Wow. Meet Your Macher
China's navy has apparently tested out a hypersonic rail gun — basically a device that uses a series of electromagnets to accelerate a projectile to incredible speeds — but during a demonstration of its power, things didn't go quite as planned.
As the South China Morning Post reports, the rail gun test lobbed a precision-guided projectile — or smart bomb — nine miles into the stratosphere. But because it apparently didn't go up as high as it was supposed to, the test was ultimately declared unsuccessful.
This conclusion came after an analysis led by Naval Engineering University professor Lu Junyong, whose team found with the help of AI that even though the winged smart bomb exceeded Mach 5 speeds, it didn't perform as well as it could have.
This occurred, as Lu's team found, because the projectile was spinning too fast during its ascent, resulting in an "undesirable tilt." Gun for Everybody
Successful or not, news of the test is a pretty big deal given that it was just a few months ago that reports emerged about China's other proposed super-powered rail gun, which is intended to send astronauts on a Boeing 737-size ship into space (NASA had begun building its own astronaut-shooting railgun in the 1990s, but had to abandon it due to lack of dinero.)
As with many space technologies, there's the propensity for some messy overlap with military tech. As such, news about the smart bomb rail gun test, which for the record did not make it all the way to space, could well freak out officials stateside.
Chinese officials, meanwhile, are paying lip service to the hypersonic rail gun technology's potential to revolutionize civilian travel by creating even faster railways and consumer space launches, too.
Despite the big promises of politicos, there are still lots of technical kinks that'll need to be ironed out before a giant rail gun is ready to shoot humans — or weapons — into space, not least of which the spinning and tilt issues demonstrated by the Naval Engineering University researchers in this test.
More on Chinese military tech: China Working on Super-Fast Submarines Powered by Lasers
Mulch + uBlock Origin makes it clean enough.
But downloading an app won't install it as a system app.
45% overall would be far higher than 125k. You would have 20% tax up to £50k, 40% tax between £50k and £125k, and then 45% tax above £125k. So in order to be taxed 45% overall you would have to earn well over £125k, as a significant portion of your earnings would still be taxed at the lower rates. You don't start paying the higher rate until you're earning it, and even then you pay the lower rate for any earnings below the threshold.
The UK tax system also has a werid position between about £100k and £125k. There is a tax free allowance between 0 and around £12.5k, when you earn over £100k this starts to reduce until £125k where it is entirely removed. After £125k you start making money again, but with earnings of between £100k and £125k per year you can actually take home less.
There is specific maths that clear this up more consisely (not least because thresholds change every year) but that's the general gist of it.
Damn, this could be huge, it sounds like it affects everything.
Also, I'll be damned if I'm going to use AitM. It's Man in the Middle. If you want it to be de-gendered just think of it as 'man, ie an abbreviation for human.
When Reagan was in office I think it was 95% for income over $1,000,000. He claimed that if he was getting taxed 95% for making a movie, he wouldn't make a movie, and everyone else involved would be out of work. Because sure, they're not going to just hire another actor instead... Unfortunately idiots believed him.
Actually the UK's Higher Tax Rate is 40% for income above £50k, but when you add in National Insurance tax the total rate of tax is 42% (with 28% for earnings between £12k and £50k).
For incomes over £125k under the Additional Tax Rate it's 45% (47% with National Insurance. So a significant number of high income workers do get taxed 45% or above, at least for a portion of their salaried/wage income.
The kicker is that the wealthy don't earn most of their money working for an income, they do it through investments, which is covered under capital gains tax. Income tax starts at 20% and goes up with income, meanwhile capital gains tax starts at 20% and goes down through loopholes.
The issue isn't income tax, that's just making the plebs fight against one another. The issue is capital gains tax and all the loopholes the ultra wealthy use to avoid paying their share. These people don't contribute to society, they don't work, they just make money off of their money and other peoples' work.
What's with Coahuila? Almost looks like the cartels intentionally stay out.
Meanwhile they're hiding the Maps button and forcing you to use maps in situ on the main search page.
You can provide software updates while still having planned obsolescence.
Mexico is great, just stay out of politics.
Good ol' Estonia
Hasn't Telegram always been a Russian asset?
