ap0r's recent activity

  1. Comment on Project Hail Mary - Discussion thread in ~movies

    ap0r
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    This could be me but I found it hard to imagine Rocky's musical speech. The audiobook nails that in my opinion. That is all. It is not a huge difference, but it is superior to me.

    This could be me but I found it hard to imagine Rocky's musical speech. The audiobook nails that in my opinion. That is all. It is not a huge difference, but it is superior to me.

    5 votes

  2. Comment on Project Hail Mary - Discussion thread in ~movies

    ap0r
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    Have read the book. Have listened to the audiobook. Spents months wishing they wouldn't mess the adaptation. I am very pleased with the movie. If you come into it expecting a blow-by-blow...

    Have read the book. Have listened to the audiobook. Spents months wishing they wouldn't mess the adaptation.

    I am very pleased with the movie. If you come into it expecting a blow-by-blow retelling of the book, you will be sorely disappointed. There is no way to fit sixteen hours' worth of content into a movie.

    If you come into it expecting a faithful adaptation to the spirit of the story, making accommodations for length and visual media, you will almost certainly be pleased, although there are a few nitpicks regarding plot points that are glossed over or changed. I felt that the changes are logical and understandable.

    The movie people did a great job adapting this story, I was pleased and will watch again. In order of enjoyment out of the experience, I would say the audiobook is king, and the book and movie tied for close second.

    Again, that is valid unless you go into the movie with a nitpicking mindset. The spirit of the story is there, but there were many understandable changes introduced, and some minor arguably unnecessary changes.

    I'd say, if you have not read the books go in blind. It will be a wild ride of emotion and friendship. If you have read the books, go into the movie with an open mind. The movie stands on its own, it is not a carbon copy of the book. If you are the type of person who obsesses over details and faithfulness to canon, skip the movie and stick to the books (but you will still be missing on a different, beautiful experience)

    Myself? Zero regrets. They didn't fuck it up.

    11 votes

  3. Comment on Commonly misspelled words quiz in ~humanities.languages

    ap0r
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    Congratulations! You got 6460/8300—a high score! Typical score for my age group was 4506 I have been writing professionally since 2019, and am a non-native speaker. Turns out one learns a thing or...

    Congratulations!

    You got 6460/8300—a high score! Typical score for my age group was 4506

    I have been writing professionally since 2019, and am a non-native speaker. Turns out one learns a thing or two from writing and reading pages upon pages daily.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on This is old, but I learned about it today and it warmed my heart. What happens when a nursing home and a day care center share a roof? in ~life

    ap0r
    Link Parent
    The concept you mention is "healthspan", arguably more important than "lifespan". I wouldn't mind living to 200 in a decent body, with a sharp mind and intact memories, and with friends and...

    The concept you mention is "healthspan", arguably more important than "lifespan".

    I wouldn't mind living to 200 in a decent body, with a sharp mind and intact memories, and with friends and family. Living to 90 in a declining body with a mind that you know is feebler every week, and losing friends and family, everyone you hold dear? No thanks for me.

    3 votes

  5. Comment on This is old, but I learned about it today and it warmed my heart. What happens when a nursing home and a day care center share a roof? in ~life

    ap0r
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    Combined nursing home and daycare. I am sure it improves health outcomes while delaying decline for the elder and enhances learning and socialization for the kids, but I mostly wanted to share...

    Combined nursing home and daycare. I am sure it improves health outcomes while delaying decline for the elder and enhances learning and socialization for the kids, but I mostly wanted to share because I thought this is a smart, simple idea to make the lives of everyone involved better.

    13 votes

  7. Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative

    ap0r
    Link Parent
    Good idea, makes it look more intentional, and gives refined vibes. Have you considered any plants?

    Going to get my posters framed

    Good idea, makes it look more intentional, and gives refined vibes.

    Have you considered any plants?

    2 votes

  8. Comment on What radicalized you? in ~talk

    ap0r
    Link Parent
    I live in a country with state-funded healthcare. Our medical system is not top notch, but it is easily in the top 20 in the world. Still, people refuse to exercise and eat healthy. Cardiovascular...

    I live in a country with state-funded healthcare. Our medical system is not top notch, but it is easily in the top 20 in the world. Still, people refuse to exercise and eat healthy. Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are top killers, even with treatment, because the known preventatives in lifestyle and the known outcome improvers in lifestyle are not adhered to by people.

    This people problem is unrelated to politics. We eat junk, drive everywhere in giant motorized wheelchairs to our sit-down jobs, then go home to sit and stare at a screen and then blame Politician X from Y party for diabetes.

    17 votes

  9. Comment on AI was eroding trust in my classroom — so I got rid of typed papers and bought my students notebooks instead in ~life

    ap0r
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    As someone who works writing papers for people, I was scared that the AI revolution and physical paper approaches like the one described here would kill my work. Turns out it is about the same it...

