blindsight

joined 2 years ago
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Kamala Harris won the U.S elections: Bombshell report claims voting machines were tampered with before 2024 in c/usa@midwest.social
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 2 points 2 days ago

Well, votes misaligning beyond statistical possibility in one "category" of counties, with absolutely no statistical anomalies in another "category" of counties is irrefutable proof, mathematically, that something is wrong.

Ex: if specific counties that use a particular tool have a massive mismatch between presidential voting and senate voting, but there is absolutely no spread in similar-politically counties that use different election tools, then the only possible explanation is that the tools affected the results (i.e. "fraud").

I believe that's the evidence, from what I understand.

Now, there are people coming forward in large enough groups saying they all voted for a particular candidate in total numbers of people larger than the were total votes recorded t that candidate at that polling station, including reports of 0 votes for Kamela with voters reporting she wasn't on the ballot for them. So that might give a new "lever" for investigation.

Regardless of election fraud, though, the election results are already certified; at this point, Trump is president, and even definitive proof of fraud won't change that. What it could change, if the current Republican authoritarian government allows it (lol), is oversight and regulations at future elections.

Or, perhaps, the blatant corruption will lead to states seceding from the union.

American hegemony and global dominance is over, but how it falls apart is yet to be determined.

Trump orders ICE to expand deportations in Democratic cities in c/usa@midwest.social
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Not in general, no. Likely the opposite, I think, but there are so many complex interactions I wouldn't trust anyone giving a definitive answer.

In general, undocumented immigrants do work that citizens are unwilling to do, and they're generally paid so little that they produce a lot more value than they're paid in wages. So, for example, produce prices will likely skyrocket when they can't get undocumented immigrants picking their produce for cheap. This will squeeze wages up the entire supply chain and, due to inflation, real wages across the whole economy. This will also make American produce less competitive internationally, reducing exports.

The labour instability will also increase business uncertainty, which will reduce investment, which will further reduce economic growth.

Sure, there are a few people who might benefit, but mostly this will just mean there's less total economic output. If people can't hire a house cleaner, they'll just have a messier house and get it cleaned less frequently (or do it themselves, potentially in lieu of doing other paid work). Are you or anyone you know going to move rural to pick lettuce? Or clean houses? Or sew clothing? (Etc. across all the "undesirable" jobs across the economy.)

Microsoft CEO Admits That AI Is Generating Basically No Value in c/technology@beehaw.org
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The podcast is called "Better Offline" for anyone else searching.

I really like the 3 episodes I've listened to so far. Thanks for the rec!

Not sure if I'm learning much from it, but it's nice to hear someone explaining what's wrong with AI hype and stock-market-driven capitalism clearly.

Great call by 50501 leadership in c/Mirror@50501.chat
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 5 points 5 days ago

I think this is true, in general, for protests that are based in promoting prejudice. Counter-protesting bigots shows them that their hateful, closed-minded views are unpopular and unacceptable.

Locally, there was a big pushback against teaching inclusivity in schools (2SLGBTQ+ families being represented at all, basically), and a protest was organized. And across the street from them were literally 10× as many people counter protesting to support 2SLGBTQ+ rights. There hasn't been a single anti-tans bigots protest locally since.

"No tolerance for intolerance" is a powerful counter-protest message.

Busted. in c/loweffortmemes@crazypeople.online
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Not necessarily. Depending where they grew up in Canada, they might have a decent background in basic French. Enough to get a decent accent and know their colours, days of the week, greetings, and other simple stuff. I think the provinces close to Quebec/New Brunswick generally have decent French instruction in public school, but BC/AB/SK have terrible French education at most schools.

But ain't no way most English-speaking Canadians have the vocabulary or comprehension speed for any real functional use.

Alberta Is Struggling to Keep Its Nurses and Teachers in c/canada@lemmy.ca
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 4 points 1 week ago

Exactly right. Look what two generations of undermining public sector education has done for conservatives south of the border. The UCP is salivating at the prospect.

Signed: teacher who fled Alberta, largely for political reasons. I thought I was taking a pay cut to leave, but I just checked and I earn more in this province now, too. Alberta did not give raises at all close to covering inflation since I left!

My god in c/linux@lemmy.ml
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

If Firefox continues to work, does that mean that it can be used as a workaround, potentially? I guess it depends on how the DRM works, if something like running it in a Firefox tab would work.

And surely blocking Firefox would be a bad move for Google since that would clearly be using monopolistic power in one market to gain advantage in another, right?

The four horsemen of shitty chat apps in c/iiiiiiitttttttttttt@programming.dev
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

It's the only program I regularly need to End Task and relaunch. If I turn my camera off and back on more than 5-10 times, it just starts crashing. Very frequently, others can't turn their camera on at all, but only in Teams. There's constant confusion about which Teams client people are using since Classic, New, Android, iOS, and web all have their own different bugs and missing features.

I think it works most consistently as a web app, but then you're missing a boat load of features.

Good luck! You'll need it.

The Subscription Economy Sucks in c/piracy
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Depends on the item and your goals.

