HelmetTesterTJ's recent activity
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Comment on Grok AI generates images of ‘minors in minimal clothing’ in ~tech
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Comment on What video games would you say have the best stories? Feel free to suggest more than one. in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ Link Parent+1 for Disco Elysium, and I found it very similar to another favorite of mine, Pathologic 2. Pathologic 1 is good, too, and Pathologic 3 is days away from release, and I expect it's going to be...+1 for Disco Elysium, and I found it very similar to another favorite of mine, Pathologic 2. Pathologic 1 is good, too, and Pathologic 3 is days away from release, and I expect it's going to be the best yet. Great story, solid mechanics, an immersive world, good tension, and consequential gameplay. It's just an all around great series that I'm surprised I don't see more people talk about.
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Comment on China drafts world’s strictest rules to end AI-encouraged suicide, violence in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentTristan Harris put it well in his recent episode of Your Undivided Attention - Episode 122 | Dec 18, 2025 | America and China Are Racing to Different AI Futures, that China and other authoritarian...Tristan Harris put it well in his recent episode of Your Undivided Attention - Episode 122 | Dec 18, 2025 | America and China Are Racing to Different AI Futures, that China and other authoritarian governments are building for 21st century authoritarianism, and while the United States should be building for a 21st century democracy, we're instead building for a 21st century oligarchy. We've decided freedom means deregulation and unchecked capitalism.
He gets a little doomsday and preachy in the podcast, but I get it.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI use: Facebook - Primarily as a Messenger app. It really is the easiest, smoothest messenger with reasonable adoption in my social group. This is mostly on my phone, but from time to time, I open...I use:
Facebook - Primarily as a Messenger app. It really is the easiest, smoothest messenger with reasonable adoption in my social group. This is mostly on my phone, but from time to time, I open Facebook in on a PC to message someone, and I catch myself scrolling, and it usually takes about three minutes before I'm like, "this is reddit but worse," and closing it.
Reddit - I mostly end up on Reddit from search results. There are very few places, for example, that provide the answer to the best crop rotation in Stardew Valley. Niche subreddits really are the place for information on the internet these days. I could just use ChatGPT to mine Reddit, but is that any better?
Tildes - Check daily. Comment infrequently. Read most of.
FARK - Check daily. Does FARK count as social media? Or a news aggregate with a comment section? I've been using FARK since 2002. I've been gifted TotalFARK a few times, but I've never paid for it. In the end, it's not much different from Reddit, but I don't feel as monetized chatting there.
Tiktok - You'll have to rip it out of my cold, dead hands. I unapologetically enjoy Tiktok. I've got my feed curated to give me exactly what I want. I get anti-AI/AI doomsday news, leftist discourse/propaganda, good storytelling, and urban planning. To be frank, I'm alright with the echo chambers Tiktok is building for me. Outside of TT, I get my information from a wide variety of sources, and it's nice to sometimes go to an app that does thorough deep dives into topics deeply interesting to me. When I've got the time, I'm going to throw a list under this comment of ten videos I get via Tiktok at random. Honestly, I don't care that I might be getting fed Chinese propaganda.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI spend most of my time on Reddit calling out AI written stories in the BOR, AITAH, and so on subs. It's an uphill, fruitless battle. At this point, I'm reasonably convinced Reddit itself (as a...I spend most of my time on Reddit calling out AI written stories in the BOR, AITAH, and so on subs. It's an uphill, fruitless battle. At this point, I'm reasonably convinced Reddit itself (as a corporation, not as an AI entity... yet) is contracting out to have a lot of the AI stories written. I think they use baity stories to increase engagement to make the website more appealing to advertisers and investors.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI'm about 70% the way through and enjoying the heck out of There is no Antimemetics Division by qntm. I've never gotten much into SCP stuff, so maybe it's just standard fare in that realm, but the...I'm about 70% the way through and enjoying the heck out of There is no Antimemetics Division by qntm. I've never gotten much into SCP stuff, so maybe it's just standard fare in that realm, but the concepts are exciting for me: There are paranormal entities whose camouflage is that, after being seen, they're quickly forgotten. The story follows an organization with the mission of cataloguing and containing these anomalies.
