To add to this, Hamas has agreed to release the hostages several times. However Israel won’t agree to a ceasefire, and so the hostages haven’t been released.

Israel doesn’t want the hostages released, because then they can’t use the hostages as justification for their genocide.

Unlikely, as long as you cut off any non-postage-related barcodes. But normally the label just has barcoded address information and the “business reply mail” postage permit number.

Here’s an example, address removed.

If you’re in the U.S., try the Libby app! Connects you to your local library system so that you can borrow audiobooks.

It’s reminiscent of really old email threads.

I’ve heard “BLM Land” used as an example of affirmative action by an older family member. He scoffed at how ridiculous it was that there was land reserved for BLM and the blacks weren’t even using it.

Wonder if it ever occurred to him that the “BLM Land” had been there for decades, but the “Black Lives Matter” movement has only been around under that name in recent years.

Sure, but you can’t let perfection be the enemy of progress.

That would be like saying, “Antibiotics cause digestive upset, and you already have a deadly bacterial infection in your colon causing digestive upset, so you’re just going to have to accept the infection because the antibiotics aren’t going to fix the digestive upset.”

The plants are already being grown. Whatever animal suffering exists from the plant being grown is going to exist either way. What we can do is eliminate or reduce the middle layer of additional animal suffering that comes from raising animals for food.

Yes it was!

I don’t think the problem is MSPs as a whole, I think it’s cheap execs who go with the lowest bidder and the cheap MSPs who take their money to do almost nothing.

I worked for an MSP a few years ago. We used a monitoring tool, and on of our co-managed clients (a regional healthcare provider) used the same monitoring tool. When a major vulnerability in that monitoring tool was exploited, our client’s instance was hacked, and ours was not. As a good MSP we knew how to properly configure and secure the tool, while their in-house IT just installed the tool and moved on to the next thing.

TL;DR: Shitty IT people will be shitty IT people. I’ve cleaned up after a lot of incompetent internal IT departments, and an equal number of incompetent MSPs.

I never make these kinds of comments, but I just laughed so hard at this. It’s just so accurate.

One could argue that, because of a congressperson’s increased influence and power, the bar for what qualifies as “conspiracy” perhaps should be a little lower. I’m not saying that it actually is lower, but maybe it should be.

Regardless, this seems like a serious ethics violation. Someone should not be allowed to serve in government if they’re going to talk about how their colleagues “need to die” before a certain date to send some sort of a “message”.

Agreed!

Now do Israel too!

So in theory you would have a much bigger problem with people who tailgate, exceed the speed limit, and fail to signal when changing lanes, or who fail to admit in people on lane merges, right?

Fuck yes I do. (Can I say “fuck” in here?) Driving is dangerous, and people don’t take it seriously enough. Forget traffic delays, people die on the roads every single day. Heck, I wonder if this freeway shutdown could’ve actually saved lives.

Do you have a history of complaining about traffic violations in general, or is it just for people protesting for social justice?

The former, in multitudes. My partner told me that I’m not allowed to comment on other peoples’ driving around her anymore because it got annoying. I also have a history of complaining about how car-centric our society is in general, but that’s a topic for another day.

I know it sounds like I’m attacking you personally, and that is not my intent.

Thank you for that last paragraph, because I was about to throw myself a pity party lol. I think you raise an excellent point, and this type of “what-if-ism” is dangerous because it’s a distraction from the bigger issue at best, and demonizes social justice movements at worst. Definitely something I’ll keep in mind in the future.

I most certainly cannot. I wouldn’t even know where to start to find that data. I’m not sure it’s ever happened, nor if it’s something that would even be tracked/documented in any meaningful way. Tons of random things can delay something like an ambulance - car crashes, inclement weather, rush hour, etc.

My point was not that freeway-blocking protests are inherently bad, just that my feelings of the potential for negative impacts to innocent “bystanders” stress me out. I am not a fan of freeway-blocking protests for the same reason that I am not a fan of icy roads.

Now, is a freeway-blocking protest effective? Depends on how you quantify effectiveness. Was awareness raised? (Probably.) Were the lives of Gaza’s residents improved? (Probably not.) Would some other protest format have been more effective? (Probably not.) Are any protests really that effective when our government answers to billionaires instead of citizens? (Doubt it.) Does that mean we should lay down and accept mistreatment of our fellow humans? (Fuck no!)

One could argue that blocking a freeway causes some negative economic impact. There are a number of US defense contractors who are profiting nicely from Israel’s recent military mobilization. This could be a message to the military industrial complex that “we the people” can grind things to a halt if we need to.

Personally I’m not a fan of blocking freeways as a form of protest, there’s just too much risk of affecting something time sensitive like an ambulance, organ transplant, etc. But I also empathize with the protestors, they probably feel strongly (as do I) that the violence needs to stop, and they feel helpless. There’s a lot of drive to make things right, and no real way to do that other than making a statement.

Twisted Veins is my go to. Great quality and durability, much lower price than Monster. I have lived in 9 homes in the last 8 years, and the 4 pack I bought 8 years ago has held up perfectly. These things are outliving TVs, computers, Ethernet cables, you name it.

Not OC, but there’s definitely an AI bubble.

First of all, real “AI” doesn’t even exist yet. It’s all machine learning, which is a component of AI, but it’s not the same as AI. “AI” is really just a marketing buzzword at this point. Every company is claiming their app is “AI-powered” and most of them aren’t even close.

Secondly, “AI” seems to be where crypto was a few years ago. The bitcoin bubble popped (along with many other currencies), and so will the AI bubble. Crypto didn’t go away, nor will it, and AI isn’t going away either. However, it’s a fad right now that isn’t going to last in its current form. (This one is just my opinion.)

I described it to my dad like this: “They don’t need to listen to your conversations because they’re already able to simulate your thoughts.”

Kinda a stretch, but it worked for him.

See the cops up to no good? Use this convenient grip to whip your phone out and record them!

I actually saw a video once where the argument was that phones aren’t listening. Rather, Google (and Meta and the like) have so many other data points on you that they don’t need to listen. Listening to you would be far less efficient and far less insightful than relying on their vast network of other data they have on you. Even if you don’t use a single Google product, you’re still not safe.

Reminds me of the story where Target knew a customer was pregnant before she did. They started sending her ads for pregnancy/baby products before she even knew she was pregnant, all because they had so much data on her.

In my opinion, this is way more terrifying and problematic than if they were listening to us.

You’re correct. Unless you’re using WiFi on your phone that’s backed by satellite internet (Starlink, etc).