cdb's recent activity
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Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
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Comment on The majority AI view in ~comp
cdb LinkIt seems to me that part of the issue here is the inability to have a complex narrative in public discourse. Things are either all bad or all good. Having a "useful with flaws" kind of narrative...It seems to me that part of the issue here is the inability to have a complex narrative in public discourse. Things are either all bad or all good. Having a "useful with flaws" kind of narrative usually just trends towards "bad."
I see some parallels in a discussion about Pro Football Focus (PFF) rating I saw on reddit today. PFF ratings are based on human scoring of videos of the game. The post had some data showing that PFF ratings are more predictive of future results than other stats/results based metrics. There are a lot of people in the comments bashing the PFF ratings saying that they're not representative of reality, pointing to disconnects between PFF ratings and the statistics. There are people defending the ratings saying that although they may have flaws, they measure things in a way that raw stats based on results can't. Some of the responses are some kind of results-oriented thinking or saying that there's no point if there are flaws. It seems like it's hard to get across that this stat might be interesting and useful in certain circumstances, but not the end-all-be-all. People seem to be looking for one stat that is the correct or best one, when the system is complex and such a stat doesn't exist. In a similar way, some of these AI models are far from perfect and far from universally applicable, but they are improvements in certain circumstances or in certain marginal ways.
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Comment on Not sure if coincidence or I should give up (on USB flash drives) in ~tech
cdb LinkAside from the more reliable alternatives people have already suggested, I still find myself using flash drives occasionally. Since you mentioned Amazon, one possible issue is getting low quality...Aside from the more reliable alternatives people have already suggested, I still find myself using flash drives occasionally. Since you mentioned Amazon, one possible issue is getting low quality fakes, which seems like possible issue when buying flash memory like this drives and sd cards online. I'm still willing to buy from Amazon, but I'll test speed and capacity from at least one of the pack to ensure I've received something that meets the specs of what I ordered. The utility I used to test capacity was "H2testw," which seems to basically write a file taking up the entire space of the drive then check it for validity.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
cdb Link ParentFair enough. I think we're on the same side. I'm just a nerd who likes to argue about technicalities. I hung up some dog leashes and harnesses to dry outside this past weekend and felt grateful I...Fair enough. I think we're on the same side. I'm just a nerd who likes to argue about technicalities. I hung up some dog leashes and harnesses to dry outside this past weekend and felt grateful I wasn't living under that awful HOA agreement.
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Comment on I could use recommendations for an ultrawide monitor in ~tech
cdb (edited )LinkMy previous setup was two 35" LG ultrawide VA displays stacked on top of each other. I got rid of one of them to use an LG C4 42" monitor as my main display. It looks absolutely amazing for videos...My previous setup was two 35" LG ultrawide VA displays stacked on top of each other. I got rid of one of them to use an LG C4 42" monitor as my main display. It looks absolutely amazing for videos and games, but it's a noticeable downgrade in text clarity. The size is not the issue, as the PPI is nearly the same between displays. I'm kind of regretting the choice of the OLED, because like you one of my main uses is coding. I tried mounting the display on the wall for a farther viewing distance with increased scaling, but it didn't help much.
In the future I'd probably go with an ultrawide IPS for my main display. The Dell UltraSharp U4025QW or LG 40WP95C look like something I would want to buy, but they're quite expensive at $1500+. Although not curved, I was thinking the INNOCN 40C1U might be a good alternative at ~$800. Since you said that you didn't want to spend a ton and also work on photo editing, I guess a decent flat 32" 4k IPS monitor might be the best choice because flat is better for photo editing and they look great for text.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
cdb Link ParentYou have to draw a line to define what you are abolishing. What scale of organization is considered required and understandable, and what scale of organization is not? For a row of townhouses that...You have to draw a line to define what you are abolishing. What scale of organization is considered required and understandable, and what scale of organization is not? For a row of townhouses that share a roof and have a shared yard, can a community designate someone to handle the maintenance? Surely, the residents of all ten units won't simultaneously engage with the roofer and gardener, will they? What if the expenses are high enough that no one really wants to take on the financial responsibility personally, and people want to pool their funds in a consistent and secure way that ensures that people will contribute what they agreed to and doesn't rely on one person's honesty to hold the money? Bam, you have the definition of an HOA.
