@karlauerbach@sfba.social cover
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

karlauerbach

@[email protected]

I'm a techie & attorney.

Been on the net a long time.

I have a Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility, and I've been a Fellow of Law and Technology at CalTech & Loyola/Marymount Law.

And yes, I am that person who was elected to the ICANN Board of Directors and who ended up suing them to see the financials (I won, hands down.)

Everything there is to know about me is on my personal and company websites:

https://cavebear.com/
https://iwl.com/

searchable

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@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar dangillmor , to random

Federal judges keep ruling that Trump's violent, masked goons are illegally arresting and jailing people, but the regime goes right on doing it.

How close are we to outright fascism? This close.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/courts-have-ruled-4400-times-that-ice-jailed-people-illegally-it-hasnt-stopped-2026-02-14/

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@dangillmor I don't think the question is "How close", because that suggests that we might not yet have reached the "facist" level.

I would pose the question as "how much beyond mere fascism have we gone so far, and how much further are we likely to go?"

@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar aeva , to random

the magic of art is being able to see the world through another person's eyes, even in non-representational art: all the little decisions of what is important to depict in detail, the choices of color, composition, the energy of the marks, and so on is essentially a byproduct of the perspective and the experiences of the person who made it. you get to witness something deeply personal hiding in the artifact beyond just the image itself.

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@aeva I was once wandering through Westminster Abbey in London and I came across the marker for Henry Purcell. I remembered one of his melodies and hummed it back to him, turning a centuries long transfer of musical feeling into a loop. It felt good to be in contact with a person who died centuries before I was born.

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

The headline below is wildly incorrect.

It should read:

"D's cave, again. Allow ICE to continue".

It isn't just trump who is TACO, it is the D-party.

By passing most of the funding the D's have given away their leverage to affect things in the future. Schumer could publish a book titled "The Art of Losing".

I do not think the D party knows the word "No".

"Deal struck to keep government funded, Trump and Democrats say"

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/29/shutdown-spending-deal-trump-00756372

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

It is pretty clear that ICE/DHS are intentionally trying to elicit a violent, possibly armed, response to these violent acts.

The ICE-gang is desiring this because then el cheato will invoke the insurrection act. That will, in turn, open the gates for the goons to really start breaking heads and for blood to flow in the streets.

My guess is that some ICE goon, somewhere, is going to get shot by a sniper or protester within a month, if not sooner.

I expect February to begin a true rain of maga terror.

(And, of course, we will see Noem posing on an advancing armored troop carrier - wearing a tight t-shirt, bullet-resistant vest, and maga-face - with an M16 or M4.)

"Anti-ICE protester blinded by federal agent during demonstration in Santa Ana, family says"

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-01-13/socal-protester-permanently-blinded-by-dhs-agent-family-says

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

I will be quite happy when the Big Sur highway is finally re-opened to end-to-end travel.

(It can be a scary trip, especially southbound, with tall cliffs going up on the inland side and sheer drops into the ocean on the other side.)

It has been said that the Big Sur area has the worst (as in none) cell phone signal in the entire US.

A drive on California highway 1 from Cambria on the south to and through the Mendocino coast on the north is something that is fairly special and unique.

(I live about a half mile from California 1.)

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/10/regents-slide-repairs-continue-to-make-strides-along-big-sur-coast/

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

To my eyes, this is an act of war by the US upon the nation of Venezuela. (Not to mention the blurring of GPS and the sinking of boats by the US.)

If indeed a state of war now exists (to borrow a phrase from FDR's speech to Congress after Pearl Harbor) then Venezuela could be anticipated to wage war against the US - endangering US people (including tourists) everywhere in the world.

El Cheato and Whiskey Pete are getting the US in Vietnam Part II.

"Trump says airspace above and around Venezuela should be considered closed"

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-says-airspace-above-surrounding-venezuela-be-closed-its-entirety-2025-11-29/

@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar aeva , (edited ) to random

Anyone want to help me with my computer? :3

I've got an old mini PC that most likely is running a core 2 duo, 8 gb of ram, has a VGA and DVI port for the integrated intel graphics, a pci express x16 (and probably another smaller pci express slot, didn't think to take note) on it.

If I were to find a PCI express card to add usbc ports, would I be able to have it send display port over usbc, or do I need to have a graphics card that can support that?

