sxan

@sxan@midwest.social

       🅸 🅰🅼 🆃🅷🅴 🅻🅰🆆. 

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• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I have an acquaintance that have their own "password system" that involves having a "core" set of characters, plus a few unique characters for each site; Is that system safe?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  … true. You were clearly talking about how the “root” was constructed. If the root were random, a weakness would still be inherent in having the root exposed means all your accounts are potentially compromised, but the social hacking wouldn’t be as much of an issue.

  I skipped over the root generation, as it’s just a useless twist on an older process. “Useless” in that I don’t think it adds any value to construct a root from favorite things. It’s no easier than just memorizing a single 12-character random string and then adding per-site suffixes, which is how I first heard this described a decade ago.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  You’re getting a lot of flak, but this is sort of the plot of Soilent Green, without the twist. With explosive population growth, it’s not an impossible scenario.

  What’s the question, though? Is it possible? Sure, anything is. Why insects, though? There are plenty of other sources of protein, and today vegans (for whom eating even insects is streng verboten) can build healthy diets, even if they have to work a little harder and be more conscious about it. Insects would be yet another level of inefficiency in the system: it’s nearly always most efficient to get nutrients from the most base layer, plants (or fungus, whatever). If all you’re going for is pure efficiency, plants do it all. You may want to kill yourself just to end the culinary misery, but we’re not taking about pleasure or quality of life, only efficiency and base dietary needs.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is their any evolutionary benefit to the sneezing reflex when looking at a bright light source, or is it just an evolutionary glitch with no purpose?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Ok, but: you describe what glitches are in detail, which wasn’t the question. OP clearly understands the concept behind evolution, despite using imprecise terminology.

  You seem confident that there’s no benefit to the light/sneeze reflex: why? Is that an authoritative answer, or just your opinion? Do we know the mechanism behind the reflex, and can we trace it to an origin, like the recurrent laryngeal nerve?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I have an acquaintance that have their own "password system" that involves having a "core" set of characters, plus a few unique characters for each site; Is that system safe?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Isn’t every system vulnerable to social engineering hacks?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The sun is killing off SpaceX's Starlink satellites⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Hee hee

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Gull Dimension⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  “Mine?”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Amazing Fact of the Day⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s fantastic. One of the best moments in my life was discovering a comprehensive archive of Apple ][ game images. So. Many. Games. So many, sometimes it’s hard to find a specific one if you remember the game but not the name.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Amazing Fact of the Day⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The games on those old computers were better, too, proving you can’t make something good just by throwing power at it. Emulators are popular for a reason.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Listen and⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh. Oh, have I got a story.

  When Star Wars came out, I was 11. It was making a lot of noise, and my mom kept trying to convince me to go see it, but we’d driven by the theater and I was convinced - convinced - that it would be boring, and refused. Of course I did end up going, and spent the summer in the theater; this was before they kicked you out and made you buy tickets for each showing. I ended up seeing it 16 times in the theater, that summer.

  Anyway, fast forward a couple dozen years and I’m watching an 2001, and I notice that it was originally released and advertised as being in “stereophonic sound.” Checked with mom, and she confirmed that they had taken me to see 2001 in the theater at some point, and I realized that I must have recognized the “In Stereophonic Sound!” on the Star Wars billboard and made the association that that meant “boring.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Blue Interceptor⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yup! Space melons. Or, more likely, cylinders. They seem to be popular.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Blue Interceptor⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Wings… in spaaaaaace. The retconning justifications are always colorfully inventive.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨demon named racecar⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  People named “Bob.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Home Depot tax at work!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not! But I like very close to them, and the hardware stores around here usually have at least some Robertson.

  I do prefer Torx, but failing that I’d chose Robertson.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Home Depot tax at work!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh, yeah. Phillips is dominant in the US; patents and marketing. Except on the Canadian border, where Robertson bleeds over a bit. But Torx is slowly making gains; franchises like Ace carry them. There’s just not as much variety as Phillips yet. Even looking online, the only way you can get some types is by going to contractor sites where the options are buying 1,000 or more of the thing; I need, like, 2 screws to fix my door hinge. Places like Amazon US doesn’t carry Torx door hinge screws.

  I was taking to a guy at Ace a couple of years ago, and he was saying that Ace was slowly switching to Torx inventory - more baskets were being dedicated to Torx screws every year. The conversion is just very slow.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Home Depot tax at work!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s better than Phillips, for sure. I prefer Torx, myself, but as long as it isn’t Phillips, I’m in.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Home Depot tax at work!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Damn. Where do you live? In general. I’m in the Minnesota, and it’s almost easier to find Robertson screws, because Canada.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Home Depot tax at work!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Torx FTW. I only use Phillips in situations where Torx aren’t available. They still aren’t easily available in as many varieties as Phillips.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Home Depot tax at work!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  15 years ago, I built an extension on a barn stall to suit my wife’s draft horse.

  I am not a carpenter.

  I was not trained. I had no experience.

  What I had was Home Depot, and I’d seen enough framed work and enough videos about people building buildings, and the belief that I could “figure it out.” Also, this was a barn in rural country, and people wouldn’t be living in it so I wasn’t too concerned. So I bought a Saws-All and cut a giant hole in the side of the barn.

