TROM Social | Community

Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch: Am I addicted to my smartwatch?

Do they do what they say they do, or are they just making us more stressed?

^{Ruth Clegg (BBC News)}

#technology

Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch: Am I addicted to my smartwatch?

Do they do what they say they do, or are they just making us more stressed?

^{Ruth Clegg (BBC News)}

#technology

Putin vows oil shipments to India will be ‘uninterrupted’ in defiance of US

Narendra Modi says energy security is ‘pillar of the India-Russia partnership’ as two leaders meet in Delhi

^{Hannah Ellis-Petersen (The Guardian)}

#Worldnews

Ontario isn’t auditing doctors for excessive claims, Auditor-General finds

Ontario’s Auditor-General says the province isn’t auditing doctors whose billings raise obvious red flags, including 82 doctors who claimed to have worked 24 hours or more in a single day, a diagnostic radiologist who billed for an average of 461 patients daily and an ophthalmologist who billed $6.7-million in one year, more than twice as much as the next highest biller in the specialty.
The same unnamed ophthalmologist has been investigated three times for allegedly charging patients out-of-pocket fees for services that should be free through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.
The first review found the doctor wrongly charged patients, a second cleared the ophthalmologist, and a third is ongoing.
In an annual report released Tuesday, Ontario Auditor-General Shelley Spence said potential waste in the billing system could be money used to “hire more family physicians.”

Ontario isn’t auditing doctors for excessive claims, Auditor-General finds

Report says 82 physicians billed for 24 hours or more in a single day

^{Kelly Grant (The Globe and Mail)}

#canada

in reply to Otter Raft

Undearius

in reply to Otter Raft • 6 days ago • •

charging patients out-of-pocket fees for services that should be free

This is happening in every province. Some provinces are working to stop this but some are even threatening legal action if that information is known.

Axon Tests Face Recognition on Body-Worn Cameras

Axon Enterprise Inc. is working with a Canadian police department to test the addition of face recognition technology (FRT) to its body-worn cameras (BWCs). This is an alarming development in government surveillance that should put communities everywhere on alert.

As many as 50 officers from the Edmonton Police Department (EPD) will begin using these FRT-enabled BWCs today as part of a proof-of-concept experiment. EPD is the first police department in the world to use these Axon devices, according to a report from the Edmonton Journal.

Axon Tests Face Recognition on Body-Worn Cameras

^{Electronic Frontier Foundation}

#canada

like this

in reply to streetfestival

Avid Amoeba

in reply to streetfestival • 6 days ago • •

We're so cooked, aren't we.

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

in reply to Avid Amoeba

ArmchairAce1944

in reply to Avid Amoeba • 6 days ago • •

In every single meaning of the word.

in reply to streetfestival

ODGreen

in reply to streetfestival • 6 days ago • •

Goes to show, body cameras were never about making cops behave.

☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ via United States | News & Politics

6 days ago • •

☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
6 days ago • •

MIT study finds AI can already replace 11.7% of U.S. workforce

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/mit-study-finds-ai-can-already-replace-11point7percent-of-us-workforce.html

#USA

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

queermunist she/her

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • 6 days ago • •

The study was conducted using a labor simulation tool called the Iceberg Index, which was created by MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

"We built an AI and it told us how good AI is."

in reply to queermunist she/her

☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

in reply to queermunist she/her • 6 days ago • •

Look at it this way, AI is simply exposing the deep absurdity of late capitalism. Much of the economy in the West consists of what Graeber called bullshit jobs which are roles that even people performing them struggle to justify. I'd argue these types of jobs are uniquely vulnerable to replacement by AI.

It's because these jobs produce nothing of tangible, material value. Building a bridge or diagnosing an illness requires engagement with physical and ethical reality. You are accountable to laws of physics, to human bodies, to measurable outcomes. That sort of a job is going to require a human in the loop. An AI tool can be helpful for the worker where it could help zero down on a diagnosis for example, but the final decision needs to be made by a person who can be held responsible. There is little chance that AI, in the form we have today, can replace such jobs.

But much of the modern service and knowledge economy operates in a realm of manufactured meaning. Marketing campaigns, branding, corporate compliance, and middle management layers are roles built around persua

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

poopsmith

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • 6 days ago (Received 5 days ago) • •

Not the person you're replying to, but I think the point is that the study is bullshit, even if the point is apt.

in reply to poopsmith

☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

in reply to poopsmith • 5 days ago • •

You'll have to elaborate. Seems to me that AI taking over a bunch of bullshit jobs amounting to replacing 12% of the workforce is quite plausible.

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

queermunist she/her

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • 5 days ago • •

I absolutely believe bullshit jobs are threatened by AI, I'm just skeptical about simulations being produced by pro-business private schools that have every incentive to flatter their corporate sponsors. MIT has received over two hundred million dollars of investments from IBM for AI research and is seeking an additional billion dollars to build out its AI campus. They're beneficiaries of the bubble.

They have a lot of incentives to lie, here. It sounds like they just built a simulation to tell them what they wanted to hear.

This entry was edited (5 days ago)

in reply to queermunist she/her

☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

in reply to queermunist she/her • 5 days ago • •

It's going to be a self fulfilling prophecy. After all, these studies are produced to convince CEOs to make certain types of business decisions. Their whole point is to convince execs to make the types of policy decisions that they outline.

