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What's the trick to Menopause?
  • See a therapist. It's great you feel comfortable reaching out to the community, but our time is fleeting and memories short. Going to speak to someone who is professionally trained to help people in these kinds of circumstances on a regular basis helps a lot.

  • Recommendations for a hidden camera?
  • Agreed. I'm not entirely (barely) versed in the law, but at the very least, if it's a one party consent state, his mom would "have to set it up".

    What's less clear to me is why the drastic action? Start by leaving a 20 on the dresser and see if it stays there.

  • Recommendations for a hidden camera?
  • Assuming you live in the United States, you need to be aware of the laws in the state you live in. Many states are one party consent when it comes to recording. Which means if you and I are having a conversation, you can record it without telling me. One party has consented.

    If on the other hand, you install a camera without your mom's knowledge, then you are not one of the two parties. This "evidence" could be thrown out of court as it is "illegally aquired".

    Not to say you shouldn't do it. Protect your mom's property. I would just suggest looking into the local laws about it. I am also not a lawyer so you should look into your local laws or consult a lawyer.

  • What music do you use for concentration?
  • Depends on the kind of concentration. If I'm programming or doing some kind of math, I want fury. I'm reaching for Slayer or Megadeth or the Doom sound track. Nothing like Angel of Death to plow through something.

    If it's more contemplative, power ballads. Something I can sing without focusing on it. I Want to Know What Love Is. Keeps pace, but it's more emotional. Keeps me in that thoughtful place.

    Cooking, woodworking, cleaning. Something active but not on the whole fast. Heavy metal, southern rock, or blues. Kiss, CCR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, BB King. Something even tempo that can pick up and come back down. Freebird followed by Fortunate Son is a good example.

  • What's a handy terminal command you use often?
  • Unfortunately, sometimes (often) there is no man page for what you are looking for. So if you get a page not found, that's usually the case. You can usually find associated pages all the way at the bottom. That helps when what you are looking for isn't a command, but a reference. I don't remember exactly where it is, but man pages are stored in a directory. Probably /etc or /usr. You can always dump that list into fzf or use grep to search to see if there is a page for what you are looking for. It's not a perfect system by any means, but it's a good one to have in your toolbelt.

  • Is The United State Fighting A Proxy War?

    As an American, the US participation in the Ukrainian conflict as well as the Palestinian genocide are beyond reproach. Many describe them as proxy wars, but I'm not there yet.

    During the Cold War, there was the Afghanistan, Vietnam, South America, Cuba, etc. These were proxy wars because there was a clear adversary on the other side. The Soviet Union.

    Now, who is that? Russia? China? Who is "our enemy"? I see it was war is good for business and projection of power.

    Am I wrong?

    33
    Is Linux As Good As We Think It Is?

    Obviously, a bit of clickbait. Sorry.

    I just got to work and plugged my surface pro into my external monitor. It didn't switch inputs immediately, and I thought "Linux would have done that". But would it?

    I find myself far more patient using Linux and De-googled Android than I do with windows or anything else. After all, Linux is mine. I care for it. Grow it like a garden.

    And that's a good thing; I get less frustrated with my tech, and I have something that is important to me outside its technical utility. Unlike windows, which I'm perpetually pissed at. (Very often with good reason)

    But that aside, do we give Linux too much benefit of the doubt relative to the "things that just work". Often they do "just work", and well, with a broad feature set by default.

    Most of us are willing to forgo that for the privacy and shear customizability of Linux, but do we assume too much of the tech we use and the tech we don't?

    Thoughts?

    161
    What Do google Tag Service and google Analytics Do?

    My understanding of google analytics is that it is a 'free' tool which gives site operators bird's eye information on site traffic like the old fashion visitor counters all the way down to very granular information like what buttons users click on.

    I have no idea what google tag service does. Based on a prior conversations I've had, I believe it has something to do with SEO.

    If you don't know what I'm talking about, use the developer tools in Firefox to view the HTML of the page you are on. In the header you'll see javascript blocks. You'll see google analytics and tag service on just about every site, often meta or amazon, and some with completely unidentifiable names. I imagine the latter are the non big tech third parties we accept with cookies, but I'm not sure about that either.

    4
    How Do You Handle Loud Neighbors?

    My upstairs neighbors seem to like clog dancing at 2am. What would you do?

    38
    How Much Is Your Time Worth?

    I spend a lot of time fixing things, for myself and others. (Computers, electrical, plumbing, etc). While I learn a lot, I wonder sometimes if it would be better to pay a professional and do something else for which I am more 'valuable'. Do you do the same, and do you find it worthwhile?

    43
    What's Some Tech That Was Better Than It Is Now?

    When you connect a new device to a 'smart' tv, you must pay homage to the manufacturer with a ritualistic dance. Plugging and unplugging the device. Turning them on and off in the correct sequence like entering a konami code.

    Every time you want to switch devices, the tv must scan for them. And god forbid you lose power, or unplug something. You are granted the delight experience of doing it all over again.

    I have fond memories of the days of just plugging something in, and pressing the input button. Instant gratification. It was a simpler time.

    What is some other tech that used to be better?

    326
    How Would You Handle Students Cheating?

    I gave my students a take home exam over spring break. (This is normal where I teach) One of the questions was particulary difficult. It came down to a factor of three in the solution. That factor inexplicably appeared with no justification on many of their exams. I intend to have the students I suspect of cheating come to my office to solve the problem on the board. What would you do?

    Edit: I gave them the Tuesday before spring break until the Thursday after. I didn't want it to be right before or right after.

    When I say normal I mean giving take home exams.

    76
    What are Some Good, Recent, and Available Dumb Cars?

    I have a 2010 Toyota Corolla. She's been my trusty steed for the last 14 years and is in good working order. I recognize she won't last forever, and if, god forbid (mostly for her) I get in an accident, I will need to get a new car. So what dumb cars do you drive, and what would you replace them with?

    121
    What are some prominent stories about AI and cyber security you've seen this year? Are they just improvements upon old techniques or are they novel?

    My reading has found things like generic phishing becoming more like spearfishing and blue teams finding preexisting problems using AI. Have there been any zero days? Do you think quantum computing will have a more significant impact on security than AI? Relatively speaking, how significant a role does good personal security practices like password management play relative to these two?

    3
    What Are Your Favorite FOSS Android Apps?

    Here's what I'm rocking:

    • Aegis
    • App Lounge
    • AntennaPod
    • Bitwarden
    • Dicio
    • Doodle
    • F-Droid
    • FeedMe (Not FOSS. Open to suggestions)
    • Firefox
    • FNG
    • InvizBox
    • Jerboa
    • Mastodon
    • Music Player GO
    • Obsidian
    • OpenLauncher
    • Organic Maps
    • OsmAnd~
    • Proton Cal/Drive/Mail/VPN
    • RadioDroid
    • RedReader
    • Signal
    • Silence
    • Simple Keyboard
    • Tasks (Not the built in. I love this one)
    • Unit Converter Ultimate
    • Wikipedia

    This is just about everything I have on my phone. I'm on a FairPhone 4 running /e/OS. What's your load out like?

    I'm looking for a new keyboard. Glad for suggestions :D

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    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)WU
    wuphysics87 @lemmy.ml

    Physics and Free Software

    Posts 17
    Comments 596