EDIT: ans is I need a GPU that supports it

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@aeva You may well find that the cost of trying to upgrade your old machine is higher than buying a new one, especially if you are running Windoz and are getting hit with the Windoz 11 issues.

(If your machine only has VGA/DVI then it is quite old.)

Remember, the Display Port over USB-C is DisplayPort - and a lot of monitors do not have USB-C (with Display port carriage) or even native display port.

(I tend to run Linux so I am only mentioning the Windoz issues second hand.)

I've been quite pleased with the NUC and similar small sized mini-PCs. (I"m using ASUS, Moginsok, and Geekom ones, but they can be a bit pricey.)

Also DP-over USB-C tends to require good quality cables - cheap USB-C cables may not work.

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@aeva I use little USB-A to USB-C adapter widgets all the time. They work for things like flash drives or keyboards, but I'm not sure about what they do about power over USB and the like.

(Much of my use is at the far opposite end - I use full blown Thunderbolt 4/5 for multiple monitors and external NVME storage, so my USB-C stuff tends to be only for the stuff that is left over.)

But I've spent more time than I ever wanted to trying to get old gear to work in a modern world. Often I want to Introduce Mr. Computer to Mr. Sledge Hammer.

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

Went to a staged reading of Orwell's 1984. They had a well selected set of pieces from the text. Overall it was doubleplus good.

I had forgotten how well Orwell predicted our present el cheato government, plus our self-created monitoring overloads - Facebook, smart phones that track everything, even Wikipedia which, due to editors promoting their view of the world, starts to resemble the Ministry of Truth.

Afterwords we all chatted - and to my mind too many of the responses were Kumbaya camp fire songs of questionable force.

Which left open the question - what can we do that has real force to oppose our rapid descent to become Oceania of Orwell's 1984?

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Cloudflare broke much of the Internet with a corrupted bot management file
"I worry this is the big botnet flexing," CEO said. But outage was self-inflicted.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/cloudflare-broke-much-of-the-internet-with-a-corrupted-bot-management-file/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@arstechnica Does it really matter whether it was "internal"? The impact was global.

Perhaps we will awake from our slumber, from our dream that "The internet was designed to survive nuclear war [which is true - I was there] so it must be reliable today."

The internet is quite brittle. We have locked-in brittleness via weakly tested code; by centralizing (via things like MPLS and SDC) what was initially distributed dynamic packet routing; and by ever higher security walls that prevent good monitoring for problems, much less adequate access for diagnosis, isolation, and deployment of repairs.

And as we cross-link the internet with things like the power grid, air traffic control, and municipal water supplies we risk breaking those systems when their internet dependencies wobble and go awry.

A few years back I wrote this note about some of these issues:

https://www.cavebear.com/cavebear-blog/netsecurity/

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

US House of Representatives votes overwhelmingly to pass a bill directing DoJ to release the files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5611216-house-epstein-files-bill-vote/

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@w7voa All that El Cheato needs to do to comply with the (not yet a) law while not releasing anything would be to declare them as classified. (The law exempts classified materials.)

It may also be the case that El Cheato could comply but not release by claiming that the materials are part of a law enforcement action.

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar ai6yr , to random

Given the rush to build nuclear power plants to run your AI girlfriend... Those nuclear reactors don't always work out so well for folks.

"one of the nation’s worst nuclear disasters in history"

"The Santa Susana Field Lab went into operation in 1947 and would eventually become home to 10 experimental nuclear reactors as well as the site of thousands of rocket, energy and weapons tests."

https://media.nbcnewyork.com/assets/editorial/national/legacy/national/KNBC/la-nuclear-secret/

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr I grew up in the San Fernando valley - I remember the roar of the rocket testing up in the Santa Susana area by Rocketdyne.

But I never heard of, much less knew of, any nuclear reactors up there. (Not that I doubt the veracity of the piece; it's more that I'm surprised they kept it kinda secret for so long.)

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

Our puritanical streak strikes again...

Many of us endure pain. Pain from many causes. Often intense, often of long duration.

In the race to prevent opioid adiction the US Federal government has denied many of us who are careful users, who have no history of abuse, access to an effective remedy.

Now the puritans want to deny another method of meeting pain. Why, because they want to control our lives and our bodies (sound familiar?)

