V17's recent activity
-
Comment on African Imperial Wizard exposed by Xiu Xiu as a middle-aged white guy in Africa-themed KKK cosplay in ~music
-
Comment on Some people can't see mental images. The consequences are profound. in ~health.mental
V17 Link ParentAs someone whose internal monologue is too busy and too loud, it can be exhausting. But when moderated slightly, like using meditation, it can also bring forward great ideas and useful insights on...I would find her constant stream of monologue and imagery utterly exhausting.
As someone whose internal monologue is too busy and too loud, it can be exhausting. But when moderated slightly, like using meditation, it can also bring forward great ideas and useful insights on many things. It tends to get louder and busier when I'm anxious or unhappy with life, that is the only thing that truly sucks.
-
Comment on Some people can't see mental images. The consequences are profound. in ~health.mental
V17 Link ParentI have a slightly milder case of aphantasia, I like reading books and I also do art as a hobby, but the problem with visualizing stuff definitely exists for me. It's probably one of the reasons...I've always attributed this to why I don't find reading particularly interesting and why I've given up all attempts I've ever made at art (the not being able to visualize my goal).
I have a slightly milder case of aphantasia, I like reading books and I also do art as a hobby, but the problem with visualizing stuff definitely exists for me. It's probably one of the reasons why, when working in the analog world, I mostly did abstract art, but what I want to say is that these days there are ways around that. Like doing 3d graphics, which allows you to shift and change stuff and see what it looks like, what's better or worse, you don't need to have a complete idea and commit right away.
But you can also use digital 2D or 3D graphics as a visual aid for physical art. I make ceramics, which is a craft more than art, but it also applies: it's hard for me to visualize how a certain glaze would look on a specific ceramic body, so sometimes I just make 3D models with approximations of the glaze and the clay. Todays physically based rendering built on path tracing is photorealistic enough that it truly gives me an idea of how it's going to look. And when you already have decent taste and an eye for art, you can often see what's wrong and build from there.
Plus of course using references is an obvious one. I made some 3D scenes where I started with a reference, like a panel from a semi-obscure manga, and gradually (using both my ideas and more references) recreated it into my own thing. But this is nothing novel, I just wanted to say that various digital tools greatly helped me with approaching art without being able to visualize things.
Curiously I have no problem with recalling music. On the contrary, I get songs playing in my head almost constantly, which can be quite annoying.
-
Comment on African Imperial Wizard exposed by Xiu Xiu as a middle-aged white guy in Africa-themed KKK cosplay in ~music
V17 Link ParentI haven't even thought of that, but yeah, you're right. Having been part of the scene for about a decade (I played drums first in a thrash band and then in a very basic sympho-goth band), I think...I haven't even thought of that, but yeah, you're right. Having been part of the scene for about a decade (I played drums first in a thrash band and then in a very basic sympho-goth band), I think this is mostly the fault of the fans. There's a certain subgroup that just views a metal version of almost anything that is "cool" but not commonly associated with metal as irresistible. Applies to "metal girls" as well, though perhaps that is more understandable.
-
Comment on African Imperial Wizard exposed by Xiu Xiu as a middle-aged white guy in Africa-themed KKK cosplay in ~music
V17 (edited )LinkAre you confused yet? African Imperial Wizard is an electronic music producer and DJ who performs in a KKK-shaped costume made of african-style fabrics, projects tribal imagery behind him on the...Are you confused yet?
African Imperial Wizard is an electronic music producer and DJ who performs in a KKK-shaped costume made of african-style fabrics, projects tribal imagery behind him on the stage, and who apparently became successful thanks to his strange secret identity of a pan-African nationalist.
Only, according to Xiu Xiu (a well established indie band that is afaik not controversial in terms of trustworthiness), this was all just a cosplay of a middle aged white dude who makes the music not with the help of his African brothers but with the help of Ableton sample packs.
This is what his shows looked and sounded like - his career is likely over, so I wouldn't worry about giving it views.
Most of all I find this really funny. I wonder what his story is. Is he an unsuccessful producer who realized that if he made up an identity, he could suddenly gain success despite not having anything real to say in the context of said identity and only using it as a surface level cover? In that case it would still be quite rude towards actual Africans, but almost deserved towards us if this is all that's necessary to get popular. Have other people who performed with him known and chose to not say anything? I hope more information comes out.
Xiu Xiu, in their post, pose a final question:
Would you see, book or listen to a band of white men called Asian Gestapo?
to which I answer: Probably.
