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admiralteal

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admiralteal ,

People who have fallen victim to moral panics frequently get absolutely indignant when told they have fallen victim to a moral panic. Not really different than cults or MLMs, in that regard.

admiralteal ,

That precise negotiation is how we got the civil war, as well as a number of other completely busted, antidemocratic US institutions like the Senate. Making compromises with slavers.

admiralteal ,

Anonymized Bing is the back end for DDG. It's already happening.

admiralteal ,

The crazy thing is, outside of the US, small and cheap vehicles are the norm. Both ICE and EV.

I'm still convinced that if a major automaker brought a line like they have in the likes of China or France to the US market, they'd be hugely popular. That people WANT cheap vehicles and are willing to compromise on size to get them -- that the reason vehicles are getting pushed bigger is because that compromise is not an option. I think there's massive untapped demand for things like mini city cars and kei trucks. But the profit margins would be lower for the manufacturer, so even if it was still a profitable business model the US automakers don't do it and exert their influence in various ugly ways to prevent it from happening (e.g., all the states that have used administrative levers to ban registration of imported keis based on total nonsense safety arguments).

admiralteal ,

People also forget that rental cars exist.

For the handful of actual long-range drives a typical person needs to take in a given year, it'd almost certainly be cheaper to rent a different car rather than spend extra to get a huge-range EV. But relatively short-range EVs are basically not a thing because of how universal these range anxieties are. Not to even mention that the available rentals aren't a great situation either, given how universal it is for people to own these long-range vehicles.

Our society is a damn prisoner's dilemma.

admiralteal ,

Rental cars are still a thing. Plus they get regularly cleaned and you aren't responsible for their maintenance/depreciation.

If you live in a city -- and if you are getting municipal water/sewer, you definitely do -- there's a car rental place close enough that will doubtless be happy to do a same-day rental.

The car rental may be expensive, but you're comparing it to owning and maintaining that car year-round for those occasional trips. And if that car is anything bigger than a small suv, it doubtless costs more than the EV would've in real terms.

admiralteal ,

I ride a bike 95% of the time for my trips, but I have to own and maintain a car because the city I live in, which is FAR better than most in the US, still doesn't make it possible to let me function without needing an occasional car trip. And the box hardware store near me almost never has its light truck rentals available for those occasional errands. To get to the nearest proper vehicle rental place... you guessed it, I'd have to get in a car.

I was very seriously investigating a Kei import for my needs. They're cheap, small, easy to maintain, and insanely versatile. I arrived at doing this after researching what kinds of small, reliable trucks I might be able to find for my rare uses and ultimately gave up -- all of them are roadboats these days.

Then some state bureaucrat arbitrarily declared that imported keis were somehow less safe for their drivers than motorcycles, bikes, and scooters and so cannot be registered any longer. There's basically no vehicles for sale that I would want and find useful at this point.

I've honestly been looking into setting up a trailer for my bike for hauling a sheet or two of plywood. It might be my best overall option, since I can't fit them in my ancient Honda.

All that to say: yeah, there's no middleground anymore. There's ONLY road yachts for people who view them as status symbols and transit vans for people who actually have work to get done, but either way too expensive for me to justify.

admiralteal ,

No. It isn't. This isn't some weak state flailing about. This is a major world power, with a fair amount of material wealth and industry, actively pursuing an evil agenda for the sake of the egos of a few political personalities and fascist, right-wing domestic politics. There's nothing to pity here.

admiralteal ,

Google requires a full reformat to 3rd party apk installs on Chromebooks. That's heavy-handed, cumbersome, and idiotic. But it's still
better than Apple.

It should be as easy as sudo apt-add repository, sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get install everywhere.

admiralteal ,

Ah, so the gun was purchased legally by one of those trustworthy, responsible members of the well-regulated militia. Nothing to see here, then.

admiralteal , (edited )

Strict liability for whoever was the legal owner of the gun(s), I say.

Whoever let these children get their hands on the firearm is absolutely a murderer. Even if it someone who let their gun get stolen from their car. Definitely if it was a family member or friend.

admiralteal ,

Can't speak for Moldova or Austria, but I would not call Switzerland's gun laws liberal.

