@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

FirefighterGeek

@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai

INTP. Volunteer firefighter 20+ years. Software Developer. Parent. Grandparent. Love to fix things, not people.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

rbreich, to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

Will Trump be criminally convicted in his election interference trial? If so, will it affect the election?

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@rbreich The only thing likely to radically alter the election at this point would be if either of these old men suffer a catastrophic medical problem -- something not out of the question for either one.

This is the first election in my lifetime that I think was over before it started. I'm not sure in which direction, but I think the vast majority are locked in.

FirefighterGeek, to random
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

Why the phone camera sees the aurora so much more vibrantly…

In dim light humans can sense light through the rods in the eye but not as much with the cones. Cones are color sensitive and rods are not. So in the dark we don’t see color well.

A phone camera uses sensors which are not subject to this limitation.

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cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

I am slightly boggled that this on-the-nose "RFK had a brain worm" piece in the NYT does, indeed, appear to have been published in the New York Times and not, say, The Onion.
https://fedi.andrlik.org/@daniel/112405197183484426

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@cstross He says he's fine now, but isn't that exactly what someone suffering the effects of a parasitic mind-control worm would say?

FirefighterGeek, to random
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

Happy May 1st.

As workers celebrate seizing the means of production,

and as Pagans celebrate the means of re-production,

I hope your day goes well.

rbreich, to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

Trump has proposed a 10% tariff on all imported goods and a 60% or more tariff on Chinese imports.

No matter what he says, tariffs aren't paid by the other country. They're paid by you.

Recent analysis predicts his plan would cost the average family about $1,500 extra per year.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@rbreich I have no interest in agreeing with the orange insurrectionist -- that said, there's a valid case to be made for some level of protectionism. Tariffs that counter the cost difference in countries not enforcing labor or environmental rules, or in cases of dumping for strategic advantage are very much valid strategies.

Of course, 60% seems ridiculous to me, but I haven't see the numbers that would have to support it.

Like 99% of what he says, it's meaningless drivel anyway.

gbhnews, to random
@gbhnews@mastodon.social avatar

bonus q: should the T have googly eyes 👀?

video/mp4

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@gbhnews Googly Eyes make everything better.

jwildeboer, to random
@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net avatar

Could y'all please add (paywalled) or ($) or (€) when you post links here to content behind paywalls? It is really annoying to click through several "consent banners" and other popups, thus feeding gazillions of trackers, just to get the "to continue reading, please subscribe" message.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@jwildeboer

Agree in theory, but I don't always realize it. If I'm browsing a site I've paid for and share a link, sometimes I may not realize its paywalled.

Other times, if you follow a link via social media, the host sometimes allows the article to be viewed based on the meta data saying it came from FB or Twitter --- but Mastodon doesn't add tracking and marketing garbage.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Parenthetically: I have been reading breathless pieces arguing that quantum computing would make existing cryptographic techniques obsolete for 20-30 years now, and the next quantum computer to come along that can run Shor's Algorithm usefully will be the first. (I do not consider factoring the number 35 on a multimillion dollar experimental device like IBM Q System One to be "useful".)
https://social.network.europa.eu/

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@cstross A bit like Fusion power stations. "Fusion: It's the energy of the future. Forever."

randahl, to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

Trump is now selling The Bible for 60 dollars to squeeze that last cent out of the believers' pockets.

What is next? Plastic Crucifixes with MAGA hats?

There is no low.

image/jpeg

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@randahl

He's getting money to sell bibles to help pay for the lawyers and judgement in his trials related to trying to cover up hush money paid to a porn star that he paid to sleep with while one of his wives was pregnant.

skykiss, to random
@skykiss@sfba.social avatar

"Truth social" Scam Phantom Stock:

  • Social media platform is like phantom stocks. They appear substantial, but their value is elusive.
  1. How Phantom Stock Works:
  • Phantom shares mimic real stock value.

  1. Pump & Dump Scheme: A fraudulent practice where individuals artificially inflate the price of a stock (or in this case, social media company) to attract unsuspecting or criminal/dark money investors who “pump” stock prices, the inflated worth is illusory.

  2. Money Laundering: Trump concealing the origins of illicitly obtained funds by passing them through a complex sequence of banking transfers or commercial transactions.

Truth Social is a failed social media platform, that will merge with a publicly traded SHELL company. Financial Performance: Since its 2021 launch, Truth Social generated sales of less than $5 million. However, Trump’s supporters rallied to boost shares in the shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corp. Its a money laundering scheme.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/22/business/trump-truth-social-dwac-shares/index.html

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@GatekeepKen @skykiss The SPAC that is "merging" in Truth Social is based in Wuhan, China. The Chinese can very easily pump this long enough for it to launder a huge payout to Trump.

rbreich, to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

There’s something odd about Trump’s inability to post an appeal bond in his NY civil fraud case. All those buildings and clubs could serve as collateral against a loan to pay the bond…unless they are already pledged as collateral on other loans. Is it all a house of cards?

