OBLIVIATER's recent activity

  1. Comment on McDonald’s is cutting prices of its combo meals to convince customers it’s affordable again in ~food

    OBLIVIATER
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    As a broke college kid it was my go-to fast food, at least in my small town. I did some calculations and it was one of the highest calorie to dollar ratio you could get in fast food, not counting...

    As a broke college kid it was my go-to fast food, at least in my small town. I did some calculations and it was one of the highest calorie to dollar ratio you could get in fast food, not counting things like Soda or desserts haha, now it's probably one of the worst

    6 votes

  2. Comment on McDonald’s is cutting prices of its combo meals to convince customers it’s affordable again in ~food

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    The Mcdouble is almost 4 dollars now, you used to be able to get one for a buck like 8 years ago. And let me tell you, nothing about the Mcdouble is worth a 400% increase in price, and it's only...

    The Mcdouble is almost 4 dollars now, you used to be able to get one for a buck like 8 years ago. And let me tell you, nothing about the Mcdouble is worth a 400% increase in price, and it's only gotten smaller/shittier over the years... and it wasn't anything special to begin with.

    14 votes

  3. Comment on The future is NOT self-hosted in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
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    If we can get it down to being just as easy as pressing a button maybe, most casual users aren't going to want to do anything more complicated than that.

    If we can get it down to being just as easy as pressing a button maybe, most casual users aren't going to want to do anything more complicated than that.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on Is AI actually useful for anyone here? in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
    (edited )
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    I don't use it too frequently, but it recently did some AMAZING things for me by helping me put together a google script to salvage my team's awful workflow processes in google sheets. I'm sure a...

    I don't use it too frequently, but it recently did some AMAZING things for me by helping me put together a google script to salvage my team's awful workflow processes in google sheets. I'm sure a real engineer could have put together a better solution in about 15 minutes, but my company refuses to dedicate even the smallest amount of engineer time to making our internal tools better so I'm stuck vibe-coding band-aid solutions to problems we created years ago because no one thought about scaling.

    It took me a few hours of trial and error, but I actually put together a few pretty impressive google scripts that cut the time needed for my workflow in half.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on My classroom will be AI-free this fall in ~humanities

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I agree that slowing down the learning process could be better for learning for some people; I don't agree that physically writing things down with a pencil and paper is the only or best way for...

    I agree that slowing down the learning process could be better for learning for some people; I don't agree that physically writing things down with a pencil and paper is the only or best way for that to be accomplished. (Which is what the individual I was replying to has been claiming throughout this conversation.)

    1 vote

  6. Comment on The viral 'Tea' app just had a second data breach, and it's even worse in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    Does that mean they had a team of people whose job it was to judge if someone was actually trans? Seems like a nightmare of bias. The whole concept is rotten to its core.

    Does that mean they had a team of people whose job it was to judge if someone was actually trans? Seems like a nightmare of bias. The whole concept is rotten to its core.

    7 votes

  7. Comment on The viral 'Tea' app just had a second data breach, and it's even worse in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    The developers seem almost criminally negligent. I hope all the women affected by these data breaches put together a class action lawsuit and sue the pants off these clowns.

    The developers seem almost criminally negligent. I hope all the women affected by these data breaches put together a class action lawsuit and sue the pants off these clowns.

    12 votes

  8. Comment on The viral 'Tea' app just had a second data breach, and it's even worse in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    Sounds like an absolute nightmare situation and was exactly what I imagined when I first heard about this whole snafu. So sorry you went through something like that, it would give me trust issues...

    Sounds like an absolute nightmare situation and was exactly what I imagined when I first heard about this whole snafu. So sorry you went through something like that, it would give me trust issues for anyone I met and talked to in the future.

    13 votes

  9. Comment on 8.8 magnitude earthquake near Russia prompts tsunami alerts in Hawaii, Alaska and West Coast in ~enviro

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    At least its pretty far from Hawaii, there are chains of islands in Alaska which are much closer, I don't even know if the people living there are going to be able to know anything is coming for them

    At least its pretty far from Hawaii, there are chains of islands in Alaska which are much closer, I don't even know if the people living there are going to be able to know anything is coming for them

    3 votes

  10. Comment on 8.8 magnitude earthquake near Russia prompts tsunami alerts in Hawaii, Alaska and West Coast in ~enviro

    OBLIVIATER
    Link
    8.8 is MASSIVE, and they just had a 7.5 last week.

    8.8 is MASSIVE, and they just had a 7.5 last week.

    7 votes

  11. Comment on Smartphone gambling is a disaster in ~health.mental

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    It was designed to siphon data from its userbase so they can weaponize it against them to make more money. Nothing a health insurance company in the US does is ever designed to help people.

    It was designed to siphon data from its userbase so they can weaponize it against them to make more money. Nothing a health insurance company in the US does is ever designed to help people.

    19 votes

  12. Comment on Smartphone gambling is a disaster in ~health.mental

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    They had this stupid daily login lootbox bullshit where you could get better perks or something by logging in every day and completing some quizzes about your daily activity (if you were working...

