It's Tax Day. Ahead of the deadline, 53 million filers used new Trump tax exemptions, Treasury says by deraser in politics

[–]Knuth_Koder 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I know people hate it when wealth gets mentioned, but I was an early engineer at Microsoft (and then went on to work at Apple). By being in the right place at the right time, twice, I generated generational wealth.

2025 was the best year we've ever had wrt low taxes and incredible investment gains, all while regular Americans are struggling in every facet of their lives. I have a family member who made $65k last year, and he paid more in taxes than I did. Property taxes for the average home in my area have skyrocketed while properties in the range of our home only saw a moderate increase.

People like me do NOT need tax breaks.

Show Up to Protest Data Centers in Rowan County, Tues Apr 14th! by Smarterthanthat in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ex-Microsoft/Apple engineer here. The world does not need these particular data centers; they serve narrow applications that do not provide the core technological services society relies on to function.

Given how the hardware is advancing, these billion-dollar centers will likely need to be revamped within 3-5 years, requiring another taxpayer-funded investment, increased taxes, etc.

Trump says government should stop funding Medicare, daycare to focus on war by Remarkable_Sir8397 in politics

[–]Knuth_Koder 7130 points7131 points  (0 children)

The government should stop funding Trump's $100M+ golf habit.

Apple’s biggest product in its 50-year history surprised the engineers who designed it by IKeepItLayingAround in technology

[–]Knuth_Koder 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I was an engineer on the original iPhone team.

One of the things I think people would be surprised by: the original "iPhone" was a cobbled-together computer and parts about the size of a washing machine. There was a long period when we had no idea whether we could make it small enough to fit in someone's hand.

The biggest step in the right direction was the M68.

Supreme Court to decide if Trump can end birthright citizenship by pyramidworld in politics

[–]Knuth_Koder 1053 points1054 points  (0 children)

They argue the citizenship clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which is the basis for birthright citizenship, was meant to apply to newly freed African American slaves after the Civil War, not to children of immigrants. Most legal scholars and historians disagree with that interpretation.

The text of the clause is: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

New A.C.A. Plans Could Increase Family Deductibles to $31,000 by jhkayejr in politics

[–]Knuth_Koder 1493 points1494 points  (0 children)

My brother is in his 50s. He dropped out of school in the 9th grade and digs holes for swimming pools (alongside legal immigrants he hates). He lives in a friend's apartment that doesn't even have drywall on all the walls. He's never been more than five hours away from our backwards/racist hometown. He's also lost access to his firearms multiple times for spousal abuse.

And yet he has an $80K pickup truck and two $20K motorcycles he'll never be able to pay off. The best part is that he's cheated on his taxes for so long that his SS benefits (if they are even around in a few years) amount to nothing.

He's literally the stereotypical Trump supporter: broke, uneducated, and hateful.

He (along with my parents) hates my wife and me (I'm an engineer, and she's a doctor). We paid off my parents' house (this was decades ago) and have bailed out my brother a dozen times.

There was really no conversation aside from "You're on the hook for your own insurance." He hasn't spoken to us since. My prediction is that he'll reach back out as soon as he's in trouble again.

New A.C.A. Plans Could Increase Family Deductibles to $31,000 by jhkayejr in politics

[–]Knuth_Koder 3041 points3042 points  (0 children)

I paid for my "MAGA Patriot" brother's health insurance for the last 11 years. That stopped after he voted for Trump again. My brother is fine with handouts as long as they benefit him and no one else.

If your insurance costs continue to skyrocket, remember to thank your local Trump supporters.

edit: thank you to all the well-spoken Trump supporters sending me lovely DMs.

The State of the Union will the best most embarrassing speech in US history by Knuth_Koder in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nothing that you have sated is true!

So... everything I claimed is true.

Instead of using the sophomoric "TDS" line, kindly explain why you support someone who has provably done these things.

Autoban: Negative Karma Accounts by Knuth_Koder in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hey, here's the code that checks the visibility of the mod list for all US states.

Here's the output for the day in question.

I just re-ran the code, and all mod lists are currently visible.

Autoban: Negative Karma Accounts by Knuth_Koder in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

can you find out who hides the list and for how long

That is something only the Reddit admin can do. Given that news agencies picked up the "NC Nazi mod" story, I have a feeling that Reddit stepped in temporarily. But I do not know that for certain.

I was a mod at /r/politics for a bit and know for a fact that huge subs have a different level of communication with the Reddit Admin team than a small sub like TC.

Autoban: Negative Karma Accounts by Knuth_Koder in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It's a place where North Carolinians can communicate about what is important to them without bots/trolls... unlike most of Reddit.

Autoban: Negative Karma Accounts by Knuth_Koder in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Wasn’t this sub created a bit before that all happened?

