dhork

@dhork@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why don't politicians during a hearing let the person they are questioning actually answer questions and speak?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a power trip, pure and simple. They pull people into those hearings just so everyone knows how important Congresspeople are, and how the rest of the world has to bend to their will. And the questions aren’t asked so that they can generate meaningful responses, they are asked so the congressperson can look like they’re doing something.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it possible for someone in America to not know who Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi is?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Some people don’t pay attention to sports. I don’t pay attention to Opera, but I’m sure there are some Opera singers who are as big a deal in Opera as Ronaldo or Messi are in soccer.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do I survive the US immigration?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I think the most important thing would be to work closely with your employer to make sure all paperwork is in order for your entire party. The border guards are mainly looking for people who look like they are a risk to overstay whatever permission they have. It will be better for you if you emphasize the “visiting” part, and you make sure they are aware that you all intend to go back on time. (You don’t mention your gender, but expect a lot more attention if you are a woman, with your male partner - the current administration is putting a priority on keeping people out they think might get pregnant and have kids with US citizenship while here)

  Yes, they do retain the right to rifle through all of your electronics, but my understanding is that they don’t do that all the time. Still, it’s prudent to come with a temporary phone at the very least. You don’t want them to find some errant email thread and decide to deny you based on that. It’s sad that it has come to that here, but there you go. You may also want to look into the process of sanitizing the sensitive data from your laptop. See if your employer provides a secure cloud service to put it instead. There is no reason to risk patient data because we have gone crazy here.

  But, sadly, you may be singled out regardless. I’m American, and work with a lot of Europeans. One from Spain in particular got pulled aside for enhanced screening every time he came to the US, which is unusual. Finally, on one trip one of the agents mentioned that he had the same name as some South American bad guy. What can you do at that point? He just plans for a few extra hours everytime he comes to the US now. He should probably just fund a job that doesn’t require travel to rhe US…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Can an Swedish style draft work in the US?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  My link may have been a bit misleading. We have never had an entity named “civil defense force” but pre-9/11 the same function was filled by a hodgepodge of agencies, which that Wikipedia article discussed. After that they were all folded into the “DHS” trench coat.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Can an Swedish style draft work in the US?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  A few things to talk about first in regards to the US:

  • We have the concept of the National Guard, which is a military reserve force under the control of the States but with the ability for the President to call it to active duty. While still a military force, state governors will mobilize them for things where the local police force needs help, like natural disasters.

  • We also do have a Civil Defense Force, but since the Bush administration those agencies have largely been sucked into the Department of Homeland Security, and even the concept of “civil defense” has been eaten by the idea of “Homeland Security” (which is a bit different, don’t you think?) The one exception is emergency preparedness/ FEMA, which is still a priority in most people’s minds despite our President treating everything he touches like his own personal piggy bank.

  Now, in relation to your idea about a “draft” for civil defense purposes, we call the idea National Service and we have many such agencies, like Americorps. However, the idea of mandatory national service will never happen until Americans as a whole become less selfish. And even if it does, I am confident those who are well-off will find a way to buy out of it, which will defeat the whole purpose, won’t it?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨what's the deal with Data centers and why do we all of a sudden need massive ones built all over everywhere?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  We need datacenters to enable all the Internet stuff. If you buy stuff online, binge TV shows, or rot your brain on social media, your phone is communicating with some back-end server in “the cloud”. And the cloud is all in datacenters now, because they are all connected to the Internet, and each other. So if you want to host an Internet service where everyone can get to it, even if it’s just a virtual server on a cloud platform, that virtual server lives in a datacenter.

  The reason it is all hitting thr news now is that AI hardware takes much more power than a standard Linux server. So new hyperscalar /AI datacenters require a lot more power than older ones. And in areas without sane regulations, datacenters can go up much more quickly than new power plants can go up. So, if local governments and regulators aren’t looking that closely, new datacenters can quickly drive demand that the local utility can’t service without buying more power on the open market. And unless the datacenter is required by local regulations to patty the higher price for that extra load, the cost is divided across all consumers.

  Also, this increased power consumption inside each rack comes with additional cooling requirements. Old datacenters can make do with air cooling, but these new ones all use liquid cooling. And the cheapest way to do that is evaporative cooling, which “uses up” all the water we’ve been reading about. (There are closed-loop methods that don’t “use up” water, but they are more expensive so the datacenters don’t use it).

  So, really, it’s all a scaling problem. One datacenter doesn’t cause that much of a problem. But they grow in clumps, like a fungus. Dozens of datacenters in a small area can cause environmental havoc.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hypothetically if I found a suitcase of money by the side of the road, is there a legal way to claim it on my taxes?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As I understand it, the way the IRS is structured, if you take in money from any source (documented or not, legal or not), that counts as “income” unless there is an explicit rule saying it does not, and they want their cut.