It's available on all phones, but they all have their own version, forked from long ago. Even the standard AOSP Phone app has long split from Google (who have ceased open source development of the app).
I feel like this would require cooperation from the manufacturer, as Google doesn't actually provide the Phone app (except when they are the manufacturer).
Palestinian supporters make up a tiny, insignificant portion of single issue voters.
And I'm certain your tweet won't be rated in any way that limits its visibility to others...
Yes, I intentionally gave examples that were open. Some black people take offense to that label, others take offense to "African American", or whatever. People take offense to all sorts of things. In the words of Stephen Fry, "So fucking what? It's just a whine.”
The point isn't really wether it's a correct term or not but ignoring the wish to not be called that and instead doing so with the intention to insult.
The term is not inherently an insult, though. You would have to alter it (eg "cissy") for it to reasonably be considered an insult by default. Merely objecting to a term that any reasonable person would see as accurate and not an insult is not enough - it would just be a whine. If it was used further after an objection, then maybe intent could be proven, but that's not what Musk is talking about here. He's banning the term altogether and saying it is inherently insulting, when it is not.
We're talking about a hypothetical example. What I'm saying it is only comparable to a cis person objecting to being called cis if your example is a trans person objecting to being called trans. Both would be wrong as they are factually correct technical terms, and thus they aren't being used as slurs.
A closeted trans person would be offended that you outed them, not that you called them trans when they are. Although, if they were closeted then you'd probably have no reason to think they were trans.
Calling someone "cissy" is almost certainly meant as an insult, though, because that's not the technical term. That's like calling a gay person a fag, or calling a black person the n word. Calling a cis gendered person cis or cisgender is like calling a gay person gay.
Rejecting a label isn't really valid when the label applies to you. You can't eat pizza and then claim you're not a pizza eater.
And, at the end of the day, the measure that matters is not whether or not you like it, it's actual harm. Calling someone cis is very unlikely to cause them harm. Calling someone a fag could lead to harm (eg Top Gear people driving through Alabama with gay writing on their trucks).
Just had the following email from GOG about account migration for CD Projekt Red games, not quite sure what to make of it. Don't CDPR own GOG? Why do they need to be separated? What does this mean for the long term future of the services?
>MIGRATION OF CD PROJEKT RED ONLINE SERVICES > >Dear [user], > >You are receiving this email due to your use of online features, including Cross Progression and My Rewards, in CD PROJEKT RED games, as well as your participation in platforms like the CD PROJEKT RED Forums. We are migrating these products to a new account system, owned and operated by CD PROJEKT S.A., effective from March 5th, 2024. This consolidation will involve the transfer of governance of your personal data, including your email address and username, from the GOG account system to the CD PROJEKT RED account system. > >What does this change? > >Starting March 5th, 2024, the above mentioned online features and services will be available through a new CD PROJEKT RED account system. > >Do I need to take any action? > >No, a new CD PROJEKT RED account will be created for you automatically based on your GOG Account information: user ID, username and email address. This will allow you to continue using features provided by CD PROJEKT RED with no interruption. No action is required on your end. > >How can I log in after the migration? > >Your new account will use the same email address as your GOG Account. If you’re already logged into any of our games, you will stay logged in when the account change takes place. > >What happens to my personal data? > >Upon migration, CD PROJEKT S.A. will become a data controller of your personal data connected with CD PROJEKT RED account. Transfer of data will be based on a legitimate interest in ensuring continuity of CD PROJEKT RED online services. For more information see updated CD PROJEKT S.A. Privacy Policy available here. > >How does this affect my current GOG account? > >Your GOG account and all your GOG purchases remain unaffected. The GOG.com website and the GOG Galaxy app will continue to use the GOG account system. Your GOG account will be separate from your CD PROJEKT RED account. > >Can I opt out? > >If you do not wish to have a CD PROJEKT RED account created for you, you may opt out of the account creation process by clicking this link. After the account system migration, you will be able to delete your account with the same link. > >If you choose to opt out, please note that on March 5th, 2024 you will lose access to Cross Progression, My Rewards, and RED Forums, and all connected data will be permanently deleted. > >You can create a new CD PROJEKT RED account at any time. > >If you have any questions or need further assistance, please visit our support page. > >Warm Regards, > >GOG and CD PROJEKT RED Teams
I know this isn't strictly piracy related, I apologise, but I think it is tangentally related in that piracy protects you from data theft by avoiding the services the biggest thieves operate. Also, I feel like people here might be very interested in this take.
