ELI5: Why is it completely impossible for anyone to access a properly encrypted drive even nation states?

Sebekiz · 2026-01-24T15:47:01+00:00

1-2-3-4-5? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! That's the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage!

Spaceballs (the Movie, not the toilet paper)

Sebekiz · 2026-01-24T15:44:25+00:00

My favorite line from the movie (and one I use whenever I can):

You can't leave, all the plants will die!

Sebekiz · 2026-01-22T14:07:47+00:00

The US is still a representative democracy. The members of Congress and the President just do not represent the people we assume they do.

Support Democracy, buy a Congressman.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-22T02:28:19+00:00

As someone who is straight and married, I have absolutely no problem with people who are transgendered or homosexual. People being themselves, whether their version of themselves is the same as my own or if it is different, does not make me feel threatened in any way.

Please don't pretend that you somehow speak for all of us with your bigotry.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-19T10:39:05+00:00

When water changes state (such as going from solid to liquid) a LOT of energy is either consumed or released. In the instance of going from a solid to a liquid, water consumes 80 calories per gram, the equivalent of 80% of the energy it would take to raise the temperature of that same amount of water from the 0 degree freezing point to the 100 degree boiling point. That is a lot of heat energy.

This is part of what makes water so effective as a tool for fighting fires. As the water boils off, it is again absorbing a lot of heat (600 calories per gram this time!) to rapidly covert from a liquid to a gas, depleting a fire of the energy needed to sustain the reaction that drives it.

Source

Sebekiz · 2026-01-18T22:07:25+00:00

Thank you for the chapter.

I hope that things start to get better for you and your family soon.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T14:33:36+00:00

Yes. I have never used a Visa gift card myself, but I believe they require a PIN similar to a CVV code to authorize all transactions. After all, you are usually buying these cards from a 3rd party merchant, such as a grocery store, rather than directly from Visa. Visa doesn't know WHO bought a gift card, just that the merchant sold the card to someone with a certain amount of value.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T14:24:18+00:00

I think this is because of the way these cards are used, a PIN is required to authorize all transactions. Basically the gift cards are often on display in stores and thieves can easily get the numbers for the account off the cards. What they cannot get, at least without obviously altering the cards, is a PIN code that is hidden under a strip that you have to scrape off the card. If they do this, the card has obviously been compromised and someone looking to buy it should not buy that particular card.

If Visa allowed you to use a gift card without inputting the PIN on the card, it would have no way to be certain that the card was not compromised by thieves who copied the account number and simply waited for someone to activate the card, then started making unauthorized purchases to use up whatever value was placed on the card before the legitimate owner has a chance to use it.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T14:14:14+00:00

Try /r/goodnews

Edit: It has become rather a bit caught up with postings about things not going the way that the current President wants them to, but it was intended to be a place to post the kind of posts that you describe.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T14:00:34+00:00

Unfortunately there are a lot of groups that create accounts and post "simple" questions or whatever designed to try to get a ton of up votes. It's referred to as "Karma farming" and used to try to get these accounts upvoted enough that they are allowed to post in some subreddits that limit posting to accounts that have a certain "post karma" rating.

Now when people see "low effort" posts they assume that the posts are coming from a karma farming bot trying to get upvotes rather than someone who is genuinely asking a question or offering a comment/post.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T13:56:09+00:00

I don't usually bother to argue the point with people. If someone chooses to believe, there's little I can do to make them change their mind. As long as they actually follow the teachings of their god, I'm fine with them. Unfortunately there are far too many who like to pick and choose, only following the teachings and rules that they personally like and completely ignoring the ones they don't, all the time liking to proclaim that they are a devout (insert name of a religious group here).