-
African Imperial Wizard exposed by Xiu Xiu as a middle-aged white guy in Africa-themed KKK cosplay
31 votes -
Comment on Epstein-Barr virus appears to be trigger of lupus disease in ~health
V17 LinkEBV seems to cause so much shit over time, I cannot wait till the vaccine is out. IIRC the Moderna Vaccine was already in the later stages of clinical trials and they were simultaneously...EBV seems to cause so much shit over time, I cannot wait till the vaccine is out. IIRC the Moderna Vaccine was already in the later stages of clinical trials and they were simultaneously developing a therapeutic vaccine, for usage when one already falls ill, though that one was in early stages.
-
Comment on New ‘Star Trek’ movie in works at Paramount from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) in ~movies
V17 Link ParentJust to be a balancing voice and make your expectations more favorable: SNW sucks less than Disco and it significantly improves some aspects, but other aspects suck in very similar ways to all of...Just to be a balancing voice and make your expectations more favorable: SNW sucks less than Disco and it significantly improves some aspects, but other aspects suck in very similar ways to all of NuTrek.
Basically there is visibly not enough talent and/or effort in the teams working on it. So while they genuinely attempt to create something with OldTrek vibes, instead of either truly making something that feels like it or changing but meaningfully developing it the result feels like Trek cargo cult that copies some of OldTrek's features without fully understanding why they existed in the first place and what made them great. The rest is filled with modern scifi/tv trends that are sometimes good and sometimes suck, and supplemented by writing that is sometimes good and sometimes jarringly lazy.
For me it was just not good enough to keep watching. I enjoyed seasons 2 and 3 of The Orville much more because despite its shortcomings and the fact that it doesn't take itself fully seriously it clearly has the effort and understanding of Trek that SNW lacks. Also for the record I thought Enterprise was fine.
-
Comment on Danish man convicted of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted films and TV series on the social media site Reddit in ~tech
V17 Link ParentPerhaps I misunderstand, but what exactly are the consequences of sharing clips from publicly (if paywalled) available movies? I can see how it may be somewhat uncomfortable for the actors to be...BUT at the same time I think it’s important to bring this behaviour forward so we can discuss the very reel personal consequences this have on people in this line of work.
Perhaps I misunderstand, but what exactly are the consequences of sharing clips from publicly (if paywalled) available movies? I can see how it may be somewhat uncomfortable for the actors to be shared only for a nude scene, but it's hard for me to consider it harmful enough to be punished in any way since the scenes were already made to be aired. And the second potential issue, piracy, is obviously de iure real, but I find it hard to see a significant loss of potential profit here.
-
Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
V17 Link ParentI wouldn't worry about that. Surely a niche artist isn't going to use basic AI to create unoriginal mainstream music. I was thinking of stuff like training music making AI models on field...@V17 made an interesting point about use of AI on the experimental, niche end of things that hadn't occured to me at all. That honestly bothers me a little. If AI becomes prevasive in the mainstream, how original can anyone be by using it?
I wouldn't worry about that. Surely a niche artist isn't going to use basic AI to create unoriginal mainstream music. I was thinking of stuff like training music making AI models on field recordings from a steel mill, experimental jazz musicians improvising with a realtime generating model (surely that's just a matter of time now) or making weird post-club music even weirder and more post-clubby.
-
Comment on How has AI positively impacted your life? in ~tech
V17 Link ParentNo idea about China, but I've been using ChatGPT 5 to make executive summaries of relatively specialized documents in Czech (my native language, so I can easily check the validity) and it's been...No idea about China, but I've been using ChatGPT 5 to make executive summaries of relatively specialized documents in Czech (my native language, so I can easily check the validity) and it's been great both in understanding the document and in writing. In this technical non-artistic style it's usually good enough to be used without further editing, it feels like a native wrote it, which wasn't the case in some of the earlier models.
-
Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
V17 Link ParentThis may sound like gatekeeping and snobbery, but I agree and I would expand this further: most "top xx" popular music of whatever genre is slop created by a cynical industry. So no matter what we...This may sound like gatekeeping and snobbery, but I agree and I would expand this further: most "top xx" popular music of whatever genre is slop created by a cynical industry. So no matter what we think about generative AI from a moral standpoint, it's not surprising that a new kind of slop can compete with the old kind of slop.
