@jarfil@beehaw.org cover
@jarfil@beehaw.org avatar

jarfil

@[email protected]

Programmer and sysadmin (DevOps?), wannabe polymath in tech, science and the mind. Neurodivergent, disabled, burned out, and close to throwing in the towel, but still liking ponies 🦄 and sometimes willing to discuss stuff.

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jarfil ,
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Didn't Cicada 3301 have a geocaching component? Or that was a different game... hm.

jarfil ,
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According to the website MonolithTracker.com, there have been a total of 245 monoliths reported worldwide since late 2020.

That's some dedication. I wonder how it compares to crop circles.

jarfil ,
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One was right at the end of a car road. Another, it says 4 people were needed to dismantle it. But even for the more inaccessible places, there is also helicopters.

jarfil ,
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Right. I remember there was a game about "controlling" areas, virtual but based on IRL geocaching. These monoliths that people place in somewhat remote places, then dismantle them after a few days, got me thinking it could be part of a "find it while it's there" or something.

It's interesting to see they're still going after at least 4 years.

jarfil ,
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Right, that one! I forgot the name. So, I wonder if it could be something like that going on.

Attack Trump verdict or be exiled - a new test for Republicans ( www.bbc.com )

The historic nature of Trump’s criminal conviction is being leveraged by his campaign as a sort of roll-call vote to see which politicians will defend the former president and which of them will defend America’s legal system. It appears you can’t do both....

jarfil ,
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many of the bedrock structures of American government, like its electoral process and its judicial system, its media, its intelligence agencies, are fundamentally and unfairly rigged against him

Typical 80% truth + 20% BS.

Of course he doesn't propose how to fix the issues, just scrap it all and get some 100% rigged for him.

That so many people don't see the parallelism with how totalitarian states came to be, is appalling.

jarfil ,
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From the photos, it was a very crudely taped iPhone to a toilet seat, maybe enough to fool a 9 year old, but clearly not to fool anyone with more critical thinking, like the 14 year old who reported it.

What you should worry about, are the well disguised hidden cameras installed by professionals...

jarfil ,
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It's lawyers being lawyers, they throw all the 💩 they can and see what sticks ,particularly when paid for the hour, or on a hefty retainer they need to justify.

That BS "defense" should get thrown out of court in no time.

jarfil ,
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Newbern is about 80% Black and 20% white

Many residents did not know they were allowed to have elections.

[checks year] …WTF?

jarfil ,
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Who’s a what now?

jarfil ,
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Hm… I think I’m more shocked by people not realizing they have a right to vote. Secret cabals, nepotism, corruption, etc. in politics are more like “water is wet”, or “creek water may be full of dung”.

jarfil ,
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Art thou talking about us, or is that a “generic you” like a “royal we”?

(because if thou are talking about me in particular, we hold no wish to keep up with thine baseless misplaced accusations)

jarfil , (edited )
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If they are an incorporated plece, and they get the whole shebang of taxes, funding, elections, etc., then they need someone to run it, or a “government”.

Guess it sometimes could be hard to tell, with all the varying rules, but people who live there… are there places in the “deep US”, where people live in anarchy?

(sometimes it might also be the case where an incorporated town, through depopulation, ends up with nobody willing to act as mayor, but that’s different)

jarfil , (edited )
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No, I was being funny… but now I’ll be crystal clear:

  • IF you were referring to a generic group, THEN say so and we’re fine, but you could have made it more clear.
  • IF you were accusing me of being a vote suppressionist, THEN explain precisely what lead you to that idea, and we can see where the misunderstanding came from.
  • ELSE, I will assume you’re not discussing in good faith (trolling as you say) and hit the block button.

No hard feelings. 🕊

jarfil ,
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jarful

Please, no… 🤦

(rant)I’ve kept this nick since back in the 1990s, when I had to spell it over the phone while creating an account, because client support said “Oh, like Garfield?” and I found it funny… since I also liked cats, the comic strip, hated Mondays, and loved lasagna… a couple decades later Google decided that “Did you mean: jar file”, and since becoming a brony, the full jar thing has become a very unfortunate coincidence. But I refuse to change it, I was there first!..

jarfil ,
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Np. I’m kind of used/resigned to it… 🙂

jarfil ,
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I might be wrong, but it seems to me like unincorporated places would depend on county level, or some larger place, good boys telling you what to do. I’m guessing it also comes with a budget, taken out of the residents taxes, for stuff like services, police… elected official’s pay… and similar.

At a population of 133, it sounds more like a HOA, but dunno.

jarfil ,
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Unfortunately many “activist-driven” initiatives, turn out to benefit more larger corporations, rather than either smaller owners, or the activists themselves.

