Hobbyist gamedev, moderator of /c/GameDev, TV news producer/journalist by trade

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • This isn’t about Flock, but public surveillance in general: I’ve always been interested in the IDEA of something like CCTV used in some other countries. I see the value, but then i fear shit like this. I just can’t say “yes let’s do it”.

    But I recently saw something I found interesting. Last week the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced their new program to send drones to locations when they dispatch officers to that location. Given it’s direct and in the air, it naturally arrives early, giving them a visual, and doesn’t just stand somewhere collecting data on the public constantly. Seems like a good way to cut out many of the concerns.

    I suppose there’s the risk of crashes? Maybe even hacking? But barring that, anything come to mind?






  • I remember long ago someone broke down the math for me and it became simple. If the bill is $53.27, for example, then 10% is $5.33, just by moving the decimal over one spot. A quick estimate tells me half of that is $2.50 (5 halved) + $0.15 (33 is close to 30 and that halved), so $2.65-ish. Add them together and 15% is close to $8. 20% is that initial $5.33 doubled to $10.66. Roughly between that is my tip on average service, probably rounded.

    … Is that weird written out like that?





  • Like was already said, I’m considering cancelling YouTube Premium too but our numbers won’t really matter. The reports of worsening Firefox compatibility almost some me in and I didn’t even notice.

    I have a family plan with my brother and cousin on it. I know they’re cracking down on sharing with people who don’t live together, but if they cut them I’m done. I’ll figure it out. And I’m probably petty enough to comment about it on everyone’s videos that I follow. (Which also won’t really matter, but I’ll feel better voicing the discontent.)






  • I bought and moved like 1 in late 2013 when it spiked just to play with it and see how it worked, out of curiosity about the tech. (And soon after, mined Dogecoin on Reddit when it started, and we all began tipping like crazy because it was fun and funny.) I made a few bucks off the BTC and kinda regretted not holding it longer. Then cut to a decade later… Sheesh. I may be more sour on the tech now, but damn I’m not so crazy as to not regret selling it.



  • haha, I’m 45, so you don’t have to explain the pre-Internet-ubiquity world to me, but I appreciate it. My first car was from 1982, which I got in 1995. I had a big boom box in the back seat that took D cell batteries. (Because it had no radio and I didn’t have money to buy one, but I had the boom box already.) I get the appeal, I just mean to say that there are people who do make their own cars. And while they make incredibly impressive and even outlandish things, I’m pretty certain they could also make you a very basic car, for a price. And probably a lot less than most new cars. They’ll just want the money to front is all. And there’s probably not much in the way of guarantees.


  • What you want to look into is body kits. It’s taking a car, removing parts, and putting on replacements that have fittings that attach the same, but look completely different on the outside. There are many types of cars that have become the most popular to customize and have the most options, but tons of cars can be changed significantly. There are even some body kits that change everyday cards into looking like completely different cards (“kit cars”, I think they’re called), and lawsuits around some similarities of body kits. There’s also tons of YouTubers that do videos on this, and a whole culture about it. Usually they go for more flashy, and more tech, but you can probably go the other way pretty easily too depending on your taste.

    It’s completely possible to do as a hobby if you have time and money, and more possible to GET done if you have lots of money. Honestly I have no idea about it. But my cousin is a car guy and I stayed with him for a few months earlier this year. Damned interesting stuff out there.




  • The fear is a practice called “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish” (or EEE). It’s been used by tech companies before: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

    It, in theory, could work like this:

    1. Meta embraces ActivityPub in its tech in an attempt to garner good will and make it easy for users to transition to Threads.

    2. Meta extends on ActivityPub by saying "oh we’re just adding a few things that make this better for our users (on our service) but we’re still supporting ActivityPub!

    3. Meta then extinguishes ActivityPub support, and severally hobbles AP, after they secure enough users to be happy and think AP offers no real competition anymore.

    Then the enshittification process begins, by moving the focus from users to other interests (usually advertisers) at the expense of users. And eventually to the platform owners, at the expense of advertisers. Though I guess they’ll skip the middle step, being a public company?

    https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/