Eji1700's recent activity

  1. Comment on USA to mandate surveillance tech for new cars also determing fitness to drive by 2027 in ~transport

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    I think that's the word that people like Balooga and me get caught on. There have absolutely been products maliciously designed to fail so as to force buying new ones. There's no doubt, there's...
    • Exemplary

    Planned

    I think that's the word that people like Balooga and me get caught on.

    There have absolutely been products maliciously designed to fail so as to force buying new ones. There's no doubt, there's proof it's occured.

    But it's not NEARLY as common as people think, nor as "mustache twirling" in intent. The simple truth is the two biggest drivers of shitty products are customers and government.

    Customers, on the whole, want cheaper now, not better longer. There are very real economic reasons (Vimes boots theory goes here), but there are also very real shortsighted reasons with just how people think. When you're making a product for 300m people, which is just the US, you start running into issues with how the lowest common denominator behaves, and how you can be driven out of a market by an inferior product because of that.

    On the other side, we pass terrible laws, as a species. They're hard to do right, and most people think they're easy, and it leads to piles and piles and piles of regulation to make important and potentially dangerous products (like cars and houses) and following those piles of regulation tend to cost tons and tons of money. Worse they bring legacy debt because they're also hard to rollback, so you wind up bending over backwards to deal with things that haven't been relevant since 1960

    Worse, in both cases, the question often asked is "what can we do", not "what can we do RELIABLY", and this leads to the frequent failure of products and parts. CAN you make a system that can determine if a person is inebriated? Maybe? Can you make it so it's remotely reliable given the utter lack of respect and maintenance most cars see while keeping it cheap to repair? Absolutely not.

    This happens all over in much much much higher quantities than any planned pattern. Yes there's weird reinforcement of the behavior because "line went up", but the amount of times they even clock it's because they're selling more of a product because it's shit and then say "well keep it shit" vs "well yeah we had to keep it cheap/meet regs and that hasn't changed" is not nearly as much as people gripe about.

    It's really not just some malicious force that will magically disappear if you just get good people in the right positions. It's wildly more complicated than that and a lot closer to a Tragedy of the Commons situation

    5 votes

  2. Comment on US regulator to review Disney broadcast licences after Jimmy Kimmel joke about Melania Trump in ~tv

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    its basically becoming an attention tax. "oops trump is looking at me, here have a pile of cash"

    its basically becoming an attention tax. "oops trump is looking at me, here have a pile of cash"

    1 vote

  3. Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games

    Eji1700
    Link
    For anyone who'd like an extremely detailed breakdown, Gamers Nexus has one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfr4QN1Hvhs Small things of note: A neat breakdown of what TMR is (quantum tunneling...

    For anyone who'd like an extremely detailed breakdown, Gamers Nexus has one:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfr4QN1Hvhs

    Small things of note:

    1. A neat breakdown of what TMR is (quantum tunneling yay!)
    2. Looks repairable and will sell replacement parts if there's demand, otherwise parts available from support.

    If it's worth $100 is probably up to your personal level. Rest of this has been discussed to death already

    4 votes

  4. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Eji1700
    Link
    Only new addition is Titanium Court which is....a thing. If you're curious you could watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSxuuoYkR3o or if you'd like to know what the fuck that even was there's...

    Only new addition is Titanium Court which is....a thing.

    If you're curious you could watch:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSxuuoYkR3o

    or if you'd like to know what the fuck that even was there's this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wEQGSvTonM

    And if you're a normal human who is still VASTLY confused the briefest of sale's pitches is:
    Match 3 first for resources and position, then auto battle based on the board state of the match 3 board.

    That's to start. I have discovered at least one other totally different game in there plus the higher level meta game on top.

    It is wildly unique. No idea how good i would consider it yet.

    7 votes

  5. Comment on What is Mastodon for? in ~tech

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    Making you i'm sure one of a very small and exclusive group that does not default to the Lil' John song.

