os2warpman

Anything they don't like or anything governed by any regulation whatsoever is, to some people, a "monopoly".

Practically any person anywhere in the US can start a bank, provided they possess the capital needed and the ability to fill out forms, although it is somewhat easier to start a credit union.

There's even an online form to start the process of founding a credit union: https://ncua.gov/support-services/credit-union-resources-exp...

It's so easy that small hospitals and large churches and school district teachers' unions have done it.

I deposit my paycheck in a tiny credit union that is so small that we had a member's meeting one year where practically every single member showed up and fit inside a large ballroom. And we have an app, digital wallets, everything.

The only thing stopping people from starting banks is the fact that you need a shit-ton of cash on hand.

It's the same with ISPs. For over 30 years, in the US, any person any where has been able to get a franchise agreement with the same exact terms as incumbents. With no exceptions. There is not a linear millimeter of public right-of-way that you can't get permission to install fiber in. Downtown Manhattan, suburban Houston, middle-of-nowhere barren Alaska, doesn't matter. You can run NG-PON2 to every house in the country and have your net-neutral capless fantasyland. You just need a shit-ton of cash and you need to demonstrate to the jurisdictions that you won't dig a bunch of trenches and abandon the effort and leave the trenches open when you run out of money. But that's still a "monopoly" to many people.

Give me $50 million and I'll start filling out the forms to start a bank the day after the cash is in my hands.

I'd advise you that there are better ways of spending that money and that a small credit union would probably fit your needs better, but I'd do it.

I am not engaging in fantasy.

“But we have guns” is fantasy.

Guns are useless.

Everyone who believes guns are some kind of savior or last-ditch protector is fucking stupid.

There is a reason why, during westward expansion, the first thing towns did when they got two nickels to rub together to buy bricks to build a church was ban guns.

There are so many real-world examples of guns being useless that it defies logic and belief that people cling to the myth.

There are so few examples of guns being useful that those examples are the irrelevant exceptions to the norm.

Every single valley in Afghanistan has a small village along the valley stream where every household has at least one automatic rifle. That is what a society saturated with weaponry looks like: paranoid, tribal, and rapey.

In the US, the second "the good guys" show up with their AR and wish.com tacticool gear and start to pose any actual threat, the bad guys will retreat behind fortified walls and fences and start dropping JDAMs.

Living alone is not living in isolation.

My three daughters are grown and have moved out and now I live alone in a four bedroom house.

Between work (in office mon-thurs, wfh fridays), my volunteer (fire department and watershed steward), fitness (yoga and lifting), and social club (amateur radio, astronomy, and makerspace) commitments, and my girlfriend (smart and beautiful)-- the 1-3 nights per week I get to come home and sit alone, in the dark, in my underwear, listening to the worst 90s techno ever produced at full volume are the only times I have to relax.

As an added bonus when you live alone you can accomplish many things that would be difficult and/or very costly with roommates. Very few people want to live in chaos for months as you methodically open up each wall in your 70-year-old house to run CAT6/HDMI/speaker wires in every room by working an hour or so during your precious few free nights and weekends.

(in my underwear, while listening to the worst 90s techno ever at full volume)

>it's a bit sad that instead of Apple evolving it and getting its price down

A PC ram expansion board with 64k cost $350 in 1983 and upgrading it to 512k probably cost another $1,000. ($1,000 and $3,300 or $4,000+ for 512kB in today's bucks)

A significant portion of the cost of the Lisa (and later Macintosh and Amiga and everything else) was DRAM.

But RAM prices were falling rapidly and three years later when the Macintosh Plus was released with 1MB standard, page 57 of Macworld's January 1986 issue lists a 1 megabyte AST RamStak expansion board for the Mac XL (Lisa) for $829 ($2,400).

Even the Amiga 1000, remembered today as a revolutionary multitasking powerhouse, shipped with 256k standard in late 1985 and the 256k expansion that BARELY (fight me, I was there) enabled multitasking with 512k of RAM in total retailed for $200 ($600) bumping the price up to $1,500 ($4,500).

Cost was probably the most important thing to focus on, to spur adoption. Regressing to 128k though? That was garbage.

Sewage workers perform tasks that are important and have value.

The comparison is not apt.

I would never own a rolex because where I live only ambulance chasers, businessmen who are definitely guilty of wage theft, morbidly obese elderly men in gold chains who reek of cigars, and street pimps wear them but from what I can gather they charge approximately $1,000 for a service and a mechanical watch needs servicing every 5-10 years depending on how complicated it is and how often it is worn.

