papasquat's recent activity
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Comment on Why so many people are going "no contact" with their parents in ~life
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Comment on Why so many people are going "no contact" with their parents in ~life
papasquat Link ParentI can personally vouch for that. I was friendly with this guy for a while who I used to play RPGs with, and he was this very stereotypical neckbeard type. His whole life revolved around games, he...maybe some estrangements are unjustified
I can personally vouch for that.
I was friendly with this guy for a while who I used to play RPGs with, and he was this very stereotypical neckbeard type. His whole life revolved around games, he worked a dead end job, and he always had this attitude that the entire world was out to get him. Later on, it became very apparent that he was extremely self centered, and thought nothing of assuming that everyone around him were simply resources he could call on for favors whenever he felt like without ever returning the favor. (The main reason I no longer talk to him.)
For a long time, I had known that he had cut off his parents. He never talked to them, and he always gave the impression that they were terrible people. I always assumed they were abusive, or religious zealots, or extremely negative or something.
One day we started talking about it and he delved a little further into it. The core of his issue was that he thought his father was an asshole because he didn't make enough effort to get into his hobbies. His dad would sometimes played games with him growing up, but over time he stopped, and never expressed interest in his chrono trigger speed runs or whatever. He said that every time he talked to his dad about it, his dad would be interested for a little bit, but then after a while he said it was clear he wasn't actually interested.
I honestly had to stifle laughter, because this was obviously very important to him. He talked about it a few more times after that, and from what I gathered, that really was his main issue with his father, and the reason he went no contact with his family. His dad didn't hang out in their basement playing JPRGs with him enough. Obviously I don't have the full picture, but I did ask more probing questions to truly understand if that was actually the real reason and as far as I could tell, it was.
It was the most insane thing I've ever heard. I grew up fairly nerdy as well. My dad never expressed interest in quake 2 LAN parties, or modding PC cases, or hanging out in IRC either. He was nerdy in a different way, he was obsessed with baseball stats, fish tanks and photography, stuff I never really cared about, but that was fine. I'd show him some of that stuff, and he'd go "that's great!", and every so often do the classic dad "are ya winning son?". Hed show me a camera lens or a new fish tank thing, and I'd go "cool!". I still did, and do still love him and have a great relationship with him. We have other things we have in common and bond over that.
It was really shocking to me to cut your family off over something so trivial, and before I met this guy, I always assumed that people that cut their families off had very valid reasons to do it, usually involving horrific abuse or neglect.
Sometimes that's just not the case though. I felt really bad for this guy's dad after he told me that, and it unlocked a strange new fear of fatherhood for me that I didn't have before.
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Comment on The Ploopy Bean - an external four-button trackpoint in ~tech
papasquat LinkLol, this seems a bit cargo culty to me. People like the track point because it makes the best of a bad situation. Its a passable pointing device for laptops where you want something integrated...Lol, this seems a bit cargo culty to me.
People like the track point because it makes the best of a bad situation. Its a passable pointing device for laptops where you want something integrated into the chassis where you don't have to move your hands from the keyboard much.
When they came out, trackpads were truly awful, so people loved the track point as an alternative.
I still have a Thinkpad with a track point that I use regularly, but it's not a mouse. If I'm sitting at a desk, I'd much rather use a mouse.
I can't imagine why anyone would want a dedicated, external track point that can really only be used in the same situations where you could just use a mouse.
It feels kinda like having a high end bicycle seat as your main office chair.
Like, there are very comfortable bicycle seats, but bicycle seats have constraints that require them to be shaped a certain way; they're not optimized for comfort, they're optimized for riding bicycles. Same deal here.
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Comment on US landlords want to be paid for pandemic losses and hope to reach a deal with the Donald Trump administration in ~finance
papasquat Link Parent4% is generally not considered a great return on an investment. You could get that from a high yield savings account. Inflation alone was 2.6% last year. The s&p 500 gained 17% (an unusually good...4% is generally not considered a great return on an investment. You could get that from a high yield savings account. Inflation alone was 2.6% last year. The s&p 500 gained 17% (an unusually good year, but still, it averages around 10).
Most investments are also far more liquid than real estate.
People can obviously do better than 4% annual returns in real estate, and the average is higher, but not by much. I don't think the fact that people invest in real estate is really the root cause of why housing is expensive though. It's an attractive investment in some cases, but it's not like it's this amazing cheat code to free money, and renting isn't a bad idea or "throwing money away" like a lot of people say it is. You're paying money in exchange for a place to live ultimately. It's a service fee just like parking or a hair cut or renting a car. It can be something where you're taken advantage of, if can be something where you're getting an incredible deal, or it can be something mutually beneficial on both sides. It just depends on the specific situation.
