an_angry_tiger's recent activity
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Comment on Beware tech career advice from old heads in ~comp
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Comment on US President Donald Trump revokes legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentAs someone going through parts of it (TN, green card), it's all a mess and confusing and arbitrarily decided by whoever is doing it and easy to get parts wrong. The TN is a temporary worker status...As someone going through parts of it (TN, green card), it's all a mess and confusing and arbitrarily decided by whoever is doing it and easy to get parts wrong.
The TN is a temporary worker status for Canadians (and Mexicans, but they have to apply through their embassy) that you can apply to at a land border crossing (or airport with preclearance), you show up with a stack of papers for your application, and the border agent decides whether you qualify or not. Used to be only 1 year (renewable indefinitely until some border agent decides you've done it too many times and you're just rejected), but they changed it to 3 years (renewable indefinitely). Technically it's adjudicated every time you cross the border, so any border agent can decide that you don't qualify and you're barred from entering. If they were truly wrong you can submit an appeal, but that requires time and effort and maybe a lawyer's help, all while you're (presumably) living in that other country, with your life and stuff still there, hoping to be able to get back in.
Did you know green card quotas are by country of birth? Not citizenship or nationality, place of birth. Born in China? You're screwed, well, less screwed than in India, but screwed nonetheless. Doesn't matter if you were a British citizen whose parents were temporarily working in India, if you were born there, you're now in the Indian "10 years wait" bucket. Born in Hong Kong? You were counted as "rest of world", but Trump 1.0 signed an executive order saying to count HK as in the Chinese bucket, except that seemed to be widely ignored by immigration officials and still counted as rest of world, I guess until they change their mind and start applying the law (via EO) again.
That Canadian lady who got detained by ICE when trying to cross the border from Mexico? That process is basically just showing up at the border, asking to go to secondary to apply for a TN, and handing over a stack of papers, that's it. Normally the price for an "incorrect" application would just being denied and turned back (applying from Mexico as a non-Mexican national does add a wrinkle in there tbh), or possibly being barred from the country, for her (maybe for the Mexican border reason) it meant being detained in sub-prison conditions.
The whole thing is hard to figure out, arbitrary, complicated, stupid, etc., it's all just terrible systems overall.
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Comment on US Senator Mitch McConnell won’t seek reelection in 2026, ending long tenure as Republican power broker in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentYes, but also that has happened to others too. That's not a defense of Mitch, it's just really fucked up that multiple important American politicians have frozen up with medical episodes and still...Yes, but also that has happened to others too.
That's not a defense of Mitch, it's just really fucked up that multiple important American politicians have frozen up with medical episodes and still refuse to resign or retire.
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Comment on 27% of Canadians view USA as an 'enemy' in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentNot me, I hate them -- or at least a very large number of them. There are, I assume, good ones too /s, but I cannot discredit the huge number of assholes voting again and again for the party that...We don't hate Americans,
Not me, I hate them -- or at least a very large number of them.
There are, I assume, good ones too /s, but I cannot discredit the huge number of assholes voting again and again for the party that openly espouses hatred and misery as its main objective.
Same goes for our fellow Canadians too, and hell, a significant chunk are trump supporters too (or at least they were, before they realized the violence could be against them too, who would have guessed).
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Comment on What's your take on capital and corporal punishment? in ~talk
an_angry_tiger LinkYeah I'm not going to dive in to this that deep, everyone else has covered the "this is really fucked up" angle, and this part: in my mind eliminates this from every being realistic to enforce at...Yeah I'm not going to dive in to this that deep, everyone else has covered the "this is really fucked up" angle, and this part:
How would you feel if laws were changed so that "eye for an eye" level of corporal and capital punishment was brought in? We're talking 100% on camera, identified, and even DNA evidence before these are enforced, no chance of being wrong.
in my mind eliminates this from every being realistic to enforce at that level, especially with the many times a wrongfully accused man has been executed for murder, nor do I believe the police to always carry out their investigation in such a precise and honest way, given the many failures of police officers and departments on that front in the past.
So I'm just going to pose: what happens if it doesn't end up working out and lower the rate of shoplifting, and instead you now just have a lot of people with a criminal record and missing a hand? In this hypothetical of yours, how do you envision that society turning out? Does it turn out better for the people involved? Does it turn out better for society as a whole?
