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JubilantJaguar

@ JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world

Posts

36
Comments

1453
Joined

3 yr. ago

European. Polite contrarian. Linux enthusiast. History graduate. I never downvote reasoned opinions and I do not engage with people who downvote mine (which may be why you got no reply). Low-effort comments with vulgarity or snark will also be ignored.

2d ago

Pluralistic: The online community trilemma
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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 2d ago
Predictably insightful.
multiple groups that prioritize different paired corners of this people-information-scale triangle
Fact remains that we're struggling mainly with the scale corner here.

3d ago

Latest Ubuntu update broke everything

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 3d ago

As a counterpoint, I've used it for the best part of a decade, every single day, without a single issue.

My experience is anecdata. So is yours and OP's.

3d ago

They Set Up Cameras In A Remote Mountain Range And Found The World's Rarest Rabbit

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 3d ago

This was reported on last year. Good to get a bit of hopeful news. There's still so much left to save.

PS: species info

5d ago

Why Don’t Pro Riders Use the Drops Anymore?

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 5d ago

[etc etc] The shape supports the palm and lets riders rotate their wrists inward. With bent elbows and a narrow arm position, the hood position can now be surprisingly aerodynamic. [etc etc]

What lot of words to confirm what surely every cyclist has known they were a kid: bull-horns are just more comfortable than any other configuration you could come up with, and if you wanna go faster then just bending yer arms will help.

Brake "horns" always struck me as a tacit admission by bike designers that nobody wants to ride with drops, not really.

Still, interesting article.

5d ago

I tried Firefox’s new AI ‘Smart Window’ in a beta build

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 5d ago

I'm not "pushing for" anything except more control to the user. Where's the contradiction? I was skeptical about AI chatbots (stochastic parrots etc) but it's got to the point where the utility is impossible to deny. A one-stop-shop answer to any question, which is probably right and shows its sources, that's a pretty amazing innovation. Huntnig for information is a lot of my web usage, so I absolutely see the point of putting that prompt alongside the one for URLs and search terms and even for merging it all one day (the first two were once separate prompts too, let's remember). This is clearly the direction of the web whether we like it or not, and with more voice interface since young people hardly know how to write any more. The role of Mozilla IMO is not to stop this new world singlehandedly, it's to give us more control over it.

6d ago

I tried Firefox’s new AI ‘Smart Window’ in a beta build

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 6d ago

Installing an extension for an occasional use-case like this is not quicker than what I did.

I do of course have extensions installed (including the canonical ad-blocker that you use too). I've been on the web since the 90s and was a full-time frontend developer for a decade until quite recently, so I'm hardly the ignoramus you're making me out to be. From the same facts I just come to different conclusions to you. It happens.

If Firefox offers an off-switch for the features you don't want (it does) then where is the "forcing down throats"? If this amazing project doesn't survive because it refused to move with the world around it, then you won't even have that off-switch and you'll regret being so obstinate.

PS I see the downvotes, maybe it wasn't you but I consider downvoting toxic so that's all I have to say here. You've made your point and I did understand it.

6d ago

No such thing as a shark? Genomes shake up ocean predator’s family tree

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 6d ago

There does appear to be a formal definition as well as an informal one:

Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fishes characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the division Selachii[1] and are the sister group to the Batomorphi (rays and skates). Some sources extend the term "shark" as an informal category including extinct members of Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) with a shark-like morphology, such as hybodonts.

6d ago

YSK how the front page of the English Wikipedia works

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 6d ago

Great write-up! This is YSK premium content.

6d ago

I tried Firefox’s new AI ‘Smart Window’ in a beta build

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 6d ago

It would appeal to me. This morning I urgently needed to know the Spanish word for "carabiner". Instead of searching for it, and then having to click thru (because the search results tend to bury the lede), and bat away cookie warnings and social sign-in banners, and scroll past a bunch of nonsense to find the damn word, I clicked on the dreaded AI button in the Firefox sidebar, typed "carabiner in Spanish" and a second later I had the word.

In my opinion it is fast becoming obtuse to claim that AI is useless bloat. The point should be to give users more control over it. Which is exactly what Firefox's comparative advantage could be.

6d ago

I tried Firefox’s new AI ‘Smart Window’ in a beta build

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 6d ago

Where are all the people threatening to leave

The implication being that Firefox should not even bother trying to compete and win new users, all it needs to do is please its ever-dwindling userbase of grouchy geeks. I know you'll respond "well without us they'll have no users at all", but that's a pretty depressing argument to have to make, isn't it?

The economics is simple: nobody is going to pay for their product, they have to find an income and this is what they've landed on, presumably after studying the market carefully - their jobs count on it, after all. Have you done that and found an alternative magic solution that keeps everyone happy? If so, tell them.

But this vision of 90s-style nerd-friendly browser which doesn't even try to track the competition and yet somehow manages to remain relevant - I just don't buy it.

7d ago

I tried Firefox’s new AI ‘Smart Window’ in a beta build

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 7d ago

The unconsented 3rd-party sharing is admittedly scandal-worthy.

As for the rest, IMO the author is tilting at windmills. These days Firefox is a trend-taker not a trend-maker. If the other browsers are metamorphosing into AI agents, then Firefox has no choice but to follow while doing it in the most privacy-respecting way possible. Otherwise Firefox will have no users and we will have no Firefox left to complain about.

To think that "We don't want this AI crap" is a serious business proposition in 2026 - it's deluded IMO. There just aren't enough privacy-obsessed 90s-era geeks left to sustain such a product. We will have to compromise.

7d ago

European Parliament votes on extending the derogation of ChatControl 2.0

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 7d ago

Thanks for providing links to the key information (rather than just vibesy bait for inane upvoting/downvoting).

1w ago

GrapheneOS calls on privacy focused app developers to boycott European Unified Attestation

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 1w ago

The danger of ignoring it is that it happens anyway in a worse form than it might otherwise take. It's the eternal pragmatism-vs-idealism situation. Taking the approach of no compromises is risky.

1w ago

Historic Chat Control Vote in the EU Parliament: MEPs Vote to End Untargeted Mass Scanning of Private Chats

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 1w ago

Proof if ever it were needed that voting matters. If somebody hadn't put those Greens and Pirates there, this fight would have been lost before it began.

1w ago

Cool Critters: Killdeer – the champion of fakers – appearing in a field or parking lot near you

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 1w ago

This behavior is filmed in episode 8 of Attenborough's Life of Birds (1998), which remains a wonderful series and is free to watch on the IA.

1w ago

Kawasaki patents new electric motorcycle with clever motor modularity

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 1w ago

Well that got technical pretty fast.

2w ago

YSK that coffee is healthy. Starbucks is not real coffee. It's trash.

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 2w ago

Amazing. Never thought of this explanation but it makes sense.

2w ago

Jet fuel prices hit 28-month high as Iran war squeezes EU airlines

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 2w ago

And yet somehow it is still cheaper to fly than to take the train.

2w ago

FR#156 – Share Where?

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 2w ago

An unusually clear explanatory article. This problem needs fixing. As a layperson it looks to me like the "discussion" mentioned needs to crystallize into a proper meeting of all stakeholders so as to get a binding decision about how to fix it.

2w ago

Scooters, Bikes and Trikes: I Tried All the New E-Vehicles Coming to Denver

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JubilantJaguar @lemmy.world 2w ago

Veo intends to charge Denver residents $0.25 per minute to rent their vehicles, compared to the current $0.44 per minute charged by Lime and Bird. Users will still pay the same $1 unlocking fee.

Damn. You Yanks must be really rolling in it.