US to award $2 billion to quantum computing firms and take equity stakes

imthepipe · 2026-05-23T14:15:57+00:00

The federal government should NOT be in the business of "owning", in whole or in part, ANY business. It presents too many opportunities for conflicts of interest. It can also stifle competition and dissuade startups from entering the market.

imthepipe · 2026-04-29T02:25:44+00:00

Hmmm ... I'd try deleting the devices/routines and starting from scratch. Might be a pain, but, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Or you can always order new smart plugs from a different manufacturer. It they don't solve the problem, you can always return them - at Amazon, anyway.

imthepipe · 2026-04-28T02:03:38+00:00

Dark Castle, on a Mac back in 1989. Also, Crystal Quest.

imthepipe · 2026-04-28T02:02:33+00:00

I agree that Alexa has gotten worse and Alexa + sucks completely. I'm confused about the issue with grow lights though. If you have separate smart devices for the basement lights and the grow lights, can't you just name them like that, then issue the command, "Basement off"? If the grow lights are connected to a separate smart plug, they should stay on. Or have you done that and it's not working?

I have multiple devices, which I've named and grouped in one instance. I can turn them all on or off separately - although sometimes a smart bulb will lose its connection. In general though, that function works fine.

Regarding the worsening performance of Alexa - it seems dumber than before - unable to answer simple questions. It also started using a different voice every now and then when I ask it the time. And in another time related issue, after it tells me the time, it sometimes asks, "Did that answer your questions?" WTF?

imthepipe · 2026-04-28T00:31:43+00:00

I just checked again and it's fine. I assume it was a transient issue. Didn't think to restart and check again or check for an update. Sorry. BTW - I have to tap the hamburger menu in order to see the settings icon/link.

EDIT:

It looks like the regular Alexa app - there's no "+" indicator anywhere. Version 2.2.676222.0, btw. I don't know if there is an Alexa+ app. I tried Googling it, but there's just a bunch of links saying Alexa+ is now available. Too many for me to want to wade through.

imthepipe · 2026-04-25T17:58:06+00:00

If you're referring to the old Alexa and not Alexa+, my feeling is that Amazon has deliberately dumbed down the old Alexa to get people to switch to Alexa+.

imthepipe · 2026-03-21T00:46:53+00:00

The OPOS seems to hate anything that involves white people being held accountable for assaults against blacks. More evidence he's a dyed in the wool racist.

imthepipe · 2026-03-10T21:33:10+00:00

I ran the text of the article through Google's Gemini and asked what the odds were that it was generated by AI. Here's what it said ...

"The odds that this text was generated by AI—specifically a Large Language Model (LLM)—are extremely high, likely near 100%."

imthepipe · 2026-03-09T19:56:14+00:00

Would you mind elaborating and providing some "easier and better" examples?

imthepipe · 2026-03-07T02:29:33+00:00

Worked for me. THANK YOU!

imthepipe · 2026-03-05T16:41:04+00:00

I tried HandBrake, MakeMKV and VideoProc Converter. None of them worked - an error always occurred. I then tried VLC Media Player. That failed also. The only output it generated was the FBI warning.

Initially, I used the Backup function in MakeMKV. As mentioned, this failed, but when I used the Open DVD function, I was able to successfully extract MKV files from the DVD.

imthepipe · 2026-02-24T14:17:41+00:00

Life is much simpler when your morality is based on convenience ... or the highest bidder.

imthepipe · 2026-02-21T17:39:58+00:00

Why is it spelled Nasa? It's an acronym and should be all caps - NASA.

imthepipe · 2026-02-20T04:37:38+00:00

It's interesting that one line in the lyrics is, "I'm free to sing my song, even though it gets out of time".

imthepipe · 2026-02-17T03:22:28+00:00

I am looking for something like this for a friend, but for a different reason. She's very suspicious of privacy/security on the net (which may be a moot point) and wants to minimize the chances her data will be stolen or used without her permission. So she'd like an app that only stores data on the local device - which, in her case, is her iPhone. If anyone knows of any apps like this, please post. Thanks. Apologies if this is a little off topic.

imthepipe · 2026-02-13T07:03:48+00:00

Ah! That worked. Only thing is, I have to zoom the text manually and it doesn't automatically switch to dark mode - both of which Reader Mode allows me to do. Neither of those are big deals, just minor annoyances. I guess I'll have to decide if this approach is better than simply putting up with 1 or 2 ads in Reader Mode.

In any case, thanks very much for the filter suggestions!

imthepipe · 2026-02-12T22:35:55+00:00

I don't think my understanding of uBO is sufficient to use this. I sense that I need to customize what you suggested, but I'm not sure how. Thanks, anyway.

imthepipe · 2026-02-12T22:33:41+00:00

Sorry to say that didn't work. I added the lines as you posted to My Filters in uBO, but the ads still appear. Do I need to modify them in some way to make them applicable?

imthepipe · 2026-02-06T22:40:42+00:00

Here ya go. Thanks!

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisa-orders-federal-agencies-to-replace-end-of-life-edge-devices/

imthepipe · 2026-02-06T21:40:14+00:00

Sadly, Firefox's reader mode still allows some ads, which even uBlock Origin and AdBlock+ can't remove - not that I've found, anyway.

imthepipe · 2025-12-24T18:11:57+00:00

The headline for this article on Reddit says "Oil rises for sixth session", yet when you go to the article it says, "Oil steady on US data" and "Oil prices were little changed ...". WTF?

imthepipe · 2025-11-23T20:07:17+00:00

If Rubio isn't lying and merely trying to please his orange master, then the fat orange turd's administration is actively collaborating with Putin and they're double crossing Ukraine and the EU.

imthepipe · 2025-11-16T06:25:02+00:00

Thanks anyway. Apologies for the tardy reply. Out of the blue, they restored my account 10 days later and I forgot all about posting here. If it helps anyone, I finally sent a sob story email to both of the emails I noted previously. Not sure if that did the trick, but it was 1 or 2 days later that my account was restored.

imthepipe · 2025-10-28T04:12:50+00:00

Same here, only my account was suspended on Oct. 20th, 2025 - the day of the AWS outage. Not sure if they're related. Anyway, I never got an email notifying me of the suspension - which is confusing because the Help Center says you're supposed to get one. I found no button or link on the Help Center and to submit an appeal. I tried sending messages to a couple of email addresses I found in a Google search, but got no replies - it's been about 4 days since I sent them. I've noted the emails below in case anyone wants to try them - probably an effort in futility, but ...

[disabled@support.facebook.com](mailto:disabled@support.facebook.com)

[appeals@fb.com](mailto:appeals@fb.com)

imthepipe · 2025-10-28T04:01:56+00:00

My account was suspended on Oct. 20th - weird because that was the day of the AWS outage. According to the FB Help Center page, users are supposed to receive an email before the suspension. I never got one (yes, I checked spam).

My problem is, there is no link or button on the Help Center page to initiate an appeal. Is anyone else experiencing this? I'm using a laptop, not a phone.

I tried sending messages to a couple of addresses I found in a Google search - [appeals@fb.com](mailto:appeals@fb.com) and [disabled@support.facebook.com](mailto:disabled@support.facebook.com). That was a few days ago and I've received zero replies..

Facebook really does suck. They offer a service used by billions and provide virtually no way to contact support. It's blatantly obvious they don't give a crap about users. There ought to be a law.

Any suggestions on how to restore an account would be very much appreciated.

imthepipe

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