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Comment old cellphones FTW (Score 1) 2

Try using old cellphones. Cheap and local, discrete when you want it. Not for outdoors, but security when you aren't home is important. Plus spaces like basement and garage could use a camera. I use an app named "Alfred" that gives full camera, mic, and speaker control. I'm sure you can find other apps as well.

Comment I fully agree (Score 2) 145

Guess I'm prescient. I posted the below 10 days ago:

There's a lot more to college than just the academics. College is where you meet the friends you'll keep for life, and often your future spouse. Going from dormland to a shared house with friends as roommates is a gentle transition from living at home to being on your own. The social interaction isn't the bullshit of high school; this is where people start to develop the social skills of adults. At college you choose who you spend most of your time with. When working you spend time with the people your boss hired, like them or not. I think the experience of going to college is important for growth and wellness. And it's hell of a lot of fun too.

Comment An important aspect (Score 1, Insightful) 198

There's a lot more to college than just the academics. College is where you meet the friends you'll keep for life, and often your future spouse. Going from dormland to a shared house with friends as roommates is a gentle transition from living at home to being on your own. The social interaction isn't the bullshit of high school; this is where people start to develop the social skills of adults. At college you choose who you spend most of your time with. When working you spend time with the people your boss hired, like them or not. I think the experience of going to college is important for growth and wellness. And it's hell of a lot of fun too.

Comment Re: AI is biased against anything not Big Pharma (Score 1) 27

a belief rooted in conspirtal thinking and selective bias.

I repeat: Do you actually know and have experience with even one chiropractor? Vague handwaving about a stereotype does not make a valid point. You are just regurgitating the hot air others have farted in your direction. Despite the dogpile or derision it receives, chiropractic practice is based on the scientific method. I've never met a licensed chiropractor who follows aromatherapy, homeopathy, "Life Coach" or other "I can't get a degree so I'll fake it" kind of theories.They really are medical professionals. Unless you have a direct experience to bolster your attitude, stop spreading prejudiced bullshit.

Google

Google Is Collecting Troves of Data From Downgraded Nest Thermostats 11

Even after disabling remote control and officially ending support for early Nest Learning Thermostats, Google is still receiving detailed sensor and activity data from these devices, including temperature changes, motion, and ambient light. The Verge reports: After digging into the backend, security researcher Cody Kociemba found that the first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats are still sending Google information about manual temperature changes, whether a person is present in the room, if sunlight is hitting the device, and more. Kociemba made the discovery while participating in a bounty program created by FULU, a right-to-repair advocacy organization cofounded by electronics repair technician and YouTuber Louis Rossmann.

FULU challenged developers to come up with a solution to restore smart functionality to Nest devices no longer supported by Google, and that's exactly what Kociemba did with his open-source No Longer Evil project. But after cloning Google's API to create this custom software, he started receiving a trove of logs from customer devices, which he turned off. "On these devices, while they [Google] turned off access to remotely control them, they did leave in the ability for the devices to upload logs. And the logs are pretty extensive," Kociemba tells The Verge. [...] "I was under the impression that the Google connection would be severed along with the remote functionality, however that connection is not severed, and instead is a one-way street," Kociemba says.

Comment Re:People have right to be mentally-ill! (Score 3, Insightful) 85

People have right to be mentally-ill! Just look at gays, they are not reproducing and ill but almost nobody tries to cure them anymore. Psychiatrists have no right to try to "convert" mentally-ill people into "healthy". (Thomas Szasz)

Your casual homophobic bigotry shows that you are out of touch with reality. Surveys of people between 18 and 29 were asked the question "Are you straight?". 30% said no. That's more than people with blue eyes. At what point do you go from "I don't like them and there's too few of them to fight back" to "That's just normal human behavior for some people."

Comment Re: I'd consider it (Score 1) 85

Why do people drive so fast? Are they perpetually in a hurry because capitalism taught them time is money?

You deserve "off topic" mod points. Why the focus on capitalism as a scapegoat? I drive fast because it's fun. I enjoy the cat and mouse game of avoiding cops and speed traps. Maneuvering around slower drivers is an exercise in strategy and timing while maintaining safety as paramount. I get a dopamine hit when advancing in the pack that has nothing to do with politics or economics. This is simply normal human behavior in any socio-political context.

Comment Re: Oh I too do, when I am bored (Score 4, Insightful) 85

Why does capitalism promise us material happiness and deliver spiritual sickness? Is it possible that we irrationally want to be good and altruistic, but capitalism teaches us that is just foolish, so we want out?

You blame capitalism as if it has consciousness. It doesn't make promises, there is no intent to teach; it's a method to an end. When you choose to employ it in your approach to life, YOU are the one being materialistic and neglecting your spiritual aspects. Projecting blame on a concept isn't productive. Just act with integrity in whatever context you find yourself in. Material needs and spiritual growth can synergize, they are not mutually exclusive.

Comment Re:What is this nonsense? (Score 1) 23

You deserve mod points. Yours is the only comment so far that isn't just "My opinion vs. the actual experts." With quotes to back up your explanation rather than decrees of superior aloofness, you set a great example of "Let's look at the science instead of claiming to know better without bothering with evidence."

Comment Re:Doom - Kessler Edition. (Score 2) 28

Dare you to tell me who actually scrutinized this stunt.

The very first line of the summary says he was helped by the ESA. The last line of the second paragraph spells it out for you: The European Space Agency. You know, the guys who own the satellite. Real, actual rocket scientists, Mr Armchair Expert.

Bonus, another group of non-hackers who do real space science did it too:

Since then, the Polish company KP Labs has also successfully run Doom on its Intuition-1 satellite. This used the company's Leopard Data Processing Unit to run Doom while simultaneously capturing hyperspectral images of Earth.

I'd trust them to have a good handle on security for their multi million dollar hardware.

Comment Re:Doom - Kessler Edition. (Score 4, Informative) 28

This guy had legal access. He didn't hack the satellite. It's also decommissioned, but that doesn't mean it's open prey ignored by the folks who own it. Everything in orbit gets a high level of scrutiny and security. To continue your oh so scientific Harry Potter reference: +30 points for focusing on security, -1000 points for failing reading comprehension.

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