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    1. In my opinion, censorship is a bad way to combat hate speech.

      (Let me make this clear before you continue reading, I don't know any good solutions) Recently, all over the internet, I feel like I am seeing more and more companies filtering out content that...

      (Let me make this clear before you continue reading, I don't know any good solutions)

      Recently, all over the internet, I feel like I am seeing more and more companies filtering out content that are considered hate speech. I personally do not like this for two reasons.

      1. I think it is a band-aid solution. People who have their voice taken away from themselves are not suddenly going to change their mind.
      2. In a way, it is a form of removing freedom of speech. Now, I understand that a lot of the companies that are censoring hate speech are doing it primarily for the sake of sponsors, but I mean this in a more broad scope.
      3. It is effectively hiding societal problems.

      I think one argument for the increased censorship is: even if it doesn't combat hate speech, it stops the spreading of hate speech. By spreading, I mean more people believing that hate speech. Though at first this could be a good idea, I think it is the wrong way to go about it. I really don't know what exactly is the right way to deal with this issue. Maybe more inclusion of different communities? Maybe education? Learn how to think critically?

      Here are a couple other things I have been thinking about, but I am not too sure about. I do not know if they are true or not, but if any of you could provide more insight, I would like to know more:

      1. Hate speech is actually lower than ever. The reason why some people feel like it is higher is because the hate speech is entering to people's bubbles through the internet. Before the internet, there was still that kind of talk, it was just in a different medium.
      2. Though not hate speech, but in a way related, with Anti-vax, the people who are most susceptible to converting to an anti-vaxxer, are parents. A lot of times these are the people who didn't grow up with the internet, the way they view the internet is not exactly how younger people view the internet. There is more doubt in what we see online between younger people than older.

      And I have had people say I must be a white upper class person to have these kinds of opinions. No. I am not white. Not upper class. I have dealt with racism in one way or another for all of my childhood, less so as an adult.

      28 votes
    2. Social media is the death of love: a GoT introspective

      So, in a nutshell, the writing quality and character development declined a lot in the last season ... except I mostly didn't notice (or mind), until I started reading online about how much - and...

      So, in a nutshell, the writing quality and character development declined a lot in the last season ... except I mostly didn't notice (or mind), until I started reading online about how much - and why - everyone else hated the last season.

      I got as far as S08 Ep03 (the White Walker battle) without reading any online commentary, critiques, etc. On my own, I did feel some characters' activities/behaviors were a bit 'off', but I still loved the episode overall (except literally too dark, hard to see some scenes).

      Then a friend commented on some disappointing thing in the episode, and how 'everyone' was bitching about it. I started reading online ... and that's when I started seeing the flaws in the last season.

      Granted, even if I had stayed offline, just watched it myself, there probably still would have been things that pissed me off ... Euron's magical dragon ambush, the whole Missandei capture/murder thing, and Dany embracing the Dark Side. I can't imagine I would have overlooked those.

      But, by reading everyone else's gripes online, watching bitter youtube reviews, etc., the last 3 episodes sucked a lot more for me, because I saw all the flaws, many of which I would have missed.

      So, to sum up, I blame all y'all for ruining GoT for me.

      Thoughts?

      23 votes
    3. What are some of the smaller communities that you enjoy?

      Heya! The question is rather straightforward. Even though I said smaller, size doesn't really matter for this - the focus is more on the community aspect rather than it being small. Here's my...

      Heya!

      The question is rather straightforward. Even though I said smaller, size doesn't really matter for this - the focus is more on the community aspect rather than it being small. Here's my non-exhaustive list (in no particular order):

      1. Tildes - This is unsurprising. It's definitely large for a "small" community, but it's managed to preserve it's culture very well, which is rather impressive. It's cozy and has high quality discussion.
      2. Various Discord servers and IRC channels. This one is harder to pinpoint, to be honest. As far as IRC channels/Discord servers goes, some of the more niche gaming ones are probably some of the nicest environments. IRC-wise, I really haven't managed to find any particularly active ones, outside of the ones for the next list member...
      3. tilde.town and probably the larger tildeverse. Not affiliated with Tildes, but generally just... a nice place to be. It's rather quiet a lot of the time, but their main IRC channel is, frankly, quite great. When it's active.
      4. A lot of Mastodon instances, although of course not all. The fediverse is generally a nice place to be, although politics on there is kind of mushy and one sided. Genuine interactions on there, however, are extremely common and sorting by the global timeline is quite nice (most of the time.)
      5. rateyourmusic is a nice community of those who are passionate about music. It's quite nice overall, though.

      There's definitely a lot I've missed out, mainly because I probably don't know about them.

      So, what are some of the smaller (or not) communities that you enjoy?

      20 votes
    4. What have you been listening to this week?

      @Whom asked me to cover this post for today. What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just...