They are VERY strict. Gun ownership rates are high, but there are tons of restrictions and licensing requirements on ownership and sale of guns there. The country is proof that having a strong regulatory structure does not necessarily prevent gun ownership and should absolutely be considered a model for where the US regulator environment should be moving (universal registration including 2nd hand sales, full license checks for all purchases including ammo, effective bans on large categories of weapons, mandatory training, and the like).

People who love "gun rights" always cite Switzerland without even doing the most basic Wikipedia-level research on it.

admiralteal ,

Oh man, I think I saw a fish swim by. It was definitely not blue or yellow, either!

admiralteal ,

So to start with: universal registration and ID/licensing for gun ownership, and strict liability on registered owners for crimes committed by their guns.

I'm in, sounds great.

admiralteal ,

US per capita homicide rate is 6.4. UK is 1.2

HMMM.

admiralteal ,

Meh, the modern interpretation came from corrupt justices legislating from the bench, building completely ahistoric interpretations to suit modern sensibilities. This whole absolute 2A thing is entirely modern with no sincere history backing it up. The solution is court reform which is needed for a host of other reasons anyway.

But also, just to point out, YOU are arguing against YOUR OWN solutions. Which is absolute proof of how intractable the situation is right now. And the situation has become intractable because of people like you.

You're the problem.

admiralteal ,

I'm about 6 episodes in and so far it is enjoyable, though I doubt it'll go down in my heart as a one of the very special shows. It's pretty heavy-handed with its kids writing, which is still TBD if it will wear me out before I get to the end. And at about 6 episodes in, it is not at all episodic. I'm hoping that eventually changes. All the best of Star Trek is mostly episodic.

Extreme disappointment that the hologram did not introduce itself with "Please state the nature of your ___ emergency."

admiralteal ,

With fast fashion, it's often just cheaper to throw it out then go through even the most basic of QC steps to ensure the product is still in sellable condition.

The fact that it is fast fashion is the issue. No labor cost since it's made by slaves. No material cost since it's basically sewn together with hopes and wishes. All you really pay for is the shipping.

If that garment you want to buy is cheap, odds are it's made with blood and paid for with climate change.

admiralteal , (edited )

After winning on Prop 22, Uber/Lyft guaranteed drivers $13/hr. I'm not sure where the likes of Uber Eats/Grubhub stand in comparison, but even if we assume they're also at $13/hr, that's a full 'federal minimum wage' less than the Pizza Hut drivers would need to be paid. For doing literally the same job but with way, way worse benefits (e.g., having to provide your own insurance).

It's actually insane. Prop 22 is a travesty.

$20/hr isn't even what I would consider a living wage in California, and Pizza Hut is here proudly admitting they were paying their drivers substantially less than that. But the deliveries will still happen, just to even worse-paid people. It's a crazy cycle of abuse of labor.

admiralteal , (edited )

Many of these hospitals were capitalist before the takeover too -- they just were beholden to local owners rather than big national firm owners.

Local ownership is a VERY powerful check on the power of capital. Communities can hold sway over owners beyond what is reflected the general ledger of the business. And one of the reasons big national brands are good at out-competing local business is precisely BECAUSE they can ignore these social costs -- even externalize them -- and reap further profit for the exercise.

Even if you're anticapitalist as fuck, this is why it is still important to buy and support local business whenever possible. Because the less local the business is, the less it cares about its customers and employees' welfare.

And when local owners get greedy and want to sell to big firms, it's very important to hit them with as much social punishment as possible. Friends don't let friends sell their businesses to hedge funds.

admiralteal , (edited )

You should check out what happened to Chuck Marohn in Minnesota: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/5/23/lawsuit

A fully-qualified engineer discussing the politics of engineering -- not acting in any way as an engineer -- fined, censured, and defamed in the public record by the state board of engineers. Because of a pretty obtuse technicality that absolutely no reasonable person would have interpreted as an issue and which only exists in the record thanks to actual perjury. All because he expressed sincerely-held beliefs as part of his political advocacy that could be interpreted as very embarrassing to the (incredibly incompetent) board. Things that even the board acknowledged were not related to the practice of engineering but that didn't matter to them.

