Please watch til the end. I guarantee you will not regret it.

YSk Businesses should stop buying Microsoft licences and that should force Microsoft to remove bill gates completely from the company. Same should be done with Musk, trump etc.

https://famichiki.jp/@FlockOfCats/115984965100606546

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

— Frank Wilhoit

Why YSK: Most hospitals send a summary bill (for example pharmacy: $5,000) hoping you'll panic and just pay it. These are usually full of errors or huge markups. Before you pay anything, call the billing department and ask for an itemized bill with CPT codes. This will not only force a human to review it, but it also gives you the ability to spot BS. I tried this last year and the bill dropped by about 30% literally just because I asked, so don't let them rip you off.

Apropos of absolutely nothing, a few random pieces of advice that you may or may not wish to follow.

I would also suggest you travel to the protest on foot, or by public transportation. If that's not possible, park a good distance away and walk in. If you're ubering (or whatever), have them drop you at a business a few blocks away. Makes it harder to link you to the protest later.

Also get the number of a good lawyer and write it on the back of your hand in marker that won't rub off. Pieces of paper can be taken from you. Your hand can't.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/59378754

The calls for a nationwide (US) shutdown this Friday (Jan 30) are growing louder

https://universeodon.com/@KrajciTom/115967673993639921

The classes are filmed and feature MIT Professors and MIT Students. The content is posted online. The only downside is you need to download/buy/borrow the books.

Understanding Finance

This course explains all the basics of finance

• Syllabus

• Video lectures and slides

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/15-401-finance-theory-i-fall-2008/

How to make a good business plan

This course is aimed at MIT Students who want to create a business. It features a rich investor and a guy who created and sold a business to Walmart.

• Lecture notes

• Video lectures

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/15-s21-nuts-and-bolts-of-business-plans-january-iap-2014/

Introduction to CS and Programming using Python

This course at students with little to no experience. It aims to help peopl feel confident in their ability to write simple programs that allow them to accomplish useful goals.

• Video lectures

• Lecture notes

• Problem sets

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-0001-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-in-python-fall-2016/

Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century

This course explains modern physics. What is relativity theory? What is quantum theory? How did a bunch of guys create discover nuclear power? Why are scientists studying invisible particles in space?

• Video lectures

• Lecture notes

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sts-042-einstein-oppenheimer-feynman-physics-in-the-20th-century-fall-2020/pages/syllabus/

Speak Italian With Your Mouth Full

This is one of the funniest course. The participants in this seminar will dive into learning basic conversational Italian, Italian culture, and the Mediterranean diet. Each class is based on the preparation of a delicious dish

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/es-s41-speak-italian-with-your-mouth-full-spring-2012/

Tips

• The courses are fantastic, but they can be quiet hard. You need to focus and pay attention. I recommend taking them in the morning. Also, get your smartphone out of the room.

• Take notes. Get an actual pen and paper.

This ongoing project follows 500,000 volunteers who were recruited between 2006 and 2010.

It includes:

🔴 Genetic Data: The entire genomes of all 500,000 participants have been sequenced

🔴 Biological Samples: Over 15 million samples of blood, urine, and saliva were collected.

🔴 Physical Measurements: Height, Weight, Body fat, Waist/Hip Circumference, ECG, blood pressure of all 500,000 participants were collected.

🔴 Medical Records: The Biobank is linked to participants' NHS records, tracking doctor visits and hospital visits

🔴 Lifestyle Information: Data about diet, sleep, mental health is collected through individual questionnaires.

The 500,000 volunteers agreed to have their health tracked by the project for 30 years.

All data is free, open source, and "de-identified" meaning names are removed.

The UK Biobank is used by scientists to study genetic and lifestyle causes of diseases. More than 20,000 researchers from 90 different countries registered to use it.

(Some people are actually worried about that)

Using this data, scientists keep finding interesting things :

https://www.wcrf.org/about-us/news-and-blogs/following-a-vegetarian-diet-could-lower-cancer-risk-by-14/

https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/research-stories/flu-and-covid-19-can-reignite-dormant-breast-cancer/

This is a super interesting project.

Thank you Britain 🇬🇧 🫡

Pictured: a young, wrathful Frederick Douglass.

Comparing America's racist immigration control and enforcement measures to 1930s Germany is... inaccurate. 2026 America is now emulating what it was before 1860. The

When:

• Indigenous, black, tan, brown, Asian, and people are arrested because the look like 'the other,'

• lies are written off as memes,

• the Monroe Doctrine is foreign policy,

• cities are terrorized by secret police,

• non-conformists are shot in the streets,

• political opposition is met with federal investigation

all of America's episodes of villainy are back in play.

Genocide, colonialism, plunder, militarism, more plunder, expansionism, Manifest Destiny, white supremacy, even more plunder, hypocrisy, calamity profiteering, segregation, McCarthyism, monopolies, interventionism, propagandizement, dumbing-down, and a lot more plunder — this is the "great" some in America seek.

A lot of people are about to be hit with a big winter storm who are not used to this kind of weather. Here are some tips from a Minnesotan:

Keeping warm:

• avoid cotton fabrics.

• Use layers, take them off if you start to sweat.

• I like tight gloves with thick mittens, which allows use of your hands sometimes without skin exposure.

• A face mask works as a scarf or another layer in a pinch

• Warm up your home in case you lose power. Power outages may happen after the snow/freezing rain stops

Snow removal:

• Lift with your legs, not your back.

• Don't save all of the shoveling for the very end of the storm, it'll be more difficult and will start to create an ice layer (especially where walked on)

• if you have a car, lift up the windshield wipers before it starts snowing/freezing rain

• Completely clean your car soon after the storm. In most places, it's illegal to drive with a lot of snow/ice on your car and super dangerous.