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

queermunist she/her

in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • 5 days ago • •

That's why I wanted to highlight the absurdity of "We made an AI to tell us AI is good!" because it shows their nature: a snake eating its own ass.

in reply to queermunist she/her

☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

in reply to queermunist she/her • 5 days ago • •

Oh yeah, the whole thing is absurd of course. In my opinion, AI is just exposing the fact that capitalism is a system of engineered scarcity which forces people to do useless work in order to continue existing.

ZeroCool via The Onion

6 days ago • •

ZeroCool
6 days ago • •

Ron DeSantis Signs Bill to Remove the Word “Gay” From All Christmas Songs

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new bill that bans the word “gay” from being used in any Christmas songs past or present, sources confirmed.

^{editorialteam (HARDTIMES)}

#theonion

in reply to xxce2AAb

ExtremeDullard

in reply to xxce2AAb • 6 days ago • •

In fairness, Christmas creeps the shit out of me. It's so gaudy, ultra-commercial and fueled with fake happiness and holiday cheer nobody gets to experience because it's so damn stressful socially and financially, that's one tradition I'd gladly do without.

Fuck Christmas.

Oh and yeah, fuck DeSantis too. No relationship, just something that needs saying.

in reply to ExtremeDullard

TheNovemberFella ✊🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦☸️🛰️🚀

in reply to ExtremeDullard • 6 days ago • •

@xxce2AAb Nailed it 👍 Thanks

@xxce2AAb

jankforlife via Memes

1 week ago (Received 6 days ago) • •

jankforlife
1 week ago (Received 6 days ago) • •

Damn straight

Props to comrade @ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net for this one 🫡

#memes

in reply to jankforlife

felsiq

in reply to jankforlife • 6 days ago • •

This may be the best example of horseshoe theory ever to exist

in reply to felsiq

Cowbee [he/they]

in reply to felsiq • 6 days ago • •

In what way?

in reply to Cowbee [he/they]

felsiq

in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • 5 days ago • •

The way a far-right phrase can be used verbatim by someone on the far left, although with a different flag lol. Love to see it

in reply to felsiq

Cowbee [he/they]

in reply to felsiq • 5 days ago • •

That's the joke, though. It isn't horseshoe theory, implying the far left and right are the same or more similar than different, it's just a joke about the DPRK using red white and blue in their flag.

in reply to Cowbee [he/they]

felsiq

in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • 5 days ago • •

I see it as the literal definition of horseshoe theory but actually applicable for once, where (in this one instance) the far left and right are more similar than different (same words, different flag), but judging from the reaction what I meant to say is not how it came across lol

in reply to felsiq

Cowbee [he/they]

in reply to felsiq • 5 days ago • •

Ah, gotcha. Yea, you made it seem like OP was so far left/right it wrapped around, which isn't what's going on (or something that happens).

in reply to jankforlife

JayJay

in reply to jankforlife • 6 days ago • •

Wtf? Fuck anyone who supports north korea.

in reply to JayJay

Cowbee [he/they]

in reply to JayJay • 6 days ago • •

Guess you'd hate the Black Panther Party, Nelson Mandela and the ANC, and Cuba too.

Cuba reaffirms unwavering solidarity and cooperation with the DPRK - Prensa Latina

Havana, Sep 17 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez reaffirmed its unwavering solidarity and cooperation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the context of the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic…

^{Juan Carlos Dominguez Taño (Prensa Latina)}

in reply to JayJay

RiverRock

in reply to JayJay • 6 days ago • •

We occupied their country, we did to them what Iarael is doing to Palestine, we levelled every single building from the sky and killed 10 to 20% of the population, we bombed their dams to flood their crops and cause famine, we slaughtered and erased entire towns, we deployed germ warfare that we learned from unit 731, then we tried to cut them off from the world and spent 70 years spinning the most insane bullshit tales about them we possibly could to rationalize our colonial savagery. Now the propaganda is so deep that most westerners simply hate them because of a vague fog of ludicrous, contradictory stories and a fuzzy sense that hating them is what you're supposed to do. The truth is, they're just another country the empire tried to annihilate that refused to lay down and die. Instead, they rebuilt their whole goddamn country from scratch with few allies and the weight of the imperial world on their neck. We support the fuck out of the Korean People's Revolution, and can't wait for the people of Occupied Southern Korea, which has one of the highest suicide rates on Earth, to be l... show more

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

in reply to jankforlife

Twongo [she/her]

in reply to jankforlife • 6 days ago • •

🫡

in reply to jankforlife

Weydemeyer

in reply to jankforlife • 5 days ago • •

I support the DPRK but tbh their flag is kinda mid.

in reply to Weydemeyer

jankforlife

in reply to Weydemeyer • 5 days ago • •

acargitz via Canada

6 days ago • •

acargitz
6 days ago • •

Feds' backtracking on climate action is 'fuelling' Quebec separatism, ex-minister Guilbeault says

#canada

like this

in reply to acargitz

Cyborganism

in reply to acargitz • 6 days ago • •

So on peut juste sacrer la CAQ dehors au plus criss, j'avoue que ça devient de plus en plus intéressant.

sand via Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

6 days ago • •

sand
6 days ago • •

What risk might I have accidentally exposed my computer to by viewing a pirated streaming site without AV blocking?

