Powderhorn
@Powderhorn@beehaw.org
Editor and tech enthusiast
At some point, I have to admit neither is true. Let’s see …
Wage slave and vandweller.
- Comment on Dating Apps Are Dying 14 hours ago:
gets up from rocking chair I never really got the purpose of dating apps, as I was still married when they came out, and when the ex and I separated, I had a Plan B inadvertently lined up via work. The latter and I did use apps on her phone, but it was just for the purposes of making fun of the banality of cookie-cutter pictures and bios while drinking on the porch.
- Comment on Another big James Talarico interview is punted to YouTube due to FCC threats 2 days ago:
The issue the GOP is facing isn’t new. They go apeshit when a pastor dares to teach the actual teachings of Jesus in a soft-spoken way.
Just add in an order of magnitude if Texas.
- Submitted 2 days ago to technology@beehaw.org | 3 comments
- Submitted 2 days ago to technology@beehaw.org | 5 comments
- Comment on Australia to force social media platforms to allow users to opt out of algorithms 4 days ago:
The thing is, those of us old enough to remember dialup aren’t anyone’s target demographic, and the cohort that is has been conditioned over time to believe that the current situation is the natural order of things. They were raised to consume, not seek.
- Comment on Australia to force social media platforms to allow users to opt out of algorithms 4 days ago:
I absolutely cannot stand algorithmic feeds. Unless I can.
Here’s the thing: I left Facebook when I stopped seeing anything my friends posted. At the same time, YouTube wouldn’t be all that useful without suggestions. My subscriptions is my home page, so I’m getting videos in chronological order from users I’ve decided to follow, and then the algorithm occasionally serves up a suggestion that leads to a new subscription.
So just saying “social media must provide an opt-out method” is something of a sledgehammer. Moreover, companies will bury that method behind a bunch of dark patterns so no one ever ever gets to it, even if it technically exists.
- ‘We’re plausibly close to crossing the line’: are warnings of uncontrollable AI coming true?www.theguardian.com ↗Submitted 1 week ago to technology@beehaw.org | 14 comments
- Comment on If You Rented a Car or Bought Weed Recently, Your License Is Likely for Sale on the Dark Web. Protect Your Identity Now 1 week ago:
ID scanning has become very common in Texas. Lowers insurance rates for sellers and gives the state a full database of alcohol purchases.
- Comment on If You Rented a Car or Bought Weed Recently, Your License Is Likely for Sale on the Dark Web. Protect Your Identity Now 1 week ago:
It’s unclear how this is feasible. Also, are we saying “cookies” these days?
- Comment on Google Has Removed Manifest V2 Extensions From the Chrome Web Store, Including uBlock Origin 1 week ago:
With NordVPN? Cool. You know what the top of a funnel looks like?
- Comment on Google Has Removed Manifest V2 Extensions From the Chrome Web Store, Including uBlock Origin 1 week ago:
The tech-savvy relative should have had them on Firefox long ago. They don’t need a fork. Firefox will do.
- Comment on Google Has Removed Manifest V2 Extensions From the Chrome Web Store, Including uBlock Origin 1 week ago:
It’s hard to understand how anyone who was using uBO on Chrome was unaware this was coming. The Manifest V3 shit started years ago, and I expect uBO users to be more technically literate than the general public.
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to technology@beehaw.org | 1 comment
- Comment on Meet Orexin, The Brain Chemical Behind Staying Motivated 2 weeks ago:
This is definitely one of those “the longer you look, the worse it gets” things.
At lower right, we apparently have a real-world option to turn off that damn noise. Moving slightly up, at the top of what appears to be a pneumatic lift towering to six inches are marshmallows or ice cubes. Both are an issue as they are known for not being pink.
We have avocado-shaped markings on these … what are they, anyway? The one on the left literally has a pig snout and ears, plus something from Tron designed for a dog.
To the right? The ultimate symbol of depravity (one notes Macavity wasn’t there). This is a rat who isn’t just evil (red … thing) but also poorly stroked. Can you imagine going through life with one or two points of white outline on your body?
Rats, as we know, famously enjoy caviar, hence our friend at the counter both speaking and thinking about red spheres.
- Comment on Meet Orexin, The Brain Chemical Behind Staying Motivated 2 weeks ago:
We have found a new use for a dashed yellow arrow!
- Comment on Dozens of engineers laid off at Apple headquarters 2 weeks ago:
I expect to see waves of Dolly Parton-related layoffs in the coming months.