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Comment on No Man's Sky: Worlds Part II in ~games
an_angry_tiger LinkKind of a rough unstructured thought here of a game I haven't played, so bare with me, but I caught this snippet from the playstation.com announcement...Kind of a rough unstructured thought here of a game I haven't played, so bare with me, but I caught this snippet from the playstation.com announcement (https://blog.playstation.com/2025/01/29/no-mans-skys-latest-update-introduces-billions-of-new-stars-planets-and-more-today/):
One of the biggest reasons people play No Man’s Sky is for that sense of adventure and discovery, that feeling of flying to a planet, and landing to explore, knowing no one has ever been there before. With Worlds Part II, we added billions of new star systems and trillions of new planets to the universe. This allows us to push the boundaries of our engine and technology without changing the things people love about the game already.
and I find it kind of funny, like, yeah I'm sure math-wise there's billions and trillions of new combinations of procedurally generated content.....but so what?
Like I'm never going to have time to go to billions, nonetheless trillions, of star systems and planets and all that, and I know that they get to that number by doing something like, having 100 new shades of ground texture, or 50 new models of trees, or something, right? But between this type of game having 100 planets and it having a billion, it's effectively the same thing, and the difference between a ton of those planets is just going to be one small thing being changed anyway, without it really affecting the gameplay.
I guess it's just the way procedurally generated games work out, it's easy to make new permutations, but a lot of the differences between them don't matter, and in the end, you could have just taken 100 of them, tuned them up by hand, added some custom hand-made content for each one, and it'd work out better. You could even lie to me and say its all randomly generated with infinite possibilities while just returning a random one of the 100 ones you made.
Anyway didn't mean to be a buzzkill, at some point I've got to play the game, I mostly know it from its disastrous launch (as we all remember), and I've been glad to see its redemption arc over the years.
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Comment on While signing Laken Riley Act, Trump says he’ll send ‘worst’ criminal migrants to Guantanamo in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentI guess it's only a concentration camp if it comes from the Małopolska region, otherwise it's simply sparkling internment camps. I don't know what the hell we're all doing, there's 29 comments in...I guess it's only a concentration camp if it comes from the Małopolska region, otherwise it's simply sparkling internment camps.
I don't know what the hell we're all doing, there's 29 comments in this thread and most of them are arguing about terminology, as if that really matters. We know what the purpose of the installation is (and no I'm not saying it's for mass executions), we know what the result will be, we know the reasoning behind it is, and we know what's going to happen: dehumanization, death (whether intended or accidental or a simple side effect of), misery, all for ignoble goals.
It's going to be yet another of the many dark parts of American history and I don't really give a shit what it's called (it's a concentration camp), a mass amount of people will be crammed in to a facility not meant to house them, for spurious reasons, and only misery will come of it.
Anyway it's not like the Nazi concentration camps were all intended to be mass execution sites, or that they all had gas chambers. It all had the same starting point as a way of taking Jewish people, getting them out of their homes, funnelling them in to camps, causing misery and death, and only later did it turn in to a plan for mass execution, genocide.
I want to also point out, past all the discussion about what we need to call the Camp of Needless Harmful Maluses to Peoples, that Guantanomo Bay itself is a really shitty thing the American government has forced upon Cuba. President McKinley (oddly who Trump seems to model himself after now) entered the Spanish-American war, Cuba (Spanish territory at this point) was occupied by the US military, in 1901 Cuba gets their constitution and is reborn as a republic, in 1903 the US enters in to a permanent lease on the land to use as a Navy Base, in 1953 the Cuban revolution happens, Batista is ousted, and a whole new era of hostilities between the US and Cuba starts. During this, America retains control of the Navy Base, Cuba objects, and hasn't deposited any of the payments of the lease that America (roughly $4000 a year) out of objecting to the occupation of the land. If Cuba tries to reclaim it, America will respond with severe military force. Ever since 1903, a big chunk of Cuba is occupied by the US Navy for whatever they want to use it for, most recently for holding Cuban and Haitian refugees intercepted on the high seas (until it was deemed unconstitutional in 1995), and for holding and torturing suspected terrorists after 9/11 without being given the right to a fair trial. Only fitting that the American government now finds another awful use for the stolen land.
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Comment on 1,156 questions censored by DeepSeek in ~tech
an_angry_tiger Link ParentDid you try it only with "strawberry" or with other words? Maybe made up jumbles of letters? Curious if it (or any model, I don't have a horse in this race) actually reasons its way through it or...Did you try it only with "strawberry" or with other words? Maybe made up jumbles of letters?
Curious if it (or any model, I don't have a horse in this race) actually reasons its way through it or if the training data includes the strawberry problem now and it's just pattern matching its way through that case.
