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Comment Copyright is a gift by government (Score 0) 52

Copyright is a gift by government which may become too troublesome to be worth the expense. Copyright expires
(despite Disney and their puppet Sonny Bono who lived far too long considering the damage he did) after all, and could expire much sooner than later. It's an annoyance.

If artists want money they can emulate the Grateful Dead who generated a fanatically loyal following (that long outlived the band) by encouraging taping, even off their sound boards at concerts.

Submission + - US sanctions Italian leftwing net infrastructure provider (wewillfreeus.org)

Elektroschock writes: The United States put an Italian hacktivism group providing net infrastructure on a terror list and revoked their domain name. On August 26, 2026, the United States State Department designated Autistici/Inventati a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and placed it on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.

Submission + - Microsoft Admits AI Training in New User Privacy Statment (microsoft.com) 1

An anonymous reader writes: "Microsoft uses the data we collect to provide you with rich, interactive experiences. Specifically, we use data to: Provide our products, which includes updating, securing, and troubleshooting, as well as providing support and making recommendations. Improve and develop our products. As part of our efforts to improve and develop our products, we may use your data to develop and train our AI models...."
...
"Not all personal data processed by Microsoft can be accessed or controlled via the tools described in this section."
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Comment Not the loss it may seem (Score 1, Troll) 66

Craving intimacy is an evolved emotional weakness brought about by a species naturally selected drive to reproduce. Consider that carefully before responding including every answer driven by emotion (which when un-mastered is a self-control flaw). Species can have no other reason to exist but perpetuating the group. The individual exists for that and cannot exist for anything else or different for evolution is not a choice.

Craving intimacy results in a wide variety of psychological problems many of which result in toxic, often violent conduct including sexual assault (and often, homicide to conceal same).

Not everyone will get conventional intimacy and so pretending is a lie. Not everyone has the option to become desirable. Efforts to do so include damaging surgery for "looksmaxing".

That demonstrates the desire for intimacy is now a bug not a feature, as the grotesquely large global population also demonstrates by driving high poverty rates. Quality of life does not scale but the opposite.

Alternate options which produce the same result are useful and to the degree they succeed, effective.
They are harmless to others and pleasing to those so satisfied and sated. Sentimental objections should be seen for what they are, silly.

BTW I was (I'm now ancient and out of that game) conventionally attractive to both sexes and had a long, loving marriage until death did us part so none of this comment is motivated by butthurt at exclusion for I was not excluded.

Most of "humanity" is a collection of traits which do not benefit the individual and are often toxic (including drive to deny they're toxic). Redirecting drive for intimacy in those who would be silly to pretend it's an option is a kindness. I don't need it but my personal needs are irrelevant. I do not pretend others are me for projection is lazy thinking.

Society would be better served by contented, happy humans when that state can be easily afforded. Harmless technology could replace toxic, socially destructive gratification techniques like prostitution. Cravings exist and will continue to exist as they're not a matter of choice. Sating them in modern, less socially toxic ways WHICH DO NOT INVOLVE COMPETITION is the logical choice. Competition has many beneficial uses, but winners outnumber losers so best if the second can opt out. It really is that simple however intensely naive idealists object.

Submission + - Hewlett Packard Enterprise retroactively cuts Aruba lifetime warranty to 5 years (hpe.com)

UnknowingFool writes: Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced that starting on January 15, 2027, lifetime warranties on all Aruba networking equipment will change from to "limited lifetime" (End of Sales + 5 years). This was done to “simplify and standardize our warranty experience" and seemingly will affect products already sold to customers. The networking equipment in question is not consumer grade but enterprise level that could cost tens of thousands of dollars a piece. There are questions about the legality of retroactively changing warranty terms after sale and there has not been a reaction by enterprises yet.

Comment Vapes are not a survival or economic need. (Score 2) 59

Ban them for safety reasons.

Nicotine addicts have plenty of delivery options including lozenges.
Selling products intended for volatile substance abuse is illegal in the UK. Products inherently designed in a way that their normal real world disposal is dangerous make sense to regulate.

Not everything everyone wants to do makes sense for society to permit, including producing flammable products whose nature makes them into incendiaries when broken.

I inert all my expended lithium cells by destruction either in my welding shop or outdoors on my land, then dispose of the metallic slag safely with other mixed scrap metals. Small cells make impressive incendiaries so I'm not surprised cell disruption during recycling of objects containing them causes fires.

I use welding PPE so it's no risk to me and have ample water to flood cool spatter (which I do anyway after welding outdoors). I suggest other Slashdotters (the original techy sort who know how to safely break lithium cells which is quite simple) self-educate so they have direct experience of how powerful small cells really are.

Comment The metro area has little known options (Score 2) 47

If you're rocking tech money there are many good places to spend it. The metro area has some beautiful wealthy neighborhoods, especially in northern New Jersey, which have fine old housing stock with large plots and good schools. Many good boarding schools are in easy range of the metro area.

The news focuses on the usual urban hellholes but many metro areas were never heavily industrialized and remain surprisingly refined. Passenger rail is well developed and built the burbs long before automobiles were more than a curiosity.

Tech money can also buy into Pennsylvania which is in easy reach by rail. If you're a tech worker expecting to make bank I suggest not living IN NYC but in rail commuting range instead.
I quite enjoyed relaxing on the train vs. driving.

Submission + - Brand Hype Has Existed Since the Bronze Age, Scientists Discover (404media.co)

alternative_right writes: Brands have completely taken over the modern world, from established corporate trademarks to the proliferation of online influencers. But the allure of brands is nothing new, according to a study about an ancient style of pottery called Qurayyah Painted Ware that was a progenitor of branding some 3,200 years ago.

This brand of pottery was popular in what is now Saudi Arabia during the Bronze Age. The tradition is distinguished by distinctive black-and-red geometric designs and stylized animal and human figures. These unique visual properties, along with a consistent production technique and quality, suggest that it was an early branded commodity that was made to be recognizable to the wider community.

âoeIt is now understood that brands and proto-brands existed well before modern economies,â said researchers led by Marta Luciani of the University of Vienna. âoeIn this contribution we analyze the process by which the commodity itselfâ"decorated pottery vesselsâ"was developed into a brand not by added symbols but on the virtue of its visual identity, material consistency, technological continuity, centralized production, export circulation, local imitation, intentional commercial scope, and cultural reputation.â

Submission + - Battery fires at recycling centres are costing UK £1bn a year, figures sho (theguardian.com)

AmiMoJo writes: Fires at recycling centres caused by wrongly discarded lithium batteries such as those found in vapes are occurring at the rate of more than 10 a week, according to new figures.

Experts say the sheer volume of battery fires now occurring at waste facilities has reached a crisis that is putting lives at risk, costing £1bn a year and frustrating fire chiefs.

In figures shared with the Guardian, the Environment Services Association (ESA), the trade body for waste management companies, said its members had reported 1,518 fires in the year to March 2026. At least 541 of these fires were directly attributed to lithium ion batteries, the survey found. There were a further 216 battery fires in bin lorries.

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The number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected. -- The Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd Edition, June 1972

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