DingusMaximus's recent activity

  1. Comment on I've added ~society for topics related to politics, law, policies, and similar societal-level subjects in ~tildes.official

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    Yeah, it's pretty rad. I wish more sites had something like it. Should've added fwiw I'm pretty much the same way, so I totally get where you're coming from.

    Yeah, it's pretty rad. I wish more sites had something like it. Should've added fwiw I'm pretty much the same way, so I totally get where you're coming from.

    9 votes

  2. Comment on I've added ~society for topics related to politics, law, policies, and similar societal-level subjects in ~tildes.official

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    When you have filters in place, at the very top of your feed, before any posts, there's a link that says view unfiltered list. It's great. I filter all kinds of stuff that I'm just not interested...
    • Exemplary

    When you have filters in place, at the very top of your feed, before any posts, there's a link that says view unfiltered list. It's great. I filter all kinds of stuff that I'm just not interested in. Ignorance is bliss. But sometimes I want to poke my head out and see what everyone else is up to. It's one click. (It's also just one click of the view filtered list link to apply filters again.)

    Being so easy to switch between filtered and not, I don't see really see much reason to not curate one's feed.

    I mean if you still don't want to, great. Use the site how you like. I just think maybe some people don't realize that it's super easy to switch back and fourth.

    36 votes

  3. Comment on Can/should Tildes pull out of search engine results? in ~tildes

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    Well now I'm just going to assume anyone wearing pants (or not) is you.

    Well now I'm just going to assume anyone wearing pants (or not) is you.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Californian police can’t stop sideshows. Solution: Make the streets more annoying. in ~transport

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    It can't be too regional. I grew up in Oregon. I picked it up when I was a kid in the 90s from parents, uncles, etc., so it clearly wasn't a new term at that point either. That said, it seems...

    It can't be too regional. I grew up in Oregon. I picked it up when I was a kid in the 90s from parents, uncles, etc., so it clearly wasn't a new term at that point either.

    That said, it seems 50/50 whether someone in OR will say whipped a shitty or flipped a shitty. The latter I think came from cross-pollination with flipped a bitch, which is a u-turn (typically where a u-turn isn't allowed, and in an abrupt manner, but those qualifiers aren't strictly required).

    Also when I was in training in the Air Force I shared a dorm room with three guys from PA, MN, and VA and they all knew what shitties and bitches were.

    Maybe it's less of a regional thing and more of an age/generational thing? Maybe it's fallen out of favor with the people I think of as kids but are actually grown adults now.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Any good auto or renters insurance companies? in ~finance

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    USAA offers better rates for me for everything except auto. Auto came down to Progressive or State Farm being comparable for our family, and the wife is friends with an agent at State Farm so we...

    USAA offers better rates for me for everything except auto. Auto came down to Progressive or State Farm being comparable for our family, and the wife is friends with an agent at State Farm so we went with them. USAA has the best customer service by far though imo.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on Bro summer waits for us all in ~life

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    As an ordained Dudeist Priest, I can confirm that this dude gets it. But that's just like, my opinion, man.

    As an ordained Dudeist Priest, I can confirm that this dude gets it. But that's just like, my opinion, man.

    18 votes

  7. Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin in ~books

  8. Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin in ~books

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    This is a wallpaper with my favorite Dispossessed quote that I made about six years ago. Haven't changed it since. Yes, I took a picture of a monitor. Fax me your insults post-haste. I feel like...

    This is a wallpaper with my favorite Dispossessed quote that I made about six years ago. Haven't changed it since.
    Yes, I took a picture of a monitor. Fax me your insults post-haste.

    I feel like that one is self-explanatory. Otherwise, in some activism-type circles I run in it can be easy to lose sight of what's important sometimes. That quote never fails to help keep things in perspective for me.

    For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think.

    As an anarchist living in a capitalist society, and just as a human trying to be a better human, I think about that last sentence almost every day. Btw I do not hold any illusions that The Dispossessed is anarchist literature or an endorsement of anarchism at all. I do however, think that the internalized notion of deserving is an incredibly difficult thing to overcome for someone born and raised in a capitalist society. It rears its head in unexpected ways all the time.

    Those who build walls are their own prisoners. I'm going to go fulfill my proper function in the social organism. I'm going to go unbuild walls.

