I genuinely thought it was just me who was dumb because I never understood how OAuth2 works. Now I feel much better about myself.

@Anders OAuth2 is just a giant clusterfuck

Did I mistype "fuck"? What the ful

@MechMK1 I like the word "clusterful". I sort of make sense. To use it in a sentence: "2020 was such a clusterful year."

@Anders Sort of like when people say "eventful" but mean constant screaming in agony

It has been an eventful year, indeed!

I saw this question:

And that led me to the vault card:

amazon.com/VAULTCARD-Blocking-Protection-Passport-Protects/dp/…

This thing is a complete load of trash, right?

I feel really bad for that handful of people for whom 2020 was genuinely a wonderful year. Got married, had kids, got a promotion, etc...

"The card has an extremely efficient energy harnessing technology which allows it to be powered by energy from RFID scanner." <- I call B.S.

Because everyone else will be like "Do you remember 2020? What a shit year?" and they have to be like "I mean...I married my wife in 2020...and my daughter was born in 2020 too"

@ConorMancone I was about to point that out

@MechMK1 For reasons entirely out of my control I actually ended up with a decent pay bump in 2020 due to covid. This is not something I normally broadcast, because I don't want to be lynched. Covid also made my move super easy, because I was able to fly my family up for practically free instead of spending 14 hours in a car with a screaming baby...

I got my promotion too, because I was just scheduled for it. And my actual pay raise was very minimal due to taxes

As an immediate response to the very large loss of revenue, my company gave across the board pay cuts to all employees. However they didn't want to lose their developers, so they gave us that pay in company stock. It turns out that when they gave out the stock its price had reached the lowest value in years (due to covid). By the time the stock vested a few months later the price had already doubled back to almost its original value.

Nice

@MechMK1 And also regained your FREEDOM!!!! (shouted in a Mel Gibson/scottish accent)

I was about to comment that, just not as bold :D

I haven't seen that movie for years and years, but it was a great one

Well you know what they say: What doesn't kill you leaves you behind with deep psychological scars that never quite heal.

Yup, pretty sure that's accurate

Indeed, it is

So really: is "electronic pickpocketing" (AKA people who use RFID cards to skim cards in people's wallets as they walk by) actually a thing? I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing, and I'm not even convinced it is possible, but apparently there are lots of things you can buy to protect you from this. Is it all just FUD or is there actually some truth to it?

A few days ago I looked at a video about on-set deaths during movie production

@ConorMancone Never heard of it, but quite a few of my colleagues have RFID blockers in their wallets, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt

Ah crap, I accidentally opened that amazon link in my actual amazon account... if I start getting recommendations for this I may have to shoot myself...

You can delete it from your amazon history

Stop saying things that make sense!

@ConorMancone Epstein committed suicide.

See, something completely nonsensical

The fact that my wife watched the netflix documentary about Epstein and I didn't is just weird... that sort of thing would normally be my cup of tea, not hers

Before him I would have said that bribing your way into murdering someone in jail isn't the sort of thing that happens in the US....

Apparently the illuminati is real...

My favorite thing someone once said was: "The best thing is the smug smile you get when people now agree with the stuff they called you a conspiracy theorist for a few years ago."

:)

I'm turning into a conspiracy theorist in my old age! It genuinely makes me sad :(

The latest one I'm starting to buy into is about public schools, and that the 50% failure rate that many US public schools have is actually a sign of success, because the goal is no longer actually education. I've heard this for years and years and always scoffed at it, but these days I'm starting to believe it.... sigh....

I mean, it makes sense. A dumb population is easier to control.

Reminds me of the school counselor who said that the vast majority of girls in her high school say their ambition in life is to be successful on OnlyFans

Imagine a generation in which the life goal of a majority of women is to become online prostitutes.

I don't think that lack of education is the goal, but a side effect...

@MechMK1 The world is full of pedophiles, the elites just used to get away with it and though they could act on their fetishes without consequences. I summary, I do not think there's a causality link between having power and being a pedophile: one does not implies the other. But power implies thinking you can get away by breaking the law or being immoral.