These conservative organizations do not care about your civil rights. They only care about not being embarrassed. They will wield the powers of the state to silence anyone seen as a dissenter without shame or remorse. The guy in this article was very lucky indeed a federal court was willing to take the appeal. If they get any power over you, they will use it to get you to get you to bend to knee.

admiralteal ,

But that's what conservative means. It means adhering to traditional values and hierarchies for their own sake.

These professional organizations that refuse to accept criticism, refuse to change practice in light of evidence of in this case poor workmanship, and refused to let the state of the art grow are the very definition of conservative. Especially when they yield their power to crush critics pushing for equity, progress, or rights.

I'm not sure if there is a more conservative stance than the one where you refuse to accept any criticism and then lash out at the critics.

admiralteal ,

No he signed an affidavit which said he had not acted as a professional engineer during the time it was lapsed which was true. Because he hadn't done any engineering work.

The entire "representation" was just a title on a single slide of a PowerPoint presentation.

He lost in state court because the MBoE lied about the order of events and decided to "make an example" out of him. And the reason they decided to do that was 100% because they didn't like the content of his political speech.

And that's the point. These organizations will use and abuse their power to punish dissent. Period.

admiralteal ,

This is not true. I can call myself a doctor a lawyer or a cop or anything like that and it is protected speech so long as I am not attempting to perform the professional duties of that job.

It's free speech.

It's not up to the board of engineers to arbitrarily decide what isn't isn't the professional duties of a job and then punish people who say things they don't like. It's statutorily defined and this activity was not.

The courts made the entirely wrong decision which is very normal for the US.

admiralteal , (edited )

That's because the appeals process does not allow disputes over matters of fact. The lower court he did dispute the matter of fact. And multiple times offered to pay the fine and accept censure for the error if the factual recorded were amended to comport with what actually happened rather than being recorded in false terms as it was. But the MBoE wanted to defame him in the public record. It was their primary goal. So they refused to do so and kept the record fraudulent.

But the outcome was ALSO wrong as a matter of law.

admiralteal , (edited )

United States v. Alvarez is the relevant case law here.

There are tons of on-the-books statutes that are not in line with Alvarez. And we should presume they would fail in a full legal challenge if a full legal challenge to them were mounted. But not everyone has the resources or dedication to try and take something all the way to the totally-political, capricious SCOTUS.

admiralteal ,

Again, the matters of fact were established by the board and could not be disputed, which is why during appeals they had to shift to matters of law.

It is provable fact that he disputed the matters of fact multiple times in both formal letters and sworn statements made during the hearings prior to the appeal. The Board of Licensure had sole discretion to update the matters of fact. The process was totally broken in a way that made it nearly impossible for him to defend himself.

And, just to really make the point of the injustice of this, had he instead checked the box on his renewal that said he had practiced engineering during the lapse, the result would've been a fine and reprimand for the error. The reason he didn't check the box saying he had practiced engineering during the lapse is because he believed in good faith that he had not. Instead, the board seized the opportunity to punish a political enemy by creating a fraudulent factual record to call him a liar when no such thing happened.

admiralteal , (edited )

It's not the strongest decision, but I think it represents well how these identity claims intersect with free speech. That is, the law seems to tell us that a statement being false is not sufficient for it to be illegal per se.

Now, had Marohn actually been reviewing engineering specs or analyzing plans or other clearly-engineering activities during the lapse while identifying himself as a PE, then of course that would be fraud even if it was inadvertent. But, of course, if that had happened he would've checked the box admitting to it on his renewal. Paid the fine. Accepted whatever censure it resulted in. That's honestly a pretty routine licensure error. It's why the form specifically asks about it.

But failing to update his letterhead in political speeches made during a totally accidental lapse that was corrected in due haste and before he was even aware there were complaints does not make him a fraudster. You could claim that being a PE is what made people want him to deliver those speeches, but that's pretty flimsy -- first of all he WAS fully-trained, educated, and qualified as a PE. Not to mention he's the founder of a major advocacy organization and would certainly still be giving those speeches even if he intentionally stopped renewing the license, and would be legally in the right to do so (but yes, should change the "PE" on the letterhead to "former PE" or no claim at all).

