kingaillas

That post is 3 years old, so basically around 1 year into the Steam Deck's release.

If the author had googled better they might have discovered https://www.learnpdc.org/

later someone (Gibbs?) gave them the familiar vector calculus form.

It was Oliver Heaviside (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Heaviside) that rewrote Maxwell's original equations (20 of them in differential form) into the notation used today (4 of them in vector calculus form).

Here's a nice comparison: https://ddcolrs.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/maxwells-equations-...

How about some penalties for their creation? If NSA is discovering or buying, someone else is creating them (even if unintentionally).

Otherwise corporations will be incentivized (even more than they are now) to pay minimal lip service to security - why bother investing beyond a token amount, enough to make PR claims when security inevitably fails - if there is effectively no penalty and secure programming eats into profits? Just shove all risk onto the legal system and government for investigation and clean up.

What Trump is mandating with his EOs are a move back to judging people strictly by their merit, by their character.

Conservatives are OK with rolling everything back and hiding behind words, since right now, most people at the highest levels of power - that do the judging - are white men.

How else do you explain such "merit" based nominations like Hegseth for SecDef, Gaetz for Attorney General, etc. (Gaetz withdrew but getting nominated at all was ridiculous). And if Hegseth is qualified to lead the DoD, then so is anybody who ever served in the military at the rank of Major or higher.

Valve still restricting the OS to their hardware.

This is changing very soon - Lenovo announced the Legion Go S at CES 2025, and it will ship with SteamOS.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/52983491...

Firstly, Roe vs Wade was overturned in 2022 during the BIDEN term.

That timing is all about how long it takes a lawsuit to work through the system to reach a stacked court.... not so much who was President when it finally was resolved.

The sad truth is even if XYZ country "interfered" with a misinformation campaign... they didn't actually manipulate the votes. Enough US citizens voted for Trump.

Common ground?

They don't believe in climate change, want zero controls on guns, are generally anti-immigrant - even the legal immigrants are lied about e.g. Haitians in Springfield, don't believe women should have certain rights concerning their own healthcare, want to keep cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations, etc.

They are impenetrable. Yes they'd claim I'm unwilling to compromise but we're talking about different starting points - I have to get them to accept certain actual real-world events and facts as true before starting a meaningful conversation.

The evidence is likely simple deduction, as in asking "when was the last time this area was bombed" combined with the history of the airport (built for the military in 1943, later converted to civilian use) and also noting other unexploded bombs have been unearthed in the area.

For it NOT to be a WW2 bomb would mean somebody sneaking in another bomb and paving it under the runway without being noticed.

Some banking feature are only accessible via mobile phone - e.g. check deposit.

By introducing a profit maximisation goal you (supposedly) create a more efficient operation.

Yes but one way that happens is by ignoring unprofitable customers. That's great if you are a car dealership and sell higher end cars to wealthier people or run a botique grocery store with fancy all-organic produce, but terrible if you are (for example) trying to provide healthcare or education and decide that the profit margins aren't high enough for you to serve various segments of the population.

I'm old enough to remember anonymous ftp to grab the FAQ text file for various games, typically including a walkthroughs (e.g. the kind of thing now aggregated on sites like gamefaqs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/msx/918088-final-fantasy/faqs/...)

So I grew up with chat rooms/forums/bbses... and am currently an avid Discord user.

Why? Well the needs of some gaming communities have evolved and Discord solves those problems. I'm in various guilds in an MMO and Discord provides EASY screen sharing, EASY voice comms, lets users with privileges run small apps (typically used to allow voting on a topic, e.g. what raid shall we do, or allow simple registration, e.g. for the raid we voted on we need X tanks Y healers Z dps so click and sign up). There are fancier bots that grab in-game info and show it, letting you check on info without logging into the game, and so on.

I don't see any of this being handled well via chat rooms, forums, etc. In fact I would go so far as to be your counter-example of someone that grew up with all the old stuff and now thinks Discord is in fact a massive improvement, and not just superficially.

Meme sharing is also important since these days, the absolutely dominant way to get two kinds of info across to players quickly (good builds for your chosen character, and simple animated gifs to show fight positioning) are images. Lots of players also make build/fight video guides, but that's a longer investment in time over a simple animated gif showing where to stand and where to move. Nobody (rounded for simplification) reads text guides, in fact some info like how the group has to handle a boss fight, would be difficult to write a text guide for. You know the old saying about how a picture is worth a thousand words?

This was my flow, except instead of PC I was using Mac. But then, that Mac died and I hadn't also happened to save the proper old version of Kindle for PC. And I migrated to a linux desktop instead of replacing the Mac.

I'm a bit uneasy about grabbing some version downloaded from a random website, even if I ran that in a VM I still have to present my Amazon account info.

