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Comment Re:THE SKY IS FALLING!!!! (Score 1) 78

For what passes as AI now - fancy autofill algorithms - if we ignore it, it really will go away.

If you think that Large-Language Models like ChatGPT are going to "go away", you are very seriously deluded.

And yes, LLMs do function like a type of "fancy autofill", but that does not prevent them from being powerful.

Comment Re:Is it worthwhile? (Score 1) 120

I was involved in a case where a machine was found tossed in a park in a city because the thief couldn't get into it. Why they didn't just remove the drive and install a new one I don't know, but the encryption did its job.

You don't need drive encryption to keep a thief from booting your computer. You can just configure the BIOS to require a password or fingerprint scan at power on. Doesn't prevent installing the drive in another computer, but I think most thieves are looking for a useable computer, not for information stored on your drive.

Comment Re:Well, that's barbaric (Score 2) 265

Yeah, I can support this for something like end-stage cancer or AIDS, but drug addiction... Not sure about this.

Why not? It's their choice. Isn't that the argument for legalizing drugs? Let people do what they want with their body AND have the government help them.

That's not the argument for legalizing drugs. The argument for legalizing drugs is to allow users access to help without fear of prosecution, to ensure product safety, to facilitate better public health administration, and to take drug trade out of the hands of criminals.

Legalization has nothing to do with the argument that "people can do whatever they want with their bodies". People do whatever they want with their bodies regardless.

Comment Re: tl;dr (Score 1) 283

My wife recently dropped her iPhone 13 Pro Max (without a case) onto a concrete sidewalk. I winced, expecting to see a broken screen, or something. There was zero damage. I also have an iPhone Pro Max which I carry in a belt holster and remove it for use. I prefer the size and feel of a bare phone over bulky protection such as an Otter case. My phone has also survived being dropped without damage.

I'm not saying iPhones are sturdier than anything else. It's that drops onto a hard surface are a crapshoot. I think impacts directly onto a corner or edge may be the most dangerous.

Comment Universal Drivers (Score 1) 181

When I go to a manufacturer's website looking for model-specific printer drivers, I often find they are pushing so-called "universal drivers" anyway. It might be that some of these are actually model-specific drivers being delivered in a monolithic package, but a lot of mainstream printers just need a standard printer language such as PCL5, PCL6, PostScript, etc.

A lot of the visible difference seems to be in the driver interface rather than the underlying printer language. I already see on Windows that the Chrome Browser, for example, replaces the Windows print dialog with its own dialog (unless you tell it not to).

The real crime is today's bloated "driver" packages that are more concerned with selling you replacement ink cartridges than just delivering your print job.

Comment Re:ok i wanna hear from wordpad users if they exis (Score 2) 120

BINGO. This is the only reason I ever opened WordPad.

To avoid this, here's a pipeline script that will convert a Unix text file to Windows (MS-DOS) format:

#!/usr/bin/perl
while () {
chomp;
print "$_\r\n";
}

And to go the other way...

#!/usr/bin/perl
$/="^M";
while () {
chomp;
print;
}

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