@Melpomene@kbin.social
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Melpomene

@[email protected]

I'm probably just an AI pretending to be human.

Into wandering abandoned places, tinkering with technology, and authoring things for fun and profit.

https://erisly.social/@Melpomene (https://kbin.social/[email protected])

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

Melpomene,
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I don't believe my car is connected to the internet, thankfully, but I dislike the idea that the data may be stored somewhere in the system. Any idea whether there's a hack to access and remove the data yet?

Currently, nothing is shared through the car (audio only, enjoy my boring music habits) but that was not always the case.

Melpomene,
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I can't, but worrying about hidden LTE chips is s path that leads to madness. Unless I ditch all tech, there's no way to be sure.

For the data pull, yeah. I tend to avoid dealers though so I'm not sure that there is much incentive for my mom & pop service station to monetize my data.

Melpomene,
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This guy's only experience with healthy attitudes toward sex is when he's attempting to ban healthy attitudes toward sex.

Melpomene,
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I'll second this. Graphene has it's quirks but I've not felt the need to switch back to stock since I loaded it all those months ago.

Melpomene,
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Banking in general can suck, but the websites seem go work well enough. I do miss Android Auto but I have gotten accustomed to it being gone.

Melpomene,
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These small skirmishes are unlikely to set off mass scale war. Iran and the US were sniping AF each other in Iraq. Unless we see more than isolated strikes, we"re probably safe from large scale fuckery.

Gotta love how regardless of the party in power, this shit continues.

Melpomene,
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You can request that they remove your images from search and they're pretty good about complying. It might be worth tracking down the sources too.

Melpomene,
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I was in this boat too. Gave it some thought and realized that if my "friend" group was so uninterested in including me that none of then could be bothered to shoot me a text, then... they weren't really my friends in the first place.

Melpomene,
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I've never been "friends" with thousands of people. If I had 100 people on Facebook, I maybe spent real world time with a dozen and we did have phone numbers so...

Melpomene,
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If a professor is using Facebook v. the academic platform provided by the school, they're 100% in the wrong.

If I go to an office with a huge queue and they're not professional enough to have set up a website then why, exactly, would I trust them with my money? That shows a lack of business sense given that Facebook could destroy their entire model on a whim.

Melpomene,
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Not at all.

Facebook is only as necessary as you make it. I've not had an account since 2018 and aside from the occasional inconvenience I have been perfectly fine. This idea that we need Meta in our lives is laughably ridiculous.

Melpomene,
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If they can't be bothered to send invites, you're likely an acquaintance at best. But if people enjoy having Facebook? That's fine. Most people invite me elsewhere if they want me there. Older school, perhaps, but it works.

Melpomene,
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You're intentionally ignoring the fact that you use Facebook. If she knew you didn't have one and just didn't invite you because typing in your number was too hard?

She'd be an asshole.

Melpomene,
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Pay with cash or pay with data, and know that Facebook will only host you for as long as it takes to become your competitor.

Any idea what Google are doing? Is this because I dont use Chrome (use Firefox)? I've no adblockers. (lemmy.world)

So this started coming up today. On every video. I can (so far) click the “x” and remove it to watch (still see 2 ads before the video, and one after 4 minutes - ruins music on YT), but did click the “Report issue” only for the dialogue box not to work....

Melpomene,
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Simply put, no. You can make the claim but it doesn't make it true.

Even if it were true, fuck the biggest pirate of them all, Google itself.

mishellbaker, to random
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Say what you will about video games as a distraction from writing, but I've been writing a LOT more since I discovered Baldur's Gate 3. Some games are pure inspiration.

Melpomene,
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Actually same. And I've finally decided to try my hand at tabletop again.

How do you feel about the rules regarding bonus action spells, and why?

I’m feeling a bit torn myself. I understand the thinking behind the vanilla rules; it helps balance out some of the spellcasters’ power, especially at higher levels. But my understanding of balance in 5e is that it’s to balance the players against each other, to avoid having 1 or 2 players be so clearly better at so much...

Melpomene, (edited )
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If you have a player who builds characters to exploit the system then that's a player who needs a talking to, most likely.

Melpomene,
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A shame they made the solo quest basically "you are the edgiest of edgelords, LORD OF EDGE with the darkest of Urges!"

China rejects State Dep’t report claiming Beijing spends billions to spread disinformation globally (hongkongfp.com)

China rejects State Dep’t report claiming Beijing spends billions to spread disinformation globally The State Department report alleged that China suppresses information that goes against its position on contentious issues such as its human rights record, especially in Xinjiang....

