It also only serves to continue fueling the polarization of the right. They point and say “See! They will put you in jail simply for saying words!” And since many don’t bother to open the article, it spreads and spreads and fuels their fear factory.

It feels like “responsible journalism” is a thing of the past in the face of appeasing the Algorithm.

As much as I like DJI products and FPV drones in general, I can kinda see where the DoD is coming from on this one. DJI drones are particularly capable (which is part of what makes them so awesome) to the point where some are capable of being semi, if not entirely, autonomous.

Their software is entirely closed source, and thanks to the FAAs own ruling, they are now all equipped with SIM cards and internet access. There’s absolutely a threat model to consider there.

But banning them is the wrong approach. We can’t keep banning good tech just because we’re scared of it. There are entire domestic industries that benefit from DJI tech, and several that exist almost entirely because of it. The best approach would be to incentivize local competition. But since that takes a while… Why not just write custom firmware? We can’t best China in their manufacturing ability, but we’ve got tons of software talent. Write custom firmware, open source it, all domestic products get flashed before flying. Defence keeps a tighter leash on their airspace, and industry keeps their cheap drones. Win-win.

This is the one case where I’d make an exception. I read through the threads, it got particularly heated.

Life has gotten better since I dropped it. Moved a dozen or so people over to Signal and have been running with that ever since.

I do miss the ability to easily stream games, though.

874 partners

Man these polycules are getting crazy

No, closest thing is to join a datahoarder group and trade when needed.

Although with LinkWarden gaining popularity, something like this developing is a possibility.

No matter how you look at it, Wikipedia is one of the modern wonders of the world; those who maintain and defend it are doing holy work. The availability of free, high quality, publically indexed and equitably accessible information about our modern world is such an under-appreciated gift.

Education is a powerful tool, but when most people hear “knowledge is power” they think of personal success or political might. But its true power is on an evolutionary scale.

No other species in the history of our (known) universe has the capability to study the world, and then share those the conclusions to the next generation with high precision, like we do. It’s absolutely fascinating. It’s what sets us apart from the rest. It defines the human experience.

The reality is that the integrity of this mechanism (or rather, the democratization of said mechanism) is under threat. It always has been, but the nature of the threat has changed, and its scary. I’m glad it is being protected, at least for now.

I have no sympathy for those who attack and deface our libraries, whether they be physical or digital

I remember the concern years ago was: since the application was bought (acquired?) and the tool was still publically free, that the new owners had added the spyware to try and monetize the data coming from said spyware/telemetry.

After reading your comment I went back and did some cursory searches, and it looks like the general concensus is that its less of a concern than it was originally - although, there is still uncertainty around how the tool is being monetized, which is enough for some to stop using it.

My exact experience finding out Audacity has adware

This is so stupid. God forbid they actually police their ads for malware. No, instead let’s push the responsibility onto the individual, by adding get another “Papers, Please”-esque stamp that very few people will know about and even less will actually use.

Hard pass. The day I saw them promoting malware above legitimate search results is the day I turned on ad blocking for my entire org, and a stupid little pay-to-verify badge isn’t going to change that.

/end rant

Everyone blames food/diet/portions for this, but personally I think the car-centric culture should also bear a large portion of the blame.

When I stayed with friends in Europe, they easily ate as much as my American friends, but everywhere we went we were either walking or biking.

Meanwhile, in the VAST majority of the US, if you so much as want a safe place to walk that isn’t adjacent to the pervasive pedestrian-hostile street design, you need to take a car to get there.

American car culture essentially turns the average routine into ferrying oneself from chair to desk to chair to bed, intermixed with brief walks throgh scenic parking lots.

We need to counter the sedentary lifestyle within the design of our actual cities, but its the american way to push societal problems onto the responsibility of the individual… so I do not see this changing within our lifetimes.

I went to a conference this weekend, and it slowly dawned on me how every single one of the vendors was selling their app hosted on AWS. That’s all it is. Just different flavors of AWS.

Even if you dont interact with AWS directly, every business needs business services - you can bet that no matter what you’re buying or who you’re buying it from, some of your money is going directly to AWS marketplace.

Sounds like another reason to standardize easily replaceable batteries.

If you can’t trust a battery in a device, you should be able to replace it with a trusted one.

Incredible title

This is why having a virtual number is good - my google voice number catches the overwhelming majority of the spam

Voting sites really don’t cost that much money. They probably spent more money putting up this measure than it would cost to just run the damn thing.

When I work elections, the county pays me roughly 180 bucks for the whole day 6am - 8pm (I dont do it for the money, obviously). The smallest one i worked had around 3-5 people, so less than 1k in labor overall.

All of the devices and materials aside from the ballots get re-used for each election, unless there are equipment changes. The voting locations themselves are often donated spaces, like churches and schools. There are also election technicians, but they’re serving multiple precincts and dropping one location won’t make much of a difference. Everyone else involved is usually already a salaried government worker.

All this to say, closing a precinct to “save money” is a pathetic excuse. Everyone has the right to vote. It should be the first thing we make sure we budget for.

This is a good sentiment. Just because your specific in-group believes something doesn’t mean its common knowledge. It is still deserving of attention.

Generally, I’m against violence towards journalists - but dishonest and manipulative headlines like this tend to make me reconsider my stance, if but for a moment.

If this works, could you theoretically cover crop fields in solar panels as well? That’s a ton of usable space