The bill to fund the government was supposed to be a "continuing resolution" that effectively maintained the basic shape of the status quo.

We are discovering that it is a radical attempt to sneak changes. And the D-s caved.

"THC gummies and drinks face ban under provision in government spending bill"

https://abcnews.go.com/US/thc-gummies-drinks-face-ban-provision-government-spending/story?id=127509295

@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@georgetakei I've met too many people who can read but who do not comprehend. This is particularly the case with our short and often weakly composed expressions on social media.

I support the resurrection of instruction in rhetoric - the art of composing, making, and hearing arguments - in our K12 educational system.

@indivisibleteam@mastodon.social avatar indivisibleteam , to random

While this proposal offers huge compromises to Republicans, it shows that Democrats are serious about ending the Trump Shutdown with a deal that addresses the needs of working families.

For the last month, Democrats have nearly unanimously held the line and remain committed to bringing down healthcare costs and reining in Trump. Meanwhile, the GOP has refused to show up and do their jobs. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/11/07/government-shutdown-democrats-schumer-trump-aca.html

karlauerbach ,
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@indivisibleteam I disagree that this is good news.

Rather, I see this as an absolute capitulation by the D-party.

We know that even if the R-s promise to hold a vote that it is unlikely to pass.

And even if it miraculously passes El Cheato will veto it. And there is no way that there are enough votes to override that veto.

So the D-s are in a fantasy land in which they will sell their one lever - that of withholding funds from a mad dog executive - in exchange for a worthless promise.

The only way this makes sense if is the Ds know that this effort will fail and that this gives them the ability to say to voters "we tried". But there's already plenty of grounds for the D's to credibly say, even without this "deal", that they are trying.

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

Qantas says specially configured A350-1000ULRs will enable the world’s longest commercial flights, up to 22 hours, connecting nonstop Australia’s east coast to London and New York for the first time. https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-first-project-sunrise-aircraft-takes-shape-in-toulouse/

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@w7voa Such imagination - who else would have thought to get better fuel economy by removing the engines?

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

FAA says commercial rockets must launch at night, citing government shutdown
"The FAA is concerned with the system's ability to maintain the current volume of operations."
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/faa-says-commercial-rockets-must-launch-at-night-citing-government-shutdown/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@arstechnica I wonder if they thought to define "night" in the context of flight and launch operations that span multiple time zones?

(I remember the 1970's era of even/odd day gasoline restrictions. I got around those by filling my car at midnight, when it was ambiguous whether it was an even day or an odd day.)

@itsfoss@mastodon.social avatar itsfoss , to random

🎂 Unix was born on November 3, 1971.

Massive respect to legends Ken Thompson & Dennis Ritchie; the world runs on their vision. 💻✨

video/mp4

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@itsfoss Those of us who were around using those early Unix systems can loudly attest that Unix was neither free nor open source. The AT&T licenses were rather heavy and strict.

My first Unix systems (Unix version 6 - mid 1970's at System Development Corporation - SDC - in Santa Monica) operated under a GFE (government furnished equipment) based license.

A bit later I was part of the company (Interactive Systems) that was able to do the first commercial Unix products based on the System III Unix license (and a variation license called "PWB" - printer? Work Bench?)

@briankrebs@infosec.exchange avatar briankrebs , to random

Is there a USB C cord of the month club? Because I could certainly use a constant supply, and it might be nice to have some variety. It seems like all I do is loan out charging cords that never come back to me.

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@briankrebs We used to build Ethernet terminators (for old yellow hose, coax Ethernet) that had a plug for a 110v wall socket. (It was, of course, highly insulated from the coax.) Nobody took it.

@cdarwin@c.im avatar cdarwin , to 50501

Towson University students moved their “No Kings” rally off campus
after a school official told them speakers’ names would be run through federal government databases and vetted for security reasons.

The demonstration, one of dozens planned in Maryland on Saturday,
will protest authoritarian policies of President Donald Trump.

Students moved the event, fearing that speakers would be targeted by the Trump administration,
which has threatened to pursue and punish liberal activist groups if their names were shared with federal authorities.


@indivisibleteam
@renewedresistance
50501@piefed.social icon 50501

https://www.thebanner.com/education/higher-education/towson-university-no-kings-rally-ZEVSSRNASFC65DG2ZNCGUNAPKA/

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@cdarwin @indivisibleteam @renewedresistance 50501@piefed.social icon 50501 Why should a speaker give a correct name? There is no law that requires people to speak under some sort of "legal" name.