So my replacement flow would include "get a macos vm running, install an old version of Kindle for Mac (known good since it's my copy) in the VM" and then do everything in the VM and transfer the converted epub out.

I keep hoping the de-drm plugin will be updated to understand how to de-drm the newer Kindle format. :)

No it is not.

Responsibility (issue advisories) for unclassified, commercial, non-defense internet is a confusing mess split between Commerce (NIST, https://csrc.nist.gov/about), DHS (CISA, https://www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity), Energy (CESER, https://www.energy.gov/ceser/cybersecurity if it is related to energy infrastructure), etc.

Throw in other agencies like DISA (https://disa.mil/About/Our-Work) as appropriate.

NSA's defensive mission is about securing National Security Systems. These have a fairly specific definition, and are not running in the average business.

A commission would find that there was no problem whatsoever.

Almost everybody misunderstands NSA's defensive mandate. They aren't corporate America's QA department, they don't have a "let's find and report exploits" mission - their defensive mission applies to "national security systems" and other "defense industrial base" ones. Those are computers/networks running fairly specific tasks; they are generally not internet connected, and sitting in secure buildings with 24 hour security and surveillance, so securing them revolves around a lot of physical security and controlled access.

YOU don't have one of these systems, corporation XYZ doesn't have one, there is no requirement NSA disclose jack shit to anybody unless they want to. And in the ETERNALBLUE case one of their tools leaked so they helped head off a lot of problems by voluntarily telling Microsoft about it.

As for who is responsible for this - I thought all the people here are free market worshipers. If Silicon Valley tech companies, one of the richest class of private enterprises in the world, need what are effectively government subsidies to cover their bug ridden insecure products, well that sounds like multiple market failures to me.

I think I'd do what your landlord is doing if I were in that position.

Having a long term reliable renter, which I'm sure you are, give them a rent that is a good deal (slightly below market), and they'll stay. Even if your rent doesn't cover mortgage and expenses, eventually you or other renters are going to buy the property for your landlord, and that's worth a lot.

Especially if home prices are up 50% - keeping your rent stable and you there paying it means your landlord is getting a spectacular deal.

However, there is value in learning some of the under the hood concepts such as

[...]

I don't think schools need to teach employable

My University taught the intro CS class in Scheme; years after I graduated they switched to Java and last I saw it was Python (based on visits back to campus and wandering through the bookstore to see what textbooks were for sale). I just checked and it still Python, based on the course description ("how to design and implement algorithmic solutions in Python"). I see a few 2xx level classes are in Java, and after that it stops mentioning specific languages.

Anyway, it's tough since there is pressure to teach the concepts, which argues for certain languages, yet also produce employable graduates, which argues for certain other languages.

Finding overlap is tricky... teaching theory in Haskell, under-the-hood concepts in assembly, software development gluing libraries together in javascript/c++, may in fact be the superior approach... but there is fatigue associated with learning languages just to learn more languages when maybe a nice general language that serves many educational needs is a better way.

Python might be the sweet spot to start out with, and indeed it looks like the 3 intro classes at my alma mater, are taught in Python. I'd like to think the driving force behind this is that 1) Python works well, and 2)using one language for first year students (well, 2nd semester 1st year or perhaps 1st semester 2nd year) lowers the mental overhead on the students.

Going heavy on C/C++ early essentially selects people that already come in with a programming background. Some folks don't get that, or not much of it, in high school and want to enter the field anyway. And I think it is fair for them to reasonably expect, like you can with every other academic field, that they can do that via the starting curriculum.

I'm certain there's a good language in there, but it's so rarely used during my time in the industry (I'm in my mid-30s), that it's just never been worth the effort. I'm sorry, Perl.

No apology needed, I'm sure even Perl realizes it was a little stagnant while the rest of the industry zoomed by.

I used Perl in the mid 90's, so I suspect I'm ~20 years older than you. ;) Back then it was a jack-of-all-trades language, good at parsing logs or text files, pinched hit for php if you needed add scripting to websites, etc.

Over time, javascript improved, python gathered mind-share, and perl still worked but wasn't keeping up with new libraries.

I'd like to see Raku do well, although I doubt I'll use it professionally - seeing as how I've got around ~8 years left until I retire.

I think it is fair to interpret that as: Signal is not storing messages on their servers, also Signal is not storing them on someone else's servers.

Whether or not a 3rd party, outside Signal's knowledge and/or control, is storing messages is entirely out of their control.

I'm the same as far as Netflix, they have enough "good enough" shows for me to keep them around. I figure if I average ~2-3 hours a week it is still worth it.

Yes some of their new shows are... not to my liking (hey, maybe somebody out there really loves Warrior Nun but I stopped after a few episodes) but several are (Shadow and Bone, Witcher, Umbrella Academy, Ozarks, Cobra Kai, Lupin) I'm looking forward to future seasons, or finishing the series (in the case of Ozarks).

