has been here for 25ish years (maybe she dual citizenship?) and we got to talking....

    patient

    51/m/DC area

    The passport card is a good call.

    Running into an old friend who's a Canadian of Haitian descent but has been here for 25ish years (maybe she dual citizenship?) and we got to talking. She expressed some fears, as she has a notable Haitian francophone/Canadian accent and that prompted me let her know that they exist.

    I'm guessing that there are a LOT of new applications for them now.

    Anyhow I worked on Bolling AFB in GG grades, but left govt service in 2010. VERY glad to not be a direct part of this drama,

    Good luck, and I agree that certain parts of DHS are among the least likely to be impacted.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on FreeCAD version 1.0 released in ~engineering

    scirocco
    Link
    Sometime within the last 6 months I needed to use some cad tools to make an original 3d printed part. Before TechShop's demise I would have used their Autodesk licensed tools FreeCAD (whatever...

    Sometime within the last 6 months I needed to use some cad tools to make an original 3d printed part.

    Before TechShop's demise I would have used their Autodesk licensed tools

    FreeCAD (whatever version it was) was clunky and the interface a bit wonky and there was a learning curve, but perfectly functional.

    1.0 is surely even better, and that's great

    10 votes
  7. Comment on I don't own a cellphone. Can this privacy-focused network change that? in ~tech

    scirocco
    Link
    This is pretty intriguing, though I wonder if the close USG association also extends to potential surveillance of the non-govt users. Strictly and only for legal anti-terrorism purposes of course.

    This is pretty intriguing, though I wonder if the close USG association also extends to potential surveillance of the non-govt users.

    Strictly and only for legal anti-terrorism purposes of course.

    3 votes
  8. Comment on Slowly booting full Linux on the intel 4004 for fun, art, and absolutely no profit in ~comp

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    This is beautiful madness.

    This is beautiful madness.

    4 votes
  9. Comment on US Federal Communications Commission closes “final loopholes” that keep prison phone prices exorbitantly high in ~tech

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    I am sure there is competition in the market, and prisons run bids for the services. However there is not a LOT of competition in the market, and the prison has no incentive to chose one that is...

    I am sure there is competition in the market, and prisons run bids for the services.

    However there is not a LOT of competition in the market, and the prison has no incentive to chose one that is cheaper for the families.

    The prisons' interest is in the services offered to them --- the call recording, easy of search/retrieval for them and probably a lot of other stuff that we are not thinking of.

    There are probably some mechanisms for 'kickbacks' to the prison as well --- for example, bundling the detainee telephones with other telecom services in the building, which are subsidized by the inmate phones.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on Donald Trump vs Kamala Harris: Who is leading in the US presidential election polls? in ~society

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    And that, folks, is how you lose elections. The center is absolutely vital for her to win this election. If she's given a strong majority in Congress along with the presidency, some progressive...

    And that, folks, is how you lose elections.

    The center is absolutely vital for her to win this election. If she's given a strong majority in Congress along with the presidency, some progressive policies are likely to result.

    They won't be enough for the far left, but it would be a hell of a lot better than what a gop administration would do.

    Politics is compromise.

    15 votes
  11. Comment on US Federal Communications Commission closes “final loopholes” that keep prison phone prices exorbitantly high in ~tech

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    This article has nothing to do with for-profit prison vs state owned prisons. The topic is telecom services in the prisons, which are always run by a private telecommunications service. This is...

    This article has nothing to do with for-profit prison vs state owned prisons.

    The topic is telecom services in the prisons, which are always run by a private telecommunications service.

    This is issue affects all incarcerated persons, no matter what the management structure of their jail is.

    13 votes
  12. Comment on I'm really tired of trying to be understanding to my right-winger friends in ~talk

    scirocco
    Link
    Maybe it's not as extreme here in the US I have found that there are certain folks who, while I value them on some level, I just don't connect with enough to stay my natural tendency to drift...

    Maybe it's not as extreme here in the US

    I have found that there are certain folks who, while I value them on some level, I just don't connect with enough to stay my natural tendency to drift away.

    There are others, who might be characterized as 'more redeemable' or 'less extreme' who I can (do) just avoid contentious topics with.

