MasterBlaster

joined 2 years ago
[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Firefox and hardened forks, possibly Cromite. All you can do is harden your defenses as much as possible and try not to go "oooooo shiny" when looking at extensions.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

No. It will also include anyone who had even a slight relationship to Obama, as she did.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

So far, just lots of unemployed people.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago

I heard no heckling, just traffic and one horn that could have been either support or heckling.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

I think their not usually wrong expectation was the students would decide it was too much trouble to do it. Good on them that they are more driven than many.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I can't conclude anything from this. No specifics on the discrimination, and nothing but innuendo on tje firing itself. I get the feeling the implication is she was fired because of her opposition to this adult mode, but there is no proof on either conclusion.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That was an amazing movie. Rowdy Roddy piper wasn't horrible, either. That was made in response to the Reagan era politics, which was the start of what continues to this day.

(For those scratching their heads right now, it's They Live.)

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

How did declaring an emergency (per the Stafford Act) make it his responsibility to fix it? Last I checked, in a federal system it is the local authorities who are responsible for doing the work. The feds supply public funding and potentially manpower if FEMA gets involved.

The local authorities in fact caused the problem by trying to cheap-out on water treatment. Replacing huge quantities of buried pipes is not a short-term operation, even if they put all their attention on it. In fact, it was the city that had to be sued multiple times to get the job mostly done:

Well, we've had to go back to court now six times and constantly been tracking to see if the city was actually following through on this settlement agreement. Finally, the court actually held the city in contempt and the state took over most of the finishing up of this project.

So, what actions did he take to show he "didn't give a fuck?" Maybe you're referring to this drink of water someone put him on the spot to drink?

"This used a filter," Obama said of the water. "The water around this table was Flint water and it just confirms what we know scientifically, which is, if you're using a filter, if you're installing it, then Flint water at this point is drinkable."

Properly filtered water was safe, exactly as he said. It is the responsibility of the local governments to ensure they're available to their residents - with federal help per emergency funding.

Here's a full breakdown.

The matter of blame appeared to be settled conclusively in March 2016, however, when Snyder’s nonpartisan task force released its blistering final report. Primary responsibility for the crisis in Flint was placed on the state, and particularly on the MDEQ, and task force members called for a thorough review of the emergency manager system. The report also characterized the crisis as a clear-cut example of environmental injustice, as evidenced by the fact that Flint’s poor, largely African American population “did not enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards as that provided to other communities.”

Now, I am fairly sure you will completely discount any evidence of the reality I posted here. Truthfully, I mostly did this to inform anybody else who stumbles upon this so they can verify it for themselves.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I’ve been waiting for this for a year.

So... you either didn't read the linked article, or you decided it was a lie because it differed from your "gut feelings"... or maybe you just didn't understand what it was saying?

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43052387

While the talking heads feign excitement over the "unexpected 130,000" new (healthcare) jobs last month, the reality quietly deepens.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Nothing beats Waze, unfortunately, and we'd need a lot more invested users even if we did have the capability.

The closest thing I found was a Google traffic overlay, but it is not particularly accurate or visible.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

One thing I'd like to see in OSMAnd is a decent business search by location, like GMaps has.

It's the most convenient way to find restaurants. In fortunately, it would take much work to make it competitive as the POI are not simple and their data is nearly nonexistent.

I've added and updated several, but it is time consuming with data entry. We need a good map data source with detailed POI info.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm old enough to remember when network television didn't cut important scenes from shows in order to show me commercials.

If these businesses are getting so much efficiency from laying off their employees, why do they need increasingly more advertising?

I doubt there are enough of us who block (when it is even possible) to seriously affect revenue.

Also, if they can break their contract with me to pay for a service with no commercials and force me to watch them anyway, I have no compunctions with denying them the extra profit.

 

I don't usually have sufficient motivation to post much on any social media platform. This is rare for me. I am putting this out in the world in part hoping for some validation, in part hoping it sparks some kind of social action to save some semblance of privacy and dignity in this modern world.

