Jordan117's recent activity
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Comment on What if we discover the answers of the Universe, eliminate cancer, halt aging. What's next? in ~humanities
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Comment on Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media—and driving some to suicide in ~life.men
Jordan117 Link ParentI guess I was more thinking about the comparative awfulness of the criminal than the validity of the trauma caused, will edit to clarify. @EgoEimi helped articulate why the scammers in the article...I guess I was more thinking about the comparative awfulness of the criminal than the validity of the trauma caused, will edit to clarify. @EgoEimi helped articulate why the scammers in the article feel even more monstrously cruel in that respect -- thanks.
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Comment on Quentin Tarantino drops ‘The Movie Critic’ as his final film in ~movies
Jordan117 LinkWeird choice of headline; makes it sound like he surprised-released it rather than walking away from the project.Weird choice of headline; makes it sound like he surprised-released it rather than walking away from the project.
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Comment on Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media—and driving some to suicide in ~life.men
Jordan117 (edited )LinkI was expecting this to be about sexual predators but Christ, doing it for money is somehow worse. Like at the very least with pedos there would be some level of twisted "care" there and an...I was expecting this to be about sexual predators but Christ, doing it for money is somehow worse. Like at the very least with pedos there would be some level of twisted "care" there and an incentive to keep them safely on the hook by maintaining the catfishing charade. But to immediately turn to blackmailing children and taunting them to kill themselves, just for money? When there's no shortage of comparatively less awful email scams to pull? Not to mention actually following through with the blackmail threats, judging by all the friends that received the photos even after death.
It's genuinely hard to decide if actual IRL child molestors are worse -- they obviously do serious, life-long damage, even when their victim is nominally willing, but it seems
like less serious damageless sadistic than suddenly and viciously destroying a kid's life so cruelly that they commit suicide.On a related note, I wonder if this problem will get better or worse with the advent of AI deepfakes. Boys are already using it to fake nudes of their classmates for titillation, which is bad enough, but what about monster scammers faking nudes to blackmail an unwilling target in the same way? They wouldn't even need to bait them into the catfish trap first. But does getting blackmailed with fake images have the same impact as if you felt you were complicit? On the flip side, maybe the increasing prevalence of fake nudes makes it easier to disavow even real ones.
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Comment on In Berlin, I experience icks I never thought possible in ~travel
Jordan117 LinkImagine thinking too much leisure is the worst thing about a country.But the worst part of Berlin — or Germany, in general — has got to be the workplace. No one, neither Americans nor Germans, will agree with me on this, but I staunchly believe that 30 vacation days per year is TOO MANY VACATION DAYS. Throw a rock at any Berlin workplace, and you can bet that it’s rife with absenteeism and chaos.
This is what happens when people are constantly going away on hikes or visits to friends in Switzerland and Vienna. Trust me when I say that I have successfully worked at four separate Berlin-based companies, and I have never had to do more than two actual days of work per week.
Imagine thinking too much leisure is the worst thing about a country.
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Comment on This is World of WarCraft in ~games
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Comment on Why are no reasons given when (or even better before) removing a post? in ~tildes
Jordan117 LinkAs somebody who reads the site through RSS, I think it would be helpful if deleted posts had a brief note explaining what the problem was.As somebody who reads the site through RSS, I think it would be helpful if deleted posts had a brief note explaining what the problem was.
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Comment on Canadian pet DNA company sends back dog breed results from human sample a second time in ~life.pets
Jordan117 Link ParentIt's not complicated, I just think that any content attributed to a specific user should be what that person wrote, and any changes to that which remain attributed to that person should be done...It's not complicated, I just think that any content attributed to a specific user should be what that person wrote, and any changes to that which remain attributed to that person should be done with them in the loop or at least the edit should be more obviously indicated. Doing otherwise opens the door to uninformed errors like the "incorrection" on this post or people substituting their subjective judgment on what the content should be. It's not huge stakes, but it does bug me.
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Comment on Canadian pet DNA company sends back dog breed results from human sample a second time in ~life.pets
Jordan117 Link ParentI'd be fine with collaboration, in the sense of OPs having the ability to edit their post info as well (to fix errors like above), or being asked for approval or at least notified so they're...I'd be fine with collaboration, in the sense of OPs having the ability to edit their post info as well (to fix errors like above), or being asked for approval or at least notified so they're involved with any changes. But letting some users silently and unilaterally change a post without any input from the poster is not that.
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Comment on Boeing whistleblower found dead in US in ~transport
Jordan117 LinkLocal news is now reporting a pretty unsettling allegation: 'If anything happens, it's not suicide': Boeing whistleblower's prediction before deathLocal news is now reporting a pretty unsettling allegation:
'If anything happens, it's not suicide': Boeing whistleblower's prediction before death
A close family friend of John Barnett said he predicted he might wind up dead and that a story could surface that he killed himself.
But at the time, he told her not to believe it.
"I know that he did not commit suicide," said Jennifer, a friend of Barnett's. "There's no way."
Jennifer said they talked about this exact scenario playing out. However, now, his words seem like a premonition he told her directly not to believe.
"I know John because his mom and my mom are best friends," Jennifer said. "Over the years, get-togethers, birthdays, celebrations and whatnot. We've all got together and talked."
When Jennifer needed help one day, Barnett came by to see her. They talked about his upcoming deposition in Charleston. Jennifer knew Barnett filed an extremely damaging complaint against Boeing. He said the aerospace giant retaliated against him when he blew the whistle on unsafe practices.