    Finally, there's one guy who I don't align with very much, but have an open enough dialogue to call out the bullshit regularly, and even accept when some BS on my part is pointed out.

    22 votes
  13. Comment on What are your favorite series that are not from the US or UK and also not popular anime? in ~tv

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    Broen/Bridge was excellent from an english subtitles perspective.

    Broen/Bridge was excellent from an english subtitles perspective.

  14. Comment on What service are you using for domain names? in ~comp

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    Absolutely true about the UI. But. It works well enough that I can buy a joke domain on a whim, in a bar, using my phone. So for me, that's good enough.

    Absolutely true about the UI. But. It works well enough that I can buy a joke domain on a whim, in a bar, using my phone.

    So for me, that's good enough.

  15. Comment on Battery life of AAA batteries that come with the original products seem unusually long in ~tech

    scirocco
    Link
    I bought a Toto Washlet bidet seat at Christmas 2007 Changed the OEM batteries in it's remote last year, finally. The remote functioned perfectly, but the LCD base were fading. I guess enough...

    I bought a Toto Washlet bidet seat at Christmas 2007

    Changed the OEM batteries in it's remote last year, finally.

    The remote functioned perfectly, but the LCD base were fading. I guess enough current to run the IR led when needed, but not enough voltage to keep the LCD excited.

    RIP Panasonic AA batteries 2007- 2022

  16. Comment on What service are you using for domain names? in ~comp

    scirocco
    Link
    Does anybody but me use joker.com? I've had domains there for.. well, pre-2000 so a good while. Maybe not particularly beginner friendly but super strong (from what I can see) privacy and no...

    Does anybody but me use joker.com?

    I've had domains there for.. well, pre-2000 so a good while.

    Maybe not particularly beginner friendly but super strong (from what I can see) privacy and no particular problems at all.

    Maybe I'm just still there out of inertia.

  17. Comment on Does anyone here use Usenet as an actual news reader anymore? in ~tech

    scirocco
    Link
    I haven't used USENET in a long, long time but am very curious if folks still do. Hopefully some folks who are currently active in USENET will appear

    I haven't used USENET in a long, long time but am very curious if folks still do.

    Hopefully some folks who are currently active in USENET will appear

    2 votes
  18. Comment on What is Usenet? in ~comp

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    Certainly that's true in terms of volume --- any binaries are going to be massively huge compared to human-readable text.

    Certainly that's true in terms of volume --- any binaries are going to be massively huge compared to human-readable text.

  19. Comment on Reddit appears to be down during blackout day 1 in ~tech

    scirocco
    Link
    down for me currently...

    down for me currently...

    7 votes
  20. Comment on What is Usenet? in ~comp

    scirocco
    Link Parent
    I think of usenet as similar to an old listserv --- mailing lists where you join the list, and you recieve email from everyone else on the list. If you send an email, everyone else on the list...

    I think of usenet as similar to an old listserv --- mailing lists where you join the list, and you recieve email from everyone else on the list. If you send an email, everyone else on the list gets a copy.

    If you send a binary (attachment) to the email list, it is converted into an asci/text form using an encoding system like uuencode --- the binary data is converted to large blocks of simple text, then sent just as plaintext in the body of the email. The receiving mail client converts it back into a binary attachment and displays it as such. It's a pretty baroque and magical system that just-works well enough that many/most people have never really been aware that SMTP email is (was) technically plaintext-only. No fonts, colors, formatting or attachments.

    NNTP is very, very similar, even using uuencode for binaries. The difference is that instead of being addressed to particular users/people via an email address like name@domain.com, these (often giant) text messages are organized into things like macos.comp.sci

    The messages are copied from NNTP server to NNTP server as peers, so something you post into a newsgroup will be copied to your server's peers, and those peers copy it to their peers etc. Messages 'ripple' across USENET in this fashion, and in the early days every NNTP server would carry/copy/forward all newsgroups.

    Nowadays of course there could be all sorts of risky stuff in there, and most NNTP only carry a selection.

    AND yet still, most of usenet now is large pirate binaries, used as a file-sharing system that is technically very different from bittorrent, but functionally somewhat similar.

    3 votes