Whom's recent activity

  1. Comment on On GoGuardian and invasion of student privacy in ~tech

    Whom
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    One of the (many many many MANY) reasons I left the teaching program when I was in college was how hard all this spyware and adtech-operated management software was being pushed on staff and...

    One of the (many many many MANY) reasons I left the teaching program when I was in college was how hard all this spyware and adtech-operated management software was being pushed on staff and students. Peeking into the system and seeing how much is sacrificed in the name of productivity and mimicking the workplace was simply disgusting. Give the kids a break.

    Also, as someone who got flagged for being suicidal in high school (I believe as a result of some more primitive monitoring software) and harassed because of it, it goes beyond my general belief in a right to privacy. Even if I thought this sort of monitoring was acceptable in principle, schools by and large are not tight ships which can handle this information responsibly. Five minutes in any teacher's lounge in America will teach you that one.

    5 votes
  2. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life

    Whom
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    I have no doubt that there has been an uptick in actual antisemitism as of late and that is of course to be opposed and should be talked about, but go fuck yourself. The author says criticism of...

    An oft-repeated mantra among some is that Israel is a settler colonialist country and should be forced to give the land back to the Palestinians. I have no idea how it would be determined who is rightly entitled to what land, but I do know that calling for the total elimination of Israel is antisemitic.

    I have no doubt that there has been an uptick in actual antisemitism as of late and that is of course to be opposed and should be talked about, but go fuck yourself. The author says criticism of Israel isn't necessarily antisemitic, but I guess that stops applying if the criticism goes beyond what they agree with.

    The Israeli ethnostate should not exist. That is not a comment on the Jewish people in any way, shape, or form. They of course deserve to be safe and innocent Israelis (as well as Jewish people elsewhere) are not responsible for the actions of that government. If holding that position is antisemitic in your eyes then yes, you have defined criticism of the state out of possibility.

    8 votes
  3. Comment on At least sixteen dead in Maine shooting as police hunt for ‘person of interest’ and residents shelter in ~news

    Whom
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    I don't think their point with that went beyond "obviously reducing the supply of something will reduce deaths from it," which nearly everyone here seems to agree with. I'm not sure poking holes...

    I don't think their point with that went beyond "obviously reducing the supply of something will reduce deaths from it," which nearly everyone here seems to agree with. I'm not sure poking holes in the comparison is useful when it wasn't really load-bearing.

    4 votes
  4. Comment on At least sixteen dead in Maine shooting as police hunt for ‘person of interest’ and residents shelter in ~news

    Whom
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    Yeah, our problems go WAY deeper than guns. Regardless of individual feelings on gun control, we've gotta recognize that it's just a band-aid and we've got some uniquely late-20th and 21st century...

    Yeah, our problems go WAY deeper than guns. Regardless of individual feelings on gun control, we've gotta recognize that it's just a band-aid and we've got some uniquely late-20th and 21st century American problems to deal with. There is something broken about many men in America and I don't think boiling it down to either mental health or gun access tells the whole story, though they're important parts of the conversation.

    4 votes
  5. Comment on At least sixteen dead in Maine shooting as police hunt for ‘person of interest’ and residents shelter in ~news

    Whom
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    Weird place to draw the line. I'm not sure that leaving the weapons to the ones who are honest about their bloodthirst and have the training to maximize the damage they do is a great strategy.

    The only people handling firearms should be trained members of the active armed forces, and nobody else.

    Weird place to draw the line. I'm not sure that leaving the weapons to the ones who are honest about their bloodthirst and have the training to maximize the damage they do is a great strategy.

    7 votes
  6. Comment on Reddit is going to let you turn gold into money in ~tech

  7. Comment on Unlimited Kagi searches for $10 per month in ~tech

    Whom
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    I'll give it a try for a month. I don't like that it's for-profit and only a few components are open source, but the other options are pretty dire and I'm not willing to deal with the horrors of...

    I'll give it a try for a month. I don't like that it's for-profit and only a few components are open source, but the other options are pretty dire and I'm not willing to deal with the horrors of Searx for my principles. Paying for search does feel weird, but their other goals are so well-aligned with my own that I might as well put my money where my mouth is.

    I'd love to see Mozilla do their own spin on this or partner with Kagi or something, but I'm guessing they'd be too afraid of jeopardizing their deal with Google and the startup costs seem beyond them right now.

    2 votes
  8. Comment on Today is US National Cinema Day! What are you going to go see for $4? in ~movies

    Whom
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    We saw Jurassic Park in 3D. Made for a nice night, even if the conversion was really goofy and everyone looked like cardboard cutouts.

    We saw Jurassic Park in 3D. Made for a nice night, even if the conversion was really goofy and everyone looked like cardboard cutouts.

    2 votes
  9. Comment on Saudi Arabia moves ahead with its largest solar power project in ~enviro

    Whom
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    I'm sure that this looks good to the rest of the world didn't hurt the calculations behind it, but really solar seems like a no-brainer in that part of the world and a sound investment to...

    I'm sure that this looks good to the rest of the world didn't hurt the calculations behind it, but really solar seems like a no-brainer in that part of the world and a sound investment to translate that fossil fuel money into long term stability. Can't blame you for being suspicious though with how aggressive they've been with trying to clean up their image.

    2 votes
  10. Comment on uBlock Origin Lite now available on Firefox in ~tech

    Whom
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    That's pretty cool, though uBO is probably the extension I have installed that I trust the most with additional permissions.

    That's pretty cool, though uBO is probably the extension I have installed that I trust the most with additional permissions.

