Fediverse… Fed… Federated. Unifying it would defeat the purpose. Yes, there could be a single platform, with federated hosting, but multiple platforms working with a single protocol is a good thing.

Consider the web - in the old days, it was an open platform. Then Internet Explorer got a stranglehold, and to use the web practically required using IE on Windows (many sites did not work in other browsers). Eventually we righted the ship, but now Chromium browsers are taking over, and we’re heading in a similar direction.

For the fediverse to remain open and effective, we should embrace extra platforms*. It prevents anyone getting too much control over the protocol, prevents lock-in, prevents centralization, etc.

*We should generally encourage use/development of the same protocol, though.

Chest compressions, chest compressions, chest compressions.

*An official letter, signed by at least three colleagues.

What bugs me the most is I’ve pointed it out to people in conversations that basically go like this:

Me: You used it for X and caught mistakes - why are you trusting it for Y? Them: That’s a good point.

And then they keep doing it anyway.

I’m not an AI hater at all - it can be a great way to accelerate work you are capable of doing on your own. But using it for things you don’t understand, and/or not double checking its work is insanity.

I hate to bring up AI, but this is exactly what I keep trying to explain to people - when you ask any of these bots questions about things you’re an expert in, you see all the flaws. The trouble is people tend not to ask questions about things they already know…

Why not just use an alias?

I used Windows growing up, switched to Linux in highschool on my personal machines, and was forced to use Mac for nearly 10 years at work. In my experience, they all have problems, and the worst part is always early on. After you’ve used them for a while and have gotten familiar/comfortable, the problems get easier to deal with, and switching back (or on to something new) becomes more daunting/uncomfortable than dealing with what you have. So in that sense, yes, it will get easier.

Also, as hardware ages, you often see better support (though laptops can be tricky, as they are not standardized).

Keep in mind, when you use Windows or Mac, you’re using a machine built for that OS and (presumably) supported by the manufacturer for that OS (especially with custom drivers). If you give Linux the same advantage (buy a machine with Linux pre-installed, or with Linux “officially supported”), you’re much more likely to have a similar, stable experience.

Also, I’ve had better stability with stock Ubuntu than its derivatives (Pop!_OS and Mint). It might be worth trying an upstream distro, to see if you have better stability.

Malcolm Jamal Warner also died within the past few days.

Short clips is a common technique for spotting AI generated videos. It’s computationally expensive to do more than that. Not impossible, but uncommon.

https://youtu.be/M4TXO4kQwSQ?t=2m17s

Raster images do not need to be rendered - see Rendering:

Rendering is the process of generating a photorealistic or non-photorealistic image from input data such as 3D models…Today, to “render” commonly means to generate an image or video from a precise description (often created by an artist) using a computer program.

Note that “render” is a fairly generic term, and it is sometimes used like “render to the screen,” to just mean to display something. Rasterisation may be a better term to use here, since it only applies to vector graphics, and is the part of the process I am referring to.

In any case, except for possibly reading fewer bytes from disk, the vector case includes all the same compute and memory cost as the raster image - it just has added overhead to compute the bitmap. On modern hardware, this doesn’t take terribly long, but it does mean we’re using more compute just to launch/load things.

It’s also worth noting apps have to ship higher resolution assets now, due to higher resolution displays. This can include video, audio, images, etc. Videos and images may be included at multiple resolutions, to account for different sized displays.

For images, many might assume vectors are the answer, but vectors have to be rendered at runtime, which increases startup time in the best case scenario, and isn’t even always supported on all platforms, meaning they have to be shipped alongside raster assets of a few different sizes, further increasing package bloat. And of course the code grows to add the logic to properly handle all the different asset types and sizes.

All this (packaging dependencies, plus assets/asset handling) to say it isn’t always malware, ads, electron, etc. Sometimes it’s just trying to make something that looks nice and runs well (enough) on any machine.

Many apps ship both vectors and raster images. It is worth nothing that vectors save space, but increase compute (the image now has to be rendered at runtime), contributing to slower startup times.

I’ve had the same problem with HeliBoard learning garbage. I just changed my settings though, and I think it should help:

1. Open HeliBoard settings
2. Open Text correction settings
3. Scroll all the way to the bottom, and turn off “Add words to personal dictionary”

If you scroll all the way to the top again, you can manually manage the personal dictionary, including adding words you do want, and deleting any junk that was added by mistake, before switching that setting off.

Flanders is self employed - he owns the Leftorium. There’s a joke in this episode about not writing off the ink used to print receipts as a business expense, because he likes the way it smells. He can do his taxes when he wants.

Mario Kart was played for racing, and balloon battles. Diddy Kong Racing was all about Fire Mountain (the game where you capture the eggs).

In college, in my intro to Java class, I had a program I’d written that I was trying to show someone. Every time I ran it (in Eclipse) it crashed. It had worked earlier, but was then consistently crashing. Looked at the stacktrace, looked at the code… No issues I could spot. After quite a while of poking around, with the file reverted to its original state and still failing, I did a select all, cut, paste (into the same file), and it started working again.

Some people have posted pictures in the thread now, and it looks like you might be correct. Seems odd - the blowhole is analogous to a nostril. Sucking something against your nose a swimming seems like it would be uncomfortable.

Under water, with no hands, how are they getting the fish in place? And perhaps more difficult, how do they keep it there? Anyone aware of a video?

The president’s “official act” would be issuing the pardon. The referenced Supreme Court decision just means it would not be a “crime” for the president to issue said pardon, not that the pardon would stand.

The president can’t intervene at the state level. From americanbar.org:

A U.S. president has broad but not unlimited powers to pardon. For example, a president cannot pardon someone for a state crime.