They want to make you feel desperate so they can get you easier (read:cheaper)

Seconding this; I know single mothers who have gone hungry because somebody stole their credit card and it took months of arguing with their bank to get it fixed and in that time it destroyed their credit score and just generally made them miserable.

Don't let the system get you down! For real, I worked at a radio station and some of the greatest musicians I met would not or did not fit in in college music programs.

If you like guitar play guitar. Don't worry about groups you are in or what people think of your music. You will for sure get better over time, and honestly if people said you are good then you are good.

We need more people exploring arts, it is a neglected field.

I am not a musician but I was a college student, I didn't fit in and I felt dumb as crap, but I got through it and now after a ton of work I have found my niche and a group of people that appreciate my work. If you keep at it you may find your niche too.

Also some professors are just jerks, they tear you down, but you can't let that ruin your passion. Most people are really passionate about one thing and it is awful to lose that passion. Fuck that professor, keep on playing, the world will be a better place for it.

Is the government pension still pretty good? I know being a fed doesn’t pay a ton, but I’ve heard the retirement benefits are sweet.

Seems nice enough, I don't know him outside of his videos, but the tech stuff he does is interesting, and he definitely knows his stuff.

I know he is a small business owner, but at least from what I have seen it seems like he cares about the people that work for him. In a recent video he actually discussed the fact that he pays his workers well above what is normal in New York City, and has kept that location open even when it is not profitable because he does not feel right laying people off for the sake of just profit.

Of course he could be full of crap when it comes to how he treats the people he employs, but I have not seen anything to indicate that. It also seems like he is right down there in the metaphorical pits with everyone else doing the work.

I can appreciate that argument. I don't think that adultery is justified because of that though. Like dsfsf4ewtb said, the act of adultery involves exploitative behavior. I would argue adultery is abuse.

An interesting think piece for sure, but it is also really abhorrent in my opinion. I am in a long term relationship and my partner is one of the few things that I feel I can rely on in life. If I found out one day they had cheated on me I don't think I would ever recover, and I think most people feel that way.

The article keeps talking about a relationship as work, and this is true, a relationship takes a ton of effort, but some work is worth doing. If the relationship work feels soul crushing like a 9-to-5 job, then end the relationship and find one that you want to work for.

For some reason the writer also seems to think that there is only 2 options, monogamy or adultery, but polyamory an option too.

The only time I can see adultery being acceptable is in a relationship somebody is forced into, and the partner either is doing the forcing or knows the individual was forced into the relationship. Other than that it is a horrible thing to do. I am all for being counter-status-quo for the sake of being counter-status-quo, but not with this.

Darn, that is a really rough spot to be in for the kid. I feel like COVID caused most people to really lose a grip on reality, some more than others. Not that I can blame people honestly, you can only lie to people straight to their face for so long before they start doubting everything you say.

I have been thinking from a statecraft point of view recently that lying to people is effective in the short term, with people even willing to humor it for a bit to keep the peace, but as a long term strategy is creates extreme instability because people lose all trust. Countries have mastered gas lighting people, and now people don't know what to believe, so they believe whatever confirms their existing beliefs. The United States (and other countries) is/are now reaping the instability the government(s) sowed.

Yeah, they give out the cards when you get vaccinated. It’s free, and you don’t even have to worry about filling it out yourself, they do it for you!

For some reason I had always assumed rosewater was more aesthetic than having a real taste. Now I kinda want to try it.

I can see what you mean. Yeah, this tool is more useful for a technician who is looking to confirm a suspected infection. It can give you a clue to if you need to mitigate a possible leak.

But of course if you suspect infection you should thoroughly wipe your device.

Just as a side note if anyone is reading this because they are thinking they need to wipe their device, not all ways of wiping are created equal. Make sure you are fully wiping your device, not just clearing the settings.

Unfortunately most information for good security practices comes from national intelligence agencies, and GCHQ in Britain has published good information regarding secure wiping of devices that are suspected to be infected, for iOS specifically you need to use DFU mode to restore the device to a fully clean state.

More guidance is on the GCHQ site: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/device-security-guidance/managing-deployed-devices/erasing-devices

CW: Torture

As others here have already said, this reads like somebody who has a naive view of torture.

It’s nice to say you wouldn’t break but that almost surely is not true. Torture isn’t just getting hit, it’s so much worse. Imagine rather than torturing you they bring in your spouse, or your kids, and torture them in front of you until they beg you to tell them what they want.