Fats Waller, said it best "Don't give your right name" - at 2:35 in the clip below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKe6yH3ZwGo

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

D-party congress critters ought to begin drafting bills to dismantle DHS.

DHS, including its highly nazi-flavored name, was constructed by a Congress and president (bush) who were terrified after 9/11.

It is time to pull the pieces of DHS apart, retaining some parts, deleting other parts (such as ICE), and reshaping the rest.

There is a rule of thumb that suggests that if one wants to re-form an entity to change its internal culture that no more than 10% of the staff should be retained, i.e. that 90% should be discharged - and for ICE, firing 90% of its people would be reason for national celebration.

@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random

We’ve lived 15 years under Citizens United, watching billionaires and corporations shape democracy with their wallets. Reform once seemed impossible. But now, a group in Montana is asking a radical question: What if states simply stopped granting corporations the power to spend in politics? https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/montana-plan-citizens-united

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@georgetakei I have read the Montana Plan - the actual documents - and it is quite sensible.

@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@georgetakei I do hope we can start a counter fund to pay for the demolition of that ball room monstrosity once el cheeto is gone.

@ProPublica@newsie.social avatar ProPublica , to random

Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Accused of Nearly 800 Environmental Violations on Las Vegas Project

Nevada could’ve fined the company more than $3 million, but regulators are seeking a reduced penalty of $242,800, citing an “extraordinary number of violations.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-boring-company-violations-fines-vegas-loop?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@ProPublica The entire west and northwest (upslope) sides of Las Vegas are covered with flood control channels and debris basins to catch the flash floods that come down out of Red Rock and Mt. Charleston.

I am far from convinced that these tunnels will not, unwittingly, become new channels for those flash floods.

@publicdomainrev@mastodon.social avatar publicdomainrev , to random

Writhing scene of grotesque heads (ca. 1520) by Daniel Hopfer, a German artist who is widely believed to have been the first to use etching in printmaking.

One of 900+ prints available to buy from our online shop: https://publicdomainreview.org/product/grotesque-decoration-with-animal-heads/

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@publicdomainrev Finally! Finally an accurate drawing of maga.

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

US presidents can only be depicted on $1 coins if they’ve been dead for at least two years. But the treasurer of the United States plans to mint a “Fight, Fight, Fight” Trump $1 coin for America’s 250th anniversary. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5112

image/jpeg

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@w7voa I can see so many "artistic" opportunities - if this "coin" goes into circulation I would expect a lot of "interesting" overstrike dies to circulate that would do "interesting" modifications.

For instance, one might draw from Michelangelo's Moses and create a die that put horns on the two heads.

And I can think of some phallic modifications that would pass as "rude".

And besides, see 31 U.S. Code § 5114(b):

... Only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities. The name of the individual shall be inscribed below the portrait.

Now, that suggests that either El Cheeto plans to die soon or that he is planning on ignoring yet another rather clear Federal law.

@tracketpacer@infosec.exchange avatar tracketpacer , to random

my workplace is hiring! if this sounds like it could fit you (or someone you know), please shoot your shot or pass it on!

key points:

  • network engineer
  • beginning to mid level
  • US citizen or legal res
  • shouldn’t hate women or diversity (this one’s mainly for twitter)
  • you’d have to work with me. a lot

link: https://blueorigin.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/BlueOrigin/job/Seattle-WA/Avionics-Network-Integration-Engineer-III---New-Glenn_R53158

video/mp4

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@tracketpacer Over the years I've been part of the team that designed, built, and operated the Interop show networks (mostly in the period 1988 through early 2000's) - we kinda learned cable discipline the hard way. The reason that I mention this is that in your photo I don't see any labels on the ends of those Ethernet cables and I got deja vue.

Here's a video of us back in 1993 when our show network was still rather smaller than what it became later...

https://archive.org/details/InteropNetMovie1993

@indivisibleteam@mastodon.social avatar indivisibleteam , to random

Jimmy Fallon says he will avoid politics on The Tonight Show.

