Posts by jalefkowit@octodon.social
(DIR) Post #ASU96WtKXVmcftqnKq by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-08T22:25:09Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
You are over the daily limit for fucks given
(DIR) Post #ASVBKs3H3ZMrQIQaLA by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-09T04:36:10Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Maybe the most Microsoft headline ever https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/microsoft-teams-free-data-wont-transfer-over-to-microsoft-teams-free/
(DIR) Post #ASW0RiEj2kNKfentmi by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-09T21:05:37Z
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Seeing as how CloudFlare's entire business model depends on them becoming a man-in-the-middle to literally all Internet traffic, I would be extremely hesitant to use a "decentralized" social networking product from them
(DIR) Post #ASZgDQSRG5TR9brJzc by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-11T06:54:45Z
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Who gets to remind them about XUL
(DIR) Post #ASeBFXZndWfh1Td88u by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-13T19:46:46Z
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If a UFO isn't advanced enough technologically to make it impractical for us to shoot it down, how the hell did it even get here
(DIR) Post #ASeSN6WdnGSEfBLSPQ by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-13T20:58:13Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Something you have to understand to understand the current balloon kerfuffle is that it highlights a psychological blind spot the U.S. military has suffered from since 1898.Basically, the U.S. military doesn't think of the territory of the U.S. as a place where military events happen. It mentally divides the world into two spheres. There is the rest of the world (I think of it as "Over There"), which is where war happens. And then there is the territory of the U.S. ("Back Home"), which is a safe zone. Off limits. Back Home is a place where war simply does not happen.American soldiers go to war Over There, and then they come Back Home to rest and recuperate. The idea that war might come to Back Home is so foreign to them as to be incomprehensible. This blind spot has already bitten us hard twice, first at Pearl Harbor and then again on 9/11. When an enemy has the temerity to bring war Back Home, it knocks the American military mind completely off balance. Nothing is set up to defend against it, nobody is prepared to deal with it. Nobody is taking the kind of protective measures they would take as a matter of course if they were Over There. Because why would they? They're Back Home.This mindset was already pretty hard to justify in 1941, and when long-range missiles got added into the equation in the '50s it became utterly obsolete. But it persists, because old habits die hard.This is why something as simple as a balloon crossing into U.S. airspace can send the entire military-industrial complex into a frenzy. Because it doesn't matter that it's just a balloon. What matters is, these things aren't supposed to happen Back Home.
(DIR) Post #ASeSN7zkKXKXDjyDPk by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-13T21:24:57Z
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It just occurred to me that some readers may not understand why I included 9/11 on that list.When al Qaeda started crashing airliners into buildings on that day, the Air Force was alerted that they might need to shoot down some airliners. But it turned out that they didn't have any fighters on the Eastern Seaboard armed and ready to take off and do that. Zero. None.The mission ended up coming down to two Air National Guard pilots, who had planes that, while not armed, at least had fuel in them. They were ordered to take off and, if necessary, crash their fighters into the airliners kamikaze-style. (They were only spared having to do so because the passengers of the fourth and last hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 93, sacrificed their own lives to bring that plane down.)https://abcnews.go.com/US/fighter-pilot-reflects-911-suicide-mission/story?id=79898230
(DIR) Post #ASfxnFHp8OGL6LJsC8 by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-14T14:51:30Z
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“Elizabeth Warren has emerged as a lead lawmaker on crypto oversight and is trying to build support behind a bill that would have sweeping implications for the industry via tougher anti-money laundering restrictions, including requirements that more crypto service providers verify customer identities.”https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/14/elizabeth-warren-anti-crypto-ftx-00082624
(DIR) Post #ASpic3Ur4Z1zcQDi8e by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-17T06:00:09Z
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Cannondale’s Quick Neo e-bikes compress the entire interface for managing the electric motor into a single button on the bike’s top tube that you interact with entirely through presses of varying durations and which provides feedback by changing color, which sounds like something that will absolutely get you fucking killed if you try to use it while dodging traffic at 15mph https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/biking/electric-commuter-bike/cannondale-quick-neo-sl-2
(DIR) Post #ASpic52vJNsQQNAQsa by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-17T06:03:34Z
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I bet Jony Ive adores it, tho
(DIR) Post #ASpic6hj9A6tZDGX7Q by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-17T18:58:52Z
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Here’s more information on the system Cannondale went with, direct from the component supplier they sourced it from (MAHLE SmartBike Systems in Spain): https://mahle-smartbike.com/x35/Naturally they are proud of how “minimalist” it is, which does not disprove my belief that minimalism is a cancer that must be burned out of civilization at any cost
(DIR) Post #ASqNmUuQ6aSJeYHAES by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-19T06:09:45Z
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I just watched an Italian mafia movie from the ‘70s that starts with the protagonist hit man whacking a rival by sneaking into the projection booth of the porno theater the rival is watching a skin flick in and shooting him through the window of the booth with a frigging grenade launcher, and I can only say this: if you are ever making a movie and have an idea that incredible, save it for the ending
(DIR) Post #ASqNmWwyW3ghz3UEUa by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-19T06:16:05Z
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The movie in question, btw. You can stream it on the Criterion Channel https://letterboxd.com/film/the-boss-1973/
(DIR) Post #ASqNmZiuCpDSaHvXTk by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-19T16:42:19Z
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Some movies understand this, such as BLOOD DEBTS (1985) https://youtu.be/f4WahSHUDxc
(DIR) Post #ASuXmcJQM9IcmuVTMm by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-21T17:23:55Z
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@leo It doesn't matter, the majority will just do what it always does: hold a seance and ask the ghost of James Madison what he thinks about it
(DIR) Post #ASzBqQAeDJJd5YbsZM by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-23T17:41:01Z
0 likes, 2 repeats
@glyph @jwz I was in a hospital waiting for my dad to get out of surgery when the hospital announced that masks were no longer required. Administrators came through the hallways putting up big signs saying “we’re so glad to see your smile!” Then a maskless nurse came up to me and told me excitedly that I should take mine off. “We’re free! We’re free!”There have not been many moments in my life that felt more like a scene from a bad dystopian novel
(DIR) Post #ASzlCbc1qqX5LBjOTo by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-23T19:23:41Z
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It amazes me that Britain is at the stage of having to ration food, and yet it's still politically infeasible for any respectable leader there to say that Brexit was a mistake https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/supermarket-food-shortages-aldi-asda-tesco-b2287794.html
(DIR) Post #ASzlCdBA1iEGCRAxsW by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-23T19:30:26Z
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I mean, I'm not throwing stones; they could point at us and say the same thing about guns and health care. It's just constantly amazing to me how even obvious, dramatic hardship can fail to move elite opinion in what are ostensibly democracies.In conclusion, Joseph Overton was on to something https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
(DIR) Post #ASzlCegkPl5csgxhke by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-23T19:44:12Z
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ffshttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/23/food-shortages-environment-secretary-urges-britons-cherish-turnips
(DIR) Post #ASzlCgJmM7uBw2EOEC by jalefkowit@octodon.social
2023-02-23T20:01:47Z
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If you are a professional politician, and you find yourself telling hungry people that they really should appreciate turnips more, sit down and ask yourself how you ended up in a line of work so profoundly unsuited to your personality