[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago

Questioning a bang.

My quick and dirty interrobang with her revealed to me how empty inside I was, unlike the outhouse we were in.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago

To add more possibilities/perspectives to the above:

The security question I've seen most in my life has probably been "What is your mothers maiden name?" which becomes fairly easy to guess with family history.

Ancestry information can reveal who is inbred.

It also can reveal politicians commiting nepotism.

Geographic location can show if someone lives in a redlined neighborhood or the part of town with all the mansions.

Simply the fact that an account exists on 23andme's website, implies someone took the test, which indicates they (or someone they know) has disposable income. Enough to pay for such a test (initially I believe it was $400 but I could be wrong) and that also implies they have some form of internet access and that they probably own a smartphone/computer/laptop/some kind of technology they can use to access their account. Thus they could be targeted simply for having potential income/assets above that of poverty level.

If actual DNA data was comprimised, which I doubt happened but suppose it did, an advanced enough attacker could use that to plant evidence at a crime scene. Who would believe a whistleblower after their DNA was found on a rape victim? Who would vote for a politician whose DNA was found on a murder weapon used to kill dozens of missing persons? They can scream "fake news!" all they want to, once that seed of doubt has been planted, once enough people are made to believe someone is guilty of some atrocity, it is hard to shake that belief. The DNA evidence is there. It was tested by scientists.

I could come up with more far fetched scenarios too. I made a list of them once because a family member purchased one of the 23andme tests for me to take. They did not understand why I refused to take the test. The reason was because a decade and a half prior, I was charged with a crime. The crime doesn't exist anymore where I live (illegal botany) but at the time it could have been a felony. I did not want to have a felony. Felons had their DNA added to a federal database to assist investigators in finding repeat offenders. I fought hard to ensure I was not convicted with a felony and succeeded by pleading to lesser charges.

The idea of having my DNA on file with a government agency like the FBI, CIA or NSA terrifies me. A malicious agent could do a lot of damage with it. They could invent threats with it to ensure I comply with their demands. The amount of possible damage they could inflict grows every day with new technology. DNA, gait and facial recognition, geofence data and an AI trained to make deepfakes, in the hands of a shadowy alphabet agency with little oversight, that's fairly unstoppable by a single person. Imagine if anyone could get their hands on that. A disgruntled coworker. An obsessive ex. A hormonal teen child having a temper tantrum.

I know this is long and extreme in parts. I hope this helps people understand that DNA data is powerful and could be abused in unimaginable ways.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

directly onto my USB

directly without having to reboot to run the installer?

You use "directly" three times. Remove all instances of the word from your post and reread it. Does the post make sense to you still? Does it have the same meaning?

I am not trying to be a dick, I want to make sure the word does not have a meaning I am not aware of in this context or if Linux is installable to a USB drive 'indirectly' but that does not make sense to me.

Can you rephrase what you are trying to do?

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

just in case someone sticks it in a working drive, add a file to the floppy named

autorun.inf

and add the following to it with a text editor:

[autorun]
open=Microsoft.Media.Player.exe
icon=icon.ico

while i doubt it will actually work, if it does, it would be quite hilarious in my opinion. there's probably, hopefully, safeguards that prevent such a thing from working and i likely have the syntax wrong, i haven't used windows in years.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

Terrible advice unless it's with edibles. Smoking weed (or anything else) will lead to dry socket most likely and should be avoided at all costs.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 months ago

to reply to the question posed within the meme itself:

using the same physics which allow the creature to exist, i would create a device that consists of reflecting and refracting matter, like prisms, echo chambers, mirrors and lenses, with the overall capability to reflect and project a distorted 'circus mirror' holograph version of the creature at a subatomic level, which appears to be an order of magnitude larger, directly behind it.

then, when it turns around to face its new illusory foe, i would tie its shoelaces together.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 months ago

I for one, am severely disappointed that i do not have relevent and targeted ads to view, while i am filling out online applications for jobs. i also still don't see ads when i put the same information again on a paper application, as part of their company's interview process or when filling out the tax paperwork if i get hired and i haven't gotten ads yet when applying for food stamps due to the job not paying anything close to enough to survive off of and you know, come to think of it, i have not once seen an ad on any of my termination letters or paychecks either. actually, that's probably because i never get either of those, they just tell me to stop ringing the bell and hand them the bucket of cash or tell me to return the wendy's uniform within a week or i get a $35 fine deducted from my last paycheck and that i'm no longer allowed on the property after what happened behind the dumpster but that's another story, i digress.

they should have ads on cash too. just because some people only use plastic cards and NFC to pay for things, doesn't mean everyone does. poor people have a right to be bombarded with ads from their choice of currency, even if it is for things they cannot afford. it is a grave injustice of equal rights, that when i'm holding a cardboard sign on the freeway onramp begging for change, the pittance of coins i'm being pelted with aren't blaring slogans from tiny built in speakers. when i'm dancing at the topless bar, the greasy singles being crumpled up and thrown at me don't even play ads that sync up with the song i dance to and never, not one fucking time has my song and dance been interrupted for an important advertising announcement, it's only ever interrupted by the strip club staff telling me to leave and never come back and that guys can't dance to 'touch myself' by the divinyls no matter how flexible they are. i digress.

