ragebutt @ ragebutt @lemmy.dbzer0.com

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things I learned from repairing/refurbishing laptops as a hobby/way to save a ton of useful electronics from becoming ewaste/way to earn extra cash:

most laptops are designed atrociously bad. like from an electronics perspective but also from a casing perspective. This is the case regardless of your laptop being $300 or $3000 and it’s a mixture of planned obsolescence, idiotic design choices, poor material selection, and cost cutting

Sometimes it’s just a cheap laptop with very thin or brittle plastic that will inevitably wear down and start to break apart, especially if it’s used heavily. Lots of chromebooks were like this but even pricier stuff like the $6-900 acer nitro

Sometimes it’s got a weird material selection like a rubberized coating that wears away like the asus zephyrus ($1500-3000)

Sometimes the hinges are basically designed to fail and after a year the top half cracks apart in such a way that the casing needs to be entirely replaced or given a hideously ugly and not sturdy repair (basically every hp laptop ever ranging from hundreds to thousands)

Sometimes boards are given cost cutting measures that are paired with “security” measures that render repair impossible. If you have a macbook from ~2015-20 that was a cheaper model one of the cost cutting measures was to remove what’s called a TVS diode from the 3.3v and 1.8v nand power rails. A TVS diode, to oversimplify things, is to protect against power surges. So now when a power surge occurs on either of those lines instead of a TVS diode taking the hit and either clamp the excess or in extreme cases fail. In that case you’re replacing a 3 cent diode that takes 5 seconds to solder instead of a much more costly SSD that requires complex BGA rework. BUT here’s the kicker - apple also stores the firmware keys on the SSD which are paired to a chip called the t2. So once the ssd is dead you are fucked, only apple can restore it. I can reflash macos and efi partitions but without the firmware keys it won’t boot. Only option is an entirely new logic board. Also all your data is gone

It’s fucked now. We let tech bros win. Apple gets the heat but they’re not the only ones. Dell pairs ssds to their tpm module, pairs displays, webcams, fingerprint readers, etc. hp has whitelists for ssds and wan (meaning only “authorized” parts work) and pairs ssds. Lenovo has whitelists for wan cards. They’re all not as aggressive as apple and it’s not across all models but they’re testing the waters and clearly moving in that direction.

Even consoles now - ps5 and Xbox pairs optical drive (though Xbox can be done with some nonsense), switch pairs nand, all three will ban you from their network for fucking with the console.

Our world is designed to consume and waste.

I am a counselor by trade

My raw notes (not progress notes, but like the actual notes I take when talking to someone) are overwhelmingly like this:

Doing well, week was okay - recording response to “hey, how’s it going, how’s your week, how’s your mood?”

Then immediately something like:

Actually doing terribly. Work is stressful. Conflict with family. Experiencing insomnia. GI issues. Procrastinating a lot and doomscrolling instead of doing work. Etc

There’s this social pragmatic language we go through. The script of what we say to everyone that is completely dishonest but we say it as a colloquial greeting. Even if you are actually doing great you don’t generally expand on why. You just say the same thing you always do because no one actually wants to hear about it. Once that’s out of the way then we can get to the actual thing because therapy and doctors visits are some of the contexts where someone is actually there to hear you out (for money, to be fair)

He didn’t open with that statement, he buried it into his video. A bootlicking coward (or possibly an industry plant, given he got the blizzard job thanks to his dad) who bans dissent and won’t actually engage in any dialogues with the people he’s fucking over

I’m not claiming to know everything nor am I claiming the the “snark” (terrible word) against the fox lady was justified.

From what I saw of the accusations it was all hearsay, basically a bunch of out of context text screenshots from random people who I had no context for. Maybe they were meaningful, or maybe they had an agenda against her, I don’t know. What I do know is that a collection of easily faked evidence coming from a reddit hate sub that is not exactly damning evidence. Plus I don’t mean to sound callous but it frankly doesn’t really matter at this point. She is gone, even if it 100% true the issue is over.

