Truck_kun

@Truck_kun@beehaw.org

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

Truck_kun ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKBFdy4q85w

Short video of him guesting to review some political ads, after his endorsement announcement.

It looks suspiciously as though Roberts doesn't want to be remembered as the chief justice who obliterated all respect for the Supreme Court

No link here; we're getting new decisions at the rate one expects from late June, and there are still far larger ones to drop, including regarding Trump's claim of absolute immunity. No one is going to be talking about Idaho once we get that....

Truck_kun , (edited )

For a video dive on the First 10 minutes is about it: https://youtu.be/Fnb7Rup_J5I

A supermarket trip may soon look different, thanks to electronic shelf labels ( www.npr.org )

Grocery store prices are changing faster than ever before — literally. This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds....

Truck_kun ,

All companies that plan to have dynamic pricing, please let me know.

I've already stopped going to Wendy's; I'd love to add you to the list of places never to patron again.

Truck_kun ,

I have no actual list outside my head.

atm, Wendy's because of their plan for dynamic pricing based on how busy they are, and 'my local KFC', because in 2017 I had to wait 50 minutes for my order (for 2), and they gave away the last of something I ordered to someone who came in like half an hour later, and they weren't going to be making more. (that and KFC is way over priced for their standard menu if you aren't getting some kind of 'deal')

Truck_kun ,

Not surprised at all it is something the Trump administration was doing considering his rhetoric on the pandemic in general, and China. Awful all around.

Truck_kun , (edited )

I think this is a hyper/hypo chart in a way, two extremes of bad (over/under medicated).

Maybe thinking of it like the 'Goldilocks zone' for planets, in the right distance from their star for life, like on earth.

A measure of healthcare and mental health in your country. Somewhere between Norway and Finland is probably the right place to be (plus/minus a little); If you are not close to this zone, then there is something likely wrong/not being done right in your country.

Could be there is little to no healthcare, you could be under economic collapse, severe unemployment, under authoritarian rule, may be rampant drug use, may be doctors over prescribing medication (and/or prescribing instead of treating), or just no care about mental health (maybe a "get over it" macho attitude toward mental health).

Obviously always outliers, and every country is unique and cannot be conformed to this, but Norway and Finland generally rate pretty high on the happiness scale, so ~60-80 ppt (people per thousand) is a good range to shoot for.

Edit: To be clear, not a perfect indicator type of things; Denmark is scored as a very happy country and scores close, but out of that mentioned range (maybe the range should be a little higher or lower, or have a +/- 10 or something attached); Iceland also rated very happy, but scores way out of that range (though there may be clear geographic reasons for that), and could be a clear indicator of the above mentioned "every country is unique", and thus that may actually be appropriate antidepressant ppt for a country so far north.

Also, a generalized chart of population for a whole country, should never be applied to an individual person.

Truck_kun ,

Not if you add it to a non-dischargable debt the inmate has to repay, and attach any wages to repay it, including government assistance, such as welfare. ♻️♺

/s

Truck_kun ,

The boiling method, and using ultrasonic devices so far sound promising:

https://projectboard.world/isef/project/eaev062t-harnessing-ultrasound-for-microplastic-filtration

Neither method is 100%, and sadly even if it were, there is no way to avoid ingesting microplastics. It's basically in all food sources at this point. Any animal, or plant have them in them, and those sources are going to be exposed to them; even rain has microplastics in it now.

I suppose the best way to actually avoid microplastics in the food chain would be growing plants in a greenhouse type environment (with dug up deep pre-plastic dirt?) only using properly treated water? For meats, I guess lab grown meat would be the way to avoid it, using plastic free (or less) sources for material?

I've actually been throwing out old spices in recent years, but maybe I should be saving them. Maybe they are the last vestiges of plastic free spices, and will be worth a fortune to paranoid rich people that want flavor?

Truck_kun ,

..... The most I've seen is avocados bagged/packed as a group.

I normally see them individually.