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Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society
papasquat Link ParentDid they do that though? I think they pretty clearly indicate there's a difference between being transgressive for good reasons and for bad reasons. At the end of the day, transgression is a...When the NYT lumps fascist transgressions and progressive transgressions into the same group, they're creating a false equivalence.
Did they do that though? I think they pretty clearly indicate there's a difference between being transgressive for good reasons and for bad reasons.
At the end of the day, transgression is a neutral term. Its not necessarily good or bad. If you're transgressing against immoral norms, its good. If you're transgressing against moral ones, it's bad. It's transgression either way though.
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Comment on US landlords want to be paid for pandemic losses and hope to reach a deal with the Donald Trump administration in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentI mean, it depends on the rental I guess, but most of the rentals I've stayed at, the landlord did maintain more than they're legally mandated to, because they knew I wouldn't renew my lease if...I mean, it depends on the rental I guess, but most of the rentals I've stayed at, the landlord did maintain more than they're legally mandated to, because they knew I wouldn't renew my lease if they didn't.
I don't see how you can simplify the whole process of home maintenance either. I mean, yeah, I could hire a property manager for my own house, but I then have to oversee them. The fact that houses are expensive means I have to care quite a bit about how well that home maintenance is performed. It's the most expensive thing I own, after all.
Somehow turning houses into not investments doesn't change that. I'm liable for this extremely expensive thing that costs more than everything else I own put together. There's no getting around it being a long arduous process if I want to sell it, because I'm putting quite a bit of effort into making sure I get the best price for it. Even if I was guaranteed to not make a significant amount of money off of the sale, I'd still want to not get ripped off. All of that is even before financing is brought into the conversation, because the moment you involve a lender, any sale becomes a lot more complicated.
I don't have to deal with any of that with a rental. I just sign a lease and move in. If the housing market crashes, well, that sucks for my landlord, but it's not my problem. If a tree falls through the place and destroys it, hopefully I'm not in it, and it sucks for all my stuff, but I'm not on the hook for the damage.
I don't have to arrange for the grass to be mowed, the exterior to be pressur washed and painted, roof replacement, AC maintenance and inspection, sprinklers, mold, exterminators, and blah blah blah, all the other little annoying things that you need to do if you own a house. I just pay one person one sum once a month.
Honestly, residential real estate isn't even a particularly lucrative investment, so it's not like renters are missing out on a whole lot even from a pure financial standpoint.
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Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society
papasquat Link ParentI've never encountered a single person in my entire (real) life that used neopronouns. It's a phenomenon that's so vanishingly rare in the real world that it really isn't even worth considering....I've never encountered a single person in my entire (real) life that used neopronouns. It's a phenomenon that's so vanishingly rare in the real world that it really isn't even worth considering.
The other thing is that discussions around pronoun usage in general is usually theoretical. There's a practical reason for that.
In English, virtually the only time gendered pronouns are ever used is when talking about a person, not to them. Usually, when you talk about someone, that person isn't there, so they're not really in a position to be upset about your pronoun usage anyway.
If someone tells me their pronouns are xe/xey/xeyself, they're not going to be around when I use them. If I saw them, I'd say "hey what's up <xeyname>" or "how are you doing?". Because I don't go up to men and say "Hello, he!".
Because of that fact, all of these confrontations and arguments that people talk about are purely theoretical. They don't happen in real life, because that's just not how the English language works.
We waste a lot of energy talking about something that doesn't even really exist for the most part.
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Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society
papasquat Link ParentI don't think SJW culture has ever been nearly as powerful of a force as people had made it out to be. I've never put pronouns in my bio, nor felt pressure to. I've never been yelled at for...I don't think SJW culture has ever been nearly as powerful of a force as people had made it out to be.
I've never put pronouns in my bio, nor felt pressure to. I've never been yelled at for assuming someone's gender, even though I, just like everyone else in the world, do it constantly, every day every time I meet someone. I've never been labeled as "problematic" or anything like that, and I haven't really changed the way I act or anything, besides just growing up.
But like... You can, and always could say the word retard around your friends as long as you know them and know they're ok with it, and no one is going to yell at you.
You probably can't do it at your office job, but was there ever really a time where that was acceptable? It's just unprofessional, and has very little to do with wokeness.
I just think the whole thing is a very convinient boogeyman for conservatives, and if it wasnt that, it would be something else, so the idea that "if just we called people slurs, we'd win elections!" Doesn't hold.
They'd just move onto making compilations of trans rights supporters, or people who protest for social healthcare programs, or whatever the next culture war thing is decided to be.
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Comment on US landlords want to be paid for pandemic losses and hope to reach a deal with the Donald Trump administration in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentI don't know about that. Owning a home isn't even desirable for a lot of people. Personally, even though I own one now, there were times in my life where even though I could afford a down payment...Best thing we could do for this world is emminent domain all housing to the current residents and ban the entire practice.