Warning: this is long.

I just wrote an email to a recruiter withdrawing my interest in pursuing a job (it's a recruiter hired by the hiring company). I am a software engineer with decades of experience who has been unemployed for almost a year with almost no interviews. I'm hungry for paying work. Yet. I did this. Below is the email I wrote, and it is hopefully self explanatory.

I think my career might be over - especially if the kind of process I experienced is now the standard for hiring. I want nothing to do with it.

I wrote this after multiple days of trying to set up my system for the "assessment". I ended up having to install Windows 11 (I'm a Linux guy) because the assessment environment simply didn't work. I tried FireFox, disabled plugins, tried two versions of Chrome - neither would work. It apparently had to be the Google version.

I upgraded an old version of Win 10 (because Microsoft pretty much forced it). Got it to work on Firefox for Windows.

Twice, mid-way through the assessment, it reset itself to square one. I didn't try a third time. This assessment software monitored my face and would raise an alarm if I looked away. It controlled my microphone. It required full access to every aspect of the browser and had me do an alt-tab partway through this "test" in order to ensure I wasn't using any other software. Insulting. Invasive. My equipment. My home.

---- the email ----8<----

First, I appreciate your understanding and that you gave me what information you have on how this software works. Now, the hard part. My disappointment will show in the text, and it is not directed at you or your company.

I'm inclined to cease pursuing this. I feel insulted by the process in the first place, but went through it understanding that we, as job seekers, have to accept compromises we would not otherwise accept because having a job is a fundamental requirement to literally survive and provide for our children.

However, the more I'm expected to change my personal, owned equipment and software in an invasive fashion just so some stranger can have 100% surveillance on my activities in my home in order to be considered for a job interview, the more insulted I become.

Granted, I'm unusual. I've dedicated myself to protecting my electronic privacy by installing malware and advertisement blockers on my phones, computers, tablets. I use VPN. I built my own home NAS because I am uncomfortable with placing all my personal, financial, and health records into "the cloud" (and being charged for the privilege). I am teaching myself how to use AI by downloading and running models in my home lab because I don't want to give out my privacy and income to strangers.

I stopped using Windows at home years ago because I could not stand the way it was dictating to me how to run my computer and constantly seeking to part me from my money with distracting advertisements while siphoning everything about me back to their servers to better market to me. Worse, it was forcing me to buy new hardware in order to simply run the system after upgrades.

Here I am, faced with a stark choice. Debase my values for the sake of the possibility of a job with a company that apparently doesn't consider applicants worthy of dignity, or remain unemployed - possibly forced to exit the career I love if everybody is doing this - and potentially fall into poverty.

If they're doing this before they even talk to me, it tells me that as an employee I will have at minimum this same level of surveillance. Knowing this in the back of my mind will burn me out in under six months.

Unfortunately, I don't think I could live with myself if I chose the first option, so I respectfully withdraw myself from this process. I'm a professional. I expect to be treated like one. If there are companies who are serious about hiring a professional, I'm all in. Please engage me.


 

The most affluent consumers account for a bigger share of total US spending, reinforcing the lopsided dynamic of unbothered consumption for the wealthy and more cautious shopping for everyone else.

 

I want to install Graphene on my Pixel 6. It is rooted and i use NeoBackup for app state, wifi, call logs, etc.

I do not want to startvfrom scratch and rebuild everything. Is it possible to port most of my data?

 

It's been a few years since I've needed to install a version of Windows on a PC for personal use. I have a license for Windows 10 Pro, but today I found out it is no longer possible to get through the installation without first creating an account with Microsoft.

I don't want to do this. Does anybody have any way to get around it? The stuff I've read online basically ends up being create your account switch to a local account after installation and delete your account. I want a better solution. Would installing a much older version of Windows 10 work? The whole reason I got an msdn license back in the day is so I didn't have to do this.

Edit: 10/2/2023

I thank you all for giving me advice and ideas. Much I had already tried before posting my question here, and some suggestions and experiences led me to keep at it. Here's my experience for others who have a similar problem.

