Blake [he/him] @ Blake @feddit.uk

Posts

3

Comments

704

Joined

2 yr. ago

You’re not necessarily wrong, but you are unbearable.

Just because a technology has been eclipsed, it doesn’t mean it no longer has value.

Optical media is really the best choice for data archival. Magnetic media is far more subject to big rot. High quality CDs, DVDs and to a lesser extent Blu-ray Discs can last an order of magnitude longer.

Thank you very much for your really in-depth and informative response. I promise you I don’t have any hidden motives or plans - and I’m a lot older than 15, unfortunately! :-)

I really appreciated how you were honest and open about nicotine, vaping and the effects it had (and still has) on you, I think that kind of transparency, talking about the short-term positive effects but the long-term downsides is really helpful for people, and it’s a much more authentic and convincing anti-vaping message than the usual crap we get.

On the other hand, to return the favour, I guess I will be honest and say that a lot of the conversation around addiction seems a bit puritanical to me - obviously an addiction is never good, but it seems to ignore the fact that humans always seem to be looking for things to alter their brain chemistry for fun, and if we put nicotine (as vaped) alongside alcohol, caffeine and sugar, it doesn’t seem particularly more harmful than these. Obviously they are all different substances, but they all have their upsides and downsides.

Wanting to avoid dependence on a substance is also understandable. I haven’t really smoked (tried it once as a kid, as we all do, and felt really unwell and never went back!) so I don’t know what those feelings are like. I also have ADHD so my dopamine receptors are basically already phoning it in and I have a very addictive personality, so I’m pretty terrified of using addictive substances. I smoke weed from time to time and if someone mixes it with tobacco it’s a hard no. But I’m definitely addicted to sugar and caffeine, and sugar is definitely very harmful, and it’s impossible for me to quit/significantly cut down, I’ve tried, and it’s always a miserable experience that ends with me over-indulging once I give up on my attempt. But you rarely see people saying, “don’t ever drink soda, not even once” and you never really see them being taken seriously, but it seems to me that it’s probably more harmful than vaping.

It’s just a strange old world that we live in and I’m always trying to learn more about it. Thanks again for your response. I really appreciated it and enjoyed reading it. <3

I’m sorry, I can’t answer your question, but I have experienced companies lying about their email marketing opt-ins.

I placed an order with a company (it was the NEC in Birmingham) and distinctly remember clicking the “I do not consent” box and got emails anyways. I contacted them and asked them to look into it, guessing it was a bug. They got back to me and said it wasn’t possible for that to happen, and I must have misremembered.

I signed up for a new account, explicitly ensuring I was opting out from emails, with a fresh email address then logged in to check my communication preferences - the account was opted in.

I contacted them with this information and they basically wrote me back apologising that I had been misinformed, but letting me know that they were still legally in the clear and that the checkbox was actually just a “nicety” that they didn’t need, and that they relied on legitimate interest rather than user consent for marketing.

Most users can’t clear their computer logs, but IT techs have a lot more access. I haven’t ever worked somewhere that has any kind of logs that nobody can wipe/delete, IT staff kind of need to be trusted or they can do all sorts of chaos and damage.

I specifically asked people not to share studies, because people can pretty easily dig them out themselves, but also because they’re academic documents which most people can’t interpret. I’m looking for personal accounts in this thread.

Do you, or have you ever, vaped?

UK Home Office insists “there is no safe way to take illegal drugs”.

There’s also no 100% safe way to eat a sandwich. Much more dangerous to get into a car than to smoke weed. UK Home Office can get in the fucking bin.

Thanks for sharing!

Coworker (IT guy) went into a meeting room, turned on the computer, but not the monitor, and then returned to his office. Then he waited for another co-worker to enter the meeting room. The IT guy then remotely connected to the meeting room computer from his desk, logging in as the person in the meeting room - no idea how he got the password. He then made some very strange modifications to seemingly random employees time sheets and left a homophobic email in the drafts of a lesbian co-worker. Then he tried to cover his tracks by erasing some logs, logged out, and went on his merry way.

The changes were noticed the same day and I was asked to investigate. The only reason I looked thoroughly enough to figure it out was because the logs were erased, otherwise I probably would have stopped digging once the CCTV footage and time sheet modification logs matched up. He forgot to wipe the logs of his own machine showing the remote connection to the meeting room PC just before the changes were made. I was digging through his computer’s logs while sitting across from him, it was a bit surreal.

From what I heard, he gave no reason for why he did what he did. I don’t think he really had one.

It is long past time for the people responsible to be brought to justice. If our current society and system are not capable of doing so, then they must be replaced as soon as possible

All of the evidence says that vaping is much less harmful than smoking, so I’m afraid that I will have to disagree with you on that. This kind of misinformed comment is not helpful to discourage vaping, as it just makes all anti-vaping messaging seem deceptive, which is why I asked for personal stories from people about their experience.

I agree with what you wrote about vape products being marketed at young people, but that isn’t the focus of this post.

Thanks - did you quit because you had heard about health issues? How long did you vape before quitting? What issues did you hear about that most influenced you to quit?

I’m really sorry to hear that you’re suffering, but I’m curious about what made you decide to quit?

Thank you for sharing your experience, and I’m sorry that you’re suffering from it. Could it be possible to taper your nicotine dosage down gradually to help with quitting?

Thank you for sharing, this is very insightful.

Thank you so much for sharing your story. How long had you been vaping before you lost your vape?

I shower every other day - four times a week.

At the moment, none, because I’m not able to - having to keep myself clean with basically just a basin and soap. Usually, somewhere between 0.25 and 0.5 a day. I don’t really get particularly dirty or sweaty. If I did get particularly dirty/sweaty then I’d just shower ASAP.

So it’s a monetary thing, mainly? If it was cheap would you still want to quit?

I’m very curious on the topic - having had many friends and relatives who have started vaping, I wanted to get an understanding of the topic, both in terms of health data, but also the perspectives of people who vape.

It’s incredibly difficult to get good, clear information about this - lots of responses are from smokers talking about how much better vaping is than smoking - but we know that kids/teens have been picking up vaping at a high rate without ever having smoked and have been doing so now for a number of years, so those responses aren’t helpful.

On the other hand, when it comes to finding the negatives of vaping, it’s very difficult - so much has been written about one or two overblown stories (e.g. vitamin E acetate in THC vapes, or issues involving black-market or gray-market vapes/nicotine solutions) which absolutely drowns out the ability to find information about the negative health effects of a typical vape user buying name-brand products from reputable suppliers.

Long story short, I’m just trying to gather opinions and personal experience with vaping products. I have no real opinion either way, I’m just looking for the truth.

If you do want to help people avoid nicotine, all of the research has shown that the best anti-smoking campaigns used storytelling and strong emotional messaging - so I would encourage you to share your story if you’ve had a negative experience with vaping.

Edit: I just saw your edit saying my questions were a bit specific, it’s possibly my autism or something that makes me inclined to the way I asked, if that helps. It’s genuinely just curiosity, I’m just weird, haha

Thanks for sharing - but why? What is your reason for quitting?

People who refuse to acknowledge forced sterilisation as genocide are genuinely some of the worst type of people.

I don't think you should be sterilised but I do think you should stop being such an ignoramus.