Bart Y

tyler82 said:

mac_dog said:

GeorgeBMac said:

Maybe they could send them some batteries -- or ideas on how to build an electric grid.

I’m sure they have plenty of ideas, but they don’t mean shit if it stalls at the government level. Both sides are so focused on politicizing everything, they forgot who they’re actually supposed to be working for. 

Texas is Republican-run. In the 1930s the state disconnected from the national power grid so that energy companies didn't have to be regulated. These companies saved money by not winterizing their natural gas, coal, oil refineries, and windmills. These things operate just fine in northern countries like Canada, Norway, Finland, etc. But the Republican-run "don't mess with Texas" independent boot-straps utopia is now begging the federal govt for handouts, the same federal govt they continually turn their back against. Now their arrogance and stupidity has come back to frost-bite them.

Agree, although I'm fairly certain Texas politicians are not actively seeking or asking for any help, lest it make them look "weak", never mind the needs of the ordinary Texan, 30-40%+ who are not Republican.  This is a weather disaster compounded by inadequate and unhardened man-made infrastructure that could have been much better but isn't.  I'm hoping that all Texans hold their politicians accountable for their LACK of responsibility for setting up goals, processes, and YES, responsibility and regulations to make sure utility services can function in extreme cold.  They (politicians and utilities) claim, "oh, but its a once a century incident, why should we have to prepare for that??".  Well the same thing happened in 2011, Federal regulators studied and suggested many many ways to winterize and prepare the electricity grid and generation systems for weather like this, but the legislature decided not to implement tougher regulations and instead suggested the utilities voluntarily upgrade and harden their facilities - of course it would cost money, of course, it would not happen unless forced to by law and regulation - and so here we are.  That once in a century event happened twice in 10 years!!  And more extreme summer weather and winter weather is a distinct possibility now.  Remember, all the cold weather states have perfectly fine operating utility system that can function quite well in much colder weather than just single digit temps and snow/ice.  

Ironically, the Biden administration is sending additional food, water, blankets, supplies to Texas.  One has to wonder if the Texas state government will stop it at the border, allow it to come in, or otherwise not use it so as to no appear to accept federal aid.  Plus the federal government is now going to look into Texas' electrical grid and again recommend ways to harden the grid against bad weather.  Oh, and one more thing.  With all the snow and ice on the ground. and warmer weather on its way, what about potential flooding in flood prone areas like Houston as the snow melts?

gmgravytrain said:

“I'm sure many Apple shareholders aren't pleased with Apple's falling share price after the earnings report.  That drop might be good for Apple to buy back more stock and get rid of plenty of outstanding shares.  17B outstanding shares is really a huge number.  Too many, if you ask me.  I wonder how that number of shares compares to other tech companies.  I can only trust Apple knows what it's doing.”

Well, that 17B shares is because AAPL share price had continued to rise over the years and became very “expensive” per share.  Splitting the shares makes the resulting shares “more affordable” psychologically to retail investors.

At $134 today, before Aug 2020 4:1 split the shares would be $536/share but outstanding share count would be 4.25B shares.  If we go back to the June 2014 7:1 split, the total shares would be 607M shares but the share price would be an astronomical $3752/share!  

dewme said:

StrangeDays said:

raulcristian said:

So, if someone steals your watch and your iphone that person can unlock your phone easily?

Looks unsafe to me.

Oh but what if someone chops your fingers off and uses them for Touch ID! Or plucks your AirPods out while riding by on a bike! Rolleyes... You dudes never stop with the creative writing...

It's fine. My watch is on my wrist. It can't be authenticated to a bad guy because removing it ends the session.

You forgot to mention ... what if they also chop off your whole arm too, so as not to remove the watch.

Heh, it doesn’t actually matter whose arm it is as it doesn’t know your arm per se, but the passcode issue still is there.  And if they do get it unlocked, there will be an immediate SOS call and notification of emergency services and your emergency contacts because it detected no pulse!!

raulcristian said:

So, if someone steals your watch and your iphone that person can unlock your phone easily?

Looks unsafe to me.

Nope, probably answered before me but your Apple Watch must be unlocked by passcode every time you take it off your wrist and put it on again.  The passcode can be different from your iPhone passcode but also needs to be 6 digits.

So if your Watch is stolen, it can’t be unlocked except by passcode.  Same with the iPhone under FaceID or passcode.

Here’s a few Messenger “features” that let FB access your personal and contact’s info, from a Lifewire article:

“Another great thing about sharing images and videos through Messenger is that the app and website collect all the media files so you can quickly sift through them.”

“Messenger functions as a simple way to send money to people using just your debit card information. You can do this from both the website and the mobile app.”

“Messenger lets you play games within the app or Messenger.com website, even while in a group message. You don’t have to download another app or visit another website to start playing with other Messenger users.”

“Instead of using a dedicated app to show someone where you are, you can let recipients follow your location for up to an hour with Messenger’s built-in location-sharing feature, which only works from the mobile app.”

“Although Messenger doesn’t have a calendar, it does let you create event reminders through the Reminders button on the mobile app. Another neat way to do it is to send a message that contains a reference to a day, and the app automatically asks you if you want to make a reminder.”

“Add new Messenger contacts by inviting contacts from your phone or, if you’re on Facebook, your Facebook friends. There’s also a custom Scan Code you can grab from within the app and share with others, who can then scan your code to add you to their Messenger instantly.”

So Facebook gathers your media (and can Facial Recognize people), accesses your debit card (and by extension your checking account) info, play games outside of the App Store system, gives away your location as you move, collects event data, can access your entire contact list and add (recruit) new users, just to name a few.

Gee, who gets to benefit from all these “features”? And whose info get analyzed and shared (sold) by Facebook to ad companies and others? And who “guards” this data?

No thanks, I’m not willing to give away my info or the info of others I know. Messenger is an info gathering and recruiting platform rather than a general communication service.

But if iOS users want to freely give up that info, I hope Apple forces FB to disclose, at every decision point, what users are allowing access to. And the option to opt out.