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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)D
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2 yr. ago

  • Yeah, you're right, you can open up a black box in a way you can't really for a typical phone app/OS stackup. Maybe I argue it's no longer a black box then, but no matter. I had originally started in on another section about better permissions and data handling and such, so I probably had a more optimistic view of permissions in general when writing, but one of the points was about being able to sniff your own (app's) packets to be able to monitor what's collected and sent at any given moment. That's the sort of thing that I think makes the most sense, to directly interrogate the issue of what data they are sending back about you, rather than making logical connections from other observations.

    Counterpoint: It might be normal for that device to have a WiFi radio or something to communicate wirelessly, but if the software is actually using the antenna to detect and track your heart rate, it might require an extremely (or even impossibly) talented hardware engineer to notice anything fishy from the device's hardware itself. The WiFi and heart-rate thing specifically might not be a viable vector, dunno, but it can be a lot harder to check for stuff than just seeing if there's an "ACME Spy Microphone" module plugged into the board somewhere. Though I agree they would probably get a worse reaction from illicitly including a hardware feature vs an app scraping the same data from your phone, even if they'd send back the same info; also that you could at least know a separate device was only tracking your car's location, and only when you brought it with, not relying on it's own software to decide when and where to collect data.

    Ultimately, the solution might have to involve not using an OS developed by a company that also wants to slop up as much data as it can, but only so much one can do. At the very least, it'd be nice to get more separation between a "personal space" that you live your life in, e.g. socialize and consume content, and a "functional space" for other stuff that will run on your phone or you access occasionally but isn't part of you being you, like apps for random companies or services, phone lights/sensors, a driver-insurance-safety app that should just get data pipes in from a specific list of sources and isn't supposed to be sending data home 24/7, etc.

  • In some ways I agree, but on the other hand, a "box with GPS, accelerometer, mobile data, and everything else it needs to function ... built right in" is just a phone, minus a touchscreen and some extra computing power. And unless you know the hardware inside the black box, just blindly passing its data through could be even worse than an app pulling stuff off your phone.

  • Those points are exactly on issue. You need to either get yourself up to speed on the conversation we've been having or accept that it is beyond you, but for all the patience I've put into this conversation I will not stand for you to just declare me derailing it to offhandedly dismiss a core point you don't like. If you honestly think that I'm trying to pull the discussion off-course, then point out where and how, don't just give a cowardly hand-wave and pretend to have the high ground.

    As a famous politician quipped, "corporations are people, my friend". Whether you or I like it or not, that is the current reality of constitutional rights. But it's not just corporate actions that are being targeted, it's specifically what Kimmel (who is a person) said. Don't pretend that the enforcement [retribution] mechanism defines what activity is being restricted. If the government threatened to fine the company owned by anyone caught wearing a blue shirt, they are restricting people from wearing blue shirts, not owning companies. If the FCC Chair threatens to do things "the hard way" for a company that employs Kimmel because of what he said, they are restricting his speech.

    Furthermore, the fact that government agents didn't literally haul him out of the building does not absolve them of wrongdoing. Threatening someone and then pretending to not have actually done anything and that their reaction is entirely on them is a classic abuser strategy. Are you going to wholeheartedly stand behind that line of argument and claim to be in good faith? (And don't even try to claim that people lambasting ABC/Disney for being weak enough to give in to that threat are blaming them for being threatened in the first place.)

  • Honestly, I thought it was more important that the shooter was so mentally distorted as to publicly slaughter somebody and that he had the tools and circumstances to do that successfully. If you think not being MAGA was a more significant factor than that, you can hold that opinion, but that doesn't make it dishonest for someone to believe differently or express that. Again, what Kimmel said was not about what people believe, but what they are prioritizing in what they say and do.

    The First Amendment doesn't say that the government is allowed to restrict free speech so long as they leave you some avenue to express yourself, it says that they are not allowed to restrict free speech at all (outside of some narrow categories that aren't considered free speech to begin with). Someone doesn't have to be a saint or martyr for it to be a bad thing for the government to treat them improperly.

