JCPhoenix's recent activity

  1. Comment on How to lose weight in four easy steps in ~life

    JCPhoenix
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    This guys works for Conan O'Brien right? He helps with the "Conan Needs a Friend" podcast.

    This guys works for Conan O'Brien right? He helps with the "Conan Needs a Friend" podcast.

    3 votes
  2. Comment on Prince estate blocks release of Netflix documentary by Oscar-winning director Ezra Edelman in ~movies

    JCPhoenix
    Link
    In case anyone wants to read the reference NYT article, here's a non-paywalled gifted article: The Prince We Never Knew. I have never been a huge Prince person. I barely know his music. But that...

    In case anyone wants to read the reference NYT article, here's a non-paywalled gifted article: The Prince We Never Knew.

    I have never been a huge Prince person. I barely know his music. But that was a captivating read. It's a shame we probably won't ever get to see this documentary.

    6 votes
  3. Comment on Ryanair pulls out of two Danish airports blaming harmful tax – airline says passenger tax will make country's regional airports hopelessly uncompetitive compared to others in EU in ~transport

    JCPhoenix
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    "Discouraging flying" seems weird to me. Especially given the distances and the fact that the UK is an island. Though I also get this isn't directed only towards the UK; sounds like all flight pax...

    "Discouraging flying" seems weird to me. Especially given the distances and the fact that the UK is an island. Though I also get this isn't directed only towards the UK; sounds like all flight pax to/from/within Denmark will be charged the tax.

    Either way, I could understand wanting to reduce air travel between two cities that are only like 2-3hrs apart via car or train, in order to reduce emissions. But London to Billund is 14-16hrs by car or train.

    What is the aviation tax going towards? Combatting climate change initiatives at least?

    5 votes
  4. Comment on Donald Trump won’t rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza, sees ‘long-term’ US ownership in ~society

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking. We, people, the media, etc, keep thinking that "Oh they're Hispanic/Latino, they all speak Spanish, so they're all the same!" Which is not at all correct....

    Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking. We, people, the media, etc, keep thinking that "Oh they're Hispanic/Latino, they all speak Spanish, so they're all the same!" Which is not at all correct. Issues that Puerto Ricans face are likely very different from other Latino Americans issue. For example, border and immigration probably don't come into play like they may for other groups. For obvious reasons (well obvious to everyone except the current head of govt and his supporters 🙄)

    Plus other numerous differences. So yeah, I don't think PR would automatically be D seats, either. I think it's way more nuanced and complex than that.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on Donald Trump won’t rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza, sees ‘long-term’ US ownership in ~society

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    Would PR be automatic 2 D Senate seats? Same question but for House seats. Though DC 100% would be all D. I'm not keyed-in at all to PR politics, but I know their political party set up is...

    Would PR be automatic 2 D Senate seats? Same question but for House seats.

    Though DC 100% would be all D.

    I'm not keyed-in at all to PR politics, but I know their political party set up is different out there. And I just don't know how that meshes with mainland 2-party system.

    1 vote
  6. Comment on Lady Gaga - Abracadabra (2025) in ~music

    JCPhoenix
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    This is like old-school, OG Lady Gaga. Saw some of the YT comments said like Artpop and The Fame Monster combined, which I agree 100%. Love it. And others have you said, the choreography is top...

    This is like old-school, OG Lady Gaga. Saw some of the YT comments said like Artpop and The Fame Monster combined, which I agree 100%. Love it.

    And others have you said, the choreography is top notch. Love when she's the Lady in Red, around 2:25, dancing like an old woman, all the way through about 3:15!

    5 votes
  7. Comment on Emilíana Torrini – Miss Flower (2024) in ~music

    JCPhoenix
    Link
    Thanks for sharing! The only Emiliana Torrini song I know is "Me and Armini." And it's one of my road trip faves. I don't even know why. It was featured on some iTunes sampler way back in the day,...

    Thanks for sharing!

    The only Emiliana Torrini song I know is "Me and Armini." And it's one of my road trip faves. I don't even know why. It was featured on some iTunes sampler way back in the day, and it was an instant hit for me.

    1 vote
  8. Comment on DeepSeek’s safety guardrails failed every test researchers threw at its AI chatbot in ~tech

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    You can absolutely do that. I was playing with Llama a couple months ago, which is Meta's LLM. Check out Ollama. Ollama supports a few several LLM models. You will want a decent GPU. I have a 3080...

    You can absolutely do that. I was playing with Llama a couple months ago, which is Meta's LLM. Check out Ollama. Ollama supports a few several LLM models.

    You will want a decent GPU. I have a 3080 and it's pretty snappy and feels like LLMs in the cloud. Some of the smaller models (1B/3B/7B) will work without a decent GPU, but it's slow. Like spitting out one word a second, after it takes a few minutes to figure out your question and put together an answer.

    In addition, Hugging Face is like the hub online for LLMs. But it gets pretty deep into the weeds quickly.

    12 votes
  9. Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (February 2025) in ~health.mental

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    That's something I've certainly been wrestling with: heroism versus self-preservation. Over on r/fednews, which has become a bastion for feds online, there's a lot of people trying to rally the...

