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I have a friend who eventually had to go no contact with his parents because of his abusing mom. She then started trying to harass him with what looked like lawsuits to make him pay back all the money they’d spent on him over the years. Still had receipts from the Chick-fil-A they bought him for lunch when they moved him into college a decade earlier, things like that.
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Offhand I think AV1 is supposed to be a bit better than H265, but I think the improvement would be pretty marginal. Also, that’s a newer codec with less support everywhere, so you might find yourself slowing down a lot doing live transcoding to a format with better support like H265 or H264, depending on your devices. Add in all the time transcoding your current files from H265 to AV1 and it might just be worth adding more storage space.
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I think like federated TikTok/Vine
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I’m no expert in this but the passkeys really on some sort of public key, cryptographic pair. Your device will only send your encrypted cryptographic secret when it gets the correct encrypted cryptographic secret from the destination. This makes it much harder to steal credentials with a fake website or other service.
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Yes, and I’ve even cross-posted from one community to another trying to reach more help when I asked a question in the Linux help communities.
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“Your package has been delayed”
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In all my years I've never walked into a friends home and been offered a baguette or a fresh slice of focaccia.
Well then your friends suck
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I’m assuming the purchase came from outside Brazil, then? How was the import process? I used to work for a device manufacturer and we had some customers in Brazil. It seemed like import duties were often quite high and there was a good likelihood the customs inspector might want a bribe. Most customers would have us ship to someone in the US and it seemed like they weren’t freight forwarders, just someone they knew traveling to Brazil soon who would bring the device with them. Actually, most of Central and South America was like that.
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I know there’s a National Fire Code in the US that serves as a minimum standard for every state, but an individual state can make stricter requirements if they want. I’m not sure if the base level is federally mandated or it’s just an agreement among the states to have a baseline that is easier to design to for companies working in multiple states.
I’m pretty sure the basic standard in the US is that most buildings (with few exceptions) should have at least one smoke detector, and usually more depending on the type of building. Normally in residences I think now there is supposed to be at least 1 per level in a single family home along with 1 per bedroom, but there could be fewer in older buildings built to an older standard that maybe weren’t required to upgrade (although highly recommended).
I guess one distinction we haven’t made is having an alarm vs. having a monitored alarm, something that will notify perhaps a private monitoring company, a watchman on site, or directly to an emergency dispatcher. Monitored alarms aren’t legally mandated in nearly as many buildings, but insurance companies may require them in more buildings than code requires. If a commercial building doesn’t have a monitored alarm their insurance rates might be much higher or they might be unable to get any insurance. The owner of a large apartment building might need a monitored system for insurance while someone who owns their own single family home normally doesn’t, but might get a discount on their insurance if they have a monitored alarm.
Does Germany at least require smoke detectors that will alert a building’s occupants, even if the alarm doesn’t send a signal elsewhere?
Does the 1.1 million firefighters number cover just your professionals or also include the trained volunteers/conscripts? Compulsory fire service is an interesting concept. Does that force employers to make concessions that might’ve prevented an individual from otherwise being able to volunteer?
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You might look at the Bolt/Bolt EUV. It does have a touchscreen but also physical knobs and buttons for things like climate and volume, normal door handles, etc. I really liked it except that the cup holder was slightly narrower than standard, meaning it couldn’t hold my water bottle, and the DC fast charging was pretty slow by current standards (takes close to an hour to go from 10-80%) so I wouldn’t want to take it on a road trip.
I think there was a connected service through an app, but I was in a rental so I never set it up and the car worked fine. It seems like it’s optional, and while it would’ve been some nice features like getting the climate controls running before getting in the car, it wasn’t necessary.
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Yes, that’s a valid point. Either way you’ll need a dongle to connect to the other standard (CCS1/NACS), but it would be nice for the vehicle’s native port to be the one you’ll use most often going forward, which will be NACS.
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Any of the color e-ink readers from Kobo, Boox, reMarkable?
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About $1,000/year, based on a rough comparison of cost-per-mile when my wife’s Kia Soul had a warranty engine replacement and Kia paid for a rental which wound up being a Chevy Bolt EUV for 6 weeks, which I figured was fairly equal in size. The Bolt got about 4.5 mi/kWh city and 3 mi/kWh highway. Our electricity at home was 9.94¢/kWh at the time so the cost per mile wound up being $0.02/mi city and $0.03/mi highway. We don’t keep close numbers on the Soul but it’s rated for 25 mpg city and 30 mpg highway. When the car was in the shop unleaded gas was about $3.39/gal so the cost per mile was $0.14/mi city and $0.11/mi highway.