  • As I already said, you are stuck on the wrong part. He did not say that the shooter was MAGA. It might be the case that his phrasing would often be used by someone that also believed that shooter was MAGA in addition to MAGAs telling everyone that the shooter wasn't MAGA, but that's not what he said, nor is it even logicly implied by what he said. He could believe that, or even outright say, that the shooter wasn't MAGA, and still say the exact same thing without it being inconsistent or a lie.

    Using phrasing that someone would assume is part of a statement that is different than the one actually given is a classic comedic element, like when it sounds like someone is starting to give some bad news but then they switch tone in the middle and actually give some good news. Just because you started to think it was bad news doesn't mean that they actually said any bad news before they changed tone. That doesn't mean he was making a joke about it, just that an aspect of communication used in his career may come also come up in other places and be used to other effects.

    Let me give another example: If we saw some guy running around telling everyone the sky is blue and my friend were to point out to me that "Isn't it weird that that guy is telling everyone the sky is blue?", then I might say something like "Yeah, that is weird." because someone running around telling people the color of the sky is not normal. If you then come by and say "Are you two crazy? The sky is actually blue!" then you would be missing that the point is the guy's actions, not the color of the sky.

    Now, notice that in that example, it didn't even actually matter if the sky was actually blue to point out the weird behavior. It could have happened exactly the same way if it was overcast and we couldn't tell the color of the sky, or even if it was sunset and the sky was actually red at the time. To bring it back to the main point, everyone else is talking about the behavior of the folks trying so hard to label it with color, but you are just arguing about what color it is and claiming that my friend is lying about the color, but all he actually said was the people suddenly trying so hard to talk about the color are acting weird.

    Regarding the other point, maybe it would also be a consequence and maybe it wouldn't, but that doesn't address whether there was a freedom of speech violation by the government. It would still be wrong for the government to violate freedom of speech no matter how much other consequences there are. If he said that kittens weren't cute and suddenly nobody wanted to pay a cent to any company he ever worked with and so he took a vow of silence, it would still be wrong for the government to say "Any company that lets him broadcast that kittens aren't cute will face FCC action." It doesn't even have to go to court to still affect someone. Additionally, it is abundantly clear that these large media companies are trying to appease the personal feelings of those currently in power to avoid being targeted by government action, when it should be only their legal opinions that matter.

  • Truly, am I more Sisyphus or Tantalus upon this day, or has Tartarus seen fit to bestow upon me an entirely new task!

    The difference between "he said XYZ" or "he feels this way about XYZ" versus "XYZ is true" is not semantics. It is the critical point that distinguishes invalid hearsay from legal testimony. And take note of how I directly establish my point and give supporting examples, not just parrot "no what you say proves me right".

    That is the exact opposite of proving that "in the eye of the law he was wrong" if there was no case and no judgement.

    Freedom of speech is about consequences from the government, while the "freedom of [from] consequence" you brought up is about consequences from the free market, public opinion, etc. That you have no idea why that is relevant means you should do more research on what you are saying so that you are not stating lies.

  • You are making up that he said anything about the killer being a leftist or not. He said that MAGAs are trying to call the killer "anything other than one of them". That is a substantively different statement. Unless Jimmy said something different to you than the rest of us, continuing to repeat your claim that he lied would actually be you lying.

    I consider a public statement by the FCC chair that the companies need to "take action on Kimmel" or the FCC will act to be "legal action". It is not merely "freedom of consequence" when it is a threat of consequences from a government body; in fact, that's the sole critical difference from a freedom of speech issue and you missed it.

  • If you had actually read the quote as you were instructed to do, you would see that even if the killer were 120% a card-carrying DNC toe-sucker, that would not make the statement inaccurate. The murderer's political affiliation was declared before they even had the right guy, a clear example of the actions described in the quote. As though someone's political beliefs can even be a hard enough fact to bring legal action down on a news program an entertainment show who no reasonable viewer could believe is accurate news after a certain vulpine decision. If you just assume a falsehood from someone you don't like because you won't or can't understand their actual statement, that's hardly a regulatory infraction.

