Johz's recent activity
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Comment on New EU-created Search Index in ~tech
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Comment on Man shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in New York City's Marble Hill, authorities say in ~society
Johz Link ParentSure, but the second half of my comment talks about that, which is that that particular quote is reported speech, and so should use language similar to that of the original speech. The reporter...Sure, but the second half of my comment talks about that, which is that that particular quote is reported speech, and so should use language similar to that of the original speech. The reporter isn't saying "xyz happened", they're saying "person A claimed xyz". In this case, they're saying that Jessica Tisch said that an agent fired several rounds etc etc.
This makes sense for journalism because the journalist wants to avoid all much as possible making editorial choices. To a large extent they can't help that - exactly what they choose to report and who they choose to quote is itself editorialising - but at least this particular format makes it clear who is saying what, and in this case quoting the official record is an important part of the journalist's attempt to report the story.
I think the previous comment is mixing up reportage with editorials. These are articles that should take the known facts (as reported in an article like this) and interpret them with context for the reader - this is where you say things like "it's clear ICE tried to murder this person" or "ICE are a paramilitary organisation" or whatever. These ideas are a synthesis of the reported facts and the broader context.
In fairness, these kind of editorial analyses are dying out in online journalism, where most articles are either reportage (like this) or pure opinion pieces. But at the same time, it's important to keep that sort of thing separate from pieces like this where the purpose is primarily to report what other people are saying.
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Comment on Man shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in New York City's Marble Hill, authorities say in ~society
Johz Link ParentThis is not passive voice? It's active voice: the agent is the one who did the two actions: he fired seven rounds, and he struck Oscar Belgal in the neck. Passive voice would be something like...One ICE agent fired seven rounds at the car, striking the 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in the neck.
This is not passive voice? It's active voice: the agent is the one who did the two actions: he fired seven rounds, and he struck Oscar Belgal in the neck. Passive voice would be something like "Seven rounds were fired at the car by the agent, and Oscar Belgal was struck in the neck". You need the auxiliary verb to make it passive voice.
There are actually not a lot of passive voice sentences in the article, and those that are there are mostly quotes or claims from the ICE spokesperson, where it makes sense to use language as similar to the original claim, to avoid reporting someone saying something that they didn't. In fairness, English doesn't have a particularly clear grammatical case for indirect speech, but in this article it's pretty clear who's saying what.
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Comment on What single episode of a show would you recommend as a standalone? in ~tv
Johz Link ParentYeah, that's a good one. Also (and I know it's technically a double bill, but just think of it as a single movie-length episode) Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead are really good...Yeah, that's a good one. Also (and I know it's technically a double bill, but just think of it as a single movie-length episode) Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead are really good episodes for capturing both the horror/suspense aspects of Doctor Who, as well as playing up the sci-fi aspects and the great character writing (at least of that era).
Damnit, now I want to go and rewatch it all again!
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Comment on What single episode of a show would you recommend as a standalone? in ~tv
Johz Link ParentMidnight is another of those classic standalones, and hews a bit closer to the normal fare given that the Doctor is present throughout the whole episode. The Christmas specials are also mostly...Midnight is another of those classic standalones, and hews a bit closer to the normal fare given that the Doctor is present throughout the whole episode. The Christmas specials are also mostly fairly good as standalone episodes as they were designed to be watched by the whole family, although the quality of those episodes can be a bit more mixed.
Although honestly most of the episodes of the 2005 Doctor Who series work quite well as standalone episodes. Obviously some of them are double bills, and the last three rely on continuity with the rest of the series, but because the whole series is trying to reintroduce the Doctor to a new generation of fans, it's all fairly accessible, and the "monster of the week" format means that most episodes are self-contained.
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Comment on Men arrested on suspicion of explosives offences near US air base in Britain following "major incident" in ~news
Johz Link ParentThe UK government has no shortage of people calling for more restrictions on immigration, as well as tighter controls on UK citizens (or at least those kinds of UK citizens). They don't need to...The UK government has no shortage of people calling for more restrictions on immigration, as well as tighter controls on UK citizens (or at least those kinds of UK citizens). They don't need to manufacture something to drum up support for those sorts of policies.
