If you value your privacy and you have a choice between using a browser to access a service vs installing their app, use the browser.
Online services can get much more information about you through an app vs the browser. Browsers are generally locked down more. Apps in general have access to much more information from your device.
These aren’t secrets, but may not be well known (unless you watch LPL):
Sentry Safes aren’t safes, they are fire boxes with a fancy lock.
High security locks are not high security because of the lock design, but because the keys are very difficult to have duplicated.
No one (except maybe intelligence agencies) breaks in to a house by picking a lock, especially in the US. Windows, weak door frames, and, in a pinch, making a hole in the wall are all faster ways of getting in.
Car keys are so expensive because many manufacturers charge a subscription or per-use fee to access and program the keys to the ignition. These costs are passed on to consumers
No one is picking your locks just to move things around or steal small, insignificant items. You are either suffering from a mental disorder or a trusted member of the household is gaslighting you (it’s not gaslighting though, you’re grasp of reality is slipping. Don’t call me for a pick proof lock, just get help please)
Some manufacturers (you know, in China) will put any sticker you want on the products they produce, including UL and ANSI stickers. Before buying a product that is supposedly fire-rated, such as a fire safe, check the UL website to verify the item is actually listed with them.
“Grade 1” door hardware sold in stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot is, at best, Grade 2, and is likely Grade 3 (residential grade). These grades are really just about how durable the product is over time, and how much abuse they will endure by the public.
And just a little practical advice. Find a qualified, honest locksmith before you need one. We’re like plumbers. If you wait until you have an emergency to find one, the quality will be questionable. There are a lot of scammers out there. If you don’t have a resource for locksmiths beyond Google, look on the ALOA website for members in your area. The good ones will know who the other good ones are, and won’t be shy about sharing that info if they are unavailable or too far away
Former process engineer in an aluminum factory. Aluminum foil is only shiny on one side and duller on the other for process reasons, not for any “turn this part towards baking, etc” reasons.
It’s just easier to double it on itself and machine it to double thickness than it is to hit single thickness precision, especially given how much more tensile strength it gives it.
Also, our QA lab did all kinds of tests on it to settle arguments. The amount of heat reflected/absorbed between the two sides is trivially small. But if you like one side better you should wrap it that way, for sure!
Matte side isn’t non stick?
Most problems are being solved by turning it off and on again.
I have anxiety and depression. Gonna give your idea a try.
isn’t that what they are researching with psilocybin? I could use that big time to reset my head. I have severe health anxiety.
This is a funny joke and all but it’s so far from actually true.
Source: 27 years working in I.T.
What? Did I turn it off and on again? I’m a very smart technology person, of course my big brain already thought of that. I develop software for a living. It couldn’t be that simple or I wouldn’t be calling you.
. . .
Turning it off and on again worked. My shame is immense and I have wasted everybody’s time.
(And that is how I learned to embrace my own idiocy and do the recommended, simple troubleshooting tasks without questioning them.)
Dude, I just had my mechanic call and tell me my car was out of oil. I’ve never felt so dumb and ashamed.
Well it didn’t work, my grampa is still sleeping, i’ll try the unplug for several minutes trick, I’ll let you know
Try a force restart…or there is always the possibility that he is stuck in a boot loop
A good chunk of my work is scheduled turning off and on again in the right order so things don’t break
And if that doesn’t work unplug it for a while and plug it back in.
The navy manual for troubleshooting equipment in the field includes “lift 3-6 inches and drop”
Percussive maintenance can help sometimes. It’s not a permanent fix but you can’t always do the right fix in the middle of the ocean. Things it can help with: dislodging debris in mechanical components, reseating electrical connections that are corroding, and making yourself feel better.
To be fair, you may not always want a permanent fix for everything. Mostly because the most permanent solution will always be a temporary one. :v
High velocity decommissioning also satisfies that last item.
All your fancy shampoos, body wash, and dish soap are exactly the same. Just different smells, colors, and water contents. Also, all mainstream brands are owned by a total of 3 companies.
What about baby shampoo? Isn’t it better for you than regular stuff?