We’re having a similar issue in the EU, where several months of “activist-driven” initiatives and protests, have resulted in regulation modificatios mainly benefitting large corporations, while actually hurting the activists themselves. 🤷

jarfil ,
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illegally used money from FTX depositors to cover his expenses, which included purchasing luxury properties in the Caribbean, bribes to Chinese officials and private planes.

Moral of the story: don’t misappropriate funds, instead sell luxury properties and private planes to those who do… or be a Chinese official. 😐

jarfil ,
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construction crew filling potholes on the bridge

“We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers.”

Well, that… sounds more like a joke: “we had cones, but the ship still struck them” 🙄

On a more serious note, there are several questions as to how could this end up happening. Some say the ship had its steering damaged in Antwerp some years ago, some float other rumors. The lead of the transport safety commission seemed to be more on point: there is a lot to analyze, they may say more tomorrow, and all of it will take a lot of time anyway.

jarfil , (edited )
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EDIT: this other video analysis shows it better, youtu.be/N39w6aQFKSQ

  • T-4 min: loses power, going at 8.7 KN, starts drifting off course
  • T-3 min: regains power, starts slowing down
  • T-0: impacts bridge, at 1.5 KN

The video shows the ship losing power & all it’s lights going out prior to hitting the bridge.

Not the video I’ve seen:

Before crash

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/59aa74a0-a4e8-4b77-a503-f4c7bac68235.webp

Bridge falls onto ship

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/5fabcd98-d1c4-41a6-8e85-ad634b706a8b.webp

After crash

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/ee1702bf-ab4f-456a-95c6-d3d4e1b32646.webp

All lights on the ship seem to be on, except for the ones that… well, stop being attached to the ship.

jarfil ,
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Truth Social […] “Buy the truth and do not sell it” […] “Literally, as a team of investors, we have bought into truth and we are never selling”

LMAO. Best pitch ever, and the reasoning is ✨chef’s kiss✨

jarfil ,
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Let’s not use the eugenics terminology.

jarfil ,
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There is a nice warning ⚠️ on that page, may want to check the Wikipedia to learn more.

jarfil ,
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It applies to both. The word is a neologism created specifically for an eugenic purpose, using it as an insult doesn’t change its meaning.

jarfil ,
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Just a heads up: cats get a confidence boost from how stuff smells.

Even when neutered at an early age, they have a highly sensitive nose, plus a vomeronasal organ, they keep rubbing their smell and saliva onto everything, and are highly territorial regarding anything smelling “not right”.

If you plan on having more than one cat, also plan on sticking to a strict cleaning policy to reduce odors and keep the ones left as uniform as possible, before the cats “fix” it for you.

Personally, I’d be wary of a carpeted floor, any carpet-like surfaces, or letting cats get into high places that can turn into waterfalls or allow them to piss on the ceiling… and I seriously wish that was hyperbole.

(Source: lived with dozens of cats, the remaining 5, both males and females, can still get into a pissing and puking contest when some chunk of floor, furniture, clothes, or whatever, “smells wrong”)

jarfil , (edited )
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Surprisingly, somewhat related in a circuitous way…

Vomero is a neighborhood in Naples, on top of a hill and directed to upper-middle and higher class. The etymology mix is interesting: its name comes from a villa on there, which has a relation to agriculture, which uses plowshares, aka “vōmer” in Latin… which also was an informal word for penis (then again, what wasn’t in Latin)… but it stuck to the nasal bone with a shape similar to a plow.

“Vomerò” is also the first person singular of the future indicative for the Italian vomere, or “I will vomit” (…not to be confused with the Latin “vomitorium”, although that one’s etymology also comes from vomit)… and arguably, a plowshare is the part that “vomits” earth while plowing.

So you weren’t all that far away: if you vomit, chances are your vomeronasal organ, named after the bone shaped like the tool that vomits while plowing, will get a whiff of whatever goes through.

jarfil ,
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I only lived in Naples for a short time many decades ago, but there was the occasional joke of going to vomit after partying at the pubs/clubs/discos up there. It didn’t feel like they took the relationship too seriously; after all, the words are accented differently, and one is a noun while the other is a verb conjugation.

jarfil ,
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individuals experiencing homelessness

Geez, that sounds like such an interesting life experience… 😒

jarfil , (edited )
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it’s not obvious there’s public alignment with the kind of journalism that’s needed and the kind of journalism that’s wanted

The journalism that’s “needed”… for what goals? Which becomes a question of “wanted by whom?”.

You might want to shape society into a certain way, and you might have compelling reasons for it… but it’s still an attempt at imposing your social model over others.

