smeg

Armchair intellectual, sometimes philosopher, all-around learning junkie, cybersecurity and sysadmin, parent, and gamer. Everything is political.

A chicken in every pot and free poetry for all.

Admin of assortedflotsam.com

Pronouns: He/Him/His
Pixelfed: https://pixel.infosec.exchange/@smeg
Location: Haarlem, The Netherlands
Elite Dangerous: CMDR Smeggysmeg

Public Key

npub1f80a3v02ky0uqfq50j2ux26n5rngt57ktpn7ty0gzhhhcd3x9ndqtz6m36

NIP-05 Address

smeg_at_assortedflotsam.com@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsynh7ck84tz87qys28e9wr9df6pe5960t9sel9j85ptmmuxcnzekspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsf4xvr8

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1f80a3v02ky0uqfq50j2ux26n5rngt57ktpn7ty0gzhhhcd3x9ndqtz6m36

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Last Notes

2026-10-13 22:13:34 UTC

#AgeVerification is becoming Google's new tool to close the #Android ecosystem. Apps are now performing age verification checks again Google accounts, and only Google accounts, and otherwise won't function without it.
It doesn't matter what you configure on the device, or what your other services store -- only what #Google can control.
It's starting with a bank app, one of the largest banks. Despite the fact that the bank already knows its customers.
https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/issues/3876
#KeepAndroidOpen

2026-06-21 15:46:06 UTC

It is no longer possible to get in contact with a human support agent at #Thuisbezorgd
If the bot can't offer a solution, such as when a restaurant is out of stock of most items in your order and you ask them to cancel the entire order, and the restaurant ignores you and keeps your money, you're out of luck because the bot doesn't accept that as a possibility.
#takeout #takeaway #ai #chatbot #chatbots #enshittification #Scam

2026-05-14 10:47:24 UTC

@npub1z7x…q5jf Is your video with Evan in London coming to Nebula?
Thanks!

2026-05-06 08:51:58 UTC

"We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." -- Louis Brandeis
#newbrandeis #antitrust #democracy #bigtech #surveillancecapitalism #wealth #wealthconcentration #politics #politicaltheory #autocracy #corporatism #corporatismisfascism #fascism #supremecourt #hipsterantitrust #ftc #regulation #regulatorycapture

2026-04-29 15:05:17 UTC

‘The cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees’: Nvidia exec says right now AI is more expensive than paying human workers
https://fortune.com/2026/04/28/nvidia-executive-cost-of-ai-is-greater-than-cost-of-employees/
#ai #llm #aibubble #labor #labour #swe #claude #chatgpt #anthropic #openai #noai #stopai #fuckai

2026-04-20 20:14:48 UTC

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What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it.

2026-04-20 06:53:27 UTC

Anthropic secretly installs spyware when you install Claude Desktop
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/anthropic-spyware/
#claude #ai #llm #privacy #cybersecurity #spyware #fuckai #stopai #dataprivacy #anthropic

2026-04-18 21:56:58 UTC

Elephants are born weighing 250 Ibs. They are the biggest babies on earth except for Motorists when one bike lane is added in their city.
#urbanism #bikes #bikecommuting #fuckcars #motonormativity #cars #transportation #trucks #highways #roads #bikelane #bikelanes
https://assortedflotsam.com/system/media_attachments/files/116/427/936/424/753/282/original/4f8b025ea796b98b.jpg

2026-04-11 10:54:37 UTC

The answer: ban driving private vehicles. Conserve the fuel for essentials. Everyone should walk, cycle, or take transit.
Fuel protests: Hundreds of Irish forecourts run out of fuel
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0e7rpjqw5po

2026-04-10 16:56:59 UTC

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the biggest problem is banking. I have to authorize any online transaction with my bank app - which is a good thing! But my bank app only works on iOS and Google-certified Android - which is a problem with both ecosystems becoming more shitty

2026-04-02 17:02:07 UTC

I find the lotion/skincare/hair bottle section of the drugstore to be completely overwhelming. The products don't seem to be organized by type or body application area, nor are they clearly organized by brand. What's the difference between the products? And there are minor variations of the same product? Some are liquid, solid, cream, or foam?!
Who needs this many options? Why is it all so expensive?