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Comment on US CIA now favors lab leak theory to explain Covid’s origins in ~health
an_angry_tiger Link ParentCouple that with and it feels like a lame attempt at justifying hostilities with China.Couple that with
Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas and the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has long said he thought the pandemic originated in one of the Wuhan labs and praised the shift in judgment by the agency.
“Now the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world,” Mr. Cotton said.
and it feels like a lame attempt at justifying hostilities with China.
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Comment on Is the United States in its Soviet Union era? in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentAt least his body won't live long enough to transition in to the "aw ain't he a peaceful little painter guy" a la GWB. Or maybe it will in some kind of scifi horror, held together with duct tape...At least his body won't live long enough to transition in to the "aw ain't he a peaceful little painter guy" a la GWB.
Or maybe it will in some kind of scifi horror, held together with duct tape and spite, I shudder to think of that future.
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Comment on Live updates of day one executive orders / actions taken by US President Donald Trump in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentWouldn't be the first time, Israel was founded by nazi-sympathetic terrorists (by the groups' own words): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehi_(militant_group)Wouldn't be the first time, Israel was founded by nazi-sympathetic terrorists (by the groups' own words): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehi_(militant_group)
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Comment on European Union orders X to hand over algorithm documents in ~tech
an_angry_tiger Link ParentFunnily enough that worked out exactly well for Valve when they sued Vivendi for distributing Counter-Strike to Korean internet cafes:...Funnily enough that worked out exactly well for Valve when they sued Vivendi for distributing Counter-Strike to Korean internet cafes: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/a-summer-intern-once-saved-valve-from-a-near-fatal-lawsuit-after-a-publisher-decided-to-go-world-war-3-on-it-and-it-all-hinged-on-one-email/
Vivendi tried flooding them with millions of pages of documents, all in Korean, and an intern just happened to find the one that showed Vivendi was destroying documents related to the case and they won.
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Comment on TikTok makes app unavailable for US users ahead of ban in ~tech
an_angry_tiger Link ParentWell unless the laws are for universal healthcare, bolstering the FDA/EPA, doing anything about climate change, or improving working conditions (I'll give Biden half points on that at least), then...Well unless the laws are for universal healthcare, bolstering the FDA/EPA, doing anything about climate change, or improving working conditions (I'll give Biden half points on that at least), then it seems to be very hard for the government to do anything.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
an_angry_tiger Link ParentIt's staggering how much advertising is inescapable in our lives, constantly pawing for our attention, infecting every space. My girlfriend was using uber the other day and all the cars were...It's staggering how much advertising is inescapable in our lives, constantly pawing for our attention, infecting every space. My girlfriend was using uber the other day and all the cars were little fanduel icons, some kind of tie-in I suppose. She sent me a video on instagram, a reel, had a big watermark for "Stake", the gambling company. Didn't even notice it until I pointed it out. Even when you pay to receive a premium tier of a subscription, it's only a matter of time until they start doing the calculus and throw ads in there. The allure of the advertising money printer is too strong to overcome for businesspeople.
Anyway it's a good thing a rich person who made their empire off of insidious targeted advertising isn't cozing up to presidents and worming their way in to government yet, ah shit wait fuck oh no.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 13 in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentOh he'll do it either way, and people will eat it up, doesn't matter.Oh he'll do it either way, and people will eat it up, doesn't matter.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~society
an_angry_tiger Link ParentI'm no longer convinced things will look much better without bad things happening that kicks off the better things. Much in the same way someone born in 1910 would by 1950 go "wow aren't things...I'm no longer convinced things will look much better without bad things happening that kicks off the better things. Much in the same way someone born in 1910 would by 1950 go "wow aren't things better here now than in 1910", but they'd still have lived through two world wars and massive genocides (plural, not just the Holocaust).
It might even feel worse now with how much hindsight and history to pull on, and the connectedness and advanced technology of the world, what excuses do we as a people have? We should know better -- we do know better, but we don't act better.
Then again what do I expect? My favourite show growing up was the various Star Treks, and those all envision a beautiful utopian future where people are provided for -- but only after world war 3 and the massive nuclear apocalypse that almost destroys the planet! Can't have good stuff without the bad, the very, very, terribly, awfully bad, I suppose.
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Comment on It's time to abandon the cargo cult metaphor in ~science
an_angry_tiger Link ParentFunnily enough the HN thread is why I reposted it here, I read the comments, then the article, then the comments again, and wanted to see what the discussion here would be like. I found the HN...Funnily enough the HN thread is why I reposted it here, I read the comments, then the article, then the comments again, and wanted to see what the discussion here would be like.