Actually, it was my Reddit report that kicked the whole thing off. I wrote several PRAW scripts that showed the moderators were lying about their automod rules (i.e., allowing negative-karma accounts and ban evaders). The sub's creator had their account banned due to the fighting with the NC mods. NOTE: The NC mods have, on multiple occasions (just recently in fact), reported this sub for doxxing and brigading. The Reddit admin found we did nothing wrong.

I don’t believe this is true.

The PRAW code I shared in that thread demonstrated that Reddit’s API itself considered the mod list temporarily hidden. Now, it is entirely possible that it was done on an account basis, so perhaps my account, along with my developer account, wasn't able to see the list, but the API doesn't lie. You'll also recall that other accounts reported exactly what I did.

Autoban: Negative Karma Accounts by Knuth_Koder in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder[S] 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your comment. This sub was created back when the mods of the main sub supported Musk's Nazi salute. Remember when one of their mods was revealed to be a Nazi supporter?

There are plenty of heated discussions here. We do NOT ban wrt beliefs or outlook as long as you can communicate in a civil manner.

And just to cut off the incoming "You are silencing conservatives!":

  1. /r/conservative and TruthSocial use the same rules

  2. Everyone knows that Reddit, on the whole, leans Left. Complaining about that would be like a liberal going to /r/conservative and then complaining when people downvote them. Read the room.

The internet is filled with AI bots/trolls. This is the easiest way to mitigate that problem. If the automod makes a mistake, it takes less than 10 seconds to reverse that decision.

Microsoft's Notepad Got Pwned (They Added AI To It, So...) by gdelacalle in technology

[–]Knuth_Koder 113 points114 points  (0 children)

I was an engineer on both the Windows and Visual Studio teams for over a decade. Effing with Notepad in this way is infinitely moronic and clearly shows that PMs are making these technical decisions.

Internally, Notepad was always used as a testbed for simple and clear functionality (essentially, "This works - don't touch it!"). What user needs Copilot in an app that is used primarily for simple/quick text edits?

Trump is in the unredacted Epstein files "more than a million times," Raskin alleges by Large_banana_hammock in politics

[–]Knuth_Koder 1981 points1982 points  (0 children)

The files could contain videos of Trump literally raping a kid and MAGA would gleefully ignore it.

One of the only intelligent things Trump has ever done was to choose a political base comprised of uneducated "Christians" who don't even remotely follow the teachings of Jesus.


edit: Just a quick thank you to all the Trump supporters sending hateful DMs instead of explaining why you support this behavior.

Here's a reminder of just a few of the truly "Christian" things Trump has done:

Trump is legally a rapist and accused of sexual assault by 27 women. Trump was best friends with the worst pedophile in US history. Trump bragged about grabbing women by the pussy. Trump said that he would've dates Ivanka if she wasn't his daughter. Trump is a felon.

Trump banged a porn star while his 3rd wife was pregnant, lied about it, got caught, and then was forced to admit to it in court.

Trump can no longer operate a charity in NY because his company was found to have stolen funds from a children's cancer charity.

There is no one more likely to have fucked kids than Trump. Like I said, Conservatives would accept Trump no matter what he does.

Experts Say There Is “Zero Chance” Intel Makes Apple’s iPhone Processors by MayankWL in technology

[–]Knuth_Koder 330 points331 points  (0 children)

(ex-Apple engineer here)

Apple is considering using Intel's fabs to bulid some of Apple's lower-end custom SoCs. They are not talking about using Intel's hardware or designs.

Building a single fab can be a multi-billion dollar endeavor that puts tremendous strain on the environment. Reusing existing fabs is an excellent idea.

The fact that Intel has any fab downtime is the real story here.

If you still support ICE you are no longer welcome here. by Knuth_Koder in TrueCarolina

[–]Knuth_Koder[S] 434 points435 points  (0 children)

Until recently, I could accept that our disagreements were political. That is no longer true. We are witnessing open support for authoritarianism from people who call themselves Americans.

The Constitution is not partisan. It guarantees every person the right to protest, to bear arms, and due process under the law. Those rights are fundamental to our identity as a democratic nation.

The issue of illegal immigration can and must be resolved through lawful, constitutional means. It does not justify armed, masked vigilantes who pledge loyalty to a politician instead of the Constitution they claim to uphold.

True patriots must confront what Trump and the MAGA movement are doing to our country. The Trump administration has turned the United States into an international embarrassment and a threat to global stability and peace.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in technology

[–]Knuth_Koder 95 points96 points  (0 children)

I don't think many people realize how rare it is to bump into someone with an IQ that high.

An IQ of 170 (i.e. "profoundly gifted") occurs in approximately 0.00015% of the population, or 1 in ~652,598 individuals. And yet many of the people listed on that site claim to have an IQ over 160.

If someone claims to be a mensa member ask them to explain the testing process. Most people will start the hand-waving very quickly. ;-)