Bob Robertson IX

  • 7 Posts
  • 438 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 13th, 2023

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  • It used to be common but now people have too low standards.

    It is more to do with being locked into a walled garden. If your community and family use Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, etc. then you either have to stay, or get left out.

    In the new US Constitution we should include Data Portability as a right.






  • The issue I have with your reason against it being cyberpunk is that there’s nothing in cyberpunk to say that the fictional roaming nomads aren’t just mobile homeless, able to move to where the work is but never able to find enough work to settle someplace.

    Cyberpunk is great for a fictional setting because it looks cool, has some slick character types, fun villains, and relatable heros… but cyberpunk is dirty, and a lot of society in these worlds have been left behind, exploited, and forgotten. I fear that some people view cyberpunk as a society to strive towards, rather than a thought experiment on what could go wrong as we shape our future.






  • Who’s making excuses? I believe I made it abundantly clear that these changes are bullshit. But it is also shitty journalism to heavily imply that everyone on Social Security is going to have to start going to a SSA office in person, when that is not the case.

    And yes, community won’t be able to replace this system… but maybe we should still try, because like it or not, the fascists are currently in control and we need to do something to cover the gap between when things start getting bad (now) to when things are really bad (later) to when things are hopefully getting better (much later). But assholes will still flock to the comments to fight amongst themselves screaming that the lack of a perfect solution means we shouldn’t do anything.




  • Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.

    The headline and the summary are omitting this very important part: ‘those who cannot use their online service’. The change from the trump administration is complete bullshit, but the article isn’t doing any favors by making it sound like an in-person visit is the only way to interact with SSA.

    What we need to do is create community groups that are able to pick up this slack. Check in on people on Social Security, bring computers and mobile hotspots to people’s homes to help them. Credit Unions should offer this service when someone on Social Security opens a new account and will need to have their checks coming to a new account. If someone does need to go to a Social Security office then people in the community should make sure they have a ride. People could even setup shop outside of a Social Security office to help people who may not actually need be at the Social Security office, which will help to ease the strain on the SSA, opening up spots for people who actually need to be there.

    It is bullshit, but we can’t rely on the government any more and we need to build community systems to help those that trump is letting down.






  • Way back in the 1990s (it was 1998 to be exact), I was working for a local ISP and the local library had contracted with us to have us scan in their old newspaper clippings. Any time someone appeared in the newspaper that article would get clipped out and it would be put into a folder with that person’s name on it. I was shocked to find that they even had a folder for me, and it included an article for when I visited the planetarium with my Cub Scout den, and an article for when I competed in a track event.

    Anyway, the process of scanning those articles was tedious, especially when the article was longer than the scanner bed. We had to color correct the scan, sometimes piece them together, adjusting the perspective, and almost every article was folded, so sometimes we had to do some extensive work to remove those creases.

    And I was a young 20 year old kid working for a local small city library. I can only imagine the efforts that the National Archives put into their scans.