    Making you i'm sure one of a very small and exclusive group that does not default to the Lil' John song.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on NHTSA tells US Congress: advanced impaired driving detection tech isn't ready in ~transport

    Eji1700
    Link
    I honestly feel like if Elon hadn't blown his political capital they'd have just shoved this out the door too.

    I honestly feel like if Elon hadn't blown his political capital they'd have just shoved this out the door too.

    7 votes

  7. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of April 20 in ~society

    Eji1700
    Link
    Someone opened fire at/during the white house correspondents dinner. Trump evac'd/not shot, shooter dead, not sure of much else. I'd normally make a topic but fucking hell what's the point right?...

    Someone opened fire at/during the white house correspondents dinner. Trump evac'd/not shot, shooter dead, not sure of much else. I'd normally make a topic but fucking hell what's the point right?

    https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/crm1gm7ez30o

    10 votes

  8. Comment on Single, solo, poor, woman gets $500k pre-tax, how to make the most of it? in ~finance

    Eji1700
    Link
    I echo what others have said and what you've been doing with the whole "talk to professionals", so to not belabor that point I would highly recommend talking to someone if you can although I get...

    1. I echo what others have said and what you've been doing with the whole "talk to professionals", so to not belabor that point

    2. I wouldn't call it living so much as I'd call it surviving and am often unsure why I bother.

    I would highly recommend talking to someone if you can although I get that's unlikely to be in the budget right now, there are options. I have been in a similar situation both financially and mentally and getting out of the spiral of mental health issues caused by finances impacting steady income, causing mental health issues, can be important. You obviously just lost a loved one, but from the tone of your post and this line in particular i'm guessing this isn't new and I doubt losing someone helped. Further I get the gestures vaguely but I also will say be very very careful with that. Its trite and may very well not be applicable, but I have seen what a major health change getting away from social media can do for people.

    1. I mention this not just because mental health is important, but also because if you were sorta kinda subsisting off 30k a year + "odd job income", and you could find a more standard job, you would very quickly be flipping your situation around as having no debt, income enough to meet your yearly needs, a place, and 200k+ in savings puts you in a vastly better spot. Maybe able to get on track for normal retirement?

    Obviously I'm not saying rush out and gun for store manager of a Wendy's, or whatever, but it might be worth considering. At my similar point in life I was substitute teaching which was a pretty low barrier to entry, got me out of the house, had work every day, and covered the day to day stuff.

    1. There is also the bit of freedom that this amount of money provides that will perhaps allow me to double down on my small business ventures, investing in them/myself at a level that I was unable to do prior and therefore enabling them to become a primary source of support.

    Be careful with this. It's probably a very good idea to investigate, because again if you can find even slightly more steady income doing something your enjoy that shifts your finances quite a bit, but it's very easy to keep pulling from the pile because you'd rather continue to do the thing you like than go out and put up with a more normal job.

    I would recommend setting some reasonable goals/timelines/budgets eventually to try and evaluate if it's working out. The range of difficulty/consistency on these things is wild, and it can be extra tough when its the kind of work that can come in burst and then dry up for months.

    1. The not debt debt.

    A small one, and probably not applicable given your description of things, but given the large cash influx you might want to take a look at anything critical to your life/potential work and see if things are due for an upgrade.

    The usual one is a car, as if you need one and it's the kind that's barely held together, you might want to set aside some of this cash to get recently used (1-3 years? Maybe more? Mileage is the thing really and even then i'm probably overly conservative) used Corolla/Prius/whatever. You will often save a lot in the long run having something relatively new and reliable vs something old and constantly in the shop. Still tricky as even the used market has gone pretty nuts, but worth considering.

    Like I said though, no idea if that's applicable to you. Just consider what you find yourself spending on repeatedly and if a more expensive but higher quality item might help in the mid to long term.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on US Department of Justice arrests soldier who made $400,000 betting on Nicolás Maduro's removal in ~society

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    Well that's why I was interested, because I'm less certain. They have the golden goose. Casino's don't rig games, they don't need to, the math makes you win by default. They're market makers, they...