I downloaded the ISO from Microsoft - Win10_22H2_English_x64v1. I used Ventoy to launch the installer. The first time I went through, I connected to Wi-Fi. As soon as I did that, it sealed my fate. By this time in the process, it installed the boot partition on my HD and saved this information so every time I tried to restart the installer, it always went through language, keyboard, then "enter email address". All the suggestions for fake values simply triggered "This email is already used. Please choose another", and that was it.

I was getting ready to wipe the partition and try again, but decided to turn off Wi-Fi in the BIOS first to see if that worked. It did. This time it tried to convince me to set up the network and failed and I was able to create a local account.

The way this multi-version installer works is annoying. It installed Windows Home edition, so I had to "know" that I could go to settings and enter a key. Once I put in the key, it "upgraded" to Pro edition, and I was done.

Next time I have to do this, I'll see if Rufus works. It seems that will remove some annoyance. Either way, I will avoid configuring Wi-Fi until after install next time. I gotta say, I am not looking forward to the day when I must upgrade to Windows 11. So far I've been able to avoid actually buying a new copy due to my aging MSDN key. By the time I'm forced to "upgrade", I might have to cough up some cash for something I don't want, but am forced to own.

It should be illegal.

Anyway, now that I know I can still use my MSDN key to get an updated Win 10, I feel a bit more comfortable with re-imaging my Dell laptop from dual-boot to Linux only, then install Windows as a VM for these times I need to use it. Fortunately, that is increasingly rare.

 

I'm glad microg set up shop here on Lemmy! Here's the first topic. The most recent release dumped unified nlm, and I want to know what that means for the future. I just found a new module, that works great, and now it is useless when I upgrade microg.

I searched everywhere, but there's no discussion about how to get features like locally built data points or downloading tower and WiFi databases.

Mozilla nlm requires internet, which I suppose is fine for most of the time, but when camping in the wilderness, is kinda useless.

Is there any news?

2
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by MasterBlaster@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
 

I included a comment that is a prime example of how willfully blind people are concerning the value of privacy. This was part of a thread about a mews post of a person who had his Amazon Smart Home bricked because a delivery person thought he was racist.

It's a troubling read, because if most people really are this way, the fight for legally enforced privacy will fail.

What do you think of this?


Do you think they could have turned off the in the first place if they did not have personal details tied to those devices and full control of those devices?

Yes, assuming that we still need an input device of some sort. Because the input could make it give a different output, such as not running, even if it didn't know that you were the one it was blocking.

Maybe that couldn't cascade to all of your devices, but certainly the ones that received the input that caused them to brick themselves. But, then again in a mesh network they probably could send a brick signal to all co-networked devices.

What if someone decided to use something you did in the "privacy" of your own home to blackmail you? Embarass you? Would you feel safe?

I certainly wouldn't like that. Fortunately, those actions are illegal. The problem here isn't privacy, so much as it is blackmail.

It doesn't matter to me, if a passive recording picks up me doing something embarrassing. The thing that matters is using the data in the wrong way, or not having controls around the data.

What if something you do all the time suddenly becomes illegal and you could be prosecuted based on surveillance footage inside your home?

Well, I guess I'd better stop doing that thing or move. But, that is only marginally relevant to this case.

If you are a criminal, there will be evidence of the crime.

Do you think they cannot access the video and audio from those devices?

Sure they can, but passive access isn't a problem. The problem is using the data badly.

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by MasterBlaster@lemmy.world to c/lemmyworld@lemmy.world
 

As lemmy grows organically, there will be continuous increases in duplicate communities. This poses a long-term problem because I don't think most people want to subscribe to half a dozen or more communities that are essentially the same.

Is there any chance that the thought leaders of Lemmy which probably includes the largest servers owners could come together and start proposing ideas?

I see a potential troubling issue with the idea in terms of combining the existing history of the duplicates communities.

Perhaps a new concept of community@global could be thought through.

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