Let’s not kid ourselves, most people will not start looking at Linux. They should, but they won’t. They’ll continue to use the version of Windows their machine came with, becoming a botnet petri dish in the process, forever, until it breaks or becomes unusable. If Microsoft actually forces their machine to become unbootable they’ll rush off to the mall and replace it with a Mac.

And in the meantime they’ll click off any nags and warnings Microsoft sends them without reading them.

Just like happened with XP.

Just like what happened with Vista.

Just like what happened with 7.

Etc.

Most users are clueless, barely understand how to use their computers except by rote, and therefore are extremely afraid of change. Microsoft could offer a free puppy with your updrade to Win11 and I think about 75% of users would still refuse to take it.

Or pretty much anywhere in the manufacturing sector.

Plenty of products you use on a daily basis, especially processed foods, are being cranked out on equipment controlled by PLC’s from the 1980’s or earlier.

95 is easy, you can use all zeroes or all ones and it would pass the algorithm check and let you install. There was no online check requirement, unlike XP.

98 you could do 12345-12345-12345-12345-12345 or some similar variant as I recall, so I never bothered knowing an “actual” key for those.

XP and above could be trivially bypassed with software, so the whole thing was moot after that. Silly technology.

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Somewhat relatedly, I still have the MSDN Windows 2000 license key memorized.

Needless to say, I have not had to install Windows 2000 on anything for quite some time.

The thing that I find insane is having to pay for Nitro to have an animated .gif as your profile pic.

…The animation is played client-side, so literally costs Discord nothing to do this, and as a matter of fact it’s actually more effort for them to intentionally block animations from playing until you pony up than just letting the browser container the app runs in natively do its thing. Given that the Discord app itself is basically just a glorified webview container with some stuff bolted onto it.

Lots of reasons. In residential settings, wall mounted clocks and lighting are the usual reason.

You see a lot of these in commercial buildings here, also. Often they’re even in the ceiling, not even high on the wall. It provides guaranteed access to an outlet that’s not blocked by furniture for use with cleaning and maintenance equipment. Vacuums, floor polishers, floor drying blowers, that sort of thing. Having the cord come from a high point also makes it easier to keep it running over top of furniture and obstructions when it will only be used temporarily rather than snaking around the legs of desks and chairs and so on. And it also discourages passers by from fucking with them if they haven’t brought a short stepladder or a foot stool or something.

Your same source also includes charts of reports versus clearance rates (i.e. arrests and prosecution) of all types of crime categories.

https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend

Compare how high the grey line (prosecutions) is compared to the reports (blue line) for:

• Drugs
• Shoplifting
• Bribery
• Prostitution

Versus, say,

• Motor vehicle theft (just to name an example for no reason at all)
• Burglary
• Destruction of Property/Vandalism
• Credit Card Fraud
• Theft From Motor Vehicle
• Larceny
• Rape

The clearance rate for shoplifting is higher than rape.

More shoplifters. Get prosecuted. Than rapists. What does that tell you about priorities? Think about it.

It is always Friday.

basing this on not much more than your particular set of prejudice.

Wow, just like the police! What a coincidence.

Because this was many, many years ago and back then I was naive and thought contributing might have actually made the world a safer and better place. I know better now thanks to experience.

The issue is that it’s a case of the boy who cried wolf. Yes, there likely are “actual” crimes out there that need to be solved. But they are in the tiny minority of what the police pursue and prosecute overall compared to petty drug bullshit, harassing people for existing while black, writing speeding tickets, busting homeless people, and jailing people who need to steal to eat on behalf of megacorporations – crimes for which the police will show up for near instantly when called, whereas if someone victimizes you, Mr. private citizen, they generally can’t be bothered.

That’s how the cops operate here. I know how the cops work here because I live here. I don’t know what to tell you about where you might happen to live, but I’ll bet you if you look at it hard it isn’t that much different.

…And even if you are not the perpetrator, that doesn’t matter. The police are pressured to arrest somebody. At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter to them who it is, and the perp got a way while in the meantime you’re standing right here. It’s much easier to harass you.

Do you have warrants? Are you sure? Do you have parking tickets? Is your name similar to someone else they want for something else? Do they smell weed? Are you black? Etc., etc., etc.

It’s not worth it. Don’t interact.

I did not testify because the accused took a plea deal, which the state kindly did not inform me of (although they wasted in total about $4 in postage threatening to arrest me for no reason) until the day of the trial after it had been rescheduled for the fourth time. The charges were indeed dumb shit. Nobody got murdered.

It has nothing to do with my busy life, it has to do with not enabling bad behavior from the police and state. The police demand respect but give none in return. You do you, but that doesn’t fly on my doorstep.

I will not be bullied. By anyone.