And it means that the board are fucking liars for claiming otherwise.

admiralteal , (edited )

The 'articles' I'm aware of claiming the PE were published/written before or after the lapse, as I understand it. But the factual record was generated prejudicially to imply otherwise because the objective of the board was to defame him. The prejudicial record is what is now in the court documents because that was what the board intended. Chuck's written and interviewed all over the place on the subject.

There WAS an example of Chuck being identified as a PE during the lapse. It was a name card in a PowerPoint presentation for a political speech. A presentation that was prepared when he was a PE and simply not updated when the license lapsed. Of course it wasn't, he didn't realize it had lapsed because the notice of the lapse was sent to the wrong address (an error that was his fault, but by no means fraud or a lie, ESPECIALLY since he was NOT doing any of the work of a professional engineer and therefore saying he was 'presenting himself as an engineer' is dishonest). Again and hopefully for the last time I will say: failing to update a letterhead cannot possibly be the same thing as lying absent any other misconduct, ESPECIALLY when the failure was entirely accidental. I believe this is also where the claims of articles comes from -- his bio on the website was not updated to reflect the lapse, so anyone clicking through to his about page would see him ID'd as a PE.

If they had just fined him as usual for this kind of error, that would've been annoying but would be no story. If they had fined and reprimanded him, it would've showed their naked political goals as well -- and I'd still object to that -- but it still would be whatever. But they used the board's power to defame him in the permanent public record, in a situation where he had basically no recourse. That is the story of why this situation was so incredibly unjust.

You're repeatedly referring the the factual record established by the board. The very record I have told you over and over and over again is false. It's falsity is the entire reason this situation is so infuriating and unjust. You keep going back to it over and over again. Every time I tell you it is a false record and that the lies in it ARE the story, you point at the same false record and say "but see, it says something different!" I've said over and over again why it is different and what the proper facts should've been, and you keep pointing at the same fraudulent public record and telling me "that's not what this says!" This is totally infuriating for me.

admiralteal ,

It is literally exactly what conservative means. There is no other coherent definition of conservative. Conservative means valuing tradition and the preservation of tradition more highly than other aspects of governance. And there's no difference between your "entrenchment" and my "tradition'. Both mean the same thing -- 'we've always done it this way and so don't want to change'.

If someone's highest values are around and improvement of efficacy and efficiency of their government body, they would identify themselves as a progressive. If the values were protecting individual liberties, they would identify themselves as a liberal. If their values were to promote the fairest and most equitable society, they'd identify as socialist.

People can be many things at once. Most reasonable people are. But the word conservative still has meaning and the meaning is to cleave to tradition and traditional hierarchies. It's what the word means.

I would find it incredibly difficult to defend any organizations that refuse to change practice in light of evidence. I tend to be very progressive-minded and mostly not at all conservative, so I do not think tradition is a very good reason to refuse to change practice.

admiralteal ,

You have not spelled out a counterargument here.

When someone identifies as conservative, it means they have a strong preference for no change happening (and even undoing more "recent" change, although what qualifies as "recent" usually is viewed through the lens of personal preferences). That's what it means. You don't seem to even dispute it. It's what the word means.

And when a conservative tells you all the other things they AREN'T -- as the modern conservative usually jumps to do -- believe that those are the values. If they say they aren't liberal, it means they don't care about preserving individual liberties. If they say they aren't progressive, it means they do not want to see progress. If they say they aren't a socialist, it means they do not care about an egalitarian and pro-social society. And when they say they aren't a "neo-marxist"... well, that one really is meaningless gibberish, pay it no mind at all.

I feel like you keep bringing up labor unions because you think it's going to be some kind of gotcha for me, but it super duper isn't. One of the major reasons we saw such a profound weakening and collapse of labor unions in this country that only (maybe) reversed recently is because the older unions were seen as swinging way too conservative. That they became more concerned with maintaining power and status quo than doing the job of unions. Whether or not that criticism is fair is, I'm sure, a topic of much argument -- I definitely think this view was part of a very serious disinformation campaign run by capitalist and ruling class-types to fight back against the working class -- but this is certainly what your typical boomer/anti-labor-type will cite as the reason they don't care for labor unions.

