Reach for the Stars @antares@qoto.org

Absolutely. Do not use, do not support BetterHelp.

They took patients’ intake questionnaires and sold them to Facebook.

BetterHelp itself is not a ‘covered provider’ under HIPAA. But they heavily implied any data you gave them was HIPAA covered, and would not be shared.

They have been slapped with a $8 million fine by the FTC.

(I think they should be a HIPAA-covered provider, and they should be prosecuted.)

BetterHelp *cannot be trusted*. Stay away!

https://weirder.earth/@dessertgeek/111854230732895093

Max Wolf (of Wolf 359 fame) and E.E. Barnard (of Barnard's Star fame) were "lifelong correspondents, competitors, collaborators and friends. Wolf wrote a long obituary for Barnard upon his death in 1923."

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

#Wolf359 #BarnardsStar #Space

We're so used to this, but I would like academics to take a moment and look at how much of the official and unofficial discussion around university is about despair, imposter syndrome, stress, harassment, etc.

What I often see in these discussions, especially the official ones, is discussion of coping mechanisms and "self-care".

What I rarely see in these discussions is questioning why we've built an education system that treats people this way in exchange for this education. @academicchatter

@maartjeoostdijk @academicchatter
Coming in to agree with those recommending that you push back *and* to defend the passive voice, especially in places where you want to focus on the something like an experimental apparatus, not the person using it. Modulating voice can also be a useful rhetorical strategy. Passive voice has a place in good writing, IMO. Against dogma.

If you oppose genocide Republicans will accuse you of working for Hamas while Democrats take the far more nuanced approach of accusing you of working for the Russians.

Apparently the discourse is set on the same half-assed autopilot as the genocide.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/pelosi-fbi-pro-palestine-protesters-russia-1234955648/?ref=foreverwars.ghost.io

Do you use and/or read via #rss, #rssfeeds ?

Boost is good karma. Thank you.

CHINA CAMERA RISKS:

#China -made surveillance cameras, widespread in #Ukraine have been used by #Russia to guide strikes against Ukrainian targets.

The cameras are banned in the U.S. due to security concerns.

@seachanger Once upon a time there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find a neighbor wearing baggy shorts and striped leggings.
neightbor: Pardon me, would you possibly have a cup of soy milk to spare?
me: Sweetened or unsweetened?
Thus a friendship of 20+ years was born. She is still one of our (@Kleen & my) dearest friends. #SocialTech

Just a periodic reminder that being an extremist and being a dick about it will get you blocked. Want to transition to #EV? I'm on board. Do we need to drastically reduce consumption? Yes. Do billionaires need to exist? No. But when people talk about abolishing cars, you're talking about destroying peoples' livelihoods. I live in a rural area, and you can't make a living without being able to go from point A to point B. I've seen numerous revolutions fail b/c the farmers were not on board.

web browsers are emacs clones
- basically an OS
- eight hundred megabytes and constantly swapping
- you can execute a script in a special language
- extremely zealous users who complain about the other camp(s)

I am still looki g for top notch programmers and data scientists to hire for 100% remote. Hit me up. Open source contributors get top consideration.

#oss #work #programming #ai #agi #java #polyglot #bigdata

It has become clear to me that there are some people who will #maskForever. If you #MaskUp and work in a public facing job, please read this advice from people who are hard of hearing. We need your help: (#Thread, Please share)

#masksForever #MaskUp #CovidIsntOver #CovidIsNotOver #N95 #Covid19 #CovidIsAirborne #WearAMask #BringBackMasks

How many accounts do you have on the fediverse?

if you're interested in how other people answer this question, please boost.

@freemo@qoto.org Also election year. Media isn't going to run stories that threaten the Democrats. And conservative media is racist and hates black people so they aren't going to say shit either.

Alright so toasters

Few years back my toaster failed, and like a total muppet I went "Eh, it's a toaster, it's not worth fixing, new ones are like twenty bucks or whatever," and we had either a new baby or a baby on the way I can't remember so I went "Oh we're a FAMILY now" and (muppet mistake 2) I bought a fancy four-slot one.

Because I didn't do the maths! There's only fifteen amps to go round, and now it's gotta go through two sets of elements, so the only way to square that circle is to chop the power in half (this is in America, land of slow kettles and feeble electricity).

So I ended up with a toaster where the elements don't glow. It didn't get hot enough to actually toast the bread, unless you left the bread in for so long that it dried out all the way through. You'd stick the lever down and go "Is it broken?" because the elements wouldn't even get to dull red until the timer was nearly done. Crap. Infuriated me every single day.

So I was at a thrift store and saw an amazon basics two-slot one for six bucks and went "Right, I'll have that," and it's THE DAMN SAME. It works so slowly that it dries the toast out all the way through before it starts to get golden, never mind brown. Crap brittle toast is the result.

Is there a modern, purchasable toaster in America whose elements glow orange to yellow within, say, ten seconds?

(I have one of those 1940's sunbeam toasters that the youtubers wet their knickers over, no need to tell me about those. Can't do bagels or pop tarts so it's in the attic)

Here's what would happen in the US presidential election if Biden or Trump dropped out before election day. https://www.voanews.com/a/what-would-happen-in-us-election-if-trump-or-biden-dropped-out-/7444855.html