denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_news

I'll start with the tl;dr summary to make sure everyone sees it and then explain further: As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us.

Mississippi residents, we are so, so sorry. We really don't want to do this, but the legal fight we and Netchoice have been fighting for you had a temporary setback last week. We genuinely and honestly believe that we're going to win it in the end, but the Fifth Circuit appellate court said that the district judge was wrong to issue the preliminary injunction back in June that would have maintained the status quo and prevented the state from enforcing the law requiring any social media website (which is very broadly defined, and which we definitely qualify as) to deanonymize and age-verify all users and obtain parental permission from the parent of anyone under 18 who wants to open an account.

Netchoice took that appellate ruling up to the Supreme Court, who declined to overrule the Fifth Circuit with no explanation -- except for Justice Kavanaugh agreeing that we are likely to win the fight in the end, but saying that it's no big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime.

Needless to say, it's a big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime. The Mississippi law is a breathtaking state overreach: it forces us to verify the identity and age of every person who accesses Dreamwidth from the state of Mississippi and determine who's under the age of 18 by collecting identity documents, to save that highly personal and sensitive information, and then to obtain a permission slip from those users' parents to allow them to finish creating an account. It also forces us to change our moderation policies and stop anyone under 18 from accessing a wide variety of legal and beneficial speech because the state of Mississippi doesn't like it -- which, given the way Dreamwidth works, would mean blocking people from talking about those things at all. (And if you think you know exactly what kind of content the state of Mississippi doesn't like, you're absolutely right.)

Needless to say, we don't want to do that, either. Even if we wanted to, though, we can't: the resources it would take for us to build the systems that would let us do it are well beyond our capacity. You can read the sworn declaration I provided to the court for some examples of how unworkable these requirements are in practice. (That isn't even everything! The lawyers gave me a page limit!)

Unfortunately, the penalties for failing to comply with the Mississippi law are incredibly steep: fines of $10,000 per user from Mississippi who we don't have identity documents verifying age for, per incident -- which means every time someone from Mississippi loaded Dreamwidth, we'd potentially owe Mississippi $10,000. Even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for us, but the per-user, per-incident nature of the actual fine structure is an existential threat. And because we're part of the organization suing Mississippi over it, and were explicitly named in the now-overturned preliminary injunction, we think the risk of the state deciding to engage in retaliatory prosecution while the full legal challenge continues to work its way through the courts is a lot higher than we're comfortable with. Mississippi has been itching to issue those fines for a while, and while normally we wouldn't worry much because we're a small and obscure site, the fact that we've been yelling at them in court about the law being unconstitutional means the chance of them lumping us in with the big social media giants and trying to fine us is just too high for us to want to risk it. (The excellent lawyers we've been working with are Netchoice's lawyers, not ours!)

All of this means we've made the extremely painful decision that our only possible option for the time being is to block Mississippi IP addresses from accessing Dreamwidth, until we win the case. (And I repeat: I am absolutely incredibly confident we'll win the case. And apparently Justice Kavanaugh agrees!) I repeat: I am so, so sorry. This is the last thing we wanted to do, and I've been fighting my ass off for the last three years to prevent it. But, as everyone who follows the legal system knows, the Fifth Circuit is gonna do what it's gonna do, whether or not what they want to do has any relationship to the actual law.

We don't collect geolocation information ourselves, and we have no idea which of our users are residents of Mississippi. (We also don't want to know that, unless you choose to tell us.) Because of that, and because access to highly accurate geolocation databases is extremely expensive, our only option is to use our network provider's geolocation-based blocking to prevent connections from IP addresses they identify as being from Mississippi from even reaching Dreamwidth in the first place. I have no idea how accurate their geolocation is, and it's possible that some people not in Mississippi might also be affected by this block. (The inaccuracy of geolocation is only, like, the 27th most important reason on the list of "why this law is practically impossible for any site to comply with, much less a tiny site like us".)

