It would be a huge undertaking, but a Fitness and Health tracker / aggregator that could replace Google Fit and the likes.

I really can’t bear how Google, Apple, Samsung, and all these big companies are the primary holders of our most intimate information. I’ve put some measures in place to limit who gets what, but it would be a huge boon to be the sole maintainer of my own info.

The problem is that the various apps and devices which report data won’t immediately support syncing with a FOSS upstart…

The app I use for grabbing my weight and BMI can only sync with a few other apps. The app I use for calorie and diet tracking can likewise only sync with a few apps. They happen to have Google fit in common, so I use that as an intermediary to transfer weight to the calorie/diet app. All my steps, exercise, and sleep stay in Zepp, separate from them all.

It sure would be nice to have one service/application to rule them all and a secure method of storing one’s own personal information without having to give it to the tech companies. Sure, use one of the many cloud services but encrypt all the data so that they can’t steal it. Yadda yadda.

One can dream.

I was wondering the same.

And… if these ferns are superior to us in some way. 🤣

I was really hoping this article would say more about what this means, but this is all we get…

Intriguingly, bigger isn’t always better when it comes to genomes, the team says. Large-genomed plants tend to have slower growth, require more nutrients and perform photosynthesis less efficiently. As such, it’s thought that T. oblanceolata is bumping up against the upper limits for genome size.

If this article is even moderately accurate, then this is hard to digest. I didn’t realize that Russian electronic warfare was so advanced and capable. It seems to be having a significant impact on Ukraine’s efforts and bodes very poorly for them. The article didn’t address how they can counter Russian EW capabilities, if at all. 😖

You’ve touched on a number of the things that give religious organizations cohesion and strength. The indoctrination is important when it comes to reinforcing those things and building on them. Health cooperatives, college scholarships, support when life circumstances hammer you into the ground… there’s a lot of benefits to being a part of the system. Most people never realize how much they’ve lost by being a part of the system. Why? Because they’re kept ignorant of the things they’ve lost. Keeping that knowledge and experience away from them is important to maintain the desired control.

PS. I’m truly sorry that your nephew didn’t get to realize his dream. I’m in a similar circumstances where I gave away decades of my life to these kinds of teachings and beliefs. Goodness, what I would give to go back and make different choices. But… I’ve still got a lot of years left, so I’m trying to gain my footing and make the best of this life.

Christianity is quite broad and this question will yield a different answer depending on the variant.

The example tract you shared looks like a Chick tract (or similar). That’s a specific breed of American Evangelicalism. Unfortunately, the number of followers in this brand of theology is quite numerous in the United States.

Evangelicals are definitely proponents of education, but very specifically things that align with their theology. So education in dogma, apologetics, and their brand of theology is heavily pushed.

Unfortunately, education in the sciences (particularly biology) is actively fought against because their theology and the sciences conflict on a number of matters. So long as the science agrees with their theology, they’re okay with people being educated in it. That which disagrees with their interpretation of scripture, is interpreted as lies from Satan polluting people’s minds and turning humanity from God.

These Christians will always speak of how important education is, but it takes the form of indoctrination. The more they can solidify people in their beliefs, the better and more “truly” educated they are as a result. If you believe in the sciences of evolutionary biology, then you’ve been deceived and misled.

With that said though… it’s important to remember that there are quite a number of Christians that are not adherents of this form of evangelicalism and who are strong proponents of the sciences.

Religion is about control. The more fundamental the religion is, the stronger that control needs to be. This isn’t a Christian problem or even an evangelical problem. It’s common with numerous religions and why so many devastating wars I’ve been rooted in religion. This problem is a religious problem.

This feat is impressive, as an 800 km (500 mi), non-stop flight over water would seemingly require a caloric energy that far exceeds an adult hummingbird’s body weight of 3 g (0.11 oz).[21] However, researchers discovered the tiny birds can double their fat mass in preparation for their Gulf crossing,[25] then expend the entire calorie reserve from fat during the 20-hour non-stop crossing when food and water are unavailable.

😮

sighs

Yet something else to disable in Windows. I’m losing track of each thing at this point.

It’s possible that the move means Netflix can save some money on licensing, which may cost extra if downloads are included – enabling users to take shows and movies around with them and watch them without an internet connection.

Maximize profit. Good for them. Never good for us. Never.

Why is it so terrible to build a company that people love?

Hell of a cliff hanger for a paid article.

“Scientists find three ancient viruses. They think they can infect modern human cells with them.” The end.

Wtf. Are they gonna accidentally murder humanity next? What happens after?! Are we gonna die!?

To be continued…

Trunk Monkey Mobile would have been better. 🐒

Cool. Still not gonna use it though.

My hope is that companies would learn from the brain drain side effects in the long run. You’re absolutely right that greater profit is what drives this and it was intentional, but it is short-sighted.

The company I work for just terminated a substantial percentage of its workforce. It was done without truly understanding the effect on many programs. I’m now standing on a desert island, alone, trying to figure out how to continue satisfying a customer with nearly all the knowledge and talent to best do that stripped away. Doing the job of three people was hard enough before. Now I’m doing the job of X people, a variable I can’t even adequately quantify now. And a lot of that work is so wildly outside of my sphere of knowledge.

Decisions that these large companies are making are causing side effects that they may not feel for many years, but they will… And it won’t matter because those executives have accomplished everything they wanted for themselves in those first moments.

Don’t be evil. Heh.

I really do hope a few of these companies learn. I’d love for people to not be treated as expendable assets that can be ground into dust, but as people to nourish and develop. I’d love to cheer for them. I’d love to contribute to their work.

Most recently I remember it happening really really badly within Syria. Very intentional destruction. But yes, it happens all the time–Iraq included. With the technology we have now, we can preserve a lot of it (digitally at least).

I hate how it’s so damn hard to find these things and yet so easy to destroy it.

But will they learn…

What I would like to know is if tablets like this are being scanned digitally into three dimensions so that they can be reproduced. I feel like everything we find from antiquity needs to be scanned this way. With humans constantly going to war destroying history, I’d hate the idea of losing things like this forever.

UPDATE: And thus a journey down the interwebs rabbit hole begins. I need better internet and PC to check this out more later, but answering my own question, here’s the entrance to the rabbit hole should others wish to venture with a few examples:

• Smithsonian Institution: The Smithsonian has a vast collection of 3D scanned artifacts available online, including prehistoric tools and sculptures https://3d.si.edu/.
• Europeana: This digital platform features 3D scans of cultural heritage objects from across Europe https://pro.europeana.eu/project/3d-content-in-europeana.
• Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI): This non-profit organization promotes the use of 3D scanning for cultural heritage preservation https://www.culturalheritageimaging.org/.

I’d hate to know how they’d feel if they knew how humans would respond to this…

Genuinely interesting. Perhaps they’d have something to teach us. We humans could use the help. 😏

For some strange reason clicking the link says address not found

I know. I absolutely adore that their finger is still firing off that shutter. A huge fuck you with each press.