They are generalizing, because if you delve into non major brands some are glyvlcerine based some, have aloe base , oatmeal etc rather than ethylene glycol and sodium laurel sulfate type standards ingredients (coconut extract is that nautral source of sodium laurel sulfate, some natural branda might be actual cocunut milk, but many use manufacture chemical additive)
Having just switched from Old Spice Swagger to SheaMoisture products I can assure you that ‘different smells, colors and water contents’ result in radically different outcomes in hair softness and smoothness!
Wash your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. Both have detergent so they will both clean your hair, but conditioner is less harsh.
Most conditioners contain silicone. Why would you put that in your hair?
Most lotions contain dimethicone, a silicone relative.
They both work by being moisture barriers, preventing moisture loss (for hand lotion).
As someone who struggles with skin issues, I don’t even bother with lotions that don’t have dimethicone, they’re practically useless for me.
For long hair it helps with combing. Just like the old silicone spray for ballpoint mice, it reduces friction with the comb.
ballpoint mice
A USB mouse … For ants?
Depends on hair type. Conditioner can be heavy on baby fine hair. I almost never condition my chicken feathers.
This is only really beneficial for certain types of hair, and definitely don’t do it with conditioners containing sulfates, parafinss, or silicones. This site has a comprehensive list of products that aren’t filled with garbage what’ll leave your hair drier than it started.
Any recommendations for “normal” hair?
If your hair is neither thick nor fine and you’re not having any problems with buildup or dryness, you’re totally fine to just keep doing what you’re doing. Also if you’ve got straight and/or short hair you can probably ignore the no-sulfates/silicones stuff.
Most hair care products are designed for a specific kind of hair, usually straight and pretty flat. I started using black hair care products and my hair went from wavy and frizzy to natural ringlets and only sorta frizzy! SheaMoisture is my personal favorite brand.
Shampoo is for cleaning your scalp…not your hair.
If you’re using CG approved products this isn’t necessarily true. Highly recommend for anyone with even a tiny bit of natural curl, you might actually have some beautiful ringlets in there if you care for em properly.
Oh hell yeah, the shampoo I use is on here!
I don’t think this one is true. I’ve definitely had different brands and types of shampoo and conditioner give better and worse results for my hair.
Yes, no, sort of.
I mean shampoo is definitely not the same as laundry soap.
And even between shampoos, there are differences (as anyone with skin conditions can attest).
Are products in any one category largely the same? Yes. But there are differences.
The majority of technologies that power the internet were developed in the 80s and refined in the 90s. Everything since then is built as a layer of abstraction on top of those core technologies.
Also, the development and evolution of these open technologies relies on human interest and attention, and that attention can be diminished, even starved, by free, closed offerings.
Evil plan step 1: make a free closed alternative and make it better than everything else. Discord for chat, Facebook for forums and chat/email, etc.
Step 2: wait a few years, or a decade or more. The world will largely forget how to use the open alternatives. Instant messengers, forums, chat services, just give them a decade to die out. Privately hosted communities, either move to Facebook, pay for commercial anti-spam support, spend massive volunteer hours, or drown in spam.
Step 3: monetize your now-captive audience. What else are they going to use? Tools and apps from the 2000s?
We are facing a very real possibility of the end of the web browser as we know it. Google owns the chromium engine. Mozilla is on ever more precarious footing. It’s become logistically impossible to build competing products except for tech giant. Even then everybody else gave up and went with chromium.
That’s why I’m rooting for Ladybird.
I find it kinda ironic that they communicate over Discord, but it looks interesting
I appreciate you making me aware of such an amazing project.
And Mozilla is largely funded by Google. We all just hope they don’t pull the rug from them but I have no faith that our inept, slow government would stop that from happening before it’s too late.
controlled opposition lenin quote
Almost certainly the entire reason Google is funding Mozilla is to try and stave off antitrust lawsuits.
The official reason is so that Big G is the default search engine on every install.
But that may very well just be a smokescreen.
Yep.
Google will spend more on a legal team working out how to prevent the lawsuits in the first place than they would be giving to Mozilla
I think this reason is stupid. Why can’t there be a duopoly in the browser market like in the phone market? Even if there is no firefox, there will still be safari on its own engine
I think the phone market should also be broken up.
The reason a doupoly is bad in any market is that it’s essentially next to no choice for the consumer, and the businesses can force changes to the market that are anti-consumer with little reprocussion. In any given market the minimum number of legitimate competitors necessary for meaningful competition will be different, but even three is too few in the web browser game, especially when the market shares look like this.
