@jik@federate.social avatar

jik

@jik@federate.social

he/his
Digital Services Expert at #USDS (https://usds.gov/), detailed to #VA.
I work primarily in #infosec, #IT, and #SaaS infrastructure. Prior to USDS, I was a #tech #startup #CISO.
Dad, old-school hacker, Righteous Indignation Man. Opinions are my own. You can follow my blog from the Fediverse via https://blog.kamens.us/author/jik/.
#MaskUp #COVID #CovidIsNotOver #USPol #MAPol #BosPoli #Boston #MA #politics #resist #linux #FOSS #OpenSource #ConsumerActivism #privacy #programmer #hacker #fedi22

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

jik, to politics
@jik@federate.social avatar

There are three types of people buying shares of :

  1. Suckers, i.e., supporters
  2. People hoping to gain leverage over Trump
  3. People laundering money to Trump
    There is no viable business model here and there never will be. No one buying this stock who isn't a Trump supporter thinks the company will ever be profitable.
    It's just another grift.

    Trump Media auditor warns losses raise doubt about company
    https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/trump-media-auditor-warns-losses-raise-doubt-company-rcna145831
jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

For those of you wondering how is going to extract cash from if he isn't allowed to sell any of his shares for six months... He's going to use the shares as collateral to take out huge loans. His real estate grift is failing thanks to the fraud conviction in New York, so this is his new overvalued asset he can over-leverage into loans he'll eventually default on.

jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

@stadsplanering That's loans to the company, which is different from loans to Trump.
Also, don't dismiss the possibility that some of the banks are in on the grift or actively colluding with Trump; those banks just need a minimally plausible justification for giving him a loan.

jik, to journalism
@jik@federate.social avatar

This is journalistic malpractice. The linked article is clear and unequivocal that the claim that Russia is behind Havana Syndrome is unproven and all the evidence is circumstantial. For a journalist who absolutely knows better to state it definitively like this is grossly irresponsible.

jik, to random
@jik@federate.social avatar

Daughter: WHY ARE THERE NO BATH TOWELS?

Same daughter: showers nearly every day, sometimes twice, takes 1–2 fresh towels every time, leaves them on the floor in her bedroom, once every week or so puts 20 towels from her bedroom on top of the laundry hamper and assumes someone else will wash them at some point

jik, to animals
@jik@federate.social avatar

One of the things I love about my wife is that she insists we keep the washer and dryer doors closed when not in use because she's worried otherwise one of our will settle down for a nap in one and someone starting a load of laundry won't notice and a cat will get tumble washed or dried.
This is endearing both as an indication of her caring for the cats and as a robust demonstration of risk assessment and mitigation.

BrianJopek, to random
@BrianJopek@mastodon.world avatar

Another take on Elon Musk’s brilliant solution to the Key bridge disaster in Baltimore.

jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

@philip_cardella I am curious to see some support for the claim that "the US seizes stuff, whole industries, with some regularity, historically." I am not aware of such a pattern in US history.
Perhaps you are confusing seizure with antitrust enforcement or bankruptcy, which are extremely different and not applicable to Tesla (or at least not yet, regarding bankruptcy).

jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

@philip_cardella Both of the articles you linked specifically cited nationalizing industries in times of crisis when it was necessary to alleviate the crisis. Specifically, we've done this in times of war with critical industries.
We are not currently at war and there is no war-like crisis that would justify nationalizing Tesla.
There is to my knowledge no precedent for what you proposed.

jik, to fediverse
@jik@federate.social avatar

This is your periodic reminder that you will be happier in the and find it more rewarding if you are quick to follow people and also quick to unfollow / mute / block.
Quick to follow is important because that's how to build a community of interest.
Quick to unfollow etc. is even more important, because you don't owe anyone here your time or attention and you shouldn't give it to people who don't spark joy.

jik, to infosec
@jik@federate.social avatar

Hey @bitwarden! It's a tad worrisome when a security software company can't handle something as simple as ensuring that its record points to valid email addresses.

jik, to politics
@jik@federate.social avatar

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
― George Orwell, 1984
Gift link: https://wapo.st/3vwMEEj

jik, to Insurance
@jik@federate.social avatar

Just FYI, when companies don't let you submit correspondence to them electronically through their web site, it's not because they're concerned about privacy. It's because they want to make it as hard as possible for you to create a paper trail of your interactions with them to minimize evidence of their wrongdoing.

jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

I just got off the phone with ; there was no option to contact them online.
I called to tell them they made a several-hundred-dollars error processing a claim. I could have filed a "dispute" by postal mail instead of calling them on the phone, but (a) a dispute would have been overkill for a processing error, (b) it would have been much more troublesome, and (c) it would have added at least a week to the process.

jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

The error was claiming the primary insurer covered over $1,000 of a claim when in fact they covered none of it.
The rep I spoke with told me two objectively wrong things:

  1. "You should contact the primary insurer." Nope! The other insurance company didn't make the error, United did.
  2. "To fix this we will have to remove the other insurance company as the primary on the claim." Nope! Again, they are the primary, they just didn't cover this particular charge.
    smdh
jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

There are lots of lessons here, but one of the most important ones is to always carefully read the Explanation Of Benefits (EOB) that the insurance company sends you, especially on claims that involve coordination of care among multiple insurance companies.
Also, every time you get a bill, compare it to the EOB to confirm they match up and the service provider is billing for the correct amount.
More than once I've been billed for charges the provider wasn't allowed to bill me for.

