It’s better now but twenty years ago some Linux distros were so insecure out of the box that you could be fully owned if you logged into the wrong network.

Even still, I don’t see most distros leverage the security capabilities that running Linux enables. Linux runs the server side of the internet, being a niche os isn’t the security silver bullet it once was.

Holy shit looked up the temps in San Francisco and yes it’s 15C

“Bridge jumping challenge”

• TikTok shitposter

A drink company in Japan came out with a drink called ‘nanchatte orenji’ which looked a lot like soy sauce.

Blender is the gold standard for what a runaway success of foss looks like. I’d love to see FreeCAD get there, but they’ll need significant investment to do so.

This is great. I totally bounced off of crank/crankstart, but I think I understand this toolchain better

In Android, holding power and selecting “lockdown” locks out access until your pin is entered. However, if you’re at a protest or something where illegal arrests are likely, turn your phone 100% off.

TL;DR: EV bike cabs can only do 4-5 trips before they need to be charged, and if they break down they need to be sent back to the manufacturer because local mechanics can’t fix them.

One thing people forget is long distance fees. Cell phones basically did away with long distance fees, and we’re better for that. However, landlines have some notable benefits:

• self-powered, you could call in a power outage
• high fidelity, yeah it was bandpass filtered, but everything in that filter made it through
• freedom of usage, it was hard-fought but you could plug anything into your phone line, from more phones to answering machines to computer modems. There was a whole market around “dumb shit you plugged into your phone line” products

We’re still way better overall with cell phones, but something was lost to get them.

As the saying goes, “graphene can do anything except leave the lab”

I think this is a really interesting take. Communism doesn’t mean taking a vow of poverty or being a good person, but I can see how it would seem hypocritical to not spend that money funding support for labor rather than hoarding it.

It’s probably worth exploring why people over 14 listen to his music and his politics. One interesting reason is people who resonate with the emotional core of the music, but disagree or don’t understand his politics. Another is people who genuinely feel that violence may be necessary to bring about communism. Additionally, some people feel catharsis listening to violent music/media without supporting violence.

I think it’s worthwhile to empathize with people you disagree with. It can help better understand their viewpoint and solidify yours by contrast.

I’m curious, do you have any recommendations for music made by leftists who aren’t rich and don’t support violence? It’s ok if not, I’m just interested in expanding my listening.

Unciv is so good

Some version of this concept has floated (pun intended) around for a while. Thing is that plastics are an energy dense “food source” and once something evolves a way to metabolize it they’ll have a huge advantage.

It’s like how glyphosate tolerance has appeared in weed plants already. Evolution is always looking for an angle.

I have, and I actually got this fancy Japanese manual solder sucker with a silicone nib. It’s pretty fantastic for most things, but the analog stick is still stuck. I may try again some day, but I learned long ago that frustration and electronics projects don’t mix.

Oh jeez, the security nightmares I’ve seen here keep me up at night. You’re doing good work, fixing what you could from the inside of where you worked.

…now? I feel like climate has been the “old reliable” culture war issue when climate denialists need to generate buzz on a slow news day going back at least 20 years.

i want to close the app and go on with my day

That’s exactly the “problem” being portrayed here, the expected/ideal mode of interaction with social media is compulsive and perpetual. It’s the best way to maximize advertisement exposure. I’m not opposed to the slot machine of content, but it’s absolutely reasonable to expect users to want to go on with their day.

Sure! So, there’s this mechanism called “methylation” that can turn off which genes are expressed at different times/in different tissues. It occurs in almost all organisms, but we don’t fully understand the role it plays across different tissues in plants. However, the evidence suggests it may play a significant role in cells going from being stem cells (as in can become many kinds of cell, not literally part of the stem), to being the tissue they ultimately end up as. Better understanding this may help us figure out why some plants can easily be vegetatively propagated, while others are more picky about it.

Trains have some weird environmental impacts, but they all can be mitigated through careful planning. Electric trains can be 100% renewables-powered, take less space for the level of transportation they can provide, are easily integrated next to green spaces, etc.

One problem trains face is steel. From a harm-reduction standing, trains use less steel than cars, but if we’re going to look at it from a solar punk perspective, we can’t ignore the energy it takes to prepare hundreds of miles of track that needs to be repaired and replaced regularly. The challenge here is effectively with manufacturing, and it can be mitigated with efficient electric or hybrid furnaces with careful consideration as to the disposal of slag.

Another challenge is that trains disrupt natural environments. Tracks would need to be elevated, put underground, or other features would need to be included to minimize impact on the natural environment.

Something else considerable is that trains produce and distribute pollution. Brake dust, lubricating oil, and other man-made waste makes its way to the tracks and beyond. Environmental cleanup would have to be part of the plan for a solarpunk train system.

One thing that attracts me to the solarpunk ideology is these kinds of questions. Everything is linked to everything else, and even “obvious” solutions to today’s problems aren’t without their own potential pitfalls.

Researching plant genomes! Honestly, it’s a lot of fun.