thesmokingman
@thesmokingman@programming.dev
- Comment on Ubuntu security advisory (AV24-685) - Canadian Centre for Cyber Security 2 weeks ago:
There are an unsurprisingly large number of Ubuntu 16 boxes in the clouds. A quick google even shows a Spring 2024 course from a major US university recommending 32-bit Ubuntu 16.
- Comment on flouride 4 weeks ago:
I don’t think you understand what “outside my realm of expertise” means. I’m not trolling, so I must be a simpleton. As a simpleton, my general perspective has always been that it should be safe to ask questions about things you don’t understand so you can better understand. In this case, it’s very simple to say “from my uneducated eye, this appears to be a strong source that contradicts; that doesn’t seem to jive with the narrative so can someone help me understand why it doesn’t?” You seem to feel simpletons aren’t allowed to ask questions or grow, so we’re done here. I will take my specialized, domain-specific knowledge (which I’ve forgotten more about than you will probably ever learn) and sit in my simpleton castle knowing that’s all I ever get to know because it’s not okay to ask questions on the internet in a community based on discourse.
- Comment on flouride 4 weeks ago:
I’m was just hoping for a solid rebuttal, not necessarily a fancy one! If you’re able to explain why the criticisms you mention mean that specific study is bad, that would be great! I’m assuming you’re not from China and mistakenly think wherever you’re from doesn’t suffer from similar issues, meaning we can only trust you as much as the article.
It would be great to have some citations for that so I can point to things when I get into these discussions! That was part of what I asked for. You seem really passionate about this so you must have that available to help me out. Thanks!
I’m not sure you read my post if you think I trust any of the studies I linked more than anything else. It might be good to reread it!
- Comment on flouride 4 weeks ago:
It looks like someone else linked one of these studies in a different comment while I was writing my own. I don’t feel as crazy now. I don’t care one way or another; I just want to make sure I can respond correctly! I wonder if the emphasis on fluoridated water is itself linked to industry capture?
- Comment on flouride 4 weeks ago:
I want someone who knows about these things to respond to this 2012 metastudy that ties naturally fluoridated groundwater to neurological problems. I have used this the past decade to say “well the science is unclear;” I found it back then (2013 at the latest) when I was trying to disprove a crank and really questioned my shit. There was a(n unrelated?) follow up later that questioned the benefits. Since this is very far from my area of expertise, I’m not championing these; I just want to understand why they’re wrong or at least don’t matter in the discourse.
- Comment on Boeing factory workers vote to accept contract and end more than 7-week strike 1 month ago:
Well fuck, since that’s so much larger that what Pope said they could do I guess Boeing is filing for bankruptcy now and folding? They were holding nothing back then so clearly the company is going under now due to those greedy workers’
- Comment on have you ever been given a warning or suspension for using profane language at work? 1 month ago:
If someone doesn’t understand the difference between swearing at and swearing around, that’s a shitty environment. If I say, “that was a shitty fucking outage” I am using some filler for emphasis so my mouth can catch up to my brain. If I say “you’re a fucking asshole” or “don’t be such a bitch” or “that’s fucking sexy” I am not being professional and I deserve some training on how to not be an ignorant walnut. Even with swearing around, I do think it’s smart to limit yourself to damnation, defecation, and simple fornication rather than gendered swears. There are also some places it’s not wise to swear around, such as client-facing roles because many of the people you will see don’t understand that swearing around is not swearing at.
I once lost a job after the onsite interview. I wait to swear until I I hear them swear. Apparently my use of “fuck” meant I was going to blow up and be a terrible person to my peers. Two years later I started running a department doing the thing I was interviewing for and my staff tends to be fiercely loyal. I’d argue my swearing speaks for itself and have shaped my professional attitude toward swearing around around this experience.
I work in tech and I’m quick to police my language if necessary. I’m also concerned about relative comfort (eg I try really hard not to blaspheme around some Christian peers). I do not swear at people. I do not work in a super corporate environment. YMMV.
I like study (you can find the full article online) and I think there’s been more research down this path in the years since.
- Comment on World of Warcraft adds $90 mount to in game store 1 month ago:
I think it’s a terrible decision because of this. The whole point of hubs is to get players together and interacting. Putting AH and mail around hubs requires many players together. Giving folks a mount means the hubs stop being hubs and contributes to the continued decay of the multiplayer aspect.
Take this with a grain of salt. When I last played hubs still mattered. If that isn’t currently the case this is just old fart complaints.
