WeAreWaves's recent activity

  1. Comment on Starter comments on Tildes? in ~tildes

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    I feel like the most important one is politics. There are a lot of people who filter out political posts (or US politics) so I see it as common courtesy to try to enable that filtering.

    I know tags aren't required

    I feel like the most important one is politics. There are a lot of people who filter out political posts (or US politics) so I see it as common courtesy to try to enable that filtering.

    4 votes
  2. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of October 27 in ~society

  3. Comment on What the hell are we doing with hierarchical tags? in ~tildes

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    Those tags are a work of art

    Those tags are a work of art

    5 votes
  4. Comment on What the hell are we doing with hierarchical tags? in ~tildes

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    Isn’t this pretty close to the current system but you just disagree with the choices?

    But honestly I think one person (myself or a volunteer) making consistent changes is more important than democratic procedures.

    Isn’t this pretty close to the current system but you just disagree with the choices?

    17 votes
  5. Comment on Honk your horn in ~health.mental

    WeAreWaves
    Link
    I read a book a while ago (The End of the World Running Club - it was fine) that had a character who yelled at the sun every day, saying something like For whatever reason, that stuck with me and...

    I read a book a while ago (The End of the World Running Club - it was fine) that had a character who yelled at the sun every day, saying something like

    The sun is up there screaming at us nonstop in all its fury, so I figure at least one of us should scream back sometimes.

    For whatever reason, that stuck with me and I sometimes yell at the sun if I’m on the bike path by myself on my commute.

    15 votes
  6. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of October 20 in ~society

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    I’d guess there are some Bayes’ Theorem counter intuitive dynamics at play. The classic example is calculating the probability of actually having a rare disease when a test for it came up...

    I was wondering how accurate these things are

    I’d guess there are some Bayes’ Theorem counter intuitive dynamics at play. The classic example is calculating the probability of actually having a rare disease when a test for it came up positive. Depending on how rare it is, most positive tests would actually be false positives, so the probability of having the disease would still be low despite a positive test.

    An overwhelming majority of what the AI looks at will be students without guns. Even a fantastic model with high accuracy will make some mistakes in either direction. That could very easily lead to a situation where the majority of positives are false positives.

    3 votes
  7. Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk

    WeAreWaves
    Link
    In the song Under the Sea in the Little Mermaid, the opening line is: They live in the ocean! They should have absolutely no concept of a lake, much less the familiarity with lakes to use them in...

    In the song Under the Sea in the Little Mermaid, the opening line is:

    The seaweed is always greener
    In somebody else’s lake

    They live in the ocean! They should have absolutely no concept of a lake, much less the familiarity with lakes to use them in an effective metaphor.

    I know it’s ridiculous but this actually annoys me.

    16 votes
  8. Comment on A quarter of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is gone in ~society

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    Yeah, the difference now too is that the worry isn’t surveillance or stolen IP, but being held for an indeterminate amount of time in a detention center because of your political beliefs.

    Yeah, the difference now too is that the worry isn’t surveillance or stolen IP, but being held for an indeterminate amount of time in a detention center because of your political beliefs.

    2 votes
  9. Comment on Asteroid discovered only two days ago will fly by Earth closer than the moon today in ~space

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    No, it’s meters. So this newly discovered one is about 10x the diameter.

    No, it’s meters. So this newly discovered one is about 10x the diameter.

    5 votes
  10. Comment on A quarter of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is gone in ~society

    WeAreWaves
    Link
    Absolutely wild. There has been so much long term damage done to the US in the past 10 months. I’m an academic in the UK and have previously worked in mainland Europe - the attitudes have shifted...

    Absolutely wild. There has been so much long term damage done to the US in the past 10 months.

    I’m an academic in the UK and have previously worked in mainland Europe - the attitudes have shifted so strongly even since the first Trump term. A lot of my colleagues did post docs in the US etc and maintain active collaborations with researchers at US universities or agencies like NOAA.

    There now seems to be no interest among the students (undergraduate or MSc/PhD) or post docs in working or moving to the US. There’s very little interest in writing new grant applications with US researchers because of the funding situation. Data from NOAA and NASA formed an important piece of the earth observation infrastructure and now they are being replaced by new EU/UK based efforts. Several people have voiced that they won’t even travel to the US for conferences or project meetings because of fears of being detained. Our IT department is modifying its policy to provide temporary devices for travel to the US like they do for travel to China.

    This is all in addition to the harm done within the US caused by losing the local medical research and monitoring.

    Irreversible institutional damage done without a second thought.