This feels a lot more like a Hanlon's Razor situation: a group of people are in the wrong place at the wrong time — potentially to do something illegal, potentially not — and the reaction is particularly swift and aggressive due to the tensions in the Middle East and the US being involved.
And I think even Hanlon's Razor is a bit strong — it doesn't even sound like incompetence (at least not so far) just a reasonable amount of caution given the US's current attempts to further destabilise an already volatile region. Maybe the situation could have been clarified before going all "state of emergency" and panicking wildly, but on the other hand, maybe it couldn't and assuming the worst was a perfectly reasonable approach until further information could be found.
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Comment on Humble Bundle: current sci-fi/fantasy author bundles in ~books
Johz LinkI got the Zahn one because I'd heard good things about the Thrawn books, and so far I've only read Manta's Gift and it's... not good? Partly the ebook was really poor quality, although that might...I got the Zahn one because I'd heard good things about the Thrawn books, and so far I've only read Manta's Gift and it's... not good? Partly the ebook was really poor quality, although that might also be to do with the reader I use, but the writing was also also just bad. Like, one of the main through lines of the book is one particular character's growth and development, and you can show that through actions and behaviour, or you can cop out and just have the character monologue their way through that growth. Zahn goes for the latter, but doesn't want it to be too obvious, so there's also a psychologist character whose main role is to basically share that monologue, so if the main character has been thinking too much recently, the psychologist gets a turn at spelling everything out for us.
That said, I've not tried any of the others in that bundle yet, so I'll keep an open mind for now.
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Comment on Ray Gunn | Official trailer in ~movies
Johz Link ParentYeah, I've got to say that the name "Brad Bird" is the best thing I've seen from this so far, which makes me a bit nervous for what the final result will look like.Yeah, I've got to say that the name "Brad Bird" is the best thing I've seen from this so far, which makes me a bit nervous for what the final result will look like.
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Comment on Ineos has opened a carbon dioxide storage site off the Danish coast, as momentum builds in Europe for the fledgling but expensive technology in ~enviro
Johz Link ParentWhile I agree that there's a certain amount of greenwashing going on in the announcement, these things are always going to start very small and then figure things out. The earliest computers were...Projects like this don't seem practically viable to me, at least as a solution to the problem they supposedly address. We release something like 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. and this would over eight years be able to store some tiny fraction of only one year's total emissions, assuming we'll capture that much CO₂ in the first place.
While I agree that there's a certain amount of greenwashing going on in the announcement, these things are always going to start very small and then figure things out. The earliest computers were lumbering hunks of metal and wires that could do very little, but if no-one had built them, we wouldn't have made it all the way to the smartphone. Similarly, the only way these sorts of installations are going to become viable is if people build a bunch of mediocre ones, figure some stuff out, then build a bunch more slightly better ones, and so on.
The impression I have is that people who work on carbon capture stuff see it as being eventually viable — this isn't some dumb idea like building roads out of solar panels where almost no amount of research will solve the fundamental problems that stop it from working. It's just not viable yet — and as others point out, not a replacement for the basic levels of decarbonisation we still need to do.
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Comment on Baba Is You and Party House - The Board Games (Kickstarter) in ~games.tabletop
Johz LinkA couple of reviews of Party House and Baba is You from Dan Thurot/SpaceBiff. I've not played much of Baba is You (I've never really got into Sokoban-style games), but I really like the idea of it...A couple of reviews of Party House and Baba is You from Dan Thurot/SpaceBiff.
I've not played much of Baba is You (I've never really got into Sokoban-style games), but I really like the idea of it as a one-on-one duel — it sounds more like a reactive, tactical thing where you're trying to look for every possibility of success. That said, it also sounds very messy, like one of those games of connect four where you realise someone's made a row three rounds ago but neither of you noticed it.
Party House sounds more like my sort of game. It sounds a bit like a deck-building version of Quacks of Quedlinburg — push-your-luck, but with an engine-building aspect to it as well that makes each round feel more exciting. Plus a bit of inter-player interaction sounds good. I'd be interested to see how it plays, exactly, because the description at least ticks a lot of boxes.
