Gemini is sooo much worse than Google Assistant. I don’t trust an LLM to do little calculations or conversions for me, bring back the calculator!

You should be able to go into your router and block internet access for your tv, no additional hardware necessary. And it’s more reliable than pi-hole since it’ll block all internet access, even static ips, and no chance of a dns leak.

Alarm systems are often unnecessary. However, if you need one, I’d go with an old-school hard-wired system from a company like DSC. I’d avoid any “smart” devices unless you really want the convenience. For cameras, you can get a real CCTV system with beefy cameras that record to a local hard drive.

Wireless systems, like Simplisafe, are hilariously easy to bypass with even a weak radio transmitter. The devices run on very low power so put out weak signals that are easy to drown out.

Security companies will try to charge you insane monthly fees for crap you don’t need. There are companies out there that will tie into your wired system and do things like call you and the police when things go wrong for less than $20/mo. If you want the police to actually respond, I’ve heard you’ll need a camera system, otherwise they’re going to assume it’s a false alarm and get to it when they get to it, if ever. Any additional upgrades, like connecting additional smart devices to a security app managed by your provider, are generally scams imo.

Once you add networked connectivity to any of this, they tend to lock things down so they can charge you unnecessary fees to access your devices. The nice part of a dumb wired system, besides being unhackable, is that you can wire an esp32 up to it yourself and connect it to home assistant. I’d check for device compatibility with esphome before buying anything.

That’s all for actual security, though. It’s going to be overkill for 99.999% of people. The convenience of smart and/or wireless devices should not be overlooked. For something like windows, a few zigbee contact sensors from Aqara would have you covered for very cheap and the install is just sticking them on. I wouldn’t consider it a true security system, but it’s easier and more realistic. Throw in a smart camera and doorbell and you’re golden. Eufy lets you store video locally without a subscription, which is nice, but that doesn’t actually mean that it’s private.

The fine is what he profitted from fraud plus interest. How could that ever be considered excessive? What a joke.

Struck down due to the 8th amendment, which reads, in its entirety:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

He was fined what he profitted from fraud that the judges agree he committed, plus interest. In what world is that excessive?

So, if you’re going to steal, steal $500 million or more, because then the government can’t take it back since that would be an excessive fine.

Yeah, I was being polite. Admirable like the innocence of a child, or maybe more like the naïveté of a child.

I promise you, your faith in the system is admirable but unfounded. POTUS literally personally requested this, SCOTUS is full of bribe-taking jokers, and Congress is half made up of spineless tools that have demonstrated over and over again that they will defend their own in the face of literally anything, including Insurrection, rape, and child trafficking.

And, again, it literally does not matter in the slightest what the courts say, they can not go back in time and undo an arrest. And courts can’t just go around ruling on random things. They need someone to bring a case to them, and cases require time, money, evidence, and cause/damages to put together. Then it takes months or years to move through the court system. Even if they could rule on whatever they want, they have no method of enforcement. That’s the executive branch’s job.

You may find SCOTUS’s ruling on the Trail of Tears and the Executive branch’s subsequent actions quite interesting. Hint: SCOTUS said no, Andrew Jackson did it anyway, no invisible force stopped any of it happening, legal or not.

They can arrest anyone for anything they want. The executive branch controls the police and has that power. If it is an illegal arrest, you can pay thousands to a lawyer and spend a few months fighting it in court, but that is only after you are arrested. There is no magic “bail” number that lets you out of jail immediately, it’s set by a judge on a case by case basis and takes a day or so to set. If you are a flight risk, as they claim is true in this case, you will not be allowed out on bail. If they really want to, they can hold you in a cell without letting you in front of a judge to get a bail set. Is it legal? No. Does it happen all of the time? Yes. Will anyone do anything about it? Never. Especially when POTUS is fully backing it.

They said Democrat reps are not allowed to leave without a 24/7 police escort. I’m sure there are cops at the door that will arrest them if they do not comply. I didn’t find anything explicitly stating that in my 3 minutes of searching, but IMO it is abundantly clear that that is the case. There was a live stream of it all happening if you really want to know the details.

Technically, the executive branch can not say what is illegal or not. However, they control the police and can order them to do whatever or arrest you for whatever. Legal, illegal, constitutional, unconstitutional, whatever. Checks and balances kick in later. You can fight the legality of an arrest in court, but that is after you’ve been arrested, booked, and publicly shamed with a mugshot and whatnot. And you’ll need to pay thousands of dollars to a lawyer to fight it, even if you are completely innocent or the arrest was completely illegal.

They assigned each Democrat rep a police escort, and the capital building has plenty of police present. It is physically enforced and the only way she’d be able to leave is to literally sign a permission slip allowing police to escort her everywhere and keep her under constant surveillance.

The Republicans are literally having goons follow their political rivals 24/7 and dictating where they are allowed to be, or must be, and when. This is not the time to hate both sides equally. Sometimes, the Nazis really are the bad guys.

Overhyping aside, I’d say that not being much different from Hollow Knight is exactly what people want. HK was amazing. If Silksong is just HK but with a different map and enemies, I’d be ecstatic.

Can a stand-alone quest play Alyx?

Why use a virtual desktop when you can simply buy more monitors?

No sir, officer