2026-03-14 19:02:57 UTC

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what got me over range anxiety was road tripping my Bolt EV from NWA to Duluth MN and back, twice. Max charge rate of 55W, so you learn to make every mile count.
After that, trips around Arkansas and the Ozarks was a piece of cake

2026-03-11 11:02:09 UTC

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they are the scam

2026-02-23 20:44:11 UTC

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donation coming in 3, 2, 1.... Investigation cancelled

2025-12-01 19:40:55 UTC

Today I learned that PRINTER TONER is region locked.
I brought my Lexmark MFP from the US to Europe. I can promise you that EU toner is not cheaper.
#printers #lexmark #printer #enshittification #region #regionalpricing #regionlock #regionlocks
https://assortedflotsam.com/system/media_attachments/files/115/645/993/103/296/172/original/c189bc6ef3d3efbe.jpg

2025-11-28 20:34:57 UTC

Leftists: "We should feed starving kids"
Fascists: "The only thing kids are good for is working in the coal mines while I enjoy my $12,000 caviar"
Centrists: "I literally cannot tell you two apart."

2025-10-29 07:42:49 UTC

Cybersecurity is a huge space now. It's not just 1 thing. There's no way to be a "cybersecurity" expert across the entire spectrum. Be skeptical of anyone who claims to be.
#cybersecurity #security #infosec
https://assortedflotsam.com/system/media_attachments/files/115/456/310/700/085/127/original/9d5096c18b6e8aea.png

2025-09-13 19:35:38 UTC

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I moved to the Netherlands with mild asthma thinking the air quality here wouldn't be a problem, but I'm finding myself needing to use my inhaler :ablobsigh:

2025-09-10 20:24:22 UTC

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the only way to detect the sought content is to collect and analyse all content.
The carve out for politicians makes it obvious.

2025-09-10 12:20:11 UTC

Trump is going to start trying to speedrun the dissolution of NATO, or kick countries out, or find some other way to neuter it. I guarantee it. He will always bend to Russia.

2025-09-05 21:50:02 UTC

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Looks like none of my publishings are in LibGen.

2025-09-02 06:50:10 UTC

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anything not to blame economic woes on multinational corporations and billionaires

2025-07-31 10:30:47 UTC

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which is funny, given where per-capita crime and poverty are concentrated the most

2025-07-09 12:38:45 UTC

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I coached my son's soccer team for a few years, and I found that most well-to-do parents around here are putting their kids in highly competitive, selective, and expensive private leagues, even at a very young age (kindergarten).
It's starving the rec leagues of motivated parents who have the time to volunteer.
It's dumb because it's committing the kids to a lot of time and travel despite the fact that 99% of kids are never "going pro."
It also has a segregation vibe to it.

2025-06-29 04:47:07 UTC

USA -- failed state
Half of all private-sector workers in the U.S. have no access to a retirement plan, study finds https://share.google/cFblRY05yBsYP1FWP

2025-06-27 18:11:33 UTC

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I saw that article. It contains some valid points - that the savings of living outside of a city are lost to car dependency, and that cheaper living is sometimes an illusion. But the author made so many odd choices and has such a specific lifestyle expectancy that they were never a good fit for Bentonville and a bad representative for critiquing this area.

2025-06-25 13:38:11 UTC

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I'm concerned

2025-05-12 01:30:03 UTC

Pretty cool. My current Oral B electric toothbrush has a broken battery cap, and luckily I found a replacement design on Thingiverse instead of needing to but a new toothbrush. This should be normalized.
Philips debuts 3D printable components to repair products | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/philips-debuts-3d-printable-components-to-repair-products
#righttorepair #plannedobsolesce #repair #repairable #repairability #3dprint #3dprinting #philips

2025-04-22 13:03:42 UTC

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I live a mile away and received no warning

2025-04-11 12:11:42 UTC

So a fetus is a person when trying to deny women rights, but not when the hospital's wallet is on the line? It's obvious the true ideology here is about controlling women and nothing more.
Aiming to limit damages, Catholic hospital argues a fetus isn't the same as a 'person'
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/04/09/aiming-to-limit-damages-catholic-hospital-argues-a-fetus-isnt-the-same-as-a-person/
#abortion #womensrights #abortionishealthcare #catholic #prolife #prochoice #fetalpersonhood #hospital #liability #lawsuit

2025-03-17 13:57:27 UTC

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an update that enhances the user experience!