Of course, the numbers fluctuate as gas prices and electric rates change, and if you drive more the fuel savings become more pronounced, with the flip side being increased wear and tear on the car reducing its value faster. If I bought an electric car I would probably switch our electricity to peak/off-peak rates and try to charge exclusively in off-peak times because the savings would be even higher.
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Of course they are! I wouldn’t lease an ICE vehicle but there are several strong reasons to lease an EV right now:
First and foremost, leasing a vehicle brings the $7500 federal tax credit back to a lot of vehicles that no longer qualify when buying under the new rules about where the car is built and where the battery components come from. Some manufacturers are building plants in the US and everyone is changing where they source their batteries so in the long run this will be less of an issue, but for now it’s a strong reason.
Second, I have no real confidence in what the vehicle will be worth once the loan is paid off. With an ICE car I can have some reasonable estimations for different mileages and ages, within a few thousand dollars. Although fears of reduced battery ranges seem overblown, it’s hard to get a handle on what buyers would feel a 6-year-old Blazer EV with 65,000 miles on it will be worth. It’s even harder when newer EVs are less expensive. Tesla significantly dropped the price of popular models like the 3 and Y seemingly on a whim, single-handedly dropping the values of used vehicles for both their own models and other brands. This left many buyers underwater on their loans and was one of the direct reasons Hertz sold off a large part of their Tesla fleet. I’ll let the bank take the risk there. Plus, with a bunch of EVs coming off lease in a few years used prices will probably stay low.
Third, there are some amazing lease deals right now. I was not aware of this, but from the article:
For example, you can get a base-model Hyundai Ioniq 5 for $159 a month with $3,999 down. A Kia Niro EV can be had for $149 per month for 24 months with $3,999 due at signing.
I’m not in the market for a new car right now, but this actually has me wondering if I should sell my current vehicle because even paying off the loan I’d have more than enough for that down payment and it would dramatically reduce my car payment and fuel costs.
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This is all wild to me, alarms not required in a building that is largely unoccupied?! Who cares that its purpose is to fight fires? Especially if people aren’t there often it needs an alarm!
And most of your firefighters are volunteers? I can understand having volunteer firefighters in rural areas, but Germany seems like a country where most of the population lives in urban or reasonably dense suburban areas, at least from an American perspective of population density. My midsize town of just under 80,000 people has a population density of around 1100 people per square kilometer and has a professional fire department with about 110 full-time employees working at 6 different stations. It started as a volunteer department a century ago when the town was tiny, but as it grew they eventually switched to a professional force. Our property insurance rates would be very high if it wasn’t professional.
Does Germany not need as many firefighters because many buildings are constructed of materials less susceptible to burning?
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Top comment in the article, from “XXX XXX”:
The factory is not state-of-the-art. It was founded 55 years ago, when labour and ground in Brussels were cheap. The inexpensive variants of the Rabbit (Golf) were assembled there from delivered parts, there is no pressing plant. But times have changed. Belgium is now rich and especially Brussels as the headquarters of the EU. In Brussels, labor is scarce and land is very expensive. There is no such large contiguous area in the middle of Brussels again. It is obvious to close this factory and sell the property expensively.
Other commenters in the article explain that the inability to press parts like body panels mean this location is an assembly line only, and seem to imply this is not how most modern auto factories operate.
It seems like there are more factors at play here than just the vehicles being too expensive to have a broad market. The headline in a lot of places seems like it’s just going to be that EVs are too expensive and will kill the auto industry.
I find it annoying how many car manufacturers seemed to look at Tesla’s early success with the Model S and seemed to only find the lesson as, “oh, we can sell $80k+ cars to people when they’re electric?”, like they could just charge people more by selling electric cars instead of considering how large the market is for expensive cars. I might pay a little more for an electric car than a gasoline car, but it looks like my savings by charging at home would only be ~$1,000/year, so figuring I’d keep a purchased car 6-8 years I’d probably only increase my budget by $5k just to be conservative on the savings, or less if I have a shorter loan.
EDIT: clarified that fuel savings are per year, since I forgot to include the time frame.
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The article starts out explaining that other devices are not sold in Brazil; Kindle is the only option.
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I was wondering why anyone would go to the trouble when you can just buy a different brand.
In Brazil, you can pick any e-reader you want, as long as it’s a Kindle. (Kobo, Boox, and other brands don’t sell their devices here.)
That’s too bad, and surprising since later in the article it mentions that Kobo does have a store in Brazil to sell EPUB files, but not their readers.
