That was fast.

Even buildings built for the homeowner suck, because building codes suck and construction materials suck. It’s very hard, and very expensive, to build a nice home of any size. And even if you spend the money, you’ll never get it back because the market doesn’t value quality.

Yes, and it’s also unfettered capitalism. Developers buy land cheap, build homes cheap, and sell them for a profit. That’s usually not in the best interests of the homeowners or the community. In many other countries, homeowners buy land, choose a builder, buy materials, and contribute to their local area. It’s a system that costs slightly more upfront, but most of the value stays where it should, with the homeowners and the laborers. There’s no mass-produced garbage or corporate veils to syphon and protect profits far away from the community.

My kids get their assignments, turn them in, and receive their grades on four different apps, plus there’s a version for the parents.

Where? Fuck you, that’s where. You want your kid to be on time for their activities? Surrender all privacy, because what are you going to do? Keep your kid out of sports and clubs?

Seems to have worked then.

That feels like something we could crowd-source. I don’t need the space and tools to build two open source cars, but if we had ten people in the community that wanted them, it would make sense to rent the space and buy the tools.

On the contrary, I’d say it’s a smashing success. First, the author was deeply engaged with Facebook to write the article. Second, everyone who saw this article and discussed the findings was engaged with Facebook even if they didn’t have the app open. You and I are engaged with Facebook right now. And third, many many more people logged into their Facebook to test the findings either out of curiosity, to disprove the theory, or because they are horny goblins thirsting for smut.

I would definitely pay a premium for an open source car.

The Facebook feed is an advanced algorithm that knows a shit ton about what to feed you to keep you engaged. It’s not just the cookies from sites you visit. They track what thumbnails get you to stop scrolling. They track the way a human eye moves and how far your thumb glides across the screen.

Point is, if it’s all scantily clad thirst traps, thats what gets your attention. If you see one, and you stop to take a screenshot for an article you’re writing about how it’s all thirst traps, then every third item will be another thirst trap.

Facebook doesn’t care if you want to see that content. Their goal is to keep your eyes on Facebook. If it makes you mad enough to comment, that’s engagement.

I didn’t read the whole article, so maybe the author addresses this, but what you see on Facebook is a funhouse reflection of your own interests.

It would be less expensive to simply trust everyone. Administering a numbering system and trying to prevent fraud costs more than the actual fraud it prevents, and does nothing to prevent the larger frauds.

It’s like having a chain on the pen at the bank, with a security guard watching the chain, and three managers making aure the secuirty guard is watching the chain all day, but the cash drawers are open and the three managers simply help themselves to as much cash as they like.

I know this is a serious story, but that headline had me wondering when the war got to Walmart.

There are lots of reasons not to use ChatGPT (or any AI) but it’s silly to think the consumer subscribers cancelling their subscriptions will make a dent. The real money is in the enterprise contracts. They only have a paywall to set limits on the overhead.

You’re right. They add it to your homescreen without asking, and then one of the kids clicked on it. It’s not a terrible app, actually, I just resent having to turn off all the bullshit they keep adding to my home screen. Once I realized that someone had enabled it, I picked some images that weren’t too bright or distracting, and left it alone because I figured why not? Then I walk into the room where someone left the tv on, and it’s got this qr code across the bottom.

Thankfully, there wasn’t any burn in, but still. It felt like a “Beware of Sign” sign.

Combat always ages poorly, because anything happening in real time requires muscle memory. As developers develop new combat mechanisms, it is constantly getting incrementally better. It’s like trying to compare a modern performance car to a Model T, or an '89 honda accord. The 65 Shelby Cobra doesn’t have bluetooth or antilock brakes or passenger airbags, but there are many enthusiastic fans of the car today. The modern Shelby Mustang is essentially a remake with modern tech trying to capture the spirit of the original.

That’s what we want. We want Morrowind, but better. The classic is still the classic, so we don’t need that again. Modders can reskin the game with better graphics.

No joke, ChatGPT has been a game changer for my linux education. Tutorials and guides are great, but it’s either a step-by-step instruction on doing exactly one thing, or it’s a general overview that assumes you already know everything.

ChatGPT doesn’t judge your gaps in knowledge, it just answers questions. Those answers are frequently wrong, but then so are the answers I get on message boards. The other nice thing is that I can copy and paste code or error logs, and it will parse the information and tell me what to look for.

I still follow guides and ask real humans for help when I need it, but I try an AI first.

I agree, but I can understand why BlueSky is doing better. A key component of the quality of the product is the number of users. I’m not active on either of them, but I do have a Mastodon account I barely use because it feels lonely.

Yep this is the only difference. Bluesky is promoted by the business owners, so it will have more activity and probably more consistent development and support. At the same time, it is a business and enshittification axioms still apply.

I did something similar with an old spare phone for a while when my actual phone screen stopped working. I carried both around, but I found 90% of my use cases didn’t involve phone calls or even texting.

I do find it convenient to have my phone connected to tailscale so I can access my home network from anywhere.

And I don’t necessarily trust public wifi.

But otherwise, I fully support this and think it’s entirely viable for most people.

Hey want to play a game? Your bank is gonna text you a number, and I’m going to guess it. Tell me if my guesses need to be higher or lower.