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@rbreich I wrote about this yesterday. It's either already leveraged to its peak value, which means his net work has to be under a billion in total and could be as little as the edge of bankruptcy, or else he's just playing a delay and bargaining game with the appeals court. Some combination of those is possible.

rbreich, to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

First it was Boehringer. Now drugmaker AstraZeneca has followed suit by capping out-of-pocket costs for inhalers to $35/mo. That’s down from over $600. But this doesn’t happen by itself.

It took pressure by lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders and from engaged consumer activists.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@rbreich They're capping prices but still making money on a few common things to avoid legislation that would mean sweeping reforms. They can say, "look, we're helping" when they're not really helping.

FirefighterGeek, to random
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

Not sure how to report a mastodon server full of nothing but fake news propaganda hosting, so I'm copying @stux as my best attempt.

Check out the local feed on:

social(dot)freetalklive(dot)com

I don't want to create link traffic to the site. I just blocked one of their users, but looking at their local feed it's clearly there to serve this garbage.

rbreich, to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

Trump pledged revenge and retribution should he regain office. He says he will be a dictator on “day one.” He calls opponents “vermin” who he will “root out.” He says the blood of our country is being poisoned.

We are far past left vs right.

Our choice is democracy our fascism.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@rbreich ...and we can't count on SCOTUS limiting what he does.

Our whole system is predicated on even the leaders following the instructions of the court -- but with Trump, you have to ask:

"What if he simply refuses to do what the court says?"

He's definitely shown a willingness to ignore what we all assume are fundamental parts of our society.

elfin, to random
@elfin@mstdn.social avatar

I'm getting an API Key at Weather Underground and their Sign In form asks for Gender. Perfect it isn't, but it does include "Other" and "Prefer Not To Say".

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@elfin One might follow up to ask why the Weather Underground site needs to know anything about its users' gender identity no matter how they choose to classify it.

The first rule of protecting private data, is not to collect private data you don't have any need for. If you don't have it, it cannot be stolen from you.

I say this as a member -- this is me:

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KMEFRIEN15

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

I notice that the Odysseus commercial lander a US company just plonked on the Moon cost NASA a little over $100M.

By way of comparison, the Indian government's Chandrayaan-3 mission, the lander of which touched down in 2023, cost roughly $90M.

So private space can be more expensive than 100% government agency-run missions.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@cstross Hardly an apt comparison. The mission from India (which is a huge accomplishment in itself) proves that well known technological feats can be re-created at lower cost. The Odysseus lander is cutting edge experimental technology in a proof of concept package. I frankly think the NASA program being so close in cost to it is amazing.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@cstross If you look at what they did overall sure, but not if you look at how each was done, the technologies used, and so on. NASA's goal here wasn't just getting to the moon again.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@cstross It's definitely a proof of concept, but how would you suggest we get to viability then?

They're not looking for moon based commerce with private industry on the moon supplying itself at first. No plan to go from nothing to "The Expanse" on a NASA budget.

They're looking to show that outsourcing everything but the "pure science" part to industry is a workable solution that saves huge amounts of time and money.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@carcosa @cstross For all it's accomplishment is important for India's space program, what they did was repeat very old and proven methods. It's not remotely the same thing.

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@cstross @carcosa I wish the Indian space agency all success in in efforts, of course, but I don't think the two programs are comparable.

FirefighterGeek, to random
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

How can you name a craft “Odysseus” and expect a trouble free journey and for it to arrive on time?

Hello? Have you read the Odyssey?

FirefighterGeek, to ethelcain
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

If frozen embryos are “people” in Alabama, then their age starts at that point, meaning the don’t have to wait as long (post utero) before being old enough to marry their siblings.

FirefighterGeek, to random
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar
CelloMomOnCars, to random
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

The skin of your laundry pods dissolve in the washing machine, right?

They dissolve into microplastic.
And wastewater treatment systems have no way to filter that out so the microplastics go straight into streams and the ocean.

Just pour your laundry soap out of a box or bottle.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-08/new-york-city-considers-banning-laundry-dishwasher-pods?

FirefighterGeek,
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

@CelloMomOnCars Yes, lets continue to take highly visible but otherwise tiny steps against a microplastics problem we now know is at least 50% from the general wearing of car and truck tires.

FirefighterGeek, to random
@FirefighterGeek@masto.ai avatar

Great fun came in the mail today.

My friend Tim Davis has created a game and had a first run manufactured. Barb and I will give it a try tomorrow.

While I have no idea what to expect from a "Lovecraftian Horror Game", knowing Tim I can be very confident that the maths and balance of play-ability will be extremely well considered.

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