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I always think of that every time I read about someone dying while running a marathon
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Twitter began first and foremost as an SMS-based social network in the pre-smartphone era. Everything was done by text message, including signup IIRC. In the US I think the phone number was 40404. Twitter’s longstanding 140-character limit was a direct result of wanting to make sure tweets could fit into SMS’s limit of 160 characters and still have room for extra data like the username.
I remember going on a family vacation to central Oregon and having no cell signal for several days. When I got back to a connection my phone became unusable for almost half-an-hour because I was constantly receiving text messages from Twitter that had failed to deliver while I was out of reach.
Facebook actually had methods to post from SMS (and email) in those early days but the SMS functionality was limited to certain (mostly national) carriers and back then there were a lot more regional carriers and I was never able to try the SMS service.
I don’t know if MySpace offered anything like that; I never had an account. Back then it was the public social network. Facebook was seen as more private because only your friends could see your posts and it was only open to college students (only at certain universities that had been configured in the software).
It was a brave new world back then that seemed to herald a bright new future, even better than when we’d been using AIM and MSN Messenger.
www.wired.com
> [We] have now fully turned in terms of public sentiment toward Big Tech. People have to use it because you can’t participate in society without it, but that’s not winning users. That’s coercion. We’re talking about lock-in, where other options have been foreclosed by state abandonment or monopoly. The demand for an alternative has never been stronger. [archive.today link](http://archive.today/7QZVd)
I’ve been trying to give it a chance, but watching Monday Night Football tonight kind of sealed it for me: I hate the new kickoff rules! The regular kickoff is dumb, the onside kick is dumb, the free kick after a safety is dumb. The whole thing is dumb and I want it to go away. I’m sure it won’t go away this season, but I really wish it would. I don’t think it’s enough to make me stop watching, but I think it’s exceptionally stupid. I didn’t even care about the results of tonight’s games; I was just watching to have them on and the only thing that really is sticking with me is how dumb the kickoffs are now.
www.latimes.com
The couple took over a decade to actually join the club, with annual dues of $31,500, but spending closer to $125,000 a year to visit the Anaheim parks. They were expelled from the club five years later when park security guards found the husband intoxicated in the park, a violation of club rules. The couple has since spent $400,000 suing to regain access to the club and ‘clear his reputation,’ claiming he was not drunk but suffering from a “vestibular migraine” which looks a lot like being drunk and can be triggered by red wine. They claim they were targeted for retaliation because they complained about a different club member harassing other club members and staff. The couple plan to appeal.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19303104 >I have an old HTPC that hasn't been used in about 4 years with Windows 7 on it. It ran fine with Windows 7 but didn't work well with 8 when that came out (or at least the Windows Media Center that we used as a DVR with a cable card didn't) so it's stayed on 7 ever since. I haven't actually used it in about 4 years and now of course don't want Windows 7 where it can connect to the Internet. > > Recently I had the idea that I could install Linux on the computer and use it as a media server with Jellyfin, Plex, or something similar. Long-term when I have the finances I'd like to set up a NAS and server to build a self-hosted media library, but this should be a good starting point for now. > > ## What I'm Working With > > It's a pretty old computer. I bought most of the components in 2010/2011 anticipating moving out from my parents although I didn't actually assemble it until early 2012 when I finally moved out (and my brother actually assembled it as he moved in with me). Key components: > > - Intel Core i5-750 (this is the original Intel Core i5, generation 0 as it were) > - Asus P7P55D-E Pro > - Zotac ZT-20404-20L (Nvidia GT240 R) > - 4GB DDR3 > - 64 GB SSD > - 1.5 TB HD > - 1 TB SSD <- this is blank, purchased last week and what I planned to install Linux on > > ## What I'm Trying To Do > > I searched the main components on linux-hardware.org and they all showed results for running Linux, usually several varieties. I downloaded the Live CD/Installer for Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon and burned it to a DVD. I went with Mint since it seems to be one frequently recommended for Linux beginners and has a "just works" reputation. I want to install it on the new 1TB SSD I picked up and be able to still dual boot into Windows 7 for now (and in any case I'm not sure I'd do much with a 64 GB drive anymore). This is an old motherboard; it only supports BIOS, not EFI, but it almost sounds like that will be easier for the dual boot because I won't have to worry about Secure Boot. Once that's installed I'll try out Jellyfin, Plex, and Emby to see which work best with the various devices I have on our TVs. I'll also probably use the computer to rip some of our DVDs/Blu-rays to use with the server. > > ## Problems I'm Having > > I've run into two main issues so far: > > First, while the computer boots and runs from the DVD, about 5-and-a-half minutes after the taskbar appears and I can start trying to do anything it locks up. Usually it would just freeze and become totally unresponsive, but last night the two times I tried it actually rebooted the computer. It's really slow to load; when the taskbar appears I try to click the Installer as fast as possible and it takes a little over 3 minutes to reach a state where I can start clicking options for the install. It's also really slow just to