Laser etching looks/sounds cool (especially if you do it on the damaged looking spots for less blemishes/more likely for consumers to buy); maybe save on a little sticker. You do you, just I don't know how much packaging this really saves on, unless you are like... laser etching barcodes and branding.

Truck_kun ,

Was hoping to see the video in the article, but just screen caps.

Was under the impression that Taiwan would likely use thousands of Ukraine style drone boats to sink the Chinese fleet.

Instead all I see is screenshots of missiles the size of cities raining down. I assume it's a perspective issue, but those missiles are unrealistically large.

Truck_kun ,

You're right, my ad blocker was making it look like an image. My bad. Basically a video of missiles being launched from land, air, and sea in mass.

Truck_kun , (edited )

Sodium based batteries have reached at least 247 Wh/kg in the lab at least. While lithium in the lab does have much higher instances, that isn't far off from current commercially available Li-ion EV batteries.

While such sodium batteries are not commercially available, it at least shows their potential to reach close to current EV batteries (around ~270 Wh/kg).

Source:
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/04/25/sodium-ion-battery-could-charge-in-several-seconds/

Truck_kun ,

The linked batteries all appear to have energy densities of about 130 Wh/kg or less.

I wasn't denying sodium batteries are not commercially available/viable, just pointing out that while currently available sodium batteries have lower energy density than lithium ion batteries, in the lab, sodium batteries have the ability to reach similar energy density to currently commercially available lithium ion batteries.

The linked batteries are plenty useful for many purposes. I would gladly use them for home energy storage, electronics, or recreation vehicle use. I'm generally wary of lithium battery safety in outdoor, or high heat environments, and look forward to safer options becoming more available/common.

Has ethernet become illegitimate? A librarian flipped out after spotting me using ethernet

I plugged into ethernet (as wifi w/captive portal does not work for me). I think clearnet worked but I have no interest in that. Egress Tor traffic was blocked and so was VPN. I’m not interested in editing all my scripts and configs to use clearnet, so the library’s internet is useless to me (unless I bother to try a tor...

Truck_kun ,

My first reaction is yeah, you don't just plug into random Ethernet.
The wi-fi is likely a visitor network setup for guests to the library. That ethernet port could provide access to their private intranet, and be a security risk to the library. Worst case scenario, it could result in malware, ransomware, and/or millions of dollars in expenses to recover (on a library budget, that could mean permanently shutting down the library even).
After reading your post, I would say, no harm intended, just don't do it again.
After reading your comments about intentionally being vague about 'plugging in' to lead the librarian to think you were asking to plug in a power cord, and not specifically meaning ethernet connection.... yeah, you're clearly in the wrong. Just be up front; if they say no, so be it. They may be able to direct you to a visitor ethernet plug-in, or maybe not.
If this were an AITA thread, i'd say yes, YTA in this case.
Asking in an security community.... I would assume some level of technical awareness, and you are likely well aware of network segmentation, and that no IT department would be happy about a guest plugging their laptop into random rj-45 jacks around the building. Maybe it's not well designed, and that actually has access to firewall administration?

Truck_kun ,

Also, it is a library.. very real possibility they have actual computers you can use/borrow for people that cant use their wifi for whatever reason (such as not having a laptop/tablet/smartphone).

Truck_kun ,

That a handful of extremist republicans can grind the government to a halt, is a sign of how weak the republican party has become.

It literally only takes about the same handful of republicans to work in a bi-partisan fashion to completely neuter the movement and get the government working, but they are all too scared of Trump and his followers, and deciding to retire early instead of tough it out.

None of this is necessary if you just don't lock arms with the crazies on the most inane shit you don't even believe in.

Truck_kun ,

I keep hearing 'sanctions arent working'.

And every now and then I see things about them working; it's almost like sanctions are a long game that don't immediately show all the results in want within 3 months, and you need to keep them up long term.
That said, of course when some don't comply with those sanctions, it will permanently alter the landscape as the sanctioned try to work around them. Russia's movement toward the Yuan, and reliance on China and N. Korea are not going to be undone anytime soon, if ever.