Let’s be clear: Cowardice isn’t funny. Silence in the face of Trump’s authoritarianism isn’t neutrality — it’s complicity. Urge Fallon and his producers not to be entertainers who keep their heads down: https://act.indivisible.org/sign/cowardice-isnt-funny-tell-jimmy-fallon-silence-complicity/?source=mastodon

We don’t need more celebrities pretending that Trump and MAGA aren’t tearing away freedoms and weaponizing government.

Variety headline: “Jimmy Fallon Plans to 'Keep My Head Down' and Avoid Politics on 'The Tonight Show': 'We Hit Both Sides Equally'”
ALT
karlauerbach ,
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@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Alexa’s survival hinges on you buying more expensive Amazon devices
Echo speakers and displays for Alexa+ require more expensive components.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/alexas-survival-hinges-on-you-buying-more-expensive-amazon-devices/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@arstechnica Oh boy, yet another device with software that clearly was written by "vibe" and never tested.

We have an Echo Show that can't seem to remember that it is night time and ignores its settings to go dim and stop posting photos of El Cheeto. We have others that show different kinds of software dementia.

Like any pet, they can be useful, but one has to tolerate their defects.

@briankrebs@infosec.exchange avatar briankrebs , (edited ) to random

The CEO of Cloudflare just reminded me that he tried to hire me as Employee #6 many years ago. I don't think he quite framed it that way at the time. Anyway, I joking asked him who Employee #6 was. His reply? "Someone worth over $100M." o_0

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@briankrebs That's not an uncommon story-line here in Silly Valley. For instance, I've had similar experiences - and in at least one of those cases being person #3 would have meant at least $1**9

@louie@pdx.social avatar louie , to random

Correct me if I’m wrong but the cheapest 4TB Mac is a Mac mini at $2600.

Is that right?

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@louie I added an external drive via Thunderbolt 4 to my Mac Mini. From my user point of view (editing video) it's effectively as fast as the internal drive.

Some care needs to be taken to make sure that all the pieces, including the cables, are Thunderbolt 4 or USB-C/4. (USB-C/3 is slower, so one has to be careful to make sure of things.)

(I did the external drive by slapping an M.2 NVME stick into an external Thunderbolt drive widget.)

@louie@pdx.social avatar louie , to random

I don’t care how bad you think you are at HTML (and CSS). A website that you wrote the HTML yourself is infinitely better than any template-based website you pulled from somewhere else.

If you think it’s going to be too much work, I promise you, fiddling with a template-based solution is going to—somehow—be more work, especially to maintain as the framework, template, or font changes without you knowing.

Write it yourself. One of my all-time favorite websites is this: https://vitalesbakery.com

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@louie My personal website has been online since 1995. It has grown but the original content is still there, fairly deeply buried. That old part is old, hand coded HTML - even before CSS was invented.

I now find that certain search engines (such as Bing, which is used, at least in part, by a fair number of other search services, including Duck-Duck-Go) refuse to index those pages because they lack a stack of meta-tags and other stuff that did not exist when those pages were written.

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@louie I think that search engines that elide old content are doing us harm.

A "search engine" that ignores old content is not a search engine, it is a censorship engine.

Imagine a museum of the arts that leaves out black and white drawings (because they are not in color) or handwritten manuscripts.

I think it was Vernor Vinge who, in his book Rainbows End, came up with a notion of "pre history" to describe the material that was effectively lost due to this kind of selective history. (In his case he was referring to materials that were written or printed on paper.)

The amount of this older content is relatively small - it's not going to burden any search engine to index it. And that older material is often rather more valuable than recent transient stuff.

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@louie I agree with you that good content is king.

But old content ought not to vanish because some person at a search engine company was too lazy or stupid to handle pages that don't contain a pile of modern meta-tags.

I am very concerned that much of our collective modern thought and writing is going to vanish as people die, websites go offline, and domain names are re-used.

I've kept my stuff in a flat file format (using Hugo to product the files for the web server) so that it can be easily saved and replicated elsewhere without moving a database (I usually forget to back up the schema, oops) as a simple .tar or .zip file.

And I've got some stuff over at the Internet Archives. (My wife and I make yearly contributions to the archives.)

@mattblaze@federate.social avatar mattblaze , to random

Shortwave "Discone" Antenna, AT&T High Seas Transmitter Site, Ocean Gate, NJ, 2009.

