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Comment Re:But, but, but..... (Score 1) 153

I was waiting for this one to come up, but yes, some things are absolutely worth eradicating. Nobody is petitioning to bring back polio or smallpox. Mosquito larvae compete for resources with other insect larvae, so fewer mosquitoes will mean more of whatever they're competing with for resources, which could replace them in the food chain.

Comment Re:Cajun First! (Score 2) 166

You know that French was literally **banned** in Louisiana by a constitutional amendment until 1974, right? Children caught speaking French even faced corporal punishment in schools. So rag about "whiney Frenchies" all you want, but attempts to stamp out French language and culture in North America were very much real until very recently. The French explored most of North America and set up settlements across the continent by the early 1700s, and many places still carry anglicized French names. However, the English scored a decisive victory taking out the French army in North America in 1759, over 100 years before the US Civil War FWIW. The Cajuns didn't start out in Louisiana; they were forcibly deported there by the British. A funny thing happens when you oppress a population for a few hundred years; they tend to remember that oppression:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

So while we bend over backwards to accommodate Spanish speakers today, that courtesy was absolutely not extended to the French that had been here from 1599 onwards, 8 years before the English in Jamestown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Granted, the French lost the war, and to the victors go the spoils, but the English and French had a long history of war back in Europe, and that meant the French in North America were treated as 2nd class citizens.

Now, I disagree with forcing prioritization of French programming, and I also disagree with language laws in Quebec that restrict the use of English, but I think it's fine to ask that French content at a minimum be featured on the platforms. It doesn't change the complicated history of French in North America, but if we're going to be supportive of Spanish speakers in North America, why wouldn’t we also be supportive of French speakers who were here before the English?

Comment Re:Other reasons (Score 1) 68

I have a merchant services account through First Data and I get emails from at least 8 different domains, have disparate logins on another 6 or so domains, all of which require password changes every 90 days, there are at least a dozen different numbers to call depending on what kind of help you might need if something isn't working.

On top of that, they're still sending statements to an old business address I left in 2016 and they can't seem to figure out how to change it to the address I've been at for the last 9 years.

Comment Re:This will reverse the gains from covid (Score 1) 63

I don't know if you're Archie Bunker or an Archie Bunker parody, but in Mississippi's public schools, the student population is predominantly non-White, specifically Black (48.5%), Hispanic / Latino (5.2%), and two or more races (3.3%), comprising 57% of the student body. White students, while the 2nd largest group, are a minority (43.0%).

Now, which of these groups is the target of your smack down of Mississippi?

Comment Re:A lot of PR BS and spin (Score 1) 35

Zig does exactly this in a C-like way without the C++-like syntax of Rust, while enabling lower memory consumption and lower-level performance optimizations than Rust. Zig is still young, but I expect it to eventually replace Rust use cases in Linux, specifically because it's a better C rather than a better C++.

Comment Re:What is it for? (Score 1) 120

Beyond dev work, spatial home video and photos are mind-blowing. The spatial photos alone make it worthwhile to me. The spatial upscaling of scanned photos works incredibly well. I've used an Oculus before, comparing it to the VP is like comparing a Corolla to a Bentley; they're not at all in the same class when it comes to visual fidelity. That said, it's expensive, it does feel noticeable in weight after a while, and the battery pack should have more capacity. Another missed opportunity is that you have to wear it to do system updates and settings, but it really should have an app like the Watch does. The selection of immersive content on ATV is very limited as well. The killer use case would be live sporting events; it's a shame that hasn't happened considering the resources Apple has at its disposal. However, gripes aside, it's an amazing device.

Comment 500 million euros ... (Score 2, Interesting) 214

That's less than the federal grants a single university (UNC) got in 2022. [begin sarcasm] I'm assuming the salaries offered to relocating researchers are going to be in the €200K range at a 32% income tax rate with a regulatory environment that is going to allow them to do research unimpeded by overbearing regulations and abundant 2800 sqft family homes near major research centers in the €700K range? [end sarcasm]

There is more to attracting talent than a token contribution to a communal pool. Europe has lower wages, higher income taxes, higher property prices, and onerous regulations. There was a time when the ancillary benefits of Europe exceeded those downsides, but those times are in the past. Regardless of what misguided nonsense our tariff-in-chief pushes through in his imaginary state-of-emergency, I have no concern about a wholesale brain drain from the US.