    25 votes
  11. Comment on Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is suing the state for allegedly violating his human rights due to his being held in extreme isolation in ~news

    Whom
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    I largely agree but From the bit I know about Breivik, he seems like a case where this would apply. That said, he may well have cleaned up his act instead of going deeper and deeper into Nazism...

    I largely agree but

    Imprisonment should be reserved for criminals that showed a psychopathic or otherwise persistent disposition to crime and violence that cannot be prevented otherwise.

    From the bit I know about Breivik, he seems like a case where this would apply. That said, he may well have cleaned up his act instead of going deeper and deeper into Nazism given an approach that actually tried to rehabilitate him, we can't know. I sort of doubt it though.

    7 votes
  12. Comment on Madison Reeve explains why she quit Linus Tech Tips (CW: self harm, slurs, sexual harassment) in ~tech

    Whom
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    Did you miss the rest of their video pointing out numerous poorly-handled inaccuracies and bad journalistic practices? I'm with you that I really don't care about the block and even if they...

    Did you miss the rest of their video pointing out numerous poorly-handled inaccuracies and bad journalistic practices? I'm with you that I really don't care about the block and even if they completely fucked over Billet shamelessly it wouldn't mean much to me, but that's hardly all GN brought out.

    19 votes
  13. Comment on Madison Reeve explains why she quit Linus Tech Tips (CW: self harm, slurs, sexual harassment) in ~tech

    Whom
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    Most of their work isn't reviews, it's them fucking around with expensive tech or doing weird builds with fun limitations.

    Most of their work isn't reviews, it's them fucking around with expensive tech or doing weird builds with fun limitations.

    8 votes
  14. Comment on Linus Tech Tips pauses production as controversy swirls in ~tech

    Whom
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    The level of evidence needed for in-person sexual harassment to be proven is nearly unattainable apart from rare circumstances where it's caught on film or something like that. Saying "wait and...

    The level of evidence needed for in-person sexual harassment to be proven is nearly unattainable apart from rare circumstances where it's caught on film or something like that. Saying "wait and see" is functionally identical to dismissing it entirely. Not believing victims because the abuse they've received is by its very nature nearly impossible to prove scares victims into silence and lets this whole culture continue, which also takes lives. Taking each side can take lives, and so can taking no side, as that is again functionally the same as siding with the accused. There's no way OUT of that problem.

    These things are almost always one person’s word against another’s and getting details proven is a rarity. Given that when I look at the world around me and live my life I see sexual harassment and violence ruining far more lives than accusations of them (even including all of the many more true cases where that life-ruining is earned!), I choose to believe the victims until shown otherwise. Our personal standards for judgement need not be as strict as those for legal action.

    Of course, that doesn't mean I'm behind internet hate mobs and the like going after the accused (even if their feelings are understandable).

    17 votes
  15. Comment on Baldur’s Gate 3 is causing some developers to panic in ~games

    Whom
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    I think given that we have a real problem of creators being harassed whenever there's another fuckup release, it's still important to point out who is really at fault. You or I may know that...

    It's not the devs that need defending, isn't it the shareholders, investors, and publishers that we're mad at anyway?

    I think given that we have a real problem of creators being harassed whenever there's another fuckup release, it's still important to point out who is really at fault. You or I may know that already, but a lot of people are genuinely blaming each of these cases on developer laziness or incompetence or something silly like hatred toward Gamers and act like jackasses because of it.

    I do think a point like the one in this article can be used to deflect criticism in some cases if employed in certain ways, but I don't see that here. Not saying you were necessarily saying they were.

    16 votes
  16. Comment on Baldur’s Gate 3 is causing some developers to panic in ~games

  17. Comment on What "lost" web page would you like to find again? in ~tech

    Whom
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    The interpretations of the bible bit doesn't really fit, but good ol truthism.com is certainly a unified theory of everything.

    The interpretations of the bible bit doesn't really fit, but good ol truthism.com is certainly a unified theory of everything.

    2 votes
  18. Comment on Street Fighter 6 | AKI teaser trailer in ~games

    Whom
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    I love her vibe and the reveal on stream was super hype. Can't wait for a gameplay trailer!

    I love her vibe and the reveal on stream was super hype. Can't wait for a gameplay trailer!

    2 votes
  19. Comment on I'm curious why this topic "Shaking up the US two-party system: Cornel West’s 2024 Presidential bid, with Jill Stein" was removed? in ~tildes

    Whom
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    I can't see the original article since it's deleted so I'm sorry if you mean something else, but are you actually claiming that promoting voting for anyone other than the Democrats or Republicans...

    I can't see the original article since it's deleted so I'm sorry if you mean something else, but are you actually claiming that promoting voting for anyone other than the Democrats or Republicans is disinformation? Even if you think it's a bad idea, that's an absurd misuse of the term.

    5 votes
  20. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    Whom
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    I'm currently reading through and watching the lectures for Yale's open access The American Novel Since 1945 course since I've really missed the feeling of attending lectures and really working my...

    I'm currently reading through and watching the lectures for Yale's open access The American Novel Since 1945 course since I've really missed the feeling of attending lectures and really working my brain in the two years since I graduated. My fiancée is the breadwinner so I have a whole lot of free time on my hands. I haven't decided if I'll revisit the books for this I've already read or not, I'm not much of a rereader of things that aren't my absolute favorites.

    The lectures are interesting enough but you can definitely tell it's only a 200-level course. That's fine, at this point I treat it more as light entertainment where I get to hear people talk about the book I just read and let it sink in a little more. Black Boy was absolutely brilliant and to be honest Wise Blood was not my favorite O'Connor. I prefer her work when it's more pointed and directly addressing the utterly vile South that's her usual setting, rather than meandering tales about faith. Of course Catholicism is always at the center of her writing, but here it's a little too inside baseball for me.

    2 votes