I predict that this is going to become very common in the future, and that generative AI is going to be used at this hyper-mainstream end of the spectrum, where people just don't care, and at the opposite end of the spectrum, in the strongly niche spheres where people are going to use it in creative ways to push the envelope. And the hugely broad middle of the road group, the people who like music more interesting than whatever's on the radio but don't seek out the most out there stuff, is going to stay strongly anti-AI.
-
Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
V17 Link ParentThis has to be an individual thing because I've already seen many generated images where it was difficult to impossible to say whether they were real or not. And based on the relatively large...I think we have more defenses built into our visual processing (as we primarily interact with the world visually, and expect a lot more logical consistency in our visual inputs) vs audio processing, which makes it a bit easier to get AI music past them - most people process music on a more abstract level.
This has to be an individual thing because I've already seen many generated images where it was difficult to impossible to say whether they were real or not. And based on the relatively large "image generation turing test" done by Scott Alexander which used a number of curated real and generated images in different painted, drawed, digitally painted, 3D rendered and other styles I am way above average in my ability to spot them. There are styles in which AI is really good and others in which it's really bad, plus there are some common styles that are not technically bad but are immediately recognized as AI, but in the styles in which a model is good at it's possible to create something where most people cannot recognize real from fake even with effort.
However I have not so far heard a single generated song where I didn't quickly realize that it's AI generated. I think that most often you hear the artificialness in the color of the voice, and it's no different here. I think it also depends on the quality of reproduction, because many of the artifacts get lost if you just listen to it on your phone, but good headphones or loudspeakers really make a difference.
For the record I am both a musician with an interest in sound reproduction and a graphic artist, both on a "paid hobby" level, and I commonly use generative image AI myself.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
V17 Link ParentReading this I think we have shifted a bit too far from my original point of "are these policies actually normal in Europe and is the article sensible?", because at this point it almost seems like...Reading this I think we have shifted a bit too far from my original point of "are these policies actually normal in Europe and is the article sensible?", because at this point it almost seems like we're just discussing whether "my" system or "yours" is better.
In the spirit of that, like you I do believe that a different environment and starting conditions usually need different policies, so there's no disagreement with what you say. And it's quite interesting, I had no idea that fare jumpers may get fucking shot, that is insane. I don't know how often that happens, but as far as I know around here something like that has never happened, so I find it shocking even if it's rare.
I do wonder how that may change the safety of NYC subway though - even through the positive trends it still has a few times higher rates of violent crime than Tallin, so I wonder if it may get worse and require more NYPD officers for security than however many are freed up by not pursuing fare jumpers. Pure speculation on my part though because I don't know what the presence is like these days.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
V17 Link ParentI agree, but there has to be a line for this, because inevitably in every society you get some amount of people who don't pay pretty much just because they don't give a shit and/or who make public...My goal isn't to make people "feel it" it's to solve the underlying reason they're not paying.
I agree, but there has to be a line for this, because inevitably in every society you get some amount of people who don't pay pretty much just because they don't give a shit and/or who make public transport less safe or friendly for everyone else. And while some reason for that behavior surely exists, it's not realistically fixable. And if you make it worth it to not pay by making fines low and/or ticket control infrequent enough, many people are not going to pay regardless if they can afford it or not.
Regarding forgetting or losing your card, the public transport provider here went the Steam piracy route and tried to make things frictionless where possible, so that it's just easier to pay than to try to avoid fines. Your pass is tied to your identity, which was always the case, so they created and encouraged the option to register it to your debit/credit card instead of special pass card, since that is something that people always carry with them. Every debit card is contactless, so ticket control equals to just putting the card over a portable scanning machine. If you lose it, you can have it transferred to a different card and if you merely forget to have it on you the fine is very low, mostly symbolic, because it's trivial for the provider to check that you did indeed pay for a valid pass.
Similarly you can pay for standard tickets by putting a contactless debit card onto a terminal near every door in every vehicle when you get on, and at the end of the day the total cost is automatically paid from your bank account, the maximum being the price of a 24-hour ticket. This has reduced the amount of non-paying passengers significantly.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
V17 Link ParentI think it's fine because it needs to serve as a real deterrent and it's done in combination with tickets that are affordable for pretty much anyone and a system so dense both spatially and in...I think it's fine because it needs to serve as a real deterrent and it's done in combination with tickets that are affordable for pretty much anyone and a system so dense both spatially and in frequency that for personal transportation you really don't need a car.
