The built in GPU of any sem-modern Intel CPU can do that for you no problem. Probably even the older ones in those corporate computers. Just check for QuickSync support. If you want something seriously low wattage that can still do one or two 4K streams, get one of those mini PCs with an Intel N100 for cheap.

I’ve not had any wear like that on my deck, but I’m not crazy hard on controllers. At worse the whole stick can be pretty easily replaced. The repairability on Valve hardware gets a high priority.

I don’t think you can say there is a “most common” unit for the general public. People probably shop for storage more than they do service providers, so I guess MB?

However I don’t think spelling it makes it any easier. If people aren’t noticing a capital B or a lowercase b, will they notice or understand bytes vs bits when spelled?

I think it’s a case of it just kinda sucks we have similar sounding and spelled words, but the general public is not getting too caught up on it because they’re largely oblivious. So long as manufacturers and sales use the appropriate term on the appropriate product, everything should work out. I’ve never seen a hard drive marketed in bit capacity, so I think this is really a non issue.

Just chalk it up to something you now understand better.

I see what you mean, but what do you propose? The units already exist and they are the industry standard. Should new units of measure be made up just for consumers, or should all numbers but on consumer devices be locked to using only one of them? Who decides what’s consumer packaging and what’s not?

It’s a sticky situation. I think while it may be confusing, the vast majority of people aren’t paying much attention and it’s probably not a big enough deal to do anything about it. The units are most often used correctly as in I can’t imagine an ISP or a router advertising their speeds in Bytes, likewise I don’t see any RAM or storage advertised in bits, so it’s usually an apples to apples comparison anyway.

See that’s where I think you’re still missing it. These are technical terms used by technical people. They were not designed to confuse people, they were designed to clarify the units IT people use in their work.

You might say this is confusing to the general public, and you may be right, but the people making this stuff weren’t thinking about average people at all. The idea these numbers would be plastered all over ISPs and SSDs weren’t even a consideration.

So it’s not bullshit, it’s not designed to confuse, it’s just a technical unit that is not well understood by most people, yet we live in a time when tech-specs are marketed by companies to average people.

Ah, I see the confusion, and it’s understandable. Look for if the “B” is capitalized or not.

Mb, Gb, etc = bits

MB, GB, etc = bytes

Think the larger letter is the larger size.

You’ve actually got that a bit twisted. Not saying the bigger number doesn’t benifit the ISPs, but it actually is the industry standard to use bits per second when measuring throughput. This is because data transfer is a continuous stream, whereas data at rest is chunked so when talking about storage we use bytes. It’s a bit weird but you get used to it.

I don’t think you can compare a park/field to a manicured putting green. You can’t see the ground through the grass. Either way, play it if you like, to each their own.

Lawn darts was a dangerous game to begin with, so I’m not too shaken up about losing it, but I disagree that the bouncing is part of the game. No ground is perfectly even, and you can’t see imperfections from where you throw. It just creates randomness and makes it not worth playing. These aren’t issues in the other examples you cited. My opinion, obviously.

Ah, got it, it’s for VM migrations. That makes a lot more sense.

Neither DDG or Google has any idea what nvidronfor means. Please explain.

Everyone knows Libs caused COVID.

Jokes aside it’s very easy to criticize any decision during COVID after the fact, but it’s much harder to make the case you could have done it better with the facts at the time.

Can you quickly run me through how USB over IP is helping you out? I get it for devices that are physically distant, but how is the abstraction helping you for reboots? Isn’t it just the server you’re rebooting that talks to the USB device anyway?

So now makers and hobbiest’s just can’t have magnets? Surely that’s an overreaction.

Not sure if you’re aware, but Duracell and probably others coat button batteries in a chemical that tastes bad in order to discourage ingestion.

I see where these regulations are coming from, but we can’t just ban away anything that could be harmful. I just recently bought a bunch of magnets like these for a using in 3D printed models. I don’t have any kids, but I do have pets and so they’re stored away in their own case and not left around. People just need to be responsible. I mean, we don’t ban bleach but you sure as hell shouldn’t drink it!

I was at a company picknic this summer and was watching people trying to play a pitiful version of Lawn Darts. The darts were weighted but would just bounce off the ground and ruin a good shot. Lawn darts, or darts of any kind, simply don’t work as a game when you take the pointy end away. I will say though, that a company outing where there’s people milling about is not a good place to play lawn darts, so I wouldn’t have used the real ones here even if you could.