      @Whom asked me to cover this post for today.

      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)

      Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

      You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

      http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

      Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

      13 votes
    5. This week's album and EP releases

      Here's a list of a things that came out in this past week, up through Friday. Of course, there's no way to be completely comprehensive with this and I avoided including things where information...

      Here's a list of a things that came out in this past week, up through Friday. Of course, there's no way to be completely comprehensive with this and I avoided including things where information was too lacking, so feel free to mention anything that isn't on here that you think is worth mentioning. Beyond that, if you have any thoughts of any of these albums, it would be great to hear them :)

      Artist Title Genre(s) Song Links
      Amyl and The Sniffers Amyl and The Sniffers Garage Punk, Punk Rock Song.link
      Andreya Triana Life in Colour Neo-Soul Song.link
      BAYNK Someone's II Indietronica Song.link
      Beast Coast Escape From New York Hardcore Hip Hop Song.link
      Black Mountain Destroyer Psychedelic Rock Song.link
      Blu & Exile True & Livin West Coast Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop Song.link
      Budokan Boys Dad Is Bad Experimental Song.link
      Cate Le Bon Reward Art Pop, Neo-Psychedelia Song.link
      Cold Showers Motionless Post-Punk Song.link
      Collie Buddz Hybrid Dancehall Song.link
      Deathspell Omega The Furnaces of Palingenesia Black Metal Song.link
      Dounia Not Good for the Ego EP Alternative R&B Song.link
      Duncan Lloyd (of Maxïmo Park) Outside Notion Lo-Fi Indie, Indie Pop Song.link
      Earth Full Upon Her Burning Lips Psychedelic Rock, Drone Song.link
      Faye Webster Atlanta Millionaires Club Alt-Country, Country Soul Song.link
      Fleshgod Apocalypse Veleno Symphonic Metal, Death Metal Song.link
      Flying Lotus Flamagra Nu Jazz, Glitch Hop Song.link
      GOT7 Spinning Top: Between Security and Insecurity K-Pop Song.link
      Guards Modern Hymns Indie Pop Song.link
      Hayden Thorpe (of Wild Beasts) Diviner Art Pop, Ambient Pop Song.link
      Honeyblood In Plain Sight Indie Rock, Indie Pop Song.link
      IRAH Diamond Grid Dream Pop, Trip Hop Song.link
      ISA Debut Album Pop Song.link
      J-E-T-S ZOOSPA Wonky, UK Bass Song.link
      Justin Townes Earle The Saint of Lost Causes Singer/Songwriter, Americana, Blues Song.link
      Kim Jae Hwan Another EP K-Pop Song.link
      Lovelyz Once Upon A Time EP K-Pop Song.link
      Luke Sanger Ancient Pathways Electronic Song.link
      Mavis Staples We Get By Southern Soul, Deep Soul Song.link - Spotify
      Middle Kids New Songs For Old Problems EP Indie Rock, Noise Pop Song.link
      Montana of 300 Views From The Generals Helmet Drill, Pop Rap Song.link
      Morrissey California Son Chamber Pop, Art Pop Song.link
      NCT 127 We Are Superhuman K-Pop, Dance-Pop Song.link
      Octave One Locus Of Control EP Detroit Techno Song.link
      Orla Gartland Why Am I Like This? EP Indie Folk, Folk Pop ​​ Song.link
      Petrol Girls Cut & Stitch Riot Grrrl, Post-Hardcore Song.link
      Pronoun I’ll Show You Stronger Indie Pop, Indie Rock Song.link
      Ramin Djawadi Game of Thrones: Season 8 (Music from the HBO Series) Orchestral Song.link
      Sebadoh Act Surprised Indie Rock Song.link
      Shay Lia Dangerous Contemporary R&B Song.link
      Steve Lacy Apollo XXI Neo Soul Song.link
      Steve Marino Fluff Indie Folk Song.link
      Sting My Songs Pop Rock Song.link
      Stray Cats 40 Rockabilly Song.link
      Swimming Tapes Morningside Indie Pop, Jangle Pop Song.link
      The 1975 Notes on a Conditional Form Art Pop Official
      The Aggrolites Reggae Now! Skinhead Reggae Song.link
      The Amazons Future Dust Indie Rock, Alternative Rock Song.link
      The Lonely Island The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience Comedy Rap Netflix - Spotify
      The Waterboys Where The Action Is Heartland Rock, Pop Rock Song.link
      Thompson Egbo-Egbo The Offering Jazz Song.link
      Toebow Themes Indie Pop, Psychedelic Pop Song.link
      Trudy And The Romance Sandman Indie Pop Song.link
      YG 4REAL 4REAL Trap Rap Song.link
      whenyoung Reasons To Dream Indie Pop Song.link

      Notes:
      The Waterboys - Where The Action Is || Deluxe album linked
      Sting - My Songs || Deluxe album linked
      Octave One - Locus Of Control || song.link says single, but it's EP
      Mavis Staples - We Get By || song.link spotify link is to single... linked spotify to album too
      Fleshgod Apocalypse - Veleno || Deluxe album linked
      The 1975 - Notes on a Conditional Form || No song.link... official site instead
      YG - 4REAL 4REAL || No "parental advisory" version linked... so NSFW
      The Lonely Island - The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience || no song.link, spotify and netflix instead

      Thanks @Cleb and @cfabbro for the help this week!