    They had this stupid daily login lootbox bullshit where you could get better perks or something by logging in every day and completing some quizzes about your daily activity (if you were working out, what you were eating, etc) and then when you finished it a wheel would spin and give you points for rewards. Most of them were meaningless stuff but they had things like an Apple watch on there.

    9 votes

  13. Comment on Smartphone gambling is a disaster in ~health.mental

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I remember being snarkily quoted "the slippery slope fallacy" when I was saying this was going to happen over a decade ago. It's honestly really depressing how quickly society has just accepted...

    I remember being snarkily quoted "the slippery slope fallacy" when I was saying this was going to happen over a decade ago. It's honestly really depressing how quickly society has just accepted these companies stealing billions of dollars a year from people by manipulating them as much as humanly possible. It's seeped into nearly every aspect of our lives; I've even seen this kind of bullshit in my fucking health insurance app.

    11 votes

  14. Comment on Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan dead at 71 in ~sports

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    Don't meet your heroes (or follow them on twitter)

    Don't meet your heroes (or follow them on twitter)

    3 votes

  15. Comment on You can't outrun a bad diet in ~food

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I eat a lot more ground pork/sausage now because it's significantly cheaper, though it's probably not even close to healthier haha

    I eat a lot more ground pork/sausage now because it's significantly cheaper, though it's probably not even close to healthier haha

    1 vote

  16. Comment on My classroom will be AI-free this fall in ~humanities

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I'd probably put the blame more on the fact that almost 40% of all students don't regularly attend their classes in NZ, but that's only part of the issue. Life is complicated, the world is...

    I'd probably put the blame more on the fact that almost 40% of all students don't regularly attend their classes in NZ, but that's only part of the issue.

    Life is complicated, the world is complicated, and society everywhere is degrading. I wish there were only one problem you could point to and focus on to fix things, but the reality is that it's a conglomeration of dozens or even hundreds of smaller problems facing our world. We're seeing declining mental and physical health, economic and societal degradation, and a rapidly changing climate which will disproportionately affect the younger generations (and they know it.) In addition, many local areas are being devastated by pollution, overdevelopment, and in some cases, actual conflict.

    What I can concede on is that there is definitely too much use of personal devices like phones in schools and probably in general for children. Unrestricted access to the internet from the age of 6 is probably not healthy for children's attention spans and big tech companies like Meta, Tik Tok, and Google have definitely manipulated their algorithms to addict people into spending far too much time and mental energy on their platforms. Computers themselves aren't the enemy here though, its the tech companies that we've given far too much power to.

    6 votes

  17. Comment on My classroom will be AI-free this fall in ~humanities

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I am extremely skeptical that all of the issues facing children in school today stem from the rise of using computers in schools and I think it's honestly an unhelpful oversimplification of the...

    I am extremely skeptical that all of the issues facing children in school today stem from the rise of using computers in schools and I think it's honestly an unhelpful oversimplification of the HUGE amount of issues that younger generations are facing today. You obviously have strong opinions on this subject but you can't just state those opinions as fact.

    "Before computers most kids could read and write going through school" I wonder if there could be any other reason why the school system is failing children... Is it the systematic underfunding and disenfranchisement of teachers which has been eroding our public school system for decades? No, it must be those new fangled computers.

    10 votes

  18. Comment on My classroom will be AI-free this fall in ~humanities

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    You're making a lot of definitive statements in this comment which are at most personal opinion. Maybe you learn that way? But I definitely don't, and most of the people I know don't.

    You're making a lot of definitive statements in this comment which are at most personal opinion.

    You learn by writing things down on a piece of paper, slowly, so that your brain forms multiple connections with the material. You learn by reading, slowly, and taking about it with other slow readers.

    Maybe you learn that way? But I definitely don't, and most of the people I know don't.

    18 votes

  19. Comment on Why recycling solar panels is harder than you might think in ~enviro

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    Watercooling panels can fix this issue by actually using that waste heat while also improving the efficiency of the panels, this is being tested in a lot of locations already though its struggling...

    Watercooling panels can fix this issue by actually using that waste heat while also improving the efficiency of the panels, this is being tested in a lot of locations already though its struggling due to the added complexity and maintenance concerns. Another way to turn this negative into a positive is solar mirror collection where instead of using PV panels they just collect solar energy into a molten salt solution and use that to generate electricity via turbines.

    But even traditional PV panels radiate most of their absorbed heat back out into the atmosphere via radiative sky cooling so its not really a concern even at large scales.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on Why recycling solar panels is harder than you might think in ~enviro

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I was mostly just focused on the wastefulness aspect of landfills, though I do appreciate I definitely oversimplified them. I can understand throwing out useless trash, but it really frustrates me...

    I was mostly just focused on the wastefulness aspect of landfills, though I do appreciate I definitely oversimplified them. I can understand throwing out useless trash, but it really frustrates me when things that are perfectly recyclable are thrown away because it's marginally cheaper to just bury them.

    1 vote