  Long story short, I did figure it out, and it wasn’t half bad. Framing the roof gave me the most trouble; I kind of understood the theory, but I had the feeling it wasn’t as neat as it could be; it was the only part of the project that required joining. It had proper siding, a proper roof (with some composite corrugated roofing), and even a ventilated peak with corrugation foam under the top-thingy to frustrate wasps. It had a big-ass sliding door, which I bought pre-made. It had a12" ramp from the door into a paddock made of packed 3/4-minus (second hardest thing). The inside, like the rest of the barn, was just 1x4 horizontal planks, stained, which made everything easier. It didn’t need to be fancy, and the ceilings were all open, so no ceiling work.

  In the end, I learned several things:

  1. Home Depot has everything you need to build a small house, including truck rental to get the material to the house.
  2. I waaay overbuilt it, out of paranoia that I would under-build it. I had double supports every 16" and horizontal cross beams. Like the rest of the barn, there was no floor - it was all packed 3/4-minus - but I poured a 1’x3’ concrete foundation over basebed gravel for the walls. I’m not certain anymore that the original barn had more that 4x4 posts sunk in concrete. I believe that, had I been experienced with building, I could have done the job with far less material.
  3. Home Depots wood is absolute shit. I screwed double 2x6s mainly to try to get the damned things straight enough to build on. And I bought only pressure-treated wood because I wasn’t certain that my siding job would be perfect, but also because this was open to the elements.
  4. I learned to hate Phillips-head screws with a passion that’s lasted the rest of my life so far.
  5. Someone with no experience can do something like build a glorified shed. A 14’ tall, 16x16, sided and corrugated roofed shed, but a shed.

  I was pleased with the result, and I’m grateful for Home Depot because there’s no way I could have done that without them. Not within the season of weekends that it took me.

  The only wood I’ll buy from Home Depot is unfinished shelving wood. Their shelving stuff is outrageously expensive, but it’s clean and straight, and properly cured.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨doctors⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This. And I suspect what they’re taking about isn’t common except in very specific cases, like transplants.

  If there’s a compatible kidney doner available, and it’s a choice between an obese and a non-obese adult, they’re going to give it to the person more likely to survive and make longer use of the donation, and all other things being equal that’s the non-obese person. OP will categorize this as “denying care,” but it’s really a question of saving the person who isn’t likely to die anyway from comorbidities.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Knowledge Forager⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Cordyceps. Man, in a post-apocalyptic landscape, I’d be staying as far away from cordyceps as possible. That’s just a horror story set-up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You can't have Panama Canal without Anal⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  And when you go through it, you also get an anama.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Socialism bad⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s two girls, but because of inflation and Cup Developers buying all the cups and renting the cups out, driving up cup prices, the girls can afford only one cup.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨great shoe idea⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I… what? He’s doing what with these shoes?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Stride and Speed⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It could probably be made fairly stable for the riders - think of a chicken’s head.

  But imagine what it’s doing to the road.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Prehistoric Crossroads⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Naw, my gut instinct was just straight up wrong, dog. It’s Ok. It’s neither the first, nor the last, time I’m going to be wrong. It’s good, because it means I sometimes verify before making claims.

  But I appreciate the spirit of your attempt to make me look less ignorant.

  Doveryay, no proveryay.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Big Marijuana don't want you to know...⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, I think I’m just cursed that the first noticeable effect is nausea. From what I’ve read, it’s not entirely uncommon.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Legalized prostitution is liberal, though. Worker’s rights, protection, medical care… in every country with legalized prostitution, prostitutes have a better deal.

  Note that I’m not saying that legalized prostitution is always good - human trafficking is still an issue. I’m just saying it’s a better environment than places where prostitution is illegal.

  There may be liberals who see prostitution as exploitation, but more broadly, legalized prostitution is more supported by liberals.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  $20? No. $200? Still no. $2,000. Nopers.

  But $100,000 USD? Yeah. That’s dick-sucking money. Now, if it came with caveats - swallowing, whatever - probably no. But for $1,000,000, I’d swallow.

  It’s, like, eating human shit. Assuming it’s been sanitized and I’m not going to get some illness from it, for $1M, I’d do it. There isn’t a lot that’s not life-threatening I wouldn’t do for a million dollars, especially if it’s under a half-hour’s work.

  $1M would dramatically reduce my retirement age.

  But $20? There’s not a lot I would do that I normally wouldn’t for $20.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Big Marijuana don't want you to know...⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m in a state where it’s legal, and I’ve been experimenting since the late 80’s. I’ve had a wide variety of doses of pot.

  If it’s enough for me to notice more than a little fuzzy-headed, I get sick. Yes, there’s a threshold below which I don’t get sick, but I also don’t get a buzz.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If I acted like a semi white power douche. On X Meta or whatever. And was a yes man to Elon and promoted the Orange Peel. While using fake photos of myself. Can I bilk them for alot of cash?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You have to have something they want. Either a really good con, like… an idea to convert public schools to prisons, or something. They’re not just going to give you money just because you kiss their asses; they have a shitload of authentic rabid fanatics.

  But if you think you’ve got a good con, do it for the cause, not because it’ll embarrass them. If you could somehow embarrassed Trump, you could find yourself with new lodging at Guantanamo, and good luck getting anyone in the lethal system to successfully get you out.

  Neither of them are “givers”. They’re both con men themselves, so I think trying to bilk them is going to be challenging.