Camus's recent activity
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Comment on What are your favorite webcomics? in ~comics
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Comment on Are we in "late stage" capitalism? What's next? in ~talk
Camus Link ParentThis is extremely interesting, thank you for sharing it. It relates to something I've thought a few times, and was wondering your take on: Would you say that in some ways, capitalism and the...This is extremely interesting, thank you for sharing it. It relates to something I've thought a few times, and was wondering your take on:
Would you say that in some ways, capitalism and the economic sector of our society can be considered almost analogous to an autonomous living being in their own right? That we could be considered the cells of a larger organism that is global society and/or capitalism?
It's always struck me that in many ways, capitalism (or at least the systems that embody it) seems to be self-perpetuating, self-regulating, and evolves over time, very similarly to how we would define a living being, just in a different scale and context. I have no idea how scientifically valid that idea is, but I always like to ask people who know more than me about it.
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Comment on Astana - Favorite Daughter (2022) in ~music
Camus LinkOkay okay, just to get it out of the way, this music video is NSFW for nudity (and also some guy/imp getting his skin ripped off I suppose), if that's not allowed on tildes feel free to delete, I...Okay okay, just to get it out of the way, this music video is NSFW for nudity (and also some guy/imp getting his skin ripped off I suppose), if that's not allowed on tildes feel free to delete, I found it relatively artful nudity though, and it's clearly done in search of a vibe rather than to titillate.
That said, my GOD this video is gorgeous, hands down the best pixel animation I've ever seen. And the music almost seems to have been created FOR the video, since I swear I've seen this animation previously but with much less fitting music. I just had to share it somewhere so others can experience it.
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Astana - Favorite Daughter (2022)
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Comment on What's the most unexpected thing you've stumbled upon on the internet? in ~tech
Camus Link ParentInsane Schizoposting might be my favorite genre of website. It's honestly really interesting to get such a personal and specific look at the worldview of someone who has lost touch with reality....Insane Schizoposting might be my favorite genre of website. It's honestly really interesting to get such a personal and specific look at the worldview of someone who has lost touch with reality. Feels like the closest you could get to peering into another person's mind as well, because of the complete lack of filter.
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Comment on Reddit CEO pledges to not force subreddits to reopen. Admin team then immediately threatens moderators who closed their subreddits with removal. in ~tech
Camus (edited )Link ParentNo no, you don't understand, it isn't about value for the USER, it's about value to the SHAREHOLDERs. What, you thought execs still cared about user experience in 2023? This is entirely about...No no, you don't understand, it isn't about value for the USER, it's about value to the SHAREHOLDERs.
What, you thought execs still cared about user experience in 2023?
This is entirely about their bottom line. CEOs and MBAs view any user that isn't 100% monetized as a leech, and that includes users of 3rd party apps. And they don't consider the contributions that 3rd party app users make to the community, because all they care about is the missing ad revenue, because they're only capable of comprehending the world in terms of dollars.
Which, from a business perspective, makes sense.... until you think literally any deeper than surface level and realize that Reddit's greatest asset is it's strong, self moderating, self stimulating community. And a large chunk of that community uses Old.reddit or 3rd party apps, both of which I imagine the execs don't like, because they want everyone to be on their new, shiny, TOTALLY BETTER app that just so happens to be showing you tons and tons more ads than the old design or the 3rd party apps. And because it's more profitable, to them, it IS a better app. But to the rest of us, the user experience is markedly worse, and they'll never understand why because they simply don't care.
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Comment on Bickle - Big Blues (2023) in ~music
Camus LinkThis guy's voice is absolutely beautiful, and the vibes of his music aren't much different. He's definitely going places, but his stuff is pretty underappreciated right now, I hope to see his...This guy's voice is absolutely beautiful, and the vibes of his music aren't much different. He's definitely going places, but his stuff is pretty underappreciated right now, I hope to see his music get some more recognition soon.