Pre-Ukrainian invasion, 1 USD was ~78 Russian Rubles. Now, that 1 USD is valued at 92 Rubles. After the start of the war, the Ruble lost a lot of value immediately, but appears to had gained value for a few months, and has steadily decreased in value as the sanctions drag on, and seem to have semi-stablized at a much lower value than going into the war. As a generalization, it appears looking back to 2003 (max on the chart i'm looking at), as Putin's leadership drags on, the Ruble has steadily decreased in value (in 2003, it only took about 30 Ruble to value 1 USD). Looking at other major economic powers in the world is like looking at an inverse chart, where their currencies have increased in value against the USD consistently.

Truck_kun ,

Is that an economist url?... yeah, no, not clicking that.

Typically the "financial type media", are full of political opinion instead of focusing on finance. Very often bad takes, and over the years, I've learned they just aren't worth a click, and my time.

Truck_kun ,

A few years ago, wasn't there a company (maybe it was uber?) that was being overwhelmed by arbitration fee's for a large number of arbitration cases?
I forget the outcome, but it may be due to their agreement stipulating they would cover arbitration fees.
Either way, forced arbitration needs to go.

Truck_kun , (edited )

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00081

Edit: As a possibility? I've not implemented or tried it myself, just heard of the research. Probably better implemented at utility scale, than individual houses, but not reason cant be both.

Truck_kun ,

I do use passphrases, but I combine with randomness.

I memorize one random 8 character string to use with something more memorable.

Then when I need more security, or I feel that random 8 character string is no longer safe (password leak/hacked), I memorize a new 8 character string.

Then I combine them.

Then I memorize a new 8 character string and mix it in.

It's a process built up over years that ingrains into memory. Sometimes I forget the order, or if i added spaces, or did no spaces. Luckily, as long as I am sure of the discrete segments, I can remix them to recreate until it works (in a reasonable time).

My last addition was when I made the move from Lastpass to another password manager, after their endless bad news.

Truck_kun ,

For compliance with EU's GDPR and CA's CPRA, they should have some tools to remove information.

Whether those are available to you will depend on where you live, and the companies policy.

Truck_kun ,

To be clear, CA in this case is California, not Canada. But if you are on midwest.social, i'll assume you are in the Midwest. More states need to adopt some kind of similar legislation.

Truck_kun ,

Biden's biggest problems are:

-he is old (which, yeah, obviously), and the media (both sides) does nothing but talk about how Biden is old. - but starting with the State of the Union, he is showing that he is mentally still there, and plenty capable of holding office.

-The media just loves Trump. he gets views, so they won't stop talking about him. They don't give Trump the same kind of scrutiny they do any other politician.

-Biden has a Gaza problem - if Gaza wasn't an active issue, he'd probably be doing a lot better. He has spent so long ensuring Israel receives the support it needs to continue to exist in the middle east, and they have a place after the Holocaust, that he just can't adjust to the horrible crimes their government are committing. I understand he will never not supply their Iron Dome and other defensive measures, but that doesn't mean he cant restrict Israeli weapon sales to just that.

-he doesn't talk about his accomplishments in office, and the media doesn't cover it, so the general populace doesn't think he has done anything. He has done plenty - in the general election campaign, they are starting to advertise these things.

People still don't know that he continued backing Rail workers helped get them a deal, they just remember he kept the supply chain open.

Many student loans have been forgiven. He can't do forgiveness as broadly as he'd like, the GOP is fighting him on that, but he continues to fight for it and is getting more. My own mother is in her 60s and has another 10+ years on her student loan - but I am hopeful his student loan forgiveness will reach her - she has applied and right now it is just a waiting game (information over the past year has been very confusing regarding what to do and when).

