Resources and influence will always drunkard’s-walk into the hands of the unscrupulous and manipulative, pretty much by definition.

They’re going to be drawn to it, they’ll fight dirtier for it, and they’ll use the power it gives them to prevent anyone else from taking it away.

Big Tech is a huge source of both, so it would be amazing if the people on top of the heap weren’t massive piles of shit.

Let me guess, they laughed at trump?

It was zero degrees today, and it’ll be twice as cold tomorrow.

“some protected characteristics”

Which would be what, exactly?

It’s almost like you need some of that damn Freeze Peach y’all are complaining so much about.

This is the reason it has to be non-negotiable. Yes, it’s expensive, in terms of a lot of people saying stuff you don’t want them to say. But in return, when people try to pull this shit, you get to laugh in their face and tell 'em go fuck themselves right in their ear.

And I don’t just mean the first-amendment narrow legal definition stuff in the US. I mean the much broader political principle that speech should not be restricted except in commission of a crime.

There’s an actual submission from there written by me (and posted by someone else). I am (very) mildly internet famous, under another handle.

Can confirm that at least one of them is genuine.

third party cookies != cookies

Unless they’ve invented a stateful http, cookies aren’t going anywhere.

He committed the ultimate crime, though: stealing from rich people. And he even had the effrontery not to be rich himself while doing it.

That’s what they’re punishing here.

Well, there’s the niche for human artists in the future: drawing things the AIs refuse to generate.

who the hell is Satya Nadella, and why do we care?

I work in a linux shop.

You couldn’t pay me to use Windows for development, sysadmin, backend services, etc.

But on the desktop? Hell no. We maintain a modern debian desktop environment for our users, and it’s a pain in the ass. Mediocre UX, mediocre integration of mixed-bag third-party apps, and too many workarounds and gotchas you need to Just Know About. I just don’t have the energy.

I use windows at home, and for my underlying work environment - and I just SSH into linux boxes for the actual tappy-tappy stuff.

I mean, it won’t let me. Windows Update inists my PC doesn’t meet the minimum spec, and I’m not inclined to argue with it.

We know.

Now the genocide can go unwitnessed.

Use a different service or allow ads, maybeperhaps?

It’s all so incredibly bad, though. Like a cross between shitty anime and shovelware book covers made from shopped-together stock photos. Shiny and cartoony and pointless.

Beyond which, it’s about as engaging as talking to a spambot.

There’s a reason things like celebrity and onlyfans-stars porn are popular: named boobs > random boobs. And generated boobs are so far below the threshold they don’t even count; they may as well be on a blow-up doll.

When people look at porn, they aren’t looking at body parts or sexual acts. They’re looking at someone, who is displaying body parts or sexual acts.

That’s why camgirls remain so popular despite the shitty quality, and the availability of 4k 60hz professionally-lit stuff filmed by professionals. It’s the fact of having a person on the other end, with all the psychosocial connotations attached, that gives it value to a very large extent.

Even pre-recorded, it’s still a performance, there’s still the someone-did-this aspect of it.

You’re going to have to wait for AI sentience to recapture that.

Until then, it’ll remain niche, like furry stuff.

I used to replace RJ45 connectors.

The juice is not worth the squeeze. It’s fiddly and annoying and frustrating and oh god why. New cables - certified cat6 - are cheap and don’t drain your sanity.

How the fuck is it America’s business?

I mean, I just get ads for drain cleaner, dog dewormer and metamucil.

I must be boring.

“…and that’s why most people have multiple setups.”

Not sure how to break it to him, but actually no, the number of slater tubs most people have in their house is zero.

Not that they aren’t cool and all, but that’s one hella niche hobby you got there, friendo.

Al my passwords are in google. I just don’t have the energy to migrate, frankly. Chrome does what I want, and the password manager is seamless enough that anything else is less-robust and more work.

I wonder if you could tangle the things in chaff. Just a bunch of floaty tinsel or fibres in the air getting wound round propellers…

That’s the most Tim Henson looking dog I’ve seen.

paywall.