For more than 30 years, he was a quality manager. He'd recently retired and moved back to Louisiana to look after his mom.
"He wasn't concerned about safety because I asked him," Jennifer said. "I said, 'Aren't you scared?' And he said, 'No, I ain't scared, but if anything happens to me, it's not suicide.'"
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Comment on Canadian pet DNA company sends back dog breed results from human sample a second time in ~life.pets
Jordan117 Link ParentI didn't say *only* let the submitter edit, just that they should have some say-so too if it's their name on the result. "Clickbait" is a subjective thing and "toning down" is an editorial...I didn't say *only* let the submitter edit, just that they should have some say-so too if it's their name on the result. "Clickbait" is a subjective thing and "toning down" is an editorial decision, and I don't like letting some users being able to essentially put words in other people's mouths without notification or consent. Quietly substituting one's own judgment like that feels kind of presumptuous. If there's a problem with a headline one should include the poster in addressing it, or just flag it for deletion and submit a better take.
Third-party editing would make more sense if this were a wiki format with explicitly collaborative posts, but structuring it as a blog where each post has an identified submitter implies some "ownership" which editing undermines, I think. At minimum there should be a more visible indication that the content is different from what the poster submitted, since the Topic Log is pretty easy to overlook.
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Comment on Canadian pet DNA company sends back dog breed results from human sample a second time in ~life.pets
Jordan117 Link ParentNot a big fan of some users being able to edit the titles of other people's posts, tbh, especially if OP can't change it themselves. Tags, sure, but titles are a much more important part of the...Not a big fan of some users being able to edit the titles of other people's posts, tbh, especially if OP can't change it themselves. Tags, sure, but titles are a much more important part of the content and more closely associated with what the submitter wrote. Post authors should at least be able to approve/accept proposed edits, imho.
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Comment on House passes bill that could ban TikTok in the US, sending it to the Senate in ~tech
Jordan117 Link ParentA pretty tall order given the company's high price tag and Chinese laws designed to prevent it from selling to Western buyers.A pretty tall order given the company's high price tag and Chinese laws designed to prevent it from selling to Western buyers.
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Comment on Looking for songs that include recordings of commentary in ~music
Jordan117 LinkBrittany Howard's "He Loves Me" is built around snippets of a sermon she found on YouTube. More subtle, but Radiohead's gorgeous B-side "A Reminder" includes snippet of passersby and station...Brittany Howard's "He Loves Me" is built around snippets of a sermon she found on YouTube.
More subtle, but Radiohead's gorgeous B-side "A Reminder" includes snippet of passersby and station announcements from the Prague metro.
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Comment on US President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address in ~news
Jordan117 Link ParentI found this post quite illuminating: The Fundie Baby Voice (via MetaFilter)I found this post quite illuminating: The Fundie Baby Voice (via MetaFilter)
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Comment on Analysis: Donald Trump election win could add 4bn tonnes to US emissions by 2030 in ~enviro
Jordan117 LinkA victory for Donald Trump in November’s presidential election could lead to an additional 4bn tonnes of US emissions by 2030 compared with Joe Biden’s plans, Carbon Brief analysis reveals.
This extra 4bn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2030 would cause global climate damages worth more than $900bn, based on the latest US government valuations.
For context, 4GtCO2e is equivalent to the combined annual emissions of the EU and Japan, or the combined annual total of the world’s 140 lowest-emitting countries.
Put another way, the extra 4GtCO2e from a second Trump term would negate – twice over – all of the savings from deploying wind, solar and other clean technologies around the world over the past five years.
If Trump secures a second term, the US would also very likely miss its global climate pledge by a wide margin, with emissions only falling to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030. The US’s current target under the Paris Agreement is to achieve a 50-52% reduction by 2030.
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Analysis: Donald Trump election win could add 4bn tonnes to US emissions by 2030
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Comment on US President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address in ~news
Jordan117 LinkComplete transcript (minus ad-libs) The Republican response by Alabama Sen. Katie Britt -
US President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address
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Comment on Trumpist US policy document Project 2025 cowritten by anti social security economist Stephen Moore in ~misc
Jordan117 Link"Capitalism is a lot more important than democracy. I’m not even a big believer in democracy." --Stephen Moore, 2009
I've got a problematic fave if you're interested in exploring this: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger "localroger" Williams. It's a sci-fi web novel originally written in the 90s that deals with the aftermath of a benevolent omnipotent AI that reprograms reality itself to eliminate suffering and death and fulfill any human desire. It's a fascinating premise written well, and the narrative jumps back and forth between the early development of the AI by its hapless creator and the rebellion of a strong-willed woman against its utopia in a genuinely engaging and thoughtful way.
The downside is that it goes to some incredibly dark and disturbing places -- in the brave new post-singularity world, some humans pursue extreme (consensual) violence and torture to feel anything at all, which is described in explicit detail. And the final (8th) chapter, After the Fall, is so tainted by bizarrely gratuitous squick that I strongly advise skipping it and leaving the final confrontation ending on a question mark (PM me for a capsule summary of the conclusion that minimizes the grossness if you'd like). But the rest of it is so interesting and unique that I do recommend it to those who can tolerate the textual equivalent of a Saw scene every once in awhile -- it really makes you grapple with the question of what life would even mean if we did manage to eliminate all of our practical problems, in a way I've never really seen before (though other recommendations in this vein are welcome!).