I recently wanted to watch something a film and went to one of the first two sites listed on the Reddit's r/Piracy mega thread under it's online streaming section. I normally use an older laptop that I don't care about and have no sensitive info on but wanted to stream to a projector and only my personal laptop had an hdmi port.

I downloaded firefox exclusively to use for piracy streaming but initially forgot to add ublock origin or another AV extension to the browser. When clicking anywhere on the site, a new tab would open that I'd need to close before I could actually engage with the website content (search, play, etc), which had been my experience in the past using online streaming sites. Once, one of the popup tabs opened and immediately started a file download without my permission. I didn't open it and deleted it immediately but have recently been noticing some performance issues on my device Mostly that web pages and their content are slower to load than before and my computer has gotten overwhelmed and frozen a few times - not extremely substantially but en

For context: I have a ThinkPad with windows 10 installed and an Intel i5 CPU. My default browser has been Opera for a few months now.

I just checked and the compressed zip file is in my recycling bin (not fully off my computer) and I'm not sure if/how it can affect my device without me ever opening or running its contents. I don't have an antivirus background process on my device aside from the default Microsoft Defender Antivirus that comes with Windows 10.

Is there possibly somewhere I could upload the file to check for malware/scan the file to know what it does (titled "XVlDEOSs_Elena_Frost_IMG_223606" - searching for that title didn't match anything on google)? Is there any chance the file is benign and the performance issues I'm noticing are unrelated to this situation?

TLDR: How concerned should I be about the possibility of a virus on my device from a popup window automatically downloading a zip file I never opened?

Would reinstalling my OS be the main/only possible resolution to a potential virus/worm/malware? I'd really like to avoid that if possible but many of the articles/info I can find about it have inconsistent info about risk and steps to take for resolution.
I don't know much about what kinds of risks I might've exposed my computer to. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

#piracy

like this

in reply to sand

liliumstar

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

You can upload potential threats to virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

There are/were vulnerabilities that are zero click, but in this case I imagine they are just banking on people clicking it in this case. If you're not familiar xvideos is a porn site.

I think you are probably fine as you were running windows defender. It might be a good idea to do a manual full scan and perhaps refresh your browser.

VirusTotal

^{www.virustotal.com}

like this

in reply to liliumstar

sand

in reply to liliumstar • 6 days ago • •

Thank you for that link! It was really helpful for my piece of mind to upload it and see the specific types of threats found in the file scripts! I'm currently parsing through some of the threats/phrases to make sure I would've needed to unzip the file for it to cause any harm but I really appreciate your help!

I am familiar with the concept of xvideos and assume it was titled that to be perhaps enticing (? 😅) for someone to unzip it? Regardless thank you for the kind explanation!

in reply to sand

bamboo

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

FWIW with virus total, you don't even need to upload the file, just provide the hash to see if is known to virus total. The name may be auto generated which wouldn't help much in searching, but the hash is based on the file contents.

in reply to sand

buckykat [none/use name]

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

You should wipe your whole drive and install linux, just to be safe

in reply to buckykat [none/use name]

nivellian

in reply to buckykat [none/use name] • 6 days ago • •

Always Linux, the OS isn't the problem

in reply to buckykat [none/use name]

oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]

in reply to buckykat [none/use name] • 6 days ago • •

I mean, really, everyone should. Just to be safe.

in reply to oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]

buckykat [none/use name]

in reply to oscardejarjayes [comrade/them] • 6 days ago • •

Just to be safe.

in reply to buckykat [none/use name]

claim_arguably

in reply to buckykat [none/use name] • 6 days ago • •

I second this. Be safe

in reply to sand

Snot Flickerman

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

Arbitrary code execution is tricky to pull off without an existing exploit (or a zero day exploit).

It's smart that you didn't open the file, but I suspect it's probably nothing because it would have required you opening the file for any virus contained within to execute.

Still, worth just running your standard Windows Defender virus scan on it and on your computer in general, if nothing else.

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

like this

in reply to Snot Flickerman

sand

in reply to Snot Flickerman • 6 days ago • •

That's good to know! I wasn't totally sure what kind of attack I would be at risk for and trying to describe the problem to a search engine in a few phrases was giving me scary results 😅 Thanks!

in reply to Snot Flickerman

ozymandias

in reply to Snot Flickerman • 6 days ago • •

not true, there have been malicious files that are triggered without opening it when windows tries to generate a preview and such

in reply to ozymandias

chicken

in reply to ozymandias • 6 days ago • •

There's at least some difference between "have been" and "this is currently likely to happen", since if it's known then it would have been fixed. I've gotten viruses before from just visiting websites but it was decades ago and there's no way the same method would work now.

in reply to chicken

ozymandias

in reply to chicken • 6 days ago • •

obviously old exploits “have been” patched, but the class of exploits still exists and a NEW exploit, which is unknowable to us, COULD be exploiting via a no-interaction file download.
NEW methods are frequently invented so to say he’s safe is incorrect.
999/1,000 they’re just trying to get you to run some file.
and for fun, check out Malvertising

a blend word describing the use of online advertisement or advertising to spread malware

^{Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}

in reply to sand

cecilkorik

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

It's very unlikely you are infected by anything unless you were using some crazy settings or addons, or unless you were hit by some extreme 0-day exploit that hasn't become widespread yet. Firefox does not and normally cannot execute files it downloads automatically nor are videos a likely risk for remote code execution now that we have technologies like data execution prevention built into processors, if you're attacked by malware it will rely on some other vector or trickery to get you to execute the file. I would expect that your performance issues are unrelated, but you should also check Firefox's addons and extensions as well as your task manager startup tab to make sure nothing has obviously been installed without your knowledge.