This is part of a whole album on spotify, I recommend giving it a listen, I liked a few other songs in it:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3gRttldMpmma0VSITkMScY
And another great song with him and... I think another artist? The names confuse me haha.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1MinL4bTA7HwgEOMZBLPue -
Bickle - Big Blues (2023)
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Comment on How do you manage your finances? in ~finance
Camus Link ParentDave Ramsey had a big effect on me as well, I watched his series as a teen and some parts of it really sunk in (avoid debt, keep an emergency fund) while other lessons proved to be harder to live...Dave Ramsey had a big effect on me as well, I watched his series as a teen and some parts of it really sunk in (avoid debt, keep an emergency fund) while other lessons proved to be harder to live up to (build your credit, keeping a budget). I think some of his lessons are a bit heavy handed. For instance, because of how much he emphasizes avoiding debt, I think it's kind of mentally blocked me from being comfortable with taking out lines of credit (because my brain associates that with debt, which it thinks is REALLY BAD). His lessons could use a little nuance I think, explaining a bit more about how everyone's situation is different and will require slightly different execution than what he recommends.
YNAB (You Need a Budget) is a great budgeting tool if you haven't seen it, though you probably have I imagine. It's the only budgeting software that my ADHD-riddled brain can keep track of, although I don't use it currently. But it links directly from your bank accounts and can collect transactions from them for you to label and sort into categories that you can specify monthly budgets for. Really nice piece of software.
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Comment on How do you manage your finances? in ~finance
Camus (edited )LinkQuite frankly, I manage my finances pretty badly from the perspective of an accountant and people probably shouldn't follow my lead, but maybe you can glean some lessons from my approach, as it's...Quite frankly, I manage my finances pretty badly from the perspective of an accountant and people probably shouldn't follow my lead, but maybe you can glean some lessons from my approach, as it's the only thing that works for me. I don't do well with keeping a budget or trying to keep receipts, so I tend to go for more of a hierarchical approach, where I get the important stuff out of the way first, and the money trickles down to the less critical stuff from there.
My general overall philosophy to money is thus:
First, Live
Then, Save
Then, EnjoyWhich means that, when you first start making money, focus on buying and paying for things that will stabilize and improve your quality of life. A decent apartment with good amenities, good cookware, clothes, bedding, etc. Stuff that will make life easier for you and give you the ability to more easily make money and do your thing.
Then, save up an emergency fund (the usual target I hear is 3-6 months worth of essential expenses, which for me is around $5-10K) so that if you ever fall on hard times, you won't immediately be put back at square 1. This is extremely important for me personally because I am the most nervous of nellies so it really helps my peace of mind to know that at any moment, my entire life could fall apart, and I wouldn't have to actually DEAL with it for quite a while, I'd be safe.
Now, this is also where stuff like contributing to retirement savings can come in right after the emergency fund but before 'fun money', but I find that those types of savings are more based on someone's specific situation and plan, so it's kind of up to the individual what you do there. I generally try to max out my Roth IRA every year and chuck some money in a mutual fund when I feel like it, but I could probably be a lot more deliberate with my savings.
Then, once you have everything you feel you need, and a good safety net, then you get to really enjoy yourself as an adult and spend your remaining cash on whatever the heck you want. Vacations, nice meals, parties, concerts, toys, games, etc. That's when you really get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Thankfully, I make enough money and my expenses are cheap enough that I could spend over half my paycheck on enjoying myself. And some months I do, but I live a pretty minimalist lifestyle, so on a lot of months, I don't end up spending my entire paycheck, and I just put all the rest of it into savings/investments. Which tends to keep the numbers going up, which also makes me feel good :) Lately I've also been trying to do nice things for the people in my life for whom money is tighter, kind of spread it around a little.
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Comment on AlbumLove recommendations thread: June 2023 in ~music
Camus LinkI have a special place in my heart for an album I'm pretty sure almost nobody else cares about. I found it on spotify by random chance through their discovery feature, it has barely 2K plays, and...I have a special place in my heart for an album I'm pretty sure almost nobody else cares about.
