local

Stuff posted in this site by me.

Standard Mandarin will be a challenge

/ rucksack / ,

The cynical observation is that people pay a lot of money to register as operators for new gTLDs, and who is going to turn down that money? The operators may not make much money (but maybe they do, from some spammers), but the people who approve new gTLDs and get money for them sure do.

An interesting report on newly used domain names and their usage in spam – Chris Siebenmann

We just watched the Fallout TV series and the cynical observer in us can’t help but think it’s Vault-Tec taking a dollar from us humans to pay RobCo, which in turn takes a dollar from us to pay ArmCo, which in turn takes a dollar from us to pay Big Mt, and so on and so on.

gTLD miners know they are basically unbound by law. They’re going to keep digging into the English dictionary and when they run out, start on other languages.

Standard Mandarin will be a challenge Read More »

We had to be the know-it-all

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The past two weeks have been… weird. At musicbarJerb we’re kinda sorta getting more fare? We think?

The booker is still working through his friends looking to do gigs. It’s a good look for him and his friends but… it leaves us, the staff, with no tips. And that’s really what makes staff stay. Booker is straight up fucking people over just so he looks good.

We’re in Minneapolis so we still get our $15 USD hourly. But also does everyone in town with live music, and if our booker is not maximizing occupancy in the stage, then he’s fucking everyone else over. Apparently The Powers That Be still haven’t gotten the message. They trust him blindingly just cos he’s toured the world over.

They won’t listen to us poors, hourly staff.

But that’s our opinion. We can only see what our wages plus tips are. We also talk to coworkers about it, trying to get a feel for the situation. Already got two people out the door cos _they’re not making enough money_. We do know for a fact this is not a situation they see at the jazz spot over on Nicollet Mall. Their staff have stayed for a long, long time.

Knowing our luck, those people are going to walk and instead of moving me up, The Powers That Be will hire new people, cos we’re the only who know where everything is. There are multiple bartenders, there are multiple hosts, there are multiple servers, there are multiple cooks.

We had to be the know-it-all Read More »

the human isn’t moving up at musicbarJerb.

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We’re getting used to the beatings.

Already got in trouble with The Powers That Be, at musicbarJerb, due to the human complimenting people in ways that are not workplace approved by a federal agency in the United States of America.

(the human hugged and kissed someone on the forehead, and complimented someone else endlessly. But they also brought up work roles and that’s a NO NO).

The human is apologetic, and the entities running this here blog have made sure to adjust all expectations and hope accordingly.

Capitalism demands our (remainder) of soul. We shan’t give it. We may license it.

the human isn’t moving up at musicbarJerb. Read More »

And that’s facts

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Extreme closeup of an stage. There's half a human in there, and what looks to be the top end of a bass?

🎶 today was a good day. We think.

We’ve been at musicbarJerb for just over a month. It’s been pretty good other than the physical layer (aka “my body”) suffering under the stresses of long-thought-gone abuse, for we are a mere runner. We run to help the bar, help the servers, help the kitchen.

Our bosses didn’t think the job was so physical, but hey, here we are, the only hourly employee to actually get full time hours. We kinda know the food, we kinda know the drinks, we kinda know when to fuck off and let people make out uninhibited instead of refilling their water glasses.

Maybe, in time, we’ll move up. We don’t expect it. It’s not Minnesota culture to have people like me serve you, or make you drinks.

And that’s facts Read More »

Yes, this includes you

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Google’s instructions will only work if everything goes smoothly, and as someone with hundreds of hours in ADB from testing various Android versions, I will guess that it will probably not go smoothly.

Source: Google’s Pixel storage issue fix requires developer tools and a terminal | Ars Technica

People forget google hates the fact they exist, which means you’re a sweaty, dirty, bloody meaty thing handling their perfect hardware and their perfect software.

Yes, this includes you Read More »

I got the expensive thing and paid for it

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Some years ago we purchased one of these, which were recommended by the Wirecutter as the best monitor arms you could get

Fully Jarvis Monitor Arm - fits up to 32" Computer Display (Single, Silver)

All was good and we got plenty of use out of the thing. A few years later the monitor ended up at my workplace but to do so we took the plate off and put the monitor back on its own stand.

During this timeframe we lost the VESA plate that attaches to the back of a monitor, which then locks into the actual mount. This was a pain in the ass cos we like to have stuff on the desk while we find a space for said stuff, and not having the monitor on the actual desk surface makes everything that much easier to clean. Attempting to find a replacement plate directly through Jarvis was impossible as they sold themselves to Herman Miller— so replacement parts aren’t within easy reach, much less at decent prices.