One thing that sticks out at me is the fact that you only mention the file's "title" and if you haven't already you should make sure Windows Explorer is set up to ALWAYS show full file extensions, that's like a basic safety measure that really should be on by default but isn't, and it's really mandatory if you're messing around on the darker p

like this

in reply to cecilkorik

sand

in reply to cecilkorik • 6 days ago • •

Thanks for the thorough reply! The download was a zipped folder with other files inside, my bad for not clarifying! I'm not sure how windows handles zip files compared to other file types but I'll definitely look into that. Nothing obvious has been installed or added to Firefox as far as I can tell and I definitely checked out my task manager when my device performance started acting up. I appreciate your insight!

in reply to cecilkorik

HarkMahlberg

in reply to cecilkorik • 6 days ago • •

Windows Explorer is set up to ALWAYS show full file extensions, that's like a basic safety measure that really should be on by default but isn't

Drives me MAD man. Absolutely MAD.

like this

in reply to sand

DannyMac

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

What technology does this site use to stream the video? Bittorrent?

in reply to DannyMac

sand

in reply to DannyMac • 6 days ago • •

I'm not really sure, it was either 1shows or 456movie but I'm not sure how to find the method used to stream? I tried to inspect the page and was blocked from doing so haha

456movie

Beautifully designed website where you can watch anime, drama, movies and read mangas for free. Built with Next.JS and shadcn/ui.

^456movie.net

in reply to sand

acockworkorange

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

You got your computer herpes.

in reply to sand

Fizz

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

I'd just delete the file and move on. Get ublock origin for the next time you need to torrent stuff. Its unlikely anyone is burning exploits on random piracy sites. 0 click exploits are like gold.

in reply to sand

diffaldo

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

You should def install a linux on your old laptop. if you dont want to bother setting it up then just install malwarebyte and scan your pc to be sure.

Malwarebytes Antivirus, Anti-Malware, Privacy & Scam Protection

Malwarebytes offers advanced antivirus, anti-malware, privacy and scam protection for all your devices. Protect your digital life today.

^Malwarebytes

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

in reply to sand

Blackmist

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

Unless there was an exploit in the browser itself, you're probably fine.

Windows being randomly slow is just standard Windows behaviour. When you look in task manager, there's like 200 things it just runs all the time.

Back in the day I'd run Malwarebytes free checker. It doesn't run all the time, it's a one time scan.

in reply to Blackmist

Pup Biru

in reply to Blackmist • 6 days ago • •

not entirely true. if the file downloaded, windows does a bunch of “helpful” things with files… these are almost certainly benign (eg rendering thumbnails, getting metadata about certain file types) but almost anything is potentially exploitable (eg overflow in thumbnail generation code could lead to code execution just from browsing a website and then opening your downloads folder in explorer)

drive-by attacks don’t just effect the browser

with that said, it’d be a huge deal if this was the reality of the situation… it’s highly unlikely, but zero days exist, and the possibility is always real

i say this because this has been exploited in the past with exactly the same scenario: preview generation

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

in reply to sand

Lfrith

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

You should use Firefox with ublock origin in the future or Brave over Opera. And also set downloads to something like ask location before downloading so it doesn't auto download stuff without your permission.

And with you being on Windows 10 I'm guessing your think pad is pretty old. I'd move onto Linux with it being much lightrr and running better.

in reply to Lfrith

mic_check_one_two

in reply to Lfrith • 6 days ago • •

Opera isn’t bad on its own. There’s nothing wrong with using it, as long as you take proper steps to stay protected. And Brave is largely an astroturfed crypto scam, run by one of the scummiest techbros alive.

in reply to sand

youmaynotknow

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

You should wipe the whole thing. Ideally, don't install windows again, go with a Linux distro. But wipe it even if you reinstall windows, just to be sure you're safe.

like this

in reply to sand

Lemmchen

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

Are you using 7-zip by any chance? There were some recent exploits in older versions that could enable an attacker to install malware when just opening an archive with it.

