HelixEndeavor

If we're to pass any sort of legislation, it shouldn't be against the kids, they're the victims of exploitation by greedy monopoly/oligopoly algorithms, we should legislate against companies like Meta, Snapchat, etc. the TikTok ban unless they sold off to an American firm that could be subject to US legislation was actually not the worst idea in the world (albeit I highly doubt the current Congress would've actually done anything constructive after the theoretical sale)

2005 is about as late as you can go before the processors in cameras started being powerful enough to do a lot of stuff to the images. Most of my collection is very early 2000s or even late 90s. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F717 is a great cam from 2002 that was Sony's flagship at the time. Despite having cool features that modern cams don't (nightshot which also allows for easy IR photography, a swiveling lens assembly), the pictures have that "filmic" look thanks to the CCD sensor and little to no denoising done in-camera. It was also high resolution enough for the time (5MP) that the pictures still look reasonably detailed and sharp. Super early digicams often had like 1MP sensors that produce quite fuzzy images (though I feel that has its own appeal)

"pirated" yes but you can often source the install images direct from Microsoft and then use open source tools to crack the activation systems. Microsoft has kind of stopped policing piracy at the individual user level, you can even download Windows cracking tools off GitHub, a platform that Microsoft owns. As long as you're using their software it makes them happy. And LTSC is worth it to have a barebones no-bullshit Windows installation.

This sounds nightmarish. One of many reasons I refuse to sign into my Outlook account on Windows, I just know they'll use the excuse of "integration" to completely fuck up my computer with cloud bullshit. I want what's on my computer to stay on my computer, dammit.

This. Important distinction between "the company wants to know everything that happens to the server" and "Microsoft wants to know why you don't want their bloated adware running 24/7"

So is there a regedit you can do to disable OneDrive completely or does Microsoft worm their way around that as well.

Honestly the only thing keeping me from updating from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is that the ads and forced behaviors are an order of magnitude greater in their shittiness.

Well, given that the modern web has a lot more requirements for security to even permit most browsers to view a site, it makes sense that the base hardware needs have increased noticeably.

Early digicams weren't powerful enough to pull off a lot of the fancy behind-the-scenes instant post-processinf modern cameras do before you even get to see the picture. The result was they often resembled film photography in many ways, especially the digital noise that in the right circumstances didn't look too dissimilar from film grain.

This is why I personally have a small collection of early digicams I like shooting on from time to time, and why they've recently become a whole TikTok trend.

I think if we allowed modern cameras to have an option that performs little to no post-processing on captured photos (without having to resort to RAW capture), we could get pictures that a lot more closely resemble this stuff.

Haven't touched Mastodon myself. "Decentralized" reads to me as "fragmented, dependent upon randoms to uphold the infrastructure, interoperable to a degree but you'd better hope your 'home' server doesn't go down for any myriad of reasons because then you'll lose your profile and have to make another at another server, which in effect pushes people towards the Big Players like Mastodon's own server, kind of defeating the whole point and making the main selling point a layer of unnecessary added complexity that makes the platform(s) substantively worse, harder to use, and less attractive to the average joe."

Personally I've moved to Cohost. Not simping for them, but at least I can comprehend the business model and operation of the platform.

Bullshit artists trying to build vague techbro hype with the right buzzwords to hopefully attract enough Silicon Valley VC funding so they can turn up no product or a really hilariously bad product and walk away with all the money.

Professional wine tasters are proven to be full of shit from top to bottom time and time again, and yet they still have careers, it's still a very wealthy industry, and people still give them the time of day. Pretty wild.

Water isn't dangerous but if you were dropped into the middle of the ocean you would probably drown. Does that mean you must swear off water because it's proven to be dangerous since people drown in it?

last time I encountered this, I had my phone on me, but had no cell signal in the area and the restaurant had no public wifi. I asked my server for a physical menu and they brought me a goddamn iPad with the brightness locked to max in a dimly lit restaurant. Absolutely awful.

why not both

I don't own a good record player, but I like to support small artists that I really enjoy. I do usually also buy the CD if I can and rip it to FLACs to play on my phone.

Fragment? You mean Telegram's attempt to cash in on the cryptocoin scam, with their own walled-garden system and marketplace where it's currently hovering around $30 to buy a number, when it's genuinely cheaper to just get a Google Voice number or some prepaid burner phone number? Fragment, the service that is currently banned in the USA for being such an obvious scam?

lol I just saw a recent Bandcamp update for iOS where the changelog said it "updated payment workflow" or something and it got me real confused because the app has never let you buy anything

lol to the guy accusing floppy disks of being "plastic waste." As if SSDs encased in 90% hollow plastic/metal, or USB drives encased in varying amounts of unnecessary plastic are somehow less "wasteful" than floppy disks were.

On a more serious note, wouldn't most of these machines be well served by floppy disk emulators? Or is the barrier to entry there the modicum of technical know-how needed to interface with those properly.

So presumably a bug that can be fixed by either AMD updating their optimizer, Factorio updating to work better with it, or both?

https://bearblog.dev seems like a good alternative for simple, clean, good looking blogs. Prioritizes quick loading and efficient web design.

Just got to say I appreciate the visual pun of the "autopilot" from Airplane.

Why are prepaid carriers so much better then traditional ones, it seems? I've been on Metro for years, service is identical to T-Mobile at a fraction of the cost with no hidden fees.

Every day it seems more and more like restaurants in general are a completely unsustainable business unless you want to pay $20 for a cheeseburger.

Waffle House is an interesting example for me - it's one of the few establishments that outright declares on its menu that all food prices already include sales tax. Yet you still have to tip your server, of course.

But then, if you order take out, that's either called in or ordered in person, a pre-detetmined "tip" is applied to your total, in essence a fee for takeout that is evenly distributed among the staff.

But *then,* if you order takeout online, not only are you subject to the takeout fee, but sales tax is applied to the prices that supposedly already include sales tax! What the heck?

> Smoking or non?

There was a small family owned diner in my hometown that had been built in like the 60s and never changed management. As such, they were one of the last businesses to still have a valid smoking permit. I distinctly remember the smell that permeated the walls, the chairs, the tables. Not unpleasant, necessarily, but distinct.

They eventually went out of business about a decade ago and got torn down and replaced with... a parking lot. With them went the last "smoking section" I've ever seen. If you want to smoke at a restaurant, you're eating on the patio.

Overall pretty meaningless coming from Facebook. They'll still collect all the metadata they want. The only theoretical benefit this offers to the user is in the event of a massive Messenger data breach, at least the contents of user messages won't be leaked. Which I guess is some comfort, to somebody?

Horse apples?

My mother's new truck (new as in 2016) somehow doesn't have a CD player in it and I was totally baffled by that.

Cryptographically secured? Perhaps. Distributed, in the sense of a blockchain? Highly unlikely.

Man, I would love to get a Fairphone, but they won't sell it to the US, and even if I spent an exorbitant amount having it imported, the modem inside isn't programmed for US frequencies so network compatibility will be flaky or non-existent. But it just seems like the perfect phone to me...