Usenet:
Edit: I’m talking about step 3
But nntpd is still out there. Rebuilding Usenet will suck. But it’s not impossible. Start from the net2 sites again.
Old mail RFCs included an instant message channel. I’m sure I saw code in either sendmail or uw-imap for it too.
I like the fediverse, but the old ways are still valid for their particular payload.
aka Enshittification
The key word is “majority”. I think IPFS will gain more popularity moving forward especially if fascism and censorship continue to rise.
And IPFS is not build on 90s tech?
Also compared to TOR, IPFS has 0 censorship resiliance.
I was a bit exmited for IPFS for a moment, but th more i tried it and thought about it, the less I saw a reason to use it.
The company that provides your banks phone system has full access to pretty much every piece of information your bank holds on you, including call recordings, phone numbers, addresses, debts, credits, and your phone password. We can trick our own systems into thinking it’s you on the phone.
Avoid calling your bank at all costs, and if they call you say “no thank you I’ll do that online or in branch”, as soon as you pass security the phone system is accessing all your data. If possible go into branch or do everything on a banking app which has far better security.
call recordings
your phone password
Can you explain more about this? You’re saying the bank app is grabbing this data from your phone, or what are you saying?
I’m not saying you are wrong, necessarily, I’m just surprised to hear it
Not the password to unlock your phone, but the credentials your bank may require to verify your identity over the phone. A security question/answer, a passphrase or a sequence keyed during the call.
This is correct, i should have said “telephone banking password/passcode” but also the security questions are at best hash encrypted (so basically plain text). I had thousands of hours of call recording and millions of customer details on my work laptop all unencrypted. The security for enterprise telephony companies is seriously lax, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few unexplained leaks originated from these companies.
Now tell banks to stop requiring SMS 2FA holy shit
You actually want them to do this, it’s terrifying easy to set up a cell tower or call centre and convince banks and people you are customers or banks.
I think he was meaning because of how easy it is to spoof and intercept sms. Use some thing like OTP that’s a common standard instead.
Ah I see, yes app/web OTP is one of the best methods, unless people are calling to report the app/website not working (a workflow I’ve seen many times) The industry has put hundreds of millions into voice recognition but the sample size required for AI to trick voicerec is really low now.
You probably mean TOTP. OTP is a generic term for any one-time-password which includes SMS-based 2FA. The other main standard is HOTP which will use a counter or challenge instead of the time as the input but this is rarely used.
I don’t know how well known this is by now, but just in case, I’ll add it.
The quality of your speakers is not affected by the cable from your amp.
The connectors are more important in terms of physical contact, but almost any new connector will do. The wire itself makes no difference. Pay as much as you want but the sound will not be any different than if you used metal coat hanger wire.
Gauge matters in some setups, especially over longer lengths, this is overly generalizing.
Not really. Most home hifi won’t be affected. I think that’s a reasonable generalisation.
By your reasoning I could use some 24 gauge wire that came with a pair of Walmart computer speakers with a receiver paired with 3-ways each with 10" woofers. Or even better yet, between a plate amp and sub as a fire starter.
I don’t disagree with your overall premise, but it’s too reductive, even for home theater. Throw in a “16ga in most non-sub applications” and only then does it become true.
You’re being way too pedantic. I said most home hifi and you’re example isn’t.
If you want me to be more specific, this article will cover pretty much anything you want know.
Master Handbook of Acoustics is your friend if you want to learn what to do to your room. Overkill for most, admittedly, but it contains everything you need to know.
Here’s the pdf to the 4th edition.
What improvements did you make based on the book? I’m skimming through it.
I made couple of bass tramps tuned to the room’s main resonant frequencies, which I measured. I followed instructions from the book.
I added sound absorber panels to the walls and ceiling to kill immediate reflections from the main speakers plus a sprinkling of additional panels to kill reflections and also act as decoration. I also needed to move one radiator because it was in the worst possible location for my setup.
The room got thick curtains to improve absorption, and they also darken the room as it is dual use music listening and home cinema room. A few defraction elements went into the ceiling for a good measure. The ceiling is made of custom panels that I made myself from wood and fabric to allow sound energy through to the various acoustic elements behind them.