- Comment on Proton is the Future of PC gaming. But how does it work? [Gardiner Bryant, YouTube] 2 months ago:
There’s really nothing preventing that now. Used to be you just forwarded X (mobaXterm is great); looks like there’s an MS offering now.
As for Linux-exclusive games, there are some (eg this publisher) but really only because no one has bothered to make a Windows port. tbh you could probably get them running on macOS without much trouble because the toolchain’s all the same.
- Comment on Blame da gubberment 2 months ago:
This is actually true. Essentially a big drug manufacturer took down a scientist through a serious harassment campaign and blew him the fuck up when he finally snapped. In no large part to this coordinated glowup, published literature in the US agrees with the chemical manufacturer while it’s been banned in the EU for 20 years. The EPA might disagree with me that it’s true; the EPA and others funded in no small part by Syngenta refuse to look at things by Dr Hayes because he lost his cool a few times. Unfortunately Alex Jones further eroded the credibility of Dr Hayes but, imo, only because Syngenta actively deplatformed his research. Also Jones said some crazy shit about it.
- Comment on Boeing proposes 30% wage hike to striking workers in its 'final' offer. 2 months ago:
Stephanie Pope said workers wouldn’t get anything better than the previous, rejected offer. I get what you’re trying to explain; that’s not the situation here and either way that’s the joke. Boeing corporate is being very disingenuous and clearly not negotiating in good faith. I’ve got another comment a bit ago on the article I linked calling out this exact situation.
- Comment on Boeing proposes 30% wage hike to striking workers in its 'final' offer. 2 months ago:
Last time Boeing execs said they “held nothing back.” Where the fuck did the extra 5% come from?
- Comment on DarkPattern.games - a website that rates mobile games for their "dark patterns" 2 months ago:
It could also be manipulated by someone who reports the dark patterns are inaccurate. If it were run by a single org or person, it could get sold to a company interested in gaming the ratings or used to bash things the owner doesn’t like. I’m not entirely sure what your point is. Every way to set this up is subject to bad actors. There are some checks and balances present in the website. Why are they inadequate and why should we not trust this site? Are you, perhaps, an industry dark pattern plant trying to get us to avoid something that could deter dark pattern usage?
- Comment on Kotaku being Kotaku 3 months ago:
The most frustrating thing about this article is that it completely ignores that good movies targeted at kids still have to be good. Personal complaints aside, the new Mario movie was reasonably good for adults and great for kids. Pixar keeps churning out things that are fantastic on many levels. Bluey is an amazing show that can resonate with kids and parents. I don’t for a minute buy the elitist bullshit of “well you’re not a kid so you can’t comment.” Muppet Treasure Island holds the fuck up as an adult so this writer can fuck right off.
- Comment on Randy Pitchford releases the most valuable shift code ever at PAX. 3 months ago:
It’s okay for background noise. It is infuriating to watch. It’s not even slightly funny at a bad movie level of funny. It’s just bad.
- Comment on U.K. might follow Europe in fining employers who message staff after-hours 3 months ago:
Yeah! At scale that really falls apart. I have lots of conversations with lots of people across timezones so waiting for the intersection of everyone actively blocks work.
Asynchronous communication is exactly that. If you are not listening when your manager says “don’t Slack after work” that’s on you. I sure fucking don’t and I make that very clear.
- Comment on U.K. might follow Europe in fining employers who message staff after-hours 3 months ago:
I manage a workforce across time zones and, as someone with ADHD, it’s usually best for me to fire off messages as things arise. If I read the summary, I’m not allowed to Slack/email after hours, which creates a huge burden for a remote workforce. I think that summary is incorrect and it’s more that I can’t force people to respond or even read those messages outside their work hours. I completely support this and I regularly bother my team when they respond to stuff after their day has ended. I call this out every quarter as we update our team working agreement. I don’t have any notifications set up for work comms period and have made it very clear the only way to get in touch with me is a phone call.
- Comment on Every Difference Between Rebel Moon’s Director Cuts & The Original Versions 4 months ago:
Well fuck now I have to waste another entire work day to watch the updated version and hate it even more
- Comment on ‘Just a complete mess’: Initial impressions of the Borderlands movie are mostly negative [VGC] 4 months ago:
The only thing you need to know is that Randy Pitchford was involved. This guarantees it’s going to be a shitshow.
