Comment Re:A giant step forward for mankind (Score 1) 153
I live in California, where our earth is self-folding and wrinkling.
Comment Re:Not paying (Score 1) 33
I assume they still have - and are not charging for - the "jump ahead 10 seconds" button? (or is it 15?)
Back when I still used a TiVo, that worked pretty well for skipping commercials.
Comment Re:I have a TiVo w/ lifetime, under my television (Score 1) 33
Granted, it was nice to be able to schedule a recording, so resurrecting my TiVo is still on my to-do list if I'm ever bored enough to mess with it.
The only time I'd find that useful anymore is if I wanted to watch live sports. Pretty much everything else I'm interested in is available on demand, by one means or another.
We kept paying for cable TV several years longer than necessary. Really the only reason I've held onto the TiVo is - years ago, some channel ran most of the "The Avengers" (the old British secret agent show) episodes, and I recorded them all - fully intending to shift them off someday. Which still hasn't happened
Comment Re:Textbook Enshittification (Score 2) 33
I'd just like to point out that you're quoting 10-year-old news items.
Comment I have a TiVo w/ lifetime, under my television set (Score 1) 33
It's been turned off for something like 7 years now.
I imagine, at this point, TiVo (the company) knows it's just about dead and is simply trying to milk any residual revenue it can from its dwindling user base.
Comment Re:I hate it here (Score 1) 153
Serious question, do people still use textbooks? I finished school almost 40 years ago and don't have kids, I just assumed everything was online now.
I rarely open a physical book, much more convenient to read the electronic versions - more portable, searchable etc.
I'd hope a classroom would have a globe.
If a flat map is needed, the different common projections are good for different things and each should be used where it makes sense.
I don't mind the UN picking a different projection as "standard" but it seems way down on the list of priorities.
Comment Re:I hate it here (Score 1) 153
If of course impossible to make an accurate flat map of the earth. Any may will distort something - shapes or angles, or it needs huge cuts. Fortunately today almost everyone uses electronics maps that let you rotate and zoom a globe, so it really doesn't matter anymore
Comment Re:They point to their generic JS complaint page (Score 1) 32
Would you though? Your UID is lower than mine and licenses and free vs nonfree have been hashed over endlessly when slashdot was the premiere place to discuss all tech things on the internet. If I was there you must have been too.
Well, yeah, that's basically the point I was trying to make. We've all heard the GPL folks rail against BSD, MIT, etc. many times. We've all heard the BSD folks respond, stating why they think the GPL is flawed. But in both cases the arguments usually included actual specific information.
But, too often, the FSF behave like those people who go into city council meetings, walk up to the mic during the Q&A, and then read some random unrelated statement with the apparent goal of just hearing themselves talk. In this case the FSF has said - again - "yeah we don't like this, shame on BlueSky", but without saying exactly what "this" is.
They're not trying to start a discussion. They're not trying to convince anyone. They're just interested in hearing themselves talk.
Comment They point to their generic JS complaint page (Score 4, Insightful) 32
But I'd be more likely to listen if they'd actually explain what specific complaint they have with the signup form. If it is a license complaint, for instance, what is the license they're objecting to? Is the signup form using some form of javascript obfuscation they don't like? Does the page include a clause against eating toenail clippings or toejam?
What is it, specifically, that you don't like FSF?
Comment Re:population growth is 65 and over? (Score 0) 106
There are a whole lot of guys named Benjamin Button, apparently.
Submission + - One Country Controls Nearly All the World's Kratom (kratom.news)
An anonymous reader writes: Indonesia is the origin point for effectively the entire global kratom supply, and roughly 95 percent of it lands in the United States. Almost all of it grows in Kalimantan (Borneo), where the crop supports an estimated 200,000 farming households. Jakarta spent years threatening a ban, then in September 2024 chose regulation instead, treating kratom as an export commodity: mandatory lab testing for heavy metals and contamination, powder-only shipments, farm licensing, and export quotas. The rollout was rough. Containers sat stalled at port, the first compliant shipment (351 tons) did not clear until February 2025, and leaf prices spiked. Now the government caps kratom exports by decree even as US states legislate demand away, ten now ban it outright.