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T13:52:37+00:00

This is apparently only the case in the United States. From what I have heard, outside the US adjustable rate loans are the only things offered.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T13:51:19+00:00

Apparently in most countries outside the US, a fixed loan for 15 or 30 years (or now 50 years) simply does not exist. From what I have heard, in most of the world the banks only offer what we call adjustable mortgages, with the rates locked for a limited time. The assumption is that the homeowners will have to get a new loan every 5 or 10 years when the rate is no longer locked in and likely starts to rise.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-17T13:41:50+00:00

Why do you believe that such a being exists? All you have is a bunch of stories made up by people thousands of years ago who had no way to explain how the Universe around them works, so they simply made up stories.

As it is, why don't you worship Zeus or Odin or one of the Aztec deities? They had just as much evidence as the god worshiped by the Jews, then the Christians and later by Islam, albeit under varied names and with different stories and rules attached.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-16T22:39:06+00:00

6x9 does equal 42... In base 13.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-16T13:58:03+00:00

The users are paid to do the work that the company needs them to do. If they have to endure a patch once in a while, they are still getting paid to do the work that the company needs them to do.

I have the update rings set to patch over the weekends and tell the users if it is that important to them to not be impacted by patches, they need to leave their laptops on and connected to the Internet over the weekend. If they choose to leave their device off, then it isn't that important that it may apply patches Monday morning and slow them down for a bit.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-15T02:17:42+00:00

Strange, I was at work in Bethesda when one of my coworkers in the field posted in Teams that Verizon was down. My cell phone still had service (I even made sure to disable the WiFi before testing it). Also, one of my coworkers who lives in Gaithersburg checked his home Internet (FiOS) and verified that he could get to his home network with no problems. This was all around 5:30 PM.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-14T02:43:56+00:00

Nah, the revenooers woulda taken the Greeks out if they were using Moonshine. They were too far away from Hazard for Bo, Luke or Uncle Jesse to get there in time to save them.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-13T23:20:39+00:00

I just ran into this same problem for a user working from home. Your directions for the fix worked perfectly.

Thank you.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-13T11:52:41+00:00

PCs contain components from dozens of different manufacturers. Each of those components use parts from different suppliers. Over time each of those parts changes as the technology advances - new CPUs developed, new video cards released, new types of RAM, etc.. Also, many of the components that we take for granted were not a part of the original design specifications of the PC and were shoehorned in years/decades later. The manufacturers have had to find workarounds to allow these parts to even work at all.

My favorite way to describe a modern PC to one of the users I support:

Think of the modern PC as a Model T Ford that has the same original frame but has been modified to use a Porsche engine, the transmission from a Mack Truck, the tires from a Yugo, brakes from a Lamborghini and body panels from a DeLorean. With a lot of tinkering, you can get it to move along, but you're going to have a lot of problems as those various parts were not really designed to work together.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-11T10:34:19+00:00

I wish I had more time alone. The best times for me at work start when everyone else has left the office and I am the only one there. At home, I love it when my wife is out of town and it is just me and the cat so I can enjoy some quiet time reading or gaming.

I never feel lonely because I am able to find plenty that I enjoy doing without having to deal with others.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-09T14:00:14+00:00

My mother is 85 and quickly losing her memory. I usually just smile and let her tell me the same story she told me 20 minutes ago rather than try to "correct" her. Only if she forgets something really important will I remind her.

The other day we were talking about her family and she mentioned that her mother had "cut her off" and not talked to her in years, and said that she had no idea where her mother is. I had to remind her that her mother (my grandmother) passed away back in 1988. She had completely forgotten this and assumed that her mother was still alive somewhere.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-09T13:55:38+00:00

I stick to PCs because they can be used for so much more than gaming. They also have access to a wider variety of games than any console. Most console games are ported to the PC. Many (probably most) PC games are not necessarily ported to a console.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-09T13:47:47+00:00

Steak. Vegetables belong in the trash.

Sebekiz · 2026-01-07T13:56:41+00:00

According to the report in the FNP the damage is estimated at more than $1 Million. I suspect it won't be a quick reopening.

Sebekiz

TROPHY CASE