em-dash's recent activity
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Comment on What is a value or belief you have that is extremely outside the norm? in ~talk
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Comment on What is a value or belief you have that is extremely outside the norm? in ~talk
em-dash LinkI don't think cultures and languages should be viewed as sacred or owned by any particular group of people. I don't view it as inherently sad at all if a language stops being used or a cultural...I don't think cultures and languages should be viewed as sacred or owned by any particular group of people. I don't view it as inherently sad at all if a language stops being used or a cultural practice stops being practiced.
I don't think the vast majority of things labeled as "cultural appropriation" are bad. You can do a thing and assign meaning to it, and other people can simultaneously do the same thing and assign a different meaning or no meaning, without meaningfully affecting you in any way.
I think the world would be better off if everyone spoke the same language. So much knowledge is out there that people can't access because it's impractical to learn every language in active use.
To be absolutely clear, since most of the time everyone thinks I'm saying "all the foreign people should learn English and the US should colonize all the things": I apply this to my own culture(s) and language too, and it is immoral to try to make any of this happen by force.
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Comment on Google Cloud accidentally deletes UniSuper’s online account due to ‘unprecedented misconfiguration’ in ~tech
em-dash Link Parentinadvertent misconfiguration: a thing was accidentally set up subtly wrong provisioning: initial setup of new servers private cloud services: normal cloud services (i.e. they run their stuff on...inadvertent misconfiguration: a thing was accidentally set up subtly wrong
provisioning: initial setup of new servers
private cloud services: normal cloud services (i.e. they run their stuff on computers provided by Google), but separated by firewalls from other companies' cloud things
That's still uselessly vague, of course. I don't think anyone's given more specific details on what actually happened.
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Comment on What was it like choosing your own name? in ~lgbt
em-dash LinkMostly vibes, with a small amount of "how many good pun usernames can I squeeze out of this" (an em dash is a thing in typography, and Em is a nickname for Emily). I went through a big list of...Mostly vibes, with a small amount of "how many good pun usernames can I squeeze out of this" (an em dash is a thing in typography, and Em is a nickname for Emily).
I went through a big list of names intended for new parents to name their children, noted all the ones I might like, filtered out anything that seemed like it'd be annoying to use in practice (already taken by someone I know*,**, hard for people to spell, or things like Erin with a high probability of being misheard as Aaron when said over the phone by someone with a deep voice), and picked Sophie. Then I changed my mind a few weeks later and picked Emily instead, then half changed my mind again when I was filling out name change paperwork and now I am Emily Sophie Lastname.
I changed my last name at the same time, to my partner's. I knew I wanted to do that eventually when we got married (I have negative affinity for my birth surname, and she had no desire to change hers and I had no desire to pressure her to), and changing your name once is easier than doing it twice.
* My deadname was very prone to running into name conflicts at work and receiving other people's emails, but I knew no Emilies at the time. In the ~3 years since coming out professionally, I have met no less than five of them, all through work. I tried.
** A friend who shares my deadname transitioned and called themself Kate. At one point after this but before my own realization, my partner offhandedly asked me what name I would take if I was trans, and I answered something like "well, I've always thought Kate is a nice name, but someone already took it".
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Comment on Spring gardening thread in ~hobbies
em-dash Link Parent... yes. Good to know, thanks. It's worked often enough that I never bothered looking up what I was doing wrong.Is it possible they weren't hardened off?
... yes. Good to know, thanks. It's worked often enough that I never bothered looking up what I was doing wrong.
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Comment on Spring gardening thread in ~hobbies
em-dash LinkI have most of my stuff transplanted outside. Lettuce and peppers remain in the basement for now under grow lights, awaiting space in the garden beds (I planted a lot of onions and garlic over the...I have most of my stuff transplanted outside. Lettuce and peppers remain in the basement for now under grow lights, awaiting space in the garden beds (I planted a lot of onions and garlic over the winter and thought they'd be harvestable by now).
A lot of the tomato seedlings didn't make it after transplanting. I don't know why.
I bought a trifoliate orange treeling on a whim after reading that it could survive snow. Let's find out!
Our mantis experiment probably didn't work out. All three egg cases disappeared from where I put them, presumably stolen by confused squirrels, and I haven't seen anything I recognize as mantises. We do have a new swarm of some small insect I don't recognize but don't think is a mantis. They're tiny winged green things that I have not managed to photograph. I'm hopeful for lacewings (also a bug-predator) but don't know how we could've gotten a sudden lacewing swarm. I ordered a couple more mantis egg cases from a different seller, so they'll either work together or they'll be bonus mantis prey.
