Daily Tech News 18 August 2026

Top Story

Meta faces a $1.4 trillion fine in a case brought by multiple US stats over (checks notes) creating a product that people wanted to use. (Engadget)

May be time to pull some strings and drop space rocks on statehouses.
Speaking of space rocks, power operator PJM has proposed a plan to kick its largest customers off the grid whenever it runs out of electricity. (Reuters)

That will make them popular.

Tech News

OpenAI has announced it is building an 8GW AI datacenter in Ohio, with a $105 billion guarantee from Nvidia. (Axios)

Uh, guys, you might want to look at a map first.
Mini-PCs are cheap and convenient... Were cheap and are still convenient, with configurations to suit almost any need unless you want to play (insert resource-intensive recent computer game here). Just wipe the drive and reinstall Windows first. (Tom's Hardware)

Today's contestant in the malware race: Geekom.
Can't afford an AI graphics card? Nobody else can either, so why not upgrade your 2080 Ti to 22GB? (Tom's Hardware)

As the article notes you can push it all the way to 44GB, though that becomes expensive. More expensive.
GitHub went. (The Register)

I am responsible for the corporate GitLab server, which means that any such problems are my responsibility to fix, but also means that I can fix them.
Cursor, the AI coding company just acquired by SpaceX, announced its own Git-compatible code hosting platform on the same day that GitHub fell over. (Cursor)

Totally not space rocks.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: I am the Lexx. The most powerful destructive weapon in the two universes! Stanley Tweedle is my captain. I blow up planets for him.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:45 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Morning all

Posted by: Tuna at August 18, 2026 04:49 AM (lJ0H4)

2 w00t hi tuna

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 04:50 AM (odBC9)

3 BOING!

I hate Windows!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 18, 2026 04:50 AM (P3X50)

4 I feel so lonely here, I guess I just go take a nap and hope for the best.

Posted by: iworkout47 at August 18, 2026 04:53 AM (CiQE7)

5 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 18, 2026 04:55 AM (sAmhv)

6 "Meta faces a $1.4 trillion fine in a case brought by multiple US stats over (checks notes) creating a product that people wanted to use."

Statistics have standing to sue now? I knew the USA was a litigious society, but dang.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 04:59 AM (O7YUW)

7 I hope Gloria Gaynor found some happiness after she wrote " Walk on By". She is 82,years old and if the internet is be believed ,she was divorced after not too long of a time and that she always wanted children, but didn't have any because her husband didn't and that she is a donor and supporter of the Republican Party.

Quite a voice!
.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2026 04:59 AM (JrHfD)

8 Statistics have standing to sue now? I knew the USA was a litigious society, but dang.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 04:59 AM (O7YUW)

Settlements with error bars would be a trial lawyer's worst nightmare...

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:05 AM (Ot/FD)

9 >>>GitHub went. (The Register)

"developers took to social media to vent their frustration as Monday Mondayed even harder"

heh

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:06 AM (odBC9)

10 OpenAI and the 8 gigawatt power center: 1 gigawatt is a single nuclear reactor's worth of power. Most nuclear facilities only have 1 or 2 reactors.

That's a LOT of power demand for one site.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:07 AM (O7YUW)

11 Developers seem fun:

"Maybe," pondered one developer, "the AI code submissions are too massive for them servers."

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:08 AM (odBC9)

12
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 18, 2026 05:08 AM (AMvSw)

13 10 OpenAI and the 8 gigawatt power center: 1 gigawatt is a single nuclear reactor's worth of power. Most nuclear facilities only have 1 or 2 reactors.

That's a LOT of power demand for one site.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:07 AM (O7YUW)

A smart man would assume they're not crazy, and have good reason to believe that 8 GW reactors are just over the horizon and plan accordingly.

A wise man would probably just assume they're crazy, stupid, and/or being lied to.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:11 AM (Ot/FD)

14 LEXX was such a strange show.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:12 AM (O7YUW)

15 >>>any such problems are my responsibility to fix, but also means that I can fix them

Well, it presumes that you can fix them....