    As someone who works writing papers for people, I was scared that the AI revolution and physical paper approaches like the one described here would kill my work. Turns out it is about the same it has always been.

    There are AI detection tools, so flat-out copy-pasting does not work, and between fact-checking the AI for hallucinations and rewriting the paper to make it sound human, it ends up being about the same effort as writing the paper yourself, especially for longer 3+ pages papers, so customers continue to hire me. In the case of hand-written papers, the customer simply "hand-prints" my paper with a good old pen.

    Therefore, as a means to prevent cheating, this is a waste of the honest students time, and also a waste of valuable professor's time (reading handwriting is significantly slower than reading on a screen)

    However, I will note that AI has elevated the quality of my work. You can do so much with it that is not "write my essay". You can ask it for alternate theses, to find obscure facts and data that are hard to find and easy to check, to provide feedback on your paper, to contrast your paper against the rubric, to find factual errors and omissions, to organize your brainstorm into structured paragraphs, and so much else.

    If you are smart about it, you can use AI academically and increase the quality of your work while remaining 100% legit since you are not plagiarizing the LLM's output. It's like having a personal teacher. If you are dumb about it, you will copy-paste or replace words instead of properly paraphrasing AI and get found out.

    To the professor's credit, studies do show that handwriting can improve retention by forcing deeper processing and involving the motor cortex and other parts of the brain not stimulated by plain typing, so it might genuinely help some students. But mandating it for everyone, to me, feels like punishing the majority to catch a few, especially when smart AI use is already legit and undetectable if done thoughtfully.

    I guess the TL;DR of what I am saying would be:

    A) Handwriting is ineffective to stop LLM or traditional cheating.
    B) It increases workload for everyone for very minor retention benefits.
    C) AI can be used responsibly.

    So a better policy would be teaching students how to use AI well, rather than being a Luddite about it.

    5 votes

  10. Comment on GQ interview with Louis Theroux on his upcoming documentary about the manosphere in ~life.men

    ap0r
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    Mr. Theroux’s interview failed to challenge my views about modern masculinity or the so-called "manosphere." It did, however, do an excellent job at reaffirming my skepticism towards...

    Mr. Theroux’s interview failed to challenge my views about modern masculinity or the so-called "manosphere." It did, however, do an excellent job at reaffirming my skepticism towards ideologically-driven authors (or documentarians in this case) and their narratives.

    From the headline and opening lines, the author's overly politicized language framing influencers as "ultra-misogynistic," "sinister," and part of a "grim coalition" signals a lack of objectivity, and the rest of the piece follos suit. Instead of presenting serious evidence for its case, it appears the documentary relies on a long list of anecdotal encounters and cherry-picked quotes to argue that the manosphere represents a broader systemic threat to society, particularly to young men. While dramatic and compelling, anecdotes lack statistical and empirical grounding.

    The piece conflates many social issues. Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, porn, human trafficking, and even conspiracy theories are packaged into an emotionally-charged narrative of internet toxicity, but it fails to provide clear causation links or even evidence of the relevance of this narrative to real-world harm.

    Indeed, it's true that many legitimate critiques can be made about toxic online influencers and their impact on impressionable audiences, but the interview's use of isolated cases detracts from those critiques by being methodologically unsound.

    As a man confident in traditional masculinity rooted in values such as responsibility, self-reliance, and respect earned through real-world actions, not online posturing I see the "manosphere" not as a powerful "final boss," but as a collection of weak men posing as alphas, hiding behind screens and ragebait to mask their insecurities.

    Mr. Theroux's portrayal amplifies them into villains, but it ignores how such figures thrive on the very attention pieces like this provide.

    The use of anecdotal evidence I could forgive if the narrative of escalating misogyny and cultural danger it pushes reflected reality, but available data contradicts this alarmism: Statistics indicate a general decline in domestic violence since the early 1990s.

    Of course, by ignoring the broader trends and selecting sensational examples, any compelling narrative can be spun, but without proper backing, this interview reads closer to promotional propaganda for Theroux's Netflix deal than to balanced journalism. It would have been much better if it had incorporated data to substantiate claims of widespread harm, rather than leaning on vague notions of "dark privilege" and existential burnout.

    Mr Theroux’s approach, evident in this interview and his body of work, reflects a progressive, media-savvy lens: Anti-traditionalist, quick to pathologize male struggles as "toxic," obsessed with vulnerability as a counter to strength, and allergic to nuance that might humanize without excusing. He raises a few interesting points about the internet's role in amplifying extremes, and the piece makes for good inflammatory reading, but with its evident ideological bias plus the statistics countering the main claim of a rising threat, it failed to change my views on masculinity.

