No Stupid Questions

The moderator told me questions like this aren't stupid and they're the point of this community.

I want an answer.

I ordered a data-logger for a work-related project, Which comes with windows software and need admin priviledge (that I don't have due to corporate IT policies). So I lost 2h going to the IT department trying to get someone with admin right installing this driver :(

What's the reason hardware come mostly with Windows driver (rather than Linux) and why do these software/driver need admin privilege for installation where their customer base are professional who often don't have the right privilege on their PC ? Is there something technically forcing the privilege elevation to install a driver ?

An actual argument I recently saw:

Person B: "Any site which contains slurs against trans people in its sign up process is unreliable" (was referring to k!wifarms)

Person A: "Slurs aren't considered bad in most countries"

Person B: "That doesn't justify their usage. For example, conversion therapy isn't considered bad or banned in most countries, that doesn't mean conversion therapy is justified or good."

Person A: "What are you talking about? Conversion therapy is banned in most countries"

Person B: "Shows a diagram showing that conversion therapy is only banned in a handful of countries"

Person A: "I mean in most civilized countries"

I've seen lots of other people refer to countries as civilized or uncivilized in similar contexts. Is this generally considered to be racist?

The title is a bit of an exaggeration.

Why do corporations change shampoo and toothbrushes so often? I'll go through 10 different shampoos and toothbrushes, then find ones I like. I'll probably be able to purchase them again a few times before the ones I like are no longer available.

What are the forces driving manufacturer's to change their basic wares so often? Besides Wall St. greed, that is?

Its like everyone is in shock because the GOP is doing exactly what they said they would.

Aside from the vowels a e i o u (which are special) and also the pseudo-vowel y, the rest of the consonants roughly split into a few kind of groups. The -ee endings (b, c, d, etc.) is the most common, but there is also e- (like s, l), -ay (like k), a- (like r). There's also some weird ones like q (kyu) and the worst offender is "double u" (w).

If the pronunciations of the consonants were standardised, what should be the new "standard" for pronouncing them? Should it be -ee, or something like -ay? How would the alphabet song sound?

Like, I feel like, books, its just a bunch of description that never truely paint a scene.

In a movie or TV show, you see exactly what the scene is, exactly what is happening. I mean, of course, sometime they cut corners and cut of parts of a book, but otherwise, its more easily conveyed.

Like the popular saying, a picture is worth a thousands words. But I'd say: a video is worth a million pictures.

Wondering if your typical/average/normie person (millennials and younger) know it or know about it. It’s enabled on reddit and discord?

They're two different tools with different purposes, so why treat one like it can replace the other?

today i was reminded of hastebin for some reason.

for context: hastebin.com was a site hosting the open source hastebin software to temporarily store text. it was very simple: you paste your text and then you save it. it could then be shared with anyone.

few years later it got acquired by toptal and the service went to the shitters but i digress..

how can an open source project just be acquired by someone like toptal? i know there tend to be central leaders on open source projects (which can be passed onto others) and hosting services can be costly but i figured due to the nature of open source that it is harder to take over a project..

yes i know forking is an option and that people did do that but still. under the stewardship of toptal from what ive seen the project went quite in the gutters and i havent heard of hastebin in years..

Just morbid curiosity. I've had neighbors whose cat escaped before. And now I hear stray cats meowing in the middle of the night, screaming and fighting with other cats, and I just got curious... what if one of them is my neighbor's cat? 🤔 (hopefully not)

I mean, I would think that cats who get regulary fed should have a better chance? But then, they never had a fight before so they would never have experience...

Like, I imagine this scenario is equvalent of a human getting lost and then there is a homeless person who wants to fight you (not that they would, just an example). I think a person who've had proper food is gonna win against a homeless person. So with this logic, the indoor cat should win against the stray/feral cat? Am I right?

I can't afford premium but they sometimes bombard me with ads other times it's reasonable. Doesn't seem to be the time of day.

Idk if it's just me or if it's because my PC is ancient, but it kind of feels like pop_os is kind of shit. I'm always having some issue or complaint or another with it. My laptop runs mint and I've had very few issues, but with pop it feels like I'm fighting the OS every step of the way, from install to daily usage.

Idk, kind of a venting question but w/e

If you look at how the USA has progressed, the south is STILL stuck in certain trends that affect current day society. It's why they're the bible belt, but states like Arizona and California aren't reffered to as "the south".

Geographically it makes no sense. California, Arizona, New Mexico, they're all geographically south, but that's not what that means.

And racism in the south is just so much more amplified than it is in other states. When you think about it, the 1860s are not THAT long ago in terms of societies.

I think we're still being affected by actions from those times. A family experiences hardship. So they raise their kid to not trust those that caused it. And that kid grows up and does the same. Without a break in the chain, it just perpetuates more of the same.