  But, like anything else they do, they only care about significant amounts. If you find a $1 bill (or even a $100 bill) on the ground, nobody is going to audit you over it. But, if $10k drops out of the back of a truck into your lap, and they find out about it, you might expect some uncomfortable questions.

  How would they find out? Well, banks are required to report large cash deposits and withdrawals. So if you show up with an extra $40k one day and put it into the bank all at once, the teller may ask you why, and report whatever your answer is to the government. (And if you space it out over 40 deposits of $1k, that is also suspicious and may be illegal if the authorities determine you were doing it specifically to avoid reporting).

  Historically, this has been a way to get at organized crime syndicates. Al Capone was a famous monster who ultimately went to jail bit because of his illegal activities, but because of evading taxes owed on them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What happens when you just refuse to pay and go ... ?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  They have no idea how to coordinate a blockade effectively. But they know how to sound all tough and convince their supporters that they are kicking ass, even if all the missiles are gone and we can’t do shit anymore.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What happens when you just refuse to pay and go ... ?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That is a very thorough analysis, which relies on international law, legal precedent, and common sense.

  But, have you considered that Donald Trump doesn’t give a fuck, and does what he wants? If he wants to charge a 20% fee for going through a body of water he doesn’t own, who’s gonna stop him?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How accurate can your position be calculated from a photo of the sun you post online?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Latitude can theoretically determined by the data in your picture. Longitude is much harder, because you can’t really tell how far east and west you are based on the angle of the sun alone. This was a historic problem, especially when mankind started traveling across oceans.

  The problem can be solved by knowing your time relative to some reference point. This is how Greenwich Observatory became so important to timekeeping: to determine longitude, ships had to carry a good clock that showed them what time it was at Greenwich, and the difference in time between when the sun was directly overhead on the ship and noon at Greenwich told them their longitude.

  So, the main piece of information that gives away your latitude is actually the time, assuming it is either stored as UTC or as local time with a UTC offset…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why did/does Oman not raise a stink about Iran also closing their half of the strait?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As I recall, the part of the strait that large tankers can actually use is very narrow. As a result, the tankers have to navigate the strait slowly and they are easy to intercept.

  On top of that, Iran has several islands in perfect position to be used as naval bases. So, they can go our and put patrol boats (smaller, so not limited in where they can navigate, and well armed) in the way of ships, and threaten to sink them if they disobey orders to go no further.

  As to why Oman doesn’t object, I can only assume that Oman doesn’t have enough naval power of its own to put up a serious fight against Iran. So, when the Iranians come and threaten tankers, whether it’s in international waters or Omani waters, Oman probably can’t do much about it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  We don’t have to imagine it, we made it! It looked like this:

  Gopher

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨is the romantic period due, in any part, to the high alcohol content of their food ?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  There is a school of thought that says that 1000+ years ago, clean water may have been hard to come by in some areas, and it was actually safer to drink beer than the local water.

  It turns out, though, that much of the benefit comes from boiling the water as part of the beer making process - if those people had simply boiled their water before drinking it, it would have been just as effective.

  The beer they drank back then was also much weaker than beer today. So nobody was getting drunk on it regularly, and it was not quite as dehydrating as modern alcoholic drinks.

  The Royal Navy famously gave beer and rum as part of their rations while at sea, because the alcohol served to kill microbes. They could dilute it with water before handing out the rations for the day, and the alcohol would kill any microbes in the water, essentially helping them to stretch out the life og their water rations as well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨hockey team owner selfishly engraves his whole family on the Stanley Cup⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, it’s the same trophy. There are metal bands where they engrave the names every year. The trophy can only hold about 50 years worth of names, though. When it fills up, they replace the oldest metal band and send it to the Hockey Hall of Fame to make room for new names.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mitch McConnel's Wikipedia page has been heavily edited the last few days, with the last ones being 4 hours ago. So around 1PM EST. What could that mean?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Um, it means they are actively editing it? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

  There’s a whole section now on “Mid-2026 hospitalization and death rumors”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What should I do with boxes of old photos?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Why feel bad? They’re just things. If you have them scanned in then you can reprint them whenever you want.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I need to book travel and the only airline's booking system is down⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sorry to hear about your troubles.

  First the obvious: are you sure it’s the website that isn’t working? Could it be whatever device/browser you are on? Many airlines have apps now, can you book a ticket on the app?