So that's like a $100-200/yr. annual subscription to wear an already expensive watch.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client did not rob that bank. He only made a Google Maps link to directions to the bank, a link to an Imgur image containing the vault's combination, and a link to a Pastebin with instructions on how to disable the security system available. He merely packaged that information together and made it publicly available in a single source in a format only really useful to robbers for the purpose of robbery training. It's twoo hward to actually look at the information one is compiling and releasing to the public and to expect even a microscopically minuscule cursory amount of minimal effort to that end is unreasonable. He is clearly innocent."

Food isn't a ECON101 factory widget.

Farm subsidies are both the single most important national security policy a nation can have, and an incredibly inexpensive yet extremely effective insurance policy.

Who is "they"?

In the EU, total energy consumption peaked ~20 years ago and has steadily fallen since then.

In the US, total energy consumption plateaued ~20 years ago. Per-capita it has fallen.

In Japan total energy consumption peaked, you guessed it, ~20 years ago.

I assert that for India and China as their per-capita consumption reaches a level somewhere between that of the US and EU, total energy consumption will plateau. China is almost there; India has some time yet to go.

> Ever wonder why you never see a smartphone photo printed and framed on the wall?

No.

I have numerous smartphone photos printed and framed. On both walls and horizontal surfaces.

There does not exist a greater pixel-peeping gearslut than I, but that's just a hobby. Hobbies only dominate my wallet, not my life.

What it looks like is irrelevant. Inconsistent and misaligned typefaces on the keycaps are irrelevant. (Why are you even looking at your keyboard?)

The only relevant thing is buckling springs.

IBM perfected text input on personal computers in 1977 with the F and later M. Any comparison of any keyboard to the M is futile, and any attempt at replicating it must focus solely and absolutely on the one and only aspect of the keyboard that makes it special.

>For our test, Vortex provided a keyboard with Cherry MX Blues

Sigh.

Cosplaying.

>How will they manage to cover R&D costs?

Seeing that pharmaceutical companies, on average, spend much more on marketing than R&D I would eliminate marketing.

Most of the rest of the world has banned drug advertisements, and sales reps whose activities more resemble bribery than anything else, and they're doing fine.

Don't even eliminate it. Just halve it. The typical drug "researcher" spends $2 on commercials and sports sponsorships for every $1 spent on R&D.

In addition to marketing, pharmaceutical companies spend, again on average, MUCH MUCH WAAAAAAAAY more on stock buybacks and dividends than they do R&D. Between $2 and $4 for every $1 spent on R&D.

That could also be a source of, oh who the hell am I kidding...

Modern drugmakers aren't biotechnology companies, they are financial instruments that just so happen, by coincidence, to employ chemists.

> I've never understood why the fire department doesn't acquire and dispatch small vehicles for all those medical calls instead of a giant fire truck.

Staffing.

Almost every call requires more than two people and ambulances are typically only staffed with two people.

If there is a second call (fire, rescue, or anything that requires the larger apparatus) while the fire engine is out assisting the EMS crew and the crew has taken a smaller vehicle, they have to drive back to the station, get on the engine, and then respond to the second call. This is not uncommon-- for my department I'd say it's routine.

In smaller volunteer departments like mine, there aren't enough people to go around.

In larger paid career departments, the cost of the extra personnel needed to staff smaller vehicles very quickly exceeds the cost of the wear and tear on the larger apparatus. You have to account for more than just their salaries, but also insurance, training costs, any equipment issued, and retirement contributions.

There's also the matter of equipment. Larger apparatus carry tools and equipment that smaller vehicles can't or don't.

Many jurisdictions do have a mix of resources where EMS crews can get the additional resources they need on a call without an engine or truck responding, and it does work for the most part. Most jurisdictions can't afford that.

It seems common in Europe to not send fire apparatus, but I'm willing to bet they deal with many fewer bariatric patients so most calls don't need six guys.

Watching the slow, then sudden, collapse of Intel as they try to MBA their way out of the state they MBA'd their way into is going to be fun.

What's the end going to be?

DECesque? (sell everything off at bargain prices before the pile of what's left gets purchased by someone else who eventually fails as well, probably due to buying the pile of junk)

IBMific? (just hollow everything out and make your living ripping off an ever-shrinking audience of captive customers, also lie about AI for 30 years)

HPtastic? (spin the good, profitable, solid, parts off in order to "focus on our core business" while a constant parade of more and more morally bankrupt rock star MBA/finance losers who end up getting so paranoid and territorial as the walls close in around them that they make desperate, insane, "plays" like selling an Apple iPod with HP written on the side and doing things that make the actual HP spying scandal look like a cakewalk take the reins)

Straight up financial fraud as things keep getting worse?

