• 4 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 5th, 2023

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  • Look, yes avoidance is a valid behavior. We have it, we need it, and it’s useful at times, but like any behavior it can become a dependence. Wholly depending on an attitude of avoidance to deal with the outside world doesn’t build resilience. Desensitizing to the trauma and being able to face it, and act in spite of seems like a better goal.

    It’s a screwed up depressing world and I empathize with the horror, disgust, disillusionment, disenfranchised nature of the world.

    I struggle with it constantly, and maybe we should create a support group or a sub for this alone, as we need to find ways to cope with this, as it’s not going to get fixed in a vacuum. Yet we can’t fix it if we are overwhelmed and emotionally shutdown…


  • Not reading the news isn’t going to make the situation better or worse. I understand the sentiment, but don’t understand why saying it is useful. Hiding your head in the sand doesn’t mean your body won’t be harmed.

    There are better ways to cope with the emotional onslaught of this change. Focusing on your community, finding new digital communities, learning to cope in general, finding validating ways to feel liberated… In other words actions. Small perhaps, but beyond this notion of burying our heads in the sand.






  • Harris has said that she wants legislation implementing the tax cut to only apply to the people we traditionally think of when we think of tips: waiters, maids, caddies, and other service-industry customer-contact workers.

    Trump, on the other hand, has refused to limit his no-tax-on-tips proposal to such workers, opening up the possibility that big banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, and other companies that traditionally have paid year-end bonuses — sometimes in the millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars — could simply reclassify their bonuses as tax-free tips.

    **Adding to the confusion should Trump’s plan go into place, the Supreme Court earlier this year expanded the definition of tips when they ruled that if politicians or judges are paid bribes, but the payments are made *****after ***the politician or judge does the requested favor, they’re no longer bribes but, instead, merely tips.

    Jesus H. f#$k Christ, let’s not normalizing bribes.





  • Economists at JP Morgan, the largest US bank by assets, published a research paper on de-dollarization in 2023.

    In reference to the global economy as a whole, they concluded that, “while marginal de-dollarization is expected, rapid de-dollarization is not on the cards”.

    However, they argued that, “Instead, partial de-dollarization — in which the renminbi assumes some of the current functions of the dollar among non-aligned countries and China’s trading partners — is more plausible, especially against a backdrop of strategic competition”.

    The JP Morgan economists added, “This could over time give rise to regionalism, creating distinct economic and financial spheres of influence in which different currencies and markets assume central roles”.

    This seems inline with the Chinese leadership game of influence, as well as the clown show that the US has become. Even with the interest still there from the US standpoint two decades of GWT, the lack of prioritize spending on following our so called values, the very high debt to GDP ratio we are running, the lack of real legislative ability, plus other challenges, all make the fundamentals seem less fundamental. Although China very much has it’s own issues such as an excess of manufacturing, a housing bubble, and a very steep demographic bubble. So their fundamentals are seemingly similar in question, but they have a marked ability to pivot quickly and do seem to be using their status as the 2nd largest economic to garner the same level of influence.

    Whether either has staying power of economics and global influence for the next 50 years is a very interesting question.

    I certainly don’t count the US out yet, but even if the election settles things down, there is some real work to do which has little to do with the current hotly discussed policy topics. I’d be curious about your opinions?



  • A brief technical summary from iMAP reveals what happens when users attempt to access sites using Cloudflare and Google DNS.

    • On Maxis, DNS queries to Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8) servers are being automatically redirected to Maxis ISP DNS Servers;

    **

    • On Time, DNS queries to both Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8) and Cloudflare Public DNS (1.1.1.1) are being automatically redirected to Time ISP DNS servers.

    “Instead of the intended Google and Cloudflare servers, users are being served results from ISP DNS servers. In addition to MCMC blocked websites, other addresses returned from ISP DNS servers can also differ from those returned by Google and Cloudflare,” iMAP warns.

    "Users that are affected, can configure their browser settings to enable DNS over HTTPS to secure their DNS lookups by using direct encrypted connection to private or public trusted DNS servers. This will also bypass transparent DNS proxy interference and provide warning of interference,” iMAP concludes.

    Essentially Malaysia law required ISP to drop DNS entries for some sites, local users started using public DNS. ISP started redirecting public DNS requests, and local users started using DNS over HTTPS.

    The pirate wars continue in their arms races.







  • While I agree with the sentiment, I have accepted that the simple way to make “things” work now is to leverage the cheap computing that is ubiquitous. That headunit is likely now built on a SoC or some embedded OS and is easier and cheaper because of it.

    Functionally we need regulations and safeguards in place that maintain the accountability for making the choice to use and build an OS as a life safety device that also serves Bluetooth audio. If the cost of supporting it, or failing to properly develop it, then perhaps the choice to make it dumb will become more adopted. Other economic forces are more likely to play out, but it’s a possibility that we can reinforce by what we buy and signal.



  • Five shareholder proposals With three management proposals, the shareholder proposals are numbered 4 to 8 inclusive.

    4: Employment protection for opinions differing from Apple policy This argues that Apple doesn’t promise not to discriminate against applicants and employees on the basis of “viewpoint” and “ideology.” The proposal expressed a concern that those with conservative views are disadvantaged.

    Apple responds by stating it has a commitment to “a culture where every great idea can be heard and where everyone belongs, including those with differing viewpoints and ideologies.” It says that the company’s existing policies and practices already address this concern.

    5: Report on the company’s removal of religious apps in China Another proposal demands a report into the company’s removal of religious apps from its Chinese app store, and threatened removal of the social network X.

    Apple says that it already offers transparency on this issue, and must comply with the laws of each of the jurisdictions in which it operates.

    6: Report on unadjusted pay gaps for women and minorities Apple currently reports on weighted pay gaps between men and women, and between minorities and non-minorities. This reporting adjusts for factors like time spent out of the workplace for things like childcare. The proposal calls on Apple to also report on unadjusted pay gaps, in order to make visible “structural bias” in pay differentials.

    The company responds that it believes its own reporting provides “more meaningful” data, and that Apple achieved gender pay equity globally by 2017, and full pay equity “at the intersections of gender and race and ethnicity” in the US by 2022.

    7: Prepare a transparency report on Apple’s use of AI The proposal asks that Apple disclose its use of AI, as well as any ethical guidelines it has adopted to govern such use.

    Apple asked the SEC for permission to exclude this proposal, on the basis that it would risk disclosing commercially-sensitive information about the company’s plans. The SEC denied this, and the company now asks shareholders to vote against it for the same reason.

    8: Report on human rights policies The proposal points to “inconsistent” application of Apple’s stated values when it comes to complying with legal demands in China to remove apps and adopt other policies, like introducing a timeout for AirDrop. It calls for the company to issue a report on this.

    Apple says that it already does so.