    That's something I've certainly been wrestling with: heroism versus self-preservation. Over on r/fednews, which has become a bastion for feds online, there's a lot of people trying to rally the troops.

    "Don't take the fake offer! Don't quit!"

    "America and Americans need us more than ever!"

    But at what cost? And why be a hero to those who voted these criminals and thugs in? Everything they said they'd do, they're doing or planning to do. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. So why save them when they refused to save themselves? Hell, why save them from themselves? There's a certain irony to asking that question, given that that tends to be a thought pattern on the right, IMO.

    Relatedly, over on my Mastodon instance, I was talking with someone who hates Trump and MAGA and all that (pretty sure everyone on the instance does), but thinks it's time for Americans to take our medicine. In fact, they said: let's get rid of the filibuster; let the ruling party rule so that Americans feel the weight of their actions, or even inactions, for once. The majority clearly wanted this, so let's let 'er rip.

    But we know millions of people didn't want this. We voted against these fascists, tried to warn and convince others, but it wasn't enough. They didn't listen. Now thousands or possibly more may or will have to pay the price. Minorities of any stripe or color. Immigrants. Those with disabilities and illnesses. Women. And anyone else who may defy the "regime."

    So I asked, similarly to what you said: Will you or me have to get sacrificed at the proverbial altar of freedom and liberty, to "ensure" this never happens again? Do we get to make that decision ourselves? If not us, then who gets to make that decision for us and others?

    They sidestepped the question. But it's not like I know the answers, either.

    5 votes
  10. Comment on Elon Musk's junta establishes him as head of US government in ~society

    JCPhoenix
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    Funny, my dad and I were talking about this very thing today. That Musk is acting like a Prime Minister, while Trump is President. Similar to some countries where the PM is more important than the...

    Funny, my dad and I were talking about this very thing today. That Musk is acting like a Prime Minister, while Trump is President. Similar to some countries where the PM is more important than the Head of State.

    Though I think it'd more effective to continuing calling Musk, "President Musk." We know that that get's under Trump's skin. Maybe if he gets annoyed enough, he'll pull an Apprentice, "You're Fired!" on Musk.

    26 votes
  11. Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (February 2025) in ~health.mental

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    Thanks for that. Yeah tomorrow I'm hoping to get out and do some exploration around town. Find a new coffee shop, maybe bring a book. I was supposed to do that today...but I'm just tired. Today...

    Thanks for that. Yeah tomorrow I'm hoping to get out and do some exploration around town. Find a new coffee shop, maybe bring a book. I was supposed to do that today...but I'm just tired. Today will be my mope day, ha.

    2 votes
  12. Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (February 2025) in ~health.mental

    JCPhoenix
    (edited )
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    It's been a tough two weeks. I'm a federal employee. A newish one at that, being <6mo in. I'm hoping people, particularly Americans, have been paying attention to the news. I know there's a lot...

    It's been a tough two weeks. I'm a federal employee. A newish one at that, being <6mo in.

    I'm hoping people, particularly Americans, have been paying attention to the news. I know there's a lot going on, so if you haven't seen it, there's been a lot of bullshit directed at federal employees lately, from the administration.

    RTO, even for people who are permanently remote workers, who likely don't live anywhere close to where their physical office would be. And being told to start coming in basically at the drop of a hat.

    The whole "Fork in the road" memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is basically threatening us to quit, before things get worse, while promising potentially unlawful benefits/pay for those who take the "offer." I should note that OPM has been hijacked by Elon (among other agencies like GSA and now even Treasury).

    Hiring freezes, which just ups the load on current employees and harms getting benefits and services that Americans deserve or are entitled to.

    Threats against probationary employees, such as myself, that we may be let go just because (we don't have the normal protections that a non-probationary employee has in terms of firing/laying-off).

    Canning of DEI policies and folks who directly support DEI policies/work. Hell, I was asked to be on some DEI-related council at work, that's now been unceremoniously killed off. Should I be even more afraid?

    Sure, many of us took federal jobs because of stability. But we sure as hell aren't doing this to get rich. Most us do believe in the cause of service to the nation. We take Oaths of Office just like any politician or high-ranking official does. We just want to do our jobs for the American people. But apparently that's too much for the administration.

    Of course there's all the other madness with government, outside of government employees. I've started carrying my Passport Card with me. Never know when I might get swept up in some immigration raid, even though I'm a native-born US citizen. One who ironically works for the government, in an agency that does have some duties related to border security (though I don't directly or indirectly work on anything related to the border or immigration).

    I was talking with a friend yesterday. He's like "We might need to GTFO this country, like for real this time." I'm a brown-skinned bisexual man. If he -- a married straight white guy with a family and a house and all that -- is afraid, how am I supposed to feel? And there are people who are "worse off" than me in terms of "checkboxes." Trans folks, for example.