I also spent a fair amount of time with subwoofer placement, but in the end it became a bit of a compromise between sound and placement of furniture. Nothing a bit of signal processing can’t deal with, mind.
Well done, that’s more than some do for actual production work!
Pay as much as you want but the sound will not be any different than if you used metal coat hanger wire.
The speakers won’t sound too good after the coat hanger has caught them on fire, though.
Username checks out! /s
No, they’ll be fine. And if they are connected reasonably well, will sound as good as any other speaker cable.
Of course, there are one or two scenarios where that can change, but for most people they aren’t applicable.
Are you talking specifically about powered speakers? Certainly, resistance is a lesser concern when you’re passing almost no current.
But it’s important to have a heavy enough gauge cable between amplifiers and passive speakers so that there is not too much resistance, as this will cause it to overheat and potentially start a fire.
Generally speaking, I think a coat hanger’s gauge is too small for common amplifiers. Plus, if it’s iron then it’s going to have a higher resistance compared to standard materials, meaning more voltage drop and more heating.
Powered, as in active? No, those are connected internally. Cabling is then between the internal amp and a preamplifier, which is line level.
I would point you to the overwhelming lack of any reported incidents of speakers or amplifiers catching fire because the wires were too thin. This is simply fiction.
Coat hangers are generally much wider than any speaker wire, and the metal used makes little to no difference to the sound or the load. It is of no importance, you can do this safely.
As I’ve said, there are a few scenarios where you could run into problems, but these are very much outside of home hifi.
Adding to this, you probably don’t know how good your speakers are or not because you’re listening to your room, not your speakers. If you have given zero thought to acoustic treatment where you listen to music, you definitely don’t need to upgrade your audio equipment in any way. No amount of money you spend on equipment will help you enjoy music more until you treat your room
Who the fuck is up upvoting this dumb take? So you’re actually trying to argue there is no difference between a pair of $20 speakers and a $500 surround sound system with amp if they aren’t in the perfect room? That’s some music snobbery on a level I’ve never seen before.
Nobody is talking about a perfect room, and you are severely contorting what I said to meet your own agenda.
Nothing dumb about it, it’s actually quite on point. They didn’t mention price points or comparing speakers, but that the actual sounds heard from any speakers in a room depends greatly on room treatment (things like reflections, absorption, standing waves). This is where good usage of dsp room correction can help, along with rugs.
Isn’t conductor diameter important to supply proper wattage?
Yes! What he said is certainly a generalization for most speaker setups. Low resistance, larger gauge wire is of course better, but won’t be noticeable on your average sound system.
Not quite, conductor diameter is important to supply proper current, which will change depending on the impedance of your speaker. There are other values like inductance and capacitance in a wire that could affect how your speaker sounds. The good news is that you can pretty much buy any cheap 16 ga copper speaker wire and not worry about it, as it would take effort to make a speaker wire that sounds bad (and those companies are the type to try to charge you $1000/ft for it!)
Thanks.
I always shy away from the ad hype of products, I have been in different industries, and have seen that a $ product vs $$$ product is sometimes identical innards, and a refreshed outer…which didn’t cost the manufacturer anything extra.
I have tried to explain this to my spouse, but she will still gravitate to buying the more expensive; equating cost with quality
Most of hacking is done by mass effort with maybe a couple percent of people that aren’t doing basic things to protect themselves being affected. That couple of percent is enough to keep the hackers flush. (So please, follow basic cybersecurity steps, people.)
The plain truth of the matter, though, is that if a hacker or group of hackers is targeting someone individually for reasons, that person is in real trouble.
This has been a PSA for everyone chasing fame and clout.
I miss the days of Anonymous (there was a sub group of the actual hackers whose name I can’t recall and a bunch of wannabes I guess providing them a crowd to lose themselves in) doing justice hacks. Not that they were always on the right side is things, but now everything is state actors trying to bring us all closer to Armageddon.
Alt2600?
Tips for being secure online:
- Use your browser’s password manager to generate random passwords.
- In the rare case you need to manually enter your password into a site or app be very suspicious and very careful.
- Never give personal information to someone who calls or emails you. If necessary look up the contact info of who called you yourself and call them back before divulging and details. Keep in mind that Caller ID and the From address of emails can be faked.
- Update software regularly. Security problems are regularly fixed.
