Damocles's recent activity
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Comment on Did you watch the State of the Union? Or the Democratic response? What did you think? in ~talk
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Comment on The Davos set are cosying up to the far right – and scared of the left in ~news
Damocles LinkThis is what always happens with some faction of large business when actual fascism begins to take hold. "Conservative" party financial policies are not popular on their own when explained to the...This is what always happens with some faction of large business when actual fascism begins to take hold.
"Conservative" party financial policies are not popular on their own when explained to the overwhelming majority of the public... and as wealth inequality rises in any given country, they only drop in popularity further as it does become increasingly difficult to sell the "it's raining" message as the proverbial "pissing on my leg" only increases in volume.
It's why as "conservative" parties lose popularity (again - during times of rapidly rising inequality), they typically ally themselves with some sort of "zealot-like" movement of some kind when trying to win over groups with non-financial policies (i.e. "single issue voters" - gun rights advocates, religious anti-abortion voters, etc.). If they continue to bleed support, they will seek out the support of more and more radical fringe groups in a desperate act to either gain or retain power.
This isn't theory. There is literally historical precedent to it.
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Comment on Did you watch the State of the Union? Or the Democratic response? What did you think? in ~talk
Damocles LinkTrump is a complete moron. Being able to read a script does not make him "presidential." He's locked up 5 year old children who are forced to show up to a court and have a judge try to explain to...Trump is a complete moron. Being able to read a script does not make him "presidential."
He's locked up 5 year old children who are forced to show up to a court and have a judge try to explain to them (without any lawyer) what is happening to them.
He's put in judges that perjure themselves during their hearings, including at least one that - on top of coming across as a villain in an 80s John Hughes film knock-off - has likely actually sexually assaulted at least one woman.
He ignores science, endangering us with asbestos and coal run-off dumping ban repeals, ignores climate change - even going so far as attempting to hide it by ordering the evidence of it removed from official government websites.
He makes fun of people constantly in such a way as to make Nelson from the Simpsons look downright Shakespearean - whether it be deceased war hero, women brave enough to come forward to stand up to their abusers, and even people with special needs.
He can't spell, is ignorant of current events, world history, basic math, and has the attention span of a goldfish.
No one here - all whom I would hope are at least capable of reading at a high-school level or knows what a "marginal tax rate" is - should waste their time defending or even trying to interpret his actions.
He's a narcissistic idiot. The best possible thing Trump can do for this country is act as a vaccination - a weakened virus exposing the country's cracks in its "immune system." If Trump's blunder-riddled presidency helps inoculate the US from actual fascism (as in where complete morons aren't in charge) and is followed by an FDR-like president being elected as a reaction, then he will have done exactly one single good act as president.
Don't waste time trying to find edible crumbs among a pile of dinosaur shit. If you want to talk politics, let's discuss policy, world events, humanitarian crises, and methods and exercises that those among the Tildes community might effectively yield to help bring about meaningful change.
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Comment on Your ideal smartphone in 2019? in ~tech
Damocles Link ParentMore hard-to-do but less flashy features that involve machine learning / AI / nearby-device cluster processing. I know there is some of this in the works, and Google seems to be doing the best job...More hard-to-do but less flashy features that involve machine learning / AI / nearby-device cluster processing. I know there is some of this in the works, and Google seems to be doing the best job tackling it, but I want more.
For example, I liked Google I/O's recent focus on the Google Assistant being able to make calls and appointments, and potentially screen calls. Having the on-board assistant actually do the sort of higher-level tasks an actual human assistant might do effectively seems like a really fantastic feature.
Perhaps machine-learning assisted tasks like audio quality cleanup / reconstruction on poorly captured phone voicemails, or motion blur reduction on photos that you took accidentally under low light while moving the device too much, etc.
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Comment on Your ideal smartphone in 2019? in ~tech
Damocles (edited )LinkSame as what OP posted, but I'd ask them to add a finger print sensor on the back, and add a few additional sensor types that have been talked about for years now, like a spectrometer and a...Same as what OP posted, but I'd ask them to add a finger print sensor on the back, and add a few additional sensor types that have been talked about for years now, like a spectrometer and a thermal imaging camera like someone else above said.
But honestly, I'd be happy even if we just got more actual new software improvements and innovations rather than just battery and time-wasting garbage "features" like a poop emoji that maps to a facial animation capture in real-time.
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Comment on How do you view your participation on the Internet? in ~tech
Damocles Link ParentThis is similar to the journey I undertook earlier this year. On an almost daily basis, I would spend hours throughout the day carefully researching responses to policy arguments, editing...This is similar to the journey I undertook earlier this year. On an almost daily basis, I would spend hours throughout the day carefully researching responses to policy arguments, editing paragraphs of text in spirited discussions between myself and civically engaged friends with different espoused views (those that could remain civil anyway throughout discussion) and NONE of it was fruitful.
Then one day I realized how pointless it was.
On the social media platform, I saw a relative of mine had recently shared a post. This relative is someone older, not especially bright, whom has spent most of their lives working for a hardware store chain. They vote a certain party reliably and as such - often share the sort of content you'd expect someone fitting this description would do... but on this day (and it wasn't even something political, really) they had shared this laughably simple VFX trick that supposedly showed "secret Chinese invisibility cloak technology" in action.I spent HOURS carefully crafting a response that was intended to inform the relative (taking note to attempt an explanation to give that would educate them about this technology without insulting them). I even made an animated GIF via screen-capture showing how I could do the same trick in basic free video software I had access to. I made reference to the Harry Potter movies that used this same trick to make characters seem as though they could become invisible...
