@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

zakalwe

@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com

Culture Special Circumstances, detached.

pp desc for vision impaired: The N7 (Systems Alliance Special Forces) Seal from the Mass Effect games.

Neuro-spicy. Aspie pretending (sometimes badly) to be human (at least, it often feels that way) while fighting depression and chronic insomnia. Aspiring mostly-SF writer, burned-out IT geek, humanist who wants to see us make at least a token effort to stop enshittifying our entire planet. Is there really anything so incredibly, soul-threateningly terrible about the idea of giving a shit about other people?

Something I said pissed you off? It may be a misunderstanding, I'm far from immune to foot-in-mouth disease. Please check with me before you assume it was malicious. It most likely wasn't. If I don't think you're someone worth talking to, I just won't talk to you in the first place, period.

Follow-backs: If you have something to say, sure. No posts? Nothing to say? What would be the point? In the words of @PatternChaser, "I don't follow back, I follow interesting." I'm trying to keep the signal-to-noise ratio in my feed high. Still, if you follow me and I see it, I will do my best to at least find time to look. I can't guarantee I won't miss it, I'm not awake 24/7.
(And sorry, but don't expect me to follow you if you're posting the same dozen posts, day in, day out, day after day after week after month. In fact I'll most likely mute you.)

Came here to put words into my mouth so you could attack me over something I didn't say? (Yeah, sadly, it's happened.) Just don't. I WILL block your ass. Nobody has time for that shit.

Geek Stuff: I run Gentoo Linux, and I maintain a personal overlay with packages for dev-perl/Tk-MListbox, sys-apps/procmeter3, net-misc/icbm, media-sound/perljammer, app-crypt/sherpa, and app-editors/xnedit. Of those, net-misc/icbm and media-sound/perljammer are my own projects.

#nobot #writer #geek #linux #mysql #Gentoo #nosystemd #science

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

zakalwe, to random
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/02/world-gains-141-new-billionaires-in-amazing-year-for-rich-people

“It’s been an amazing year for the world’s richest people, with more billionaires around the world than ever before,” said Chase Peterson-Withorn, Forbes’ wealth editor. “A record-breaking 14 centibillionaires [$100bn] have 12-figure fortunes. Even during times of financial uncertainty for many, the super-rich continue to thrive.”

Yeah. The part you're deliberately not saying is that THEY'RE DOING IT AT EVERYONE ELSE'S EXPENSE.

Can you even imagine how much could be DONE with 14.2 trillion dollars? If it WASN'T all just sitting in billionaires' investment portfolios?

BigAngBlack, to random
@BigAngBlack@fosstodon.org avatar

Thanks for the honesty, TheGuardian

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/02/world-gains-141-new-billionaires-in-amazing-year-for-rich-people

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@BigAngBlack

The billionaires are also collectively worth more than ever, with combined assets estimated at $14.2tn – a $2tn increase on 2023 and more than the GDP of every country except the US and China.

Pitchforks. Totally time to get out the pitchforks.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@BigAngBlack Eat the rich, well done? 😅

rbreich, to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

Why are we talking about whether paying fast food workers a better wage will drive up the cost of a Big Mac instead of asking how much McDonald's CEO's $17.8M salary is driving up the cost?

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Mary625 @rbreich Never forget that if the oligarchs could eliminate ALL paid labor ALTOGETHER from their business processes, they would do it without even thinking twice.

WmShakesp3are, to random
@WmShakesp3are@mastodon.social avatar

I really hate really old people. What sucks is that I am old people.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@WmShakesp3are @Snowshadow @CivilityFan @thepoliticalcat @Barbramon1 @dbc3 It used to be common knowledge that Hollywood RAN on coke.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@thepoliticalcat @dbc3 @Barbramon1 @CivilityFan @WmShakesp3are @Snowshadow Yeah, but Hollywood's collective coke habit was FAMOUS.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

"Problems with this fuel include its toxicity and its characteristic of bursting into flame on contact with the air. Furthermore, its exhaust (when used in a jet engine) would also be toxic." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaborane(9)

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@cstross "The propellant mix that would produce the greatest specific impulse for a rocket motor is sometimes given as oxygen difluoride and pentaborane[citation needed]."

[runs screaming] ​:nekowhaaaaaaaat:​

(On the bright side, at least it wasn't FOOF and pentaborane, a combination neither I nor Derek Lowe would Work With.)

GottaLaff, (edited ) to tesla
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Sales Miss in First Year-Over-Year Drop Since Pandemic https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-02/tesla-sales-miss-in-first-year-over-year-drop-since-pandemic

ADDED: Link with no paywall: Tesla sales plunge far more than expected

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/02/business/tesla-sales?cid=ios_app

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@GottaLaff @phi1997 @idoubtit I wouldn't buy a Tesla, I know too much about them and about Tesla's fuckery of customers and I won't support Musk. But I'd buy a Volvo hybrid or EV (although the first thing I'd do would be to turn off several of the driver interferences, er, sorry, I mean "assists".

(The driver "assists" are possibly actual assists if you can barely drive. But IMO if you're a bad enough driver that they actually do help, you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place.)