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:12 AM (odBC9)

16 Thoughtful reflection on Deuteronomy 7:12-14 from a person who lives in Java , and is about hearing God's voice. It is an appropriate devotional for both interested Christians and Jews.

https://tinyurl.com/tr5sa5n2

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2026 05:20 AM (IbQ1f)

17 The whole "flock" thing amuses me. Too little, too late. Every time you've seen a cop sitting on the side of the road letting people speed past, run red lights, and not do a damn thing about it, and wonder "why?!?!?!".... They're just sitting there collecting plates. That's their duty. For years and years now.

But stick that whole getup on a little signpost and suddenly it's the end of Democracy as we know it... Well, too late. You've been soaking in it for at least ten years now.

Don't even get me started on the little spy-machine pocket rectangle everyone carries around with them. We've already accepted it. "They" know who you are and where you are and where you're going to be. Even if petty vandalism and yootoob shorts gets these panopticon lollipops to all disappear, nothing changes.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:22 AM (Ot/FD)

18 from the ONT; good one:

187 I was sort of throwing stuff at the wall today and realized something I knew but had never thought about. The Left (leftists, not leftards) doesn't care about ideology at all. One of the reasons they always end up killing each other. All they really care about is that they can make you lie for them.

Because whether you're a big dummy or a very low personality, if you will repeat their lies, they know you are controllable. That's one of the reasons (besides the obvious) that lying is so integral to everything they do. Anyone can tell the truth about something, even accidentally, or when it suits them. But if you are willing to repeat a particular lie, or set of lies, you are temporarily useful.
Posted by: ... at August 18, 2026 01:00 AM (vE0+H)

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:22 AM (odBC9)

19 Man finds his father whom he had never known after 55 years. Sunny Skyz site:

https://tinyurl.com/mj7nzufv

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2026 05:23 AM (IbQ1f)

20 GitHub article:

GitHub parent Microsoft boasted last year that AI was writing as much as 30 percent of the code in some of its repositories, subject to human review, according to CEO Satya Nadella.

Why would that be a boast? Or maybe that is just an off-brand use of the word.

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:27 AM (odBC9)

21 Posted by: ... at August 18, 2026 01:00 AM (vE0+H)
Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:22 AM (odBC9)

I wonder if there's another, more stupid layer to it all. If you're an idiot, or just a rotten person in general, reality is tough. The truth is hard. You suck, and your life is going to be difficult because you won't deign to do any of the horrible awful things you need to do in this world to have a good time in it, like Raise a good family. Learn. Think. Pray. Forgive. Anything that normal well adjusted people have learned to do over the past twenty millennia.

So the default position becomes to Hate with a capital H everything that is Real and True, and always try to brute force the universe into the kind of fantasy land an asshole like you can live in with relative ease and comfort.

Learn? Grow? Be a better person? Nonsense! Give me all your money, sucker, this is all your fault.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:31 AM (Ot/FD)

22 In short, they don't have an "ideology" as such, it's just plain old garden variety Evil turned in to an entire worldview.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:32 AM (Ot/FD)

23 @19/FenelonSpoke: Awesome story Fen, thanks for posting that.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:34 AM (O7YUW)

24 Amazon driver in KY stops to show honor to the American flag. Faithpot site:

https://tinyurl.com/3cyzvmv5

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2026 05:35 AM (xPsv8)

25 21 Posted by: ... at August 18, 2026 01:00 AM (vE0+H)

I wonder if there's another, more stupid layer to it all. If you're an idiot, or just a rotten person in general, reality is tough. The truth is hard. You suck, and your life is going to be difficult because you won't deign to do any of the horrible awful things you need to do in this world to have a good time in it, like Raise a good family. Learn. Think. Pray. Forgive. Anything that normal well adjusted people have learned to do over the past twenty millennia.

