Yeah, it’s not a trivial problem to solve either, especially if platforms censor mentions of decentralized alternatives.

However, it’s hard for the oligarchs to censor the fact that an organization like EFF exists, and hopefully someone clicks on one of their posts and reads something on their blog about decentralized alternatives.

There are a lot of tricks for peeling boiled eggs, but fresh eggs from a chicken coop in your yard are a different ballgame.

Yeah, he seems to think that the over-moderation is a good thing, and Cindy tries to convince him that censorship is bad and the answer instead is more like what you can do with the Fediverse, you can move servers if you don’t like how the server is moderated and who they federate with, but people are free to say what they want in their servers.

The word fiancé is French so I had to refer to my wife as my freedom partner before we got married.

I think it’s for rough terrain, like carrying packs of supplies through war zones. So not full climbing but at least able to step over rocks and debris.

Both IBM and Oracle I haven’t really worked with because they’re heavily used by massive companies. We had an Oracle database when I was in banking that was because we were self hosting a loan accounting system. IBM does backend data processing stuff for massive companies like American Express and Bank of America. All of the smaller shops I’ve worked in have built things on Microsoft’s stack.

It’s more that local authorities are offering incentives to big tech to bring in those data centers, ostensibly because they think it will benefit the area, but more likely because it is benefitting the local authorities personally through kickbacks or campaign donations.

This is the first I’m hearing of Aurora, that seems promising. I’m guessing you’d use FDroid for anything that is available there but use Aurora for anything that is only on the Play Store?

Thoughts on pros and cons? Do you still install apps through the play store or are you using FDroid?

I think at least one class a day for some sort of technology literacy is important. Maybe some typing courses or web development or coding courses or graphic design or even how to create chat bots…

But as much as I’m into tech I agree that kids shouldn’t be staring at screens all day.

I don’t think the congressional districts are actually relevant to the electoral college, but the # of electoral votes is based partly on how many congressional representatives the state has, which is based on the state’s population.

Most states award electoral votes solely based on the popular vote of that state. So if 5,000,001 people vote Democrat in California and 5,000,000 vote Republican, all of California’s electoral votes go to the Democrat.

Many people would like to see gerrymandering ended, but I don’t think many people want to see congressional districts eliminated entirely. Congressional districts ensure that different parts of the state are represented in congress. For example, in a state like Massachusetts if the congressional districts were eliminated, then probably all of the representatives would hail from the Boston area which is the most densely populated.

In fact, one way that the negative impacts of the electoral college could be partially eliminated is by using the congressional districts as electoral districts, as described here: Congressional Districts as Electoral Districts

This would result in more states awarding partial electoral votes, but would have downsides such as allowing gerrymandering to influence the presidential election instead of just the congressional elections, and it would still technically be possible for someone to win in the electoral college but not in the popular vote.

The best way to eliminate the electoral college in my opinion is for more states to award electoral votes proportionally. So in the California example above, half the electoral votes would go to the Democrat and half to the Republican.

I agree, but this is related to the drawing of congressional districts and not related to the electoral college for presidential elections. So this is relevant for determining which party controls the House of Representatives, doesn’t affect how many electoral votes for president California has or how those votes are awarded.

Wasn’t the large fries always a ripoff? I think someone showed once that it’s only marginally more fries than a small fry.

They try to have it both ways, they say that the phrase “well regulated” should be interpreted using a 1700s interpretation, so they say that “well regulated” actually doesn’t refer to regulations, it refers to the militia being “in good working order”. Nevermind that if your “militia” is shooting up schools, it’s probably not “in good working order”.

Then, they want the term “arms” to be interpreted using a modern interpretation, and they want the term “arms” to apply to weapons that can be used to kill or maim entire crowds of people, instead of the single-shot in-accurate muskets that were available at the time.

I, like most Americans, support gun rights with sensible regulations such as background checks and training requirements. It’s also clear to me that this sentence written in the 1700s (the 2a) is being used as a thought-terminating cliche where they think they can just shout “2nd amendment” as if that’s a mic drop and just walk away instead of actually justifying their viewpoint. It doesn’t even come close to covering the complex modern realities.

If these 2nd amendment absolutists really want to take their inconsistent interpretation to it’s logical conclusion, they’re saying that Elon Musk should be able to build ICBMs tipped with nuclear warheads and the government can’t infringe on that right.

Clearly he has the means to do so, and if the 2nd amendment means what they say it means then the constitution protects his right to do so.

In other words… recruiting from MAGA?

It’s crazy how many examples there are too, and they aren’t conspiracy theories, just naked corruption. If you bring this up to a MAGA cultist, they say things like “But Biden was the most corrupt president in history”, and then they can’t provide a single coherent example. Sad.

Most of this is just trying to justify the bubble by trying to make people think that “AI” is useful.

Isn’t there some kind of sketchy corporate structure they could use to skirt this if they actually cared about data sovereignty?

“Sorry Feds, this data is actually held by Microsoft EU and not Microsoft”.

Or do they only do that sketchy shit for dodging taxes and protecting people’s data is a bridge too far?

I’m sure they have plenty of employees we don’t see who aren’t journalists.

In addition to the people we DO see who also aren’t journalists.

It’s this attitude that makes it a Republican shutdown.

Elections have consequences, Republicans did NOT get the 60 votes they need. They NEED to offer something to get 9 Democrats to vote with them.

By saying they aren’t willing to negotiate, THEY are shitting down the government.