I found it on spotify by random chance through their discovery feature, it has barely 2K plays, and there's just something about it that brings back intense feelings of nostalgia and wistfulness for me, probably because it liberally uses samples and video game sound effects (mostly halo 2/3) from right around the era I was growing up, but also just because the music itself has this super... ethereal quality to it, hard to put to words. It's electronic, sorta kinda breakbeat and sorta kinda it's own thing, but very internet-core. There's something so incredibly chill about it to me, it might be in my top 5 albums of all time despite having basically 0 notoriety.
The album is we all sleep - xainjaya
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1sFt2wkw87I4wpFObX0Ai7
Bandcamp: https://xainjaya.bandcamp.com/album/we-all-sleepAs a side note, the artist who made it has kind of left this style behind and now does painfully bad mumble rap over his (still pretty amazing) synth tracks. I kind of want to write to him telling him to stop, but I figure that's pretty mean and entitled haha. But he really just doesn't have the voice for it...
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Comment on AlbumLove recommendations thread: June 2023 in ~music
Camus Link ParentMan, this brings back memories for me as well. This era was when I was really starting to get in to music other than what played on the radio for the first time, and I went DEEP into the youtube...Man, this brings back memories for me as well. This era was when I was really starting to get in to music other than what played on the radio for the first time, and I went DEEP into the youtube dubstep/house/electro boom that was happening at the time. That, and rap metal, which was also going strong. Some of the stuff I listened to at the time would make me roll my eyes pretty hard these days, but some of it really holds up, this album included for sure.
Another fantastic artist from that era that held up perfectly was Pendulum, I still listen to Hold Your Colour, Immersion, and In Silico on a regular basis to this day.
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
Camus LinkDenzel Curry did a live set of his latest album at Electric Lady in NYC with the same jazz band he did his TinyDesk concert with. I'm absolutely loving it. Spotify Youtube -
Comment on Grim Salvo - Walt Disney Wormdog (2022) in ~music
Camus LinkThis song really slaps, the album it's on has a really great blend of emo/metal and hiphop/rap. Found here on Spotify. As a side note, the video is really interesting too, and fits the vibe of the...This song really slaps, the album it's on has a really great blend of emo/metal and hiphop/rap. Found here on Spotify.
As a side note, the video is really interesting too, and fits the vibe of the music pretty perfectly. However, I had never watched the stop-motion movie it's from (Mad God), so I did that after seeing this video and, uh, WOW. That was.... unique. I almost want to go to ~movies and make a post about it, because I just have way too many things to say. It's incredibly gory and horrific, and probably one of the bleakest films ever made, fair warning to anyone else who might want to watch it, but as an art film and animation it's insanely impressive.
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Grim Salvo - Walt Disney Wormdog (2022)
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Comment on Vice, decayed digital colossus, files for bankruptcy in ~news
Camus Link ParentFrom what I understand, it mainly boils down to one of two camps. Generally, almost everyone agrees that they used to do good reporting, and many people agree that they still do SOME good...- Exemplary
From what I understand, it mainly boils down to one of two camps. Generally, almost everyone agrees that they used to do good reporting, and many people agree that they still do SOME good reporting, but there are two groups of complaints about the rest of their output:
-One is that their new content is too content-farmy and clickbaity. I personally would agree with this and find it hard to argue against if you just look at their homepage. However, this is basically the same exact thing that EVERY news homepage has done, and also, if you just watch their youtube channel or read the magazine or whatever, there is very little fluff there, it's only on their online print media, which is nearly a dead art form at this point anyways.
-The other, which seems to be the more prevalent one among people who loudly decry that "Vice used to be good, now it's shit" is that the magazine has now, and has always had, an anti-establishment, leftist slant to it. Now, back in the early 2000s, this mostly manifested as them being pretty edgy and reporting on crazy, little known things that would make your mother clutch her pearls, which I think these people agreed with and liked.