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Comment on Extraverted introverts, cautious risk-takers, and selfless narcissists: A demonstration of why you can’t trust data collected on MTurk in ~science
em-dash Link ParentI wouldn't be surprised if this was true for most people, in different areas of their lives. I like order in my work and varying amounts of chaos elsewhere.However, I do want to say that 'I like order' and 'I crave chaos' can coexist. I personally like order, but I also crave chaos.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was true for most people, in different areas of their lives. I like order in my work and varying amounts of chaos elsewhere.
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Comment on Can old, poorly wired electrical outlets cause a PC to freeze? in ~tech
em-dash Link ParentPower glitches can do some weird shit to electronics. Most electronics have a very narrow voltage range they'll work correctly in, and if they momentarily blip out of that range they can get into...Power glitches can do some weird shit to electronics. Most electronics have a very narrow voltage range they'll work correctly in, and if they momentarily blip out of that range they can get into weird states that shouldn't happen and the hardware designers never planned for, but try to keep going from there. How that manifests in terms of user-visible effects is usually either a freeze (as the computer decides it needs to keep executing this one tiny bit of code over and over again that doesn't do anything useful on its own) or a system reset (as the OS crashes really hard).
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Comment on US to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in five years in ~transport
em-dash Link ParentHaving been to some of those cities, I agree! I'd use public transit all the time if I lived in one of them. I entirely intend for my statement to apply on the local level: talking about car...Having been to some of those cities, I agree! I'd use public transit all the time if I lived in one of them.
I entirely intend for my statement to apply on the local level: talking about car reduction in a given place is premature before good public transit exists in that place. The US is too big to try to make sweeping generalizations about this.
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Comment on US to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in five years in ~transport
em-dash Link Parent... you should be driving far enough behind the other car to stop when they do, even if they manually suddenly brake. That's, like, rule 1 of driving safety.What about the people who don't have autobreaks? Your car slams on the breaks for seemingly no reason. I'm going to rear end your ass. And I will get a ticket, and my insurance will go up because your car's break sensor is buggy.... Not a great concept.
... you should be driving far enough behind the other car to stop when they do, even if they manually suddenly brake. That's, like, rule 1 of driving safety.
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Comment on US to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in five years in ~transport
em-dash Link ParentI mean, yes. What we have now is clearly suboptimal. But as a resident of a city with minimal public transportation infrastructure, I can't unilaterally throw $20K at the city and tell them to fix...I mean, yes. What we have now is clearly suboptimal. But as a resident of a city with minimal public transportation infrastructure, I can't unilaterally throw $20K at the city and tell them to fix it. (I would absolutely do that if I thought it would work.)
What people are saying when they bring this up is that you have to fix the public transportation problem before taking cars away. Talking about car reduction now, as anything other than a very long term goal, is premature.
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Comment on How do you organize all your electronic gadgets/accessories? in ~life.home_improvement
em-dash LinkCables get wrapped up individually into loops and thrown into categorized boxes (the generic plastic ones with lids). I have a dedicated shelf for those boxes. SD cards go in a tiny box. I don't...Cables get wrapped up individually into loops and thrown into categorized boxes (the generic plastic ones with lids). I have a dedicated shelf for those boxes.
SD cards go in a tiny box. I don't use them for long term storage, so I make no attempt to label or organize them beyond that. When I need one I just grab one and wipe it and throw it back in when I'm done.
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Comment on Viral lost song ‘Ulterior Motives’ found in obscure ‘80s porn flick in ~music
em-dash Link ParentIt was enough of a thing that I can totally see some other present-day artist recording a cover for the meme, though.It was enough of a thing that I can totally see some other present-day artist recording a cover for the meme, though.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
em-dash Link ParentHonestly, for a single host machine with everything in docker containers, I've found docker-compose is Good Enough unless you actively want to use it as a chance to learn something else.Honestly, for a single host machine with everything in docker containers, I've found docker-compose is Good Enough unless you actively want to use it as a chance to learn something else.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
em-dash Link ParentI understand the appeal of blockchain, but I still don't understand the positive emotion. The negative emotion is backlash against the apparently unwarranted positive emotion. I will assume,...I understand the criticism of blockchain but I still don’t understand the negative emotion
I understand the appeal of blockchain, but I still don't understand the positive emotion. The negative emotion is backlash against the apparently unwarranted positive emotion.
I’m building a project that is simply NOT VC-fundable. It’s a public good (non-profit). I could have decided to walk away, but instead I harnessed the energy in the blockchain community to make it work.