Then a few weeks ago while looking for something else I actually hit on these:

Mount-It! Replacement Monitor VESA Plate, 75,100mm Silver

They are a perfect fit not only for the Fully Jarvis arms, but also for these cheaper Monoprice arms. These arms get you 90% of the functionality the more expensive arms have, but they’re half the price of the Jarvis arms. That’ll teach us to get the expensive thing to show off when you don’t even look at it except to rewire things.

Just putting this out here in case you’re also running into issues sourcing replacement parts, specially if you work in an office.

I got the expensive thing and paid for it Read More »

Of course they knew it was illegal. They just didn’t care.

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Schwalb’s DC lawsuit cites a former “high-ranking manager” at Greystar Management Services, one of the RealPage customers named in the suit, as confirming that landlords used rent management software to collude and raise prices. “He responded that of course they did—it’s the entire reason landlords used the software,” according to the complaint.

Source: 14 big landlords used software to collude on rent prices, DC lawsuit says | Ars Technica

Say, what are the chances there are other cartels in other cities that are also artificially inflating prices through the use of software? We get that landbastards want to make it easy for themselves to maximize profits as we all live in a capitalist society, but this is egregious. There is a difference between profiting and profiteering.

There is a high likelihood there’s a cartel here in Minneapolis given how city government feels safe in fucking life up for everyone within city limits.

We hope they all get fucked.

Of course they knew it was illegal. They just didn’t care. Read More »

At least the highway will have no traffic out to the big box store and back

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Filling so much empty ground-floor space may require cities to rethink what brings people downtown. It may force officials to change how they regulate buildings, and property owners to shift how they profit from them.

Source: The Ground-Floor Window Into What’s Ailing Downtowns – The New York Times

“May”? The NYT are just hedging hard on this. Cities will have to rethink how downtowns function, officials will have to change how buildings are regulated, property owners will have to shift how they profit from them, businesses will have to adapt to a different customer base.

Case in point, this article in the Minneapolis St. Paul Journal(disable your javascript to read)

Fhima and other community members who make their living downtown see firsthand how the absence of thousands of Target (NYSE:TGT) workers at the retailer’s Nicollet Mall headquarters impacts the city’s overall vibrancy. From shops and restaurants to public transportation and property values, downtown Minneapolis is struggling without a strong, consistent daytime population there to support it.

At the end of the article they actually have a section titled “What Target can do about”. Newsflash: they en’t doing shit. They just held their third auction to clear own office equipment. Even if they wanted to bring everyone back they don’t even have the furniture to put those people in.

Cities at large could make an effort to populate downtowns with small businesses, small/medium size landbastards, and change zoning to allow for living in skyscrapers. But that takes political capital no one wants to spend.

A lot of people would love to live downtown. Hell, a lot of people already do, but if they want basic necessities they need to get them delivered, or worse, drive out to the suburbs to get them.

At least the highway will have no traffic out to the big box store and back Read More »

Anyway here’s wonderwall

/ local /

In the past three months:

  • Moved to a new apartment. It sucks easily the worst dwelling I’ve had of the past ten years.
  • Changed jobs. I am now at helpdeskJerb
  • Almost got completely fucked over by someone. In their story I’m the villain. I’ll let it be.
  • Got into a fight when someone tried to steal my bike. My nose still hurts three weeks later.
  • Fell in with bluesky. It’s nice, but gods the fucken developers are being fucken idiots.

I’ll try to blog more often.

Anyway here’s wonderwall Read More »

Smartly helping you break the law

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Straight from the horse’s mouth:

Insert smart chips & building blocks in your Google Doc
Insert smart chips in your Google Doc to include information about:

Other users with Gmail or Workspace email addresses
Other Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files
Dates or Google Calendar events
Places and map directions

Where there’s a smart chip in your document, you and other users can hover or click on a chip to get more information.

If you are dealing with confidential information you should stop using Google Sheets immediately.

  • There is no way to disable them.
  • Google will insist on forwarding or sharing the resource with people within the organization even if do not need access to it.
  • The changes are not reversible via Undo functionality. You have to revert to a previous version of the file (File -> Version History -> See Version History). Good luck to you if you’ve been working on the file for hours/days and google shits all over your file.
  • What happens when google kills the feature because no one is using it? The original data that was kept in those cells is gone.

This is particularly important if you’re dealing with FERPA or HIPAA data. Switch to excel, which is what you should’ve done from the beginning.

Smartly helping you break the law Read More »