I have a an automatic $2/mo donation to Wikipedia set up. Of all of the sites I’m more than willing to support with hard currency, it’s the one.

$2 isn’t much, but if we all do it, it’ll keep the best online resource for general information we have on the planet operating. Very worth it.

Some 25 years ago when the RIAA was going apeshit over online sharing of music they were happily suing people left and right.

At some point they argued that no computer should ever make a copy of music without a license. The opposition proceeded to demonstrate how computers work. They make many copies of data files while processing them in the CPU, RAM, cache, omin temp files, etc. The judge did temporarily order that only one canopy could be made, but after the education, said fine: if the RIAA wants to let it stand, then they can’t distribute via any computer systems anywhere by their own rules.

In the end, the case was dropped and computers got to keep processing data as per normal.

We are lucky to have moved to Germany. When building out our kitchen almost no appliances had “smart” tech features. We just bought slightly upgraded defaults from the kitchen designer and they’re big standard devices. It’s wonderful and normal.

I have a PhD in IoT technology uses (mostly medical/clinical monitoring applications). My appliances do not have firmware to update. Don’t buy that shit, it’s stupid.

I try other options now and again. When something is better I use it. Until then, I have things to do with what works.

People continue to innvote, test, and develop new options. Someday one will eventually work out a superior approach that takes off among the general userbase.

The labor class finally going to fight in the class war they’re losing.

Socialism is the long term solution, but you don’t get that without first dethroning the wealthy one way or the other.

I can feel the web rings rising from the shea of history. Their time has come one again!

I love that any time someone talks about how to make a UI faster or better it reverts to the keyboard. Eventually we end up back on the terminal to launch programs, including GUI ones.

Removed by mod

Has anyone read Diamond Age? I’d suggest you give it a try, even with the weird Stephenson jumps near the end, it explores molecular level production of products, including food.

I feel this work is a huge deal for NASA and other space flight tech dev. Instead of trying to pack a ship with cookies, pack it with plastic and convert as needed.

“We produce 400 million tons a year of plastic waste. You’re not going to turn it all into cookies.”

That’s quitter talk. Have you seen the shit Americans eat? We could do 400 million tons of cookies and a large diet coke without flinching.

Awesome. That’s the Geek Way.

Shadowrun shouldn’t be a documentary, but here we go.

Also: << the nerds aren’t going to do any of this shit, so… let’s look like the good guys by exempting them so we don’t look terrible when the nerds show how obviously this is all security theater >>

Maybe he’s an LLM bot?

Shaolin Soccer was a documentary.

Being a developed nation is a moving target.

The expectations of what being developed means changes as new technologies and standards of living evolve. Additionally, you have to maintain your past investments in infrastructure, education, governance, civil rights, and community.

You can’t just build a developed nation and then stop investing in it. The US stopped serious investments in itself back in 1980. It’s been coasting since then. We are just starting to see the wheels come off. In the last 40 years there should have been trillions of dollars put into infrastructure, education, food development, healthcare, civil services, and community needs. Instead, that money was taken by the rich and the nation plundered.

Dark times ahead, as Gary has discovered.