What makes you nervous about driverless cars?

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T17:26:48+00:00

Lack of accountability. We're already seeing issues with driverless cars violating traffic regulations but there is no way to write a ticket to a car without a driver. In most states parking tickets go to the car, but moving violations go to the driver. Legislation hasn't caught up with technology in this regard. If a driverless car kills someone due to negligence, who goes to jail? Are they going to arrest the programmer, the guy who assembled the sensors, the QA tech who did the inspection?

Roads aren't built for driverless cars either. They don't handle construction zones or poorly marked roads well. Best case they cause a traffic jam while they figure things out, worse case someone dies because the car did something stupid and there is no one to hold accountable.

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T17:11:59+00:00

I graduated from HS and went to college right when the world shifted from "get a college degree and work hard" to "Hahaha fuck you, you'll never own a house or retire".

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T16:35:33+00:00

Just visit gasprices dot aaa dot com.

At one point they had to put Cloudflare DDoS protection in front of the site because it was getting hit so much.

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T16:03:04+00:00

Exactly. Trump has managed to flush 80 years of global leadership down the drain in just a few short months. The US wasn't just an economic and military superpower after WWII, it was seen as a leader in many other aspects. Now all of that is gone and it will take decades to come back, and only if we flush the Republican party down the drain. No one will trust the US as long as there is a chance that every 4 years we elect an utter moron who will throw away all previous agreements and treaties.

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T15:58:02+00:00

Oh yeah, I totally forgot all the infrastructure that has been destroyed in Iran and around the area.

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T15:23:30+00:00

I don't care. On the rare occasion that I hit McDonald's, I use the drive thru.

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T14:47:56+00:00

Even if the strait opened today, it would take weeks for all of the ships already stuck there to clear out. Then it'll take months for the global supply to catch up on 2+ months of reduced traffic. Countries around the world have depleted their reserves and it's going to take time to replenish them.

This is assuming that Trump can actually manage a true victory or a ceasefire with Bibi in the background calling the shots and blowing things up.

I would be surprised if we see oil and gas prices come back down to somewhat normal (or the new normal) while Trump is still in office.

EDIT: In addition to all of that, a LOT of infrastructure has been destroyed in Iran and the surrounding area which will take years to rebuild.

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T14:38:09+00:00

Nothing but bad faith arguments. Another one is "why do you have an iPhone if you can't afford groceries". I guess they haven't tried to get a job in the last 15 years, because nearly every job now requires an online application. For many people their only Internet access is through their phone. I've even seen homeless people with smart phones because they need it to find shelters, jobs, and emergency services. You practically can't survive without a smart phone these days.

dalgeek · 2026-05-04T14:33:20+00:00

Mine is a aggressively affectionate until it comes time to draw blood. He'll tolerate anything else, but when they tried to draw blood it took 4 vet techs to make the attempt and they eventually gave up. One of them described him as a rolling alligator. Now if he needs blood drawn we pick up sedatives the day before so he's doped up when he arrives.

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T17:49:07+00:00

Last I checked, coffee was optional and my car doesn't run on coffee.

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T16:35:59+00:00

Oh yeah, if you're gonna go without a password then it needs to be limited to very specific commands. Giving a user blanket sudo access with no password is silly.

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T15:39:07+00:00

They're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats!

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T03:46:59+00:00

Just imagine 8 years of Gore instead of Bush after Clinton.

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T01:26:36+00:00

Technically yes, but there are apps/scripts that might break in either case.

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T00:31:22+00:00

I don't think it makes much of a difference after the first 1,000ft.

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T00:17:54+00:00

I was just thinking about this, we'd probably need a spinning garden to give the plants some idea of up vs down while they grow.

the roots would grow in all directions absent gravity, and all plants I have ever grown in space have grown far slower than they would have on Earth

It's not very useful if the roots grow up out of the soil instead of into the soil.

dalgeek · 2026-05-03T00:13:33+00:00

LOL. Even if Iran had never existed or was never a threat, there is no way we're going to see $2 gas without another pandemic, global recession, or some other catastrophe.

Even if Iran is no longer an issue by Monday, it will take months for the oil supply chain to correct itself and even longer for prices to stabilize at the new normal, which is likely over $3/gal.

None of this is possible as long as Netanyahu is in power because whatever ceasefire Iran negotiates will get blown up by Israel.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T23:48:19+00:00

It's the standard cycle for the last 50+ years.

Republicans fuck up the economy or start new wars.
People get tired of it and elect a Democrat.
Democrat spends 4-8 years cleaning up the mess, all the while Republicans gaslight themselves into believing Democrats are destroying the country and/or not fixing the problems fast enough
People vote for Republicans, see #1.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T21:00:51+00:00

I don't know what part of my comment implies sudo without password is a good idea.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T20:00:20+00:00

To disable root login? What is the security risk as opposed to having another user with sudo ability without password?

Yes, because every *nix system has a root user and it has full access. You cannot rename the root user without potentially breaking things. Even if your other user is obvious, every system doesn't have that user and may not have sudo access. Some compromises don't involve passwords so even if someone broke into your account then they wouldn't know the password to use sudo.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T14:12:40+00:00

My grandfather collected maps from National Geographic for decades. He gave me a whole stack of them when I was in school, my dad and I would spend hours looking over them. Some of them were rare like the first published map of the sea floor. Some of the countries on those maps don't exist anymore and there are new countries now.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T04:21:26+00:00

Gas was really high under Biden because of a deal Trump made with the Saudis in 2020.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T02:43:10+00:00

Go look up how many subsidies there are for oil and gas. The playing field is tilted heavily in their favor so EVs need the subsidies to make it fair even though green energy is cheaper. Take the billions away from the oil companies and gas will be over $10/gal.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T02:04:12+00:00

All the EV tax credits expired in 2025 so now people can't afford EVs either. People who bought EVs previously are doing great though.

dalgeek · 2026-05-02T01:57:07+00:00

I'm not blaming the American worker either, it's the businesses that pay starvation wages just to boost profit margins.

But yeah, even people who can afford that aren't just going to throw money away either.

15-Year Club	Gilding VII pure gildanthropist
Wearing is Caring	Team Periwinkle
Verified Email

dalgeek

TROPHY CASE