Huge government bailouts?

Because I can tell you what it's not going to be: "selling a product that is better than your competitors".

I do not think you are correct.

D-subminiature connectors are codified by both IEC 60807-3 and MIL-DTL-24308K.

Neither IEC 60807-3 nor MIL-DTL-24308K "standardize" or "codify" D-subminiature connectors into DA/DB/DC/DE sizes.

Is there an actual standard referencing DA/DB/DC/DD/DE? It wasn't linked in the article.

I do not think there is, and I think that everyone claiming that DA/DB/DC/DD/DE is a "standard" is wrong.

After all, we 100% DEFINITELY want to be "correct". Words like "standard" have meaning.

It appears DA/DB/DC/DD/DE is just a trade practice started by Cannon. Maybe that's why the "standardized" and "codified" specifications refer to sizes 1 through 5 (or 6).

If we want the opinion of the ultimate arbiters of standardization, both Digikey and Mouser adhere to "the standard" by organizing shell sizes into IEC 60807-3 and MIL-DTL-24308K-compliant numerical sizes with letters in parentheses to denote that the letters ARE NOT a standard.

The most likely reason that DA-DE sizes are not in the standards is that DA-DE were once trademarks or otherwise proprietary designations created by Cannon. Indeed, practically the only consistent and quasi-official spec sheets that list the A-E sizes are published by ITT Cannon but even they reference the actual standards (e.g. "E Size 9 (MIL-DTL-24308 Size 1)").

I assert that DA-DE are proprietary designations created by Cannon (now ITT Cannon) and calling them a "standard" is incorrect, IN AN ENGINEERING CONTEXT.

In support of my position I have referenced both IEC 60807-3 and MIL-DTL-24308K and provided real-world examples from domain experts. I have also found pdfs for DIN 41652, CECC 75301-802 and referenced spec and marketing materials for Amphenol, Assmann, and Farnell/Newark and the only instances of a "standard" is when they list A-E sizes as an afterthought to aid people who are not following the actual standard to source standards-compliant parts (or ITT Cannon).

What is there, besides blog posts, to show that I am not correct?

edit: As a certified, triple-audited, ISO 9001-compliant weirdo, I am going to write up a nonconformity report, digitally sign it, print it out, manually sign it, then stamp it, then initial the stamp, then get it co-signed, stamped, and initialed, then scan it, then upload it into BMS, then print it out again, write the document control number on it, stamp and initial next to the document control number, have a second engineer stamp and initial it, and then hand it DIRECTLY to Quality if anyone ever refers to D-Sub connectors using non-standardized nomenclature ever again.

This is serious business and we are serious engineers here.

Why does everything (in big-budget video games) look shiny and wet?

If it is an attempt at realism, reality is not constantly shiny and wet.

If it a subjective artistic choice, it is objectively wrong and ugly.

Is there an expectation that everything look shiny and wet to make it seem more "dynamic"?

Is it an artists' meme, like the Wilhelm Scream in cinematic sound design?

>But with a GUI, it's a tool and they work best when there are no frills.

That must be why everyone is using CDE...

>Nokia N900

There is a fetishistic cult surrounding the N900.

Mainly comprised of people who were too young or broke to own one.

I am an old man who owned an N900.

Simply and concisely: the N900 was a half-baked, poorly thought out, frustrating piece of "exercise in box-ticking" junk.

What they mean is that in a couple of weeks there are going to be stories titled "LLMS NOW BETTER THAN HUMANS AT 2025 INTERNATIONAL MATH OLYMPIAD" (stories published as thinly-veiled investment solicitations) but in reality they're still shitty-- they've just had the answers fed in to be spit back out.

Yes

Yarvin, Thiel, Musk, Vance, and all of the other Project 2025 acolytes have explicitly and directly stated that the dismantling of every single civic institution and incumbent system is their goal.

Not reform, not improvement-- destruction.

They have literally written down, stated in interviews, repeatedly, that these are what their goals are.

They want to cripple the government, neuter every check on their power, and use the ensuing chaos to reshape the United States into a series of neofeudal states where "accountable monarchs" (tech billionaires who think they're gods) rule over the masses.

This isn't hyperbole.

And they are using the bloated, dementia-addled, shambling corpse of a god-king to do it while half of everyone stands around refusing to believe that they are doing what they stated and wrote down they were going to and the other half cheers them on because they're "sticking it to the dirty Mexicans, DEI welfare queens, and trannies".

