There’s an episode of Black Mirror about exactly that and it was hella depressing. I think it starred Chris O’Dowd and Mya Rudolph, who are both usually really funny actors, but it was the opposite of funny.

A few years ago the IRS website wanted me to take a “video selfie” using a webcam to log in to access my tax stuff. I said Fuck That and ended the session. Finished my taxes through a 3rd party vendor instead.

I hope not but really IDK

Those people should all tell California to fuck off then. California can’t tell me to do shit.

I had to learn about it so my kid could play the games he wants to play that don’t work on Linux.

It is possible with W11 to install without copilot and other garbage using the right unattended setup XML and installer that facilitates it

California does not make laws for the entire country or the entire world. Perhaps “Linux” should be distributed from elsewhere and offer zero compliance, from a location outside CA jurisdiction. I know there are some distros that are published from the EU for example.

Oligarchs trying to buy up all the digital real estate so they can be the digital landlords of computerland

Great use of tech and knowledge. Video-recording glasses wearers can’t complain about this because they are sending the Bluetooth signals to be detected.

We need to scale this idea up - apps to detect the known types of signals emitting from camera systems like Flock, Ring, and other similar mass surveillance garbage.

Sounds like it came from that article about the new kind of sodium batteries with vanadium that are doing that desalination business. I was describing the general technology rather than that specific new one in the article.

Sodium-ion batteries are not hype though, they are in production use in multiple industries already. They are generally superior to Lithium based batteries in all regards, with the exception of having a bit lower energy density. An equivalent LiFePO4 battery might be 70-80% of the size for the same storage. It’s not a big deal for large applications like cars and solar storage.

TLDR = money matters more than morals and safety to them

The voltage being sent down would have to be really high to avoid loss going through such a long and probably thin cable. Like the difference in voltage loss going through a 100’ romex cable of 10-gauge wire with 12v DC vs 120v AC - you just can’t do it with 12v DC because the loss is far too high, but it’s no problem with 120v AC.

Magnify those losses times 500 for your 5000’ cable… maybe you need a 5000v line… then you have a dangerous high-voltage line flying around in the air. High-voltage transmission lines can arc to ground if they find a path, even though they’re insulated wires.

But I guess those guys probably know about that stuff too.

It’s not that hard to comprehend both measurement systems. Both are valid and it’s up to the author to choose how they want to express their figures. You can send them a complaint if you want, but complaining about their measurements here isn’t going to change anything.

I hear tell them cameras is full of valuable minerals like gold and copper!