2025-03-13 02:47:11 UTC

A big problem problem I'm having planning a trip to the Netherlands is that bike shares, and to an extent public transit, assume that every rider has a smartphone and is adult sized - and I'm traveling with a child.
For transit, we can buy an anonymous card at a station I think. But bike activation requires a smartphone per bike, no options.

2025-03-12 23:17:06 UTC

Immigration accounted for all U.S. population growth in 2022-23, first time since 1850
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/immigration-accounted-us-population-growth-2022-23-first-time-1850-rcna196052
#immigration #population #demographics

2025-03-06 04:22:41 UTC

Privatize roads, then. Not a single road makes a profit. There should be a feedback loop that if roads aren't profitable, then we shouldn't be subsidizing the roads on behalf of the automotive industry. /s
We need public goods and public services that only work at economies of scale.
Musk suggests USPS and Amtrak should be privatized, need a "feedback loop" for success
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/elon-musk-suggests-us-privatize-postal-service-amtrak-rcna194960
#musk #privatization #fuckcars #motonormativity #autonormativity #infrastructure

2025-02-27 03:30:30 UTC

Nothing is possible?
https://assortedflotsam.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/073/730/049/941/174/original/70104390bf53fc54.jpg

2025-02-24 19:21:52 UTC

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maybe those worker relocation mandates? No one local is seeing those wage increases.
And when Walmart demands they accept a salary reduction or find a new job, they'll have nowhere to go.

2025-02-06 16:09:56 UTC

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the amount of Americans having their guns confiscated entering Canada and decrying, "but muh second amendment" is amazing to watch

2025-02-06 16:09:00 UTC

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I recently watched this entire series, and America is definitely Canada's #1 source country for illegal drugs, guns, and illegal immigrants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Security:_Canada%27s_Front_Line
There's an American and Australian version of the show, too. The American CBP seems the most assholeish and least competent. Canada and Australia actually have firmer rules on some things than the US, but they're so much more polite and competent about it. Better at informing and helping people.

2025-02-05 16:58:53 UTC

Update on my telemarketing spam problem: I was getting a call every hour all day long during business hours, for the past 2 weeks. I got it to stop! How?
I turned off Google Phone Screening, and then when a call came in, I spoke to them in Korean! Over and over, no English. Of course, I only know a handful of phrases, but that was enough.
Just like that, the telemarketing stopped.
#telemarketing #lifehack

2025-01-20 05:46:33 UTC

I think it's really telling that Google, Microsoft, et al feel the need for bruteforce AI into our lives rather than sell us on it. It's clearly not for our benefit - it's for theirs. Corporate legal , IP, and data privacy concerns be damned for their commercial customers.
It's time to switch to products that serve our interests, not theirs.
#ai #google #microsoft #googleworkspace #m365 #copilot #gemini #GoogleGemini

2025-01-15 15:15:11 UTC

FDA bans Red No. 3, artificial coloring used in beverages, candy and other foods
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-bans-red-no-3-artificial-coloring-beverages-candy-rcna185479
#fooddye #artificialcoloring #dyes #fda #redno3 #foodcoloring #foodsafety #consumersafety #consumerprotection

2025-01-15 01:33:45 UTC

Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie, whose $300 million superyacht was defaced by environmental activists, has a home in L.A. so vast that it alone guzzles 2.3 million gallons of water every year, more than the annual usage of 76 American households combined.
https://luxurylaunches.com/celebrities/nancy-walton-la-mansion-water-usage-13012025.php
#lafire #lafires #lafires2025 #fires #billionaires #climatecrisis #environment #water #waterwaste #walmart

2025-01-06 23:53:23 UTC

There is literally no amount of lead that is safe for human consumption, and definitely not safe for human development.
Food safety failure seems to be a feature in the United States.
FDA sets new lower levels for lead in baby food — critics say that’s not enough
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/06/health/lead-baby-food-fda-wellness/index.html
#lead #leadconsumption #leadinfood #babyfood #foodsafety #fda #regulatorycapture

2025-01-05 05:26:16 UTC

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as a premier tier Google Workspace customer, good luck getting a real answer from the Gmail team.

