partial_accumen

I know its a shitpost, but there are a couple tiny railways in Antarctica from many decades ago that are no longer used. source

Ok, let’s grant that as true (by that I mean we will ignore arbitration as a whole thing).

No need to ignore your arbitration distraction. As a customers you can opt-out of arbitration. I did. I can sue Tesla.

“You may opt out of arbitration within 30 days after signing this Agreement by sending a letter to: Tesla, Inc.; P.O. Box 15430; Fremont, CA 94539-7970, stating your name, Vehicle Identification Number, and intent to opt out of the arbitration provision. If you do not opt out, this agreement to arbitrate overrides any different arbitration agreement between us, including any arbitration agreement in a lease or finance contract.” source

Suddenly Tesla stock drops, again, and they push an update that puts remote unlock and navigation and heated seats behind a subscription requirement to boost revenue.

The only updates that Tesla pushes out OTA are recall fixes. Other patches are pushed over wifi. If you don’t configure wifi, the car won’t download patches. I’m currently running 4 patch releases (about 3 months) behind. I know a couple of folks that are intentionally running at a patch level over a year old.

Your car will lose those functions immediately with no input from you. Then you file a lawsuit. You will not be granted an emergency summary judgment. Which means your car will immediately lack those capabilities.

Assuming none of the above applies? Sure. A company can break the law too and no actions undo the lawbreaking the only remedy the justice system can offer is after-the-fact and even then the plaintiffs may not be able to be made whole. I’m not sure what your point is.

Absolute best case scenario in 5-7 years your car will get the features back after it has turned into a pile of rust.

Cars don’t turn int a pile of rust in 5-7 years, even Tesla cars don’t. Do I need to link a used car page showing, now 12 year old, 2012 Tesla cars for sale that aren’t piles of rust? Also, I think you’re blowing Tesla paid features out of proportion because of what you’ve heard about other car makers.

Tesla doesn’t have subscription or even paid seat heaters with the very rare exception of a short run of Model 3 Standard Range cars, and even then it was just the REAR seat heaters, and even then it was a one-time $300 payment. This is similar to the other much talked about “battery unlock” feature, which again, was only on a short run of cars (4 years ago I think?) that Tesla put a larger battery in the car, but didn’t charge customers for it. Later they offered a paid feature for customers to unlock the extra portion of the battery, which Tesla never claimed was there and customer never paid for to begin with. The only other paid features are “acceleration boost” which I didn’t pay for so there would be nothing lost.

The “subscription seat heaters” was BMW, not Tesla.

The expected outcome is you will get a class action settlement (which again, you actually signed away your rights to) that cuts you a check for a few hundred dollars.

As you point out, most people can’t sue Tesla, but I can because I opted-out, so there likely won’t be enough people to form a Class to have a Class Action. So if I sued, my case would likely go forward by itself. We started this discussion with the included Tesla Standard Connectivity feature. Since subscribing to Premium Connectivity (priced at $99/year) would be a remedy that is easily converted to dollars, I could even sue in Small Claims Court without a lawyer. The max judgement in Small Claims Court is $6000 (in my state anyway) so since the prior terms say I was entitled to Standard Connectivity for the life of the car, I could sue for 60 years of service and still be inside the claim limit.

You signed away your right to sue them.

I can absolutely sue Tesla.

There are many legitimate complaints about Full Self Drive. I’m happy to respond to you but which specific complaints about FSD are you referring to?

Same rate, but higher * total number* of zygotes dusted because there would be far more zygotes than grown humans.

I would love a comic series where each Infinity Stone has a representative entity of some kind and we get to see the “thought process” each goes through in fulfilling the request of its wielder. I’m envisioning a format like the Pixar movie “Inside Out” except each stone’s entity is very judgy on how the wielder is using it.

“Ugh, Goddamit Dr Strange, how many more times do you want to do this Dormamu thing. Its getting really repetitive.” - Time stone

Or when multiple stones have to work together, they have to hash out what each is going to do to fulfill the desired wish. The conversation between all the stones during “the snap” being the longest and most complicated conversation with questions coming up like “okay Mr Soul Stone smart guy, what about pregnant women?! Is that one soul or two, huh?”

And da babies in-utero? Did the Infinity Gauntlet go by conception or 24-weeks?

