NaibofTabr

My main reasons are sailing the high seas

If this is the goal, then you need to concern yourself with your network first and the computer/server second. You need as much operational control over your home network as you can manage, you need to put this traffic in a separate tunnel from all of your normal network traffic and have it pop up on the public network from a different location. You need to own the modem that links you to your provider’s network, and the router that is the entry/exit point for your network. You need to segregate the thing doing the sailing on its own network segment that doesn’t have direct access to any of your other devices. You can not use the combo modem/router gateway device provided by your ISP. You need to plan your internal network intentionally and understand how, when, and why each device transmits on the network. You should understand your firewall configuration (on your network boundary, not on your PC). You should also get PiHole up and running and start dropping unwanted inbound and outbound traffic.

OpSec first.

Skynet is Made in China. That figures.

Not enabling it may prevent you from accessing the user-facing features but may not actually prevent it from recording your conversation and training on it.

Not privatize, atomize. Centralized control is ripe for abuse, no matter whose control it is.

Oh yes, let’s nationalize the communications platforms and give the government direct control over how people express themselves. Surely the government is 100% trustworthy and will not use that power to suppress criticism or political opponents, or track people who are ‘unpatriotic’, or redefine ‘hate speech’ in a way that benefits the current regime. No such thing has ever happened in the history of ever. What could possibly go wrong.

I think you’re right, and I think the problem is that many people equate dominance with aggression, especially physical aggression, and even more especially abusive aggression. It can be really difficult to break someone of this misconception, and popular media (e.g. “Fifty Shades of Grey”) really hasn’t helped.

It is perfectly possible to be controlling with soft power (more of a straitjacket than a bludgeon) but this is more subtle and more difficult to portray in a visual format, regardless of the gender(s) of the characters involved. You’re more likely to find what you’re looking for in written format than visual, because written description handles subtlety better than video.

Subtlety requires time almost by default, and most forms of visual adult media are about quick gratification.

There was no period without warfare or economic stability in Palestine.

I mean… there was time to build a bunch of modern residential buildings, hospitals and businesses (the things Israel is currently blowing up and bulldozing) and for people to live their lives without having to be armed 24/7. It literally has not been open warfare (at least for a little while), and yes there was some economic stability, enough for local Palestinian businesses to develop, for a semi-functional civilian government to form, and for civil services like hospitals and schools to be established. It hasn’t just been a warzone for 100 years.

The uber wealthy have set the conditions for conflict based entirely upon greed.

Same as it ever was…

Palestine has been in perpetual war for sovreignty since the end of WWII.

Yup. Even longer, actually: Timeline of intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine

1881

The first wave of Jews arrive in Ottoman Syria in the First Aliyah after Zionism itself began some time in the 1850s

Eventually leading to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and ongoing conflict

Basically the violence has been constant, with occasional breaks to reload.

The Pax Americana is probably responsible for the relative stability of the '90s and '00s - there was still violence, car bombings and rocket attacks &etc, but not open warfare. That’s obviously ending now.

My guess is that the period without warfare allowed Palestine to develop some economic stability and power of its own, which Israel perceived as a long-term threat. Combine that fear with greed and expansionism and you get the current attempt to erase Palestine.

I’m not sure what most people were expecting

People were expecting the game that was promised in all the lead-up marketing.

CD Projekt has been building up expectations, previewing intriguing scenes and customizations that never came to pass.

It went to promise real-time AI that would grant over a thousand NPCs a variety of roles and actions that, complete with a day/night cycle, was designed to change up their routines. But as fans began playing, they quickly discovered this wasn’t true.

Then, there are the gameplay and AI issues that hinder the experience. A game like Cyberpunk 2077 runs on crime, and CD Projekt promised realistic interactions with the police. One would fully expect officers to come running if a crime was committed out in the open with witnesses, or even in a remote alleyway. Sadly, there is nothing realistic about a bunch of cops spawning unexpectedly around the player with guns firing – especially if no one even witnessed the crime.

Basically all of the marketing turned out to be lies and the game that CDPR promised never existed.

“Masterpiece” is a real stretch

Be sure to watch part 2 where they show pedestrian & vehicle pathing.

By the phone company.

Ah the ol’bait’n’switch, a classic.

Hey, it’s been awhile, it’s gotta be done by now!

Did they finally add all the features they advertised?

Heh, that won’t stop a C-level from thinking that you just write code.

So if it’s too scummy for the BBB, it must be really bad… or they weren’t getting a high enough cut.

The nuke plant is, of course, Historic Chernobyl No. 4, now a war memorial.

Do something worthwhile with your time.

Something else.

For individual projects the way this usually works is one of the larger companies that rely on the project hires the developer as an employee to maintain the codebase full-time and help integrate it with their internal processes.

Larger projects might form their own company and sell integration & support to other companies (e.g. Red Hat, Bitwarden).

Otherwise you’re basically dependent on donations or government grants.

There’s a Wikipedia article on this subject: Business models for open-source software

And there’s various industry opinions:

Demystifying the Open Source Business Model: A Comprehensive Explanation

How to build a successful business model around open source software

Open Source Business Models (UNICEF course)

I think monetization is easier for user-facing software though, which a lot of this material is written around, and harder for projects like libraries.

hmm…

hmm…

…and my axe!

AI is a surveillance technology.

There’s this quote attributed to Rabbi Yisrael Salanter:

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.

There are two lessons here. First - the best way to affect meaningful change is to start local. Rather than spending a lot of time agonizing over national politics, get involved in your community - your neighborhood, your town, your apartment building, even just the house you share with your family. Your community will take better care of you and the other people that you care about than any national government ever will.

Second - ultimately the only person whose behavior you can change is your own. Don’t be too harsh with other people when they don’t behave the way that you believe they should. Be a more stringent judge of your own behavior.

But temper that with this:

Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much. Or berate yourself too much either.

Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Baz Lurhmann