This entry was edited (10 hours ago)

in reply to sand

sem

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

Windows 10 isn't getting security updates any more so there's a chance you were affected by an exploit either that day or a different time.

in reply to sem

paris

in reply to sem • 6 days ago • •

Windows 10 is still getting security updates if you enrolled for extended security updates, which I believe my Windows machine prompted me to do (though it's possible I only saw it when I went into update settings to manually update, rather than a desktop notification).

in reply to paris

sem

in reply to paris • 6 days ago • •

Thanks for the update, I'm kind i'm afraid to boot into Windows 10 on my dual boot machine, but luckily I haven't needed to for anything.

in reply to paris

Asparagus0098

in reply to paris • 5 days ago • •

There's also a new activation method in MAS (Microsoft Activation Scripts) that enables the commercial ESU with 3 more years of updates. The regular consumer ESU just gets you 1 more year of security updates.

in reply to sem

mic_check_one_two

in reply to sem • 6 days ago • •

Also, uBlock Origin isn’t an AV program. It blocks ads, which may be malicious… But malicious ads are only one potential vector for malware, and being blocked won’t necessarily stop drive-by attacks. Because of the way browser ad blockers work, the ad still has to load in the background before it can be blocked, so you’re still being served the potentially malicious ads. It probably would’ve helped in this scenario (where OP actually clicked a malicious ad) but there’s no telling what other BS they picked up just by browsing.

in reply to sand

krooklochurm

in reply to sand • 6 days ago • •

If you didn't open the file you're probably good. Or you were compromised before it downloaded.

Either way, upload the file to virustotal.com to get more info on it

in reply to sand

stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]

in reply to sand • 5 days ago • •

Youre working at this from the wrong angle.

You dont know how to judge if something bad has happened. You dont know what to do if something bad had happened. You dont know how to recover from something bad that may have happened.

You do know that something has happened because the computer is exhibiting different behavior now.

You cant know what happened and it’s not worth the time for you to develop the skills and tools to understand or even be able to use systems like virustotal et.al. which might provide some insight.

Stop using that computer. Turn it off.

If you don’t know where your data is saved, figure it out. If you determine that you want to save data off that computer, pull the drive and order a usb to sata or m2 adapter, whatever the drive is. Plug the drive into the adapter and attach it to a different computer, copy only what you need.

Do you have a way to reinstall windows? If not, go to massgrave.dev and figure it out then reinstall windows.

Do you have some system for backing up your computers?

in reply to sand

Phoenixz

in reply to sand • 4 days ago • •

If you run Linux, you're fine, but if you did you probably already knew this

On Windows, i guess you're fine, probably, maybe, but without AV you're already at right with any normal Internet usage.

I'd just say switch to Linux and be done with the question

P00ptart via World News

6 days ago • •

P00ptart
6 days ago • •

Giant sunspot on par with the one that birthed the Carrington Event has appeared on the sun — and it's pointed right at Earth

https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/giant-sunspot-on-par-with-the-one-that-birthed-the-carrington-event-has-appeared-on-the-sun-and-its-pointed-right-at-earth

#Worldnews

in reply to P00ptart

halloween_spookster

in reply to P00ptart • 6 days ago • •

What's the relationship between sunspots and geomagnetic storms that can affect the earth? Is this just panic bait or is there actually something potential here?

in reply to halloween_spookster

infinitevalence

in reply to halloween_spookster • 6 days ago • •

Yes it's bait but also there is real science behind it. Sun spots are magnetic knots that are wound up magnetic lines. If the lines snap they could pull huge amounts of charged particles and launch them at earth.

The risk is that if big enough it could strip back the our magnetic field reducing our production from radiation and all the electrical charged particles. This could mean electrical systems are disrupted, destroyed, or even catch fire. In the worst case the amount of radiation could kill millions.

So yeah chances are very low but never 0.

TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾ via Lefty Memes

6 days ago • •

TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾
6 days ago • •

Still looking for the right community for this meme

I get the vibe "lefty memes" is a misnomer, and an actual liberal like me won't be accepted here even though I'm the definition of "left wing" so I've never tried posting anything in here yet - but everywhere else this was posted so far has hated it, so I'm trying here now.

I like this meme because I noticed parallels in how Republicans and Democrats refuse to coordinate to defend my rights and protect me and my loved ones from senseless danger from extremists.

I'm not quite ready to give up on finding a community where people like this meme. I know it's actually one of the most well-crafted ones yet, no matter what some people say. It was originally posted by @fediverse_fremont@lemmy.world here

Alt text for people who can't read:
(Mirrored "Is this a pigeon" meme format, repurposed to represent the lack of US uniparty politics, not blindly misused without understanding it as some commenters will say)

A Republicans on one side and a Democrat on the other, gesturing toward the butterfly between them labeled "compromise" with caption of them saying "What is this thing?"

#leftymemes

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

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in reply to TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾

PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]

in reply to TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾ • 6 days ago • •

Sorry but I am completely 1000% confused about what you're trying to say and the sincerity/sarcasm of this post. I'm autistic and my social battery is drained today, so I'm really not able to read through the irony if it's there.

For what it's worth: I'm not sure that I really want the Democrats and Republicans to learn to "compromise" because, as history has shown, they'll compromise with each other to ratfuck anarchists, leftists, and the working class all day every day. And since both parties are liberal parties, and liberals basically exist to provide a palatable pressure valve for the capitalist class to stifle radical movements...I'm not interested in compromising with them either. Like I don't want to compromise with liberals, I want liberals to stop being liberals.

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TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾

in reply to PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him] • 6 days ago • •

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in reply to TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾

PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]

in reply to TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾ • 6 days ago • •

Ah. Thank you for clarifying ❤️

in reply to TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾

NoneOfUrBusiness

in reply to TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾ • 6 days ago • •

High-quality ragebait, upvoted.