Now you got this idea in my head, if it would have been possible to know if the Infinity Gauntlet considered conception, couldn’t a species, lets say humans, knowing “the snap” was a possible risk, create massive stores of zygotes kept on ice? Lets say 10 zygotes to every 1 living human. After the snap of “half” that would mean that instead of 50% of humans disappearing it would only have been 2.5%.

Moreover, since every other species would have lost 50% and been in chaos it would have been prime opportunity to conquer other species still in disarray.

There were zero reports I’ve heard from any TV, movie, or comic reference to the snap of unborn (but possibly viable) babies being left behind (by any species even) when the pregnant mother disappeared in the snap. That suggests the Infinity Gauntlet doesn’t consider the unborn as a separate individual until birth.

I actually liked this film. It was not art but it was fun

I enjoyed it enough watching it off a streaming service. The CGI was pretty bad, so much so at one point I thought that was intentional. I really liked Michael Keaton as Batman again. Keaton is a great actor in his own right.

If I had paid for a ticket at a movie theater, I would have been unhappy with it, but for streaming it was fine.

Let me preface this that I’m not a huge fan of nuclear, but I do like factual information.

Could NOT get the nuclear power plant in Georgia off the ground for how long?

If you’re talking about Vogtle, it took about 13 years and 14 years. (two reactors)

Did it ever get finished?

Yes. If you want to be specific the original two reactors were finished in 2008. The new work was for the other two reactors. That’s what took 14 years. Of the two new reactors, one started providing commercial power for the first time in June of 2023. The second new reactor only started providing commercial power in Feb of 2024.

But when corporate wants it just fucking happens 🤡

Different type of power plants between what is being discussed for Google and what was put in at Vogtle in Georgia.

Vogtle was completing construction of an existing older design. Think of this like a bespoke tailored suit. It is crazy expensive, and only fits you.

What most of these tech companies are going for is called Small Modular Reactors (SMR). Think of this as like buying a ready-to-wear suit off the rack. Its not nearly as fancy or as impressive (usually much smaller power generation), but its not custom made so its much cheaper.

Its possible that Pakistan didn’t know how big it was. Not that I think they’d be altruistic about it now, but if its large enough it is a source of energy. Columbus Ohio taps the city landfill for methane extraction and uses it to fuel city busses and dump trucks. There’s even a surplus after that and that is sold at a profit to the city to local natural gas customers for heating etc. source

“Last year alone, landfill gas sold to Archaea Energy generated more than $3.5 million in revenue for SWACO [Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio], where it becomes a renewable energy source for Central Ohioans.”

It looks like Pakistan is a large methane importer: “Imports In 2022, Pakistan imported $4.58B in Petroleum Gas, becoming the 27th largest importer of Petroleum Gas in the world.”

source

If this landfill produces enough methane it would be worth it to tap it as an income/consumption stream by the local population. This satellite data may provide the number to show it would be worth doing this.

Contract law.

You know that “Terms and Conditions” you agree to all the time that binds you to things. It binds them too to those terms. The terms I posted above were what both car buyers and Tesla agreed to at the time of purchase.

Those things are free…for now….while they feel like it. There’s nothing stopping them from charging for that stuff when their stock price dips another 20%.

They could change it for cars purchased in the future, but they can’t do what Mazda did and start charging for it now. So its either lifetime of free Standard connectivity, or at worst 8 years. These are part of the purchase agreement.

“All new Tesla vehicles ordered on or before July 20, 2022, will have Standard Connectivity features at no cost for the lifetime of the vehicle (excluding retrofits or upgrades required for any features or services externally supplied to the vehicle – e.g. telecommunications network). As additional features and services become available in the future, you will have the opportunity to upgrade your connectivity plan.”

source

They all are. Your only option would be to buy an older car without connected services and hope that you never need another one.

As much as I’m sure this answer will be hated, Tesla cars don’t require a subscription for basic remote services. What comes free is:

• traffic aware navigation updates
• OTA software updates mandated by recall
• phone app access

With the phone app there are zero regular features that require a monthly sub. Free things include:

• HVAC controls
• heated seats
• charging stats and start/stop chargin
• unlocking all doors, frunk and trunk
• even changing radio/SiriusXM stations

Tesla does have an optional monthly subscription but that gets you:

• streaming radio
• unlimited internet
• traffic density notations on nav maps
• satellite view in nav map

However the car operates just fine without any of that optional stuff and therefor there’s no mandatory fee for regular functionality.