I don't know about that. Owning a home isn't even desirable for a lot of people. Personally, even though I own one now, there were times in my life where even though I could afford a down payment on one, I didn't want to be tied to a massively expensive, illiquid asset that I have to spend a lot of time and money maintaining.
Most of the time I'd rather just outsource all of that that to someone else and rent, to be honest.
If I don't like the place I live, I could just decide not to renew my lease without all of the trouble of finding a buyer and going through the closing and negotiation process.
There are advantages to renting versus owning.
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Comment on Is British English actually better than American English? in ~humanities.languages
papasquat Link ParentI was hoping that someone wouldn't notice that flaw in my argument...I was hoping that someone wouldn't notice that flaw in my argument...
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Comment on The best climate news all year in ~enviro
papasquat Link ParentEh probably not. Most of the new solar installations are being built out because of new demand. If that demand wasn't there, it wouldn't have been built out nearly as quickly. We'd still get some...Eh probably not. Most of the new solar installations are being built out because of new demand. If that demand wasn't there, it wouldn't have been built out nearly as quickly. We'd still get some solar, but not as much as if there wasn't so much demand for more electricity.
Overall, we're still worse off, but it's not entirely a total negative. And the good news is if the ai bubble ever pops and the demand goes away, we'll have a bunch of new renewable capacity already built out, sort of like how we had oodles of dark fiber already in the ground ready to be lit in the early 2010s due to the over buildout from the dot com boom in the late 90s.
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Comment on For thirty years I programmed with Phish on, every day. In 2026, the music is out of phase with the work. in ~tech
papasquat LinkI'm going to leave the AI stuff aside, because I've talked to death about it, and I'm sure we all have, and I'm kind of tired of thinking and hearing about it. What's more interesting to me is...I'm going to leave the AI stuff aside, because I've talked to death about it, and I'm sure we all have, and I'm kind of tired of thinking and hearing about it.
What's more interesting to me is that to me, it doesn't seem like the author of this article's problem is actually AI related at all. His problem seems like his entire life is one dimensional.
I don't know if he was exaggerating for effect or what, but if the only thing you enjoy doing, and the only thing driving you is truly programming and listening to Phish, you're cheating yourslef out of life. Like... Badly.
Maybe the author is not neurotypical and doing other things is uncomfortable for him or something, but man... that was one of the most depressing descriptions of a life I've ever heard, and that's even before I got to the part where he had a problem.
I definitely understand being passionate about one thing (or two things I guess), but not when it's at the expense of everything else. Falling in love, caring for a pet, seeing other cultures, playing a sport, developing a new skill, tending a garden, and so on and so on. Life has an infinite amount of things to do, most people won't be into most of them, but that's okay. If you're not at least exposing yourself to some of them though, especially when you have the means to do so?
Man, that's just such a shame to just decide at 15 that you're only ever going to program and listen to Phish for the rest of your life.
Also, one half of his life has already been ruined by AI coding agents. What happens if Trey turns out to secretly be a Nazi or child molester or something? Is your entire life just effectively over?
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Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities
papasquat Link ParentIt seems to me that he's making a classic God of the gaps argument, but with more better education and more words. It still relies on the same logical fallacy though. The thing is that science...It seems to me that he's making a classic God of the gaps argument, but with more better education and more words.
It still relies on the same logical fallacy though.
The thing is that science never claimed to be able to explain everything.
It's a massive logical leap to go from "science can't explain everything" to "and thus God and his divine son, Jesus Christ are real and our Savior".
God doesn't need to exist for science to not explain, or not even be able to explain everything. It's entirely possible for some things to just be unknowable without a mystical being controlling the whole universe.
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Comment on Is British English actually better than American English? in ~humanities.languages
papasquat Link ParentWell, it's a much bigger country. I think long distance travel was probably more difficult for more of Britain's history than the US, but it would take about 15-20 days to walk from one end of...Well, it's a much bigger country. I think long distance travel was probably more difficult for more of Britain's history than the US, but it would take about 15-20 days to walk from one end of Britain to the other. It would take 6 months to do the same in the Continental US.
I think that likely contributed to the differences in geographic patterns of accents as well. An American from New York sounds extremely different than one from Alabama, but the NY and NJ accent are pretty much the same thing, and most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference between an Alabama and Mississippi accent.
In the UK, people from a county over can almost sound like they're speaking different languages.
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Comment on Is British English actually better than American English? in ~humanities.languages
papasquat Link ParentNone of those factors are necessarily desirable in a language though. In many cases, ambiguity is a feature, not a bug. For instance, when starting a romantic relationship, a lot of people will...None of those factors are necessarily desirable in a language though.