Proper product packaging, like we use in medicine canisters, and perhaps an extra disclaimer/waiver on purchase is the way to go on these things IMO.

Instantly hot? Sexuality. Dressing in clothing that shows off their body, the way they smile, being flirty, a sparkle in their eye, etc.

Being hot is just about attraction to me. It tells me they can be fun. Now, you can tank that hotness in an instant by being rude to a waiter, being shallow, unable to hold a conversation, etc. In my experience hot people tend to have weaker personalities because they don’t have to work on them as much. Hot is often not worth it, but it can’t be… hot.

Eww, yeah that’s not cool. Was that Samsung forcing that on the phone or the carrier? I know US carries are atrocious for their uninstallable apps like that. Regardless shame on Samsung and the others for allowing it. The only apps that came on mine were Samsung apps.

Regardless, your dislike is completely justified. I really wish someone else could step up and make the phone we need. Repairable, jack/slot, small-midsize, proper updates, but I just don’t think the market is there. The iphone-ification of smartphones is basically complete, and now Microsoft is trying to do it to the desktop. In the future there’s going to be a lot of old people telling stories to their grandkids about how they used to own a computer and choose what was installed…

My very fist Android phone was a Samsung and while it had all kinds of cool features like TV out and an IR blaster, the software never got updated. I ended up installing and tinkering with custom ROMs and that led me to the Nexus line when it first launched. I stayed with Google ever since because they kept the Nexus and A series affordable, and had a much nicer clean OS with constant updates.

When they switched from Nexus to Pixel they decided they wanted to price it like an iPhone, even though it totally lacked the polish and value proposition. I stuck with my Nexus until they introduced the A series. It was affordable and new, but lacked video out, wireless charging, and thr SD card. Things the Nexus line all had. It was the beginning of the iphone-ification of Android IMO, but there were no other good options because every other vendor abandoned their phones after a year.

Now several years later things have only gotten worse. The amount of brands selling Android phone that are actually decent is like 2, maybe 3, they all are just slate designs with nothing interesting, and only a few actually give you proper updates. Samsung stands out in that crowd for having the most interesting phones and still decent support, but I agree that they are too expensive when new, and the locked bootloader sucks.

As you mentioned I’m 100% I’m just talking about Samsung’s phones here. Samsung as an entire company is one I would stay away from in most cases. I also would never buy one of their appliances and while I may have considered their TVs in the past due to them being an excellent panel manufacturer, I would think twice today.

There used to be a lot more wars and skermishes you know, like a lot. We are living in an age of relative peace, with the exception of the last few years. We need to get back on track or the world will start to destabilize and we’ll be back to wars being the norm.

Canada is a NATO partner and that comes with financial and military obligations. We need to keep up those obligations AND tackle housing and affordability. Canada has problems, you and I know we do, and we need to work on them, but things would be so much worse in a chaotic world where countries are invading each other all the time.

Sticking our head in the sand until problems are on our doorstep is NOT the answer. That’s what the US is currently doing and it’s absolute insanity. The US went through huge efforts to get the world on their currency, get military bases all over the world, fund aid programs, all to project soft power. It’s cheaper and better for everyone to not have the war in the first place. They used to understand this. Now they’re throwing all that into the woodchipper to become isolationists? They’re shooting themselves in the foot and we don’t want to reach for that same gun.

That’s short term thinking. I totally get where you’re coming from, but the world has let Russia get away with too much already. They need to be stopped or it’s going to be so so so much more painful for all of us than the funding cuts we’re talking about. If Ukraine falls we won’t have a war on our doorstep tomorrow, but it’s a domino that will destabilize the peace we prosper from and may very well bring about the next big war. Clearly that’s bad for Canada.

Too often we find ourselves in these zero sum mindsets. If we do X we could have been investing in our own Y. We can and should do both. We don’t need to drag Canada into the war and start converting our automotive plants into tank factories, that’s way too far, but we do need to pay our fair share (the amount we agreed to if not more) to make sure that we keep this era of peace alive. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s good for Canada in the long run too.

The world is a complicated place with lots of things going on simultaneously. We have to be able to tackle multiple issues at the same time. If the Liberals are saying we need to cut our social programs to fund the military, then say fuck no, fund the military AND the social programs. Tax the wealthy more, nationalize an industry that has gotten too fat, find a way to bring in money not at the cost of citizens. If we have to cinch our belts a little in the short term so be it, but it’s not my preference and we shouldn’t let our politicians give us these binary options.