I find it difficult to see removing down votes as anything other than suppressing dissent.

I think the point of view described in the reddiquette is the most beneficial for good communities:

Vote. If you think something contributes to conversation, upvote it. If you think it doesn’t contribute to the community it’s posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it.

(Yes the link goes to reddit’s website and I understand people are avoiding it, just keep in mind there was a time before everything went wrong and the reddiquette dates back to the early years)

So I don’t upvote what other people say just because I agree with their opinion, or downvote because I disagree, but rather based on whether they’re contributing to the conversation in a useful way. I frequently upvote people that argue with me, as long as they’re addressing what I wrote in good faith.

This idea goes back further too - back when Digg was the most popular such website, the idea was that you “digg up” things that you think should be more visible (things that you think are worthwhile for other people to see), and “digg down” (bury) things that aren’t.

For example, if I upvote an article about genocide, it’s not because I approve of genocide, but because I think it’s important for other people to see the article.

Can we get 4chan to start a new rumor?

“Anti-vax parents make children autistic”

…in mice

hmm

The answer to this question depends on a lot of factors. For instance, if the internet service you’re using is slow, nothing you do to your laptop will make any difference.

Before you put time, effort or money into anything else, run a speed test: https://openspeedtest.com/

poor Tim

everything old is new again…

I can’t find a picture of that exact model, but to me it looks like it has the silver box HP logo like this one:

Compaq had this square Q logo, and usually the entire word “Compaq” also:

But there could be some confusion because HP acquired Compaq in 2002 and sold computers with Compaq branding until 2013, which covers the Vista period. It’s entirely possible they sold the same desktop shell with both HP and Compaq branding.

And no thats definitely a Zip drive, not a 3.5" floppy:

The little round button on the right and the round inset under the slot give it away.

scrape’em off, Jim!

Would it? I’ve seen some videos here of people absolutely harassing lone ICE agents in cars sitting in parking lots, and those guys just drove off as fast as they could manage.

If you have a crowd of 20+ people around the car, not doing anything directed at the occupant, just kind of hanging around the outside, plus cameras taking video and actively posting it to social media because, hey, flash mob!.. what then?

Suddenly I’m having visions of the flash mob trend returning with purpose.

Anywhere an ICE agent is sitting in a parking lot… suddenly showtunes and choreographed dancing, or just a block party, all around them.

Heh, so ALSA has kind of been the audio architecture for Linux distros since forever.

Pulse Audio was supposed to modernize audio for Linux and ultimately replace ALSA.

But last time I installed Linux on my desktop, I couldn’t get audio output from my motherboard’s TOSLINK S/PDIF port no matter which settings I changed in the GUI, uninstalled/reinstalled drivers and codecs and whatnot, etc.

Nothing made any difference until I eventually found some forum post which suggested using ALSAmixer to check the settings for various audio channels. ALSAmixer is not typically installed by default and not commonly used anymore, but it was the only tool that could unmute the digital audio output channel that served the TOSLINK port - that functionality was not present anywhere else in any of the configuration options. Pulse appeared to be in control of the system audio hardware, but in reality it was just sitting on top of and still relying on ALSA to handle the back end. Also, whoever set ALSA to mute some audio channels by default on a clean install… wtf dude, that shit just makes people think their hardware isn’t properly supported and they have a driver issue.

The point being, ALSA was supposed to be deprecated years ago and all of the old audio issues resolved and modernized with a new architecture, but… I’ll believe it when I see it, when whatever the new thing is actually proves itself to be an all-singing, all-dancing audio architecture. I’ve seen this rodeo before, and last time I checked it was still a clownshow.

you can’t really bomb a supply chain

Fuck yeah you can, hence my example of bombing ball bearing factories.

Train lines are also a classic bombing target. Fuel production/refining/storage/transport, any kind of logistics hub, shipyards, airstrips, warehouses… all things that are difficult to hide because there’s always activity around them. Flatten them and the dependent supply chain grinds to a halt.

You running Windows Vista on an HP desktop with a Zip drive in 2026?

Your company isn’t taking you or your work seriously, so yeah you shouldn’t either.

China and Russia both trade heavily with Iran and don’t care about embargoes.

Also even if they could produce everything they need within the country, that doesn’t mean it’s practical to produce it all in one location. At some point you have to pull raw material out of the ground and refine it, and you probably can’t get everything you need all from the same hole in the ground. You probably can’t manufacture electronics very well next door to a mining and refining operation. There’s going to be truck routes or train lines and logistics facilities somewhere.

off the starboard bow

Right now a bunch of countries have operational nuclear weapons (and this ends in 1998). No one has used one in warfare since 1945 - right now there’s basically a fragile truce on nuclear war. Putin threatened to use one but even he didn’t actually pull that trigger.

If someone does… then I expect everyone does.

Supply chain. Drones are complicated pieces of equipment, they can’t possibly be manufacturing all of the components locally.

During WWII the Allies brought the German tank corps to a halt by bombing ball bearing factories.

Which is why anyone who voluntarily gives up the opportunity to vote is a fool, and anyone who encourages other people not to vote is malicious.

If voting truly had no impact, the GOP would not work so hard to prevent people from doing it.