So the default position becomes to Hate with a capital H everything that is Real and True, and always try to brute force the universe into the kind of fantasy land an asshole like you can live in with relative ease and comfort.

Learn? Grow? Be a better person? Nonsense! Give me all your money, sucker, this is all your fault.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:31 AM (Ot/FD)

There's "carpe diem" and there's "carping"!

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:36 AM (odBC9)

26 22 In short, they don't have an "ideology" as such, it's just plain old garden variety Evil turned in to an entire worldview.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:32 AM (Ot/FD)

Agreed. I thought that was the weakest part of what "ellipsis" was saying. That could have been left out entirely from the first paragraph. It's the last sentence that's key:

"I was sort of throwing stuff at the wall today and realized something I knew but had never thought about. The Left (leftists, not leftards) doesn't care about ideology at all. One of the reasons they always end up killing each other. All they really care about is that they can make you lie for them."

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:38 AM (odBC9)

27 Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:34 AM (O7YUW)

You are most welcome, dear brother of the ASHQ network.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2026 05:38 AM (xPsv8)

28 OpenAI has announced it is building an 8GW AI datacenter in Ohio, with a $105 billion guarantee from Nvidia. (Axios)

Uh, guys, you might want to look at a map first.

Where are they building this in Ohio? Central Ohio is kind of vague. I will assume the Columbus area.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 18, 2026 05:40 AM (sAmhv)

29 Nvidia said to back $100bn OpenAI data center in Ohio

Yahoo Finance

19 hours ago — OpenAI plans to lease up to 8 gigawatts of AI computing power at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. The project is expected ...

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:43 AM (odBC9)

30 May be time to pull some strings and drop space rocks on statehouses.

SMOD (Rocks from God) >>> Rods from God

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:45 AM (l3cgK)

31 And even though I'm not RC, I liked this story of hope and courage amidst a fallen world and the about the martyrdom of Pope Sixtus who was killed in 257 A.D. it also contains a nice quote from G.K. Chesterton on hope;

https://tinyurl.com/553zp2am

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2026 05:46 AM (xPsv8)

32 Is Lexx the ship that looks like a giant erect penis?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:47 AM (l3cgK)

33 OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank expand Stargate with five ...

OpenAI
https://openai.com
Sep 23, 2025 — One site is located in Lordstown, Ohio, where SoftBank has broken ground on an advanced data center design which is on track to be operational ...

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:50 AM (odBC9)

34 32 Is Lexx the ship that looks like a giant erect penis?
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia)

It's supposed to look like a dragonfly. Or so they claim.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 18, 2026 05:51 AM (BLOW1)

35 @32/jim (in Kalifornia): The ship is based on a Dragonfly without wings.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:51 AM (O7YUW)

36 Nvidia considers $250bn backstop for OpenAI's planned ...

Data Center Dynamics
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com

Jul 27, 2026 — Nvidia is in talks to provide a $250 billion backstop for a planned OpenAI data center in southern Ohio. The SoftBank facility could cost ...

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:51 AM (odBC9)

37 Pixy, is this a particularly awful GitHub downing or just another in a string?

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:52 AM (odBC9)

38 35 @32/jim (in Kalifornia): The ship is based on a Dragonfly without wings.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:51 AM (O7YUW)

a long shaft...two balls at one end. You tell me what it looks like...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:52 AM (l3cgK)

39 Yes.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 18, 2026 05:52 AM (BLOW1)

40 I hate Windows!
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 18, 2026 04:50 AM (P3X50)

Based on the latest evolution the feeling is mutual.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 05:53 AM (LwxhK)

41 39 Yes.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 18, 2026 05:52 AM (BLOW1)

tx

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:53 AM (odBC9)

42 * checks downstairs *

Not seeing a dragonfly.