I found the HN comments mostly disappointing and underwhelming to read, heavily biased towards discussing language "policing" (hey now that's an offensive term, it's nothing like real police, saying we shouldn't use the term cargo cult has never broken in to the wrong house on a raid and shot someone's dog!) and "scolding" and the like, but the article itself is far more interesting.
I knew the term "cargo cult" and a loose retelling of the story of people constructing a straw plane in the hopes cargo will fall from the sky, but I sat down and read the article and actually learned about the people behind it, their actual reasons for practicing it, terrible mistreatment towards them that we've already forgotten about or ignored, and the continued misrepresentation of these people and the practice.
It actually pisses me off how much the discussion (mostly on HN) focuses around some notion of language policing instead of discussing the actual humanity and tragedy inherent to the real story. No one gives a shit if you ("you" in the general sense) say cargo cult or not, it's an article, it's not a cop (doesn't have the budget to be one certaintly!), it's not the government, it's not a regulatory, it's an article, written by someone curious in the subject and wanting to teach others. I don't know if Melanesians even care about the term, I don't care if you (again, general "you") care about it, I just hope people take the time and learn something they didn't before, learn about a time people got mistreated and language and society papered over what happened, and at the very least, if you're going to say something is a cargo cult, now you at least know how to use the term accurately. Now you really know what a cargo cult is.
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Comment on It's time to abandon the cargo cult metaphor in ~science
an_angry_tiger LinkThe cargo cult metaphor is commonly used by programmers. This metaphor was popularized by Richard Feynman's "cargo cult science" talk with a vivid description of South Seas cargo cults. However, this metaphor has three major problems. First, the pop-culture depiction of cargo cults is inaccurate and fictionalized, as I'll show. Second, the metaphor is overused and has contradictory meanings making it a lazy insult. Finally, cargo cults are portrayed as an amusing story of native misunderstanding but the background is much darker: cargo cults are a reaction to decades of oppression of Melanesian islanders and the destruction of their culture. For these reasons, the cargo cult metaphor is best avoided.
In this post, I'll describe some cargo cults from 1919 to the present. These cargo cults are completely different from the description of cargo cults you usually find on the internet, which I'll call the "pop-culture cargo cult." Cargo cults are extremely diverse, to the extent that anthropologists disagree on the cause, definition, or even if the term has value. I'll show that many of the popular views of cargo cults come from a 1962 "shockumentary" called Mondo Cane. Moreover, most online photos of cargo cults are fake.
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It's time to abandon the cargo cult metaphor
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Comment on Steam tighten up rules for games with season pass DLC in ~games
an_angry_tiger Link ParentSome could say they are only in that position because they're such a better platform for consumers. It's not a monopoly, there are other game distribution platforms that are out there, lord knows...the only reason it's not a problem is because they're a benevolent dictator.
Some could say they are only in that position because they're such a better platform for consumers. It's not a monopoly, there are other game distribution platforms that are out there, lord knows I have the Epic games one, and the EA one, and the Ubisoft one, and the Microsoft one built in to the OS, and the smaller players like GOG. I forgot Anno 1800 existed for years because I owned it on the Ubisoft one, which I never open. My gaming desktop only ever has Steam open, its the one thing I see when I shake the mouse, and it's the only one of these stores that I have open on startup.
I have free games on Epic games, they're giving away games to entice you to use it, and you know what? I kind of forget I have those games on it because its kind of a pain in the ass and I never launch their launcher, I keep going back to Steam because it works well.
Didn't see any mention of ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) here nor in the article, so I'm going to throw that hat in.
During the 2000s the US had very low interest rates, and then during basically the entire 2010s the US had interest rates at 0%, borrowing money was easy and cheap, it made sense to borrow lots of money to throw at people to make companies that could make even more money back.
If someone started their software career in 2010 and is giving you advice, take it with a grain of salt, they came in at and era where the money was flowing. Covid put an end to ZIRP for now, and now we're looking at a recession or worse. Tech companies don't have the same faucet of zero interest rate money anymore, they're doing layoffs, stealth layoffs, and replacing workers with AI (if feasible, good luck!). The job market is very different looking than what it used to be, someone who had most or all of their career in the good years (ZIRP years) is accustomed to something much different (and for their bank account, very pleasant) than what people are facing today, especially people just starting their careers.