To be fair, somewhat cheaper than the other way.

OP: constructive addition to thread You: nah

Wire is pretty much never removed once it’s laid out and I’m sure a lot of DSL based internet connections still run over same twisted pair that would have carried POTS lines.

But you’re probably right that there’s a VoIP device keeping these up and working, maybe just more than 6 ft away and instead in some Telco box down the street.

I think POTS installations will remain for decades more in niche cases - emergency backups in elevators, security systems, hospitals, fire departments. And evidently Grandma’s AOL internet connection up until this month haha

I pay for it, also no ads except the sponsor plugs, which are pretty easy to skip. Overall a better experience than the non premium. I don’t live in the USA so my cost is like $5/month.

On the other hand, have you ever seen a government authored operating system?

Thanks for posting this take. The topic of AI taking jobs seems to garner a lot of emotional response but not much of a technology discussion.

There were people who were negative about using websites to place orders in the 90s in part because e-commerce killed order processing jobs and the need for phone reps at mail order catalogs.

In this case AI is being used as just another e-commerce UX, so it’s really just a continuation of what’s happening already.

People used to do things like put 18,000, or -1 and all kinds of other garbage in the fields on website order forms as well. That’s just a programmers job to fix with reasonable input validation.

It wouldn’t surprise me if drive-thru like Taco Bell started doing license plate recognition and reputation checking. So if you order and dash more than a couple times they might not take your order from outside in that car anymore.

On the upside they might be able to greet you by name and recall your last order:

Hello Mr Smith… Nice to see you today, would you like 10 cheesy gordita crunch tacos and 1 large diet Pepsi again?

A more sophisticated query system would be interesting.

For example if I want to see every picture with Joseph in it, that’s really easy. But what if I’d like to share those with Joseph along with the albums he’s in?

Similar to that would be a query by location and person. Or a query that includes two people.

Their policies, verification systems, KYC/AML processes, risk aversion, and customer support leave many PayPal users with unmet expectations, especially when there is an issue with the transaction and PayPal is asked to assist.

The company has found ways to avoid some of the regulations that banks are held to which is partly the reason for the issues.

If you search the web for PayPal experiences, you’ll find concerns such as their 1.3 star rating with almost 35,000 reviews on Trustpilot.

eBay is a major pain these days for small sellers that just want to unload some stuff.

I say that because I’ve tried to get a business going on eBay several times over many years and always run into issues directly with eBay (eventually, even if for short periods it’s ok)

A lot of bad actors go there first to run scams, and eBay just blocks sellers left and right if you do anything that even raises an AI bot’s virtual eyebrows.

Try apps like Mercari, Whatnot, Posh/Vinted (for clothing), and Facebook marketplace. I think you’ll find all of these are friendly to one-off sellers and easy to conduct business.

This stuff terrifies me. I’m de-googling as fast as I can and reviewing all my local backups plus add encryption to what stays in the cloud.

Does quicken still sync well with most American banks, investment accounts, and credit card companies?

I used to be a power user as well but then moved overseas where is syncs with nothing.

Now I use gnucash with a ton of custom python scraping and importing scripts. It isn’t perfect but as close as I have been able to find.

I was traveling internationally recently and returning to the USA I didn’t even need my passport to clear through immigration. They had a camera which recognized me and gave me the green light to pass as I approached.

The agent had a few questions and I was on my way.

It was convenient as hell, but the fact that their system can link me to whatever data is stored with my passport records based on a second or two of recognition out of all the faces that must be in there…

actually kinda blows.

It means they can definitely put a street camera system in place and see oh, there’s /u/nucleative. Wonder why he’s at the protest, bank, with that person, driving that car, near a crime scene, or anything else.

Somehow we have zero privacy yet the enforcement hides behind numbers and masks.

I expect that this will just continue to go further and further.

Kids, this is why we needed to push back hard on privacy, random cameras, and facial recognition 20 years ago.

The metaphorical horse is already out of the barn and removing or disabling these systems will probably never happen now.

Are there any resources that compile a good counter-argument to this?

Sales taxes vary based on city, county, and state rates. They can also be waived if you, the buyer, have a reseller permit or are purchasing for a non profit.

It’s not underhanded and is annoying for sellers too because they have to know a lot about sales taxes as well. They could show you the price with local taxes included but then most customers would think their prices are too high comparing to other merchants.

So the price shown on the product in a store or online is only what the merchant is selling it for. The price at the register is what the merchant is selling it for plus the taxes they have to collect (unless you’re excluded for the reasons mentioned above).

The tax is a buyer obligation, not a seller obligation but sellers have to be an intermediary. So buyers should be educated about the tax laws that apply to them (in this system).

The receipt should be clearly marked so you know exactly how much went to the product and how much went to tax. You can itemize and deduct your sales taxes from your federal income taxes if you’re so inclined to track it (and it’s a better result than the standard deduction)

It’s more complex than a VAT system but enables local jurisdictions to levy taxes to pay for various things applicable to their area.

🤷‍♂️

Yep

💪 2 years here we go

Congrats!

On the one hand we seem to currently have some of the cheapest air tickets the world has ever seen. If you’re willing to travel like cattle.

On the other hand it feels like air travel is now like getting on the city bus and there’s some guy vomiting in front of you and a screaming kid pissing on the seat behind you, all the while you’re getting herded around like a cow, your stuff is at high risk of getting stolen with no recourse, and the airline is playing mind games about the best time to buy a ticket after sneaking in a bunch of clauses designed to get you to pay more later.

Couldn’t have a thought further from his mind

A long time ago.

These days, I keep both audio and vibration turned off. If somebody needs to reach me they will want to message and then wait until I check.