Torture works, it may not yield 100% accurate results, but it does work. So instead of trying to get people to resist torture, information should be compartmentalized, and people should be organized into autonomous cells so that there is a firewall, if somebody from one cell is compromised they can only give up that cell.

Oh yeah; you definitely are right then with the expense and time in your case. I have a habit of forgetting that stuff varies wildly by not only state but even county.

Yeah, the danger is definitely there, and when you do slip up it can be really bad. Somewhat anecdotal but it seems like slip ups occur more often with those experienced with guns; probably due to a combination of just proximity but also complacency. I think the old saying goes something like “the moment you get too comfortable is when you get killed”, I work with high voltage sometimes and always try to remember that, and I think it applies pretty well to guns too.

I’m in the US so of course things are a bit different, but here, many places there is no special license to own a gun (with the exception of a permit to conceal it). Where I am I need a license to own a handgun but rifles and pretty much everything else you just do a background check and you are good to go. I know a lot of users here are not in the US, but for a lot of people here (the US) licensing seems to be confusing, they either think you need a really hard to get license, or you don’t need anything, the reality is more in the middle with there being a process to get a gun but it’s pretty short.

As far as training goes in my experience people seem to either “get” gun safety or they don’t. Of course you should practice shooting so you are more accurate, but in terms of actual training I’d say a couple of hours with an experienced gun owner is probably fine (with the exception of some more specialty firearms). I know that may seem a bit casual, but there really is not a ton to learn with gun safety. Also ammo is ridiculously expensive right now, if you are training 10 hours/month you are gonna be broke quick. But definitely make sure you are comfortable with more dangerous things like cleaning (which is seemingly when most accidents happen).

I am in the socialist rifle association. I am not very active just because I am somewhat shy, and also there has been a history of police harassing members.

It is nice though because I see photos posted by the other members, and it lets me know that there is at least a small community that is in my area that if things got really bad I could turn to. I think my chapter is out of the ordinary though and is a lot more active than others.

I swear, the fact that these idiots are given guns is mind boggling.

Edit: I kept watching it and it just kept making my blood pressure go up and up. At one point she asks for her ID back and one of the thugs goes "no" in probably the rudest way possible.

I don’t mind GPL, but only because there are plenty of licenses to choose from including the different GPL versions.

GPLv3 does lead to some problems I think. I like what it attempted to do with preventing “tivoization” but at the same time it really limits what open source software can be used for. I guess I just think the license is a bit naive to think companies will use code with that license and then open their entire platform up to the public (whether they should is a different question). It basically just leads instead to companies re-writing things and not contributing to the open source code base with the v3 license.

A lot of times open source projects are supported using corporate time and resources because a company uses the project. I think it is more desirable to say “you can use this in anything you want, but any modification to this code needs to be open sourced as well” so that you will get contributions from the people that use it.

It does indeed; I am holding out for fully automated luxury space habitats; I am sure any day now...

I am an engineer by trade, and it is so frustrating to see otherwise bright peers idolize Elon Musk. The dude is seriously awful (as if that needed saying), and now people around me are trying to emulate his toxic behaviour as if having to hear people fawn over him was not enough.

My 2 cents: don't use it. It is basically directly stealing from someone who is more likely working class. If it was a credit card that maybe changes things, but with debit cards the cardholder is often liable for fraudulent transactions. Sure maybe it is some rich asshole's card, but what if it is a single mother working multiple jobs to put food on the table.

I like them, but personally I didn't like the idea that they completely owned the domain (for fully anonymous domains this is of course necessary). They do allow you to use your own info so you are the owner of the domain if you want, but in that case you are essentially just paying for a middle man to register with Tucows.

If you really want an anonymous domain though Njal.la is the best out there. The only competitor that is on the same level is prq.se, but PRQ is VERY libertarian and you may not like supporting a company with their history depending on your own morals.

Gotta love that they just have the controls to critical infrastructure casually hooked up to TeamViewer.

It’s really never a good sign when I go and talk to my old high school Buddies and they are now all “amateur stock traders” and they keep saying “everything just keeps going up”.

Markets have always been disconnected from reality, but has become seemingly worse and worse, over the past few years especially.

It has been so annoying to see some leftists become pro-police in the last few weeks. I thought Reddit was Neoliberal hell before, but honesty I’ve had to avoid it almost entirely since the riots because of all of the horrible takes.

Yes, that could easily happen. Unless you read the source code thoroughly and then compile and install it yourself, you never really fully know what is going on, and even then it’s never 100%.

I don’t think it would happen, but it’s a possibility to guard against.

More likely though, your phone can be compromised, and they can get decrypted messages that way.