Apparently, the "legal" data brokerage industry was worth $319 billion in 2021, and is predicted to be worth $545 billion in 2028.[^1]
Meanwhile, in 2021 there were only 7.9 billion people in the world[^2] - many of whom do not have internet access or have very little data being traded. If we generously assume 6 billion people have equal volumes of data being traded, that means each person's data is worth $53.17 per year on the market.
Data is effectively stolen from people. We do not get anything in return for it. We may be offered access to a website free of charge, but that is a separate transaction - it is not appropriate for another transaction to be hidden in the fine print of the terms and conditions. When you buy insurance, the key terms have to be front and centre - you pay x, you get y service. Not "You can have y for free!!! (But also you give us x for free.)" You're supposed to be able to compare the value of the things being traded.
Bearing in mind that this is merely data brokerage, not actual processing or deriving any value from the data, a simple profit margin can be applied. They simply collect the data - easily and at low cost through automated processes - and then sell it. If businesses still took a very generous 30% profit (rather than a ludicrous infinite and pure profit) then the value of an average person's data that they are owed is around $40 per year. ____ To run the other numbers to check, the global population in 2028 is predicted to be 8.4 billion - a growth of 6.329%. So our 6 billion population would become 6.38 billion, and with the $545 billion market value an individual's data would be worth $85.43 on the market, or $65.71 to the individual. The value of user data is predicted to rise.
Obviously that 6 billion population figure I used is an approximation - a blind one at that. To give a worst case valuation for 2021, if we assume all 7.9 billion people equally have data being traded, then an individual's data is worth $40.38 on the market, and $31.06 to the user. These are the minimum values, averaged evenly across the entire global population. ____ When Google and Facebook started out, data had very little value - there was no market for it. Thus it seemed reasonable to let them just take it, even if maybe it could be worth something. The service they offered was new and novel, a shiny new toy for everyone to play with. They then used this data to become some of the wealthiest businesses in the world. Now, even big players like Microsoft have joined in, in spite of the fact that their main products are paid products.
One form of bank fraud is where the criminal takes pennies out of multiple accounts, the idea being that people won't notice such a small debit, and banks might write it off as some kind of error. This has been legislated against and proven illegal - yet these assholes take $40 each from everyone and get away with it!
[^1]:https://www.knowledge-sourcing.com/report/global-data-broker-market Edit: lmao we broke it https://web.archive.org/web/20240107042301/https://www.knowledge-sourcing.com/report/global-data-broker-market ...or did they maybe take it down?? /tinfoil Edit2: it's back up lol [^2]:https://www.populationpyramid.net/world/2021/
When did this happen?! It makes me so happy!
It's still not quite as good as old reddit with RES was, where you started with everything normal and then clicked a button to expand (or contract) media. Being able to contract everything is almost as useful, particularly if you want to scroll further down. However it's still a great improvement, as well as proof that lemmy just keeps getting better.
>Rule 1: No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
I'm struggling here. Xenophobia? But they clearly do not support either side.
If you use both as justification, you don't have to worry about different communities having them the other way around. It gets real fun when a community has the rules one way, but the instance sets them the other way.
>Rule 1: No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. > >Rule 2: Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
Meanwhile, replying to the commenter with "My little cyκa" (bitch) received no moderation.
Frankly, moderators should be more detailed in their reports, and clearly specify which rules they are acting under.
The Removed Comment entries should also specify which community they were removed from, just like the bans. This would further clarify the set of rules being moderated under. You can determine this by viewing a community modlog, but not when viewing the modlog overall (although I'm sure the core database has this functionality). ____ However the user here definitely deserved moderation, and a 3 day ban is appropriate. Maybe not based on the first comment alone, but the overall haul of them. The Kkkracker label might not have been justified by those comments, but they certainly have a bias leaning that way, based on some of their other comments.
I almost thought this was another case of the mod removing the same comment multiple times, but no, the user really did post the same comment over and over again.