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Comment on Ed Sheeran’s tour in trouble after opening acts drop out in solidarity with rapper Macklemore in ~music
Johz Link ParentSo I want to first say that I agree with you that some people have read your comments very uncharitably and I completely agree both that (a) it is perfectly reasonable and healthy to want or...So I want to first say that I agree with you that some people have read your comments very uncharitably and I completely agree both that (a) it is perfectly reasonable and healthy to want or provide entertainment and breathing space outside of contemporary political issues; and (b) it is perfectly reasonable to say "I don't want to express an opinion on this issue". I also agree that ultimately we should be most angry at Israel (on account of the whole genocide thing) and Kraft for forcing this particular issue, and throwing his financial power behind Israel.
That said, I think your version of events paints Ed Sheeran as being either particularly stupid or naive. I imagine a big tour like this is very finely choreographed, and it would surprise me if he wasn't aware both of Macklemore's strong pro-Palestine stance, and that Macklemore planned to bring this up during his part of the show. If he didn't want to talk about Palestine, he probably shouldn't have brought Macklemore along with him.
I wonder if what Ed Sheeran wanted was something like the Ukraine situation, where he could show support for a popular cause, and get some love for it at the same time. Like, I think there's a very cynical read of that situation where Sheeran was doing it purely for the publicity, and I don't think that's true, but at the same time, I don't think he would have done it if he'd have thought his reputation would be significantly damaged by it.
But where generally people support the Ukrainians and don't like Russia, the situation in Palestine is more controversial. And so Sheeran underestimated the strength of organisations like the ADL, realised the minefield he'd stepped onto was more dangerous (and financially costly to him) than he thought, decided quickly that he wanted nothing more to do with that, and dropped Macklemore.
And I think what people are angry about is that clearly Ed Sheeran has put a price on his support of Palestine. He's weighed up how much supporting Palestine is worth to him, and clearly the answer is less than doing the rest of the tour. And that sense of "I will support a cause as long as it doesn't cost too much", particularly coming from someone worth hundreds of millions of dollars, I think triggers a lot of people's sense of hypocrisy.
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Comment on Svend Brinkmann: ‘If you place conditions on forgiveness, love or freedom, you have already destroyed them’ in ~science
Johz Link ParentI don't think I agree with that. Letting go of feelings is letting go of feelings. That's something you choose to do regardless of the other person. But that's not forgiveness. Forgiveness has to...I don't think I agree with that. Letting go of feelings is letting go of feelings. That's something you choose to do regardless of the other person. But that's not forgiveness. Forgiveness has to involve the other person.
But I think we might just be talking in circles with different definitions of forgiveness here.
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Comment on Svend Brinkmann: ‘If you place conditions on forgiveness, love or freedom, you have already destroyed them’ in ~science
Johz Link ParentI don't think that's forgiveness so much as letting something go. And letting something go is part of forgiveness, but it's not the whole thing. The woman in this scenario was willing to let the...I don't think that's forgiveness so much as letting something go. And letting something go is part of forgiveness, but it's not the whole thing. The woman in this scenario was willing to let the crimes of the person monitoring her go, but that in of itself isn't forgiveness yet, because he's not involved in her decision. It's only once she confronts him that forgiveness can happen.
I think another way of seeing it asking whether I can forgive you of a crime that I perceive to exist, but you don't. Let's say I read between the lines of your comment and saw that you were really telling me that I'm an awful terrible person who doesn't deserve to use the internet. That's hurtful, but I forgive you for saying that. Is that really forgiveness? You don't believe you implied any of that stuff, you don't think you've done anything wrong at all — is my claim of trying to forgive you not a bit hurtful in this case?
(To be clear, I don't think you did write anything like that! :D I just find the idea of malicious forgiveness a fascinating concept.)
So I think forgiveness has to be two-way, in that it has to involve at least an acknowledgement of wrongdoing in order to work.
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Comment on Svend Brinkmann: ‘If you place conditions on forgiveness, love or freedom, you have already destroyed them’ in ~science
Johz LinkA while back I tried to make a board game about reconciliation and forgiveness, and while it never really went anywhere, the research I did was fascinating. There's this sense that true...A while back I tried to make a board game about reconciliation and forgiveness, and while it never really went anywhere, the research I did was fascinating. There's this sense that true forgiveness is antithetical to justice: if justice is giving someone the correct punishment for their crime, then forgiveness is letting them off that punishment. That is a deeply radical idea, and I think it's very difficult to come to terms with, particularly when you look at the sorts of evils that people regularly get away with.