The eldritch, existential, and transdimensional press buttons for me, and this book is nailing it so far.
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Comment on Brown University shooting leaves two dead, nine injured as police search for killer in ~news
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI believe politicians in favor of sensible gun reform could do some solid messaging if they started awarding school shooting survivors something like a Purple Heart equivalent. It'd be like a...I believe politicians in favor of sensible gun reform could do some solid messaging if they started awarding school shooting survivors something like a Purple Heart equivalent. It'd be like a badge of national embarrassment, a sort of "my country failed me" award.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI'm reading (listening to) Mark Solm's Hidden Spring, on the recommendation of a TikToker I like, @ post.capitalist.pedagogy. For the last few years, I've been at a dead-end in how to further my...I'm reading (listening to) Mark Solm's Hidden Spring, on the recommendation of a TikToker I like, @ post.capitalist.pedagogy. For the last few years, I've been at a dead-end in how to further my understanding of the world. Having landed firmly in the Determinist and Adaptionist camp as far as free will and consciousness go, I've hard a time finding a pragmatic and interesting next step, so to speak. Hidden Spring is helping me out of it. He's constructing a science of the brain and mind that includes the subjective experience. He goes through the history of neuroscience, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, et al. to explain how science has come to the point it has, and puts forward a framework, neuropsychoanalysis, as a way to better understand consciousness and its contents. So far, I'm digging it, but parts of it are going to take a second and third listen so I can understand it better and know how to apply it to my own philosophy.
I'm also super pumped that I'm finally seeing English translations of Byung-Chul Han's works in audiobook format being made available. He's a philosopher I've been interested in a while, introduced to me by a podcast I like called Philosophize This. I've started Agony of Eros, but I decided I needed to pause it until I have a chance to rewatch von Trier's Melancholia. I didn't realize it would be referenced so heavily. Thankfully, no one in my library system seem to be fighting me for access to Han's work.
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Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
HelmetTesterTJ (edited )Link ParentSteve Goodman (and apparently an uncredited John Prine (RIP)) nailed it in 1971 with You Never Called Me By My NameSteve Goodman (and apparently an uncredited John Prine (RIP)) nailed it in 1971 with You Never Called Me By My Name
I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train -
Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
HelmetTesterTJ LinkSpy×Family had just about its best episode yet, I think. I'm pretty excited to see where the rest of the season goes.Spy×Family had just about its best episode yet, I think. I'm pretty excited to see where the rest of the season goes.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI'm super excited to see you enjoying the Pale King. The elevator scene is one of my favorites in all of fiction. The "civic expectation without civic responsibility" concept is, I think, the...I'm super excited to see you enjoying the Pale King. The elevator scene is one of my favorites in all of fiction. The "civic expectation without civic responsibility" concept is, I think, the biggest problem plaguing modern political discourse, and I'm so pumped it resonated with you.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkAntkind - Charlie Kaufman What a freaking whirlwind. I'm only 42% the way through the 25 hour audiobook and it feels like I've read 14 books. I've literally laughed out loud too many times to keep...What a freaking whirlwind. I'm only 42% the way through the 25 hour audiobook and it feels like I've read 14 books. I've literally laughed out loud too many times to keep track of, and I both love and hate the protagonist. Like, genuinely, what a milquetoast piece of shit that I see parts of myself within.
The story follows the exploits of a white, cishet, male antihero film critic obsessed with both demonstrating how woke he is while also clarifying continuously that he's "not a Jew," and everything that happens to him is either his own fault, or the fault of a chaotic universe indifferent to him.
If you like DFW or Charlie Kaufman's films, or if you're really into unreliable narration it really is worth the trudge. There're dull points, but I've never laughed at a book as much as I am with this one. It's absurd. It's painful. It's cringe. And, most fun of all, I still have no idea what's real and what's just in the narrator's head.
@Weldawadyathink, for your expressed interest in unreliable narration.
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Comment on Will an AI actress really become ‘the next Scarlett Johansson’? in ~movies
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI appreciated a take I saw on Reddit about this: it's hardly surprising that the first prominent AI "actress" is called an adult, looks 16, and will do whatever a skeevy director tells her to. The...I appreciated a take I saw on Reddit about this: it's hardly surprising that the first prominent AI "actress" is called an adult, looks 16, and will do whatever a skeevy director tells her to.