An ounce meant a loud announcement allowed
Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20231113080922/https://i.imgur.com/bZkSCfg.png
Text: Banned, reason: PUNISHMENT TIME BITCH! -> Unbanned -> Banned, reason: liberal
I bet they thought they were sending a message to the user, not writing an entry into a permanent log.
Moderation on lemmy really should include the option of messaging the user, though.
A judge tossed two of the claims against Afroman, finding that "the issue appears to be the humiliation and outrage that the officers feel at having their likenesses displayed and mocked."
A judge tossed two of the claims against Afroman, finding that "the issue appears to be the humiliation and outrage that the officers feel at having their likenesses displayed and mocked."
____
The rapper Afroman will have to continue to defend himself against a defamation lawsuit filed by Ohio sheriff's deputies who raided his house after a judge allowed some of the deputies' claims to proceed.
In a ruling last week, an Ohio county judge dismissed two of the deputies' claims against Afroman, best known for his 2000 hit "Because I Got High," finding that the rapper's commentary was protected artistic speech. However, the judge allowed three other claims to proceed, finding that it was not outside the realm of possibility that the deputies could prove they were entitled to relief.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) executed a search warrant on Afroman's house last August on suspicion of drug possession, drug trafficking, and kidnapping. As Reason reported in June, the deputies were searching for evidence of outlandish claims from a confidential informant that the house contained a basement dungeon.
Deputies found neither large amounts of marijuana nor a depraved dungeon. Afroman was never charged with a crime. He responded by releasing two music videos viciously mocking the deputies—"Lemon Pound Cake" and "Will You Help Me Repair My Door." He also sold merchandise with images of the deputies and used the footage to promote his products and tours.
The mockery offended the deputies so much that seven of them filed a lawsuit against Afroman in March. The deputies argued Afroman used their personas for commercial purposes without permission, causing them to suffer "embarrassment, ridicule, emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of reputation."
In an October 13 ruling on Afroman's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Adams County Judge Jerry McBride tossed out the deputies' claims of invasion of privacy by misappropriation and unauthorized commercial use, finding that, "while their quality and appropriateness may be questioned, [Afroman's] artistic and musical renderings have substantial and creative content which outweighs any adverse effect on the plaintiffs in terms of their right of publicity."
"In this case, the value that seems to be at issue here is not the monetary value of the officers' likenesses, which appears to be nominal," McBride wrote. "Instead, the issue appears to be the humiliation and outrage that the officers feel at having their likenesses displayed and mocked by the defendant. Undoubtedly, they also feel aggrieved by their investigative actions being questioned publicly."
However, McBride allowed three of the officers' other claims—false light, unreasonable publicity of private lives, and defamation—to survive, finding that many of Afroman's comments on the deputies appeared to be statements of fact rather than opinion. For example, Afroman posted on social media that deputies wanted to kill him, that one of them stole money from him, and that another deputy was a lesbian.
"My clients are pleased with the Court's ruling denying the defendants' motion to dismiss their claims," Robert Klingler, an attorney for the deputies, says. "Telling lies about people in public discourse is never justified, especially when those lies are vile, intentional, and meant only to unfairly damage people's reputations. Mr. Foreman has until now acted as if he can say anything he wants, not matter how untrue and despicable, without any repercussions. We look forward to demonstrating that neither Mr. Foreman, nor anyone else, has the right to intentionally lie about others for the purpose of causing them injury."
The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed an amicus brief in support of Afroman's motion to dismiss the suit, arguing it was a blatant example of what's known as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP).
"We were pleased to see that the trial court properly dismissed several of the police plaintiffs' claims," says David Carey, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Ohio. "Even at this early stage, it is obviously meritless for the officers to claim that Afroman 'misappropriated' commercial value merely by commenting on the events of a destructive search of his home—even if that commentary took the form of harsh mockery, and even if it was placed on products that he offered for sale."
Such retaliation for publicly criticizing the police is sadly common. Reason recently reported on a lawsuit filed by an Iowa man who was arrested twice for criticizing his local police department during the public comment period of a city council meeting.
https://lemm.ee/comment/3432900
I made this comment yesterday, however it doesn't show up in my profile nor on lemm.ee - all I can see is replies to the comment from my notifications, but not the comment tree in the post and all 3 replies have the same url to the same non-existent parent comment. When I browse the full comments none of them show up. It also appears on some federated instances, but not others - it's there on kbin, but not on lemmy.world or dbzer0 - yet somehow I have replies from all 3.