boot. From the time I click to start Linux Mint from the Isolinux screen until I reach a usable desktop in Linux Mint is at least 10 minutes, if not more (haven't timed that directly). I'm really not sure what the problem is here; just slow from reading the optical disc? Should I try to find a USB stick and boot from there (the computer has a couple USB3 ports but I'll have to find a spare thumbdrive)? Does this all run in RAM and 4GB isn't enough and that's why it crashes? Is Cinnamon too much for the system and I should try the Xfce or MATE versions of Mint? > > Second, I thought with the Linux Installation it would be able to format and install to the new SSD without needing to do anything else, either by selecting "Erase disk and install Linux Mint" or "Something else" but the time I was able to do it fast enough to get to "Something else" the disk doesn't show up at all. It looks like I should use a GParted live CD first to partition the new drive, and then I can install Linux Mint? As I'm looking at various documentation it looks like I should put 3 partitions on the SSD, one for "/" (100 GB recommended by the Linux Mint docs), one for "/home", and one for "swap" (4 GB to match the RAM size)? > > I guess as a bonus third question, it looks like once I have Linux installed the Linux installation process should also give me a boot manager that I can use to switch between Linux and Windows? Or does that require extra steps to enable? I'm comfortable editing the boot order in the BIOS. My only prior experience with dual booting a computer is an old Mac Pro that could change the Boot system in Settings/Control Panel, or hold a button on startup to bring up a menu that would allow selecting the boot OS.
I have an old HTPC that hasn't been used in about 4 years with Windows 7 on it. It ran fine with Windows 7 but didn't work well with 8 when that came out (or at least the Windows Media Center that we used as a DVR with a cable card didn't) so it's stayed on 7 ever since. I haven't actually used it in about 4 years and now of course don't want Windows 7 where it can connect to the Internet. Recently I had the idea that I could install Linux on the computer and use it as a media server with Jellyfin, Plex, or something similar. Long-term when I have the finances I'd like to set up a NAS and server to build a self-hosted media library, but this should be a good starting point for now. ## What I'm Working With It's a pretty old computer. I bought most of the components in 2010/2011 anticipating moving out from my parents although I didn't actually assemble it until early 2012 when I finally moved out (and my brother actually assembled it as he moved in with me). Key components: - Intel Core i5-750 (this is the original Intel Core i5, generation 0 as it were) - Asus P7P55D-E Pro - Zotac ZT-20404-20L (Nvidia GT240 R) - 4GB DDR3 - 64 GB SSD - 1.5 TB HD - 1 TB SSD <- this is blank, purchased last week and what I planned to install Linux on ## What I'm Trying To Do I searched the main components on linux-hardware.org and they all showed results for running Linux, usually several varieties. I downloaded the Live CD/Installer for Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon and burned it to a DVD. I went with Mint since it seems to be one frequently recommended for Linux beginners and has a "just works" reputation. I want to install it on the new 1TB SSD I picked up and be able to still dual boot into Windows 7 for now (and in any case I'm not sure I'd do much with a 64 GB drive anymore). This is an old motherboard; it only supports BIOS, not EFI, but it almost sounds like that will be easier for the dual boot because I won't have to worry about Secure Boot. Once that's installed I'll try out Jellyfin, Plex, and Emby to see which work best with the various devices I have on our TVs. I'll also probably use the computer to rip some of our DVDs/Blu-rays to use with the server. ## Problems I'm Having I've run into two main issues so far: First, while the computer boots and runs from the DVD, about 5-and-a-half minutes after the taskbar appears and I can start trying to do anything it locks up. Usually it would just freeze and become totally unresponsive, but last night the two times I tried it actually rebooted the computer. It's really slow to load; when the taskbar appears I try to click the Installer as fast as possible and it takes a little over 3 minutes to reach a state where I can start clicking options for the install. It's also really slow just to boot. From the time I click to start Linux Mint from the Isolinux screen until I reach a usable desktop in Linux Mint is at least 10 minutes, if not more (haven't timed that directly). I'm really not sure what the problem is here; just slow from reading the optical disc? Should I try to find a USB stick and boot from there (the computer has a couple USB3 ports but I'll have to find a spare thumbdrive)? Does this all run in RAM and 4GB isn't enough and that's why it crashes? Is Cinnamon too much for the system and I should try the Xfce or MATE versions of Mint? Second, I thought with the Linux Installation it would be able to format and install to the new SSD without needing to do anything else, either by selecting "Erase disk and install Linux Mint" or "Something else" but the time I was able to do it fast enough to get to "Something else" the disk doesn't show up at all. It looks like I should use a GParted live CD first to partition the new drive, and then I can install Linux Mint? As I'm looking at various documentation it looks like I should put 3 partitions on the SSD, one for "/" (100 GB recommended by the Linux Mint docs), one for "/home", and one for "swap" (4 GB to match the RAM size)? I guess as a bonus third question, it looks like once I have Linux installed the Linux installation process should also give me a boot manager that I can use to switch between Linux and Windows? Or does that require extra steps to enable? I'm comfortable editing the boot order in the BIOS. My only prior experience with dual booting a computer is an old Mac Pro that could change the Boot system in Settings/Control Panel, or hold a button on startup to bring up a menu that would allow selecting the boot OS.
