NaibofTabr

Someone else has mentioned M-Disc and I want to second that. The benefit of using a storage format like this is that the actual storage media is designed to last a long time, and it is separate from the drive mechanism. This is a very important feature - the data is safe from mechanical, electrical and electronic failure because the storage is independent of the drive. If your drive dies, you can replace it with no risk to the data. Every serious form of archival data storage is the same - the storage media is separate from the reading device.

An M-Disc drive is required to write data, but any DVD or BD drive can read the data. It should be possible to acquire a replacement DVD drive to recover the data from secondary markets (eBay) for a very long time if necessary, even after they’re no longer manufactured.

This is probably relevant:

Japan says China airspace incursion ‘serious violation of our sovereignty’

Japan wouldn’t be interested in an increased US military presence if they weren’t feeling threatened by their aggressive neighbor.

Yes, it’s the link in my comment above.

Wait until you learn how molecular bonds work…

PenDriveLinux or rufus or balena etcher (frequently just referred to as “etcher”) or just dd.

The times doesn’t pay you royalties for your book sales, and it doesn’t cost you anything.

Of course they don’t pay, but getting on the list is fantastic advertising for your book and that pays.

They also detect if someone is messing with the system and display a dagger symbol if you are found to inflate your numbers.

Jack Rhysider’s research on this indicates otherwise.

This is basically the same way you get on the NYT bestseller list - buy your own books.

Thanks for pointing this out, I missed it. The book’s listing on CrowdSupply has an update from her from April of this year, so that makes me feel a bit better.

Is she OK? I’d like to believe that, but as far as I know nothing’s been heard from her for more than a year.

“Here, maintain this for us, we don’t want to pay anyone to do it”

But see, then the manufacturer can’t charge you a monthly rent to use the product you already bought.

Absolutely it’s great if local connectivity is an option, there just isn’t really an incentive for manufacturers to prioritize that.

Don’t buy “smart” cloud-connected appliances, ever. Even if they don’t start trying to charge for shit like this, eventually the service will go offline breaking the product. (should we call this forced obselescence, somewhat different from planned obsolescence?)

We need more buyer demand for “dumb” appliances. Vote with your wallet.

They’re really reaching for some material, aren’t they?

On 5 April 2016, Alibaba Group acquired the media properties of the SCMP Group, including the SCMP. In January 2017, former Digg CEO Gary Liu became the SCMP’s chief executive officer.

Since the change of ownership in 2016, concerns have been raised about the paper’s editorial independence and self-censorship. Critics including The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and The Atlantic have alleged that the paper is on a mission to promote China’s soft power abroad.

This source is basically a propaganda outfit for the PRC. Of course, they used to be owned by Murdoch:

The SCMP was owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation from 1986 until it was acquired by Malaysian real estate tycoon Robert Kuok in 1993.

So they’ve basically gone from one set of propaganda objectives to another.

This criticism seems most relevant:

Since the Alibaba acquisition, the SCMP has discontinued several subsidiary publications, including its Chinese-language edition, the 48 HOURS weekend magazine, and the popular HK Magazine alternative weekly. The 48 HOURS staff continue to write on other SCMP platforms. Zach Hines, former editor-in-chief of HK Magazine from 2000 to 2015, said that closing the magazine is an effort to shift the focus away from Hong Kong to mainland China and target western readers. Hines wrote in the Hong Kong Free Press of its closure:

[…]

To be a truly independent press, you cannot be beholden to anyone except your readers. But, to my great dismay, this is becoming an increasing impossibility in Hong Kong, in both the mainstream Chinese and much-smaller English media. SCMP is owned by Alibaba, perhaps the biggest pro-China organization in the world, if you don’t count the Communist Party. The paper’s business interests are also drifting away from Hong Kong, and toward readers in the United States and the rest of the west. HK Magazine is a canary in the coal mine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Morning_Post

The current owners of South China Morning Post have a personal financial interest in projecting the message “China economy strong!” Skepticism is warranted.

This assumes that

1. There’s a process to read.

2. The steps in the process are complete and thorough.

Those are bad assumptions.

Sometimes I even pay with cash.

Well… maybe. My response was mostly tongue-in-cheek… it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Costco was just selling Christmas kitsch in July with no other considerations.

It’s Christmas in July, duh. They even made a movie.

Apparently the shooter was in the crowd, which means it wasn’t a long gun of any kind. Probably a pistol, something small enough to conceal. 22 makes sense.

It’s costing them money, and they’re not sure they’re going to get it back.