- Comment on Popular erectile dysfunction drug linked to eye disease that can cause irreversible vision loss 2 weeks ago:
Great. Relevance to the topic at hand?
- Comment on Popular erectile dysfunction drug linked to eye disease that can cause irreversible vision loss 2 weeks ago:
Going to Faux News for science is … a choice. Also, jesus christ, kids these days and the luxury of having the space to replace “glaucoma” with “eye disease that can cause irreversible vision loss.”
We all fucking know what glaucoma is. This isn’t some 2026 development that’s flown under the radar.
I also have no idea what this has to do with technology.
Anyway, for those interested in the paper, it’s here.
- Comment on YouTube Premium is getting yet another price hike for users across the globe 2 weeks ago:
I prefer buying my music by the track at a reasonable price, having a couple of backups and not paying monthly.
- Comment on Apple lays off staffers ahead of CEO change 2 weeks ago:
Yeah, and I’m going to urinate ahead of death. At least, I hope so.
Point being, the hed is a cheque the threadbare story can’t cash. There’s no causality. “Apple lays of staffers ahead of heat death of universe” also works. In the latter case, no reasonable person would see entropy at fault.
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to technology@beehaw.org | 2 comments
- Comment on Amazon aims for delivery drones to reach 500 US neighborhoods by end of 2026 3 weeks ago:
The Texas cities are an AP Style aneurysm.
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to technology@beehaw.org | 45 comments
- Comment on The Diamond Industry’s Old Guard Wants You to Buy ‘Natural’ 3 weeks ago:
Fascinating read. Thanks for the link!
My experience with diamonds is limited. I grew up in the ‘80s, so I of course remember the ubiquitous DeBeers ads with everything in silhouette except the ring.
By the time engagement sauntered my way for the first time, it was totally unplanned. My girlfriend had moved in after the end of the academic year, though functionally living with me for months before that (turns out the dorms suck as a freshman at 21), and one Saturday morning in September, I took a shower and on returning to the bedroom asked if we were headed toward marriage.
“I guess so.”
“Does that mean we’re engaged?”
“I suppose it does.”
So we decided apparently the order of the day is finding engagement rings. Both of us being oblivious to fashion, we set out on this journey with bleached hair of the same length, matching shirts and matching pants.
“Oh, twins!” someone remarked passing us on the street downtown.
Now, don’t get me wrong, at this point, we’re both giddy. We’d not so much ever discussed marriage, and neither of us was big on the institution, and yet, here we are.
First off, jewelry stores find this to be an odd situation. "We’re looking for each others’ engagement rings" was weird in 2005, I guess. The first two places we went were keen on … things neither of us was. They also found our target spend pedestrian, and explaining these were mere engagement rings and that the real money comes for the wedding rings didn’t improve matters.
This being a city of 20,000, options were limited, but we found success at the third place. This one wasn’t just a jewelry store; the guy actually was a jeweler and had a selection available but preferred doing custom pieces.
In the end, I got her a silver bypass ring with a negligible diamond off the shelf, and she got me a simple white gold band that he assured us he could add to for the wedding ring.
We were both very happy with what we picked up a week later, with hers needing to be resized and mine needing to be made.
Obviously, some phone calls happened the evening of the engagement, and my mom was a bit miffed that she only learned after the fact, despite assuring her I’d not, myself, woken up that morning thinking I’d discuss getting married.
But the net result was she offered me her engagement and wedding rings to use for the one I would design. Three diamonds were included in this, with the largest having been appraised at $7,900. I turned the smaller two into earrings and then went with a bypass solitaire. After we’d moved to another town (yay, newspapers!), we went into a jeweler and asked what we could get for the ring as a whole, gold and stone, and were told about $3,000.
It’s a racket.
(also, no diamonds were involved in my second wedding … a welded cone-spiked 1/2" stainless-steel collar is also forever)
- Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignoredwww.theguardian.com ↗Submitted 3 weeks ago to technology@beehaw.org | 0 comments
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to technology@beehaw.org | 2 comments
- Comment on PBS station fears losing 50TB of data after being ghosted by cloud storage provider 4 weeks ago:
- PBS station fears losing 50TB of data after being ghosted by cloud storage providerarstechnica.com ↗Submitted 4 weeks ago to technology@beehaw.org | 5 comments
- Comment on Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin 4 weeks ago:
The web is unusable without uBO. And this isn’t like the brief window where FF was a contender; I’d imagine the proportion of FF users with uBO is rather large.
- Submitted 4 weeks ago to technology@beehaw.org | 1 comment