  Most airlines still have telephone numbers, you can try calling them, although they will probably charge a fee to book o er the phone. If the airport is close to you, you can also still go to the counter and buy a ticket if you need to. (Again, they will charge a fee for that.) However, if you explain the situation to an actual human they might have the latitude to waive some of the fees.

  However, you might also want to check to see if a different airline can get you there with a connection. flights.google.com is a very good search engine for that now. Just put in the two airports, and it will show you all the flights you can take.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Something kept poking my leg on my mid-morning flight to Nashville⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oops! Sorry I dropped my pickle juice

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Data from the 2023 Insomniac leak showed that most first party Playstation games sold more physical discs than digital copies⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Exactly! And maintaining the plant to make physical discs costs money. Sony can reduce costs by forcing everyone to digital copies. Customers will ultimately go along with it, because they understand their personal preferences are not worth as much as an extra $0.50 per game in profit.

  Won’t anyone think of the shareholders?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are we SURE Reagan didn't cheat in the elections???⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s gonna be Newsom vs. Donald Trump Jr

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If the temple bell rings in Kyoto at the exact moment the tide hits the shore in Osaka, does the sound travel faster over the concrete or does the humidity in the air compress the distance between them?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Roses are red

  Violets are blue

  I am a bot

  Am so are you

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If the temple bell rings in Kyoto at the exact moment the tide hits the shore in Osaka, does the sound travel faster over the concrete or does the humidity in the air compress the distance between them?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The sound goes so fast, in fact, that you can hear the bell before OP can finish the post

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Specifically, the 13th amendment, which abolished* slavery:

  Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Was Alex Jones right about anything?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  If Alex Jones told me it was sunny out I would bring my umbrella.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s not that Australia is “in the future”, it’s that local time is oriented toward when the sun is up. I am posting this at 1150 Saturday US Eastern Time, which happens to be 1550 Saturday UTC and 0050 on Sunday Sydney time, but it’s all the same actual time.

  Publishers have a choice to make: either release at the same time worldwide in UTC and have to pick which markets get it in the middle of the night, or release in stages worldwide and put up with the fact that one it gets released on one market, enterprising people will figure out a way to play it from anywhere. If it’s an online game, and they are already planning worldwide access, they probably are planning their server rollout regionally, and can turn on the game in each region at a different UTC time of they want to.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  surely they wouldnt have invested trillons on it if it was garbage

  Oh, my sweet summer child.

  “They” didn’t invest trillions of their own money in it. They invested a few million, built up some hype, and got other people to invest more, so now their millions are billions. And they are smart enough to sell before it all collapses.

  They make their billions even though it’s garbage. Heck, they make billions because they know it’s garbage before everyone else does.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Put your seat back or no?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The way I look at it, it’s a shared resource. You are just as “entitled” to the space as the person behind you.

  If I need the space, I will try and use it. But, I will move back slowly, and stop if I meet any resistance. There is nothing worse than having someone slam their seat back into your laptop (or worse, onto your knees…)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is the deal with IPv6?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think people are missing a main point here. There is nothing wrong with IPv4, it works. It just can’t scale globally anymore, it doesn’t have enough space.

  If you are running a worldwide network with millions of nodes, IPv6 is essential. But for things that are smaller than that, it becomes less essential. But what’s the best metric for adoption, how many small offices or home labs adopt it? Or how many large, worldwide networks?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is it like traveling with two passports at the same time?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I am not a dual citizen, but know several. The benefit is that you have all the rights of a citizen in either country, the chief benefit is that you can stay in either country as long as you want to, and not worry about any visa limits.

  The main drawback is that you are subject to all of the regulations in both countries, and if you get in some sort of legal trouble in one country, the other country can’t help you at all. (Of course, they may not have helped either way).

  If you are a citizen of a country, you often must show that passport when entering. So these people frequently travel with both passports, and when going to a third country, use whichever one is most advantageous.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How prevalent are cash transactions in the USA?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, cash is still very much in use in the US. And you can pay the IRS in cash, at least for amounts less than $1000. But checks are also in use here. I’ve bought a few cars with cashier’s checks and nobody has given me a hassle about it.

  However, there are certain venues now that will not accept cash at all. Theme parks, stadiums, concerts: they are mostly places where places to spend money are spread out, and the burden of physically handling the cash is a lot. I have seen theme parks with kiosks at the entrance to convert people’s cash into VISA debit card accounts just to facilitate this. I guess they think it makes it all more efficient.

  I will say that while I still carry around cash, after the pandemic I refuse to carry around loose change. Why would I? I will never need to use a pay phone anymore, and most parking meters can be topped up from your phone. Anytime I buy something in cash and get change, I usually just out it in the tip jar, because there is no more room in that jar on the dresser.