So we're only about 8 generations removed from that time. It's really not that much. And OBVIOUSLY slavery is going to cause racism.

But what if the slaves were left on Africa, and the plantation owners just had automated drones that did all the work?

What would racism today look like?

Something like codingfont.com, but for non-monospace sans-serif fonts (for finding a good font for the UI and/or a good font for websites)

codingfont.com has been mighty helpful for finding a decent monospace font! Wondering if there's a similar thing for regular fonts...

edit: codingfont, not codingfonts!

Where would be a good place to share my experience to switching to a combination of non-big tech, open-source, and private apps and services? The open source community doesn’t really work as some of the things aren’t FOSS at all, and the privacy community doesn’t really work either as some aren’t necessarily privacy-minded. (same kind of reasoning goes with the communities for linux, linuxgaming, selfhosted, etc. Some of the things are related to that particular topic but many or most are not)

Has been a while since AI were introduced into the daily basis of the users around all the internet. When it firstly came I was curious yeah like everyone and tried some prompts to see "what this thing can do", then, I never, ever, used AI again, because I really never saw it like something necesary, we had automatic systems already, so, the time keep moving to me until this day, when I realized something: how people is dependent of this shit. I mean, REALLY is dependent, and then they go like "I only used it for school 😢" like, are you serious dude? Do you leave your future to an algorithm? Coming back with my question, years have passed, I do think we all have an opinion more developed about AI, what do you think? Fuck it and use it anyways? If that is the case, why blame companys to make more accessible it's use? Like microsoft putting copilot even in notepad. "Microsoft just wants to compile your data." Isn't LLM about that? Why blame them if you are going to use the same problem with different flavor? Not defending Microsoft here, I'm only using it like an example, change it for the company of your own preference.

Leaving the US but still have a couple of things tied down to a US address (remaining bank accounts, tax return, potentially one or two work-related stuff), so I'm wondering it any one of you have used one of those things...

I hope this question is not too weird (if so just tell me and I'll delete it).

As a 21 year old guy from Germany I always admired Americans. What particularly impressed me was their social skills, their outgoing/confident nature and humor.

I don't know if it's also connected with being a German but I'm generally a very shy and introverted person. I have very strong social anxiety and just when someone in public or a neighbor sees me, it creates this overwhelming anxiety because I'm so scared that I will embarrass myself and be awkward because I have very bad self esteem and don't know what to say and how to act. So most of the time I end up saying nothing and hiding myself which is very awkward or I say the bare minimum like to the grocery store cashier like only "Hello" and "Thanks, bye". I have this extreme amount of shame that's blocking me.

Germans might often generally be introverted or awkward but I'm on a whole different level.

Then Americans seem like this stark contrast which feels like the exact opposite. It feels like Americans are on a different level of confidence and extroversion than any country I know.

That makes it almost impossible for me to interact with an American as it creates this immense pressure on me (also cause English isn't my native language).

Even on a daily basis the way they're having small talks in grocery stores or talk to strangers that they're walking by seems impossible for me. And I'm afraid that if I ever would go to the US and people talk to me that I would be extremely awkward and don't say anything and wouldn't be able to smile. And I'm afraid that this might come over as rude and they think bad of me.

I really would wanna interact with an American in person cause it seems like it could be so enriching but right now that seems impossible.

I was wondering if there is anything particular that makes Americans so good at that or if they have any secret. Or maybe they're just on a different level cause they're from the best country in the world and are the best/most capable people in the world.

Cause it's my ultimate dream to be on that same level and interact with people like Americans.

Maybe it's impossible for me to get to anything near that and I will simply never be good enough.

Dumb question because I'm sure the answer is "hell nah". But maybe someone knows more than I.

I've got a night vision monocular, and it's pretty sweet for the price, much to recommend it. Problem is, the thing has such a small FOV that it's no fun, and certainly not practical. You can observe something if you hold very still, and so does the target. I got some infrared strobes off eBay, the kind that clip directly on a 9V battery. Thought they would make cool trail markers for unfamiliar woods. Nope. Again, the FOV is so tight you have to point right at them, even though they're intensely bright.

Another issue is that the screen brightness blinds your natural night vision. It has a lens cover with a pinhole in it that works well enough, but narrows the FOV even further.

Anyone tried the binocular version? I realize the range will be pretty short without carrying an infrared light that projects well. I can handle building that bit!

It’s driving me crazy. Partner on phone, playing videos and games while the TV is running some YouTube reaction stuff.

I wear noise cancelling headphones all day at home because it’s just too much. The volume is so high I can hear it through a closed door. My PC is in the same room as the TV and I can’t even concentrate on a tutorial on how to do some editing stuff.

Partner is also suffering from depression so every freaking time I begged to please turn the tv off, it’s just ended in a 30 minute therapy session at home on how I can improve myself.

Anyone in a similar situation?