this is sarcasm mixed with weak attempts at humor. nothing should be considered truthful or accurate however some might be based on true events which have been altered or exagerrated for effect. This message was brought to by typing and no AI was harmed or used in the making of this comment.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 months ago

Making new year resolutions and actually following through with them until i have succeeded. Each new year, if i completed my previous year goal, i will spend some time thinking about what i could do to best improve my life. i also very carefully word the resolution, so i am not able to 'cheat' in any way.

I started off by doing something i saw as a joke. the resolution was to watch every episode and movie of star trek, star wars and dr who. After accomplishing this goal (after 3 years) i realized that making the goal specific is more important. a vague goal that says "do better" in some way is bad. it is better, for me, to aim for a reasonable and achievable goal.

For example, "losing weight" is a bad. if i never stopped losing weight, it would be worse than if i never stopped gaining weight. if i make the goal "get to, then stay within 180-200 pounds", it is a good goal. (for my height, this is a healthy range).

i started doing this in 2006. since starting i have quit drinking alcohol, quit illegal drugs and reconnected with family members i lost contact with, during the time i was doing the other two.

the most recent goal i made, in 2020, is actually the opposite of my first goal: quit watching tv and movies, quit playing videogames and educate myself as much as possible, until i get a college degree (this is difficult. i have developmental disorders) or buy a house. since they are harder goals than before, i gave myself a deadline of before 2030 begins.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 months ago

I see this post is old enough that my comment is less likely to be seen but i feel this is a somewhat relevant anecdote regarding the sale of automotive data.

last april i bought a used car. i had not owned or driven a vehicle in well over a decade. i had never operated a vehicle with a computer, not like the kind this car had at least with its 'infotainment' console and numerous digital featrures. one such 'feature' was the navigation system. a map on the little tv in the console would show me directions after i entered an address into it. how useful!

i was taking a trip to visit my grandparents not long after buying the car and to test out the navigation system, i entered their address into it. it failed to give me correct directions however, since the nav system was ran off an SD card inserted into a port inside the storage space between the driver and passenger seats. the car was made in 2013 and the sole previous owner had never used the nav system. the SD card was in its original packaging, unopened and in the glove box.

i ended up visiting the grandparents by finding their home by memory, the way i normally navigate, and went on with my life. after that weekend, i learned the car had a recall. i could take it to a authorized dealership and have the faulty system replaced at no cost to me. so i did just that. the recalled part was supposedly fixed and all seemed well.

a week or two passes and i get a call from my grandfather. he recieved mail addressed to me, asking if i wanted to sell my vehicle. my name, his address. i have never searched for his address on the internet, i know it by memory. the only place i have ever entered the location was in that car navigation system. i have never even spoken the address out loud nor heard it spoken in several decades, so those who believe phone are always recording with their microphones.

i believe the only way that mail could have been sent in my name to their address, was through the navigation system data being downloaded from the car and sold to third parties. my grandparents have recieved several pieces of mail addressed to me since then. always, it is referencing my vehicle, with the correct make, model and year showing.

i will never trust ford or purchase their products ever again. i should have known better than to have purchased this car, but it was a very good price with only one previous owner and a great carfax report.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 5 points 7 months ago

i used sweethome3d at first and then imported it into blender. it works pretty well although isn't exactly accurate to scale. i started by recreating my current apartment and used it to plan rearranging my furniture but now i have two files, one for planning my apartment and one to buildout my dream home by expanding on what i currently have.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 9 points 8 months ago

I simply use my credit card number for my password on every site. it makes it so much easier to remember both. back in the day i would use my social security number. thanks to that simple trick, i never get robocalls or spam and i've been removed from most mailing lists because no one will ever issue credit or do business of any kind with me. a hacker stole my identity once and my credit score quadrupled. he even gave my identity back a week later!

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 9 points 10 months ago

sewing with a needle and thread. nothing complicated, the bare minimum is useful in a lot of ways.

i keep a small kit in my car because my pants waistlines keep shrinking mysteriously and i'm starting to randomly lose buttons and getting blowouts in the crotch. [likely due to far-reaching, nefarious, conspiracies and not b/c of the other kit in my car that's full of snacks].

what used to be my crippling, irrational fear of inadvertently exposing myself at like a job interview or in an uber with a cute driver, is now an easy fix i can do in a minute AND it's certain to make an impression.

old winter jackets with a lot of zippered pockets are especially great practice. try unstitching and removing a few of the pockets, then add them to other jackets or whatever you can think of.

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lattrommi

joined 1 year ago