Eric_the_Cerise's recent activity

  1. Comment on For proponents of "vote for the lesser of two evils", what is your endgame? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
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    In the past 5-10 years, I have gradually drifted over to the Democratic perspective. Prior to that, however, I have leaned Republican going back to the '80s. Except I've never actually supported...

    In the past 5-10 years, I have gradually drifted over to the Democratic perspective. Prior to that, however, I have leaned Republican going back to the '80s.

    Except I've never actually supported any Republican candidates (I did like Romney, and I loved McCain--literally except for the year he actually ran, when he temporarily became a wacko, presumably to woo the crazier part of the Republican base) ... because since the '80s, the Republican Party has not really embodied the principles it claims to, and worse, has become steadily more batshit crazy over the decades, forcing me to choose the Party I generally disagree with, but have to flatly acknowledge as "the lesser of two evils".

    However, the real issue has always been the political "don't throw your vote away" duopoly of the US system. People there keep forgetting that there is a whole world outside of the US, with liberal democratic governments that aren't so horrifically limited. There are something like 15 different political parties currently represented in the House of Representatives in the Netherlands; no single party ever wins a majority, and the winners always have to compromise and work with multiple parties' goals and priorities.

    In other words, you get to vote for the candidate you actually like. That is actually a viable electoral system. The Netherlands is an extreme example, but most electoral systems in the EU are similar, with generally 5+ different parties vying for positions, and the top party often winning a plurality but not a majority, forcing them to form a coalition government with one or more other parties.

    It is also well worth remembering that the US duopoly is not in any way required, not according to the US Constitution. It is a system that has developed gradually, with the two primary parties steadily, intentionally creating ever more obstacles and boundaries for any viable 3rd (or 4th or 5th) party, explicitly to create this black-and-white, us-vs-them electoral environment.

    7 votes

  2. Comment on How to tell if a conspiracy theory is probably false in ~science

  3. Comment on The Devil went down to Georgia in ~lgbt

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    I agree, it's probably something of a paraphrase, but he definitely ascribed to the essence of it. Personally, I am also a fan of most of what Jesus taught, but I also believe "No one comes to the...

    I agree, it's probably something of a paraphrase, but he definitely ascribed to the essence of it.

    Personally, I am also a fan of most of what Jesus taught, but I also believe "No one comes to the Father but thru me" is the source of more violence, bloodshed and death in the past 2000 years than any other single cause, religious or otherwise.

    Sadly, Muhammad effectively doubled-down on this same message.

    Much like the philosophy to tolerate everything except intolerance, I am supportive of almost any religion except those that teach theirs is the only religion.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on The Devil went down to Georgia in ~lgbt

  5. Comment on US senior homes refuse to pick up fallen residents, dial 911. ‘Why are they calling us?’ in ~health

    Eric_the_Cerise
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    So many people responding with variations of "it's immoral". I think it is important -- in fact, utterly critical -- to understand this is literally a form of Darwinian evolution at work here. If...

    So many people responding with variations of "it's immoral".

    I think it is important -- in fact, utterly critical -- to understand this is literally a form of Darwinian evolution at work here.

    If you are a business owner of a senior care facility like this, and you do not "take advantage" of this, while other business owners do -- *** then you go out of business *** and eventually, the only businesses left are the ones that are immoral enough to do this.

    Extrapolate this out to, pretty much, every single business on Earth, and you begin to see why Capitalism is becoming a problem.

    Edit: In fact, extrapolate it out to any social system that seems to be full of bad actors ... "all politicians are crooks" ... "all lawyers are scumbags" ... "all cops are bastards" ... look to the rules of the system that apparently favor the bad actors, and change the rules.

    This does not excuse the bad behavior. Bad cops are bad cops, but there are also good people who want to be cops to help people ... and somehow, the process of becoming a cop either teaches them to be bad, or convinces them that selling their soul for this career isn't worth it, and they become social workers (or whatever) instead.

    5 votes

  6. Comment on Case before Norway's Supreme Court claims that depriving sex offender of a Snapchat account is unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights in ~tech

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    This, right here. Every major govt around the world has, effectively, outsourced the task of informing the public, to private corporations that censor and manipulate how they provide and share data.

    This, right here. Every major govt around the world has, effectively, outsourced the task of informing the public, to private corporations that censor and manipulate how they provide and share data.

    10 votes

  7. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    Thanks; imported it. Might use it during the media fast, might just save it for "after".

    Thanks; imported it. Might use it during the media fast, might just save it for "after".