    It serves as a cautionary tale on failing to separate cultural critiques from partisan activism rather than a good analytical discussion. Real men don't need to role-play as silverbacks. We build quietly, lead by example, and dismiss the manosphere posers without amplifying their noise.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on Do you have your invite request email? Post it and let's find out what drives people to want to be a part of Tildes. in ~tildes

    ap0r
    Link Parent
    Gmail does that to your sent emails (I guess to make them mobile-friendly). I copied and pasted it from my sent messages. I assure you the original was composed normally.

    Gmail does that to your sent emails (I guess to make them mobile-friendly). I copied and pasted it from my sent messages. I assure you the original was composed normally.

    4 votes

  12. Do you have your invite request email? Post it and let's find out what drives people to want to be a part of Tildes.

    ~tildes Ask
    Dear Tildes Team: I've been a long-time Reddit user, but lately it's been feeling more and more like Facebook. Suggested posts, hidden comments, and the subreddits I actually subscribe to are...

    Dear Tildes Team:

    I've been a long-time Reddit user, but lately it's been feeling more
    and more like Facebook. Suggested posts, hidden comments, and the
    subreddits I actually subscribe to are buried under irrelevant
    algo-suggested junk. The concept of Reddit is great, but its execution
    is done by a public corporation nowadays and its enshittification has
    been notable.

    I've been looking for a simpler, less commercialized place:
    chronological, user-curated feeds, thoughtful discussions as opposed
    to endless low-effort memes, and in general, absence of corporate
    nonsense to push engagement metrics and ads.

    Tildes seems to fit the bill. I like its focus on quality over
    quantity, clean and simple interface, and eemphasis on real
    conversations. It seems it's the kind of place I'd actually enjoy
    spending time on again.

    I'd really appreciate an invite if there's any room. I am also ready
    to answer any questions or provide whatever info you need.

    Thanks for keeping a corner of the internet sane.

    Best Regards,

    29 votes

  13. Comment on Booting from a vinyl record in ~comp

    ap0r
    Link Parent
    Thanks! I was able to watch the video. Still unable to access the website to learn how the infernal noise was made.

    Thanks! I was able to watch the video. Still unable to access the website to learn how the infernal noise was made.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Booting from a vinyl record in ~comp

    ap0r
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    It seems to be down right now :(

    It seems to be down right now :(

    2 votes

  15. Comment on The hidden engineering of runways in ~engineering

    ap0r
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    There is so much engineering that goes into airports in general as well. To add to the video's material: All the navigation aid antennas and lighting poles near runways have to be frangible; i.e....

    There is so much engineering that goes into airports in general as well. To add to the video's material:

    1. All the navigation aid antennas and lighting poles near runways have to be frangible; i.e. fail in a controlled manner when crashed into to minimize damage to aircraft.

    2. A flat apron (the parking space for aircraft and where cargo and passengers are loaded and unloaded) is great for easy maneuvering and towing. However, it will flood easily in rain, so a graded apron is better. But the grading must be carefully designed, else under icing conditions planes, tow trucks, and even people may slide downhill or be hard to control. There are specs for grading airport aprons.

    3. To minimize the traffic of fuel trucks, many airports have a system akin to fire hydrants to deliver fuel under pressure directly to parking spots. One end of a hose to the airplane, the other end to the "fuel hydrant". To further take advantage of this system, many modern aircraft are designed with a single refueling point and a selector panel that ground crews can operate to fill separate tanks as needed instead of filling individual tanks on each aircraft, which requires hose repositioning.

    4. Airports can be surprisingly complicated to navigate on the ground, as there are many taxiways. Especially during the night or in bad weather, people have gotten themselves lost (or even used the wrong runway, which tragically resulted in fatalities). On many airports, you can request a "follow me" car, which does exactly that. A person familiar with the airport will drive to you, and guide you to a parking spot or runway.

    5. The iconic control tower look is there for a reason; the glass angle minimizes blinding sun reflections to aircraft approaching runways, and minimizes internal reflections for controllers.

    6. All airports will have a light gun to issue signals to non-radio equipped aircraft. Yes, flying without a radio is still legal in 2026. No, it is not a good idea to use busy airspace in a non-radio-equipped aircraft.

    7. Runway numbers and letters are not random; they are based on the runway's orientation. Instead of typing another paragraph, here is a video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSRmfNDk87s

    7 votes

  16. Comment on What private companies are you happy doing business with? in ~talk

    ap0r
    Link Parent
    Of course the recipes are there to influence people to consume more baked products, ideally from that brand. What Slade meant (correct me if I am wrong, please) is that there is a difference...

    Of course the recipes are there to influence people to consume more baked products, ideally from that brand. What Slade meant (correct me if I am wrong, please) is that there is a difference between providing helpful information that may lead to a sale and disguising pure advertising as information.

    In other words, if I am a toolmaker and I publish a web compendium of useful niche tools, some of which I don't even make, this would be a boon to tool users, whereas if I published a web compendium of how to use my screwdrivers as ice picks, back scratchers, and tiny spears, I am fully focused on increasing my sales rather than providing true value to my customers.

    3 votes