Posted by: mikeski at August 18, 2026 05:54 AM (VHUov)

43 40 I hate Windows!
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 18, 2026 04:50 AM (P3X50)

Based on the latest evolution the feeling is mutual.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 05:53 AM (LwxhK)

But necessary for defenestration...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:54 AM (l3cgK)

44 38 35 @32/jim (in Kalifornia): The ship is based on a Dragonfly without wings.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 05:51 AM (O7YUW)

a long shaft...two balls at one end. You tell me what it looks like...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:52 AM (l3cgK)

Oh, Elon Musk prob'ly didn't notice that.

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:54 AM (odBC9)

45 Would defenestration Windows be recursive?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:54 AM (l3cgK)

46 defenestrating, not defenestration...damn fingers.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:55 AM (l3cgK)

47 45 Would [defenestrating] Windows be recursive?
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:54 AM (l3cgK)

It would be a pane.

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 05:56 AM (odBC9)

48 "It looks like you're trying to AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:56 AM (Ot/FD)

49 Evening and morning, fellow satellites and satraps of the vast AoSHQ Empire! Is it really Tiu's Day again, already?

Awake now from a dream about attending the first half hour of rehearsals for a college play in which one attractive female cast member was going to be dressed as a cross between Tinkerbell and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Don't ask me what it was about, or who wrote it. In my dream I had the feeling the actors were making it up as they went along. You know, kinda like real life.

I can haz coffee time now?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2026 05:57 AM (wzUl9)

50 G'Day everyone
Tried a different way to job, little shorter

Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2026 05:57 AM (o/ziI)

51 But necessary for defenestration...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026

***
Sitcom of the early Sixties: I'm Dickens, He's Fenster

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2026 05:58 AM (wzUl9)

52 a long shaft...two balls at one end. You tell me what it looks like...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:52 AM (l3cgK)

Wait a minute. Is this some kind of test?

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 05:59 AM (LwxhK)

53 For a lark, I just searched newegg.ca (The Canadian version of NewEgg) for "5090" and found a listing for:

ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 (32 gigs of GDDR7 memory).

https://tinyurl.com/mr2jb5jf

The price?

9,820.00

Hahahhahaha! No, no, a thousand times NO!!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 06:02 AM (O7YUW)

54 32 Is Lexx the ship that looks like a giant erect penis?
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:47 AM (l3cgK)

Dildos...In....Space....

Posted by: The Muppets Show episode that never aired at August 18, 2026 06:02 AM (brIJB)

55 52 a long shaft...two balls at one end. You tell me what it looks like...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 05:52 AM (l3cgK)

Wait a minute. Is this some kind of test?
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 05:59 AM (LwxhK)

a test[icle]?

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:03 AM (odBC9)

56 I had to look up I'm Dickens, He's Fenster. John Astin (later Gomez Addams) played "Dickens," Marty Ingels played "Fenster." Both later made surprising marriages: Astin married Patty Duke (13 years), Ingels married Shirley Jones (and remained with her until he died in 2015).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2026 06:04 AM (wzUl9)

57 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at August 18, 2026 06:05 AM (amcLV)

58 PJM already did cut off data ceneters in July when we had the heat wave here in the mid-Atlantic region and 6 giga-watts of generation got knocked off line. What would have been a peak 169 GW of demand was reduced to about 161 GW to keep the system from failing. Great news eh?

Posted by: actually inside the beltway at August 18, 2026 06:07 AM (cHNrw)

59 6 minutes after and no one else here

Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2026 06:07 AM (o/ziI)

60 Gloria Gaynor - Walk On By

You go, Gloria!

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:08 AM (odBC9)

61 57 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at August 18, 2026 06:05 AM (amcLV)

Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:09 AM (odBC9)

62 a test[icle]?
Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:03 AM (odBC9)

Commenters seem a little testes today.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 06:10 AM (LwxhK)

63 62 a test[icle]?
Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:03 AM (odBC9)

Commenters seem a little testes today.
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 06:10 AM (LwxhK)

Testify!

