Ah I see what you mean(t). You would have to have working systems with clean-enough data in the first place to integrate with in order to develop a system like this. Not just the expertise to develop it.
If you ever want to go down a depressing rabbit hole, read about the tax-avoiding antics Microsoft pioneered between 2010 and 2020. They’re still refusing to pay a measly $29B tax bill (likely a minute percentage of what they laundered / evaded). It is a truly evil corporation.
Edit: changed M to B. Yeah they are delinquent on $29B in taxes. Different rules and laws apply for the rich & megacorps.
That’s a monopoly I appreciate. Although it’s marginal depending on a number of factors.
Comparing run of the mill government services with something as advantageous as a social credit app is not apples to apples. It’s not like they assign utility administrators to work for GRU hacking units. The people that build this tool will be highly paid technical experts. And there is no shortage of them in Russia. It’s definitely not 100% but there’s a decent chance they can cobble together a working system that tracks social scores for the vast majority of Russian citizens.
I wouldn’t underestimate the engineering competence of Russians especially when it comes to autocratic surveillance tools. There are plenty of Russian-built tools and web apps that function quite well - Yandex, VK, etc. The west does not have a monopoly on innovation.
This is why I avoid watching all commercials in America which inevitably take this trope to the extreme every chance they get. Usually referring to the man who is a doddering incompetent who must be ordered out of his “man cave” to perform some sort of yard or mechanical chore to prove his worth.
Yeah I’m happy for them, but it sounds like someone in the 1% had a very 1% experience
Yes! Linux Mint is such a great project - it made me excited to get on my desktop again.
Mint 21.3 as my main Desktop OS - almost zero complaints after over a year. Everything just works.
Ubuntu using Linux-Surface on my old Surface Pro. Breathed new life into a device I had abandoned (after all 8gb of ram isn’t enough for Windows malware these days). Gnome works really nice on a touchscreen two-in-one. Kudos to the Linux-Surface folks. They took one of the few positive developments from Microsoft (Surface hardware) and made it possible to remove the worst part (windows). Not that I’ll ever buy a Surface again. It also allowed me to retire my iPad.
Fedora Linux on a cheap Dell laptop as my media client. Fedora is nice and runs well, haven’t done too much with it other than Firefox and Calibre. Nice to see a different ‘branch’ in action.
I’m pretty basic and generally lazy so I don’t delve into some of the smaller distros or distro hop. Maybe later I’ll do it with VMs, but eh not sure it’s my kind of hobby. Too many other things to do.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes.
They also buy lots of guns from the US. This is one of the real reasons. Lockheed Martin’s profit margins would decrease by a significant amount if our relationship with SA changed at all.
Even if the Saudis and other major countries in the reason were able to decrease tensions with Iran, Lockheed Martin and its associated propagandists and lobbyists would start beating the war drums to increase tensions and thus sales.
Edit: *one of the real reasons. Added para. on LM ensuring tensions in the region always remain high even when the people that live there and their government’s reduce tensions.
And duopolies or tri-opolies. Most American industries are dominated by 2-3 players that own the majority of their respective markets, acquire or crush anyone who dares challenge them and use their media and lobbying arms to maintain the status quo. Land of the unfree, home of the bootlickers.
I appreciate this, you totally get it. I hope you can hold onto that remote job. Makes it so much easier to tune out the hate and nonsense. I remain quiet and comfort myself by knowing that if the chance ever arises, I will do everything I can to undermine them. Which won’t be hard considering most of them have the intellectual capacity of a troglodyte.
Wow the more I talk about this the more I want to leave the US forever. There’s so little left here that matches my values.
I’m 100% with you. The deprogramming took years. It feels like I wasted so much of my life, and I’m still trying to figure out where I fit in. What’s almost worse than knowing so many vets are still so brainwashed is watching people who didn’t go through the same programming shill even harder for regressive destruction. I work on a construction site and have to listen to these overconfident fascist blowhards rant all day.
Yeah and he has a top secret clearance…different set of rules for our special brand of corrupt oligarchs.
In the Software Manager, whenever there is an update you must press “Restart & Install” in order to update. Never seen a restart not be required. Why would I not update when I would be potentially miss important security patches?
Also I typically encrypt during install for enhanced privacy. Probably overkill but yeah. I don’t really have a specific reason other than that.
My other system is Linux Mint 21.3 and restarts are very infrequent.
Fedora’s near daily update and restart cycle is so annoying esp when you have an encrypted hard drive. I know it’s part of the deal and I’m lazy, but all I’m using it for is a Jellyfin client.
Very true from the few pictures and videos I’ve seen from back in the day. ‘The Snake Pit’ name was definitely not dreamed up in a marketing office. If I go again, I’m springing for the nice seats on the front straight. You know, where all the European drivers’ families sit.
I want to read this article. I went to the Indy 500 for the first time ever last year because I love Indy Car and racing. But let’s just say I wasn’t a huge fan of a lot of the attendees. I’m pretty sure not too many of the educated Indiana diaspora are returning anymore.
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Agreed! This is a region wide (and capitalism) problem, but I think Taiwan’s degree of progressive attitudes in select areas position it as the most likely to shift its policies compared to Japan, Korea, and China.
Unless of course Korea’s strikes start to spread (unlikely considering the extreme scab mindset inherent in Korean culture).