Melpomene,
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Inevitable whataboutism aside, the evidence against China is overwhelming. The CCP has taken to playing the victim every time they're criticized... and the disappointing thing is that there are those who will refuse to see the truth.

lunarequest, to random

so I'm going to throw my hat in as a trans PoC. I'm going to be clear. A Lot of the hate Ro has gotten does in some manner feel racist. the good space, has many instances that are very poast leaning. I feel that Ro has (giving the benefit of the doubt to ro) accidentally dismissed legitimate criticism.

it doesn't help Ro, wrote this post which very much feels like something a supervillain tech bro would say. I do believe Ro is trying to do something that could benefit the entire community. but given the current state of software many changes need to happen.

has done their part but other software needs to be fixed as well. Mastodon for example has broken unblocks and un-suspensions, while the domain is un-suspended or unblocked users are not. The unintentional damage of has probably already occured with currently no way of undoing it without a lot of manual intervention.

Let's all take a step back and realise dogpiling Ro isn't going to fix things. Ro has shown he is willing to fix things even under immense stress. The fact TBS was DDoSed is a clear sign that in some manner it did its job. The crowd of people we don't want decided to attack it.

I'm going to take a step back and watch what happens. I encourage others to do the same. Give a chance to redeem itself.

RE: https://ubiqueros.com/notes/9jlse6pf8u

Melpomene,
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Is this all you do all day? Troll people trying to have an honest discussion and throw out wild accusations with no proof provided?

Contradicting federal health officials, Florida Gov. DeSantis recommends against new COVID booster (apnews.com)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top health department official are directly contradicting federal health recommendations and warning residents against getting a new COVID-19 booster, saying there’s not enough evidence it provides benefits that outweigh risks....

Melpomene,
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And then there's this motherfucker, getting people killed by using the power of his governorship to spread misinformation and lies.

Melpomene,
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Having used Pearson products, this doesn't surprise me at all. Thier testing software hasn't been updated since the dawn of man.

Whatsapp has begun working on support for third party chats (Telegram/Signal) (wabetainfo.com)

The European Union has recently reached an agreement on a significant competition reform known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will impose strict rules on large tech companies that will have to offer users the ability to communicate with each other using different apps. WhatsApp is one of the companies that will be...

Melpomene,
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Yeah, I'm not linking my other messaging services to WhatsApp. I'm good.

Melpomene,
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Exactly this.

Melpomene,
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Nothing at all! I just don't trust that providers like Meta won't try to undermine privacy.

Melpomene,
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What, you don't want Google serving you ads while you dream? Or have to pay a subscription fee for your lifesaving nanoparticles to continue to function? For shame.

/sarcasm.

Melpomene,
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Democrats have been working with the Republicans to suppress minority voices for decades. No one who sees through that nonsense is fence sitting... they're railing against the wall that the Democrats had a hand in building in the first place.

Debates, ballot access... to borrow your analogy, what do you call someone who teams up with Nazis because they want to maximize their chance of holding onto power?

There are better choices, if only those two weren't using the law to silence them.

Melpomene,
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Rewarding the groups that manipulate the system to hold onto power seems like a terrible way to enact change.

Choice right now for president is between fascists and a reformed anti-lgbt bigot who remains friends with some of those fascists, seeing their anti-women, anti-trans, anti-lgbt positions as "disagreement." I feel like we can do better.

Melpomene,
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I use Firefox, but given the fact that Chrome and its variants control so much of the browser space and Firefox so little... I wonder how long until Firefox has until it is rendered useless.

Melpomene,
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It will likely never die entirely, but it's what... less 10% of its peak market share back in 2010?

Melpomene,
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Pretty much is though. For Google not to impose its will on the internet as a whole, there needs to be meaningful competition. Firefox, for whatever reason, went from a browser capable of influencing policy to a niche browser for nerds, myself included.

So yes, the future of accessibility is very much a popularity contest and Chromium is sitting pretty with 70+% of the votes.

Melpomene,
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Did I ever say it was going away?

MySpace still exists. You can still log into Myspace and use it. Same is true of Livejournal, ICQ (last I checked,) and many other bygone services.

They're not going anywhere either. But they're still useless outside of edge cases.

I want Firefox to succeed. But I've also been watching it lose relevance for the last 10 years. I'd prefer it not to go the way of MySpace because its users are too stubborn to admit that it has a problem.

Melpomene,
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"The rest of us?" I've been using Mozilla since it was a thing and I used Netscape back when you could buy it.

Caring about a project means recognizing risks. But I guess we shall see. Firefox, a Chromium based project, perhaps. Like Edge, Opera, etc.

Melpomene,
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I'll be watching to see how Graphene handles this, as Graphene is currently my daily driver.

foolisholivia, to random
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should i do a doctor who rewatch 😳😳

Melpomene,
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You should always do a Doctor Who rewatch.

Melpomene,
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While I admire your optimism, the fact that US intelligence agencies have been caught -repeatedly- violating citizens' privacy under cover of covert programs... I can only asssume this was more of the same.

Melpomene,
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Thing is, I think they understand it well enough. This is never, ever about safety and is 100% always about control. They continue to push these bills because they want to chill anonymous speech and destroy privacy protections and they'll keep doing so until they get their way or are voted out.

Melpomene,
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in order to disable all ads, data collection & telemetry, and unwanted extensions in Firefox you need to go into about:config.