From what I saw of the reddit guy (note, this is confusing if you read because many people will purposely misgender him) getting trashed he basically posted a list of said “evidence” to bring it to light because he is sympathetic to animals and maybe a bit too into internet drama. From what I’ve seen there is no evidence he did anything other than this, have a huge online footprint that made him extremely easy to be doxxed, and be trans.

So essentially you have a fox lady who may or may not have run an animal rescue very poorly and regardless of whether this was true probably got shit on a lot because she was popular online and did things like onlyfans. Then she committed suicide and some people are co-opting that tragedy because they found one target who is mildly associated with the backlash against the fox lady and happens to be trans which means they can potentially bully a trans person into suicide.

If you have the resilience to do so I recommend reading the soyjack thread. Those people are disgusting and their intentions are clear. They use hate speech constantly with the standard slurs you’d expect for transgender people, mockingly using neopronouns, talking about him “roping” and “41%ing”, etc. this is not hidden away on tor or conjecture. This is happening to a teenager on the clearnet right now. It is not good for your mental health but it is important to see how this unfolds to learn how they twist the narrative. They are posting as him on reddit and bluesky right now and laughing in the thread about how they are trolling him.

I don’t know how I feel about this

I was interested in this beyond the headline and read about it for 20 minutes or so. I have never heard of anyone involved in this

From what I read this person you cited claims to have compiled some (somewhat dubious but lengthy) information that the deceased was at least neglectful of the many animals they were raising and then posted it. They claimed that was all they did

Reddit had a snark subreddit but it’s impossible to see if said user was very active on the sub bc it’s obviously private now

That said soyjack.party is dogpiling on the user you’ve mentioned. They’ve doxed him, they are creating pseudo bluesky accounts under his real name to slander him and make people think he is goading people, contacting workplace and parents, etc. it seems motivated partially because some of their users loved the fox lady but a number of users also seem to think the fox lady was “a degenerate” and the reddit users claims were valid, but happily join in simply because the reddit user is trans

https://www.soyjak.st/raid/thread/194610.html#195569 (a great deal of hate speech here fyi)

This whole thing stinks and appears to be co-opted by very hateful people who intend to cause someone else to commit suicide, basically

More a sign that ranked choice voting allows people to choose for candidates that actually represent their interests which is why 13 states have already banned it and 3 more are working to ban it

The inherent problem with this is that charity should be something guided by community consensus and expert opinion, not at the whim of an oligarch (who is primarily funneling money into his own foundation). Imagine if that money went into fair worker pay and then was taxed appropriately, where it could then be used for outreach programs, grants, funding ngos, etc dictated by political means rather than having some pseudo king having to decide your cause is worthy. granted in our current climate the political means are rotten but if we had an equitable system that didn’t allow for bill gates to exist we would hopefully have a better framework for this part too.

Also will take the time to point out that for all of his “charity” his net worth has, for the most part, stayed the same or increased throughout the years. Something tells me his kids will have still have obscene generational wealth

Fair question, I should’ve expanded. To clarify I think it is helpful and good to divert something that was going to be trashed anyway and resell it for a fair price based on your labor to restore it. I actually think it is important. Most of what I do is stuff that people were literally going to trash and while I do earn a decent amount I sell the stuff for fair prices, usually at least 30-40% off of retail

I think it is scummy to merely act as a middle person that artificially buys up supply and then resells at artificially high values (eg consoles, Pokémon cards, sneakers, etc). Scalping, basically

It is understandable that you would be hesitant to re enter a system that failed you

I am not sure how it works in Oklahoma but perhaps a different agency network may be more trustworthy? I am in PA where things are more privatized and as a result if you have a bad experience with agency x you can go to agency y. Both are largely government funded but ultimately privately owned and thus experiences can vary wildly. I know in some states this is not the case though and it’s just mental health agency (this odmhsas you refer to, perhaps?)

Although even then I would remind you that a different office is run by different people and you may have a totally different experience.