Sure, a lot of HOAs seem overly restrictive. I rejected the idea of buying one house under HOA in part because the agreement forbade things like hanging up laundry to dry, even in the back yard. However, there clearly is a use for some community agreements which vary based on need. It's easy to point to some agreement that should obviously be allowed and some agreement that seems entirely frivolous, but deciding what is considered an overly intrusive agreement requires drawing a line somewhere in between.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
cdb (edited )LinkWe should vote for ideas, not people or parties. Ballots should just have short lists of bullet points describing position on several topics submitted by the candidate themselves, similar to the...We should vote for ideas, not people or parties. Ballots should just have short lists of bullet points describing position on several topics submitted by the candidate themselves, similar to the blurb that is often included in the voter guide. No names or parties or identifying information would be allowed on the ballot. Maybe with some randomization of order and a few variations in wording so people get slightly different ballots, like when the teacher passes out several versions of a test to reduce cheating. Anyone found posting identifying information matching blurb with candidate outside of the ballot is punished severely, let's say something similar to treason. If you're too lazy to read all that shit, then go away, I don't want your vote.
Don't ask how we'd enforce the rules on the text. That's someone else's job.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
cdb Link ParentI mentally flipped back and forth between "use" and "utilize" in all your examples, and both versions seemed to mean the same thing to me for all examples.I mentally flipped back and forth between "use" and "utilize" in all your examples, and both versions seemed to mean the same thing to me for all examples.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
cdb (edited )Link ParentOn one hand, I also feel like some HOAs go too far, so I deliberately avoided HOA properties when house hunting. On the other, I feel like this is one of those ideas that sound good until you try...On one hand, I also feel like some HOAs go too far, so I deliberately avoided HOA properties when house hunting. On the other, I feel like this is one of those ideas that sound good until you try to draw a line, and there's no place to draw it that works for everyone. How would you cap "simple organizing," where all organizations above that line would be abolished, and what would you do if certain communities needed organizing exceeding that cap? Maybe something that could work would be requiring a financial justification for each rule, renewed every few years or so, otherwise that rule gets removed. That would incentivize having very few rules, but I feel like this is also only an ideal that's really hard to enforce in practice.
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Comment on Can we bury enough wood to slow climate change? in ~enviro
cdb Link ParentSure, but that sounds to me like an entirely different discussion. If we would just stop doing the thing that causes the problem, then we'd stop having the problem. While reducing pollution is...Sure, but that sounds to me like an entirely different discussion. If we would just stop doing the thing that causes the problem, then we'd stop having the problem. While reducing pollution is probably the best thing to do, unfortunately there are some competing priorities. These items are presumably created for some benefit, not just to pollute.
Although it could be an interesting discussion whether it's a net positive/negative to bury paper waste instead of recycling it, to relate it to the question in the headline of this article, we probably can't bury enough to slow climate change. It seems like the carbon sequestration of plastic production is similarly insignificant. Based on the article, it does seem like it's also an interesting conversation whether we should be more aggressive with burying waste wood, since it has some potential to be impactful.
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Comment on Can we bury enough wood to slow climate change? in ~enviro
cdb Link ParentI think the issue here is scale. A quick googling suggests that annual global plastic production is roughly 0.4 billion tons, and paper production is also roughly 0.4 billion tons, while total...I think the issue here is scale. A quick googling suggests that annual global plastic production is roughly 0.4 billion tons, and paper production is also roughly 0.4 billion tons, while total annual carbon emissions are around 40 billion tons.
So all the carbon from plastic and paper combined is only equivalent to about 2% of the problem.
This is just for comparison of scale. Not going into the issues with translating these products to atmospheric emissions, logistics of sequestering, etc.
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Comment on What's your favorite hobby? in ~hobbies
cdb Link ParentI think this is actually what I wish I would do, assuming there's a focus on doing the actual hobby. Unfortunately, once I get all these ideas rolling around in my brain, what I usually end up...I think this is actually what I wish I would do, assuming there's a focus on doing the actual hobby. Unfortunately, once I get all these ideas rolling around in my brain, what I usually end up doing is getting stuck learning about the hobby rather than actually practicing it. So, I've stuck with relatively fewer activities while I work on my "doing" skills rather than "planning" skills.
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Comment on Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US? in ~transport
cdb Link ParentMy instinct is to say that I'm really sad that we really can't discuss any topic without it always being about blame. There's this awful assumption in all internet discourse that every single bad...My instinct is to say that I'm really sad that we really can't discuss any topic without it always being about blame. There's this awful assumption in all internet discourse that every single bad thing in the world is always some person or group's fault. Therefore, if you say that anything bad is happening, you are assumed to be blaming some person/group. It's never a system that could use improvement. If we just get really angry at someone and shame them enough, the problem would go away. Any statement that could be construed as saying something negative about a person or group is taken to be in reality blaming that person/group. It's incredibly frustrating to try to talk about structural reasons why things might be changing over time, and only getting responses saying that I'm blaming the wrong people. I'm not trying to blame pedestrians like it's some moral failure. That doesn't even make sense. "Pedestrians bad" isn't a problem we can work on, and is obviously missing the point. There must be some reason that would be more productive to address. While I'd love for the US to focus more on pedestrian and bike infrastructure, we had all this car-centric infrastructure prior to 2010 as well. Unless we can point to some change in how the statistics are collected, blame doesn't explain the change.
