Links November 2020

KDE has a long term problem of excessive CPU time used by the screen locker [1]. Part of it is due to software GL emulation, and part of it is due to the screen locker doing things like flashing the cursor when nothing else is happening. One of my systems has an NVidia card and enabling GL would cause it to crash. So now I have kscreenlocker using 30% of a CPU core even when the screen is powered down.

Informative NYT article about the latest security features for iPhones [2]. Android needs new features like this!

Russ Allbery wrote an interesting review of the book Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado [3], it’s about poverty in the US and related things. Linda first became Internet famous for her essay “Why I Make Terrible Decisions or Poverty Thoughts” which is very insightful and well written, this is the latest iteration of that essay [4].

This YouTube video by Ruby Payne gives great insights to class based attitudes towards time and money [5].

News Week has an interesting article about chicken sashimi, apparently you can safely eat raw chicken if it’s prepared well [6].

Vanity Fair has an informative article about how Qanon and Trumpism have infected the Catholic Church [7]. Some of Mel Gibson’s mental illness is affecting a significant portion of the Catholic Church in the US and some parts in the rest of the world.

Noema has an interesting article on toxic Internet culture, Japan’s 2chan, 4chan, 8chan/8kun, and the conspiracy theories they spawned [8].

Benjamin Corey is an ex-Fundie who wrote an amusing analysis of the Biblical statements about the anti-Christ [9].

NYMag has an interesting article The Final Gasp of Donald Trump’s Presidency [10].

Mother Jones has an informative article about the fact that Jim Watkins (the main person behind QAnon) has a history of hosting child porn on sites he runs [11], but we all knew QAnon was never about protecting kids.

Eand has an insightful article Americaâ€™s Problem is That White People Want It to Be a Failed State [12].