I think since the 0.18.3 update, the Context links in comments aren't working for me. On the website, it does nothing. On Jerboa, it loads something, but it misses off the top of the comment tree, and doesn't let me click it again to go further up the tree.
The previous version made you click Context multiple times to work your way up the tree, and as you went higher the comment you were looking at might end up further down the tree (branches would be displayed based on your sorting order, rather than the specific context chain). However despite its flaws it was far more functional than this.
Maybe this post would be more at home on a lemmy.ml community, or on github, but this place is my home and I feel like I'd like to get opinions here first :o)
Right now, there is no way to make an instance agnostic link for a post or comment, like you can do with users or communities. Each instance assigns its own number to posts and comments, and there isn't really an easy way to find a post or comment on one instance when starting from another.
For example, if I get a lemmy.world link to a post in a lemmy.world community, in order for me to comment from lemm.ee I would first have to go to lemm.ee/c/community@lemmy.world, then find the post in there manually. If I want to reply to a specific comment, I would have to find the post on lemm.ee in this way, then also search that thread for the comment. If you're looking for an old post with a lot of comments, this can be quite challenging.
Instead, I think lemmy needs to revise how it numbers comments and posts, using the same system used for users and communities. Rather than every instance using a different number, they should use the federated host's number followed by @hostinstance. The local user would still see the original federated link, but users from other instances would see it in their own instance with a tag for the federated host instance. This way, anyone could easily edit any link to make it work in their own instance (provided that link has already been federated in their own instance). ____ Here is a specific example I wrote in a comment elsewhere:
For a specific example, to me, this post is https://lemm.ee/post/1726780. In the original, federated instance, the post is https://lemmy.ml/post/2308622. Instead, it should appear to me as https://lemm.ee/post/2308622@lemmy.ml.
Your comment, to me, is https://lemm.ee/comment/1409174. The federated link is https://lemmy.one/comment/1393053. This is the link you see, and should continue to see, but I should see https://lemm.ee/comment/1393053@lemmy.one.
Using the instance in the numbering scheme means each federated host instance manages its own numbering while ensuring there will never be a clash between instances. https://lemm.ee/comment/1393053@lemmy.one and https://lemm.ee/comment/1393053 would refer to two completely different comments. This information is already being transmitted in the process of federation, so it’s just a matter of tagging the data when it’s received.
I frequently find this, for some reason kbin.social comments aren't federating properly. When they reply to my comment thread I am unable to reply to them, and when I log into kbin.social directly and post there my comment doesn't show up on lemm.ee for some time at all.
Edit: A good fix is to apply a language to your comment, eg English. This should allow your comment to post. However it seems like there is still some issue with comments federating across after that - your comment might appear on kbin, but you might not get their replies again.
I tried to set up shreddit to clear out an alt, I've created the app and it exists on my account but it's completely blocked.
My guess is they aren't allowing any new 3rd party app tokens to be approved.
I've had a few errors loading pages in new tabs. Unfortunately I've been hitting refresh before screenshotting most, however this is one of them.
The link that failed to load: https://lemm.ee/post/482750?scrollToComments=true Although, it loaded immediately with one refresh.
I've also had a few Cloudfire 503 error pages across various tabs. Again, these loaded immediately with a single refresh.
There was one other issue I noticed, I tried replying to a kbin.social user on a lemmy.world thread, and the reply wouldn't post. The comment I was replying to was less than 10 min old. The circle would just keep spinning, but also I noted that it didn't give me the "leave this page?" popup when I tried to refresh. I tried many times over, then gave up and just replied with my own kbin.social account. Edit: The thread I can't comment on: https://lemm.ee/post/499275?scrollToComments=true
Edit2: Another lemmy.world thread I can't comment on: https://lemm.ee/post/501214
In particular, I'm disappointed that they went ahead with removing captcha. I get that they need to rewrite it, but surely they could have kept it in until the replacement was made?
Will lemm.ee be using a modified version to include some temporary captcha and prevent spammers and bots signing up en masse?