    I've been thinking about this quote a fair bit recently. I've been doing a lot psychotherapy work focused on closing this (seemingly) giant chasm between how I see myself or who I want to be, and who I actually am via my behaviors and actions. "I'm going to unbuild walls," has been something of a mantra for me lately. For one, in the sense that I believe so many walls out there (and in here) are in need of being unbuilt, but primarily in the sense that I am making a concerted effort to allow myself the courage and self-worth to do the things I know I need to.

    It is our suffering that brings us together. It is not love. Love does not obey the mind, and turns to hate when forced. The bond that binds us is beyond choice. We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give.

    If I could figure out how to make a wall of text visually appealing I'd get this as a tattoo. Again, I think about this quote often as it helps keep things that I believe are important in perspective. Obviously there's the anti-materialism aspect: You are not your job. You are not your bank account. You are not the car you drive. You are not your fucking Khakis. All that jazz. And again, all of the above about deserving and earning applies here as well. But on a more personal level, I all too frequently refuse to reach out my hand, in either direction, particularly if it is empty. I ask myself, even when offering a helping hand, "my hand is empty, I have nothing to give [except myself]. What nerve, to think you're enough. As if you're anything. Who the fuck are you to think you are enough?" But we are all we have. At the end of the day we have nothing else to give. Of course that is enough. Of course I am enough. Of course you are enough.

    8 votes

  9. Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin in ~books

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    There is much emphasis in the book about how a true voyage is return. Most discussions of the story I've seen or been a part of overlook that (or at least don't discuss it). I think your last...

    There is much emphasis in the book about how a true voyage is return. Most discussions of the story I've seen or been a part of overlook that (or at least don't discuss it). I think your last paragraph really dialed in on what Le Guin was getting at with all that. Well said.

    5 votes

  10. Comment on Looking for a good guide to gigs in ~music

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    It's definitely much better now. Maybe because of a VPN(?) it used to give me suggestions for stuff all over the country. Now I'm essentially griping about having to manually change my region...

    It's definitely much better now. Maybe because of a VPN(?) it used to give me suggestions for stuff all over the country. Now I'm essentially griping about having to manually change my region every once in a while. It is kind of a pain, and I wish you could add more than one region/city, but it's really not a big deal. I still use it because other than that one drawback it still works really well for discovery.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about Bobiverse. It's certainly not bad. I think it's great in audiobook format, where you can listen kind of passively1. It's fun and...

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about Bobiverse. It's certainly not bad. I think it's great in audiobook format, where you can listen kind of passively1. It's fun and entertaining, but as you said, it's not at all challenging or new, which I tend to prefer.

    So I'm not saying going from Bobiverse is bad, but for anyone reading, I wouldn't go into it expecting anything similar to TBP.

    1 I'm not saying audiobooks are inherently to be listened to passively, just that they can be. There was actually a fairly recent study that showed neglible difference in comprehension and retention among college-educated native english speakers presented with non-fiction text via either audiobooks or e-books. E.g. An audiobook can be pretty much the same as actually reading.
    1 vote

  12. Comment on Looking for a good guide to gigs in ~music

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    The only gripe I have with using Spotify for this is that I live pretty much equally distant from three cities and it will only really suggest for one of them at a time. AFAIK there isn't a way to...

    The only gripe I have with using Spotify for this is that I live pretty much equally distant from three cities and it will only really suggest for one of them at a time. AFAIK there isn't a way to say, "show me venues from X, Y, and Z areas." Or even X and Y.

    That may not be a common problem though. So if that's not a deal-breaker for you, then yeah, Spotify is great for finding shows.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Covid kills nearly 10,000 in a month as holidays fuel spread, World Health Organization says in ~health

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    It was a jab and some of Trump's great ideas on how to handle covid early-on.

    It was a jab and some of Trump's great ideas on how to handle covid early-on.

    7 votes

  14. Comment on Covid kills nearly 10,000 in a month as holidays fuel spread, World Health Organization says in ~health

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    Same. The wife and I are vaccinated, boostered, all that good stuff. It still whipped our asses. I still just don't care anymore though. Short of shining sunlight up my ass or going back into a...

    Same. The wife and I are vaccinated, boostered, all that good stuff. It still whipped our asses.

    I still just don't care anymore though. Short of shining sunlight up my ass or going back into a self-imposed lock-down there's nothing else I can do. I'll get it or I won't. It'll suck or it won't. I'm just along for the ride hoping for the best at this point. I can't spend every day perpetually in fear of it.

    8 votes

  15. Comment on Gazans bombarded by Israel have no hope and no escape in ~news

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    Exactly. From what I've seen, not necessarily the government, but the people seem to have the exact same foaming-at-the-mouth mindset as Americans (all the way from moderates to right-wingers)...