I legitimately feel for researchers whose funding got cut. It’s undoubtedly a very unpleasant situation for them. I'm sure they have families to feed and this is going to be hard on them. However, the majority of the grants that were cut were not for STEM or medical research, contrary to the narrative pushed by detractors. Researchers whose funding got cut have options, they can seek out private backers to fund their research assuming there's value to be created from it. If Europe wants to bring in swaths of displaced social science researchers, that's absolutely their prerogative, but the cold hard truth is that the net impact on the US economy from this will be imperceptible.

Comment Re:The problem isn't partisan (Score 1) 110

Biden and Obama went after conservative non-profits for having a political disagreement with their agenda. Biden also pressured social media sites to censor information and people they didn't like. Biden had the FBI raid Trump for having classified documents at home even though Biden himself was guilty of the same thing (this isn't me supporting Trump, I despise him). There is all the scandal surrounding Hunter, both here in the US and abroad, and the things that Biden did to protect his son while harming American citizens and our interests abroad. You have the aftermath of Kabul, undermining of railroad workers, his extremely broad pardons protecting people that caused harm to Americans, etc.

I know, you'll hand wave all of that away, because he's on your team... but he has decades of displaying his authoritarian biases and hating Americans that he doesn't like (including blacks, Indians, gays, etc).

So, care to tell me how you missed the hundreds of stories of governmental abuse posted on slashdot in the last 25 years and think it just started under Trump? At least be honest and consistent with yourself.

Comment Re:The problem isn't partisan (Score 1) 110

You don't know about internment camps, seriously? You don't care about due process (I hope you aren't opposing the removal of undocumented people without due process if killing them is ok)?

They've all been spying on us for decades. The breadth of that spying has only broadened thanks to an increase in technological capability, not a change in desire. Obama and Biden both targeted individuals and groups they politically disagreed with as well. It has escalated under every single President, regardless of party (because they're all authoritarians regardless of their rhetoric).

If you haven't seen it, it's because you intentionally haven't wanted to see it. It's been right here on slashdot going back to the 90s. If you cared, you'd go educate yourself on the matter instead of claiming ignorance.

Comment Re:The problem isn't partisan (Score 1) 110

Woodrow Wilson (internment camps)

FDR (internment camps, destroying food during the Great Depression)

J Edgar Hoover, Eisenhower, JFK, RFK, LBJ, etc (COINTELPRO)

GHWB (Ruby Ridge)

Bill Clinton (Waco, Elian Gonzalez, clipper chip)

GWB (PATRIOT Act, Total Information Awareness)

Obama (droning American citizens)

How young and/or sheltered are you that you never suspected anyone of doing it while it's been happening and making the news for decades? This is just a quick list off the top of my head. We can get into the whole NSA/Snowden thing, the Utah data center, wiretapping everyone, ECHELON, Five Eyes, ALPRs, etc, all of which made headlines on Slashdot itself (and with a 6 digit UID, I assume you've been here for it).

If you think this is unique to Trump and he's the only one acting like a dictator, your political bias is showing.

Comment Re:Not what the narrative says (Score 1, Informative) 171

It's a virtual paradise, barely 5000 crimes a month and only 10% involve physical violence!!!

https://www.civichub.us/ca/san...

Last time I was in the city, a guy took a dump in front of the window of the coffee shop I was in, but that was performance art, I just misunderstood it at the time.

Comment Re:Luckily, I am an American (Score 1) 120

That show was so good. If you haven't seen it, see it. Back on topic, after watching that clip, read this:

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2...

The show set Patient Zero in Indonesia. If they had set it 5 miles north in Singapore, it would have been eerily prescient.

We currently don't have good anti-fungals for these adapted fungi, but I don't see a path to us becoming "clickers". That said, interesting fact, we're actually closely related to fungi, both being eukaryotes, rather than bacteria (prokaryotes) and viruses (acellular). The primary weapon we have against fungal cells hinges on the fact that fungal cellular walls are comprised of chitin rather than proteins. Currently, fungal infections have a ~30% fatality rate under ideal conditions, but if that line of defense falls due to a mutation or mass infections, the Last of Us scenario would move out of the realm of fiction, minus the "clickers", as 80-90% of humanity becomes mushroom fodder.

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