2025-01-05 02:25:46 UTC

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seen in Fayetteville, Arkansas last week
https://assortedflotsam.com/system/media_attachments/files/113/773/375/580/623/426/original/c35ff21f785686c7.jpg

2025-01-03 23:49:53 UTC

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as a former Windows sysadmin - remote laptops are hard because people shut them down or suspend them. It will try at those out of hours times, but eventually if it doesn't succeed, it will reach a 'must install' point, maybe 7 or 14 days after it was scheduled, where it will install immediately.
I would always schedule updates to install on shutdown, but ofc a user can opt for a shutdown without updating, or just close the lid (suspend). No updates. Then eventually a forced one.

2024-12-20 16:04:12 UTC

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with the Fayetteville revenue office, the 2 times I went, I showed up right when they opened at 7AM and didn't have my number called until after 10. Hence my search for backdoors

2024-12-20 16:00:45 UTC

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also - if you hate how long it takes to get through the Revenue office, find a small town nearby that only offers DFA services once per week (where the DFA official sets up at a table in their town hall). It's amazingly fast and you can do all of it with 1 person instead of having to move between 3 windows.
I would tell you my secret spot, but I think you're in Benton county. If you're in Washington county, let me know ;)

2024-12-20 15:57:54 UTC

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this was my biggest mistake years ago - registering a vehicle in January. But somehow I was, last week, able to renew my state tags early?
The process gets decidedly easier after you've lived here for 5 years, I think. Until you have an established history in the state, the systems require all of the tax side of the equation to be completed before the tag renewal will be allowed.

2024-12-08 00:53:27 UTC

The Arctic Could Be Functionally Ice-Free in Just a Few Years | Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-arctic-could-be-functionally-ice-free-in-just-a-few-years/
#climatechange #climatecollapse #arctic #arcticice

2024-12-08 00:37:22 UTC

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same. I write alttext in about 90% of cases, but if something is like, say, a comic with multiple frames and images, I could spend 5+ minutes writing that alttext. Writing a description of a visual is not a low-effort casual task; it's more than mere transcription.
Hence the poll. Maybe I should never post those items - but then what is lost to the conversation? Or should we self-censor speech for merely not being accessible to all readers? It's a conundrum to me.

2024-12-08 00:29:37 UTC

If you're not going to take the time to write out fully descriptive alttext, should you refrain from posting an image or video?
#poll

2024-12-07 00:05:49 UTC

Murdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to Automatically Deny Benefits for Sick People
https://futurism.com/neoscope/united-healthcare-claims-algorithm-murder
#insurance #InsuranceCEO #brianthompson #unitedhealthcareceo #unitedhealthcare #healthinsurance #denydefenddepose

2024-11-27 19:20:55 UTC

Cloudflare says it lost 55% of logs pushed to customers for 3.5 hours
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cloudflare-says-it-lost-55-percent-of-logs-pushed-to-customers-for-35-hours/
#cloudflare #infosec #tech

2024-11-24 17:25:34 UTC

How does one reduce their mental load?
I feel like over the trajectory of life, my mental load has only gone up. No reductions, ever. I think I reached critical mass a couple years ago and now I'm being crushed by it.

2024-11-24 02:47:24 UTC

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because they don't support MFA. Easy to bruteforce

2024-11-15 05:40:12 UTC

Arkansas Pastor Sentenced to 50 Yrs for Raping His Minor Children
https://julieroys.com/arkansas-pastor-sentenced-to-50-years-for-raping-his-minor-children/
#arkansas #pastor #pastorarrested #christian #pedophile #notadragqueen

2024-11-14 15:09:54 UTC

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People keep following this pattern:
- Join social network
- Build a network there
- The experience gets shittier due to chasing profits <<
- The site becomes a trash heap
- People struggle to leave because their network is there
- Eventually people leave for new social network
- Rinse and repeat
<< is where things always go wrong. Bluesky is already at that stage due to VC funding.
Meanwhile, an open fediverse is a network we own, so avoids that pitfall (hopefully).

2024-06-10 04:37:19 UTC

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that's the intent: have a chilling effect on people's use of anything socially undesirable or subversive. To control people. And it's working