Democracy is intended to be a way to avoid that kind of singlehanded impositions, a way for “informed citizens” to vote on what benefits them most, even against what “a single wise man” (like a benevolent dictator) might want.

Consensus would be an even better form of government… but if you know people, then you’ll know how hard it is for a large enough group to reach consensus, or even for two people, or even for one.

(Consensus used to be how Poland was ruled at one time, called “liberum veto”, where any noble could veto any proposal. It did not go well. Nowadays we have a similar thing going on, where someone like Hungary can veto what everyone else has already agreed to, like the incorporation of Sweden into NATO)

Keep in mind though, that democracy relies on two key concepts:

  • Informed citizens
  • One vote per person

There is not even a real democracy in the world right now:

  • Citizens need to be informed… while they rarely are, instead being lead by propaganda and misinformation.
  • Representative democracy, where representation is chosen once in a blue moon, bundled into a few options, with no choice for a single person to disagree on a single point of a vote… is not democracy.
  • Having some people’s votes be worth more than other’s, even if it is for whatever “positive action” reasons (ethnicity, residence, having voted for a more voted option, etc.)… is not democracy.

There is a lot of work to be done, on all fronts, to get a society “better for itself”… but imposing a single point of view, no matter how well intended, is not the way.

For the moment, neither public nor privately funded journalism is the answer… the best answer is to have both, while working on ways to enable citizens to get better informed on the consequences of their votes and how they will impact them.

One such way, could be for people to have a trustable personal assistant capable of comparing their personal wishes and needs, to the various options available. This is where open source AIs on a smartphone might come in handy.

jarfil ,
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by necessity and definition, the world must operate under someone’s social model

I disagree. The world could operate under a model shaped by the continuous contributions of everyone, without anyone necessarily imposing or convincing others to adopt their particular model. A model that could evolve as people independently decide what’s best for them in relation to everything.

As for capitalism… some countries have “being a welfare state” encoded in their constitution, above being capitalist. It may not be a full departure from capitalism (which doesn’t seem like what people want anyway), but some countries have implemented it to a decent degree.

jarfil , (edited )
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Close, but no. From the Wikipedia article, it seems like Stirner identified correctly that all actions stem from “egoism”, as in the internal motivations of anyone to act in some way… but failed to identify that this “egoism” can include acting following some laws, morals, or even altruistic actions, that an individual can perceive as beneficial for themselves.

There is no trap here, a society built on consensus, is whatever the individuals freely identify as positive for them. The biggest issue, is how to provide people with enough information so they can decide by themselves whether (for example) paying 5% more taxes in order to build some thousand miles of railroads, is something positive for their goals, or not.

The problem right now, is most people blindly defer making those decisions to others, on pure faith into whatever some corporation, party, or leader, influenced by whomever, decides to tell them… and once deferred (casting their votes), they’re out of the decision making process for years at a time.

What do you recommend as a solution to harden paper? ( libranet.de )

I have a few project ideas, and I thought of reusing the paper from various shop catalogs that I receive in my physical mailbox. I'd like to make it stiffer, something more like cardboard. I read somewhere online that you could use corn starch for this, mixed with water. Would it work? Do you have better ideas?

jarfil , (edited )
@jarfil@beehaw.org avatar

Depends on the project, and the paper… or more exactly, the ink on it.

If the catalogs are printed with water based ink, then you can soak the paper in water and make paper pulp, then mix in whatever hardener you want: corn starch, white glue, any wood glue, or even epoxy (but mind the toxicity and curing times).

If they are printed with toner (basically fused plastic), then you may have a harder time separating the pulp. You can shred the paper and throw it into boiling water, stir well then let it rest to hopefully separate the toner by density, then use as the pulp above.

Or… you can use the plastic to your advantage, by heating it up to fuse one piece of plastic/toner coated paper to another (toner should fully melt at around 130C), with a clothes iron, hair iron (set to 130-150C, and through a sheet of non-toner paper or some kapton tape so you don’t fill them with toner), or carefully with a heat gun (better if it has temperature control, 150-200C should be a safe range). Or… use glues, but plastic ones this time, like lacquer, super glue… and I guess epoxy should work in either case.

Depending on the project, you might even encase it fully in epoxy, either a two part or a UV reactive one (but probably avoid 3D printer resin, it’s formulated to only react in a thin layer at a time).

PS: from the numbers alone, it should be possible to melt the toner away from the paper in a 120C liquid, but you may have a problem doing that with water (a high pressure cooker comes to mind, which would get ruined afterwards; salt might help, but not sure how would that impact the pulp; maybe high temperature steam in a microwave could work, but that gets dangerous pretty fast). Oil would be an obvious choice, but it would coat the pulp, then you’d have to use a detergent… quite a mess.