Do you know what? I helped the cops once with some security camera footage many years ago, for something that didn’t involve me.

You want to know what I got in return? I got subpoenaed, and this turned into the state jerking me around on the trial date when I was supposed to show up with the dates changing after the fact without them informing me, but every single letter they sent me started in its opening paragraph with a threat to prosecute me if I did not instantly comply.

So yeah, I don’t “help” the police anymore. They can fuck off and come back after they learn to do better.

If you want the footage, that’s different. But if they cops come to talk to me about it (or anything else) they ain’t getting nothing.

The cops should have thought of that before they started abusing their authority and needlessly victimizing people. If they didn’t act the way they do, people would trust them enough to talk to them.

Don’t hate the players, hate the game.

Pro tip: They’re not going to find your car anyway, and even if they do the only reason was because whoever stole it abandoned it somewhere after wrecking it. In my area they take about 4 to 24 hours to even show up for such calls, so for this example the chances of them actually catching the perp in the act and getting your car back before it’s trashed are zero.

In that scenario, my people have an ancient and traditional saying:

It is on, son.

You can be subpoenaed to testify in court. You cannot be compelled to talk to the police.

You are not required to identify yourself if you are not operating a motor vehicle (in which case you must supply your license if asked) and you have not been accused of any specific crime. “Being suspicious” or “fitting a description” or “we got a call” is not a specific crime. If there is not reasonable suspicion that you were the one who committed an articulable crime, you don’t have to provide your name.

Read up on your state’s laws. If your state is not a “stop and identify” state you don’t even have to identify yourself if you have been accused of a crime. That’s for the police to figure out themselves if they care so damn much. You invoke the 5th.

In this guy’s case (I don’t know what to make of the accents or the checkboard hats or the Astra, so I suspect this is not meant to be happening in the USA, but whatever) he is on his own property, has not been shown a warrant, and has not been accused of a crime. He doesn’t have to state anything. If he is not required to interact with these police at all. He’s not even obligated to open the door. If these cops had a single pinky toe to stand on, they’d have shown up with a warrant.

Maybe you want to go as far as “Were you shoplifting?” “What? No. That wasn’t me, man.” … do your best imitation of someone who just fell from the sky. “So you’ve NEVER MET your neighbor. Your neighbor across the hall.” “Nope.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah, I don’t know.”

Wrong.

Don’t tell the cops “I don’t know” or “I didn’t see anything,” or anything of that ilk. Don’t try to plead innocence. Don’t try to use logic. It will only ever work against you, and it will never work in your favor. Always always always always.

Just tell them you exercise your right to be silent. Over and over again, if necessary. That is all you say. Be a broken record. There is no situation where you are actually obligated (in the US) to answer any type of questions for any type of law enforcement, at any time, for any reason, ever. That’s all you need to tell them. You don’t answer questions. You don’t answer why you don’t answer questions.

This is because you can also be prosecuted for lying to them, and their grounds for accusing you of lying can be pretty shaky but you still might get convicted. You can’t be prosecuted for saying nothing.

Note that this will not prevent them from lying to you, which is legal, and making spurious threats of arrest or similar to attempt to intimidate you into complying. Be aware that this is automatically bullshit. At worst the can hold you for up to 48 hours (-ish, state laws vary on that point somewhat) without charging you with anything and even if they do, you still don’t have to say anything to them.

If this happens, lawyer up immediately. You can sue them afterwards if it comes about that they violated any of your civil rights in the process.

In light of all of the above, I don’t deal with the police at all.

Name and if necessary, driver’s license. That’s it. That’s all I’m legally obligated to provide in my state, and even then only in specific circumstances. If they’re on my actual property they can pack sand; No warrant, interaction. I won’t talk to them, I won’t even answer the door. If they want to try to bust in illegally, what happens after that is on them.

I will further never, ever call the police for any reason. They simply can’t be trusted. If I have a problem with someone or something, I will solve it myself. The cops in my area have near as makes no difference to a 0% clearance rate for nuisance crimes, assault/battery, thefts, and burglaries anyway. Unless you need a report for insurance purposes it’s useless, and at that rate I’ll have my attorney call them on my behalf. They are not in the business of helping you. So don’t even expect that they will.

TL;DR: Don’t talk to the police.

I am disqualified from the first criteria (unless Trump’s recent declaration is indeed canon), however:

Has he stuck his dick in other women? Is he going to stick it in you, too? Same difference, right? Or maybe fingers are a better example, since nobody’s going to wear gloves or stick a rubber on their digits for that. Insist it’s been cleaned, no matter what it is. And put a jimmy hat on it if necessary for the object in question (and you can stick a condom on most dildos/vibrators, too).

People will get hung up on the toys because, “eww, weird” and not realize that “weird” is actually the root of their objection.