godzilla.com
New comic book coming soon: **Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre** #1: Godzilla vs. The Great Gatsby, a 3-issue miniseries. The link has an interview with writer, illustrator, and colorist Tom Scioli.
My kid’s just finished the classroom part of driver education and it prompted a discussion of crazy things we’ve seen other drivers do. The craziest thing I saw, many years ago now, was I came up behind a guy driving a Ford Ranger pickup and could see through his rear window that he was doing tricep extensions with a dumbbell in his right hand. I was more surprised as I passed to see he was shaving with an electric razor in his left hand. I don’t really know how he was steering. Kiddo said they were told personal grooming was the fourth leading cause of accidents.
This is an outlet at my in-laws’ house which was built in the 1960s. I’m not sure if this is just some paint that was put on an outlet and has worn off over time or if this is some residual evidence of sparking/minor electrical fire. The walls are wood panels painted white, so it seems to me someone might’ve just thought they could paint the outlets as well (there are some parts of this basement that don’t have the wood painted and the outlets/switches are dark brown, which might be what I’m seeing). The outlet seems to work but I don’t feel totally comfortable plugging something more expensive like my laptop in, even though I suppose the charger would be more likely to die than the actual computer. The house has a fairly new electrical panel with breakers that seem nice, but it was also built initially as a duplex (with a later addition making it useable as a triplex) and each part has its own old sub-panel that still uses twist-in fuses. I’m still not sure if whoever put in the new panel said the rest of the wiring/outlets was fine or my father-in-law just decided upgrading the rest was too expensive.
A couple games popped up on my Steam wishlist at really low prices so I was thinking of getting them, but I’ve also had a few older computers recently that are losing Steam client support. This got me thinking I should really try to compare and get more games on GOG so it doesn’t matter if a client stops working on older hardware. But also following this community has had me thinking a Steam Deck makes a lot of sense for me, so maybe I’ll try to get one in the next year or two. It seems like Steam tries to keep things open to other sources on the device, but have you been playing non-Steam games, and how much hassle has it been? Also the games I was considering are Donut County and Planet Coaster, if you have any thoughts on those.
www.flightradar24.com
TL;DR: The high temperatures from the film crew's halogen lamps caused the acrylic windows to deform and melted seals around the windows. On a repositioning flight the next day without passengers a loadmaster noticed a dramatic increase in cabin noise and found a dislodged window pane. The aircraft stopped climbing and returned to Stansted where 4 windows were found damaged, with two missing panes entirely and the horizontal stabilizer showing signs of impact from at least one pane.
5 unanswered goals to take a 2-0 lead in the series over the Islanders!
Pack-to-Pack wins send the women to their first Final Four since 1998 and the men to their first Final Four since 1983!
Is this how it felt to win the ACC Championship in ’83?
I guess they’re making a Twister sequel, Twisters OP: https://x.com/sickoscommittee/status/1756842357343826281?s=46&t=XXG-uqucs0BMcx0ZAhQrkg
This was a couple weeks ago. He said he wanted to try me on stimulant medication, but I needed to go get clearance from my primary care doctor because I've also been dealing with some tachycardia. She put me on a beta blocker, although hopefully with better time-management and more energy I'll exercise enough to eventually come off the beta blocker. I had a follow-up this week and asked the psychiatrist if he thinks I have ADHD. He was a little reluctant to say I definitely have it, that it's more of a clinical diagnosis and I could go do some tests with a computer or see a neuropsychiatrist for a more definitive diagnosis, but also didn't seem to think I really needed to do that. Still need either a formal letter from my primary care doctor or possibly the visit notes would suffice if she mentioned taking stimulants so he can prescribe them, but I'm really hoping they'll help.
arstechnica.com
An interesting story about a rarely discussed feature of the Space Shuttle, that lives on in the commercial crew capsules, to prevent travelers from killing everyone onboard.