That said, the other thing that I came away with was how important it is that forgiveness be two-way. You can't forgive someone who doesn't want to be forgiven, who perhaps doesn't even believe that what they've done was wrong. I remember reading a story about an East German woman who, after the wall fell, went to find the person who had been responsible for tracking and monitoring her, in order to forgive him. But in the end, she couldn't forgive him because he was unwilling to accept responsibility or blame in the first place — in his eyes, there was nothing to forgive, and in her eyes, although she wanted to be able to forgive him, she was unable to. In a way, his refusal to accept forgiveness was a last abuse of her, because it meant she was unable to properly put aside her anger and hurt. (This incident would have formed the core of the game, just because I found it such a fascinating scenario.)
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Comment on Ed Sheeran’s tour in trouble after opening acts drop out in solidarity with rapper Macklemore in ~music
Johz Link ParentI don't think that's quite what the previous poster was saying. I don't think they're saying public spaces or musicians should generally remain politically silent, just that it's okay for a...That doesn't mean people never need rest. Of course they do. Nobody can remain emotionally engaged with every injustice every hour of every day. But there's a difference between saying, "People need moments to recover," and expecting public spaces or artists to remain politically silent so that the rest of us don't have to be confronted with something uncomfortable.
I don't think that's quite what the previous poster was saying. I don't think they're saying public spaces or musicians should generally remain politically silent, just that it's okay for a particular artist to say "I want my concerts to be a place of rest and positivity", and to avoid political messaging. And I think that's perfectly reasonable — it's certainly a privileged position, but that doesn't mean it's wrong to want or provide such a space.
That said, I think that argument holds poorly for Ed Sheeran here, because he chose to bring Macklemore in the first place. I can't imagine that he was unaware of what sort of things Macklemore was going to say or bring up in his performances — I know very little of Macklemore's music and associate him with this sort of thing, so I assume Ed Sheeran was also originally okay with this amount of political engagement on his tour. The thing that changed wasn't Macklemore, it was the venues putting pressure on Ed Sheeran to prevent Macklemore saying the sorts of things he was saying.
So it's not really a case of Ed Sheeran wanting his places to be apolitical for the benefit of his audience, it's that he wanted them to be apolitical for the benefit of the people to whom he was financially answerable. Which is also a reasonable decision if he were honest about it, but then he'd also need to reconcile that with the fact that, as an already very rich and successful performer, his main concern was the financial impact on him.
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Comment on UN says world will miss its climate target, warming must be reversed in ~enviro
Johz Link ParentI guess I don't really see the difference between consumer demand and public sentiment. The biggest difference is how you vote: at the polls or with your wallet. Either way, things are unlikely to...I guess I don't really see the difference between consumer demand and public sentiment. The biggest difference is how you vote: at the polls or with your wallet. Either way, things are unlikely to change unless a majority of people are willing to accept that the luxuries they are used to are supplied largely by industries that burn the planet. And not in the sense that those industries are run by malevolent villains who want to do bad things, but rather in the sense that the luxuries themselves rely on massive waste and consumption of resources.
Therefore, the people that ultimately need to enact these changes are us, the voters and consumers. Corporations aren't going to change by themselves, they're responding to the market (i.e. us, again, the voters and consumers). And politicians do (in most democracies at least) what they're told to by us, the voters and consumers.
The problem as I see it is that the voters and consumers aren't really convinced by the need for these changes. Like, we (mostly) agree that climate change is bad, but the price we're willing to pay to fix it is far lower than what's actually needed. I think that's slowly starting to change as more younger people become able to vote and as the more disastrous effects are being felt, but it's taken a long time to get this far.
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Comment on UN says world will miss its climate target, warming must be reversed in ~enviro
Johz Link ParentIt's a bit more complicated than that, though. Consumers are part of the systems and industries in question. Take Amazon as an example - on the one hand, a lot of their success is due to their...Agreed except consumers. The problem is systems and industries, if action (such as regulation, protests, boycotts) is taken against those, the science says it should be enough.
It's a bit more complicated than that, though. Consumers are part of the systems and industries in question. Take Amazon as an example - on the one hand, a lot of their success is due to their size and ability to overpower smaller competitors. On the other hand, they also make buying things really convenient, and consumers like that. I have friends who buy almost everything on Amazon because it has it all in one place and it comes quickly. That's consumer preference.