    Honestly, I'm just mad and frustrated more than anything. That this is all happening. That Americans are letting this happen. Because they voted for this or refused to vote at all. And that this wasn't unknown. The media reported on it. The people who are implementing this, said they were going to do it if they won. Yet Americans shoved their heads in the sand. Except for things like TikTok, which they seemed more angry about than anything thus far.

    I'm trying to not let all this consume me. I'm still trying to enjoy things and take time to appreciate what I've got. But man, is it hard. Especially since I'm literally in the middle of all this, right in the crosshairs. One of many.

    33 votes
  13. Comment on Cozy video games can be an antidote to stress and anxiety in ~games

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    Is peaceful mode just making the local flora and fauna non-hostile? Or does it remove them altogether? My friends and I are playing Satisfactory right now. Though we've yet to run into more...

    Is peaceful mode just making the local flora and fauna non-hostile? Or does it remove them altogether?

    My friends and I are playing Satisfactory right now. Though we've yet to run into more aggressive locals. Right now, we're the aggressive ones!

    1 vote
  14. Comment on How would you moderate this scenario? in ~tech

    JCPhoenix
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    Since there's no rule against outright, maybe just a warning. Not saying everything needs an explicit rule in order to judge or moderate a piece of content. But for these kinds of gray areas,...

    Since there's no rule against outright, maybe just a warning.

    Not saying everything needs an explicit rule in order to judge or moderate a piece of content. But for these kinds of gray areas, that's where it might be worth dropping a warning, but then also having a conversation with the community. I do think communities should have some say in how they're run. Not the final say -- admins/mods are always the final arbiter -- but some say.

    My experience with modding is in political subreddits. Which are just...horrendous at times, as one can imagine. But I've largely tried to stay away from tone policing. People say all sorts of things; especially in the heat of the moment. That doesn't mean they're actually going to do anything. Who here hasn't said to someone, maybe even a friend or a loved one, "I'm gonna kill you"? Usually a joke, but maybe sometimes out of annoyance or anger. I know my mom has said it that to my brother and I! But 99.9999% of the time, nothing happens.

    Now if people start dogpiling on a comment like "I wish [politician] would die," and people start focusing in on that, start getting more explicit in how it should be done, yeah I'd probably lock that thread at the least, but probably also start deleting comments.

    3 votes
  15. Comment on Cozy video games can be an antidote to stress and anxiety in ~games

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    Timberborn can be relaxing and cozy...except when the long droughts appear! Then it's like "Oh god, did I dam up enough water?"

    Timberborn can be relaxing and cozy...except when the long droughts appear! Then it's like "Oh god, did I dam up enough water?"

  16. Comment on Cozy video games can be an antidote to stress and anxiety in ~games

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    Agreed. On Mastodon, someone commented that, for them, Elden Ring is a relaxing game, even when they're dying over and over. For me, I find FFXIV's normal-level dungeons, trials, and raids to be...

    Agreed. On Mastodon, someone commented that, for them, Elden Ring is a relaxing game, even when they're dying over and over.

    For me, I find FFXIV's normal-level dungeons, trials, and raids to be relaxing. Even when it's not going well, such as when a whole party/raid wipe, it can be still be fun. Even Planetside 2, back when I played it, could be relaxing. I'd post up somewhere and snipe fools. Super chill and fun. Eve Online is another. I'd mine for hours and hours on end. Even though I could get my ships blown up by other player at a moment's notice.

    While I will admit Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon are cozy games, the way I play them, it sometimes doesn't feel that way. Because I play them like efficiency games. So if I'm running out of time in a day or season, it can feel stressful.

    4 votes
  17. Comment on Cozy video games can be an antidote to stress and anxiety in ~games

    JCPhoenix
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    Aside from just being an interesting, though light, article about "cozy games" and improved mental health, the article itself is a mini cozy game! Neat piece of interactive news media.

    Aside from just being an interesting, though light, article about "cozy games" and improved mental health, the article itself is a mini cozy game! Neat piece of interactive news media.

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

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    So I'm 18hrs into Metaphor. Just finished the quest to find the necromancer in the Grad Trad Cathedral. And yeah...I'm starting to get that feeling as well. That this game is alright, but not some...

    So I'm 18hrs into Metaphor. Just finished the quest to find the necromancer in the Grad Trad Cathedral. And yeah...I'm starting to get that feeling as well. That this game is alright, but not some "OMG, best JRPG ever!"

    Don't get me wrong; I'm somewhat of a JRPG traditionalist. So this is right up my alley. And it's definitely good we're seeing new AAA IPs in the space again. But I've yet to see why this is a GOTY contender. Obviously still being in the early part of the game, maybe it'll be revealed later. And I am enjoying it. I guess we'll see.

    2 votes
  19. Comment on Grossly irresponsible’: health experts urge US to control bird flu in ~health

    JCPhoenix
    Link Parent
    You know, people wanted to go back to when the economy was good, or at least less expensive. Like in 2019, for example. So they voted for Trump. Hmm. Monkey's paw and all that, I suppose.

    You know, people wanted to go back to when the economy was good, or at least less expensive. Like in 2019, for example. So they voted for Trump.

    Hmm. Monkey's paw and all that, I suppose.

    9 votes