    Well that's why I was interested, because I'm less certain.

    They have the golden goose. Casino's don't rig games, they don't need to, the math makes you win by default.

    They're market makers, they take a cut of the process, why would they need to rig the outcome and bet against themselves?

    The answer to that, in my eyes, is "well shit's so corrupt now why wouldn't they", but I've yet to see or hear any real evidence of that.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on US Department of Justice arrests soldier who made $400,000 betting on Nicolás Maduro's removal in ~society

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    Right, that was my question. Given the clickbaity headline of "exposing their scam" i was curious if something new had come out or if it was just a consolidation/presentation of the currently...

    Right, that was my question. Given the clickbaity headline of "exposing their scam" i was curious if something new had come out or if it was just a consolidation/presentation of the currently known information, which seems to be what it was.

    There's nothing wrong with that, but I given there had been rumors of them ALSO betting on their own platform or manipulating results to ensure "the right people" won, I was curious if anything had come out about that.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on US Department of Justice arrests soldier who made $400,000 betting on Nicolás Maduro's removal in ~society

    Eji1700
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Think I wasn't super clear since it was just a quick post. I'm curious if polymarket/kalshi themselves are betting on positions. I'm aware of their stance on insiders and that they encourage this...

    Think I wasn't super clear since it was just a quick post. I'm curious if polymarket/kalshi themselves are betting on positions. I'm aware of their stance on insiders and that they encourage this kind of dangerous behavior.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    Just because people are not in (often argued as inaccurately defined) poverty does not mean they live “glamorous” lives. Median income in relation to things like state income tax, cost of living,...

    doesn't seem like median income and the poverty rate (which is about people at the bottom) have much to do with each other? They're about different people.

    Just because people are not in (often argued as inaccurately defined) poverty does not mean they live “glamorous” lives. Median income in relation to things like state income tax, cost of living, and rent are good indicators of how difficult it can be to live somewhere.

    According to this chart, California median household income reached $100,000 per year in 2024. And that means half the households in the state make more than that.

    Chart is gross not adjusted. Average rent is about 2k a month. When you add the cost of living, the high income tax, mandatory driving with high gas and a plenty of other small factors it gets not great fast. Minimum wage is at about 40k and it’s miserable for the people being told that 60-80k is “plenty” when they’re still getting destroyed by rent. There’s 0 doubt they’ve also got some of the best public education but that’s hard to appreciate for the single 20-30 something’s.

    Housing prices are high in part because there are a lot of people out there who can pay that much, and they're competing for housing.

    We could do a whole other topic on how this is vastly simplifying the situation and the problems with housing becoming an investment asset class, but I’ll just say anecdotally I’ve known several people who live 4+ people in a one or two bedroom place to make rent because that’s the only way to make it work.

    If you want another number look at homeless rates. Cali is just outside of the top 5 for a reason.

    It’s a state not a utopia. There’s a lot good but I just don’t think any of this data supports a “glamorous” lifestyle for the average even compared to how rough it can be elsewhere.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    While I would again point out my issues are probably more of taste (how much you hate a miserable traffic or having 5 roomates to be near the beach or good food is up to you), but I also think...

    Most people there aren’t in “miserable” living conditions, it’s actually quite glamorous for the median resident relative to most of the rest of the country. There’s people who fall through the cracks, but that’s an endemic problem across America.

    While I would again point out my issues are probably more of taste (how much you hate a miserable traffic or having 5 roomates to be near the beach or good food is up to you), but I also think that's not really backed by the data. Poverty in CA is slightly above average, heavily so in places like LA, and arguably even worse when you start looking at rent to income ratios and the fact that places like SF are technically fine in census data, but arguably much work when you realize how badly some people are commuting.

    Yes the state is more than those cities, but at the same time LA is roughly 25% of the population while the next highest are San Diego/OC at 8%. Throw in San Bernardino and Riverside and you've got 50% of the state right there.