I believe it's the "how this will help us on the next election?" type of thing. education costs a lot of money, have little visibility, and usually when people are talking about schools, they are complaining

so you either invest millions of dollars preparing the teachers, so in 5-10 years you have better teachers and have to invest more millions on the schools, and get a return in 30 years when kids are adults

so it's a safer investment (on the eyes of the politicians) to build a highway, a bridge, buy fighter jets, or whatever else costs the same millions but people can see it right away... or in our case here, why have hospitals and schools and colleges if you can have THE WORLD CUP? and the olympics?

@MechMK1 the dreams of kids down here is not much higher... they dream of being neymar. they don't dream of being a doctor, a firefighter, an astronaut, an engineer... they want to be neymar, so why study if I can just play soccer and be a millionaire?

@ThoriumBR Just like lots of black kids choose between either being a basketball star or a rap star

@ThoriumBR The trouble, at least in the US, is that the connection between dollars and better education is very flaky. The US has consistently dumped more and more money into education over the past few decades, but end results have stayed flat or even worsened. I would actually be okay with spending more money on education if it actually improved things, but unfortunately that isn't the case. Burning cash to heat homes would be a better way to help kids than spending more money on education!

@ConorMancone The big problem I see is that literally every single politician is corrupt. Like, I recall a politician trying to push an act through that would require every school to offer some healthy-sounding drink (like "low-sugar beverage" or such).

What the bill actually meant was that schools were now forced to sell cola and stuff

I just read about the state of Oklahoma passing a law requiring any plant-based food products (think veggie burgers) that requires the packaging to have a label that says "Plant Based" at least as large as the product name. Apparently those vegan alternatives need warnings just like cigarettes! It's the stupidest law ever though. The justification for the law was just stupid. These things are always clear because they actually want people to know they are plant-based anyway...

"Plant-Based Salad" would make me a bit nervous

But the "veggie burger" stuff is...ehh not for me

I tried a "veggie nugget - type "chicken"" here and it tasted like anything but chicken

We're vegetarians, so it comes up. I always tell people the same thing about these things: if you go in expecting it to taste like beef/chicken, you will be disappointed. If you just let it be its own thing though it is very yummy. There was a restaurant I used to love in Florida that sold Tempeh Buffalo Strips. They tasted nothing like chicken wings. However, if you like that general taste combination of "fried food covered in buffalo sauce and dipped in blue cheese dressing"

then they were still awesome! Honestly, I liked them more than I liked chicken wings

These days a lot of the vegan cheeses are growing on me. I like the flavor a lot more than real cheese, although the consistency is different so they don't "work" in quite as many places.

Vegan "cheese" on pizza? Absolutely! Vegan cheese and crackers? Definitely not.

"Plant-Based-Salad" would be funny...

@ConorMancone we are vegetarian-ish too, and this is true... don't say "it's like meat," because it isn't... is like saying "gnome is like windows"

we just say "eat this, is delicious!" and people say it's delicious...

Indeed. A veggie burger doesn't really taste like a veggie burger, but protein on a bun with your favorite fixins/condiments is tasty anyway!

but plant-based salad is exact the same as plain old salad... nobody believes when I say, but it's true

with every single news piece about political corruption, I am more inclined to believe that Asymov's "robot controlled society" is actually a good idea

The trouble is that any attempt to build such a thing has the same limiting factor as everything else: people! The idea of us managing to build a system that doesn't have our own biases and limitations is just... not practical

what you want is God (or maybe aliens). The next time a UFO shows up invite them down for a chat and see if they are the sort that are willing/able to serve as our benevolent overlords :)

@ThoriumBR I'd be really concerned by a non-plant-based salad

think about 3d printing and edible filaments...

If you build a genetically engineer plant that grows an exact duplicate of animal flesh, does that mean that the end result is "plant-based" meat or just meat?

I believe it would be a salad...

With 1/3 of my band being vegetarian, when on tour we usually eat at veggie places, but I have to admit that there aren't any tastes that hit the spot for me as much as meats. If someone can make fake meat that tastes like real meat, I'm there

Yeah, there's no beating a good steak. I haven't had one in years now, and definitely miss it from time to time, but you can't have everything in life :)