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:10 AM (odBC9)

64 Praise and Hail Schlürpo

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 18, 2026 06:11 AM (jPziU)

65 I couldn't tell watching the video. Does Gloria Gaynor's video feature the same song as Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By"?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2026 06:11 AM (wzUl9)

66 62 a test[icle]?
Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:03 AM (odBC9)

Commenters seem a little testes today.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 06:10 AM (LwxhK)

That's a ballsy rejoinder...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 06:11 AM (l3cgK)

67 Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:09 AM (odBC9)
----------
And me, with the brain the size of a planet. You call this job satisfaction? Cos' I don't.

Posted by: Marvin the Paranoid Android, HAL's backup system at August 18, 2026 06:12 AM (brIJB)

68 Testify!
Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:10 AM (odBC9)

Ballsy!

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 06:12 AM (LwxhK)

69 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at August 18, 2026 06:13 AM (V0/Sp)

70 Testify!
Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:10 AM (odBC9)

Ballsy!
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026

***
Inguin, all.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2026 06:13 AM (wzUl9)

71 That's a ballsy rejoinder...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 06:11 AM (l3cgK)

That’s nuts.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 18, 2026 06:13 AM (LwxhK)

72 >>> I hope Gloria Gaynor found some happiness after she wrote " Walk on By". She is 82,years old

So she has survived.

Posted by: fluffy at August 18, 2026 06:14 AM (V0/Sp)

73 ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 (32 gigs of GDDR7 memory).

https://tinyurl.com/mr2jb5jf

The price?

9,820.00

Hahahhahaha! No, no, a thousand times NO!!
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

Missed their chance to call it the "Dragonball Edition."

Posted by: mikeski at August 18, 2026 06:14 AM (VHUov)

74 Who's the black private dick. That's a sex machine to all the chicks? (Shaft)

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:14 AM (odBC9)

75 @38/jim (in Kalifornia): "a long shaft...two balls at one end. You tell me what it looks like..."

In your analogy, that shaft is an elongated pencil with virtually no girth.

We asked "Lateesha" what she thought. Here's what she had to say:

https://youtu.be/C-4MOv61bZc

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 06:15 AM (O7YUW)

76 Posted by: fluffy at August 18, 2026 06:14 AM (V0/Sp)

Well done!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2026 06:15 AM (DzHyO)

77 74 Who's the black private dick. That's a sex machine to all the chicks? (Shaft)

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:14 AM (odBC9)

If Lexx was painted all black, would you see it coming to you in space?...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 06:16 AM (l3cgK)

78 53 For a lark, I just searched newegg.ca (The Canadian version of NewEgg) for "5090"

The price?

9,820.00

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 06:02 AM (O7YUW)

Canadian?

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:16 AM (odBC9)

79 17 The whole "flock" thing amuses me. Too little, too late. Every time you've seen a cop sitting on the side of the road letting people speed past, run red lights, and not do a damn thing about it, and wonder "why?!?!?!".... They're just sitting there collecting plates. That's their duty. For years and years now.

But stick that whole getup on a little signpost and suddenly it's the end of Democracy as we know it... Well, too late. You've been soaking in it for at least ten years now.

Don't even get me started on the little spy-machine pocket rectangle everyone carries around with them. We've already accepted it. "They" know who you are and where you are and where you're going to be.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:22 AM (Ot/

Why do defeatists come here?

Cops shouldn’t be doing that either. We have this thing called the law that as much as they want to insist they write and execute it, they do not. You have to go to your state legislature. Oh wait, that’s TOO HARD. Never mind.

Apple cannot deprive me of my liberty or kill me. Flock aids those who can and does so cheerfully. Their CEO is a nut job who thinks his surveillance cameras can end crime.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 18, 2026 06:16 AM (jPziU)

80 Hot again this morning, of course. I refuse to look up the heat index until after I finish working out, or I'll never go. The local weather mavens lie to us and say we'll have a low of 78 each morning for the next week; HA, says I.

