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MajorHavoc

@ MajorHavoc @programming.dev

Posts
6
Comments
1083
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • How do you ensure privacy and security on cloud platforms in an age of compromised encryption, backdoors, and AI-driven hacking threats to encryption and user confidentiality?

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  • I'm going to deviate a bit from your question, since you asked a bunch of questions, and aim at the implied question underneath: "is there any hope for a non-expert?"

    A Synology network attached storage device (NAS) provides reasonably good answers to the question "how can I have privacy and have some backups" without being a Linux expert.

    It ships with apps that replace common cloud services with local backup equivalents.

    It can also be configured to do local encryption before backing up to a cloud service, for data where disaster resilience is more critical than privacy (i.e. a library of family photos).

    Edit: And as others have explained - we must always remember that the cloud is just someone else's computer.

  • What's the most reposted thing you've seen on the internet despite being years old?

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  • Yeah! I love to repeat the meme, but there's a special grain of truth in it this year. There's going to be folks fleeing Windows 11, and Mint - in particular - is now such a downright practical option.

    I'm too technical myself to comment on how a Linux install goes for non-technical folks.

    But it seems like many of us have quietly moved grandma to Linux in the last few years and she was happy and successful using it.

  • Have you ever been confused by someone online?

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  • Lol. You've got me there.

  • Oracle's got jokes.

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  • This is photoshopped, right?

  • Have you ever been confused by someone online?

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  • Sorry. I didn't mean to shock you. I'll be more up front about my OF, in the future.

  • What's the most reposted thing you've seen on the internet despite being years old?

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  • What's the most reposted thing you've seen on the internet despite being years old?

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  • Year of the Linux desktop.

    Agreed. But it's particularly bad this year, because

    It's finally the year of the Linux desktop! Woohoo! Booyah!

  • What meme (format) should make a comeback?

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  • This is the way.

  • Winning

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  • I'll split my chips between Birdman and Spiderman: Homecoming, but save one chip for Batman.

  • Why do people think the stock market is going to crash Monday because of Trump's tariffs?

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  • Valid point. Only the historic odds of winning are really different.

  • Winning

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  • It's roughly when the US shut down practically all of our manufacturing plants and laid off the vast majority of our manufacturing talent.

    We've had some 40 years of mostly not passing down the knowledge of how to manufacture things well.

    What manufacturing we still have is pretty amazing, but the demand for cross training - should those jobs return - is going to be way more than the remaining available talent can take on.

    Bringing it back in 1980 would have given us a shot to pass on all the skills of the previous generation of skilled tradespeople.

  • Any thoughts on Nebula as a YouTube alternative?

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  • That's good to know. What OS and browser?

    I haven't had any trouble but I mostly watch via their app, on Android.

  • Why do people think the stock market is going to crash Monday because of Trump's tariffs?

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  • Good correction. Thanks.

  • Why do people think the stock market is going to crash Monday because of Trump's tariffs?

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  • "High yield savings account" is a specific product you can ask for at your credit union (or bank, if you're a sucker).

    A high yield savings account carries rules about how often you can move money in and out of it, but is still FDIC insured (in the US).

    FDIC insurance means that if the market completely crashes and your credit union shuts down, the Federal Reserve prints new money to replace your deposits, your money is returned to you out of previously paid insurance deposits up to like $250,000.00.

    It is widely believed to carry much lower risk, and so pays much lower interest, than average stock market performance of an index fund.

    But if giving up 3% means sleeping well at night, it can be the best call. Everyone's situation is different.

    Edit: and high yield savings accounts historically perform much better than the average confused/frightened active investor who only buys during high markets and always sells during low markets.

  • Why do people think the stock market is going to crash Monday because of Trump's tariffs?

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  • If you don't have the nerve to hold a stock for 30 years through ups, downs, crashes and rebuilds, there's a thing called a high yield savings account that may better fit your current stage of life better and risk tolerance.

    And let's all point to the sign:

    "Only invest money that you don't need right now, and could afford to lose."

    If Trump's antics can make you sell, you should sell right now and not buy back in, because that's money you should not have invested in the first place - by your own standards for peace of mind.

    President Trump is far from the first or the last powerful person to wield massive global power that negatively affects the markets. Markets perform with strong returnsin spite of bullshit from world leaders, not because any world leaders are particularly competent (with some very rare exceptions).

    It is scary right now. It really is. But that's what investing is about. We risk some money we don't need right now, in hope of some growth later. Pulling out when things are going down is statistically a guarantee to lock in losses. But peaceful sleep at night beats 2%-20% growth.

    To answer your question: absolutely. Stocks are going to spend four or more years underperforming where they could have under better leadership. As they have done before, and as they will do again. That's pretty much been true with every president during my lifetime, though, and through most of recorded history. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that. And anyway, democracies don't, so far, tend to elect economists.

  • Is it possible to get an AI model to generate a script that will download the latest LTS torrent of Ubuntu?

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  • it can't be realistically programmed to say "I can't do this" because its limitations are so poorly defined?

    Yep!

    There are responsible teams building LLM AIs that do program their LLM to say "I can't do this". But they are playing "bop-a-mole". They see a bad output, they write new code to catch and replace it. But there's always a new innovative bad output hiding in the depths of the learning model waiting for the input that sets it free.

    So only really old LLMs that have had millions of users using them daily for 30+ years without issues should really be trusted. (And there are - currently - no useful LLMs that meet this criteria.)

    The other intrinsic problem is that LLMs are primarily trained against the writings of self-declared experts, and have no concept of sharing a confidence level through writing tone.

    This means that an LLM uses an equally authoritative writing style when regurgitating things it has trained on millions of times (things commonly accepted as fact) as when regurgitating things it has only trained on once (lies, sarcasm).

  • Is there a mmo equivalent of the fediverse?

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  • Any thoughts on Nebula as a YouTube alternative?

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  • I try to throw Nebula a month of subscription every so often, since they do feel like a step in the right direction.

    But the one that really replaced YouTube, for me, was DropOut.Tv.

    And yeah, I guess that means silliness is more important than science videos, for me.

    I'm still looking for a non-monopoly service for handyman stuff, if anyone has suggestions.

  • ‘WRONG LINE’ [OC]

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  • Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing.

    Someone doing the scene from the end of "Secondhand Lions" would be delightful.