I only ever hear the media talking about the negative aspects of Biden, so of course he is going to lose supporters. I just happen to follow political news more closely than the average person, so I am aware of the positive things he has done as well. Hopefully he gets the message out; Trump was awful, but he isn't losing support - people staying home and skipping this vote because Biden isn't ideal, is how we get Trump back in office.

Truck_kun ,

We are talking about two very different things.

The reply I responded to was about student debt forgiveness. Forgiveness does not equal payment suspension.

Yes, his post was threaded a couple down from yours, but neither my post, nor the post I responded to mentioned payment suspension. Your reply should probably be up a post or two.

Trump and republicans of course want the people to pay every penny, plus interest of student debt. Biden kept loan payment suspensions up for years, which is far longer than I expected. Biden is getting debt forgiveness to the people, and a large number of them, and it is making a difference. I don't think anyone thought he would accomplish a fraction of what he has gotten done; I can only imagine what he can get done if people give the Dems a majority in the Senate and House.

With the republicans trying to shutdown the government for their political circus, Biden has done a good job of picking his battles, and making them look like fools. It's clear the current Republican party is incapable of governing.

Truck_kun ,

Also to be kept in mind is what winning is for Ukraine.

That is for Ukraine to decide, but it is decidedly not conquering Russia.

The point being, Ukraine doesn't need to be supplied to the level of razing Moscow and St. Petersburg to the ground; simply enough to defend their borders/land, push back Russian troops, and causing some long range strategic damage behind Russian borders.

Truck_kun ,

I did watch the state of the union address, and Biden did a wonderful job overall.

There were a few word stumbles, and his stutter came out at a point; but I know I couldn't give an hour long plus speech, and not stumble several times. There was one spot he stopped mid-sentence to respond to a heckle, which will probably be clipped, but I cant remember the exact words.

Republicans need to learn to just shut up during his speeches and not heckle. He is on the ball, and at his best when responding to their heckling, it makes him look good, and he gets concessions out of them every time.

Gaza was probably the toughest segment he tackled in the SOTU; primarily that he repeated several things I've heard to be false, but may well be stuff that either stuck in his memory hard, or the US intelligence community has more information than the media I've seen, and could be accurate.

Overall, he did look energetic, intelligent, and delivered on a lot of the messaging for what his office had helped accomplish, that people generally don't hear about.

If your issue with Biden is his age, or you think his office hasn't done much of anything, I suggest you watch. If your issue with him is Gaza... likely nothing he does is going to placate you, and this address won't change that. He clearly is for a two state system, and not anti-Palestinian, but also is anti-Hamas, and is well aware of Hamas tactics of blending in with civilians, and using them as a shield (which isn't new, it has been how they operate for a long time prior to the current conflict).

Truck_kun ,

When he was the senator, he pushed forward a lot of bad policies we are stuck with to this day. Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act and Anti-Drug Abuse Act are only a couple of bad laws he's helped advance while in the Senate.

His age is not of concern for me either. I'll vote for him, because the alternative is Trump. But if the country weren't under the threat of MAGA, Fascism, Nazis, and white/Christian Nationalists, and there were other reasonable options, I probably would vote for someone else.

Truck_kun ,

They did not leave the country to start a good life somewhere else. They stayed to persecuted their own good people until the last one either left or is locked up.

Not to defend them, because I don't know their situation, but in general:

For those stuck in Russian and don't have the option to leave, this is probably a good option to avoid having to go to the front lines yourself. Dedicate yourself to keeping other people in line, and recruitment efforts.

Truck_kun ,

I feel like when he was in office before, I recall him wanting to pull out of NATO then.

I hope we have legislatively done everything we can to ensure whoever the president is, is not able to unilaterally pull out of alliances, and membership in the UN, and WHO, without first getting congressional approval as well, and any such action would be null, and void without such approval.

We were a joke on the world stage when Trump was in office, and lost the trust of much of our allies. We are finally taken seriously on the world stage again, and not laughed at for our president, but we have not fully regained that trust; it is there now, but the world now see's weather they can trust us at any given moment is depending on elections every 4 years at minimum, and our current congress is even swayed by the whims of a former president that isn't even in office.