Somehow their prediction of a high of 96 every day for the next week is spot on, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2026 06:17 AM (wzUl9)

81 Posted by: Cow Demon at August 18, 2026 06:16 AM (jPziU)

Who's being defeatist? I'm being uplifitng. Stop stressing. Stop worrying. The damage has been done for years and your life ain't any the worse for it. "Oh, no they took a picture of me". Who cares.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 06:18 AM (Ot/FD)

82 Isaac Hayes (Shaft; RIP) also sang Walk On By.
Wheels within wheels.

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:19 AM (odBC9)

83 79
...
Apple cannot deprive me of my liberty or kill me. Flock aids those who can and does so cheerfully. Their CEO is a nut job who thinks his surveillance cameras can end crime.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 18, 2026 06:16 AM (jPziU)

This is the old "trade freedom for safety" trope. Been around for more than hundreds of years, and it doesn't work. Gov't is the biggest bully on the block, and if you don't give it your lunch money, it'll beat you up and take it anyway.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 18, 2026 06:19 AM (l3cgK)

84 Interruptible power contracts are nothing new. We had one at the company data center I worked at back well before 2000. We had to have backup generation capacity so the local utility would ask us to go off grid and onto our generators in exchange for getting an electric rate cut. Win/Win. So long as you are notified in advance so you can make an orderly shutdown or kick in your own generating capacity I don't see the problem.

Posted by: Christopher B at August 18, 2026 06:20 AM (gx+Ks)

85 @78/m: "Canadian?"

Site: Yes.
Price: Yes.
Me: Yes.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 06:21 AM (O7YUW)

86
Learn? Grow? Be a better person? Nonsense! Give me all your money, sucker, this is all your fault.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 05:31 AM (Ot/FD)

And whine that you should be paid six figures for working six hours a day three days a week and retire at 50.

The Left doesn't give a damn about the real working class. The people who drive trucks, pour concrete, fix air conditioners, maintain sewage plants or clean offices. To them, those people are just dumb losers.

No, by "working class" they mean themselves. The ones who partied for four years on student debt, acquired a useless degree but no knowledge, work habits, or traits that make them valuable to an employer. No God, no sense of duty, no humility.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 18, 2026 06:22 AM (O0L8i)

87 Honestly, my biggest problem with the whole Flock issue is the hypocrisy of it.

The people who don't do dick to solve crimes with the resources they already take from us don't get to soak up even more of our resources to spend on fancy cameras that they will fervently also not use to do a damn thing to enforce law and order.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 06:27 AM (Ot/FD)

88 So far everyone started at 6am, seems today everyone decided to start later and didn't tell me.

Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2026 06:27 AM (o/ziI)

89 @87/Warai-otoko: "The people who don't do dick to solve crimes with the resources they already take from us don't get to soak up even more of our resources to spend on fancy cameras that they will fervently also not use to do a damn thing to enforce law and order."

THIS. This rent-seeking nonsense must be quashed hard.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 06:28 AM (O7YUW)

90 @88/Skip: Extra coffee drinking time for you.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2026 06:29 AM (O7YUW)

91 LEXX was fun but got a bit too goofy towards the end. Kai did go out like a badass though.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 18, 2026 06:31 AM (+4yJ5)

92 Wikipedia:

Hayes dropped out of high school, but his former teachers at Manassas High School in Memphis encouraged him to complete his diploma, which he did at the age of 21.

After graduating from high school, Hayes was offered several music scholarships from colleges and universities.

He turned down all of them to provide for his immediate family, working at a meat-packing plant in Memphis by day and playing nightclubs and juke joints several evenings a week in Memphis and nearby northern Mississippi.

Posted by: m at August 18, 2026 06:37 AM (odBC9)

93 It would be kind of fun to mess with these camera things, though. Walk by one. Take a little loop around where they can't see you. Walk by again five minutes later. Keep doing that for as long as you can manage to.

Next day, bring a bunch of clothing to swap in and out of and do it all again.

Next day, start doing it walking backwards.

Next day, get a whole bunch of people to join you

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 18, 2026 06:38 AM (Ot/FD)

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