Man, if “Microsoft is actively trying to take control of my hardware and prevent me from deciding how it is used” and “Linux has a learning curve and lacks market dominance to get hardware manufacturers to play with them sometimes” seem like equivalent circumstances to you,

And here I thought we weren’t going to Strawman each other.

there is no number of iterations to this back and forth that are going to arrive at any common ground between you and I. I can only say good day to you.

Here, we are in perfect agreement. I’m not looking to be converted to the cause. I may be a friend to it and support it, but I’m not dying on that hill.

Keep fighting the good fight, though.

I’m not trying to strawman you here, so lets revisit these to make sure we understand what each other is saying.

Your statement suggest that if Windows is “trying to work against you” then Linux is “trying to work for you”.

That’s literally not what I said, nor what I implied. If you want to interpret it that way it’s your choice, but I’m not going to defend a statement I didn’t make and didn’t try to make.

I don’t understand why you’d bring up “trying to work against you” if you weren’t implying that Linux was the opposite. I suggested you were implying it was the opposite, and you’re communicating now that is not what you mean. I don’t think you’re suggesting that Linux “is trying to work against you”. So if its not a positive, and not a negative, you’re suggesting what…neutral? As in, “Linux is neither trying to work against you nor is trying to help you”. I suppose I can agree with that, but I’m not sure how that supports your argument.

What am I missing you are trying to communicate with your statement?

You don’t escape that problem entirely in Linux, it just takes different forms. Proprietary vendor Linux hardware drivers would be a perfect example.

I feel like you aren’t distinguishing between “problem exists” and “problem exists because the makers of my OS want it to exist.”

You’re right, I’m not distinguishing between them because as an end user the reason is irrelevant. I’m left with the same result, with the same choices about how to solve it for myself. I’m not trying to save the world. I’m trying to get my computing done.

So why hack Windows to make it do what you want? I literally said this was NOT the question.

My apologies for the paraprhasing of your position of my position.

Lets look at your exact question:

“why keep supporting a company that requires you to undo so much of the product just to maintain control and privacy with your own hardware, and which actively seeks to sabotage attempts to do so.”

My answer: Because I’m not trying to save the world. I’m trying to get my computing done. If a hack to the existing product can do that faster than changing the world, then the hack is the better choice FOR ME. If its a social/religious movement for you, feel free to spread the “good word”. I won’t stop you, but I’m not interested in joining your evangelistic endeavor.

It’s because Linux isn’t actually trying to work against you, even if it may feel that way to a noobie at first.

Your statement suggest that if Windows is “trying to work against you” then Linux is “trying to work for you”. I don’t believe that is the case either. Linux works for itself, and if what you want can be done with Linux, great! If you have the skills to alter Linux to do what you want, also great! If you have neither of those, then you’ll be left without a specific solution. Linux is great, but trying to pitch it as purely altruistic and supportive isn’t accurate and could lead those trying it to abandon it early because their own experience doesn’t meet this implicit expectation.

The question isn’t “why take the time to hack windows” it’s “why keep supporting a company that requires you to undo so much of the product just to maintain control and privacy with your own hardware, and which actively seeks to sabotage attempts to do so.”

You don’t escape that problem entirely in Linux, it just takes different forms. Proprietary vendor Linux hardware drivers would be a perfect example.

So why hack Windows to make it do what you want? Because that was one of the basic tenets underlying Linux. There is no perfect operating system, just different tradeoffs. If one OS meets most of your needs for a specific task, and you have a way to hack it to fix the rest, thats the better solution rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Departing from this idea moves the definition of computing from a tool to a religion/social movement. That’s fine for some, but not my calling.

I know you’re mixing in joking with your response, but can I point out the irony that a Linux advocate is telling me essentially “don’t try to hack a solution, just give it up entirely and adopt a completely different product”. That is the opposite of the Linux mindset I’m familiar with.

What happens if you copy explorer.exe from a prior release of Windows and replace the recall-infested version?

“No! … I don’t have the receipt”