HBO Max might fall into the season-subscription category for me, where I take it 3-6 months a year. And maybe Disney+ too except I've got a large backlog there.

Anyway, the behavior change for me is to watch a show sooner rather than later. I was working my way through Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Hulu and reached season 6, taking a break for a few weeks, to return and discover the remained of the episodes are tied to a live TV subscription. Not sure if some license deal expired in time I took a break after season 5, or if it was always like that (however, I don't think so).

Everybody is suspicious of Microsoft's motives but I think in this, you gotta consider how many windows systems are out there used by security novices.

Lots of people are computer savvy but want to use a computer to do something else not under the umbrella of hobbyist sysadmin work.

I don't see the downside here, again, considering the multi-millions average users Windows/Edge has. If you are savvy enough to roll your own VPN using algo from Trail of Bits, then do that. If you are able to weigh the pros and cons of VPNs from having one or not, or which one to use, you are ahead of 99.99% of the people this will help.

Microsoft shutdown stores, resulting in loss of purchases for customers. I lost a few ebooks when they shut down their ebook store, their Zune Marketplace and Play For Sure was a confusing fiasco with the final result of authorizing purchases for one final resting place before the DRM servers were killed.

So they don't exactly have a spotless record.

Another vote for Endeavour.

I already run Ubuntu on my NUC, and when I was looking around to install on my former gamebox (i.e. computer with a graphics card unlike NUC with onboard graphics only) I wanted something with good steam/nvidia integration. It came down to either Pop! OS or Endeavor... because while I develop software I also want to play games without futzing around too much.

Very happy with Endeavour: pacman or yay for nearly everything, no hassle graphics drivers updates (system always suggests a reboot after and I always do that).

But what to do or how to fix it?

All I see is the cognitive dissonance of worshipping the free market, except in this case where corporate America sold the future of US away in exchange for higher profit margins today.

Plus the cognitive dissonance of government action being unpalatable yet also required, since maximum profit-seekers (the highest motive possible in the system we have set up) aren't incentivized to do anything else.

So what's Google to even do?

If they were serious about Stadia, Google should have worked to provide experiences only Stadia could allow. That was one tagline of SG&E before it was canned a mere 18 months in - clear failure on Google's part because you can't develop a game that fast.

As for what could have gone differently - cut deals with smart TV manufacturers to include the Stadia app on the TV, making it easy for millions to try it out.

Instead, the Stadia app wasn't even on the Chromecast initially. (OK, memory vague here but I remember having to fiddle around and after upgrading from the Chromecast that came with the Cyberpunk 2077 bundle to Google TV with Chromecast or whatever they were calling it, it was still a while before the Stadia app was there or left beta).

I also thought Google should have done a sports game tie-in, or perhaps F1 racing, to essentially let viewers replay something they just watched. Kind of a live replay, where YOU control the offense/defense/car. Say you're watching a soccer match and team X scores. During a break, advertise Stadia's version of FIFA, click a button and replay the scoring play where you control one of the teams. Can you also score, or can you defend??

Yes this would be complicated licensing and software between TV ads, game maker, license holders, etc. but it would have showcased an advantage Stadia had over traditional consoles/pc gamers - immediacy, play right on your TV in response to something you just watched. Brady just score a touchdown - can you do it to, or play defense and stop it (pick up Stadia controller, click some buttons or whatever and get dropped into that scenario, ready to play)??

I think this would have had insane appeal among sports fans, building excitement, etc. But no, Stadia just crapped itself and cancelled their in-house studio and basically tread water for the rest of the time.

Those breakthroughs you mention, you think they wouldn't have been made if it wasn't for the military?

I don't think we'd have GPS (for example) without the military, among other things like nuclear energy/weapons and so on.

Do you seriously think a corporation would have invested the money creating everything needed from the ground up, including ongoing maintenance of a satellite constellation, to let people fix their location on the earth? Where's the profit/ROI in that?

My car for example has four tires each at a pressure of 32 PSI.

The air pressure of your car/bike tires doesn't matter - all tires could be flat. Try comparing (vehicle weight + your weight) / (vehicle contact surface area) where vehicle is either your car or your bike.

The trend over the last 50 years is clearly away from car dependence.

Uh... no. The few streetcars and bike trails built are drowned out by the massive growth in suburbs and people living even further away from city centers (or these stadiums).

Your trend comparison is leaving out the majority of the picture.

And which side “represents less than a plurality of voters?” Republicans won a majority of the Congressional popular vote in 2016. They got a million and a half more votes than Democrats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_House_of_Re.... They’re on pace to do it again this year.

You left out the Senate, the other house of Congress, which Democrats won by 10 million votes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_Senate_elec... using your comparison metric.

This coupled with Presidential votes, even though technically only the electoral college counts, makes it quite fair to imply it is the Republicans that represent less than a plurality of voters.