Submission + - More Wisconsin Municipalities Cancel Flock Camera Contracts
MAurelius writes: Apparently Flock Safety was collecting five years of data from various cities, anonymizing it, and repackaging the data for corporate promotional purposes and training. The municipalities and university in the story were unaware of Flock's retention of five years of their data. Those twelve today announced they are canceling their contracts with Flock Safety. https://www.jsonline.com/story...
Submission + - Musk wins court order to block use of "Twitter," but not "tweet" and bird logo (arstechnica.com)
joshuark writes: Elon Musk’s X won a court order blocking Operation Bluebird from launching a new app taking over the Twitter name. Chief Judge Colm Connolly explained that Operation Bluebird was unlikely to prove that X had entirely abandoned the Twitter name. Therefore, X was likely to succeed on trademark infringement and dilution claims tied to the platform’s former name.
Most compellingly, X argued that it still uses the Twitter name in the current listing for the X app in Apple’s App Store. In the first sentence of that listing, written in the same size font as the rest of the text, a single clause clinched the early court win for X by stating, “Welcome to X (formerly known as Twitter).”
X was not as successful in its claims that it had not abandoned other Twitter marks, including uses of the term “tweet” and the bird logo.
Musk’s public claims that “soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds” and “we’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blow torches” provided “compelling evidence that X Corp. harbors an intent not to resume use of the Tweet mark and Bird logo,” the judge found. Therefore, Operation Bluebird is likely to prove that X abandoned those trademarks.
For Operation Bluebird, the goal is to launch a service to rival Musk’s that is member-owned, rather than billionaire-owned and controlled. For $20, users can join and get rid of X’s “trust problem,” the tweet.app site said.
Most compellingly, X argued that it still uses the Twitter name in the current listing for the X app in Apple’s App Store. In the first sentence of that listing, written in the same size font as the rest of the text, a single clause clinched the early court win for X by stating, “Welcome to X (formerly known as Twitter).”
X was not as successful in its claims that it had not abandoned other Twitter marks, including uses of the term “tweet” and the bird logo.
Musk’s public claims that “soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds” and “we’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blow torches” provided “compelling evidence that X Corp. harbors an intent not to resume use of the Tweet mark and Bird logo,” the judge found. Therefore, Operation Bluebird is likely to prove that X abandoned those trademarks.
For Operation Bluebird, the goal is to launch a service to rival Musk’s that is member-owned, rather than billionaire-owned and controlled. For $20, users can join and get rid of X’s “trust problem,” the tweet.app site said.
Submission + - Former Obama Official-It's Time To Consider Military Strikes on CCP Data Centers (scmp.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The United States should start preparing for scenarios where extreme measures must be taken to stop China from achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), according to a former White House official, including state-backed espionage and military strikes on Chinese data centres.
Jacob Stokes, deputy director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), said at an online event on Thursday that various US agencies, including the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency, should begin assessing what intelligence they need to justify taking such actions.
“Trying to think through the particulars of that will be especially important, in part because it will help policymakers start to work backwards based on the unique nature of the technology, in the same way that in a past era, policymakers would learn about nuclear weapons and work backwards from the science to the policy implications,” he said.
In a new CNAS report published last week, the former Obama administration national security staffer called for the US government to consider the feasibility of diplomatic, espionage, cyber and kinetic measures to prevent China from achieving AGI first.
Jacob Stokes, deputy director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), said at an online event on Thursday that various US agencies, including the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency, should begin assessing what intelligence they need to justify taking such actions.
“Trying to think through the particulars of that will be especially important, in part because it will help policymakers start to work backwards based on the unique nature of the technology, in the same way that in a past era, policymakers would learn about nuclear weapons and work backwards from the science to the policy implications,” he said.
In a new CNAS report published last week, the former Obama administration national security staffer called for the US government to consider the feasibility of diplomatic, espionage, cyber and kinetic measures to prevent China from achieving AGI first.
Comment Re:I don't want to know the pig's name... (Score 1) 70
But Wilma-branded bacon is able to be sold at a 70% premium!
