Narcissus 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Trump’s Secret Police Are Now Disappearing Students For Their Op-Eds

    Narcissus ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2025 @ 02:24am

    Now it makes sense

    Seeing recent developments, this map makes sense, kinda: Ancestry map (Yes, it's a joke, don't @ me)

  • On the post: Meta, Apparently, Really Wants Everyone To Read This Book (By Trying To Ban It)

    Narcissus ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2025 @ 05:43am

    Non Sequitor

    Just chiming in her to say Mike has achieved one of my lifelong dreams: to create idiom. (yes, I know, I'm weird) A few months ago I was watching some random youtube vid on Voltaire and the narrator just dropped this: "The French government Streisanded his books by burning them." No additional explanation, dude just continued, indicating he expected everybody to understand what he meant. Obviously it was possible to sort of get what he meant from context, but still. Congrats, Mike!

  • On the post: Trump Claims Boycotting Tesla Is Illegal, Which It Very Much Is Not

    Narcissus ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2025 @ 04:10am

    Not so sure

    "And Tesla’s stock will surely rise at some point." Tesla stock value was always based on air. The price of the stock would make it worth more than the 5 biggest carmakers together. If you want to be nasty, you could say that quintessentially it's a meme stock. From an investor standpoint you would defend those prices as a bet on the future of the company. Which is a big bet but, okay. However, now, due to Musk's antics, the brand (a huge part of a company's goodwill) is basically toxic. Besides that, sales are dropping like a stone and not even a Trump commercial can fix that. Seeing the reason for the drop it will make it worse probably. So, the future of the company is looking bleak. Any sane investor would look for the exit. Not sure that can be fixed. Maybe Musk can sell it to Greenpeace or the Dalai Lama?

  • On the post: Hey Elon: You Don’t Just ‘Ooopsie’ The Destruction Of Ebola Prevention

    Narcissus ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2025 @ 04:15am

    Will it come back to bite them?

    The Nobel prize for economy was recently awarded to 3 guys that did research on failed states. While it is hard to define how to build a succesful nation, some prerequisites are: - Reliable institutions (judiciary, but also press) - Rule of law (minimal corruption) - Stable Government - Proper access to Health care and education Without these the nation will certainly fail. Trump and his cronies are working on destroying all of that, insofar as it existed (healthcare). So, how long until the US will become a failed state? So, all the techbros and other greedy billionaires might find that their main market has devolved into chaos. Not exactly helpful for the business model. They might also find out that Europe is becoming more and more hostile to them, whihc might impact them even if the US market doesn't collapse. The EU press and assorted governments are already describing the US as an unreliable partner and, potentially, and enemy. Signals of a growing anti-Americanism are showing already. Despite a growing marketshare of EVs, Tesla sales dropped >50%. I also saw a news item describing how to move from WhatsApp to Signal. Additionally, even though most countries are planning to increase defense spending, all of them are also thinking about how to keep that spending in Europe. Nobody wants to buy from a country that might be our enemy in a couple of years. So, the US defense industry stands to lose a lot of customers. I, as a middle-aged European, am sad to see this. Yes, we always considered our American brothers as a bit wayward, with their guns, expensive healthcare and bad food. However, they were always considered as being on the same side. Stability in the world is not improving.

  • On the post: Musk Denies Email Admitting To ExTwitter’s Struggles, But Banks’ Desperation Tells A Different Story

    Narcissus ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2025 @ 07:39am

    Not so sure

    He's worth what now? 400 Billion? Should be easy right? I'm actually not so sure. Most of his money/value is in Tesla stock. The valuation of that stock is based on quicksand, especially since lately the sales numbers are looking a bit iffy. Remember, the stock is valuated as if Tesla is worth much more than any of the established brands, like Toyota or Volkswagen. Also left-leaning people that bought Teslas are looking at Musk and his actions and wonder what electric vehicles the competition offers, which are now many. For some reason, probably because of his political antics, the value of Tesla is holding up and even increased after Trumps victory. Will the value still hold up if Musk has to sale a couple dozen billions of Tesla stock to pay back the banks? Not sure.