  • The guy murdered a human talking head and no one else, in a crowd of thousands. You can't possibly suggest he's not 100% Martian?

  • Not seeing the relevance of need at all? It seems like a legit answer to the question, at least inasmuch as any specific content or documents can be, as opposed to forbidden knowledge/ideas like crypto key numbers or (in the past) the concept of a gun-type fission bomb.

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  • Similar, but my real question is why you have an explainer for the North American Fiber-Seeking Backhoe but with a picture of a Northern Pipe-Cracking Excavator?

  • There's more light during the summer because it all leaves the people, duh.

  • I always felt like it was a good idea to prefer imports from developed nations with functional, representative governments. As an American, it is pretty embarrassing for my neighbor to see my roommate's leopard eating my face though.

  • Regardless of whether unconsciousness is actually the peak, if the claim is that D's are at fault for not sacrificing more of other aspects of their lives to achieve a better outcome in their jobs, better outcomes for their constituents, needs some other line to be drawn to avoid applying it all the way to the extremes. It may technically be a tool at their disposal, but that doesn't automatically make it a reasonable expectation; devoting every moment of their lives to their job is also technically at their disposal, but that can't be reasonably expected of anyone, regardless of how important the job is. I posit that whatever line one draws there is what the real issue is, not their failure to do better.

    I don't disagree that they didn't actually accomplish anything here, and it's fair to say that deserves no accolades, but there is still a gap between actually helping and being at fault. They are less to blame than, and any rebuke should come after, any of the millions who voted for the R's pushing this plan, even accounting for being elected reps vs voters.

  • Was "live in exile from your home and state" in the job description or something they campaigned on? It's pretty clear that the D reps could have done more and that Texans need better outcomes from the legislature, but to blame the Dems for not doing more per se is overly reductive. Otherwise, anything less than continuously working to unconsciousness until nothing more is physically possible would still put them at fault, and that's hardly a fair expectation to be placed on any job, even an elected representative.

  • Is there actually something behind all these comments about his appearance, or is it just typical internet name-calling that mostly falls into the same anti-LGBTQ+ bucket?

  • I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. Are you suggesting that lab-grown meat wouldn't be controlled by existing laws on what can be in food and will contain some chemical with unknown effects on the human body (outside of those in natural meat)? And that we know all about the effects of whatever contaminants or bio-accumulants may end up in natural meat? I don't believe either of those. If we went further and listed everything that went into the animal and the culture that grew the meat, for which we would know more about the effect on the human body?

    To reiterate, I bet the lab folks could tell you the effect of their product on your body much better than ranchers and meat processing factories (or anyone else) ever could of theirs.

  • I bet the lab folks could tell you what's in their product much better than ranchers and meat processing factories ever could. A lot of science goes into it though and some people seem to be allergic to that, at least based on the sorts of claims they make.

  • I think that mental model only works if you imagine the parabolas as reaching to infinity in a finite space so that both ends are parallel, ie having identical vertical slopes of +/- infinity. At that point, easier just to call it "half an ellipse". To me, it's much easier to imagine a parabola as the end of an infinitely long ellipse.

    Your intuition and the KSP example are correct though. If you imagine the plane and cone for a parabola, you wouldn't notice any significant change to the shape (at a finite distance) if you tipped the plane ever so slightly into forming an ellipse (or a hyperbola, for that matter) since it's all smooth changes.

    Anyway, the size of the elliptical (I think hyperbolic would have a different sort of energy state) arc that'd be formed by a thrown object would be so large relative to human scale as to basically be infinite, equivalent to a parabola. I imagine the difference might become significant once you are launching something a decent way around the Earth, but with that much energy in play I don't think it makes much difference where exactly the projectile "lands".