🏴حمید پیام عباسی🏴 via Memes

6 days ago • •

🏴حمید پیام عباسی🏴
6 days ago • •

sorry sir, that's all you can eat

#memes

in reply to 🏴حمید پیام عباسی🏴

mr_account

in reply to 🏴حمید پیام عباسی🏴 • 6 days ago • •

What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?

in reply to mr_account

🏴حمید پیام عباسی🏴

in reply to mr_account • 6 days ago • •

if anyone hasn't seen it in a while LOL

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

^{www.youtube.com}

in reply to 🏴حمید پیام عباسی🏴

toomanypancakes

in reply to 🏴حمید پیام عباسی🏴 • 6 days ago • •

All you can eat my ass, I'm still hungry!

layzerjeyt via Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

6 days ago • •

layzerjeyt
6 days ago • •

most universally acceptable video file formats?

For holiday gift I was thinking of making USB/microSDs full of TV/movies. The intended recipients are not tech savvy types. They would be using windows computers, normal TVs etc.

What kind of file formats/encodings would be good to package the files in? What is safe and universally usable? And which ones are to be avoided? I'd like to guarentee they'll play without any fooling around with drivers or software.

And I want them to be as small as possible so that I can fit more stuff.

#piracy

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whoever loves Digit 🇵🇸🇺🇸🏴‍☠️

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

.mp4 with H264: the most universal, and can be compressed to smaller sizes than you might think. Compatibility and compression will still vary depending if you use AAC or opus audio

.webm with VP9 and opus audio: better compression, not as universal. More open-standards based, maybe best balance of compression and compatibility

.mp4 or webm with AV1 and opus audio: probably best compression, also probably less compatibility than VP9, maybe depends what devices they use - good on new computers / phones / Android based TVs, more iffy on a wider or older range of devives. MP4 maybe friendlier than webm on newish Apple devices

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

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Natanox

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

The safest format I can think off would probably be mp4, with h264 for video streams and mp3 for audio streams. Unless you go for ancient technology basically anything should be able to open those files.

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in reply to layzerjeyt

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

You could always package them with everything they need to watch, like VLC (which should be able to read most formats anyway). Not clear if they are all on Windows, but perhaps you could include the portable VLC version that doesn't require an install and make an obvious-named VLC playlist file for them to open.

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

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Grumpy

in reply to ReallyActuallyFrankenstein • 6 days ago • •

I like this idea. Stick in a portable video player in the usb too. Then you got a working combo all together.

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frongt

in reply to ReallyActuallyFrankenstein • 6 days ago • •

Oh so you're the guy from the phishing training

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in reply to layzerjeyt

empireOfLove2

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

The only file format that pretty much 100% guarantees support on most media hardware is h.264 in MP4 containers. With some encoder tuning you can make them decently small without loss of fidelity; people will notice bad encoding more than they will a slight loss in pixels. I would focus on making a really high quality 720p copy of the shows ans batch encoding them with handbrake (or finding good encoded copies on the usual places)

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in reply to empireOfLove2

Onomatopoeia

in reply to empireOfLove2 • 6 days ago • •

It's shocking how little resolution plays into quality. I've re-encoded some videos down to 480 and played them on a 65" TV and they look fine.

I can also make videos look terrible by just trying to save space by reducing the quality level of the conversion while retaining high resolution (1080).

in reply to Onomatopoeia

empireOfLove2

in reply to Onomatopoeia • 6 days ago • •

Yup. Close to lossless 480 will always look infinitely better than a poorly encoded 720/1080/4k. Compression blocks ruin images INSTANTLY.

Its why NTSC analog tv was always just Enough.

in reply to Onomatopoeia

Blackmist

in reply to Onomatopoeia • 6 days ago • •

This is why motion smoothing is turned on by default on most 4K TVs. It's the only way most people can see any difference.

in reply to Onomatopoeia

MotoAsh

in reply to Onomatopoeia • 6 days ago • •

Really depends on the content. Real life, recorded for TV, where there's not a ton of in focus detail? Yea it doesn't matter much. Documentary, videogame, or other content where they try to keep everything in focus? It can make a huge difference.

Though I tend to watch things on a high quality computer monitor, not a tv across the room, so details stand out a lot more in the first place.

in reply to layzerjeyt

cecilkorik

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

My old LG SmartTV seems most reliable at playing mkv files but I think mp4 is pretty standard.

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in reply to cecilkorik

Onomatopoeia

in reply to cecilkorik • 6 days ago • •

I've had better luck using MKV for my Samsung TV.

But yea, Mp4 is generally more compatible.

in reply to Onomatopoeia

Ofiuco

in reply to Onomatopoeia • 6 days ago • •

Same, I love mkv but most mainstream things just refuse to support it.

in reply to cecilkorik

wheezy

in reply to cecilkorik • 6 days ago • •

mkv and mp4 are the container not the codec. It's a bit more complicated than just the file extension. You likely have more luck with mkv because of just more consistency as mkv is used more often when the file is meant to be played locally and not streamed.

So, you're right. But just looking at the container isn't going to ensure compatibility. The codec is significantly more impactful on whether playback is supported. That's the part that's literally taking the compressed video data and decoding it into viewable pixels/frames you see on your screen.

