dejected_warp_core @ dejected_warp_core @lemmy.world

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2 yr. ago

When I worked in an office, I used to regularly take breaks with the smokers, even though I don't smoke. Not unlike following a bird or deer through the woods to a source of food or fresh water, the smokers really do have a line on togetherness. That and getting up from your desk regularly to take a damn break.

I'm kind of blown away by this too. The sentiment here on Lemmy following the US presidential election was palpable by people in other countries, and how this might have ripple effects in Europe and beyond. I suppose it's easy to underestimate the influence of US military, trade, and soft power abroad from within these borders. Still, the idea that politicians and leaders elsewhere would just freaking copy our homework, especially when we're doing our best to fail the class, is mind-boggling.

It really exemplifies the fragility of democracy and civil rights, and the need for active defense of them.

Jefferson was quoted as recommending a re-write of the constitution every 19 years. So the fragility of all this stuff, and the need to keep with the times, was well-known by the founders at the very start. By that clock, we are decades overdue for some amendments. Then there's the really famous quote:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson

For the record, I appreciate how absolutely metal this quote is. At the same time, I greatly dislike it because it suggests that violence is the right choice right out of the gate. I prefer to take this advice as, eventually, violence is the only option remaining.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this, partly because I haven't been following Korean politics as of late. From Reuters on an earlier article :

SEOUL, Dec 3 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday for the first time in the country since 1980. Below is a Reuters translation of the military decree: "In order to protect liberal democracy from the threat of overthrowing the regime of the Republic of Korea by anti-state forces active within the Republic of Korea and to protect the safety of the people, the following is hereby declared throughout the Republic of Korea as of 23:00 on December 3, 2024

Maybe it's too early to know, but does anyone have the faintest idea what is meant by "anti-state forces"? Is this just a ham-fisted power grab that failed, or is there any legitimacy to that claim? I'm missing ALL the context here.

There was so much to campus life that just felt natural and just ridiculously, offensively, convenient.

• Practically everyone is roughly the same age as you, and that group is thousands strong (depends on where you go).
• Just drop in on dorm rooms and say 'hi' to friends, whenever.
• Dining is usually very close by.
• Lots of entertainment options, most days of the week.
• Included access to showers and fitness facilities (varies).
• Free bus travel with student ID (varies).
• Student ID discounts at some retail (varies).

The fact that we refuse to build communities outside of school with these features, just boggles the mind.

I'll add that this is practically impossible to replicate in adult life until you get into a "retirement community". And like college, those are ridiculously expensive too. If you're an undergrad and barely old enough to drink: I urge you to please live these days to the fullest. It's tragic but you really won't get another moment like this again.

Force these shitters to make their products healthier for all age groups.

There's a lot of nuance here, but in general I agree. Hank (of vlogbrothers and SciShow fame), summed this problem up brilliantly. To paraphrase: social media is engagement based, not quality based. Upvote/like content on all you want, but misinformation, propaganda, rage bait, and doom-scrolling fodder will dominate any platform where the only valued metric is eyeball time.

So, the top-down solution would be to somehow strictly define how for-profit ranked media feeds and news aggregators are allowed to operate. Unintended consequences of such a law aside, I think it's possible to legally define a "well-behaved" social media site, but it won't be easy.

Real question: how is anyone supposed to implement this without eliminating anonymity for those services?

A hypothetical neutral reserve currency would be a fiat-style monetary system. It would also require some kind of central bank and governance over it. It's not impossible to achieve, but the politics around such a thing would be impressive to behold.

Also, I doubt the US would embrace either before seeing the dollar crash. It would take too much power away from the Federal Reserve, and by extension, global leverage.

For those with enough wealth, it's a win-win. Either the dollar stays strong and you continue to trade assets/stocks/bonds accordingly, or it craters and you invest in cost-competitive labor on par with India and China.

In the latter case, while foreign goods are priced out of reach, a booming manufacturing sector will come in and "save the day" in states with poor worker protections/rights. The real magic trick is making sure you (the 1%) are in the room when the decisions are made to hold or fold before the general public knows anything about it.

In a professional context (e.g. work/office), O365 and related technologies make a lot of sense. It solves all kinds of real problems, especially for a remote/hybrid workforce. It's by no means the best answer for any one application, but it's a very comprehensive platform and gets the job done.

For the home user? Constantly forcing OneDrive into everyone's field of view on OS upgrades is intrusive advertising for a thing nobody asked for.

Brilliant. Use your pressure cooker InstaPot and save time!

Did... did he actually say this? I knew this guy was full of it, but that's a whole other level.

I love that "Uh, guys?" is a real in-character reaction and moment in many episodes of SG1. This story easily could have been a plot in the show.

While Star Trek had these wonderful "this is why we explore the galaxy" moments, SG1 wasn't afraid to place characters face-to-face with something or someone that would just erase existence or end humanity if the next moment wasn't handled the right way.

They've distanced themselves from the optics, but not the principles. They think that by not flying swastikas everywhere that somehow that's different enough to pass.

Yes, but only for the mere moments before it becomes porridge.

It's the sugars in those vegetables. It turns the pot into a bacterial growth medium. Given enough time, something is going to survive that environment. Maybe it'll be probiotic, but most likely, it won't.

where it was often necessary to render unruly guests blind.

(emphasis mine)

Blind?!

Fuck that.

I strongly dislike how the argument hinges on the very movable goalpost of "illegal" drugs. It has this awful moralizing "protect the kids while we destroy privacy", vibe to it.

At first I though this would require an end-run on HIPAA, but all they really need to do is re-schedule a bunch of therapeutic drugs. Or ignore the FDA entirely and just enforce a ban by edict (somehow) through a different agency. I don't think we've ever seen federal agencies openly disagree like that before, but I think it's possible. Also: big pharma may have something to say about all this.

Like a lot of the nonsense coming from this cabinet, it'll test the crap out of state's rights.

Fine, then it's not a political party outright, and instead a lobby. Or a trade association. Or a big bunch of very angry like-minded voters. The point is that such a group could exert leverage within the DNC coalition as a voting block. We already have these for other interest groups. DNC membership is really only useful for voting in primaries to most people anyway - it doesn't have to signify allegiance or kow-towing to party power.

Lately, I go on a 30-minute "Not Interested" spree on the recommendations feed when I need to weed things out. I burn everything that I know I'm never going to watch. I have 500+ subscriptions and the ratio of those with new content to trash the algorithm hands me is too damn low. So I have to set it straight some times. After this correcting action, things are noticeably better for about a month.

Another move is to right-click and open unfamiliar stuff in an incognito/privacy window. This helps keep similar material out of your feed.