The three genders, per one GOP super PAC: Male, working woman and homemaker ( 19thnews.org )

Those are the categories given in a survey sent out to Montanans on behalf of the super PAC More Jobs, Less Government, which is supporting Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy. The full online survey tested various messages and a yet-to-be-aired TV ad attacking Rep. Matt Rosendale, Sheehy’s potential opponent in the...

jarfil ,
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Well, finally some recognition for the males… just need one working woman and one homemaker, for the perfect bliss of not lifting their ass from the couch in all day!

/s

jarfil ,
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“Cherry Genocide, the Thirst Mutilator. Now with Electrolytes!” /s

jarfil ,
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Over 26K rapes in 16 months?.. Uh, Texas, WTF?

For reference, Texas has a population of about 29M, Spain has a population of 47M… and we find 3K rapes in 12 months to be a high enough number to do something about it.

‘I’m not ready, brother’: US man to be put to death months after botched execution attempt ( www.theguardian.com )

Kenneth Smith, 58, is facing execution by an untested method that has never before been used in capital punishment in the US. It’s a technique that has been rejected on ethical grounds by veterinarians for the euthanasia of most animals other than pigs: death by nitrogen gas.

jarfil ,
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Pigs are tasty. Don’t look into how smart they are, or how much they suffer, just focus on the bacon… 🤷

jarfil ,
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What about drug cartels? They’re happy to provide fentanyl overdose amounts to unsuspecting end users, could they provide the same to jails? It’s apparently also pretty cheap, and no injections needed.

jarfil ,
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I’d settle for only killing those who wanted to die… but that would make too much sense, or something.

jarfil ,
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As of late, that seems to be fentanyl, which is only bad if your goal is to survive.

jarfil ,
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C-3 Central Business District, which prohibits residential usage

Can someone explain the reasoning behind that?

I can understand “no business noise at night in residential zones”, but the reverse looks like total nonsense: “no sleeping in the office”… WTF?

The dangerous impact of ‘fake news’ on the lives of Spanish speakers in the United States ( english.elpais.com )

“The Spanish-speaking community in the United States is especially vulnerable [of falling for fake news],” explains Tamoa Calzadilla, a Venezuelan journalist and one of the founders of Factchequeado — a platform that tracks the misinformation that most affects Spanish speakers. The organization is fighting back against the...

jarfil ,
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Spain has a public TV, that is relatively neutral and mostly free of fake news (except on Dec 28, that’s the April Fools day for Spain), but some find it too “bland”. Then a bunch of regional TVs that spin everything each its own way, a “catholic” one, and some private nationwide TVs that live from “engagement” (aka: controversy). Plus the usual share of scam filled tele-shops, fortune readers, casinos and similar.

As for newspapers, with their digital editions, there is no neutral one. Right, Left, Sports, Market analyst BS, all flavors of regional nationalisms, a bunch of “engagement” based ones, down to content mills, and random scammers. Pretty much any “shareable” piece of news, either has a heavy slant, or is BS. That’s when it isn’t directly fabricated as a “meme”.

Without digging deeper, I’d only consider anything shared from RTVE… but that’s usually too boring and lacks the “wow” factor to get shared in the first place.

jarfil ,
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They honestly care about (not getting sued or hit by regulations that could reduce their profits for disregarding the safety of) people.

Kind of like all corporations.

jarfil ,
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all the steps of making it official. So many chances to stop and think for a minute about what you’re doing and why.

…then mentally patting themselves on the back and proudly going on, maybe boasting to their like-minded friends along the way for an extra ego boost.

It’s not just “random” men, it’s a clearly defined group who believe the world should work this way.

jarfil ,
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has picked a side from inserting an adjective into “The Oct. 7 terrorist attack, and ensuing assault on Gaza …”

How is that “picking a side”? It’s possibly the mildest neutral way of writing about what happened, as opposed to something like “The Oct 7. freedom fighter operation, and ensuing pacification of Gaza”, or similar.

jarfil ,
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Oremus cum nobis etiam.

jarfil ,
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given the actual center-mass shot, and even then, given this individual seems to have ensured a safe shot e.g. knowing what is beyond your target, there’s absolutely no reason to assume such risk.

Except for the parts where the guy shot almost backwards, with barely any aiming, at an angle, nowhere close to center-mass, and with a bunch of food stands with workers on one side, plus an unknown number of clients on the other.

Did you even watch the video?

jarfil ,
@jarfil@beehaw.org avatar

So you didn’t watch it.

Seeing how you’re arguing in bad faith, this is where we shall part ways.

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