If you're a "car person" who always wants to have the latest model, then maybe leasing a car makes sense. Every 3 years, you get a new car.

Phones are similar; there are some plans where you are expected to return the phone every 1-2 years. If you really want the newest model all the time, then that might be a good plan for you.

But for a printer, that only makes sense if you're a business with medium print volumes and no IT budget. For home use, that's insane when a cheap last printer will last decades. We have a B&W laser from 2 decades ago and a used colour laser we got for free/very cheap (the power button is broken but it otherwise works great). I'm guessing we pay about 1-2% of an HP subsription.

Canada Pension Plan Investments drops net-zero target after initially aiming for 2050 in c/canada@lemmy.ca
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Maybe I'm missing the article, but I think this is overblown. What's changed is that financial firms can no longer make unsubstantiated claims about climate action, but the burden to do so opens them up to potential liability with no real upside. He even said that literally nothing has changed with how they plan to invest, but they don't want to make a claim that they can't support with strong evidence.

This makes sense. And it's not a big deal.

Or that's my reading of it, anyway.

BC is seeking public input on electoral reform in c/britishcolumbia@lemmy.ca
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 4 points 1 month ago

STV is the GOAT. It's the perfect system for Canada. How amazing would it be for left-leaving people in rural BC to have a local MP representing them? A 5-seat riding in rural BC might go something like 2 seats NDP/Green, 2 seats Cons, 1 seat whatever the BC Liberals call themselves.

STV brings roughly proportional representation, while not fracturing things too much (20%+ of the vote needed to get a seat), keeps representatives responsible to the electorate not the party (no "safe" ridings since another candidate from your party can be chosen over the incumbent, and no party list in MMP), and keeps representation tied to a geographic region.

I'm so ready for Canada to move to STV. The regulatory lurch that comes from (the inevitably polarized) FPTP has been terrible for Canada.

The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East in c/gaming@beehaw.org
[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 8 points 1 month ago

This is a bit of a side point, but this quote seemed off base to me:

"People are paying for these games!," he exclaimed. "This is not happening for ... books."

50 Shades of Grey was an all-human alternate-history Twilight fanfiction that was largely plagiarised.

There are also entire genres that are becoming successful for independent authors, mostly self-publishing on Kindle Unlimited like LitRPGs (basically fantasy novels with videogame-like systems) or Jane Austen variations (like Pride & Prejudice retold slightly or very differently).

I think the Long Tail of the Internet is changing a lot of industries, creative or otherwise, not just indie games.

9
New Fanatical bundle; what's worth playing? (www.fanatical.com)
 

Fanatical is running a Steam Deck games bundle right now. Are any of these games worth the time?

I feel like I've heard good things about Arise, but I'm out of the loop. I don't recognize many of the others by name.

Prices are reasonable, so it's less a question about if it's worth the money, more if its worth the time. (3 for CA$6.79, 5 for CA$9.59, or 8 for CA$13.69)

Terror of Hemasaurus
Jack Move
Garden Story
Castle on the Coast
The Tarnishing of Juxtia
Arise: A Simple Story
Zombie Army Trilogy
Beyond the Long Night
ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree
The Smurfs - Mission Vileaf
Röki
Home Sweet Home EP2
Hero's Hour
Moonlighter
Pathologic 2

31
Did anyone get the Limited Edition OLED Steam Deck (beehaw.org)
 

I'm just curious if anyone else tried to get one of the Limited Edition Steam Decks before they sold out. I tried for it (on 3 devices) but kept getting error messages until it sold out. I just ordered the 1 TB edition instead.

This will be my first portable gaming device since the DSi, so I'm really excited for it. Getting the clear LE one would have been cool, but I'm probably better off not spending the extra $40 CAD, lol.

So, what's your Steam Deck situation? Did you try for/get the LE? Do you already have one? Getting one? Don't want one?

41
Backpack Battles: business model i haven't seen since Minecraft, and it seems to be working? (beehaw.org)
 

All over Twitch, about half the streamers I usually watch playing turn-based strategy games are all suddenly playing the same new game. I watched a few streams, and it looked interesting. Normally, I never buy games when they just come out because I have such a backlog and can wait for a sale, but I figured if everyone (figuratively) is playing it, it must be amazing.

Turns out, they're giving the full game away for free during their "early access" phase as a "demo". But it's the full game, just with only 2 class choices.

I had a blast! And now I'm probably going to buy it on release.

The last time I remember doing this was for Minecraft. I see lots of games doing free weekends on Steam, which is very similar; doesn't work well for me since I only have a few hours for gaming each week, but I imagine that must be successful for a lot of games, too.

What do you think of that business model? And/or, what do you think of Backpack Battles, if you've played it?

11
Fed up with SOGI123 protestors in Canada; how to handle my kids classmates bigot parents and friendships with their kids? (pressprogress.ca)
 

There's a big protest being organized across Canada to protest SOGI being taught in schools, and I'm fed up with it. There are so many vulnerable students who need to know that what they're experiencing is normal, and right-wing extremists are politicizing human rights and spreading manufactured controversy about children being shown pornography in schools.

