bilbodwyer's recent activity
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Comment on Ask Tildes: What small purchase has vastly improved your life? in ~life
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Out-of-control SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon
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Comment on Ask Tildes: What small purchase has vastly improved your life? in ~life
bilbodwyer Link ParentAs a Brit the lack of kettles across the pond is wild to me. As is the fact that you call it a medium purchase... £5 for a basic one over here?As a Brit the lack of kettles across the pond is wild to me. As is the fact that you call it a medium purchase... £5 for a basic one over here?
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Comment on Any good non-fiction recommendations? in ~books
bilbodwyer LinkIt's an older book, but The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker is rather good i thinkIt's an older book, but The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker is rather good i think
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Comment on After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful in ~tech
bilbodwyer LinkI'm not an iPhone user, and indeed, not an SMS user. WhatsApp is king in the UK, at least up to a certain generation as far as I can tell. People younger than me that I message at uni seem to...I'm not an iPhone user, and indeed, not an SMS user. WhatsApp is king in the UK, at least up to a certain generation as far as I can tell. People younger than me that I message at uni seem to prefer Instagram. Lots of people on the local music scene seem to prefer Facebook Messenger.
It would be super cool to see Apple and Google (or Samsung?) team up to create a single, secure messaging standard that isn't in the hands of goddamn Meta. -
After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful
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Comment on Youth suicide attempts soared during pandemic, CDC report says in ~health
bilbodwyer Link ParentAgreed. In recent conversations I feel like there hasn't any room for nuance or shades of grey. IMO vaccines are a good thing, but I am very concerned by the trend towards a society where the...Agreed. In recent conversations I feel like there hasn't any room for nuance or shades of grey. IMO vaccines are a good thing, but I am very concerned by the trend towards a society where the unvaccinated are excluded from participating. I wear a mask, I am fully vaccinated and boosted, and obeyed all of the lockdowns in the UK, and have actively encouraged people to do the same. I also worked at a beer festival in September and we were told to turn away people at the entrance who couldn't show proof of vaccination, which I was deeply uncomfortable with.
But trying to express that in conversation with friends and family has proven incredibly difficult, since apparently you can't hold both positions. So I've largely given up trying to have the conversations, because I'm not changing anyone's mind when I do, and apparently have been portraying myself as some kind of anti-vax sympathiser. -
Comment on Dan Wang's 2021 letter about China in ~misc
bilbodwyer Link ParentOr we're simply not looking in the right places. China is perceived as the global villain by many people in "the West," and a lot of Chinese cultural works are likely seen as non-starters by the...Or we're simply not looking in the right places. China is perceived as the global villain by many people in "the West," and a lot of Chinese cultural works are likely seen as non-starters by the organisations who would be responsible for the finances of trying to translate and publish Chinese media outside of China (as a side-note, Mandarin is also notoriously difficult to translate into other languages).
I would be curious to know what the state of its cultural influence is over in Africa, where China has been heavily investing in infrastructure and exercising its soft power more and more over the last decade. Are Chinese films and TV shows more familiar there than they are with us?
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Comment on Where do I start with _____? in ~talk
bilbodwyer LinkI've been playing around with some board game ideas in my head, and my daughter got me a "build your own board game" kit for Christmas! I've never done this before, and I don't know where to begin...I've been playing around with some board game ideas in my head, and my daughter got me a "build your own board game" kit for Christmas! I've never done this before, and I don't know where to begin turning my ideas for themes and mechanics into something playable. Any suggestions or recommendations would be welcome!
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Comment on Classic social networking in 2022: SpaceHey in ~tech
bilbodwyer LinkWell this is delightful, I am so here for it :DWell this is delightful, I am so here for it :D
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Comment on What changes are you looking to make in 2022? in ~talk
bilbodwyer Link ParentI suspect they mean more of the CAGED chords and the relevant minors that don't require barres to play. That being said: learning to play barre chords properly is dead useful, and worth doing even...Are you referring to the I, IV, and V chords? If so, I guess a capo would make playing different music in different scales easier!
I suspect they mean more of the CAGED chords and the relevant minors that don't require barres to play. That being said: learning to play barre chords properly is dead useful, and worth doing even if you have a capo! You'll end up learning more interesting chord voicings, and it makes playing jazzier chords (such as 7ths) much easier when the time comes.
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Comment on Your theme for 2022 in ~talk
bilbodwyer LinkMy theme for 2021 was Year of Finance, and it went broadly ok until autumn or so. My relationship began to fail and we were desperately shelling out money to try to make ourselves feel better...My theme for 2021 was Year of Finance, and it went broadly ok until autumn or so. My relationship began to fail and we were desperately shelling out money to try to make ourselves feel better (dates, new furniture, decorating, takeaways, etc), and ignore the problems. Fortunately due to lucky timing for some inheritance I have managed to recoup my losses from that, and then some. But had it not been for that I would have been worse off by far going into 2022.