    Exactly. From what I've seen, not necessarily the government, but the people seem to have the exact same foaming-at-the-mouth mindset as Americans (all the way from moderates to right-wingers) from around 2001 to 2008. Which was glass the whole fuckin' middle east, fuck 'em.

    Not many governments openly call for genocide. People do all the time though. I feel like that was kind of a given.

    10 votes

  16. Comment on Best and worst US states to drive in in ~transport

    DingusMaximus
    (edited )
    Link
    I see SC is the 2nd most dangerous state to drive in, which totally tracks. If you've driven/live here, you know. But I'm honestly surprised SC doesn't rank higher for worst overall just based on...

    I see SC is the 2nd most dangerous state to drive in, which totally tracks. If you've driven/live here, you know. But I'm honestly surprised SC doesn't rank higher for worst overall just based on the terrible infrastructure alone. The cost of road maintenance is low because we just don't fucking do it! The state just passes that cost along to drivers via excessive vehicle maintenance.

    I guess cheap fuel (relatively) also nudges the state out of the top 10.

    3 votes

  17. Comment on What is some life advice that has stuck with you throughout the years? in ~life

    DingusMaximus
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    The grass isn't greener on the other side. It's greener where you water it.

    The grass isn't greener on the other side. It's greener where you water it.

    3 votes

  18. Comment on Non-revolutionary anarchism in ~humanities

    DingusMaximus
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    Revolution is inherent to anarchism. Or literally any other system that challenges capitalism. The capitalists will not give up their capital/private property without a fight. You would quite...

    Revolution is inherent to anarchism. Or literally any other system that challenges capitalism. The capitalists will not give up their capital/private property without a fight. You would quite literally have to pry it from their cold, dead hands or die trying.

    That said, from your other comments, OP, it sounds like you're looking for a calm, rational discussion of anarchism, and not necessarily flat-out rejecting the idea of revolution being necessary. If that's the case, check out Dr. Zoe Baker's YouTube channel or her blog (specifically the essays or recommended reading sections) or her book Means and Ends.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Smartwatch primarily for notifications and battery life? in ~tech

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    I used to feel about smartwatches the way I felt in 2007 about the first iPhone. I have a phone. I have an iPod. Why would I need to waste money just to mash the two together? Man, was I ever...

    I used to feel about smartwatches the way I felt in 2007 about the first iPhone. I have a phone. I have an iPod. Why would I need to waste money just to mash the two together? Man, was I ever wrong about that! So I picked up a cheap alphabet soup named smartwatch on Amazon to give it a go.

    I absolutely love it, primarily because it keeps me off of my phone a lot. Instead of picking up my phone to reply and then checking weather and news and socials while I've got it unlocked for who knows how long, now I just look ay my wrist and move on with my day, replying if needed. The sleep and fitness tracking has been a great resource to help with therapy as well. I'm godawful at manual tracking those things, so now I've got much better data for us to go off of.

    I'm not saying a smartwatch is for everyone. But as someone who was initially skeptical of the idea, after trying even a shitty, cheap one I see and benefit from their usefulness now.

    That said, I still don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on one. But I also want more features than the $35 aliexpress/amazon specials can offer. The bangle.js seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Plus being so easily able to modify/create apps is a huge selling point. Even if I were able to just fire off some IFTTT triggers from it I'd be happy, but that's just scatching the surface of what you could do with it, really. Pretty excited for to try it tbh.

    I've never ordered anything to the US from the UK though. Anyone have experience with that process? What should one expect?

    2 votes

  20. Comment on New tinnitus therapy can quiet torturous ringing in the ears in ~science

    DingusMaximus
    Link Parent
    I hope I'm not negating anyone else's experience, but I don't understand how people say it doesn't bother them much. A constant, 24/7 screaming in one's ears has to have an effect on the psyche. I...

    I hope I'm not negating anyone else's experience, but I don't understand how people say it doesn't bother them much. A constant, 24/7 screaming in one's ears has to have an effect on the psyche. I feel like it largely contributes to irritability in my life that I otherwise wouldn't have to constantly put effort into overcoming. It's fucking exhausting.

    No exaggeration at all, I would at least strongly and carefully consider exchanging a whole goddamn limb in order to make it stop should I come across some diabolical genie one day. I know it's cliché, but I seriously wouldn't wish this on anyone. Even people I wish were dead.

    4 votes