    1 vote

  8. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    I'm in Germany. Deutsche Welle is on my short list of regular news sources, although they probably won't be "the one" during this fast ... but, maybe, if I decide to do another concentrated push...

    I'm in Germany. Deutsche Welle is on my short list of regular news sources, although they probably won't be "the one" during this fast ... but, maybe, if I decide to do another concentrated push in studying German ... doing side-by-sides of the same article in both English and German seems like a useful exercise.

    5 votes

  9. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    No audio or video. I don't have the patience to sit and wait for 10 minutes, while people chat their way around to eventually telling me what I can find in text in 5 seconds. For entertainment or...

    No audio or video. I don't have the patience to sit and wait for 10 minutes, while people chat their way around to eventually telling me what I can find in text in 5 seconds. For entertainment or deep-dives into obscure/interesting bits of info, they're great ... but news? Print media or nothing.

    5 votes

  10. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    Brutalist looks like another one I could get interested in, if/when I come back to more in-depth news reading; too much there for me, for this minimalist stretch ... also, includes a lot of stuff...

    Brutalist looks like another one I could get interested in, if/when I come back to more in-depth news reading; too much there for me, for this minimalist stretch ... also, includes a lot of stuff that it just shouldn't (The Onion?!?). I might go for their Summarizer version, except it smells very "ChatGPT" to me.

    68k has a nice grouping/summarizing layout, I may just go with this one.

    thx.

  11. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    I like the title. I am leery of the use of ChatGPT, but he says it's not actually writing anything, just being used as a weighted filter. At a glance, the results look promising. Will review...

    I like the title. I am leery of the use of ChatGPT, but he says it's not actually writing anything, just being used as a weighted filter. At a glance, the results look promising. Will review further.

    thx

    10 votes

  12. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    Hmm ... I generally consider current events to be the exactly one thing that Wikipedia routinely screws up, thanks to a thousand different vested interests in there re-re-re-editing stuff, trying...

    Hmm ... I generally consider current events to be the exactly one thing that Wikipedia routinely screws up, thanks to a thousand different vested interests in there re-re-re-editing stuff, trying to spin things their way.

    That said, I will check this out, because I rather like Wikipedia for everything else.

    8 votes

  13. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    Looked at them quite recently ... if/when I come back to a more full-time focus on news, I might give them a chance, but for the immediate future, they are overkill.

    Looked at them quite recently ... if/when I come back to a more full-time focus on news, I might give them a chance, but for the immediate future, they are overkill.

    1 vote

  14. What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source?

    ~talk Ask (recommendations)
    I'm getting ready to try a long-term media fast, at least a month or two. That means no Social, no general forum talk (I have a couple of task-specific groups I have to stick with), no general...

    I'm getting ready to try a long-term media fast, at least a month or two. That means no Social, no general forum talk (I have a couple of task-specific groups I have to stick with), no general Internet browsing, and minimal news.

    But I don't want to completely divorce myself from the major news events of the world. In case Russia invades the EU, I want to know about it before Russian soldiers are knocking on my door. If a new global pandemic kicks off, or they fix global warming ... you know, Big Ticket items.

    So that's the question. If you only get one news source, that provides objective (-ish) reporting focused on actual news (not sports, not pop culture, not click-bait-y diet-fads and vitamin recommendations) ... news of the state of the world (preferably including the world beyond the United States).

    I realize there probably isn't a single source that hits all my bullets, but that's okay; I just need one that's close.

    Danke, y gracias.

    Edit: For now, my first pick is AP News' World News section ( https://apnews.com/world-news ). So, that's sort of my baseline; anything better than that available?

    Edit #2: So, apparently, AP News has either handicapped or completely eliminated their RSS feed(s); I'm getting some results, but all old and suspiciously incomplete, and the 'Net is full of "here's how to cobble together the equivalent of a real AP News RSS feed" tips. So, unless I figure this out quickly, I'm just about to lose interest in AP News.

    Anyone have any tips on this?

    43 votes

  15. Comment on Humans might need to re-engineer the climate in ~enviro

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    My immediate thought, seeing the title, "What? ... Again?"

    My immediate thought, seeing the title, "What? ... Again?"

    1 vote

  16. Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. in ~enviro

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    I'm having trouble understanding what (if anything) we're disagreeing on. The statistics you just cited sound great to me. Having to pull in power from an outside source once a year or less sounds...

    Events lasting 3+ days at 20% or less capacity of solar PV and wind happened on average every few years in each of them (somewhere between 0.2 and 1 occurrence per year).

