Reach for the Stars 
@antares@qoto.org
- Pronouns
- It's complicated. IDK. Maybe ze/zim/zir https://pronouns.org/ze-hir
- Degree
- Physics, Cal Poly SLO
- Work
- I fix broken stuff
#Technology, #baseball (Dodgers), #politics, #religion (#Christian)
Joined Apr 2022
While there are general standards, every programming language has a slightly different way of doing common things. I really wish someone would make a list of 100 common basic operations (e.g. get the length of a list, modulo operator, inject variables into a format string) and put them on a poster -- one per language.
After my 10th new language, I really don't need the basics of "this is what a function is, this is what loops do" that beginning guides all focus on, but I need to know how your particular language does these common operations.
Lastly, the top result on Google for "Python Modulo operator" should not be a payware intro to Python tutorial, it should be the official API documentation, darn it! #rant
(Today's lucky contestant is still #python, but the same could be said for #go #rust #javascript or #ruby) #programminglanguages
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
Fans of Connections, rejoice! Rebooted classic sci-doc series returns with original host
Ars chats with host James Burke about his "connective" approach to science history.
#Biden is already too old to be president, and he should not have run for a second term. I don't think enough Democrats have really thought through what it will be like when he dies or becomes seriously ill in office. At the very least, I wish that some reasonable alternative would place themselves on the primary ballot even if they didn't actively campaign just in case the worst should happen before the convention. #uspol
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
I so, so, so don't want to drive any new car that can do this:
A federal appeals court refused to bring back a class action lawsuit alleging four auto manufacturers had violated Washington state’s privacy laws by using vehicles’ on-board infotainment systems to record and intercept customers’ private text messages and mobile phone call logs.
The court ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to automakers Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, which are defendants in five related class action suits focused on the issue.
The plaintiffs had appealed a prior judge’s dismissal. But the appeals court ruled Tuesday that the interception and recording of mobile phone activity did not meet the Washington Privacy Act’s standard that a plaintiff must prove that “his or her business, his or her person, or his or her reputation” has been threatened.
A suit filed against Honda in 2021, argu[ed] that beginning in at least 2014 infotainment systems in the company’s vehicles began downloading and storing a copy of all text messages on smartphones when they were connected to the system.
An Annapolis, Maryland-based company, Berla Corporation, provides the technology to some car manufacturers but does not offer it to the general public, the lawsuit said. Once messages are downloaded, Berla’s software makes it impossible for vehicle owners to access their communications and call logs but does provide law enforcement with access, the lawsuit said.
Many car manufacturers are selling car owners’ data to advertisers as a revenue boosting tactic, according to earlier reporting by Recorded Future News. Automakers are exponentially increasing the number of sensors they place in their cars every year with little regulation of the practice.
https://therecord.media/class-action-lawsuit-cars-text-messages-privacy
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
In case you have the appetite for really depressing pearls of wisdom from Netanyahu and Begin's ideological master Jabotinsky... in the 1920's Revisionist Zionism pronounced what #Zionism didn't dare to speak (in public). It also set the foundations for Israeli security doctrine.
"There can be no voluntary agreement between ourselves and the Palestine Arabs. Not now, nor in the prospective future. I say this with such conviction, not because I want to hurt the moderate Zionists. I do not believe that they will be hurt. Except for those who were born blind, they realized long ago that it is utterly impossible to obtain the voluntary consent of the Palestine Arabs for converting "Palestine" from an Arab country into a country with a Jewish majority."
"[...] But the only way to obtain such an agreement, is the Iron Wall, which is to say a strong power in #Palestine that is not amenable to any Arab pressure. In other words, the only way to reach an agreement in the future is to abandon all idea of seeking an agreement at present."
--- The Iron Wall... translate to English from the original Russian, Razsviet, 4.11.1923.