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@GottaLaff @idoubtit @phi1997 I should clarify there are passive "assists" on my 2013 Volvo like blind spot detection and backup proximity alarm, that I do find helpful. But new models like the 2023 XC90 we had as a service loaner last year include a "steering assist" function that is constantly taking control of the steering and making little herky-jerky unnecessary "corrections" ... and it's horrible. That was the first thing I turned off.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Maybe some people are "sad", because they live in a society that is actually prejudiced against them, and trying harder isn't going to fix it for them.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr @gentrifiedrose And they ask a lot of things they're not allowed to ask, hoping that the interviewee doesn't know they're not allowed to ask it.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@gentrifiedrose @RickiTarr I went eight years after the tech crash unable to find a job, but I couldn't prove that it was because I was disabled.

(Though I did get back-channel feedback from one company that said "We'd love to have him, we just don't think we could afford him," despite having taken pains to stress that I didn't particularly care about salary numbers so long as I could support my family. That was actually one of the more interesting job openings I'd found, too.)

ichbindabomb, to random German
@ichbindabomb@nerdculture.de avatar
zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@cstross @ichbindabomb For Easter this year I have created Attilabot, a bot that screams angry insults in early Scythian (since only three words of the actual Hunnic language are known).

Yes ... it's a cross bot Hun.

majorlinux, to random
@majorlinux@toot.majorshouse.com avatar

New video coming in hot!

The MajorLinux Show: Spec Ops: The Line (Part 2)

https://youtu.be/zStqIB8mnrc

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@majorlinux Oh god. I hated that game. Within 45 minutes of starting play it had me in a position of shooting either at civilians or at [ostensibly] my own people. Nope. Just nope. Not gonna do it, can't make me.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@majorlinux I dislike false dichotomies in games in general, especially ones where I can see an EASY way to resolve the problem without the drawbacks of either. And I'm OK with playing a, shall we say, morally ambiguous character. But when a game in which I'm supposedly "the good guy" forces me into a choice between two actions both of which I consider morally and ethically unacceptable, nope, I'm out of there.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Y'all, I have a big news!

I put a pillow under my shirt!

I'm sitting down showing off my pillow fetus belly

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@pmonks @RickiTarr What is full term on a pillow? And does anyone care, if the pillow is Mike Lindell's?

Teri_Kanefield, to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

Offering this free through my subscription:

"McDaniel was offered a more lucrative contributor contract after she agreed to appear on MSNBC and not just NBC News"

https://wapo.st/3TyPTDi

I may write about the irony of all of this for my weekend blog post.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Teri_Kanefield The whole point of facts is that they can be verified to be objectively true. Without that, all you have is opinions.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

I remember when I was a kid, if someone was in therapy, people talked about it in hushed tones, like it was a shameful secret, and now people talk about it casually in every day conversation. It's good to see that things can change, even if it's just a bit.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr Slow progress is still progress.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Paywall, so…

Via Bloomberg.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@GottaLaff Which, given Starlink's ability to shut off service to specified terminals on demand by flipping a switch on the back end, raises the obvious question, "How do you obtain Starlink service on an illicitly-obtained terminal?"

gsuberland, to random
@gsuberland@chaos.social avatar

so how many "boat fuel can't melt steel bridges" conspiracy theories are there so far

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@cstross @owent @gsuberland @patcharcana Yeah, but a ULCC can't make thirty knots. So there. 🤣

gwynnion, to random
@gwynnion@mastodon.social avatar

People rightfully scoff at America being described as the richest country in the world when it's really a poor country with a shocking number of millionaires and billionaires who got rich by exploiting everyone else and the loopholes built into the system for them.

But it's also a fairly liberal country crushed under the weight of a white wealthy ruling class, who not surprisingly are mostly those same millionaires and billionaires or their hatchet men.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@gwynnion Their hatchet men and their useful idiots.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

#WompWomp

New York Judge Merchan imposed a gag order on Tuesday that prohibits #Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors, the latest effort to rein in the former president’s wrathful rhetoric about his legal opponents.

The judge imposed the order at the request of the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case against Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/nyregion/trump-trial-gag-order.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fk0.fW-u.bJkcWyWuuotD&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@GottaLaff @Sassinake We can still prove him wrong.

FredKiesche, to random
@FredKiesche@dice.camp avatar

And there it is…the first novel-length installment appearance of the BOMB-PUMPED X-RAY LASER!

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/png

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@cstross @SteveBellovin @KarlSchroeder @hendric @isaackuo @sudnadja @nyrath @FredKiesche In my Stardock series, the Stardock does on-demand automated fabrication of entire ships. The ships do not fabricate their own munitions, though.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@cstross @SteveBellovin @KarlSchroeder @hendric @isaackuo @sudnadja @nyrath @FredKiesche (Of course, we must also remember that in Iain M. Banks' Excession, the GSV Sleeper Service fabricated an entire FLEET in its engineering bays.)

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

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@skykiss These fuckers are BUYING OUR FUCKING COUNTRY for tiny fractions of a penny on the dollar, and we're letting them get away with it.

msquebanh, to KindActions
@msquebanh@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Just launched my #MutualAid #fundraiser to get help to fund #dentures that I need to get asap (appt being booked upon raising enough to put down 50% deposit).

My insurance covers all extractions needed except for 2 & I have enough saved to cover that. I need #FinancialHelp to pay for the full set of dentures needed after - to eat & not be toothless.

Please #donate any amount you can & please share my link if you're unable to donate any funds

https://gofund.me/ccdeb731

#MedicalHelpNeeded #Dental

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@msquebanh Tried to donate, but it's not going through and I don't know why. It just sits there and spins.

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