    I'm having trouble understanding what (if anything) we're disagreeing on. The statistics you just cited sound great to me. Having to pull in power from an outside source once a year or less sounds like a great set-up, especially if the opportunity arises to feed into that outside source on the days your local system is running over capacity.

  17. Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. in ~enviro

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    You're right it can't replace larger systems everywhere. But solar is not just getting cheaper; it's also getting better at generating energy under less-than-ideal circumstances. Also, it really...

    You're right it can't replace larger systems everywhere. But solar is not just getting cheaper; it's also getting better at generating energy under less-than-ideal circumstances.

    Also, it really is a pretty unusual region that gets neither sun nor wind for long periods of time. While it's certainly not universal, the two do tend to be complementary, and regional wind farms--perhaps managed by those very same utility companies--will go a long way towards supplementing smaller local grids.

    Future-forward, the best thing commercial utilities could be doing both for themselves and for the future of humanity, is developing and building cheap, reliable, long-term energy-storage systems ... non-battery systems like the pumped-water, sand-ballast, and molten-salt reservoirs ... that can store energy for weeks or months.

    9 votes

  18. Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. in ~enviro

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link
    This is part of a "sea change" for utilities. They are in the process of changing from energy providers to energy regulators/managers. Many utility companies have been fighting this change...

    This is part of a "sea change" for utilities. They are in the process of changing from energy providers to energy regulators/managers. Many utility companies have been fighting this change tooth-and-nail every step of the way. Others are trying, but it's a tricky, complicated change to a business model that hasn't seen innovation in, IDK, a century or more.

    California is, I think, better, more innovative, more accepting of these changes. This article is mainly just talking about rooftop solar gaining popularity faster than the utilities anticipated, and so now there is often excess client power that they don't know what to do with; it's an issue that they will work out, but it'll take years for them to adjust their central production and storage plans, to meet the faster-than-expected rate of change.

    Several years ago, there was a huge legal battle in Hawaii about the utility providers not wanting to pay fair market prices for the electricity flowing into their grids from solar-electric client homes, and even blocking solar-electric clients from feeding their excess into the grid, forcing homeowners to either set up battery back-ups and/or throw away their excess electricity. The utility provider(s) had some legitimate issues relating to the difficulty and risk to the entire grid, from allowing individual homes to feed current into the grid ... but as I recall, they were using that as an excuse to try to maintain their monopoly on electricity.

    This is also where the rise of micro-grids is coming into play ... communities -- sometimes quite small, just a few dozen, or even a handful of homes -- communally purchasing large, common-use battery back-up systems to feed their electricity into and then tap into during high-use, low-generation periods.

    Ultimately, I think a larger version of that community-based model is the future of electricity, with a kind of Internet of microgrids, and the utilities more and more existing to manage and maintain the lines and the local back-up systems, and less and less, to actually create power to sell, except as a kind of emergency provider of last resort.

    Of course, people will still have to pay them for those maintenance, management and--effectively--power-insurance services ... but in a perfect world, those fees should be a tiny fraction of the cost of actually buying power from them.

    20 votes

  19. Comment on All the good email clients go to hell in ~tech

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link
    Hey @delphi, Have you ever looked at MailPile? It started out as a crowd-funded effort and I'm not sure it was ever "completely" finished (a fuzzy concept in the software world). I've chatted a...

    Hey @delphi,

    Have you ever looked at MailPile? It started out as a crowd-funded effort and I'm not sure it was ever "completely" finished (a fuzzy concept in the software world). I've chatted a lot online with the guy primarily responsible for it; he's cool and sharp.

    But the main point is, it's not just another email client. He/They really came up with a very original, new-and-different way of managing email. It may not be entirely user-friendly (and as I noted, it may not even qualify as "done"), but it is both different and more powerful than traditional clients.

    He's also come up with several other interesting, fairly original software ideas. Worth a look, I think.

    1 vote

  20. Comment on All the good email clients go to hell in ~tech

    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link Parent
    Thunderbird spent a decade wandering the desert, when there was really, really minimal support and development and modernization and such-like. I forget the reasons, but in the past couple of...

    Thunderbird spent a decade wandering the desert, when there was really, really minimal support and development and modernization and such-like.

    I forget the reasons, but in the past couple of years, it is experiencing a revival. Mozilla is throwing a lot of time, money and effort at bringing it up to speed as a high-quality modern email client. They also took over (ahem, "merged with") K-9 email and are in the process of retooling it to become T-Bird mobile for Android.

    A) they're not "there" yet, and 2) I'm not entirely happy with some of the choices they're making in how to modernize it.

    Regardless, though, T-Bird is right now in the process of becoming much better than it has been in a very long time.