When it comes to climate change, it's a similar situation. Most people agree that climate change is bad, but they like meat being relatively cheap, and being able to afford private transport, and long-distance travel being relatively quick and convenient. And therefore companies offer those services, even though it's terrible for the environment (and then greenwash the whole thing to try and get the best of both worlds).
It's a bit too simplistic to say it's all consumer-driven - there's also plenty of lobbying and advertising going on to push consumers in certain directions - but I think it's a mistake to take consumers out of the equation entirely.
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Comment on Small talk, ice breakers, lines in ~talk
Johz LinkI've never been a fan of icebreaker questions that sound like Icebreaker questions. There's a British comedian who has a book of "emergency questions" which is a similar concept, and they're funny...I've never been a fan of icebreaker questions that sound like Icebreaker questions. There's a British comedian who has a book of "emergency questions" which is a similar concept, and they're funny to watch when he's interviewing a famous comedian, but they don't really break the ice so much as move it around. You can ask a question and get a response, but usually that doesn't lead the conversation on much further so you're just delaying the inevitable.
What I try to do (and I'm not very good at it, in fairness) is find out what the other person's Mastermind specialist subject is, and then I can "interview" them about it, and that's usually interesting. Work is often a good topic, especially for people who work in areas like academia, or in unusual jobs. Hobbies are also good, but asking "what hobbies do you have" is a terrible question most of the time, so I find I have to go at that one sideways - "what did you do at the weekend/in the summer/etc" or something like that. Children are a classic option for a reason, especially because right now I mostly meet people in the context of toddler groups and things like that.
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Comment on Looking for an effective self-block application for Android in ~tech
Johz Link ParentI use an app that's just called Block, I think, and it's been pretty good so far. It can block specific apps, as well as websites, it has a few different ways of scheduling blocks (schedules,...I use an app that's just called Block, I think, and it's been pretty good so far. It can block specific apps, as well as websites, it has a few different ways of scheduling blocks (schedules, hourly limits, daily limits) and it has a fairly configurable pause setting. I've not fiddled around much with the anti-uninstall stuff but it looks like it has that, you could see if that handles Portuguese properly!
I have the pro version but I'm fairly sure that that was a one time fee, and I found it a reasonable price. A number of features are only available with pro, but I can't remember which ones right now, unfortunately.
My current tactic is to block all time wasting apps and websites between 6am and 7pm, with pauses disabled. I have a second block that does the same, but it only blocks newly installed apps and it allows me to pause the block - this is an escape hatch that makes installing new games and things a nuisance, but means if I'm somewhere and I need to install a particular app for some reason, then I can still do that. Finally, I have a 24/7 block on Reddit that I can unpause for 5 mins at a time, so that I can read Reddit results when I'm googling something, but it's difficult to keep on scrolling endlessly. (Actually, I might have already disabled that last one because Reddit's new login popup makes it so difficult to use anyway.)
I've found this setup really effective so far, and it's been going for over a year now, I think, in various forms. I think part of it is a psychological sense that I paid for this thing, so I'm damn well going to use it properly, but even before I paid I was fairly happy with it.
Good luck in your search, though. I sometimes feel a bit dumb that I need my phone to tell me when I'm allowed to play with it, but at the same time it works, I'm happier for it, and that's what matters.
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Comment on Sanity check - always-on machine + laptop with remote desktop in ~tech
Johz Link ParentGood shouts! I did try out the laptop<->phone connection, although only briefly. For working it was more than good enough, although I only tried gaming out on LAN connections, so I should probably...Good shouts! I did try out the laptop<->phone connection, although only briefly. For working it was more than good enough, although I only tried gaming out on LAN connections, so I should probably test that out again under less ideal conditions. But I suspect that matches how I'd be using this setup anyway — gaming while at home, but doing idle programming/tinkering while on the move. But I will double check how that gets set up.
I was reading somewhere (maybe here on Tildes?) that Mistral is apparently really painful to rely on - the models are fine, but the API breaks in all sorts of different ways that mean it's hard to consistently use. So while it's ideal from a theoretical privacy/sovereignty perspective, I can understand Ecosia deciding that, for now, they need to find a different provider.