I will assume, against statistics, that you mean something that is actually legitimately useful to the public, and not "generic blockchain startup that happens to be structured as a non-profit". What does this mean?
Do you mean you got a bunch of people excited enough about your thing to give you funding? That seems unrelated to blockchain, except to the extent that the people you got excited happened to also be excited about blockchain.
Do you mean you got funding sent to you via cryptocurrencies? I don't consider this interesting; you just as easily could have gotten wire transfers of fiat money.
Do you mean that you made a blockchain thing that interested people who are interested in blockchain? That's too tautological to say your thing is interesting in any other way.
Do you mean you made your own currency/token/etc. and gathered funding that way? That's a variant of the other cases.
I ask these not for answers (though I'd be interested to hear them if you care to provide them), but in an attempt to spell out exactly why I find blockchain proponents' arguments uncompelling: the parts that are useful are already done better by existing financial technology, and the rest is hype. I think blockchain people often conflate the two.
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Comment on Zilog discontinues production of original Z80 processor after 48 years in ~tech
em-dash Link ParentA web browser is exposed as an end user application. That developers also use it in the process of developing things that run in it doesn't make it a development tool on the same level as a REPL...A web browser is exposed as an end user application. That developers also use it in the process of developing things that run in it doesn't make it a development tool on the same level as a REPL or IDE.
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Comment on What cooking techniques need more evidence? in ~food
em-dash Link ParentThat's another one, actually. People seem convinced that mixing salt or other seasonings into the patty will ruin it. I don't know why these people hate properly seasoned beef.That's another one, actually. People seem convinced that mixing salt or other seasonings into the patty will ruin it. I don't know why these people hate properly seasoned beef.
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Comment on What did you do to "prepare" for your marriage? in ~life
em-dash LinkNot officially married, but been living with my partner for long enough that we might as well be. On that note, I'll point out that nothing actually has to change. This is your relationship and...Not officially married, but been living with my partner for long enough that we might as well be.
On that note, I'll point out that nothing actually has to change. This is your relationship and your lives. Never feel like you have to do something just because it's what normal married couples seem to do. If any aspect of your unmarried living-together situation now is perfect for you two, don't change it. If any aspect isn't working for one or both of you, there's no reason you have to wait until marriage to change it.
One major source of problems that I see other couples having that categorically doesn't apply to us is financial stuff. We don't have joint accounts, and have agreed that we wouldn't change that if we got legally married. We each consider our money to be our own, and we've split the bills up between us in an arrangement we both agree is fair. This means we never have to ask each other for permission to buy things, and have literally never gotten mad at each other for making what we might feel are frivolous purchases (which we both do all the time!). I highly recommend it.
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Comment on With Vids, Google thinks it has the next big productivity tool for work in ~tech
em-dash Link ParentIf you pair it with a speech-to-text engine and watch it at like 4x normal speed, it's almost as good as a dictated email. This is how I work with one of my coworkers who keeps sending me Loom videos.If you pair it with a speech-to-text engine and watch it at like 4x normal speed, it's almost as good as a dictated email.
This is how I work with one of my coworkers who keeps sending me Loom videos.
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Comment on The Assist - Thoughts on AI coding assistants in ~comp
em-dash Link ParentThe difference, I think, is determinism*. Code usually always does the same thing when run with the same inputs. When it doesn't, it's considered a bug, often a particularly annoying one to debug....The difference, I think, is determinism*.
Code usually always does the same thing when run with the same inputs. When it doesn't, it's considered a bug, often a particularly annoying one to debug. LLMs generally do not have that property, which means you can't reliably share LLM input to allow others to get the same result you did. That makes it a fundamentally different sort of thing than source code.
Sure, you can share the generated code, but when people don't understand the generated code, that's equivalent to sharing a compiled binary. There are reasons we store the source code in source control and not just the resulting binaries.
* In the sense of observable behavior. One could argue that some types of garbage collectors are nondeterministic, for example, but that doesn't meaningfully affect what the program does in the way normal application code would.
I think I'm something antinatalist-adjacent. I don't know if there's a specific term for it. I find the usual arguments for antinatalism ("birth without consent", etc.) to be more philosophical word games than anything. But I also assign zero moral value to lives that don't exist yet, and I don't think creating more lives should be seen as a right. This has lots of implications that many people would find horrifying.
Related: if there was a way to do it without immediately descending into a dystopian hellhole, I would advocate for taking all children away from their parents and having them raised by professional child-raisers. There are entirely too many parents who are bad at parenting in a wide range of ways.