Beyond enshittification, why does tech oftentimes suck?
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    I mostly agree - however there are physical/mechanical reasons behind the use of some of those. For example, Phillips head screws will 'cam out' (driver will slip out of the screw head) rather than get over-torqued, which is useful in various situations - although TIL this was not actually an intentional design feature!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_out

    Hex keys are better than a Robertson (square head) in tight spaces with something like an Allan key, and, in my experience anyway, Robertson can take a fair bit of torque, so they're great for sinking into softwood - and also for getting out again, even when they've been painted over.

    Flathead screws, on the other hand, should launched into the sun

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  • Controversial law designed to free up hospital beds to be tested in Ontario court
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    This is horrible.

    It would be reasonable to assume that the lack of LTC supply is at least partly because it's not profitable to have extra spaces you're not using.

    That lack of supply makes it more likely that seniors would have to look at places further away.

    Plus, the people profiting off LTC are folks like former Conservative Premier Mike Harris, who not only used to be chair of the board of Chartwell Retirement Residences, but has also owned millions of dollars in company shares (as of 2022, Harris no longer controls >10% of the company, so he doesn't have to file public disclosures of his holdings).

    https://burlingtongazette.ca/its-time-that-we-take-the-words-private-and-profit-out-of-how-we-care-for-our-seniors/

    While premier, Harris also pushed hard to privatize the industry that he would later benefit from.

    This looks like another case of Ford making sure his buddies rake in as much money as possible, even if it causes human misery.

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  • As the open social web grows, a new nonprofit looks to expand the 'fediverse'
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Unfortunately, Meta is listed as one of their partners

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  • Evan Prodromou Launches The Social Web Foundation
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Would be very interested to know if Meta (listed as a "partner" organization) is providing financial support, like how fellow partner the Ford Foundation lists a $50k grant[1] in February 2024 to the Exchange Point Institute, which is the "fiscal sponsor" of the Social Web Foundation[2]

    [1] https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/exchange-point-institute-149412/

    [2] https://socialwebfoundation.org/donate/

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  • Conservatives call on Elon Musk to step in after Liberals provide loan to Ottawa-based satellite operator
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Not to mention that their napkin math is wrong by a factor of 12

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  • (CW: Transmisogyny) Transmisogynistic parents harass girl at New Hampshire school soccer game
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Regardless of what happened on the sidelines, Hawkins added that on the field, there was sportsmanship, as some of the Bow soccer players reached out to the transgender girl on the Plymouth team.

    "Some of the fellow soccer players from Bow actually sent supportive letters of love and support and encouraging that student to continue to play," Hawkins said.

    The kids are alright ❤️

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  • Conservatives call on Elon Musk to step in after Liberals provide loan to Ottawa-based satellite operator
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Did no one in the replies happen to notice that this is a loan

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  • Generative AI is reportedly tripling carbon dioxide emissions from data centers
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Yep absolutely, and even those numbers likely represent raw emissions figures vastly lower than the true impact these data centres are having on global emissions.

    For example, that Google report talks about EACs - here's a great podcast episode that explains why these kinds of accounting methods are a complete disaster:

    Reveal: It's Not Easy Going Green

    https://revealnews.org/podcast/its-not-easy-going-green-update-2023/

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  • UK datacentres to be designated critical infrastructure
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    This move, at least on the face of it, seems to privilege the cloud giants over say, a company that maintains its own servers. That's effectively a handout of public resources to those already fabulously wealthy and powerful corporations.

    That's where I drew the conclusion from

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  • Canada is not broken.
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    I would like to hear you say it

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  • Canada is not broken.
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    What's strange about defending people's freedom to be themselves?

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  • Canada is not broken.
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Why not do both?

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  • Canada is not broken.
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    What's the problem with drag queens reading to kids, exactly?

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  • Nov 5th? Is he planning to blow up parliament?
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    Like it or not, things sometimes become symbols for other things, and especially given the political climate, it makes sense for people to get their guard up if they see something that looks like one of those symbols that represents, say, an utterly toxic ideology.

    Not wanting to make others navigate that stuff unnecessarily is a sign of thoughtfulness and pro-social tendencies, not weakness.

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  • Indigenous leaders burn PRGT pipeline agreement, blockade B.C. road | The Narwhal
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    With energy companies, you mean? Like, we've seen federal governments of various countries cancel (or re-approve) pipelines all the time - Keystone XL comes to mind, for instance

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  • Recommend movies I can torrent please
  • smallpatatas smallpatatas Now 100%

    finally got around to watching this one today - fantastic

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  • designingfriction.com

    cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/39429322 > Interesting essay looking at the role of friction in human development, and how a particular vision of technology's function in society - one that seeks to eliminate friction - paradoxically reduces our autonomy, rather than enhancing it. > > This post was reported as spam on technology @ lemmy.world, and was removed, then eventually reinstated, by the mods. The original reason for removal was "it's not really technology-related." I suspect it's being brigaded due to my cryptocurrency criticism, but I have no way to know for sure. (Edit - update: I have now been banned from technology @ lemmy.world for ... I guess asking the mods how this isn't tech-related? LOL)

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    https://thedabbler.patatas.ca/pages/bitcoin-is-stupid.html

    35 crypto companies got together to make a change dot org petition called "Bitcoin Deserves an Emoji". F that

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    35 crypto companies made a Change Dot Org petition called ["Bitcoin Deserves an Emoji"](https://www.change.org/p/bitcoin-deserves-an-emoji) F that Sign this one instead: "Bitcoin is Stupid and Does Not Deserve an Emoji": https://www.change.org/bitcoin-is-stupid

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    https://thedabbler.patatas.ca/pages/slow-fedi.html

    The Fediverse - especially the microblogging side of it - has deep issues when it comes to environmental sustainability. And the high resource requirements, which result from an incredible level of redundancy, aren't just bad environmentally: they make running a server more costly, and increase our reliance on Big Tech's infrastructure. I wrote about all this, along with some suggestions for how we can improve things somewhat.

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    smallpatatas Now
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    smallpatatas

    lemm.ee

    see also: @smallpatatas@gotosocial.patatas.ca