All the pixels, no static or fading, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4141766569

A vertical mast with a large horizontal ring at the top, supported by an array of wires, in a marshland. Other antennas and supports are visible in background.
ALT
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@mattblaze I have increasing concern that our various infrastructures are becoming brittle and potentially subject to breakage and even collapse, particularly as our infrastructures become intertwined and inter-dependent.

Living as I do in an area that seems to be where gods test their wroth I've been through several declared disasters.

And in many cases the intricate and complex modern infrastructure - whether that be electricity, telephone, roads, water, natural gas, internet - have failed, leaving us to make do with older modes.

(I have a parallel concern that our ever thicker layers of security will make recovery from these failures more difficult and of longer duration.)

So I see it as "a good thing" to keep old systems around, in working order, and with people who know how to use them.

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@otters_raft@lemmy.ca avatar otters_raft Here's a link to the original article:

We considered buying an F-150 Lightning in lieu of a Tesla Powerwall or other home battery system. The Ford was, at that time, less expensive and had much greater storage capacity.

Given the utility attacks on NEMS (that's when the utility pays you for the power your systems generate and send to the grid) rates so that it one gets nearly nothing from the utilities, I would arrange my use so that I consume or store all that I generate rather than sending it to the grid for a paltry payback.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/09/charging-the-grid-with-your-ev-first-us-residential-pilot-is-now-underway/

@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

Perfection.

Viagra's official slogan is "Life is hard, but it could be harder."
ALT
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@lowqualityfacts Great low quality fact!!

I do wonder when low cost medicine will replace Viagra with a tongue depressor and some duct tape.

@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@georgetakei Although the video below is cruel, one sometimes may feel that this sort of thing is appropriate for excessively aggressive evangelicals who are intent on converting and proselytizing to the rest of us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0VYLFdhzZ8

@briankrebs@infosec.exchange avatar briankrebs , (edited ) to random

All the feckless scheming by the Democrats isn't going to unseat the Orange Tyrant in the White House. It's going to take mass public demonstrations, extended work stoppages/strikes, govt shutdowns, and sustained and viral boycotts of companies that bent the knee for profit or because they have spineless leaders.

Not saying it's going to be easy, but violent resistance is not the answer, as the Cheetoh-in-Chief would like nothing more than that. Nonviolent resistance works, and has a long history of unseating despotic leaders.

From today's NYT:

"President Trump demanded on Saturday that his attorney general move quickly to prosecute figures he considers his enemies, the latest blow to the Justice Department’s tradition of independence."

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post addressed to “Pam,” meaning Attorney General Pam Bondi. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

Mr. Trump named James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California; and Letitia James, the New York attorney general, saying he was reading about how they were “all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.”

"Asked later by reporters about his message for Ms. Bondi, Mr. Trump said, “They have to act. They have to act fast.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/us/politics/trump-justice-department-us-attorneys.html

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@briankrebs As one who holds a license to practice law and subject to both the rules of professional conduct and rules of courts I am beyond appalled at the behavior of Cheeto's lawyers. Those "attorneys" can be, and ought to be, sanctioned by the judges before which they appear and by the various state bar bodies that grant there licenses to practice.

@briankrebs@infosec.exchange avatar briankrebs , to random

Malignant narcissists can't stand when you make fun of them because they lack any real sense of humor or introspection. And they're totally fine with trampling on the First Amendment if it makes their critics quiet down and self-censor. From NYT:

"President Trump threatened on Thursday to revoke broadcasting licenses over late-night hosts who speak negatively about him, escalating an assault against the media. “They’re giving me all this bad press, and they’re getting a license,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, after ABC suspended the late-night Jimmy Kimmel Live show. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

Then you have his lapdog FCC chief Brendan Carr doing his best mafia tough guy imitation threatening ABC's broadcast licenses if they didn't cancel Jimmy Kimmel, which of course they did. In some ways that's appropriate, because this entire administration is operated a lot like a mafia organization -- shaking everyone down for money and extorting companies and universities over speech they don't like.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/18/us/trump-news

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@briankrebs All this talk about cancelling broadcast licenses kinda forgets that broadcast TV is a dying technology, much like AM radio.

Nearly every one I know watches via the Internet either in streaming or fetches of video snippets.

BTW, it's pretty easy to set up an unlicensed "channel" on popular devices such as Roku, which is also found, built-in, on many smart TVs.

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@gregly @briankrebs It's my sense that AM radio spectrum may end up being sold and repurposed - that seems to be the way of the world that wants to monetize everything.