The future is gross.
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Comment on What are some “sore thumb” lyrics for you? in ~music
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentMaybe this information will save the song for you: Jeff Porcaro, Co-writer and drummer, on the song: The narrator is meant to be uninformed, performing an ode to something he's ignorant of. I...Maybe this information will save the song for you:
Jeff Porcaro, Co-writer and drummer, on the song:
later described the song as “A white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he’s never been there, he can only tell what he’s seen on TV or remembers in the past.”
The narrator is meant to be uninformed, performing an ode to something he's ignorant of. I don't know if that improves the song for you, but it helped but a lot of the lyrics into context for me.
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Comment on What are some “sore thumb” lyrics for you? in ~music
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI've done zero Googling, but I'd almost wonder if using the names is a dig at how unoriginal "white" names were at the time, especially middle- to uppermiddle-class names. Erica and Eric were both...I've done zero Googling, but I'd almost wonder if using the names is a dig at how unoriginal "white" names were at the time, especially middle- to uppermiddle-class names. Erica and Eric were both in the top 50 child names in the '90s. And I had several (well-off) Erics on my hockey teams, and actually knew a pair of twins who were Eric and Erica (Dad's name was also, obviously, Eric).
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Comment on What are some “sore thumb” lyrics for you? in ~music
HelmetTesterTJ LinkTwo songs immediately spring to mind: Jimmy Buffett - Mental floss The song is nearly perfect. It starts with I'd like to be a jellyfish, 'cause jellyfish don't pay rent. It's got steel drums and...Two songs immediately spring to mind:
The song is nearly perfect. It starts with I'd like to be a jellyfish, 'cause jellyfish don't pay rent. It's got steel drums and Buffett's Caribbean vibe. It advocates for a stoic sort of outlook in a catchy tune. Pretty great.
But the second line of the song is They don't walk and they don't talk with some Euro-trash accent, which, I feel like completely undermines the entire message of the song. "Be chill, be happy, don't fret about stuff... except the French. Here's a completely unnecessary dig at an entire continent." Very chill, Jimmy.
Morrissey - Spent the Day in Bed
Another banger I could almost consider a personal theme song. Another song about disconnecting from reality, treating yourself to being absent from it all, with beauties like Life ends in death, So, there's nothing wrong with, Being good to yourself, Be good to yourself for once.
But the closing of the song - so close, Morrisey, so close - extoling the benefits of spending the day in bed - No emasculation, no castration. Did you really need to make it about your fragile masculinity and your wiener?
In the end, two songs that get so close to hitting the Epicurean way of life only to sneak in little threads of insecurity and lameness.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI'm three episodes in on Yuri!!! On Ice and absolutely loving it. There's not much I can say yet besides that the characters are all lovable and unique, the story seems fresh, the music is good,...I'm three episodes in on Yuri!!! On Ice and absolutely loving it. There's not much I can say yet besides that the characters are all lovable and unique, the story seems fresh, the music is good, and the whole thing makes me wish I figure skated instead of playing hockey in my youth.
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentYeah, call me cynical, but I'd place money on this being Stephen Miller's handiwork. Remind me! 75 yearsYeah, call me cynical, but I'd place money on this being Stephen Miller's handiwork.
Remind me! 75 years
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentAs you said, poor taste, maybe but I found it to be an absurd level of poetic justice that: A guy who loudly proclaimed that the second amendment is needed to protect individuals from a government...As you said, poor taste, maybe but I found it to be an absurd level of poetic justice that:
A guy who loudly proclaimed that the second amendment is needed to protect individuals from a government trying to take away constitutional rights was shot and killed while pushing propaganda for the government taking away second amendment rights for a specific minority.
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
HelmetTesterTJ LinkTwo powerful and relevant quotes from wordsmith Charlie Kirk, whatever the outcome of this incident: "You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single...Two powerful and relevant quotes from wordsmith Charlie Kirk, whatever the outcome of this incident:
"You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It's drivel. But I am—I think it's worth it.
"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe."
So we're not even that many steps away from calling being opposed to CSAM "woke," are we? They've already been attempting to shift the window on age of consent.