The biggest factor here that I can tell you is that all the services I am suggesting (well, the one really) is a voluntary outpatient service. This contrasts greatly from your inpatient experience which was likely involuntary or at least had the threat of becoming involuntary. This means, at the very least, if you are treated disrespectfully then you have the power and autonomy to tell them to stop it. If they ask you to do something that makes you uncomfortable you don’t have to. If they say something rude you can ask for a staffing change. And if you truly feel the service is rotten you can simply stop doing it at any point.

I don’t know anything about Oklahoma but a cursory search shows they do have case management

Reach out to a place like this https://www.offibhs.org/case-management/ though there may be a better fit depending on where you live specifically. Also unfortunately you may find that case management is geared towards people who are severely lacking in resources, eg facing homelessness or are homeless. Depends on the state. In my state case management has a bit more funding so it is more applicable but this is definitely not the case across the country

Well then the skies your limit, you just have to get good enough at something.

I could never get good enough at the creative stuff to justify that. I love music and write my own stuff but I’m not nearly good enough for that. It takes me like 2 weeks to write one song. My friend that writes beats will bust one out in like 40 minutes and can basically do whatever. You want reggaeton? Sure

But I buy up broken shit and resell it. You spilled a drink on your macbook? You broke the hdmi/usbc on your console? Your graphics card died? I will swoop in and lowball you since I know you’re gonna throw it away if I don’t buy it. I take on a lot of risk because a lot of things either can’t be fixed or aren’t economically viable to fix but at the same time I also often pay like $1-200 for a ps5 and resell it for $400 refurbished with like 2 hours of work and $10 of parts so it balances out. Graphics cards are the worst ones tbh, the risk:reward is too high. I get a ton that are just fucked and are parts boards but every once in a while I get a repairable one and then it’s a $5-600 profit or more. I won’t pay more than 2-300 for a dead 4090 because they’re often totally fucked

Depending on your income level and what state you are in Medicaid may not be viable then. Not filing taxes is not necessarily a deal breaker but does increase complexity. If you file through healthcare.gov (or whatever your state uses) they may expect you to either file those taxes now to declare taxable income levels but this is usually not required for MA. You do need some proof of income though (bank statements, pay stubs, etc)

Depending on what state you are in it may be helpful to see if there is a blended case management service available. This will potentially help connect you with services including MA

Harris would do it with decorum. A classy bombing, and polite ice raids

This is tough without special training or scummy morals

Like you can resell stuff but that’s gross

Crafting is cool but that’s a special skill. I know people that sell crochet, needlepoint, etc

I refurbish electronics but that’s also a special skill, it’s not terribly difficult to learn though and can actually be quite lucrative. Good for the environment too. Buy a switch that someone is just going to throw away, fix it, resell it as refurbished, that kind of thing. This is getting much harder though. Ebay was the primary way to go and they’ve been shifting away from refurbished and used sales a lot over the past few years

I have a friend that does custom artwork for people but that’s a special skill. I have another friend that sells music for people that wants beats but again special skills. Fivver type stuff

Basically a lot of these will be “monetize your hobby”

Where do live? Do you have a job?

If you have no income I would strongly suggest applying for Medicare. Depending on where you live the process may not be very difficult and if you are approved it may make your life much easier. Finding MA providers can be a challenge but when you do your cost is essentially $0

There’s a huge degree of separation between “violent music/games has a spurious link to violent behavior” and shitty AIs that are good enough to fill the void of someone who is lonely but not good enough to manage risk

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/30/tech/teen-suicide-character-ai-lawsuit

“within months of starting to use the platform, Setzer became “noticeably withdrawn, spent more and more time alone in his bedroom, and began suffering from low self-esteem. He even quit the Junior Varsity basketball team at school,”

“In a later message, Setzer told the bot he “wouldn’t want to die a painful death.”

The bot responded: “Don’t talk that way. That’s not a good reason not to go through with it,” before going on to say, “You can’t do that!”

Garcia said she believes the exchange shows the technology’s shortcomings.

“There were no suicide pop-up boxes that said, ‘If you need help, please call the suicide crisis hotline.’ None of that,” she said. “I don’t understand how a product could allow that, where a bot is not only continuing a conversation about self-harm but also prompting it and kind of directing it.”