Let's not forget who "the right" originally was: the conservatives who wanted to preserve the monarchy and stop the french revolution. They didn't want to change from the old way to a new one. They thought the transition would be too chaotic. They were certainly correct that it would end up being quite chaotic indeed, but if they'd had their way there may still be a fucking divine right king prancing about in court while the people staved.

admiralteal ,

Don't forget they're cops.

Cops like Trump, generally. Doubt it's hard to find agents that want to be assigned to Trump.

admiralteal ,

In short: Joe Rogan is a crypto-fascist.

Ending support for Windows 10 could send 240 million computers to the landfill. Why not install Linux on them? (gadgettendency.com)

With support ending for Windows 10, the most popular desktop operating system in the world currently, possibly 240 million pcs may be sent to the landfill. This is mostly due to Windows 11’s exorbitant requirements. This will most likely result in many pcs being immediately outdated, and prone to viruses. GNU/Linux may be...

admiralteal , (edited )

I'd also bet that a huge portion of those offices rely on at least some kind of proprietary software that doesn't play nice/officially support Linux. MS Office, for example, or Autodesk's stuff. When I saw what a headache it would be to get these working on Linux, I just shrugged and decided I'd keep my dual boot available for when I inevitably have need.

You're turning up the cost dial for every additional workaround or adjustment you ask of people. Just to save what is fundamentally seen as $50-200 up front cost on a system for a new Windows 11 Pro license.

admiralteal , (edited )

One of its primary purposes was literally as a distraction to prevent investment in traditional transportation infrastructure like trains. When a car maker is suggesting some kind of strange new transportation technology, be skeptical always.

And it wasn't entirely unsuccessful. Vegas got duped on it (plus boring company) pretty badly, for example. Idiot suckers. But it wasn't successful enough for the auto mogul Elon Musk to continue throwing money at it I suppose.

admiralteal ,

Condone (transitive verb): To overlook, forgive, or disregard (an offense) without protest or censure.

Neat.

admiralteal ,

The problem being we basically know that's not how it works.

If you push them underground, the main result is fewer Nazis. Intentionally platforming them helps them maintain a facade of normalcy that makes it WAY easier to recruit people into the organizations and further radicalize them. Not to mention the simple amplification effect of having a platform.

The idea that the underground Nazis are going to be a more distilled, pure, volatile form of Nazi SOUNDS theoretically sensible. But if that's your argument, the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate it actually happens. And even if it sometimes does, if there's only 10 of them it barely matters.

The simplest solution, to shut down the recruitment pipeline, is also the correct choice for a platform operator to make.

admiralteal , (edited )

IDGAF if it feeds into the narrative. It also shuts down a recruitment pipeline. It reduces their reach. It makes the next generation less likely to continue the ideology. De-platforming is a powerful tool that should be reserved for only the most crucial fights, but the fight against Nazi is one of those fights.

The Nazis were already full-blown conspiracy theorists. EVERYTHING is spun to feed into their narrative. That ship has sailed.

A platform operator needs to AT MINIMUM demonetize the content and censure it, and is likely only being responsible if they ban it outright. If you aren't prepared to wade into the fraught, complex world of content moderation, don't run a content platform.

Teen GTA VI hacker sentenced to life in a secure hospital (www.theverge.com)

The 18-year-old Lapsus$ hacker who played a critical role in leaking Grand Theft Auto VI footage has been sentenced to life inside a hospital prison, according to a report from the BBC. A British judge ruled on Thursday that Arion Kurtaj is a high risk to the public because he still wants to commit cybercrimes....

admiralteal , (edited )

I mean, he didn't even get a life sentence. That's in the headline, I know, but it's just not true.

He's in the hospital indefinitely, not sentenced to life. There's a big fat or clause that completely undermines the "life sentence".

He’s required to stay in the hospital prison for life unless doctors determine that he’s no longer a danger.

I'm not really sure what anyone thinks WOULD be just and proper in this kind of situation. I don't know many details of this particular case, but if there has been due process that determines someone is unsafe to release into society because they lack social capacity, releasing them anyway hardly seems like justice.