That’s really all you need. You don’t even need 2FA, it is nice extra security but if you use random passwords and don’t enter your passwords into phishing sites it is largely unnecessary.
Im not so sure about your number 1. Fine if otherwise they won’t use one but personally I use bitwarden online for unimportant ones and a local keypass for important ones.
The reason I say browser password manager is two main reasons:
- It is absolutely critical that it checks the domain to prevent phishing.
- People already have a browser and are often logged into some sort of sync. It is a small step to use it.
So yes, if you want to use a different password manage go right ahead, as long as it checks the domain before filling the password.
What do you mean a password manager that checks the domain? Isn’t the auto fill based on the domain? I can’t imagine how a password manager could fill a password without checking the domain, it wouldn’t know which password to fill after all. Do any actually exist?
There are some password managers where you need to either manually look up passwords and copy+paste or autotype them or select the correct password from a dropdown. Some of these will come with an optional browser extension which mitigates this but some don’t really tract domain metadata in a concrete way to do this linking.
Some examples would be Pass which doesn’t have any standard metadata for domain/URL info (although some informal schemes are used by various tools including browser-integration extensions) and KeePass which has the metadata but doesn’t come with a browser extension by default.
I see, so you mean manually getting the password out of the manager instead of domain based autofill.
Fractional-reserve banking. Most people have no idea what it is, probably a good thing. You could argue that it’s not a “secret”, but most people aren’t aware of it regardless. I don’t think most people would be fond of grinding for $15 an hour if they knew banks could just lend money they don’t actually have. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking
The interview is a vibe check first and foremost. If you vibe with the team we will overlook other things in your application. If you made it to interview, we already think you’re good enough so don’t stress trying to impress or apologize.
Managers are mostly people who get tired of watching other people do things badly and decide to try to do better. You don’t need a special degree or any magic to be a good manager, you should like people though.
Everyone is faking it to some degree.
Can confirm with a very condensed anecdote: I once applied for a job that required engineering degree in electronics or mechanics. I’m a hischool dropout. Interview went well, and I got a job offer a month later. I got the impression that they were more interested in the right type of person with relevant hands-on experience, and in my case that experience meant IT/Linux (I was always a hobbyist geek)and being used to operating heavy machinery (Grew up on a farm).
I’m still in the same industry, and I earn more than my friends with masters degrees.
The „you have to like people“ part took me nearly 20 years to figure out. I hate people in general with possible remedy for people who are nice. I‘m exceptional at managing people, I just dont vibe with them. This leads to absurd situations where everyone is happy, professionally but folks just hate my guts.
So, I now work alone and am happy with it. :)
As a fellow non people person, god I wish I was part of your team!
God I wish I was part of your team
As a fellow non people person
Press X to doubt.
If people hate your guts chances are you’re not a good manager.
I actually am genuinely interested in that fellow’s reasoning behind believing both that his job of managing people is successful, and also that all the people he managed do not like being managed by him.
Anecdotally, I have encountered workplaces containing a manager or employee that was universally disliked, and it was never because they were doing an awesome job. They did appear to think that people disliked them personally but benefited from their results. Often they seem to also believe those results would be unachievable in ways that do not produce the distaste. I am not sure these contradictions are entirely defensible.
people are generally ok. put them in a situation where they can climb over other people to advance and watch the rot begin.
so, while people are generally ok, corporate people are generally not.
Or any business, not even corporate.
You see the same crap in SMB.
Super Mario Bros?
Everyone is faking it to some degree.
Most valuable lesson I was ever forced to learn.
Personality, presence and confidence
Natural self confidence, but an arrogant selfish confidence.
Some people naturally have confidence and presence and some people need to build it as a skill.
I know guys and gals with little to no knowledge or skill build up careers because they just knew how to talk and connect to people.
I also know guys and gals with years of education and degrees but have little to no way of politely or easily getting along with people.
The ice in your drink at the bar is very very dirty.
Not exactly secret, but not very well-known. In many states your credit score can be used as a factor in determining the cost of auto insurance for you. Lower credit scores can equal higher premiums.
Polystyrene is about as recyclable as any other type of plastic
Dog groomers get almost zero legal repercussions for mistreating dogs. It has to be undeniable that the groomer injured the dog on purpose before anything really happens. That’s why it’s SO important to trust the person grooming your dog if they’re the type of breed that needs it.