  • On the post: Election Conspiracy-Mongers’ ‘Election Integrity’ App Flaw Reveals Voter Suppression Plan (Along With User Data)

    Narcissus ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2024 @ 02:12am

    Change of message

    I think the MAGA message will change now: "Thanks to our boundless energy in stopping the filthy foreigners from illegally voting, this was the most honest and fair election of any era." Thanks America, it was nice knowing you.

  • On the post: Mazda Annoys Owners By Making Remote Start A Subscription

    Narcissus ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2024 @ 12:22am

    The pre-start of the AC could function as a bit of a range extender when talking about electric cars. The AC consumes quite a lot of electricity so, if it is connected to a charging point, it might make sense to pre-cool/heat, so you start with a fully charged climatized vehicle. For combustion engines it is pure comfort. Still, if the windows are iced over, or if the car has been in the blistering sun for some time, I think it's worth it. But, first world problems, yes.

  • On the post: Carmakers Push Forward With Plans To Make Basic Features Subscription Services, Despite Widespread Backlash

    Narcissus ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2023 @ 02:29am

    As a person who is currently the lucky haver of a job with a company that produces stuff (not cars though): Yes, if we get consistent feedback from our sales that customers don't like a certain feature and buy something else because of it, we change that feature. We even involve customers when designing new products and ask their opinion before bringing something to the market. Revolutionary I know! If your top line is dependent on selling stuff, you try to make sure your customer likes your stuff. Maybe car manufacturers can ignore their customer's preferences a bit. Some people have very emotional connections with car brands and would buy a certain brand whatever (BMW might actually pull that off to an extent). That is however not the mass market and pissing off loyal customers is not a long term viable strategy.

  • On the post: Would You Trust All Of Your Financial Services & Money To Elon Musk?

    Narcissus ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2023 @ 07:36am

    It exists

    Can confirm it exists. I can pay by scanning a QR code, that opens my banking app. After confirming my identity (for bigger payments it's 2FA), the website directly charges my bank account, no credit card required. Right now it's mostly on a national level but I understand they will create a European version now.

  • On the post: Can Google Be Held Liable For Man Who Died Following Google Maps Over A Collapsed Bridge?

    Narcissus ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2023 @ 01:37am

    barriers

    Not removing the barriers is in itself negligent. Who would expect there to not be a road between 2 barriers? Not saying it is great but at very bad visibility, like mist, blizzards or heavy rain, the barriers can be an important visual cue as to where the road is going. There were, as far as I know, no additional problems with visibility besides it being dark, so the driver is a huge factor here. However, those barriers should've been removed a long time ago.

  • On the post: Multiple David Sosas Ask Supreme Court To Overturn Decision Saying It’s Fine To Arrest ANY David Sosa When Cops Are Seeking A SPECIFIC David Sosa

    Narcissus ( profile ), 07 Jul, 2023 @ 12:28am

    Warrant search

    Maybe somebody should see if any of the SCOTUS judges has outstanding warrants "under another person".

  • On the post: Top EU Court Advisor Says Technical Standards, Like Laws, Should Not Be Locked Down By Copyright

    Narcissus ( profile ), 06 Jul, 2023 @ 04:49am

    In my experience that is not how it goes in Europe. EN and ISO norms are created by groups of experts. Usually made up of people from the industry, employed by companies that have a stake in the norms being workable. It might be a problem for those organisations if they can't copyright the norms. To my understanding, that is their business model. Create standards and sell copies of the standard to the people that need them. I think they're non-profits but a quick seach couldn't confirm that. So if they take away that business model I guess the EU needs to subsidise the organisations, otherwise there will be no more norms. That might be a better solution all around but I'm not sure the EU is prepared for it.

  • On the post: Marjorie Taylor Greene Has A Bill To Burden Elon Musk’s Twitter With An Avalanche Of Frivolous Lawsuits

    Narcissus ( profile ), 03 May, 2022 @ 04:13am

    Sidenote

    “statists” (not a word)
    If he's making up words for statisticians, I feel that in this case he should've gone for Stazis.