- Comment on Former Qantas boss has exit pay slashed by millions 4 months ago:
Oh no whatever will he do with only half the amount of millions how will he ever survive he’s just like the 1500+ people he sacked with no severance
I get that it’s a step in the right direction; treating this as anything less than the travesty it kinda demeans all the people he fucked
- Comment on The 10 worst science fiction movies of all time 4 months ago:
According to movie commentary, depends on who you talk to. Wikipedia lists the budget as 1.8mil and a box office of either 4mil or 1.3mil so it’s kinda unclear what the truth is.
- Comment on The 10 worst science fiction movies of all time 4 months ago:
I don’t understand how they can say “overly sexualised voyages into space” and not include Galaxy of Terror. The worm rape scene that didn’t need to be in the movie and Corman forced back in makes it a much better contender for the slot Barbarella is in. On a script, camp, and exploitation level it is worse in every way and it’s even a ripoff of Alien to boot, arguably making it worse than Alien v Predator: Requiem which at least tries to be original.
I own it on laserdisc. The only reason I’ve seen it more than once is because people are surprised Sid Haig and Robert Englund did a movie together. It’s fucking bad and holy shit is the worm rape scene the fucking peak of Corman being a misogynistic, exploitative walnut. To be totally frank it really disgusts me that he still gets a platform (legacy) after forcing this scene into the movie and directing it himself, even if some people think it contributed to the movie’s commercial success.
- Comment on Scammer Allegedly Makes $600,000 a Month Holding Instagram Accounts Hostage 4 months ago:
- Comment on Is this just how it’s gonna be till Election Day? 4 months ago:
A few different things contribute to this and, unfortunately, there’s very little you can do to fix it. I’ve spent (wasted) a ton of time trying to prevent it on my end.
- If you used your phone number on your voter registration, reregister immediately without your phone number. This is public information and it’s where these things start.
- Find contact info for your local, county, and state parties. All sides. Call them up and ask that your information be removed from their database(s). You might have to escalate a bit because usually phone bankers don’t know how to do it or don’t understand why you want privacy. Worst case scenario you can pull out a sob story about an abusive ex and how your information isn’t supposed to be public at all. That will usually get your shit pulled.
- While you’re on those calls, try to find out where they either send or pull their data from. Next go there and do step 2 again.
- Repeat step 3 as many times as it takes.
However, individual candidates who may have received a copy of your data or canvassed you might not get the notice. Eventually their copies of your data might get leaked. You have no control over this and no recourse. I know this from personal experience. Through a unique mixup with a name, I have slowly watched my data go from politician to politician to now general spam. It’s not coming from data brokers because the only place the mixup happened was with political data.
Best of all, the FTC doesn’t give a shit. If someone “manually” sends you a political text, it doesn’t require prior consent. The “manual” setup for this is a bunch of VoIP shit that doesn’t actually go back to a real human ever and is about as “manual” as the fully automated assembly lines from How It’s Made where a human is standing nearby with a clip board saying “yup that’s a widget.”
- Comment on "GitHub" Is Starting to Feel Like Legacy Software 5 months ago:
Small/medium business. Fair callout.
- Comment on "GitHub" Is Starting to Feel Like Legacy Software 5 months ago:
Self-hosted isn’t really an option for SMB. There’s cool shit I can use at home and then there’s basically nothing I can move companies to without huge issues like this. Definitely would love recommendations there.
- Comment on It's getting harder to die 5 months ago:
I am not surprised by either the author or the HN community completely missing it’s getting harder to die if and only if you can afford it or want to throw your family into crippling debt for the rest of their lives. This might be a US problem only. I rolled my eyes when the article opened with “sophisticated New Yorkers” and then completely ignored the cost all of this incurs.
- Comment on Thanks. That was what I was looking for. 6 months ago:
You literally spent an entire comment explaining why you should not use scientific notation and now you’re asking why I might prefer precision in byte arithmetic?
Good luck with that.
- Comment on Thanks. That was what I was looking for. 6 months ago:
If I ignore what’s in the search bar, I remember that the prefix “mebi” means 2^20 and use a calculator. Your point doesn’t make sense because you’re asking us to get mad at a tool intended to convert scientific units for using the bog standard scientific notation. Byte math uses powers of 2 ergo we should use a calculator that isn’t explicitly set up for rounding.
- Comment on Thanks. That was what I was looking for. 6 months ago:
When you search “megabytes to bytes” the units are correct and the number is one. If you edit the form, the number might not be one and the units might not be correct. Changing units highlights the unit input.
OP’s ostensible point posting on this community is that searching “megabytes to bytes” gave “mebibytes to bytes” in the calculator but OP’s image shows OP has changed the calculator.