Wednesday, February 23
Daily News Stuff 23 February 2022
5G Or Not 5G Edition
Disclaimer: Dirty creature come my way, from the bottom of a crypto lake. Selling off all my apes, think I've made a big mistake.
5G Or Not 5G Edition
Top Story
- Internet is still out. Playing telephone tag with the idiots at my ISP - how the hell can you run an internet business when your only support is by phone?
Meanwhile I have a 5G phone, a 5G SIM card, and a 5G plan. What I do not have is a 5G signal, because that would make life too easy. If I go upstairs and stand by the window I can just about get a second bar on the 4G signal sometimes.
At least I have a much better mobile plan. The bandwidth fees I was paying would have quickly added up to the cost of the new phone.
- I was wrong, we need crypto. (Hey.com)
A heartfelt and un-woke post from the guy behind Ruby on Rails, a long-time crypto-skeptic (justifiably) now shocked into being a true believer:This is crazy. Absolutely bonkers. Terrifying.
I work mostly with Python, though I do like Ruby. Might be worth taking a look at Rails even though - yep - it does have a Code of Cancer.
I still can't believe that this is the protest that would prove every Bitcoin crank a prophet. And for me to have to slice a piece of humble pie, and admit that I was wrong on crypto's fundamental necessity in Western democracies.
And that it was the Canadians who brought this on? You might as well have told me that it was really the Care Bears who ran Abu Ghraib.
- In a cashless society, freezing someone's bank account is a prison sentence. (The Hub)
The fact that weaponizing the financial system against nonviolent protestors and their distant supporters was the government’s tool of first resort should worry anyone who understands the role of civil disobedience in democracy. I would like to think Minister Steven Guilbeault, who was once arrested for scaling the CN Tower to hang a Greenpeace banner, lost a little sleep when he considered that disrupting critical infrastructure is still a common tactic of his environmentalist comrades. But somehow I doubt it. If there is one thing we haven’t seen much of in Ottawa recently, it’s principled consistency.
Very true.
Tech News
- This tweet is by the author of that Hey.com article:
Lots of agreement in the quote tweets. Lots of disagreement from the pronoun-in-bio crowd, who claim to be against government oppression.
That was always a lie. They just want to be the oppressors.
- Also, fuck you Samsung. (Samsung)
Adoptable storage is not available on Samsung devices. Using a microSD card for adoptable storage will reduce the overall performance of your phone or tablet, and is meant for devices with very low internal memory sizes. MicroSD cards used for adoptable storage are encrypted and cannot be removed from your device without factory resetting your phone or tablet, and formatting the SD card.
It's not your phone, assholes. I bought it. It's mine.
- The AeroCool Cipher case has room for eleven 3.5" and four 2.5" drives in a fairly average-size ATX tower. (Tom's Hardware)
Specifically targeted at Chia mining.
Gonna be expensive-
$75.
I'll take two.
Though I already have a 5-bay and an 8-bay external 3.5" drive arrays and two 2-bay 2.5" boxes, so I'm actually ahead of this. Did cost rather more than $75 though.
- What is this shit? (Krebs on Security)
IRS delenda est.
- Woolworths online sales increased 48% in the second half of 2021. (ZDNet)
I don't know how because they routinely lose half my order.
- Peloton sold rusty bikes that don't move to idiots for $2495. (Ars Technica)
Why are there so many rich idiots in the world? Though I guess I could afford to buy a $2495 exercise bike myself; I just wouldn't.
- Truth Social is at the top of Apple's App Store charts. (CNBC)
I can't speak to the quality of the service because right now it's Apple-only and I won't buy Apple products, and US-only and I can't be bothered fussing with my VPN.
- Salesforce employees are up in arms over the company's NFT plans. (Some weird Reuters site)
Live by the woke idiot, die by the woke idiot.
Party Like It's 1980-is Video of the Day
Disclaimer: Dirty creature come my way, from the bottom of a crypto lake. Selling off all my apes, think I've made a big mistake.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:01 PM
| Comments (6)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 723 words, total size 7 kb.
1
In regards to crypto being the savior of backing in the free world, I recently followed a link to a Doomberg article that finally put into words the misgiving I'd been feeling about that:
"Your bank accounts have been frozen, credit cards canceled, and access to your brokerage account denied. Further, imagine you have accumulated some Bitcoin in a cold storage wallet (i.e., on a flash drive in your possession), carefully ensuring that it is outside Trudeau’s reach. How are you going to pay your mortgage, car payment, tuition expenses, or buy groceries with it? The answer is you can’t. Does that wallet represent a store of value that might be reactivated in the future should the government change its stance towards you, or is itself changed altogether? Absolutely. Does it represent a practical medium of exchange, one that is useful during this personal crisis? Absolutely not.
At a time of utmost need, cryptocurrencies have proven they are not money. If they can’t be used to transact in the main, they’re just bits of data on a flash drive. Crypto proponents will argue that off-exchange peer-to-peer transfers are still possible and this enables bartering, or that you could move to a country that more widely accepts cryptocurrencies as payment. To these critics, we say thank you for highlighting the exceptions that prove our thesis. If that is all you have left, it is clear how much the government has taken away from you and how feeble cryptocurrencies are as a hedge."
At a time of utmost need, cryptocurrencies have proven they are not money. If they can’t be used to transact in the main, they’re just bits of data on a flash drive. Crypto proponents will argue that off-exchange peer-to-peer transfers are still possible and this enables bartering, or that you could move to a country that more widely accepts cryptocurrencies as payment. To these critics, we say thank you for highlighting the exceptions that prove our thesis. If that is all you have left, it is clear how much the government has taken away from you and how feeble cryptocurrencies are as a hedge."
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Thursday, February 24 2022 12:22 AM (UMMAA)
2
There are crypto ATMs now. How widespread they are, and how much use they'd be in such a case is an open question, but it's a start, I guess.
Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, February 24 2022 02:47 AM (Z0GF0)
3
Also, today I learned Woolworth's still exists, at least online. I think the last brick and mortar one I've seen was about 40 years ago in the town I grew up in.
Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, February 24 2022 02:48 AM (Z0GF0)
4
There are places 'round here that advertise that they accept bitcoin. I mean, it's pretty volatile, but cave canem and all that.
Posted by: normal at Thursday, February 24 2022 04:12 AM (LADmw)
5
The ATM I saw had a brochure, and if I remember correctly, it accepted several kinds. (I just looked and it seems like they accept BTC, ETH, Litecoin, Dash, and...drumroll...Dogecoin.)
Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, February 24 2022 07:35 AM (Z0GF0)
6
It's not anonymous, though. At a minimum you have to receive a code through SMS, and buying higher amounts requires increasing levels of ID verification.
I played around with one a while back and I *do* like that they have a warning before letting you do anything, that says "anyone asking you to send them bitcoin is scamming you. Don't do it, and call us instead at an 800 number." It specifically mentions the most common things: SSN fraud, taxes, cars, ebay, airbnb, etc., and a separate warning about online romance scams.
I played around with one a while back and I *do* like that they have a warning before letting you do anything, that says "anyone asking you to send them bitcoin is scamming you. Don't do it, and call us instead at an 800 number." It specifically mentions the most common things: SSN fraud, taxes, cars, ebay, airbnb, etc., and a separate warning about online romance scams.
Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, February 24 2022 07:47 AM (Z0GF0)
58kb generated in CPU 0.0588, elapsed 0.1391 seconds.
58 queries taking 0.1271 seconds, 353 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
58 queries taking 0.1271 seconds, 353 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
