If they want to drink raw milk and cough their lungs out; I am not going to stop them. The conservatives clearly wish to be left alone in their stupidity and lack of education, and we can't force them to pursue knowledge.

I also suspect that the bird flu (H5N1) is not (as of yet, at the time this post was written...) likely to mutate to spread in a human-to-human context. It's not impossible for it to do so though...but the mutation(s) have not yet reached a point where humans can pass it on to each other by breathing the same air; I would guess that a significant contact (Like breathing, eating or touching a very very very large amount of a bodily output that contains the virus) is likely needed to spread that virus; as that's how it's spread from animal to human so far. TL;DR: I could be wrong; but I don't believe it's capable of a pandemic yet. Science has not yet presented enough strong evidence that this is spreading from person to person. I welcome any citations to prove that wrong however. Thankfully I'm not conservative, and do welcome being shown that my suppositions are indeed wrong; as long as it's done respectfully.

Hearing this sort of law go into effect just makes me sadly want to ban anyone from the UK from my small communities.

I'd hate to be forced to do it; but I certainly would immediately start swinging the hammer with IP range bans and banning anyone who is clearly professing to be from the UK.

Unfortunately the kind of laws they're trying to pass do nothing to fix whatever problems they have Online; and are basically meaningless political posturing. I feel sorry for people in the UK and strongly recommend they start using VPNs; as it's the only way to ensure they won't get snared up in the ensuing waves of bans when compliance with the OSA law that they let get passed is mandatory

The shoe is clearly on the other foot. It's not so easy to manage when politicians are allowed to get so uninformed that they go out of their way to pass bad laws.

If I can't buy it, and own it, for a reasonable price - Piracy is acceptable. Copyright holders are required to sell/license their product in an accessible and reasonable manner in order to assert their copyright over consumers.

If I can't legally obtain a copy for a period of time longer than a year - Piracy is acceptable. Withholding copyrighted products to make them artificially scarce or to manipulate sales of other products is the same as the previous scenario; it is a failing to sell your product in an accessible manner.

If the only manner of sale is 'a streaming license of the content' - Piracy is acceptable. If I cannot go to any retailer and buy a physical copy legitimately, expect users to ignore unreasonable terms of sale to access their content in a format of their choosing. This physically sold copy may be reasonably more expensive than the digital license edition; but not over significantly in excess of the cost of box/media/cover art. Make a profit; not a mint.

If the only version of physical media is over-encumbered with Rights Management or other digital restrictions - Piracy is acceptable. Sold physical copies must be playable on any compatible device as determined by the media format with minimal exceptions. We shouldn't need to connect our BluRay players to the internet every month to pull fresh certs down and lose the ability to play new BluRays when the player runs out of cert storage or becomes unsupported.

Seems like it's time to start Geo-Blocking UK users. Ain't nobody with an independent site got the time nor money to deal with the UK's OSA laws.

Until this overbroad act is protested on the world stage; neither Brits themselves, nor their liberal leaders will prioritize repealing it. They'll just shrug hopelessly and blame it on their Tories; much like Americans blame our own Republicans.

If you run a small community website and you have worries about this; make it felt. Countries that enact laws like this should be rebuffed; and their people excluded as much as is necessary to ensure full malicious compliance with those laws.

Imagine if this plate display could be driven by a low-end smartphone app running software that keeps GPS track of the vehicle;

• When the vehicle is parked at home; it displays a decoy/vanity/decorative plate.
• When the vehicle is on the road; at reasonable speeds it displays the "Default" Legal plate number...unless you signal it not to.
• When the vehicle is speeding or near a known ALPR camera; it shifts the plate number to a randomly numbered decoy plate number.
• When the vehicle is parked somewhere else; it chooses a random plate number and shifts that number every 1-2 hours at random odd intervals.
• When you toggle a certain setting on your personal device; it just sticks to a random plate number or current plate for an hour or two. (So you can get out of sight before it shifts again, in case you're being watched.)

No, (f+(0.5*a))/b.

Aesthetics should never get as many points as functionality.

Why not both?

Fwy would simply fidget the spinner whichever way the spinner wanted to spin.

Spin the spinner both ways, one way once and another way later even.

Judging strictly by the article; it feels like this case is weak as a wet paper bag.

How do you prove that the diseases you experienced were not ones you were unknowingly predisposed to? Do they have some proof?

Something tells me that this is a paper tiger of a case. I don't get the feeling they're going to be able to prove it well enough. Being able to make the assertions that this case does as facts REQUIRES DECADES OF SCIENTIFIC DATA!

I shouldn't be able to read the defendant's statement and be able to agree with it. The fact that I can agree with it bothers me when I know how negligent these companies typically are. I hope I'm wrong; because if this case flops; it gives them an easy out.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/opinion/united-health-care-ceo-shooting.html

OG article link

Yikes.

In 1997; I was walking about 2 miles to and from school. Unsupervised. I had a house key on my neck and was a latchkey kid in third grade. I obediently walked to and from school directly from home; meeting the crossing guard a half mile from school twice a day; as I had to cross a major 4 lane divided highway.

Honestly I question the sanity of allowing a child to have an actual clearanced job and not brag about it to his friends. Mentally you're pretty much a kid until you're about 25 or so if you're AMAB.

I'm concerned that higher clearances aren't checking people for signs of stupid viewpoints before they're cleared.

I mean, in non technical terms, I basically stated to cosplay as a pirate if you catch my drift. No need to not shun media in the meantime.

I don't shun media; I practice moderation instead. I find it is better to be aware of my surroundings in all things so I can keep myself safe if needs be.

Media habits are already collected, and targeted. They just aren’t used by fascists yet.

I'm aware of this; but I'm also a pretty savvy Networking / IT person. It's easy to foil a large portion of their tracking apparatus with DNS level blocking; and even easier to use a rPi or pfSense box to do so.

I clearly don't share or agree with your fears that the fascists will use them anytime soon. It's too likely that doing so will galvanize resistance against them swiftly.

You also can’t use uBlock on a smart tv.

I don't own a "Smart" TV. No TV-like device ever gets networked around here either; and it's going to be returned as "Defective" if it does refuse to work without a network connection. I watch via a PC with a well configured instance of uBlock Origin in Firefox. (+ several other privacy add-ons to prevent other shenanigans and ensure isolation).

Netflix streams aren’t privacy encrypted. Doesn’t matter how to pay, it can still be very easily linked to you via your internet provider. And Netflix would still have a profile built around that account.

They don't need to be. TLS is used; so any man-in-the-middle is likely not capable of knowing what you're watching. Only Netflix knows what you're watching. If you're concerned about their terms of service; or how they purport to use your data as outlined in their terms of service; then by all means make your post about that.

Your IP address is known by every website you visit; it is not a magic document number for you or your household. Your ISP isn't going to provide your data to the government without a valid subpoena; and those typically aren't issued easily. Any active change in law passed that is affecting trans people, you'd actually hear about.

You seem to have a few misconceptions or fears. Those fears are not invalid; but I am trying to suggest ways you can protect your privacy; while avoiding doing things like throwing all streaming media away and letting fears or misconceptions drive someone to absolute privacy fatigue and depression.

Is Piracy better? Undeniably so! If you have the technical know-how and wherewithal to pirate your media; it's a solid way to find content usually.

However, not all people choose piracy for their own reasons. That might mean one instead maintains a few low-cost streaming subscriptions on hand. It is possible to still enjoy these services; and pay for them in ways that keep one's privacy reasonably intact.