    Poverty in LA is something like 13-15%+ last I checked (county/city distinctions and all) vs the US average of 11%. San Bernardino is another that often gets discussed as problematic, and things like SF especially look "fine" until you consider that most people who work there commute often 1hr + because they can't come anywhere near affording the cost of living

    I believe it also routinely ranks in the top 10, maybe top 5 for homelessness.

    It's got a lot going for it, but the median resident is far from glamorous.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    I was thinking about LA in that moment yes but I lived outside of SF and everything was 40 min away because you couldn't afford to live in SF.

    I was thinking about LA in that moment yes but I lived outside of SF and everything was 40 min away because you couldn't afford to live in SF.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life

    Eji1700
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The number of people I’ve met willing to live like roaches in California than anywhere else has always been concerning to me. These aren’t people with careers or family there but rather those who...

    The number of people I’ve met willing to live like roaches in California than anywhere else has always been concerning to me.

    These aren’t people with careers or family there but rather those who uproot their lives because California will be better.

    Personally I feel many deluded themselves after the reality of miserable living conditions and traffic set in, but I also could never live there long term. The “everything is 40 minutes away” life drives me nuts

    5 votes

  16. Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life

    Eji1700
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    Feels like a missed opportunity to compare to similar(ish) setups that have occurred in other cities/countries. I believe many high density areas have done things like this and it’d be interesting...

    Feels like a missed opportunity to compare to similar(ish) setups that have occurred in other cities/countries. I believe many high density areas have done things like this and it’d be interesting to know if it’s ever beneficial or always concerning

    9 votes

  17. Comment on Control Ultimate Edition released for iOS and iPadOS in ~games

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    Yeah it was a shock to me last month when i learned about game native, which lets you just run your steam games on an android device. I assumed some of my older stuff might work, but with things...

    Yeah it was a shock to me last month when i learned about game native, which lets you just run your steam games on an android device.

    I assumed some of my older stuff might work, but with things like the Thor or Retroid 6 you can run Hades or Silksong, or probably more (those just caught my eye).

    3 votes

  18. Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    What precisely is Germany's issue? I know relatively little about the country other than "lol bureaucracy". Is it just a full on culture thing or something about their political system that leads...

    What precisely is Germany's issue? I know relatively little about the country other than "lol bureaucracy". Is it just a full on culture thing or something about their political system that leads to this kind of inefficient gridlock?

    5 votes

  19. Comment on Adults are earning college degrees online in weeks, alarming US educators in ~society

    Eji1700
    Link Parent
    And the fact we think it's normal to wait until college and for people to pay for it is the part that is completely insane. College should not be about "oh and now you learn anything actually...

    So I have a university degree in computer science but I also took classes in art history and religion and biology and literature and writing and lots of math. Oh and philosophy, including a lot about logical fallacies so I’m not as easy to trick by Joe Rogan and Ben Shapiro.

    And the fact we think it's normal to wait until college and for people to pay for it is the part that is completely insane.

    College should not be about "oh and now you learn anything actually useful". The rest of the world expects school long before higher education to teach that, and yet every time someone points out it's absurd that college degrees are multiyear monstrosities people act like no one will ever learn about Descartes or whoever.

    This entire argument has always reeked to me of the "well how do you learn morals if you're not religious", and it bothers me because it continues to justify probably the largest class barrier out there.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on Clayface | Official teaser in ~movies

    Eji1700
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    I'm hopeful they pull this off. As always, batman is both a goldmine and a curse of material. The newest one that feels like Seven meets Batman was on the right track, and Penguin felt quite good...

    I'm hopeful they pull this off. As always, batman is both a goldmine and a curse of material. The newest one that feels like Seven meets Batman was on the right track, and Penguin felt quite good as well. If they can explore the world without getting drawn into villain/scope creep, and forcing EVERYONE to happen in one show/movie, this could be DC's chance to do what marvel did (and dc has done with their animated world..)

    8 votes