water-data-dude

"I haven't encountered a rare edge case, therefor the rare edge case must not exist"

I'm interested to see if this is the whole story[0], but on the surface it sure is infuriating.

[0] this article and a bsky post by the author of the article are the only sources I can find other than the website itself - which is definitely as chock full of AI as indicated

I'm a big fan of WaterFox! I switched when Firefox decided to add a ton of AI crap without providing a "turn this crap off" button (you could force it, but I don't want to fight my tools). Really good experience, been recommending it to all my friends.

Librewolf is also good, and I use that on one of my other machines. I like Waterfox a bit more, but that's probably just personal taste. Both are solid and both cut the mold off the tasty cheese that is Firefox

I know that if I lived somewhere urban it would feel welcoming. I know there's a large LGBT community there already. I know that there's gay clubs and stuff like Texas Furry Fiesta.

But the urban areas aren't passing the state laws. The state of Texas has laws that ban teachers from talking about LGBT topics or about LGBT folks in school. If I were to find a partner and I wanted to adopt, in Texas I have no protections against discrimination. A child placing agency can exclude me on religious grounds.

Trans folks face all that and more. They ban transgender folks from using school facilities. They ban trans folks from using public restrooms. They do that thing where they define gender as being exactly equal to biological sex. The "panic" defense is allowed in murder cases. I'm not trans personally, but they're part of my community and they're slowly having their existence criminalized.

Again: there are many parts of Texas that are great. The legal landscape is hostile to LGBT folks.

As a gay dude I will never take a job in Texas. Companies may enjoy the lax regulatory environment and favorable tax laws, but there are many bright people who - for one of a NUMBER of reasons - will never move there. It is repressive and frightening.

Who knows if that will be enough to move the needle on any of this, but companies aren't just buildings and incorporation paperwork, they're also the people.

I'm talking about the wealthy building private end of the world bunkers

America can do anything the UK can do, but bigger and better!

If things ever get bad enough that the wealthy need underground nuclear bunkers, the underground nuclear bunkers aren't going to be enough to protect them. The ordinary people who did the electrical, plumbing, security, etc. know where you are, and no level of security will protect you from an angry mob with nothing to lose.

Humanity's working on it, lol

Don't you think it might be harder to replace the people who work for free, as opposed to replacing paid employees? The unpaid labor is...unpaid.

Agreed. For a long time Jack Welch was lauded as "The Greatest CEO in History" for burning GE to the ground in a way that made a lot of money (while destroying a company that took 100 years to build and employed 400,000 people).

By the time he died (pretty recently actually, 2020!), it was pretty obvious what kind of legacy he was leaving behind. Which is probably why his family was very careful to keep his burial location secret, presumably to keep people from peeing on his grave.

Maybe this is what happens when you fill roles based on loyalty to one person rather than competence

The problem is that a private company holds onto the data forever. Then the government can ask the private company for that data without a warrant. With the number of Flock cameras (I'm upset at how many have popped up near me), it's turning into a record of all of your movements. And that record lasts forever and can be queries at any time.

You mentioned "more serious crimes", but what about the case where LEOs in Texas track women who go to get an abortion in another state? Or police officers who stalk their exes? Or an oppressive government that wants to know who went to a protest? Once the tool exists you can't assume it's only going to be used in a way you like.

Is this administration really interested in enforcing regulations? The FCC might make noises, but only until Trump gets another kickback.

Why aren't grads more pumped about an exciting career as an organ donor?

As a gay dude I'd agree, lol

Christianity has some good stuff (love thy neighbor, etc), but I'd rather we not lean too heavily on it for public policy, for obvious reasons

Prediction markets seemed neat when I first heard about them, but they've proved to have "theory meets the real world" externalities I wouldn't have ever considered. Insiders betting on (and possibly influencing) military/diplomatic stuff, reporters getting threatened, weather stations getting hit with hairdryers. It's wild.

"O’Leary said the extra electricity demand won’t raise residents’ energy bills as new gas-fired generation will power the facility."

I really, really doubt this.

I refer you to: https://xkcd.com/1732/

Gait recognition is also easier to defeat. All you need is to put something like a few pebbles or coins in one of your shoes

I wanted to go RGB free when I built my desktop, but ran into the exact issue you describe. I kinda just shrugged and accepted it, but maybe I should have looked more deeply into their configurability. Off or all white would be a much better look IMO

I like "plonk file", it has a very good mouth feel. I not-googled it and was delighted to discover that it's Usenet slang!

Also low quality wine[0]

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plonk_(wine)

It's been a while since I read the actual text of the Declaration of Independence. It definitely hits different nowadays.

So what? I honestly don't get the issue. It's pretend.

When sex is taboo our brains will often associate the two things and we end up enjoying the taboo-ness. Incest is a big taboo, so it's sex with extra taboo slathered on it. People will want to fantasize about it. It's how brains work. As long as it's in the realm of fantasy I don't think there's ANY issue.

I'll go further and say that if two consenting adult sibling want to have sex it shouldn't be anyone's business but their own. It's not the state's job to decide that they aren't allowed because it makes the rest of us uncomfortable.

Everyone else is throwing in there 2¢, so here's my pet proposal.

Here's the undeniable fact: everyone (ok, almost everyone, but it's a rounding error) hates the switchover in spring, when you have to get up an hour earlier. Conversely, everyone (or a rough approximation) likes the switchover in the fall, when we get to sleep in an extra hour. So why don't we just get rid of the switchover in the spring and get rid of the one in the fall?

That's the setting for The Electric Church, by Jeff Somers. There's a very small capital class who own all the automated manufacturing plants, etc., and they live in obscene grandeur. Then there's the rest of the world which is basically a slum, brutally oppressed by the police force to keep them from rising up. The population gets everything they need to survive, but it's all fairly shitty - the technology for a post scarcity society exists in the setting, it's just hoarded by the most obscenely wealthy.

Pretty decent sci-fi, just pretend he didn't write any sequels tho.

Benj Edwards, one of the authors, accepted responsibility in a bluesky post[0]. He lists some extenuating circumstances[1], but takes full responsibility. Time will tell if it's a one-off thing or not I guess.

[0] https://bsky.app/profile/benjedwards.com/post/3mewgow6ch22p

[1] your mileage may vary on how much you believe it and how much slack you want to cut him if you do

My immediately thought when I read the description of the book was that I have some internet friends who are into ABDL (adult baby diaper lover) stuff, and it sounds like the book's somewhat like that. I haven't GRILLED them about their motivations or why they're into it, but they like pretending to be a baby sometimes (not always in a sexual way) - maybe it's freeing to let go of responsibilities and pressure, etc. Anyway, it doesn't hurt anyone, and they get something out of it that makes them happy.

This ruling is sad IMO, because I have the feeling that Australia is increasingly hostile to The Weird Stuff, and I'm worried about what it might mean for people over there who are into abdl and the like.

You really think the giant ad company would put ads into their product after saying they won't? You should strive to be less cynical.

I don't think it's valid to deflect by saying "well, due process isn't perfect" - no one ever said it was. But due process is there to protect you from arbitrary persecution, and it's much better to have it than to not have it.