...And after all that - the relative responded with something along the lines of "well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."
And, as I said - I realized how utterly depressing, fruitless, and frustrating staying on this platform (whose algorithm seemed to persist on continuing to surface these sorts of interactions) had become. So with that being a "last straw" of sorts, I decided it would be best if I distanced myself from such platforms...
However, I would like to make one alternate suggestion as to what you do next - based off the one thing different I did after deciding to pull away from platforms that elevate and draw attention to undeserving trite matters.
Don't argue with friends / family that are unreachable - instead find those who don't vote that you know are more sympathetic, even if just in casual conversation, toward your own views and in the idea of critical thinking in general... and help register them to vote.
I've done so with at least 4 other more sensible friends who I noticed complained of the state of things like I found myself doing sometimes, but whom were not registered to vote. Now they are registered, and I will be reminding them in future elections the way they can help change things... and hopefully they will do more to help us change things in a meaningful and positive way that endlessly arguing with wing-nuts most certainly did not.
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Comment on US Senator Ben Sasse (r) on #MeToo, judicial nominations, and bad faith political arguments in ~society
Damocles Link ParentAside from all the allegations of impropriety with multiple women in his past, in the very least, Kavanaugh has knowingly lied about terms such as "boof" and "devil's triangle" and "ralph club"...Aside from all the allegations of impropriety with multiple women in his past, in the very least, Kavanaugh has knowingly lied about terms such as "boof" and "devil's triangle" and "ralph club" and more - which he himself wrote down in his own yearbook - in some weirdly misguided attempt to... I don't know... appear less like the womanizing, alcoholic, belligerent parody of a National Lampoon knock-off 80s teen comedy movie character straight out of something like Hot Dog : The Movie that Brett (or Bart, if you prefer) Kavanaugh seems more and more likely to have been - at least in his years of high school and college.
I mean, I don't think it has bearing directly (though it does paint a vivid picture indirectly) with the Ford allegations, but it is a nightmare optics-wise. So, why would Kavanaugh lie about those terms when asked under oath by various Senators? Kavanaugh perjured himself. That alone is enough to not only disqualify him, but to disbar and imprison him.
Defending Kavanaugh is a non-starter. There's plenty he's done outside of the worst of what he might have done that should otherwise damn his career and now result in felony charges - were we not a nation now run by hypocritical despotic oligarchs whose mouthpieces constantly pander to bigots, Dominionists, and fearful willfully ignorant single-issue voters.
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Comment on 'Siri, I'm getting pulled over': A new shortcut for iPhones can automatically record the police in ~tech
Damocles LinkOne issue I see with this is that it's not an auto-archived live-stream. Requiring it to send at the end of the video recording to a single person rather than live-streaming it to some potential...One issue I see with this is that it's not an auto-archived live-stream. Requiring it to send at the end of the video recording to a single person rather than live-streaming it to some potential crowd on social media so that nothing can stop the video from going out and being seen by others is less-than-optimal.
Assuming the officer gets angry that you're recording them, they might take your phone away and attempt to keep it from uploading. Live-streaming plus auto-archive = you at least have evidence up to the point they forced you to shut it off no matter what the outcome is.
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Comment on Tucker Carlson earns endorsement from white nationalist Richard Spencer in ~tv
Damocles Link ParentThe deck is always stacked against those who hold themselves to ethical principles when their reactionary opponents display actions and words that clearly show that they don't have any to begin...The deck is always stacked against those who hold themselves to ethical principles when their reactionary opponents display actions and words that clearly show that they don't have any to begin with.
It's why I am afraid that (although going high is to be recognized, admired, encouraged, and if possible rewarded) when one is not just playing against an opponent who both does not care about the appearance of going low, but also is an opponent that controls the referees and the rules - ground can only be held at best, and is often instead lost.
No. I will admit that I never have watched any State of the Union - at least not in full, but I especially would never watch a Trump SOTU. As dated and functionally useless as a traditional SOTU has been, a Trump SOTU is basically a scripted toned-down version of one of his stupid campaign rallies.
I'd rather not submit myself to such self-flagellation in the same way I wouldn't want to watch an entire speech by one of the Kims, Duterte, Bolsanaro, Mao, Maduro, Stalin, or Hitler.
IF there was anything of note, I'm sure it will make headlines. Then I can decide for myself if even that is worthy of any merit.
i.e. - "Trump calls for unity!"
Me: "No he doesn't. He calls for fealty. Not interested in what farce he has to bloviate upon on the subject of supposed unity he desires."
...Conversely...
"Trump declares Congress invalid during State of the Union. Orders capitol police to immediately arrest and imprison / execute all members of the Democratic party in branches of the Legislative arm of the federal government."
Me: "JESUS CHRIST! SHIT SHIT SHIT!"
Begins packing bags and searching for jobs in New Zealand to emigrate and avoid results of a second US Civil War in the age of thermonuclear weapons making the entire Northern hemisphere of the Earth completely uninhabitable.