My theme for 2022 has grown somewhat out of that experience: the Year of Authenticity. Being more introspective and mindful, more honest with myself and others, more deliberate in my thoughts and actions. I know goals aren't really a thing for themes, but I do plan to wrap coming out into the theme as well. I'm going to make more of an effort to take notes of my progress and document how the theme goes as well, which is (I think) where previous efforts have fallen down.
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Comment on I am a transwoman, I am in the closet and I am not coming out in ~lgbt
bilbodwyer LinkWell fuck, here I am feeling like I'm making good progress with figuring out where I'm at with gender, and then this hits me (: It's a valuable perspective, and I'm glad to have read it, but fuck...Well fuck, here I am feeling like I'm making good progress with figuring out where I'm at with gender, and then this hits me (:
It's a valuable perspective, and I'm glad to have read it, but fuck if it's given me a thousand more questions.
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Comment on Would you recommend a search engine, please? in ~tech
bilbodwyer LinkI would be interested in the logic that shows Google doesn't care about giving you decent results. Either way, I use DuckDuckGo and it's great, never had any issues with it. I reckon part of that...I would be interested in the logic that shows Google doesn't care about giving you decent results.
Either way, I use DuckDuckGo and it's great, never had any issues with it. I reckon part of that is a good idea of how to use search engines though. I always think that Google corrects for bad search terms quite well, whereas DDG needs more precision at the outset.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (December 2021) in ~talk
bilbodwyer LinkComing and going. My partner and I split up a couple of weeks ago. It was definitely the right decision, because we were making each other miserable, and couldn't ever find a way to communicate...Coming and going. My partner and I split up a couple of weeks ago. It was definitely the right decision, because we were making each other miserable, and couldn't ever find a way to communicate effectively. But knowing that it's for the best doesn't soften the crushing sense of loneliness that I'm feeling right now. I can feel myself slipping back into depressive habits, and I'm struggling to summon the willpower to avoid them. I'm seeking solitude rather than the company of friends, eating poorly, staying up far too late (as evidenced by my typing this at nearly 4am), not looking after the house, ignoring my studies, spending far too much money, and so on and so forth. I need to find a way to get a grip, but for the life of me I can't figure out how.
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Comment on G-7 warns Moscow of ‘massive consequences’ if Russia invades Ukraine in ~news
bilbodwyer LinkDo we have any Ukrainian tilderen who can tell us what the feeling is like over there at the moment? And does anybody know of a good source of context for what's occuring here? A full invasion...Do we have any Ukrainian tilderen who can tell us what the feeling is like over there at the moment?
And does anybody know of a good source of context for what's occuring here? A full invasion seems (to my uninformed mind) highly unlikely, but I'm interested to know more about why it's being taken as such a serious threat.
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Comment on A tree a minute: One man planting 1440 trees in a day in ~enviro
bilbodwyer LinkWell that was a really fun watch! Eagerly awaiting his follow up in 2 years :DWell that was a really fun watch! Eagerly awaiting his follow up in 2 years :D
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Comment on Democrats fall flat with ‘Latinx’ language in ~humanities
bilbodwyer Link ParentI hadn't actually spotted that you linked the Wikipedia article to Sapir-Whorf, apologies. I agree with you here, but with the caveat that I think language use has the potential to perpetuate...I hadn't actually spotted that you linked the Wikipedia article to Sapir-Whorf, apologies.
Speaking a language without noun cases does not make you immune from associating gender with concepts despite their being totally unrelated to the social construct. Language is not the cause of social gender inequity. I do not believe in the slightest that either learning to speak languages that have different noun case systems than your native language, nor concocting neologisms like Latinx, will make you nor society any more egalitarian, per se.
I agree with you here, but with the caveat that I think language use has the potential to perpetuate social gender inequality. As has been mentioned above, various kinds of instruction manual often use gendered pronouns in English. I often find myself paraphrasing board game instructions on the fly because my group skews female, but the instructions invariably use he/him.
I don't think that eradicating grammatical gender has merit, nor that it would make society more egalitarian. It's a shame that any linguistic features become extinct, but to explicitly eradicate one would be far worse.
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Comment on Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts | First look teaser | HBO Max in ~movies
bilbodwyer Link ParentIt's a real shame, as well. Lord of the Rings turns 20 this year, and I would be so keen to see a remastered version where they've touched up the CGI. By and large the film's still look great two...I think these (and the DVD and then BluRay updates) are why we don't see more of this.
It's a real shame, as well. Lord of the Rings turns 20 this year, and I would be so keen to see a remastered version where they've touched up the CGI. By and large the film's still look great two decades later, but there are the odd flashes here and there that could stand to be tweaked just a little to bring them up to modern standards.
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Comment on Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts | First look teaser | HBO Max in ~movies
bilbodwyer Link ParentI had no idea this existed! I must give it a watch, Rocky was such a huge part of my childhood, and I always felt IV was a bit naff.Stallone's recut of Rocky IV.
I had no idea this existed! I must give it a watch, Rocky was such a huge part of my childhood, and I always felt IV was a bit naff.
Oh god, there was a viral TikTok a couple of years ago about this, some lady showing you how to make "the perfect cup of tea" and starting by microwaving some cold water. Absolute abomination. Not to mention unsafe!