The linked article is just one of many anti-SOGI protests happening across Canada on Wednesday.

Anyway, the reason I bring it up here is that some of these right-wing anti-SOGI [redacted; unkind] are parents of kids in our kids' classes, and a couple of them are close friends with my kids.

How do you handle that? Kids shouldn't be held accountable for their parents' beliefs. But what about playdates and birthday parties and such? Should we discuss the friendship? It feels wrong to ostracize the child. They deserve to feel safe and have friends.

Also, I'm thinking of taking time off work to counter protest, and making a sign like this one:

Not really related to parenting, but I think it's important kids feel supported and bigots are told their archaic world views are unwelcome. It'll be super awkward if a parent I know is standing on the other side of the protest.

17
Sask. (Canada) high court upholds decision to not pay insurance to estate of man who died of drug overdose - CBC (www.cbc.ca)
 

Saskatchewan is fairly conservative leaning, from a Canadian perspective, so perhaps this isn't surprising, but it's a shame that drug use continues to be viewed through a criminal lens instead of a healthcare and mental health crisis.

My understanding is that even suicide is generally covered by life insurance policies after a two-year vetting period; I would have thought that drug overdoses would at least get the same treatment. It doesn't say in the article how long this policy existed, but the context implies it was longer than two years and I would have thought it would have been a relevant detail to include in the article if it was a newly opened policy, so the omission of that detail further supports it being an older policy.

I have great sympathy for his family, especially because of the long legal battle that I'm sure has retraumatized them over the intervening years.

2
[Informal review] ALLDOCUBE iPlay 50 Pro 10.4" tablet – Surprising quality from a cheap AliExpress tablet (beehaw.org)
 

My context / use case

I got Fire 7 tablets for my kiddos a few years ago and they're dreadfully slow and can't really run many apps at all. With my daughter needing some educational support at home, I was looking for a cheap replacement that actually had enough power to manage recent education apps, and hopefully be future proof for a while.

Alternatives

The cheapest tablet at Costco.ca, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, is $500 CAD, has a weak processor, only 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage.

I'll never touch Apple products for a zillion reasons, but cost was completely prohibitive for a device my child could drop any day. Even used ones are insanely priced. And the app ecosystem for education on iOS is almost entirely paid apps, increasingly using a subscription model. (Or so it seems.)

Newer Amazon Fire "HD" tablets suck, too, but at least they're cheap. And they might be powerful enough to run some things? idk. I wasn't enthused.

Then, I thought to check AliExpress and found an 8GB tablet with 128GB storage, a processor better than the S6, and a 2K (1440p) display. After reading reviews to check if it's legit, I ordered one.

Informal Review

The great:

Price/value for the specs. I paid ~$240CAD for a bundle that includes a nice case, screen protector, charging block and cable, and a child-size Bluetooth keyboard. (It doesn't have a digitizer, so I skipped the stylus.)

The good:

The tablet is snappy. The battery lasts a long time. The screen has plenty enough resolution to render everything crisply on a 10.4" display.

It's a perfect tablet for my kids use as an educational tablet. It's great for PDF ebook reading (mostly picture books and early reader chapter books to date, lol!) and has handled all the education/edutainment apps without any slowdowns.

3.5mm jack. 18W fast charging. Build quality feels solid. Well positioned hardware buttons and 3.5mm jack make it easy to use in either orientation. The included case works as an angled stand. SD card slot for expansion. SIM compatible for phone/data.

The bad:

The viewing angle is pretty terrible. It's completely fine for solo use or for applications where colour accuracy isn't important, but it's very noticeable.

The speakers suck. I'm not a sound geek, so I don't know the correct terms, but the sound is muddy and distorted. They also have a fairly low maximum volume, and become increasingly distorted at higher volume. They work well enough, but it's not enjoyable for music. I would definitely use headphones for music/video/games.

I haven't tried the camera at all, but I've heard it's not great. Can't comment on that.

The purchase

The vendor I ordered from (ALLDOCUBE Direct Store) swapped the EU plug for a US plug at no extra cost. It arrived quickly (3 weeks?) from China.

The package arrived with the retail box crushed, so the included screen protector broke. After using it for a day, I decided to buy a second one for my other child, and asked them to include a replacement. Not only did they include a replacement, but they pre-installed the screen protector on tablet #2 so it couldn't break, without my asking them to.

I would recommend the seller, but ask them to pre-install the screen protector (if you plan to use one) so there's less risk of damage in transit.

Discussion

Anyway, not sure if this is the kind of content people want here, but I thought I'd do my part to add something!

Has anyone else experimented with cheap AliExpress/Chinese Android devices?

Based on my success with these, I'm considering getting a phone for my wife there. I'm a bit more worried about data vulnerabilities and software support longevity on a daily driver phone, but it's really hard to find a small quality phone for a reasonable price. Also, it needs to have a good camera or it's a nonstarter.

Do you have any experience or thoughts on this?

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