Skip Navigation

InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)ST
Posts
13
Comments
1,149
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • They worked fine in the 90s/00s. Social media and smart phones has just come in and created hyper-polarization since then. Human beings aren't designed to be able to handle getting news so quickly from such a wide variety of (dubious) sources.

  • People cast their vote for a variety of complicated reasons, often against their own interests. Someone might be stupid because they voted for a bad ticket but I don't think they are necessarily immoral.

    These old norms like not judging others for their politics used to function fine before social media propagated and the culture wars flared up. I'd be hesitant to throw the old norms away, even in our current circumstances, because after they go there's no guarantee you'll ever get them back.

  • Not from the US but when I see my country's flag I don't really feel anything. In theory I've got two flags, both the Scottish one and the Union Jack but they both elicit the same lack of reaction. Countries are just social and geographical facts. Getting angry or elated at the sight of a flag is a bit like having an emotional reaction to the moon; I suppose it's possible in some circumstances but most of the time it's just there and you shrug.

  • There are a few tools like lima that let you play around with Ubuntu from macOS if you are still curious. Also an official one from Canonical (company behind Ubuntu linux) whose name I forget now that does a similar thing. Essentially you get a user friendly linux VM to play around with.

    Edit: Canonical VM is called Multipass

  • There's Asahi linux for M1 but the dev that runs it is a bit of a nutter. Also apple software just works best with its hardware (until the planned obsolesence of your hardware happens and suddenly nothing works).

  • Part of why linux has been a successful long term project is by making decisions conservatively. Other projects like cURL do the same. Incremental improvements over time.

    It seems like there is a culture clash with the rust devs who are pushing for changes faster than the long term project maintainers are comfortable with.

  • I think it's the equity vs equality thing that is most problematic. Giving people a bigger slice of the pie for being themselves undermines typical economic incentives and breeds resentment. In my opinion everyone should be given the same opportunities but they need to demonstrate themselves as the most capable candidate to get a job/promotion or whatever for the system to work.

  • I think the harder question about the NEET crisis in the UK is that the world of entry level jobs or those available to people with little experience is that they are borderline unbearable. They pay badly and in some cases are humiliating/degrading to do (especially if you interact with the general public). I'm never going to forget wiping cum off the walls of a TK Maxx changing room with blue roll during my student summer job there.

  • A lot of the new Hitman games systems could be transposed into a James Bond game without the disguises and they'd still be compelling. I'm imagining the silent assassin runs where you don't ever change into a disguise that are possible on certain levels.

  • I picked up Andromeda for my Series S recently because it was on sale for ~£3 or so. Never played it during its rough launch. I did play a little of the original ME games when I was hanging out with friends back in the day but not a super fan. Although I've spent a lot of time on Bioware's old Infinity Engine games.

    I think that game might be underrated. This could just be a patient gamer moment but the writing is pretty good and I'm finding the initial sidequests to be immersive and compelling. Moment to moment gameplay is smooth too, with combat being a lot better than how I remembered the others to be. Interesting playing it when it was pretty much the beginning of the end for Bioware.

  • The world was experiencing unprecedented economic growth for decades in the run up to the 2008 crash. Sure there were some rocky periods but the general trend was upwards and even in the 70s where there were problems with inflation new technologies were improving people's living standards all the time.

    Now we have growth stagnating; raw materials and international trade becoming more expensive (existing sources becoming depleted, tarrifs); then finally technological gains are happening but for consumers. I'm not sure I've seen a big improvement since the original iPhone.

    The killer thing I haven't mentioned yet is overcentralisation of economies in major cities/hubs. If you want the best possible job then you probably need to move to a megacity like London, Paris, New York, Sydney... but then a shortage of new housing in these places has pushed prices into the stratosphere. You better hope you have an economically active partner who has also landed their dream job in megacity! Oh and the inheritance required for a deposit on a flat.

    Within countries that last problem can be tackled with better industrial strategies to some extent. Maybe grants and subsidies to open say biotech labs in more affordable parts of the country. In theory since we have increasingly become service based economies, or producers of e-goods like digital copies of videogames, this should also be possible by doubling down on remote jobs as a viable mode of working and possibly offering tax breaks/financial incentives to move to less populated areas. Here in Scotland if you want to be a primary/elementary school teacher on a remote island you can command a salary of ~2x what you would get on the mainland as part of a scheme to entice teachers to live in remote communities.

  • My brother-in-law has a slightly unusual form of epilepsy called absence seizures where he zones out and ceases to function for almost a minute at a time. It's the exact opposite of what you'd want for a driver.

    However he's been on medication to treat it and hasn't had an abscence seizure in over 10 years with his current medication. He lives in Cornwall and some of the council houses he is being offered are perfect but have problems like the nearest pharmacy being 20 miles away and buses being every 3 hours. Out of curiousity we checked to see if he could learn to drive and apparently if you've not had a seizure for 2 years then you can get rubberstamped for a provisional drivers license.

    Ultimately he's turning down these places due to these issues, it's not being counted as a wasted bid since the drawbacks of the property are not just him being fussy. Additionally, I'm pretty certain he lacks the gross motor skills to drive even if seizures are no longer a problem. Will need to wait to bid on more suitable properties. People who live in the country really need better amenities and public transport.

    At any rate that 2 year figure struck me as being very, uh, optimistic from the DVLA. Potentially any seizure should seriously curtail your ability to gain a provisional/full license.

  • As an economic theory I don't think there is any particularly pressing collision with religious beliefs.

    In terms of the wider political philosophy of Marxism there are ways where its skepticism about top-down power structures are going to contradict the teachings of organized religion at least.

    I guess you could say the economic version is softer and the political one is a harder view.