jik, to boston
@jik@federate.social avatar

Since today is the Jewish holiday of Purim, when Jews traditionally exchange little food packages with each other, I was not surprised to find a bag in my mailbox containing a brownie and a chewy bar. I was, however, surprised to discover that it was from 's inviting me to Easter Sunday services. ? I just sent this email to the church (too long for alt text so I will thread the text below).
@mazeldon @universalhub

jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

@LillyHerself @mazeldon @universalhub Hi Lily! Certainly some religious practices are divisive. You know what else is divisive? Coming into a thread by someone who clearly values their religion and saying that all religion is divisive. I can't say I appreciate that. And since you're the kind of person who thinks that's appropriate, you're not the kind of person I want to interact with here, so I'm going to mute you now. Bye!

jik, to politics
@jik@federate.social avatar

Here's today's reminder that everything the says is a lie.
They claim they want to eliminate universal free school lunch programs because of fraud and corruption. In fact, there is less fraud in those programs than means-tested ones.
They claim it will save money; in fact universal programs are cheaper to run.
The reality is that they WANT corruption: they want to give states block grants, so red state governors can steal the lunch money like the bullies they are.

jik, to random
@jik@federate.social avatar

REI sent us a survey. I filled out the survey, but instead of actually answering their questions, on every page where there was an "Other" option with a text field, I selected it and wrote in the box "we will not be shopping at REI again until you stop union-busting and negotiate in good faith with your employees' unions."
Ref: https://www.ourrei.com/

jik, to email
@jik@federate.social avatar

My family server got put onto several DNS blocklists yesterday because someone submitted a posting with a fake return address to the newsgroup whose moderation software runs on my server, and the "fake" return address they used (@NOSPAMgmail.com) is actually a spam-trap, so when my server tried to send them email acknowledging their submission I got blocklisted.
The spamtrap in question charges money for delisting. Fuck that noise.

😡

jik, to politics
@jik@federate.social avatar

Please understand that it's only a matter of time before what is happening today in Johannesburg—the collapse of their water system—happens where you live. When, not if.
If you're living in a democracy, every election is the opportunity to choose between the people who are trying to do the right thing but not doing enough, and the people who are trying to extract as much wealth as possible before everybody dies. The choice seems pretty obvious. 🤷
https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-johannesburg-water-crisis-weather-fa8c921c6a063a31aec37e05864d61fb

jik, to random
@jik@federate.social avatar

The theory that is a bad businessman because his companies went bust and he's a cheater and a fraud assumes that good businessmen aren't.
Nope. The dividing line between good and bad in business is what you can get away with.
Even now, with the law breathing down his neck, Trump is still living a lifestyle the vast majority of the world can't even conceive of.
He'll die living that lifestyle before he sees a day in prison.
Seems to me he's a pretty good businessman.

jik, to random
@jik@federate.social avatar

: It's not a fluke or a lark that the "Black" in "Black people" is capitalized but the "white" in "white people" isn't. CJR does a good job of explaining why: https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php
If you post in a thread in which anti-Black racism is being discussed and you capitalize "White", you're going to come off as ignorant at best, or intentionally antagonistic and disrespectful, or a White Nationalist (see how it's capitalized there? they do that) at worst.
Don't be that person.

Lana, to random
@Lana@beige.party avatar

Dear New York Times et al,

He was never a successful businessman.

  1. He inherited 400 million dollars and turned that into zero dollars.
  2. He went bankrupt 7 times.
  3. Some of those bankruptcies were casinos, literally a licence to print money which he couldn't manage.
  4. He conned kids with cancer out of money once. That's why he can't run a charity anymore.
  5. The following business ventures no longer exist or are insolvent:
    a. Trump Steaks
    b. Trump University
    c. Trump Mortgage
    d. Trump Vodka
    e. Trump: The Game
    f. Trump Ice
    g. GoTrump.com
    h. Trump Magazine
    i. The New Jersey Generals
    j. Trump Airlines
    k. Trump Entertainment Resorts (filed for bankruptcy FOUR TIMES)
    l. Trump Tower Tampa
    m. Trump Taj Mahal
    n. The Trump Plaza
    o. Trump Castle
    p. Plaza Hotel
    q. Trump Media and Technology Group
    r. Truth Social
    s. Trump Shuttle, Inc
    t. Trump Fire
    u. Trump Power
    v. Trump's American Pale Ale
    w. Trump Marina
    x. Trump Casino, Indiana
    y. Trump Style
    z. Trump World Magazine
    aa. Trumpnet, LLC
    ab. Trump Entrepreneur Initiative
    ac. Trump Fragrances
    ad. Empire by Trump
    ae. Trump Mattress
    af. Tour de Trump
    ag. Trump Network
    ah. Trumped!
    ai. Trump Menswear
    aj. Trump Home
    ak. Success by Trump
    al. Trump Hotel Bedding Line
    am. Donald J. Trump Eyeglasses
    an. Donald Trump Regency Lighting
    ao. Select by Trump Coffee
  6. Of the 16 companies that were manufacturing Trump-branded products in 2015, only 2 remain in business less than 10 years later. Neither of those companies are American. One is located in Panama and the other is located in Turkey.

Stop saying "successful businessman". My little company founded in 2014 has been in business longer, employs more people, and makes more income than 99% of his ventures. The difference between him and me is access to capital, which means he gets unlimited bites at the apple, and I get just this one if I'm lucky.

Signed,
a small business owner in Washington

jik,
@jik@federate.social avatar

@Lana I am honestly curious whether his casinos went bust because of his incompetence or because he was actively siphoning money out of them like he does for all of his ventures.

jik, to tech
@jik@federate.social avatar

I received email today, March 19, from BarclayCard, notifying me, "Your payment has been scheduled for 03/07/24."
I did, in fact, schedule a payment for March 7. I did that on February 22, which is when they should have sent the confirmation email. Instead, it took them 26 days.
Aren't computers great?

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