As for broadcast TV - I vaguely remember that there is a fairly significant change coming in the way that things work and that may break many existing TVs or require set-top-boxes. I don't know the details.

@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar karlauerbach , to random

I too often need to mention that a large part of my extended family vanished during the late 1930s and first half of the 1940s in Poland and Germany.

I am afraid that in the future there will be people saying much the same, but slightly, and significantly differently:

"A large part of my extended family vanished in the US during reign of dictator Trump."

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Internet Archive’s big battle with music publishers ends in settlement
The true cost of keeping the Internet Archive alive will likely remain unknown.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/internet-archives-big-battle-with-music-publishers-ends-in-settlement/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@arstechnica Another reason why we should all make donations to the Internet Archives.

@ProPublica@newsie.social avatar ProPublica , to random

A Florida Home Insurer Was Allowed to Bypass the Courts During Claim Disputes. It Won More Than 90% of the Time.

State legislators and executives at Citizens Property Insurance touted mandatory arbitration as advantageous for both consumers and insurers. In practice, homeowners were left with few avenues for recourse when their claims were denied.
https://www.propublica.org/article/citizens-property-insurance-florida-arbitration-cases?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@ProPublica Arbitration is usually done via a for-profit arbitration company (it may be claimed to be "non profit" but often that is simply because the revenue is made to vanish on the accounting ledgers because that money flows directly out as fees/salaries to the arbitrator people themselves.)

Anyway, the way that arbitration is done usually ends up creating a bias in the arbitration company for the party who tends to use arbitration services more often - because that's repeat business for the arbitration company.

This means that there is a quiet bias in arbitration to favor the injuring business rather than the harmed person, because that business is more likely to hire that arbitration company in the future.

@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar dangillmor , to random

If this is what it seems, it's absolutely contemptible behavior by UC Berkeley -- contemptuous of freedom of speech and academic freedom, for starters.

https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/uc-berkeley-turns-over-personal-information-of-more-than-150-students-and-staff-to-federal/article_a4aad3e1-bbba-42cc-92d7-a7964d9641c5.html

karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@dangillmor I graduated from UC Berkeley circa 1971. I've seen a lot of stupid stuff come out of the overall UC and UC Berkeley administrative offices. But this one is so over the top stupid, wrong, and probably unlawful that I can't even begin to imagine the level of cowardice that drove UC Berkeley to do this.

@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random

Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, too. A year later he was no longer with us.

A fundraising letter from Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund featuring a personal update from Rudy Giuliani. He describes surviving a devastating car crash where a vehicle hit him at 70-80 miles per hour, crediting his seatbelt for saving his life, and notes he is currently wearing a back brace for a fractured spine. He expresses confidence in surviving arrest in America's most violent jail. The letter includes two photos: one of a younger Giuliani in a suit and another of him in a casual setting with a back brace. It mentions that President Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in America, but notes this applies only to federal cases and cannot save him from state-level charges by a radical Democrat Attorney General seeking a 20-year imprisonment.
ALT
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@georgetakei I have dug through our Constitution and laws and have not located anything that would prevent the revocation, by a subsequent President, of a Medal of Freedom.

If I were to adopt the language of the right, the holding of a Medal of Freedom is a "privilege" and not a "right" and thus (according to right wing doctrine) may be removed or rescinded at any time for any reason.

(Personally I believe that due process is needed for any change to a relationship of person to government, and that the "right vs privilege" doctrine is meaningless and void. I am merely suggesting here that the R-party has no grounds upon which it can stand to object to a future rescission of awards of Medals of Freedom to people like Limbaugh and Rudy G.)

@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

Amazing.

Africa is the only continent that touches both the North and South Poles.
ALT
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@lowqualityfacts Does Africa also touch the East and West Poles?

@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

Wow, that's crazy.

Goldfish can grow up to 36 feet long, but they will only be 12 inches when kept in a fish bowl.
ALT
karlauerbach ,
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

@lowqualityfacts Goldfish compensate by growing tall. Wait until you come across a goldfish that is three inches long and thirty five feet tall. They can get really mean. Melville started to write a sequel to Moby Dick about a giant goldfish (whether long or tall was never revealed) but Melville never published his manuscript, so we know of it only by scraps that escaped the fire.