If your IP address is identified as coming from Mississippi, beginning on September 1, you'll see a shorter, simpler version of this message and be unable to proceed to the site itself. If you would otherwise be affected, but you have a VPN or proxy service that masks your IP address and changes where your connection appears to come from, you won't get the block message, and you can keep using Dreamwidth the way you usually would.

On a completely unrelated note while I have you all here, have I mentioned lately that I really like ProtonVPN's service, privacy practices, and pricing? They also have a free tier available that, although limited to one device, has no ads or data caps and doesn't log your activity, unlike most of the free VPN services out there. VPNs are an excellent privacy and security tool that every user of the internet should be familiar with! We aren't affiliated with Proton and we don't get any kickbacks if you sign up with them, but I'm a satisfied customer and I wanted to take this chance to let you know that.

Again, we're so incredibly sorry to have to make this announcement, and I personally promise you that I will continue to fight this law, and all of the others like it that various states are passing, with every inch of the New Jersey-bred stubborn fightiness you've come to know and love over the last 16 years. The instant we think it's less legally risky for us to allow connections from Mississippi IP addresses, we'll undo the block and let you know.

thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
You can't buy BYD cars here: the Biden administration slapped a 100% tariff on them to protect the Ketamine Kid's brand as they would literally destroy Tesla. They're available in Mexico, Europe, and selling like hotcakes in China where they're made.

BYD, Build Your Dream, started as an EV battery maker and became a car company. And they make amazing stuff. You can buy their entry level vehicle, the Seagull (they like aquatic names), for under $10,000 (converted currency, sans tariff).

Now here's where stuff gets interesting.

They have achieved L4 self-drive, and self-parking. Tesla doesn't have L4. And it's provided in the Seagull. And they have such confidence in it, that if your car dings itself or another car while self-parking, BYD will PAY FOR THE REPAIR!

The system is called God's Eye, it comes in three tiers. The basic level has - get this - 12 cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic sensors with 1-centimeter accuracy. The two higher tiers add one or three Lidar sensors.

The Tesla used to have Lidar, but Lidar sensors are expensive to buy and maintain, so they literally took them out of vehicles that it had been installed in and went camera-only. And they were cheap cameras.

My Subaru, a 2015 Crosstrek, has a system called Eyesight. It gives lane deviation warnings and has really cool adaptive cruise control. I can set the follow distance for three different lengths, speed-dependent, and it will maintain that distance quite well. If the vehicle in front of me slows down, my car slows down. If it speeds up, mine will speed up to the limit that the cruise control is set for. If another vehicle pulls in front of me, mine will slow down and re-establish that set distance that I configured.

It's REALLY cool.

But it doesn't self-park.

Tesla had self-park, once upon a time, and also had a recall feature where you could park your car in a lot, then go to dinner, walk back to the lot entrance, hit a button on your phone, and 'recall' your car and it would supposedly navigate the lot and come to you. I don't think they do that anymore after a lot of fender benders. Maybe they do, I'm not sure.

But these BYD cars? I expect they could do it.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91366273/byd-bests-tesla-again-cars-are-the-first-to-truly-park-themselves

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/11/1930239/byd-pledges-to-cover-damages-from-self-parking-car-crashes


BYD, like pretty much every car maker, has a high-end line called Yangwang. They make a hypercar called the U9.

It can jump over potholes.

I kid you not. It has a computer-controlled suspension that can read the road ahead and tell the car to leap over obstacles! This video has all sorts of awesome, including eluding a ninja ambush. Sorta.



If we move to Europe, I would seriously consider one of their cars.

Swearing

Aug. 24th, 2025 09:55 pm
deckardcanine: (Default)
[personal profile] deckardcanine
In olden days, the strongest swears available pertained
To taking Yahweh’s name in vain, but then religion waned.
As people got more privacy, they felt a lot more shame
For designated private parts and functions of the same,
Which thus became the basis of a second kind of curse.
Today, the most offensive words are demographic slurs.
Perhaps there’ll be a fourth wave, but it’s hard to think of how
The people of the future will take more offense than now.
thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
And there's nothing you can do about it.