I'd like to believe -- though I know it basically isn't true -- that the justice system exists for the sake of justice. That it is primarily concerned with making whole the victims and making sure the criminals are rehabilitated such that they can safely rejoin society and even contribute to it in the future. I think that's how the justice system should work in a fair and just world. But if you have someone who is actually incapable of rejoining society, what are you supposed to do?

If we want to focus on the awfulness of this situation, I don't think the sentence is the issue. I think the focus would need to be on whether or not the hospital treatment has any chance of being effective -- because if it doesn't, THAT'S the story that matters.

admiralteal , (edited )

It's also right in the article that he was violent. That doesn't really matter though; what matters is whether he's competent to stand trial and whether it is reasonable to release him back to the regular justice system or general public.

I guess your point is that there's no safety hazard since his particular behavior isn't at least murder? Or maybe that cybercrime in particular is actually good and not a problem? It's not really a coherent framework to discuss these things either way.

admiralteal , (edited )

Only in the Northern hemisphere. Current industry trends indicate some major meat-craving markets gearing up as we speak (e.g., Brazil). Likely a growing demand continues far into the future right now, even if some developed nations are seeing the pendulum swing the other way.

The problems of meat production on the climate are NOT going to go away on their own.

admiralteal ,

A non-starter unless it's building up pro fossil fuel constituency.

/murica eagle screech

admiralteal ,

The headline is literally exactly opposite the truth, I would say.

Tesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective (www.reuters.com)

Wheels falling off cars at speed. Suspensions collapsing on brand-new vehicles. Axles breaking under acceleration. Tens of thousands of customers told Tesla about a host of part failures on low-mileage cars. The automaker sought to blame drivers for vehicle ‘abuse,’ but Tesla documents show it had tracked the chronic...

admiralteal ,

Not to be steelmaning for Tesla, but... all the major manufacturers of consumer products do this same shit. Pretend known defects don't exist, fail to honor warranties, blame customers for the mfg's own failures. That's just what happens when your society decides collectively that they prefer a system of civil torts to actual regulation.

admiralteal ,

That's not really innovative though. Auto moderator bots have been sending out warnings like this based on simple keyword criteria for years.

admiralteal ,

Huh? The Apollo dev was very specific about why he couldn't make it work. The turnaround was too fast. He had users on multi-month and even annual subscriptions. Users who were effectively owed service by him. The new model would have turned all of those users into giant financial liabilities for him far beyond whatever revenue he earned from them. And theoretically there was no upper limit on how much those users could have cost him.

If they'd give him 12 months notice about the changes instead of 30 days he would have been able to keep the app running. It would have cost quite a bit more as users would have had to pay for his costs plus the api costs. But with only 30 days the only financially sane thing he could do was refund everyone, rather than let them turn into liabilities he couldn't afford.

If you're wondering why he didn't refund all existing users and then roll out an update with the higher subscriptions... I mean, I'm sure he just didn't want to because he didn't feel like it after being forced to go through all that terribleness and repeatedly being defamed by the admins.

admiralteal ,

It could search for all kinds of keywords to enforce rules. For example, scan titles to find question identifiers to suggest a user maybe needed to check an FAQ/wiki, or that kind of thing. Find keywords to detect probable off-topics. That sort of stuff.

At the end of the day, is what the LLM bot doing really any different? I'd say it's more sophisticated but the same fundamental thing.

admiralteal ,

I mean, suppose the LLM bot is actually good at avoiding false positives/misunderstandings -- doesn't that simply remove one of the biggest weaknesses of old-fashioned keyword identification? I really just see this as a natural evolution of the technology and not some new, wild thing. It's just an incremental improvement.

What it absolutely does NOT do is replace the need for human judgement. You'll still need an appeals process and a person at the wheel to deal with errors and edge cases. But it's pretty easy to imagine an LLM bot doing at least as well a job as the average volunteer Reddit/Discord mod.

Of course, it's kind of a moot point. Running a full LLM bot, parsing every comment against some custom-design model, as your automoderator would be expensive. I really cannot see it happening routinely, at least not with current tech costs. Maybe in a few years the prices will have come down enough, but not right now.

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