      10 votes
    6. Seeking recommendations for infosec podcasts

      I have been listening to "Darknet Diaries" and it's a great podcast, but I am looking for more. Maybe more technical. Does anyone have any good recommendations? Thanks! Edit: if you are like me,...

      I have been listening to "Darknet Diaries" and it's a great podcast, but I am looking for more. Maybe more technical.

      Does anyone have any good recommendations? Thanks!

      Edit: if you are like me, and learning about this stuff, here is an interesting and hilarious episode of mini-stories from Darknet Diaries: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/22/

      8 votes
    7. How does technology improve your quality of life? In what ways does it detract from it?

      I think it's safe to say that, in our modern world, everyone has an individual and complex relationship with technology. We're all experiencing the growing pains of uncharted territory, as...

      I think it's safe to say that, in our modern world, everyone has an individual and complex relationship with technology. We're all experiencing the growing pains of uncharted territory, as computers, phones, and the internet continually revolutionize experiences from the everyday to the extraordinary. Unfortunately, it can often feel like every step forward also brings regressions, and what's good for some is not always good for others.

      I'm interested in hearing about the ways that technology works for you in your life, both the good and the bad. Some guiding questions:

      • What's better in your life because of technology? What is worse?
      • How does it impact your career, hobbies, and interpersonal relationships?
      • Are there tradeoffs you have to make for incorporating or ignoring tech for certain tasks or aspects?
      • Are there areas in which you hope for the increased presence of technology?
      • Are there areas where you actively keep tech out?
      • Do you think that the problems created for us by technology are design flaws in the tech itself, or are they merely a mirror for pre-existing issues at the human level?

      I know "technology" as a term is very broad, but I've intentionally left it that way because I want people to self-select the things most important to them, whether that's their computer, the internet, a phone, an online platform, an assistive tech device, etc. Also, don't feel obligated to list out every piece of tech, as it's gotten so prevalent to be almost omnipresent. Instead, just focus on the things that have a significant impact on your day to day life.

      22 votes
    8. Programming Challenge: Text compression

      In an effort to make these weekly, I present a new programming challenge. The challenge this week is to compress some text using a prefix code. Prefix codes associate each letter with a given bit...

      In an effort to make these weekly, I present a new programming challenge.

      The challenge this week is to compress some text using a prefix code. Prefix codes associate each letter with a given bit string, such that no encoded bitstring is the prefix of any other. These bit strings are then concatenated into one long integer which is separated into bytes for ease of reading. These bytes can be represented as hex values as well. The provided prefix encoding is as follows:

      char value char value
      ' ' 11 'e' 101
      't' 1001 'o' 10001
      'n' 10000 'a' 011
      's' 0101 'i' 01001
      'r' 01000 'h' 0011
      'd' 00101 'l' 001001
      '~' 001000 'u' 00011
      'c' 000101 'f' 000100
      'm' 000011 'p' 0000101
      'g' 0000100 'w' 0000011
      'b' 0000010 'y' 0000001
      'v' 00000001 'j' 000000001
      'k' 0000000001 'x' 00000000001
      'q' 000000000001 'z' 000000000000

      Challenge

      Your program should accept a lowercase string (including the ~ character), and should output the formatted compressed bit string in binary and hex. Your final byte should be 0 padded so that it has 8 bits as required. For your convenience, here is the above table in a text file for easy read-in.

      Example

      Here is an example:

      $> tildes ~comp
      10010100 10010010 01011010 10111001 00000010 11000100 00110000 10100000
      94 92 5A B9 02 C4 30 A0
      

      Bonuses

      1. Print the data compression ratio for a given compression, assuming the original input was encoded in 8 bit ASCII (one byte per character).
        2. Output the ASCII string corresponding to the encoded byte string in addition to the above outputs.
      2. @onyxleopard points out that many bytes won't actually be valid ASCII. Instead, do as they suggested and treat each byte as an ordinal value and print it as if encoded as UTF-8.
      3. An input prefixed by 'D' should be interpreted as an already compressed string using this encoding, and should be decompressed (by inverting the above procedure).

      Previous Challenges (I am aware of prior existing ones, but it is hard to collect them as they were irregular. Thus I list last week's challenge as 'Week 1')
      Week 1

      13 votes