Their Battery Health Assistance "feature" was optional in models 9 and below, but is now mandatory in the 10 and possibly subsequent models. And it will also throttle your charge rate. So shorter battery life, and longer charge times. YAY!

Google rates their batteries at 1,000 charge cycles before the battery drops to 80% capacity. Samsung, on the other hand, rates their batteries at 2,000 before the 80% level. Hmmm...

Apple got into trouble a few years back by introducing a silent throttle on some of their phones and had to offer free battery replacements, something that I took advantage of when I happened to be in Albuquerque for a day-long medical seminar that was literally across the street from an Apple Store. Now iPhones have a charge limiter - adjustable and can be deactivated - that by default limits your charge to 80%. When I got an iPhone 16 a year ago (my 13 Mini had strange problems that defied diagnosis), I set mine to 90%, and it reports that my maximum capacity is still 100% after 125 cycles. Sometimes the charge limiter forgets and my phone is at 100% when I take it off the charger in the morning.

Personally, I like to get 4-5 years out of my phones if I can and the only time I replaced a battery, that I remember, is when Apple throttled it and it did hit my battery life pretty badly. Normally I have no problem getting good battery life over the full life of my phone, but I don't spend all day texting or flipping through TikTok or other SM on it.

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-10-battery-health-assistance-3585863/

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/08/24/038259/will-googles-battery-health-assistant-throttle-your-pixel-10s-battery
thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
In an effort to boost reading, Denmark is proposing to abolished their 25% VAT on books, the highest tax rate on books in the world. This would hit their government revenue stream for about 330 million kroner ($51 million) a year. The culture minister hopes that this will reduce the cost of books and encourage more people to read.

Denmark's VAT rate on books is a bit out of line. From the article: "Other Nordic countries also charge a standard rate of 25% VAT, but it does not apply to books. VAT on books in Finland is 14%, in Sweden 6% and in Norway zero.

Sweden reduced its VAT on books in 2001, resulting in a rise in book sales, but analysis found they were bought by existing readers.

“It is also about getting literature out there,” said Engel-Schmidt. “That is why we have already allocated money for strengthened cooperation between the country’s public libraries and schools, so that more children can be introduced to good literature.”

A total of 8.3m books were sold in shops and online in Denmark in 2023, according to the national statistics office. The country’s population is just over 6 million.


I don't know that people are reading as much as they used to. I can pull up the numbers of how many books my library has lent over time, but if I don't have the corresponding number of how many students and teachers we've had for the same years, that raw number sadly doesn't mean much.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-in-effort-to-get-more-people-reading

https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/08/22/0031247/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-to-get-more-people-reading

For those who like word puzzles

Aug. 21st, 2025 09:39 pm
thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
The Atlantic has a (currently) free puzzle called Bracket City that's quite interesting. A single daily puzzle related to 'this day in history' where you complete phrases to collapse bracketed clues. The tricky bit is that you can only guess the currently highlighted portion, which the below example does not illustrate:

a [one one [who shalt not in [lift one [[" the club" (said with resignation)]t involved in a proposal] while sliding the opposite foot back, then alternate legs in quick, repeated motions — you are doing "The [⏳ "in the long" ➡️ ⬅️ "for your life!" ‼️]ning " 🕺]y command[👨‍💼👨‍💼👨‍💼]ts]sand 💵, for short]u[men[like many red[the biome you might be trying to get out of 🌲🌲🌲] or b["don't me" 🤷‍♀️]etball players]y ➡️ ⬅️ gotten gains]o[the point of [metal for the [life era for a [the US went to DEF[one on a list next to the pros] 2 during the Cuban Missile one]]dle medal]ware?] is installed in front of the Tuileries Palace

(and I'm a little too lazy to bold to show what's going on)

Anyway, you may get the idea. Check it out, it's kinda fun!