  • On the post: Trumpists Admit That Their Own Social Media Platforms Aren’t Much Fun When They Can’t Use Them To Own The Libs

    Narcissus ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2022 @ 03:01am

    I Kinda feel you missed the pedophiles on your list. They keep getting thrown around (figuratively).

  • On the post: German Court Fines Site Owner For Sharing User Data With Google To Access Web Fonts

    Narcissus ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2022 @ 11:44pm

    Re:

    I just ran into this beauty from Adobe:
    When you go to the website it asks you to "Manage options" or "Enable all".
    So far, pretty standard. When you click "Manage options" though, you get the 4 kinds of cookies you can (de)select and then you have 2 options "Don't enable" or "Enable all"... "Confirm selection" was too straightforward? This seems skirt dangerously close to tricking you into inadvertently allowing all cookies.

  • On the post: Add The United Nations To The List Of Entities Helping The Chinese Government Oppress Its Minority Uighur Population

    Narcissus ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2022 @ 04:46am

    Re:

    Well, China is doing it's best to find partners to research the issue of human rights thoroughly and, obviously, independently: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/01/vu-returns-human-rights-research-funding-from-china/

  • On the post: New Jersey Cop Facing Charges After Hitting A Man With His Car And Driving His Body To His Mom's House

    Narcissus ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2021 @ 03:23am

    Re:

    hindering one's own apprehension, conspiracy to hinder prosecution, tampering with physical evidence, obstructing the administration of law, Basically all of that is just piling on. Almost every criminal will be on the hook for this.

  • On the post: Silly, Pandering Politicians Introduce Silly, Pandering 'Cyber Grinch' Law That Would Ban Buying Bots

    Narcissus ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2021 @ 02:12am

    Re: Re:

    It is not necessarily "fucking stupid" it is, as mentioned, the market at work. Obviously there is an argument to be made that is has some ethical issues but to me there is also a difference between luxuries and primary needs. If somebody started driving up the price for food or energy, sure let the government step in. Somebody is scalping concert tickets? Not so much. The unintended consequences of such measure are most likely big.
    While I'm sympathetic to the idea of reducing scalping it is an issue for the retailers/manufacturers. They need to put measures in place to reduce it. While the retailers maybe do not have much incentive to do so, manufacturers certainly do. Also artists, specifically big ones, could push ticket resellers to do more.
    And, it is not as if it is only the scalpers... It needs two to tango. The scalpers can do this because people are buying from them. So, if you ever bought from a scalper, you are part of the problem.
    I'm one of those people who has been looking for a PS5 since it launched. Trust me, I could've bought one if I wanted to, but I refuse to buy from anything other than an official source at the official price. Not because I cannot afford to buy it of a scalper but because I don't want to give oxygen to those practices. Would I like Sony or retailers to do more to stop it? Sure, but also my life doesn't end because I have to use my PS4 for a bit longer.

  • On the post: Lying NYPD Officers Cost Prosecutors Sixty More Criminal Convictions

    Narcissus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2021 @ 02:01am

    New defense?

    Right now cops get a lot of trust from the legal system. However, if this keeps going on:

    "Well, your honor, I understand it is his word against mine. I am, however, an upstanding citizen with no prior arrests. The witness for the prosecution though is...a cop. The defense rests."

  • On the post: NordicTrack Patches Out 'God Mode' In Treadmills That Allowed Users To Watch Anything On Its Display

    Narcissus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2021 @ 01:52am

    Missed opportunity

    If they're afraid of safety they could, of course, let the next update provide that in a safe way.

    Personally I think that if an exercise machine has a large display and an internet connection, it is insanity to not provide access to Netflix, youtube etc. It wouldn't even occur to me to NOT do that. Every gym has TVs all over the place so people have some distraction. Do you think people working out at home would like to watch the wall while working out? And don't tell me people enjoy working out.

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