• If you're parked on a street, move the car to a plowed area when possible so they can plow where you were parked

• If you have a driveway, clear off part of the street in the direction the plow will come from, so that doesn't end up blocking your driveway

Driving

• stay home until streets are plowed if possible (thank you healthcare workers and emergency responders!)

• Turn on ABS brake and traction control settings, if available

• accelerate and take turns slowly

• Have more time/distance to brake

• Speed up before going up an incline, getting stuck and sliding back down is not fun

Sliding on ice:

• If walking, keep your feet underneath your center of gravity

• If driving, switch to neutral and steer in the direction that the back of the car is sliding, but don't overreact on steering. Slamming brakes will make sliding worse.

Car stuck in snow:

• turn off traction control

• don't just let the tires spin out

• try shoveling, sand/kitty litter, and rocking back and forth

• Once you get moving again, don't stop

Edit: if you do lose power, have a faucet or two drip water to prevent the pipes from freezing and bursting

Edit 2: if you see ICE, follow these steps

The impact that wiped out the dinosaurs also wiped out all songbirds, except for in (ark) Australia. Australian songbirds then spread out to rest of the planet.

The closest living descendents (aka basal lineages) are the Lyrebird and the Rufus scrub bird. The lyrebird's song is a mixture of its own song and other birds songs. They have been also been known to mimic chainsaws, car alarms, camera shutters, and human speech.

Professor Jay Van Bavel (New York University) convened 120 researchers. He had them evaluate claims about smartphones and social media.

The panel was able to identify a series of statements that essentially all of them (more than 90%) agreed were true.

🔵 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/5256747.pdf?abstractid=5256747&mirid=1

These included:

1. Adolescent mental health has declined in many Western countries over the past 20 years

2. Smartphone and social media use correlate with attention problems and addiction.

3. Among girls, social media use may be associated with body dissatisfaction, exposure to mental disorders, and risk of sexual harassment.

These consensus statements are damaging for those who still maintain the belief that data on this issue is mixed at best.

Why YSK: Even if you don't own a gun, there is a chance you can encounter one at the home of a friend or family member. These are the four core rules of gun safety, but the same can be used with airsoft/paintball guns, nerf or even chemical spray bottles!

First, treat every firearm as if it were loaded. Even if it was clear the last time you saw it. If looking at a gun with someone else and they assure you it's not loaded, you can respectfully ask them to clear it in front of you before you handle it yourself.

Never point a gun at anything you are not willing to destroy. Pretend there is a lazer beam coming from the barrel. Don't let that "beam" point at anyone. That is known as "flagging". In nearly all cases keeping the barrel pointing down between your feet is a good move.

Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire. This includes the whole trigger guard area. Most people keep their finger on the frame well above the trigger guard, pointing their finger in the same direction as the barrel. This is known as "trigger discipline".

Finally be sure of your target and what's behind it. Bullets can still travel a long way even after they pass through a target. If you are target shooting make sure there is a solid backstop. If in a real life situation you must positively ID the threat, no shooting at shadows or noises.

When you use your car’s built-in speakerphone feature, the speakers in the car door reverberate, sending the sounds outside of the car. Maybe don’t do this while your car is parked. Everyone in the neighborhood or store parking lot can hear your very intimate or business-related conversation.

It also, consequently, makes the advertisements which they show to you far less valuable. So this feature is not widely advertised.

I've seen alot of calls for violence in America. Whether it be directed at the president or Federal officers, many people are advocating for an escalation in response to the current situation.

And believe me, I do understand. what I see happening in America is horrifying. But all I am imploring is to really think about what your asking for. Because you can't put the genie in the bottle once you've left it out.

If you're really gung-ho about it, go and ask a Veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan about it and see what they think. If anyone will know about it they will.

I am going to link a YouTube Playlist. Its the Associated Press Archives of the Bosnian-Serbian war. Because THAT is what will happen if wide scale violence breaks out. Except what will happen in America will be a hundred times worse.

The Bosnian war was pretty much broken up along ethnic lines. "Well it's going to be Conservative VS. Liberal" you say. Except it won't be. It will be anyone having a grudge against someone going after them.

ALOT of personal animosity will be taken out in the first few weeks I feel.

And I think the Seige of Sarajavo will be writ large in American cities across the country. Imagine having to dodge sniper fire on your way to get to your job at Wendy's.

Because that's the other thing no one is thinking about. You are still going to have to make a living while this is all going to be happening. And the cost of everything will skyrocket. Shipping will probably have to be escorted from place to place because people will be stealing or even blockading locations because they're "damn dirty libs" or "Fascist Conservatives" Fresh produce will become a thing of the past.

Canada and Mexico will close their borders due to all the refugee's trying to cross. so if you thinking of doing it, do it the moment everything pops off because otherwise you won't get in.

Basically Civil war is going to the worst thing to happen in America in a long time. and the only good that comes out of it will be Americans will finally have first hand experience of real war torn violence. And maybe that will hopefully last for another two hundred years or so.

If America even survives the outcome that is.

DDG has a noAI portal that filters out AI images and doesn't bother you with summations and things. it's available at noai.duckduckgo.com and you can add it as a separate search engine to Firefox thusly.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/53581443

YSK You can count past 1,000 on your fingers by using binary, instead of just 10

With just one hand, you can count to 31, and with both hands you can reach a whopping 1,023. This is because the placement of the held up fingers matters, rather than the amount.

It can be very useful in everyday use, being able to count to huge numbers when you don't have your phone or pen and paper nearby.