I've never downloaded an mkv that wasn't just standard h264 or h265. So it's still a good bet. But h265 is less universal and much more CPU intensive for playback (because it has significantly better compression).

This entry was edited (6 days ago)

in reply to wheezy

Appoxo

in reply to wheezy • 6 days ago • •

If the TV doesnt understand the container, it could be in mpeg-2 and it wouldnt run.
So better be safe and use mp4.

in reply to layzerjeyt

AllHailTheSheep

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

as others have mentioned mp4 with h264 is almost certainly the most compatible. that being said, I transcode everything to hevc if I can't get it natively, and never have issues. my server literally cannot transcode. it does not have a GPU, and hevc plays natively on every target device I need. even works in browsers these days.

most people will still say h264 is best. but if you're limited on storage space or want to optimize streaming bitrate hevc works wayyy better than it did even just 1 or 2 years ago.

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in reply to AllHailTheSheep

layzerjeyt

in reply to AllHailTheSheep • 6 days ago • •

what has been the location of improvement?

in reply to layzerjeyt

AllHailTheSheep

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

compatibility with devices. it wasn't long ago that many cheap TVs and such didn't support hevc and required h264, or work on browsers, etc.

in reply to AllHailTheSheep

layzerjeyt

in reply to AllHailTheSheep • 5 days ago • •

so if it's better than 1 or 2 years ago, what about devices purchased 2 or 3 years ago?

in reply to layzerjeyt

AllHailTheSheep

in reply to layzerjeyt • 5 days ago • •

I meant that devices purchased within the past 8 years or so have hevc decoding now. so even your grandmother who's known for holding on to old tech most likely has something that will work with it.

just in the past year or two I've found that those devices have become common enough for incompatibility to be extremely rare. and the software support is far better within that timeline too. firefox had issues with it as of a few years ago, but it's become pretty seamless on most browsers and devices.

in reply to AllHailTheSheep

IronKrill

in reply to AllHailTheSheep • 5 days ago • •

HEVC is a bad idea, as hardware support is still missing on some devices and certain common software such as Windows Media Player cannot play it without a microtransaction. These are easy fixes for anyone with the desire to solve them, but it sounds like that is not who OP is gifting to. I literally had someone ask me last week what to do with a video file WMP could not play and it mildly blew my brain.

in reply to layzerjeyt

deranger

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

I’ve found x265 is pretty universally supported in 2025. I’ve switched all of my downloads for Plex over to 265 and none of my users have reported issues. My users are not particularly tech savvy and have a ton of diversity in their devices from cheap ass smart TVs, to consoles, to various mobile devices and computers.

I think it’s fairly safe to start getting everything in 265 and the space savings is significant. Very easy to get 4K HDR rips that look great for only 5-7 GB. HD rips can easily be 1-2 GB.

Include VLC if you need a player, but again I’ve found nearly everything plays 265 these days. It’s not nearly the compatibility issue it was years ago.

MP4 container, 265 video (w/ HDR10 layer if appropriate), Dolby digital audio (w/ Atmos track if appropriate) is what I usually look for these days for a balance of compatibility and quality.

in reply to deranger

Appoxo

in reply to deranger • 6 days ago • •

I’ve found x265 is pretty universally supported in 2025

Keep in mind, that most folks may still have their 30-40" TVs from the early 2010s...
They can do H.265 but will seriously struggle with a higher bitrate

in reply to deranger

IronKrill

in reply to deranger • 5 days ago • •

The default Windows player does not support h265 without an additional charge. Cheap devices such as my parents' Hisense from 4 years ago also stutter badly on playback of h265, even though they aren't high bitrate (1.5GB for 1.5hr movie, hardly a large video). These are additional barriers that can be avoided by using h264.

This entry was edited (5 days ago)

in reply to IronKrill

deranger

in reply to IronKrill • 4 days ago • •

I don’t disagree with anything you said; but my point still stands. It’s nearly universally supported these days, even on cheap ass TVs.

For windows users I either point them to Plex so they can hop on my server, MPC-HC (from Klite codec pack), or VLC. In OPs case I’d just include VLC along with the video files.

My Plex users use a multitude of shitty TVs and old consoles, and they report no issues back to me. It’s not the same compatibility situation as it was years ago.

in reply to layzerjeyt

Appoxo

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

Depends haevily on the manufacturer.
But for me it was pretty much everything in mp4 (and newer probably also can do mkv) in H.264.

I'd avoid H.265, with the exception for very new and fancy tvs (usually OLEDs and higher end TVs from >2018.
Never do AV1.

Also keep in mind, that not every audio-codec has support.
Try to go stereo or (I think AC3).

in reply to layzerjeyt

fakeman_pretendname

in reply to layzerjeyt • 6 days ago • •

I'm mostly echoing what's already been said, but I have a preset in Handbrake for this, which works fine on most TVs I've tried from the last 10 years (possibly 15 by now) and therefore should have no problem running on any computer. I often (for work reasons) prepare video footage for looped playback on TVs and projectors at numerous places - so "TVs I've tried" is a larger number than it might initially sound like.