The trust, standing, and soft power the USA lost from Trump's time in office, may never return to what it once was.

Truck_kun ,

I would also have concerns of if congress only requires 50% of the vote or not, but as things stand, we at least have enough who support NATO and view Russia as an adversary, that it is unlikely.

But house republicans have proven over and over they are weak. They cave to pressure on Trump when he isn't even president.

To use one of Trumps phrases, Republicans got a 'sweetheart deal' on immigration and the border, and they gave it up over pressure from Trump to not fix the border issue if he isn't in office. Every day the border crisis continues is on Trump, and republicans hands (I want to say house, but even the Senate caved to him).

Truck_kun ,

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Truck_kun ,

I feel like Little Bobby Tables has grown up, and should now be Robert'); DROP TABLE loans;--

Truck_kun ,

In regards to PG&E's rates, for those interested in how much that 13% brings it up to:

https://www.pge.com/content/dam/pge/docs/account/rate-plans/residential-electric-rate-plan-pricing.pdf

Truck_kun ,

I mean, it's even a trope. TV series, like How I Met Your Mother, do it all the time.

Honesty surprised these things haven't been made 'child climbing in proof' yet.

Truck_kun ,

https://www.pge.com/en/accessibility/supported-browsers.html#tabs-281f6d0cf8-item-5d2127a6b9-tab

Soon as I login, I cant do anything, always some invisible pop-up or something trying to load endlessly while I see my bill below, but cant click anything. Even got a notice the other day that my browser is not supported.

I have a net metering credit that covers my bill, so not a real issue for me, but still frustrating.

Truck_kun ,

I use python occasionally at work.

... Not IT approved, but well... we use an MSP, and I get to be a decision maker in the company for certain things, and just do it, because well.... I can, and the company keeps me around partially for the things I do with python and sql.

I would like to say Pandas should be used for much of that excel stuff, maybe even replace it, but... Microsoft has decided to bring Python capabilities into excel, so that will likely cement them in your workflow even further:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/excel-blog/announcing-python-in-excel-combining-the-power-of-python-and-the/ba-p/3893439

Muslim and Arab-American Voters Show Black People How to Exercise Political Power | Black Agenda Report ( blackagendareport.com )

A group of Muslim leaders in swing states are rightly using their electoral power with the #AbandonBiden campaign. They are not so frightened of a Trump presidency that they have allowed themselves to vote for the man who through his proxy Israel has killed some 24,000 people in Gaza and despite phony claims of “working behind...

Truck_kun ,

Before Oct 7th..... ummm... the economic pain for bankers caused by forgiving student loans? Inflation did suck for a while, but the Biden admin walked a tightrope with almost guaranteed recession below, and managed a soft landing to avoid recession (which honestly, everyone was expecting a recession). The Biden admin has a long list of things they actually have done, just their PR sucks (Biden tends to quietly work to accomplish stuff in the background, and not throw a victory parade for every little thing they do. Not that I want him to do that, I consider it tacky, but Trump does it constantly and gets all the media attention, so hopefully that changes for the duration of the elections).

Even with what is happening in Gaza, Biden and the Biden administration are not 'pro-murder Palestinians'.

Bibi isn't going to listen to anyone unless made to, this is an ambition of his.

What I would say the Biden admin, AND CONGRESS, are guilty of, is not being heavy handed with Bibi and Israel. They have no actual power to stop it, but they do have the power of influence by enforcing our standard policies for military aid; ie: condition continued aid on not murdering Palestinian civilians/make (and show) great effort to specifically target Hamas... if not, stop selling weapons/providing aid to Israel (beyond maybe the Iron Dome).

I do want someone younger for President, but if it's Biden v. Trump, I'm voting Biden. The Gaza situation sucks, Israel has gone too far, and is rightfully being viewed as the villain here, but not being able to control the leader of a foreign nation isn't reason to be ANTI-Biden, and let fascists/authoritarians come into power.