"Unintended consequence" my ass.

What is happening, and will continue to happen, is by active conscious choice and design.

There are a number of new accelerators available on the market.

I've been thinking about getting a PiStorm ($40-70 + Raspberry Pi 3 A) for my A2000. Should bump me up to a ~100Mhz 68030 level of performance.

But yeah, when people release new software for the Amiga in 2025 and entertain thoughts of "what could have been" they're misremembering the state of the Amiga market at the time. The vast majority of Amiga users had an A500 hooked up to a TV and a Competition Pro, MAYBE with a trapdoor RAM expansion.

People have the right to be greedy capricious dickheads with the property (physical, intellectual, and real) that they own and you are infringing on that right.

Like, they can write the best and most entertaining video game of all time, one that makes you pass out if not almost die from joy, and they have the right to sell only a single copy for $10 quadrillion and sue the shit out of anyone who plays it without their permission.

And there is no right, or need, to play a video game as far as I'm aware.

>You point blank cannot find legit ways of playing the original underground games

Did you mean to type "You point blank cannot find legit ways of playing the original underground games without paying $20"?

Need for Speed Underground sells for between $15 and $24 on the used market: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Need+For+Speed+Undergro...

Every single version listed on Wikipedia, except for the arcade version, is available.

edit: the arcade is £4095, including VAT with free delivery (presumably in the UK).

https://www.libertygames.co.uk/store/video_arcade_machines/d...

>and then posting essays on the sheer horror they go through when the drug leaves their system and they rebound.

There are very few things, concepts, or sensations more annoying than a junkie telling everyone about what it's like to be a junkie.

Listening to a fork-tongued megachurch preacher telling you you're going to hell while begging for money is less of a chore than some pothead wondering aloud if people see colors differently.

Every bit per second that a WAN connection is slower than a CPU interconnect is too slow and that's only half hyperbole.

But I'm a realist so I'll take what I can get.

As your remote resources get faster and faster you start using them more like local resources, which can change (often for the better) how you do things.

If all you're doing is watching netflix then 25mbps per user is probably fine.

If you're working or creating or earning, then you want your connection to be as fast as possible, your distant end to be as fast as possible, and the hardware in between to be fast as possible.

Success is almost entirely familial positioning and timing.

The Great Man is a myth that needs to die.

If you or any other person had wealthy parents who sent you to Philips Exeter and then Harvard and been friends and roommates with who Zuckerberg had been, you would be a wealthy banker, professional, or with luck-- Facebook founder.

My best friend in the Army was a Philips Exeter cat who rebelled against his parents and joined the military, married a stripper, drank and fucked his way across a couple of countries, divorced the stripper, got out of the military, went back home with his hat in his hand, got his mom and dad to pay for Marquette, and now he's the CEO of a medical device manufacturing company his parents started.

Nice guy.

Dumb as hell, but nice.

Zuckerberg is incompetent.

He was lucky, and that's all, with Facebook and has coasted on its momentum ever since.

Every single "play" after that has failed.

Not only have they failed, he's even fallen into the dictator's trap: where wealthy men who surround themselves with multiple layers of overlapping and competing of staff and hierarchy which act to completely insulate and isolate them from reality start or fund outlandish, impossible, vanity projects.

I don't know why these guys don't take the money and run and spend the rest of their lives scuba diving and fixing vintage sports cars in their garage-- but I'm not a sociopath.

Musk is less incompetent.

>will not be approved by the FDA for another 2 years, so he can't give it to me.

edit: I wrote a bunch of bullshit and then deleted it but the points are:

1. Narcolepsy sucks

2. The FDA can't stop your doctor from giving you TAK-861, the likely culprit is Takeda. It is 100% legal for Takeda to sell Oveporexton so long as they don't claim that it treats narcolepsy until it has been approved, and it is 100% legal for your doctor to give it to you.

3. Have you looked at >>>RIGHT TO TRY<<<? Again, with this the ball's in Takeda's court.

https://www.fda.gov/patients/learn-about-expanded-access-and...

I know nobody believes me.

Here's an ambulance chaser's blog:

>Unapproved drugs exist in a gray area in U.S. law. Although it is not illegal to prescribe non-FDA approved drugs, it is also not viewed as best practice. If a doctor prescribes an unapproved drug, he or she could face civil liability for the patient’s injuries, illnesses, side effects or death upon taking the drug if the physician reasonably should have known of the potential health risks due to the lack of FDA approval.

https://www.liljegrenlaw.com/can-my-doctor-prescribe-non-fda...