It's roughly along these lines (as I appear to have emailed someone about before):

"H264 mp4. 1920x1080. 25 or 30fps, or similar (appropriate to source material). Constant bitrate <=12mbps. 8mbps is generally universally compatible, though you should be able to get away with 10-12mbps on newer TVs with newer USB sticks.

AAC audio 192kbps, though lower is fine.

Use same samplerate as source (i.e. 44khz 48khz etc)

If you've got settings for encoding profile, Main and Level 4.0 should work.

If individual files are small enough (<4GB), format the USB stick as FAT32. Otherwise NTFS. EXT2 will work on a lot of TVs, but you'll have t

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piccolo

in reply to fakeman_pretendname • 6 days ago • •

Wait... older tvs support ntfs but not exfat? What bizarro world are we living in?

in reply to piccolo

fakeman_pretendname

in reply to piccolo • 5 days ago • •

NTFS was around in the 1990s, exFAT is from the 2010s - and I think was also caught up in some sort of copyright/proprietary shit for another 10 years. There are brand new 2025 TVs which still won't read exFAT.

in reply to layzerjeyt

ikilledtheradiostar [comrade/them, love/loves]

in reply to layzerjeyt • 5 days ago • •

.mpreg has the best compression to quality ratio.

in reply to ikilledtheradiostar [comrade/them, love/loves]

matey

in reply to ikilledtheradiostar [comrade/them, love/loves] • 5 days ago • •

This is a hilarious autocorrect

in reply to matey

ikilledtheradiostar [comrade/them, love/loves]

in reply to matey • 5 days ago • •

Autocorrect? Just run an mpegging compression protocol on any lossless video file to get an .mpreg file.

This entry was edited (5 days ago)

in reply to ikilledtheradiostar [comrade/them, love/loves]

layzerjeyt

in reply to ikilledtheradiostar [comrade/them, love/loves] • 5 days ago • •

think you meant to say mpeg. look at your actual comment.

in reply to layzerjeyt

stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]

in reply to layzerjeyt • 5 days ago • •

Nah they’re right.

.mpreg uses a sophisticated algorithm to identify repeated sections of the compressed file and retain only one of each part with a list of pointers to where they go. The single repeated sections are stored inside the end of the file and during the decompression process they’re inflated and passed out of the end of the file (or removed from the file by cutting into the bitstream at their stored location where they’re inflating).

It’s a new technology that has made traditional file creation kind of obsolete. In about a decade there will probably only be mpreg.

in reply to layzerjeyt

flambonkscious

in reply to layzerjeyt • 5 days ago • •

Just put a portable copy of vlc on there well

in reply to layzerjeyt

Seefra 1

in reply to layzerjeyt • 5 days ago • •

Avc (h264) 8bits video, with AAC audio, hardcoded subtitles and .mp4 container.

That should be warrantied to work on every dumb device built this or last decade.

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Israel Is Quietly Expanding Its Occupation of Gaza Under Cover of “Ceasefire”

For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel expands its Yellow Line.

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Israel Is Quietly Expanding Its Occupation of Gaza Under Cover of “Ceasefire” | Truthout

For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel moves its Yellow Line.

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#pravda_news

For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel expands its Yellow Line.
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

rss

2025-12-04 18:04:48

Israel Is Quietly Expanding Its Occupation of Gaza Under Cover of “Ceasefire”

For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel expands its Yellow Line.
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

Israel Is Quietly Expanding Its Occupation of Gaza Under Cover of “Ceasefire” | Truthout
For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel moves its Yellow Line.
^{britney (Truthout)}

#indigenous

Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
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2025-12-04 18:57:34

Gaza gang leader and Israeli collaborator Yasser Abu Shabab has been killed, reports say

Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
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Gaza gang leader and Israeli collaborator Yasser Abu Shabab has been killed, reports say
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#indigenous

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6 days ago • •

Salamence
6 days ago • •

Israel Is Quietly Expanding Its Occupation of Gaza Under Cover of “Ceasefire”

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/6941781

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1165…

For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel expands its Yellow Line.
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

thelastaxolotl [he/him]

2025-12-04 21:11:08

Israel Is Quietly Expanding Its Occupation of Gaza Under Cover of “Ceasefire”

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1165…
For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel expands its Yellow Line.
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

Israel Is Quietly Expanding Its Occupation of Gaza Under Cover of “Ceasefire” | Truthout
For us here in Gaza, this “ceasefire” is a fiction. The bombing has continued as Israel moves its Yellow Line.
^{britney (Truthout)}

#Palestine

Salamence via World News

6 days ago • •

Salamence
6 days ago • •

Gaza gang leader and Israeli collaborator Yasser Abu Shabab has been killed, reports say

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/6941728

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1167…

Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
From Mondoweiss via This RSS Feed.

thelastaxolotl [he/him]

2025-12-04 21:08:45

Gaza gang leader and Israeli collaborator Yasser Abu Shabab has been killed, reports say

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1167…
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
From Mondoweiss via This RSS Feed.

Gaza gang leader and Israeli collaborator Yasser Abu Shabab has been killed, reports say
^{Tareq S. Hajjaj (Mondoweiss)}

#Worldnews

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Dreamer

in reply to Salamence • 5 days ago • •

Good riddance.

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