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
🏳️🌈🖖🏽
The GOP has introduced a bill to EXPEL Palestinians from the United States. I cannot read such things without remembering what happened to my own family after Pearl Harbor. After we and 120,000 other Japanese Americans were incarcerated in prison camps for years, without charge or trial, my own mother was very nearly expelled to Japan because of racial prejudice and hatred. Only the brave actions of a civil rights attorney saved her from being sent away. #NeverAgain
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
Why do I believe #Biden will lose in 2024?
1. Most people voted for him because they hated Trump.
2. The lack of voter enthusiasm sealed Hillary's fate in 2016. Trump has many die-hard fans; Biden doesn't.
3. His blind support of Israel will not give him more votes from conservative Jews and will give him fewer from Liberal #Jews. He will lose many votes from #Muslims.
4. Most Gen Y and Z believe he is too old.
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
“Wait. I thought we weren’t doing that anymore?” If you believed the U.S. ended the practice of adjusting the clocks twice a year, you’re not alone. In 2022, the Senate passed the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act, which promised to make daylight saving time permanent once and for all. But Congress failed to pick it up, and attempts to revive the issue have fallen flat. Read more from NPR about where the legislation stands.
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
PS: Please resist the idea that we cannot change our healthcare system in the US. In fact we came extremely close to nominating a popular presidential candidate who ran a campaign on just that!
Keep hope alive!
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
The war on Christmas will not end until Christmas ceases its aggression and withdraws its forces behind the day-after-Thanksgiving armistice line.
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
My whole political position right now is, don't kill innocents. Don't kill children.
Don't kill them!! not with assault rifles, not in retaliation, not with bombs, not with lousy public health policy.
Do not kill them, just do not do it! Can we all just get behind this one thing.
If Joe #Biden were to die or suffer a medical issue which prevent him from running for president before the #Democratic convention, who should the #Democrats nominate instead?
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
@WorkingFamilies I’ve had a gun pointed in my face exactly once… by a police officer. Solving the violence in our society will require a lot more than just laws to limit civilian access to guns.
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
In other news, 27 states have banded together to sue Dungeons & Dragons for promoting witchcraft, 35 states have banded together to sue "rock & roll" music for "promoting impure thoughts and glamorizing drug use", and Boston & Cleveland have banded together to sue "all sports" for "intentionally dividing the nation."
#FreeSpeech #1A
QT: https://mstdn.social/@RollingStone/111291837686461519
Thirty-three states have banded together to sue Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, accusing it of building and operating platforms that...
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
MEGA FACTCHECK
EVs are “likely crucial” for tackling transport CO2, says the IPCC – and sales are rocketing
But EVs still face relentless hostile media coverage
So, I spent the past few months debunking 21 (!) of the most common EV myths
Here it is 🧵
https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-21-misleading-myths-about-electric-vehicles/
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
i think what's missing from so many narratives right now is that rampant and ongoing antisemitism does not erase the massive power imbalance between voices representing Israel & Palestine's interests.
antisemitism is painful and ongoing, but Israel is backed by the most powerful military, media, and state apparatuses on the planet, and has been for decades. acknowledge how this power imbalance transforms perceptions about the lives and stories of Palestinian human beings
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
"Ohai, this is Windows. You may have noticed that I killed all the long-running jobs that you left going overnight and restarted your computer so that I could inject some AI-flavored bullshit you never asked for into your (*) operating system. You're welcome!!!”
(*) “It's not actually yours, of course. The OS now works for our Marketing Department rather than you. kthxbai.”
Reach for the Stars
boosted
boosted
When we talk about Palestinian responsibility in Hamas attacks, it's important to note that not only are half too young to vote, but no one has had the chance to vote in 16 years.
The vast majority Gazans have never been enfranchised in their lives. They've never known a government that represented them.
It's like blaming Afghan women for the Taliban, and then bombing them to make the Taliban do something different. We're just piling more pain on oppressed people without helping anything.
- Pronouns
- It's complicated. IDK. Maybe ze/zim/zir https://pronouns.org/ze-hir
- Degree
- Physics, Cal Poly SLO
- Work
- I fix broken stuff
#Technology, #baseball (Dodgers), #politics, #religion (#Christian)
Joined Apr 2022