The lawsuit claims that “seconds” before Setzer’s death, he exchanged a final set of messages from the bot. “Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love,” the bot said, according to a screenshot included in the complaint.

“What if I told you I could come home right now?” Setzer responded.

“Please do, my sweet king,” the bot responded.

Garcia said police first discovered those messages on her son’s phone, which was lying on the floor of the bathroom where he died.”

So we have a bot that is marketed for chatting, a teenager desperate for socialization that forms a relationship that is inherently parasocial because the other side is an LLM that literally can’t have opinions, it just can appear to, and then we have a terrible mismanagement of suicidal ideation.

The AI discouraged ideation, which is good, but only when it was stated in very explicit terms. What’s appalling is that it gave no crisis resources or escalation to moderation (because like most big tech shit they probably refuse to pay for anywhere near appropriate moderation teams). Then what is inexcusable is that when ideation is discussed with slightly coded language “come home” the AI misconstrues it.

This results in a training opportunity for the language model to learn that in this context with previously exhibited ideation “go home” may mean more severe ideation and danger (if character.AI bothered to update that these conversations resulted in a death). The only drawback of getting that data of course is a few dead teenagers. Gotta break a few eggs to get an omelette

This barely begins to touch on the nature of AI chatbots inherently being parasocial relationships, which is bad for mental health. This is of course not limited to AI, being obsessed with a streamer or whatever is similar, but the AI can be much more intense because it will actually engage with you and is always available.

the crowd the villain plays to is much easier to play to and extract money from

Yeah okay. I’m sure the American government with all its resources would have sooooo much trouble finding a fucking dorky tech nerd that decided to play survivalist

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Frein

Eric Frein was an actual ass survivalist here in PA who shot two cops trying to start some kind of revolution to overthrow the government and disappeared into the PA wilderness. Because he killed 2 cops they went hard, state police from multiple states (they were paying crazy amounts of OT), atf, FBI, and, us marshals. They caught him in a month and half. This was a libertarian “I do war reenactments and live in woods for fun sometimes” person so for a while it really looked like he would successfully dip, especially given the time of year was not super conducive to tracking as it was raining a lot. He specifically knew how to avoid being tracked as well using stuff like rivers to his advantage and there were even several times where the cops saw him and he was able to dip because of terrain advantage

Now you really think some nerd who has not LARPed as a survivalist mercenary for the past 15 years and has the aggression of the entire federal government, not just one state, would be able to successfully shake them off? No fucking way. You’re public enemy #1. That’s some delusional thinking shit inspired by fucking Rambo or something. You’ll have 5,000+ people after you with serious equipment advantage, they’ll spend 10s of millions, if not way more (pa spent 12 million to catch Frein)

“Mattel's first AI product won't be for kids under 13, suggesting that Mattel is aware of the risks of putting chatbots into the hands of younger tots. … Last year, a 14-year-old boy died by suicide after falling in love with a companion on the Google-backed AI platform Character.AI”

Seems like a great idea

What I mean by this is that while the rhetoric of “this will save you/destroy the world, you are being watched, etc” does exist on the far left there doesn’t appear to be as much escalation to violence, to an extremely significant degree that is observable and measurable. This is not conjecture.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states - 1994-2020 57% of domestic terrorism is right wing, 25% left wing, ~15% religious (which sometimes coincides with right wing but in this dataset is mostly Islamic extremism)

https://extremismterms.adl.org/resources/report/murder-and-extremism-united-states-2020 - right wing accounted for 94% of extremist murders in 2020, and 75% of the extremist murders over the previous decade

https://www.congress.gov/committee-report/116th-congress/house-report/213/1 - 2009-2018 right wing extremists account for 73% of extremist killings, Islamic extremist at 23%, leftist at 2%

Statistics vary depending on source by quite a bit (and time period, violent leftist movements have declined significantly since the 1990s and those were mostly about ecoterrorism rather than communism) but the general consensus is that overwhelmingly right wing extremism escalates these people to extreme violence and murder. This is not conjecture.

Whether leftist movements have a similar number of people with this demeanor, whether those movements target people, etc? Less clear and much harder to quantify