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Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk
cdb Link ParentThat sounds too useful. Maybe I could build the freshwater pool, then build an aquarium with salt water tanks inside it, not connected to the ocean. There would be no foot paths. You'd have to...That sounds too useful. Maybe I could build the freshwater pool, then build an aquarium with salt water tanks inside it, not connected to the ocean. There would be no foot paths. You'd have to snorkel or scuba dive to observe the exhibits.
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Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk
cdb LinkCreate my own island country in international waters with a nice modern city atop. I'll hire many of the best scientists and engineers and workers to live and work there on building a space...Create my own island country in international waters with a nice modern city atop. I'll hire many of the best scientists and engineers and workers to live and work there on building a space elevator. The space elevator won't work, so rather than being a benefit to humanity, it'll be a huge waste of resources. It'll look cool though. Although it might result in some good science being done, most likely it'll be a distraction from actually useful projects so it'll be at best a wash as far as scientific benefit to humanity.
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Comment on 2025 NFL Season 🏈 Weekly Discussion Thread – Week 6 in ~sports.american_football
cdb LinkMy team won! Although somehow the feeling is diminished by the fact that apparently losing to the Raiders is a fireable offense for the head coach.My team won! Although somehow the feeling is diminished by the fact that apparently losing to the Raiders is a fireable offense for the head coach.
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Comment on ‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder in ~tech
cdb LinkI'm kind of hoping that this ends up being a good thing over time. I have a friend who's been doing a lot of online dating lately, and the amount of texting prior to meeting up is insane to me....I'm kind of hoping that this ends up being a good thing over time. I have a friend who's been doing a lot of online dating lately, and the amount of texting prior to meeting up is insane to me. Texting is way too impersonal and different from how people act in person, so having a protracted text conversation prior to meeting in person is just setting yourself up for some sort of disconnect, even if you're meeting someone who's a great fit for you. I feel like texting has been too normalized as a default form of communication, rather than speaking in person or even through a phone call. If people come to distrust text communications due to the existence of LLMs, maybe they'll be more inclined to think of it more as a channel to enable a meet up in person. This is higher effort and therefore can be more disappointing, but that's how things worked through most of human history. Unfortunately, one downside might just be that distrusting text communications will cause fewer in-person connections overall, as the old ways of meeting people seem to be withering away.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club - The Poisoners Handbook by Deborah Blum - How is it going? in ~books
cdb LinkFinished it on audiobook a few weeks ago. Should be interesting to read what people think about the descriptions of chemistry and methods of testing.Finished it on audiobook a few weeks ago. Should be interesting to read what people think about the descriptions of chemistry and methods of testing.
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Comment on Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US? in ~transport
cdb (edited )Link ParentIf we were talking about an individual case I'd want to be more human about it, but I'm not sure it's appropriate to apply the "victim blaming" label to these kinds of analyses at the population...If we were talking about an individual case I'd want to be more human about it, but I'm not sure it's appropriate to apply the "victim blaming" label to these kinds of analyses at the population level. Given that the majority of pedestrian deaths are associated with " jaywalking, failing to properly yield, or improperly in the road" with the percentage increasing over time, I think it's appropriate to explore what's going on with pedestrian behavior. Plus, there are some studies that correlate pedestrian phone use with increased accident risk. I'm just saying that I haven't see enough data to show whether it's one of the more significant contributing factors to the recent increase in pedestrians killed by cars.
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Comment on Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US? in ~transport
cdb LinkGreat article. Well thought out analysis with lots of supporting data. Thanks for posting. Seems like a complex problem overall. I liked some of the comments on the site as well. Aside from the...Great article. Well thought out analysis with lots of supporting data. Thanks for posting.
Seems like a complex problem overall. I liked some of the comments on the site as well. Aside from the "Big SUV" and drug use assertions supported by the data, I think the lower visibility due to focus on car occupant safety seems like the most interesting avenue to look into further. From just a quick google, it seems there are some quantitative studies showing increases in blind spots in newer cars, but I didn't find studies specifically correlating this with fatalities. I also thought the distracted pedestrian angle might be interesting too, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a reason why that might affect the US and not other countries. It's just anecdotal, but from what I've observed while traveling, people in European cities seemed to use their phones while walking just as often as in the US.
Hmm...