The world suddenly acting like Biden should have ultimate control over foreign leaders is a weird new twist I did not expect. Israel has long been an important ally and partner; we do need to be firmer/heavier handed, but not so much as to turn a partner/ally into an enemy, unless absolutely necessary. Ideally, Israelis would take care of removing Bibi from power on their own.

Truck_kun ,

To preface, I disagree with the death penalty in most cases.

It may seem a strange idea, but as long as the death penalty is a thing, I wonder if there is an opportunity to instead of killing the person, provide the option (after serving a sufficient term for 'punishment' and/or 'rehabilitation') of instead killing the person's citizenship; as an alternative, if they have dual citizenship, allow the other country the option to take their citizen back in, drop their US citizenship, and permanently make them ineligible from regaining citizenship; and in cases of only US citizenship (because you aren't allowed to make someone 'stateless'), allow another nation to sponsor the individual by granting them citizenship (should the person accept) and taking them in.

The other country in such a case would be responsible for whatever further 'punishment'/'rehabilitation' they feel is appropriate before re-integrating them into society. There's only a couple thousand death row inmates in the US currently.

I'm not saying other nations will be jumping to take in murderers, but with the high number of false convictions in the US, and risk of executing innocent people, some nations with a high moral standard, may be willing to take some people in if given the opportunity.

Just a random thought that occurred; if it is extremely crazy sounding, I don't know. But the US is basically a prison nation with plenty of innocent people being convicted of crimes all the time, it may be nice for there to be another option.

Edit: Treason, and crimes against the nation, is one of those things that probably shouldn't be allowed such an exception, because you are just sending someone who 'committed treason' to a place they can continue to act against your nation, that's just not a smart thing to do.

Truck_kun ,

Actually... I see your point.

Are they made of leather, or just.... super fake looking low quality fabric?

Truck_kun ,

I don't want Newsom as president.

I'm done with him as governor. It's not an all bad policy thing, I view the CPUC in bed with utility providers with unlimited energy rate hikes, as very much a Newsom thing.

Every single CPU Commissioner was appointed by Newsom. Yes it needs Senate approval, but he is the one who chooses who to appoint, and the senate approves it.

PG&E's rate just went up again upon CPUC approval to $0.42/kWh

https://www.pge.com/content/dam/pge/docs/account/rate-plans/residential-electric-rate-plan-pricing.pdf

Truck_kun ,

US: At home 100% sit; out and about, 100% stand.

If it's not my home toilet, I'm not even going to sit to shit. Lift the seat, put down a layer of protective toilet paper to prevent splash landings, aim, and squat. If they have very clean toilets, like someone's home, I'll make an exception, or a clean public restroom that stocks seat liners, I may use them.

TBH, that's a method of last resort though. If I can wait until I get home, I do. Nice, clean, comfy, got a fancy TOTO bidet; just a better experience.

Truck_kun ,

I think this is a great time for remaining Reddit users to do a 3 month Reddit detox.

Truck_kun ,

Hundreds to thousands of nukes, mostly yes. one to tens of, not so much. People don't want nukes to be used, but having a supply of 20 nukes or so would not get the world to let you do whatever you wanted.

And at a certain point, even the hundreds to thousands may still lead to war, if pressing too hard.

Truck_kun ,

I'm just going to go by the provided graphic.... Dec 30th was already a long time ago in COVID terms. It was already spiking leading into and after Thanksgiving. Now weeks after Christmas, it should begin receding again. This is "normal" (now).

I'm not disagreeing with the article, more that it seems a bit late. With Flu and RSV in the mix, not like precautions shouldn't be taken; I have worn a mask every time I'm at work or in public since March 2020, that's just my new normal.

I appreciate news sources are finally picking up on it, I just wish they'd done it more going into the holiday season.

Truck_kun ,

Last sentence is gold. Worth the read.

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