This, so much this. I've agreed to give Firefox a shot for a few months and the amount of up front config I had to do was insane.

Melpomene,
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Yeah, last HP I bought got returned immediately because I couldn't fucking print or do anything without registering the printer. Like I want HP monitoring every print job and scan because marketing.

I think I ended up getting a Brother because at least it worked without access to the Internet.

Google Play is beyond annoying (lemmy.world)

I have an app that I released a couple years ago (plus another legacy app that I maintain for one of my company’s clients). My game has a long-ish title, but it was fine until some asshat at Google decides that 33 characters is too long. On top of that, every time I’m forced to update the target SDK, I need to spend several...

Melpomene,
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The second word in your title is unnecessary.

Having spent most of my Saturday on an endless series of calls to Google support for an issue with a Pixel, I agree entirely.

Joe Biden’s DOJ Is Claiming “There Is No Constitutional Right to a Stable Climate” (jacobin.com)

In the same week large swaths of the US were under extreme heat warnings, Joe Biden’s Justice Department filed its most recent motion to dismiss a landmark climate case by arguing that nothing in the Constitution guarantees the right to a secure climate.

Melpomene,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

The Constitution's failure to provide protections for travel between countries does not preclude a right to travel internationally. Rather, the Constitution provides explicit protections for travel between states. While the Supreme Court has ruled that the government may reasonably restrict international travel, the position remains somewhat controversial among scholars and still requires due process of law.

Similarly, the Constitution is not limited to the rights a government can provide. Indeed, many of the rights enumerated restrict government action. For example, the right to free expression is, at its core, the right to be free of government interference with speech. The right to have soldiers not quartered in one's home is a mandate that the government NOT do something.

A right to a secure climate might seem silly because it's something that the government cannot provide in its entirety, but a Constitutional right to an inhabitable environment would not necessarily require extraterritorial action. If the right were understood to cover only those actions and inactions that fell within the United States' sovereign power, then it would only obligate the government to act within the scope of its power.

Melpomene,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

You suggested that to enforce a right to a stable climate would depend on the government's ability to provide the framework of a stable climate worldwide. While global protections would certainly be ideal, a right to a stable climate could and would likely be construed as an obligation to provide the framework for climate friendly policies within its own borders. Whether the right exists or no (and it probably doesn't,) its existence does not hinge on it being possible to apply it globally.

Though a technicality, the 1st amendment DOES apply globally. The U.S. government can't restrict your speech because you happen to be in, say, Canada. They are under no obligation to protect you from Canada's government or Canada's laws, but they are obligated to refrain from restricting your speech themselves.

The difference between negative rights (government refrains from interfering and prevents other from interfering) and positive rights (government is required to provide something) is important.

Melpomene,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Funny, most rights scholars disagree! If you're unfamiliar:

https://blog.libertasbella.com/negative-vs-positive-rights/

Can the U.S. government act to restrict your speech in Saudi Arabia, even with the Saudi government's support? Answer is no, Constitutionally, because the government is bound to refrain from doing so. Me posting to a Canadian forum from Saudi Arabia (outside the U.S. jurisdiction entirely) is still protected speech from the perspective of the U.S. government.

Enforceability has nothing to do with the existence or non-existence of a right. Whether the government can hale a copyright violator into court for violating your copyright is immaterial... your right still exists. Similarly, if you kill someone and flee to a country with no extradition treaty, the rights of your victim do not cease to exist.

To be clear, I see no support for the right to a stable climate. But if one existed, it would not hinge on enforceability.

Melpomene,
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Stop the planet I want to get off.

Melpomene,
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So who indoctrinated you into heterosexuality? Because if sexuality is purely environmental, then you're suggesting that but for your indoctrination as straight you would otherwise potentially be LGBTQ+.

Melpomene,
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Given that the vast majority of child exploitation happens in heterosexual, traditional families... I'm going to call bullshit. Changing words does not change the reality of child exploitation, nor does it excuse your hiding behind a bigoted little stance because something something tradition.

If tradition involves bigotry or hate, tradition can fuck all of the way off, forever.

A prison guard says she was forced to stay at her post during labor pains. Texas is fighting compensation for her stillbirth. (www.texastribune.org)

The seven-months-pregnant officer reported contraction-like pains at work, but said she wasn’t allowed to leave for hours. The anti-abortion state is fighting her lawsuit, in part by saying her fetus didn’t clearly have rights.

Melpomene,
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To be clear, Texas's position is consistent... if you understand that the point of Texas's anti-abortion laws have nothing to do with the protection of women and EVERYTHING to do with controlling women's bodies. Those in power would prefer women as subservient servants, so denying the protections they supposedly champion when it protects a woman is... pretty much where they want to come out on this.

TL;DR the people championing these laws wanted women controlled. They give zero fucks about fetuses.

Melpomene,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

It is absolutely always one of those two, and they try this shit every session. Better solution? Kick any politician who signs off on these bills out of office and make it crystal clear that they've been booted because they're anti-speech and anti-privacy.

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