Russet and I do the NY Times crossword every day, and took a look at the Atlantic's Saturday puzzle, which was their second hardest. And we 'noped' right out of it. We're really used to the NYT's editors styles. I think if we worked at it we could do it, but we really don't need a second crossword right now. Doing Strands, Connections, the crossword, and now this Bracket City together is enough. And Russet does several other daily puzzles beyond this that I do not join her in normally.

https://www.theatlantic.com/games/bracket-city/

Book Review: The Gilded Ones

Aug. 19th, 2025 02:55 pm
deckardcanine: (Default)
[personal profile] deckardcanine
Normally, I'd wait longer to read another fantasy by a Black woman, for what I now realize are rather arbitrary reasons. But this one promised to be a little different, partly by being more genuinely YA (no sex, little swearing). Besides, the beautiful cover illustration drew me in.

Cut for length )

I have now picked up Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next: First Among Sequels. That ought to be funnier.
thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
Terence Stamp was a notable actor who made his mark in many, many films. The first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeves, Star Wars Episode 1, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, His Dark Materials. Other work included a Federico Fellini film of an Edgar Allen Poe story, various voice work, Modesty Blaise, Young Guns, Bowfinger, Wanted, the Tom Cruise film Valkyrie, The Adjustment Bureau, Miss Peregrin's Home For Peculiar Children, and more. His final film was Last Night In Soho (2021).

THREE volumes of memoirs, a novel, and a cookbook were also amongst his accomplishments. His voiceover work included Elder Scrolls IV, Halo 3, documentary voiceover work, and music video appearances. He shared a house with Michael Caine before they both made it big! His brother, Chris, was a rock music producer and manager and was largely responsible for bring The Who to prominence! That's more of an interesting footnote since Terence probably didn't directly have an effect on that event. OR DID HE?

Among his awards and nominations were a Golden Globe Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and a Silver Bear (German) as well as nominations for an Academy Award and two BAFTA Awards.

He was a busy man.

https://gizmodo.com/superman-and-star-wars-actor-terence-stamp-dies-at-age-87-2000644162
thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
Some very interesting news from King's College, London. They've developed a new toothpaste based on keratin, rather than fluoride, extracted from sheep's wool, and found that it restores teeth and builds better protection. The restoration process builds a scaffold-like structure on the teeth that attracts calcium and phosphate ions, building a calcium-like compound on the teeth, restoring protection.

Fluoride only slows the wear and tear on the teeth, it doesn't do anything to rebuild it.

The best thing is that this toothpaste could be on the market in 2-3 years!

https://gizmodo.com/toothpaste-made-from-hair-works-better-than-fluoride-scientists-say-2000643763

Watching the Needle

Aug. 16th, 2025 08:03 pm
deckardcanine: (Default)
[personal profile] deckardcanine
Phlebotomists have told me other donors look away
When getting an injection, yet my eyeballs never stray.
It’s not to show my bravery; it’s just how I prepare
To brace the very moment when the pain is coming there.
(In case you haven’t done it, know the pain is slight and brief,
Especially without surprise; you soon will have relief.)
thewayne: (Default)
[personal profile] thewayne
This is really cool. Researchers found a bacterium that binds to CO very effectively and synthesized a protein that seeks it out in your blood, removing it from hemoglobin, which then lets the hemoglobin return to its normal job of carrying oxygen through your body! In mice tests, 50% of the CO was removed in ONE MINUTE. The bound CO is then removed through urine!

I'm guessing a double bag IV of the protein and saline to get the bag in and to increase the need to pee. Hopefully it could be part of a paramedic's kit.

According to the article, CO binds to hemoglobin 200-400x more effectively than oxygen, which is what makes CO poisoning so deadly. And the only treatment currently is flooding the victim with oxygen, often in a pressure chamber, which is still a slow process. In the US, there are 50,000 ER visits for CO poisoning and 1,500 deaths.

The question is, of course, how long until this makes it to market and how expensive will the treatment be.

https://newatlas.com/disease/first-antidote-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/

https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/14/0010227/first-antidote-for-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-cleans-blood-in-minutes

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