A basic ticket that lasts for 1 hour when switching lines or until the end of a single line, so it gets you nearly anywhere in a city of 400k, costs less than 1/5 of minimum hourly wage. And going to longer tickets or passes gives better prices. The standard cost of a yearly pass is over 5 days of minimum wage work, which is iirc the most expensive one in Czechia, but that's still significantly cheaper than using a car, and residents get a 30% reduction in price (something that I consider discriminatory but it is nevertheless useful for many people). In other words for 1/10 of a minimum hourly wage each day you get unlimited travel within the city limits that gets you nearly anywhere. If you decide to not pay it, you're going to feel it to some degree.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
V17 Link ParentApart from this not being true as somebody else pointed out, it's also a clearly a bad example for the article because, as was my overall point, it's not at all a common thing in Europe. And this...The city-run grocery store is not replacing any privately owned ones, mereley supplementing them. f the city-run grocery store is such a bad idea, it will fall flat on its face inside of 5 years.
Apart from this not being true as somebody else pointed out, it's also a clearly a bad example for the article because, as was my overall point, it's not at all a common thing in Europe. And this is not just because it reminds eastern europeans of communism too much, it's also because it's solving a specifically american problem: we don't have big sprawling cities with food deserts and without public transport. Turkey is quite far from a typical European country and the reason for their grocery stores existing is likely not the same either.
Regarding public transport, it's really not clear whether it makes sense financially or not. Yes, the systems for collecting fares cost a lot, but for example ticket controllers collect enough fines to pay for themselves where I live, as far as I know, and that is despite the fact that the cost of the fine is limited by law to a relatively reasonable amount (currently it's about 7 hours of minimum wage work). Having to rely on collecting fares also brings incentives for the transport provider to increase the number of passengers.
Anyway, I would argue that completely paying for something so big and expensive is a somewhat radical proposal, but again my point is that firstly it's quite rare in Europe and secondly the whole situation and the problem that it's solving in Estonia is very different from what you or Mamdani say it would solve in NYC as well. Afaik, like most post-communist countries, Estonia already had a complete, developed system that was widely used.
I realize that I basically made two arguments: firstly that the positions mentioned in the article are radical, and secondly that using Europe as a comparison doesn't make sense. I still stand by the former, but it's more subjective than the latter, which I think is clearly true.
Interesting example with the library though.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
V17 Link ParentI agree with many of your points, but I think this article does a bad job because instead of illustrating what you described quite well the author chose to talk specifically about policies that...I agree with many of your points, but I think this article does a bad job because instead of illustrating what you described quite well the author chose to talk specifically about policies that are either uncommon or nonexistent because there's no need for them in Europe (municipality owned grocery stores are quite irrelevant here since we don't have sprawling car-centered cities with food deserts). And I think Mamdani is not a good person to illustrate this on in general because anybody who isn't a fan of his will correctly point out that some of his policies indeed are quite uncommon anywhere else.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
V17 Link ParentPersonally I think we should also draw a line between democratic socialism and social democracy. The latter is not socialism at all, it's regulated capitalism with welfare, which is what is...Personally, I draw a hard line between democratic socialist policies that I support and authoritarian/totalitarian government of all kinds including communism.
Personally I think we should also draw a line between democratic socialism and social democracy. The latter is not socialism at all, it's regulated capitalism with welfare, which is what is actually used in Europe, it's much more digestible to most people and it encompasses most of the important ideas like affordable healthcare, education or public transport.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
V17 Link ParentI think you misunderstand. Yes, attempts at actual communism (not something like "free healthcare" policies) did immeasurable damage to my country, so it is a touchy subject and I hope it stays...I think you misunderstand.
Yes, attempts at actual communism (not something like "free healthcare" policies) did immeasurable damage to my country, so it is a touchy subject and I hope it stays that way, but also we do have many social democratic policies that leftist democrats call for, like tax paid healthcare and higher education or heavily subsidized public transport and any attempts to reduce those are met with significant protests.
Yet the policies that I mention and that are mentioned in the article go beyond things that we, a relatively well functioning society with policies that many americans would call "socialist", do or propose. And they are quite uncommon in western Europe as well. So my point is that the article tries to normalize Mamdani's policies by putting them into a new context, but the context is fictional. Whether they're good ideas is a separate issue, but in my opinion the article is simply wrong. And I don't think that saying "well in XXXX they do this!" is a good way to defend policies in general.
I get what you mean and the name is at the very least quite suspicious, but at the same time there are some strange people out there, doubly so among artists, and ethnicity doesn't dictate opinions.