Nowadays that type of thing has fallen out of favor in leftist circles though, and the focus is more on social issues like gender and race. Vice does a lot of (In my opinion) very balanced (but still from a leftist perspective) reporting on gender and race issues, especially those in the US. A lot of these videos heavily feature trans, non-binary, or minority peoples with very anti-establishment opinions and appearances (dyed hair, piercings, etc). And as you can imagine, without opening up that whole discussion, this rubs some people the wrong way. As I said, this seems to be the thing that most people who point to Vice's downfall are trying to refer to, especially if they seem slippery and avoidant about actually saying it out loud.
Personally, I think you can dislike the subject matter if you want, but I find that all of their video reporting has maintained a very consistent (even rising) level of quality over the past decade. Their print media is definitely a clickbait farm at least partially, but there is still definitely a core of very talented and passionate journalists there, who do some really important and informative reporting, which is why I still follow them.
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Comment on Vice, decayed digital colossus, files for bankruptcy in ~news
Camus Link ParentThey still occasionally do really interesting and wild pieces like they did in the old days, but yeah, I think they exhausted their backlog of them and there simply aren't that many NEW things...They still occasionally do really interesting and wild pieces like they did in the old days, but yeah, I think they exhausted their backlog of them and there simply aren't that many NEW things like that to cover.
The real issue I think though was that they took a bunch of money from investors and tried to grow way too big and fast. If they had stayed a bit smaller and more self contained, they probably would have been fine, but investors demand infinite growth and when your business model is covering weird niches there isn't really a lot of opportunity for growth in that sector, so they had to branch out to a million other, less successful things.
I hate when a cool, specific piece of media blows up and suddenly they always HAVE to become some kind of giant all-encompassing media empire. CEOs never seem to be satisfied with simple, clean success, they always need like... world domination or something.
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Comment on Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - May 11 in ~news
Camus Link ParentI think this is absolutely the case. It remains to be seen however whether they are going to be able to leverage that successfully into a fixing operation (force Russia to expend troops to keep...I think this is absolutely the case. It remains to be seen however whether they are going to be able to leverage that successfully into a fixing operation (force Russia to expend troops to keep Bakhmut while the main force of the offensive attacks elsewhere) or if they plan to literally just counter attack at Bakhmut, which honestly given the state of infighting in the Russian military apparatus near Bakhmut right now, and the massive amount of fortifications Russia has built near the Zaporizhzhia axis which is arguably the most 'traditionally' effective place to attack, might not even be the worst option. Although it does seem a bit headstrong or reckless.
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
Camus Link ParentSame here, LOVE Kenny Segal, especially when he collabs with Billy Woods, this album is fantasticSame here, LOVE Kenny Segal, especially when he collabs with Billy Woods, this album is fantastic
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
Camus LinkGargoyle - Uteye Nice beat with some good synths always does the trick. Medasin - Friends Love the wistful leads on this one. dialE - AOT Delightfully Groovy Javier Santiago, Danielle Wertz -...Gargoyle - Uteye
Nice beat with some good synths always does the trick.
Medasin - Friends
Love the wistful leads on this one.
dialE - AOT
Delightfully Groovy
Javier Santiago, Danielle Wertz - Gaia's Warning
Love the vocals on this one, super ethereal.
Fat Tony, Blockhead - I'm Thinking 'Bout Moving
I love this one because I've been in this situation, I think a lot of us have, being in a shitty place with shitty roommates but not wanting to move cause it's easy, then finally getting out in your own place and being relieved. Love songs like this, they're like the equivalent of a TV bottle episode and I'm all for it.
This one is a must read, it's extremely eye opening and really shows how fucked you are in the US if nobody is looking out for your wellbeing as a minor. Institutions can basically do whatever they want to children as long as the parents approve it. And the authorities don't want to investigate claims of abuse made by 'troubled youths' since the optics are bad no matter which way it ends up, so they just ignore it. (Or worse, are bribed to ignore it, in the case of the school in the comic)