In many cases, ambiguity is a feature, not a bug. For instance, when starting a romantic relationship, a lot of people will say stuff like "oh we're just talking right now".
Talking could mean passing each other in the hallway and having a conversation every so often, going out for coffee a few times, going on regular dates, or just meeting up for sex. The ambiguity is the point, it's not undesirable.
There are countless examples of words and phrases that mean one thing if you're in the "in group", and mean something else entirely if you're not.
Those are very intentional characteristics that serve a specific function, they're not deficiencies with the language.
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Comment on Is British English actually better than American English? in ~humanities.languages
papasquat Link ParentI guess you could argue that neocolonialism is better than the kind of colonialism where guys in pith helmets chopped peoples hands off, but neither are really great. There's also the point that...the ones that lean toward American English adopted it more organically in response to American influence in commerce and entertainment.
I guess you could argue that neocolonialism is better than the kind of colonialism where guys in pith helmets chopped peoples hands off, but neither are really great.
There's also the point that most of the cultures that the US subjugated in our own form of regular, old school style colonialism are dead, or are relegated to reservations where they unsurprisingly mostly also speak American English.
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Comment on Is British English actually better than American English? in ~humanities.languages
papasquat LinkThis is one of the most subjective questions ever. You might as well ask what color is best. They're also extremely similar, they're the same language, just regional dialects. Americans have no...This is one of the most subjective questions ever.
You might as well ask what color is best.They're also extremely similar, they're the same language, just regional dialects. Americans have no trouble understanding standard RP English, and people from the UK have no issues understanding general American English.
There is much more variation in dialects within the US and UK than on average between them. As an American, I have a much easier time understanding someone speaking RP English than I do understand deep southern US accents.
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Comment on Apple set to become third-biggest laptop maker this year in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentTo be fair, most laptops from that era were easy to work on. Laptops from back then were more similar to desktops today. They used commodity hardware, standardized expansion slots, and accessible...To be fair, most laptops from that era were easy to work on. Laptops from back then were more similar to desktops today. They used commodity hardware, standardized expansion slots, and accessible cases. I upgraded many laptops by replacing their CPUs back then.
A laptop with a removable CPU is unheard of nowadays.
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Comment on What Google thinks you're worth in ~tech
papasquat LinkOne thing these ad profiles do that I absolutely hate (among the million other things I hate) are merging my personal and professional lives. I try to keep those separate as much as possible. I...One thing these ad profiles do that I absolutely hate (among the million other things I hate) are merging my personal and professional lives. I try to keep those separate as much as possible. I have different cell phones, different computers, different laptops, different logins for everything that do not cross between personal and work machines. I don't talk in detail about my work in personal contexts and vice versa.
Still, I get things like vendors calling my personal cell phone number trying to sell me things because of my position constantly. I've asked them where they got them, and I've gotten mostly lies like "linkedin" (I don't, and have never had any phone number on linked in, let alone my personal cell phone number).
I know they bought it from a data broker who aggregated it with my ad profile, so they very likely have a merged portfolio of the broad strokes of everything I've ever visited or searched for, in both professional and personal contexts. I can't stand that.
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Comment on USA to mandate surveillance tech for new cars also determing fitness to drive by 2027 in ~transport
papasquat Link ParentI think you may be trivializing how simple it is. I've used similar setups in the past, but its really a lot more fiddly than sitting down and pressing a button on a remote. For one thing,...I think you may be trivializing how simple it is. I've used similar setups in the past, but its really a lot more fiddly than sitting down and pressing a button on a remote.
For one thing, everyone that wants to use my tv now has to have an app installed on their phone or use mine.
Well, I did consider a lot of that. I considered whether "not playing games with me" was shorthand for "neglect" or "not respecting me as a person" or so on. I asked a lot for questions because I was trying to understand. By everything I can figure, that wasn't the case. His dad just wasn't into video games, he was into sports. He tried connecting with his son in other ways, but this guy really only had video games as his one and only interest.
I kind of saw this first hand with him another time, the one time he had a romantic relationship blooming. He ended up breaking up with her, and the one and only reason he cited was that she didn't want to play Mario kart with him. It was sort of a trend.
He just had this strange conception of parenthood, where parents just sort of exist to only support their kids interests and ambitions, and because of that, in his view, his father should have cultivated his own interest in video games in order to connect with his son.
I don't agree with that view at all, and view parents as their own people with their own priorities. Their kids should be very high on that list, but they shouldn't be the only thing on them.
Like you said, I always left the option that he just wasn't expressing how he felt about his dad to me very effectively on the table, but I was aware of that possibility at the time too, and spent a lot of time really trying to understand. That's still the impression I came away with though.