    48 votes
  11. Comment on Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a federal grand jury, an extraordinary escalation in US President Donald Trump’s effort to prosecute his political enemies in ~society

    WeAreWaves
    Link

    Comey was charged for an alleged false statement he made to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 30, 2020, though he had been asked the same question years earlier under oath.

    Prosecutors say Comey authorized a leak to the media about an FBI investigation via an anonymous source, but he then told the Senate he had not.

    In his 2020 Senate hearing, appearing by Zoom, Sen. Ted Cruz read to Comey an exchange he had with a different senator, Chuck Grassley, during congressional testimony three years prior.

    Cruz said to Comey in 2020:

    “On May 3rd, 2017, in this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, ‘Have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?’ You responded under oath, ‘Never.’ He then asked you, ‘Have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration?’ You responded again under oath, ‘No.’”

    Comey then said to Cruz: “I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017.”

    6 votes
  12. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 15 in ~society

  13. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 15 in ~society

  14. Comment on What's a setting that you'd recommend? in ~tech

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    I can find it through Contacts - I made one years and years ago for my spouse and if I go to her contact info, I can still see the custom haptics and still have the option to create a new one.

    I do remember seeing some different vibration patterns, though I did a cursory check now and didn't immediately find them, so maybe they got removed in an update

    I can find it through Contacts - I made one years and years ago for my spouse and if I go to her contact info, I can still see the custom haptics and still have the option to create a new one.

    1 vote
  15. Comment on What's a setting that you'd recommend? in ~tech

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    That is so, so useful. Thanks for the tip. There are a few really nice features that are for some reason buried in the Accessibility section. I use a triple click on the side button to adjust the...

    That is so, so useful. Thanks for the tip.

    There are a few really nice features that are for some reason buried in the Accessibility section. I use a triple click on the side button to adjust the white point at night and also the swipe down to reach the top of the screen.

    2 votes
  16. Comment on What's a setting that you'd recommend? in ~tech

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    How do you adjust the default brightness for the flashlight? This is in iOS?

    How do you adjust the default brightness for the flashlight? This is in iOS?

    1 vote
  17. Comment on Is Tildes protected from malicious actors, aka paid trolls, aka bots? in ~tildes

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    I can’t tell if no one got the reference, if they’re all playing along, or if tilderinos just like a good evidence-based discussion…

    I can’t tell if no one got the reference, if they’re all playing along, or if tilderinos just like a good evidence-based discussion…

    4 votes
  18. Comment on Does anyone here enjoy a whisk(e)y ? in ~food

    WeAreWaves
    Link
    I live in Scotland and have really come to enjoy a good peated whiskey. I recently picked up a bottle of Kilchoman that’s delicious. My wife tends toward non-peated whiskeys that have spent some...

    I live in Scotland and have really come to enjoy a good peated whiskey. I recently picked up a bottle of Kilchoman that’s delicious. My wife tends toward non-peated whiskeys that have spent some time in sherry casks. I like those too from time to time but for me it’s the earthy smokiness that I’m drawn toward.

    As for Irish whiskeys, a friend of ours in Dublin gave us a bottle of Yellow Spot that was fantastic. Other than that, I can’t say I have much experience with them.

    3 votes
  19. Comment on Survey results on books that people identify as shaping their life/personality after reading them in high school in ~books

    WeAreWaves
    Link
    I think the combination of Glass, Paper, Beans, The Geography of Nowhere, and What Are People For changed my outlook on life and started me along an entirely different trajectory. I went to a...

    I think the combination of Glass, Paper, Beans, The Geography of Nowhere, and What Are People For changed my outlook on life and started me along an entirely different trajectory.

    I went to a Catholic high school and the Jesuits who ran it always encouraged thinking critically, telling us we didn’t really have beliefs until we had openly and honestly challenged them. Turns out that that kind of thinking makes a lot of us atheists, by the way. But anyway, we read these books as part of a theology class and they helped me start that process of critical reflection about the suburbs where I grew up and all of American society ultimately, which cascaded into changes in career choices, lifestyle, major priorities, etc.

    So well done high school teachers for shaping a student’s life.

    4 votes
  20. Comment on Donald Trump administration issues stop-work order for US offshore wind project in ~enviro

    WeAreWaves
    Link Parent
    I don’t think it’s in international waters? The article says it’s only 15 miles off the coast, which is well within the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. Also there’s no way in hell this...

    I don’t think it’s in international waters? The article says it’s only 15 miles off the coast, which is well within the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

    Also there’s no way in hell this Supreme Court would side with a state trying to bypass the federal government in dealing with other countries.

    Though that’s all treating this as if it’s a legitimate use of federal power and not a blatantly corrupt abuse.

    6 votes