frostycakes's recent activity

  1. Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    And we wonder why a homelessness crisis exists. People's need for shelter should outweigh any desires on the part of landlords who are accepting state subsidies for tenants. If they don't like it?...

    And we wonder why a homelessness crisis exists. People's need for shelter should outweigh any desires on the part of landlords who are accepting state subsidies for tenants.

    If they don't like it? They should throw support behind state owned and operated public housing again then, and let the scummy investor class go back to playing with solely market rate apartments. It's the cost of not having a robust public housing system, and it's the landlord class who should bear the brunt of those negative externalities, not the tenants in need, regardless of why the tenants are in said financial situation.

    4 votes
  2. Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    We're talking about people who are definitionally the former here, as they have subsidized housing vouchers. Credit scoring should be prohibited when you have a tenant whose housing voucher...

    We're talking about people who are definitionally the former here, as they have subsidized housing vouchers. Credit scoring should be prohibited when you have a tenant whose housing voucher guarantees that income will be coming in to the landlord, period.

    6 votes
  3. Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    I mean, if you're a landlord accepting subsidized housing vouchers, that seems like a criterion that should not be used. It's not as if one is going to be in a good financial situation when...

    I mean, if you're a landlord accepting subsidized housing vouchers, that seems like a criterion that should not be used. It's not as if one is going to be in a good financial situation when they're eligible for said vouchers, and the whole point is to house those in need. Defeats the entire purpose, IMO.

    It's sickening that the desires of these landlords outweighs the need to get people into housing, especially with subsidized vouchers that they choose to accept.

    6 votes
  4. Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    Seems odd, as credit cards would be the first thing I'd let fall behind in a situation where I needed to make rent and had to choose a bill to not pay on time. Hell, I have had to make that exact...

    falling behind on credit card bills is a strong marker for a risky tennant

    Seems odd, as credit cards would be the first thing I'd let fall behind in a situation where I needed to make rent and had to choose a bill to not pay on time. Hell, I have had to make that exact choice when I was out of work and a new job ended up starting months later than it initially was slated to.

    Using credit card debt alone does not reflect the fact that people will pay rent/mortgages before almost any other bills they have. I had to default on a credit card in my situation, but my rent was paid on time and in full during that entire time. I'm fine with the fact that it took a long time to be able to qualify for a credit card again afterwards, but why should the fact that someone prioritized their housing payments in a tight situation be used to determine that they're a bad tenant? Makes zero sense, once one digs below the surface.

    11 votes
  5. Comment on Is ADHD really that debilitating? in ~health.mental

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    As someone who was diagnosed and medicated as a child, don't be so certain of that. I still could never finish my 4 year degree (granted, there were outside life factors on top of the ADHD that...

    But if I had been diagnosed and medicated as a child, I am very certain that I would have made different choices in my life that would have let me be more of the person who I always wanted to be, but always felt like I couldn't achieve being.

    As someone who was diagnosed and medicated as a child, don't be so certain of that. I still could never finish my 4 year degree (granted, there were outside life factors on top of the ADHD that led to that as well, I'm not going to pin that solely on my ADHD). I still have an extremely difficult time with executive function, my place is a disaster, I work in a grocery store in my thirties, I still use massive anxiety as a coping mechanism to get shit done, I have few to no hobbies because I just can't stick to something to get good enough to be satisfied, and frankly, I still don't know myself all that well.

    Getting diagnosed and medicated early was to make me manageable for others, it was never focused on helping me self-actualize. That seems to be what the focus of childhood ADHD treatment was in the 90s/early 00s. So long story short, there's nothing that says you would be in a better position had you been diagnosed earlier, and there's a chance you could be in a worse one for it.

    The attitudes that people have towards those of us with ADHD are even worse when you know exactly what it is that causes the behaviors/symptoms, and any attempt at asking for tweaks to make systems work better for your ADHD are met with "stop using your disorder as an excuse, you have pills for that". I think that oddly enough I might have been better off not being diagnosed till adulthood, when ADHD treatment science improved farther than just pills and tough love.

    5 votes
  6. Comment on The elite college students who can’t read books in ~humanities

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    I use Quad9 and have no issue with them.

    I use Quad9 and have no issue with them.

    1 vote
  7. Comment on DirecTV and Dish to merge, creating US pay-TV giant, as AT&T completes exit from entertainment in ~tv

    frostycakes
    Link
    Hopefully getting this debt offloaded will allow Dish to actually get their act together re: rolling out their mobile network. It's ridiculous that they've built out so many cell sites, yet can't...

    Hopefully getting this debt offloaded will allow Dish to actually get their act together re: rolling out their mobile network. It's ridiculous that they've built out so many cell sites, yet can't seem to move their customers over to their own network instead of paying through the nose to T-Mobile and AT&T for their MVNO agreements.

    Then again, Charlie Ergen is a cheap and honestly pretty incompetent leader, so I'm not too optimistic until he's out of the management picture, or the financial situation continues to deteriorate to the point that they have to sell off to someone else (assuming another company wants a greenfield Open RAN 5G-only network, since companies like Rakuten Mobile aren't having much success in that space either).

    4 votes
  8. Comment on ‘Paper or plastic?’ will no longer be a choice at California grocery stores in ~enviro

    frostycakes
    Link
    I'm shocked that we were ahead of this curve in Colorado, and are stricter about our plastic bag ban-- there's no exceptions based on what is being sold or the size of the store here, afaik. The...

    I'm shocked that we were ahead of this curve in Colorado, and are stricter about our plastic bag ban-- there's no exceptions based on what is being sold or the size of the store here, afaik. The grocery store I work at has paper bags still (that do cost the $0.10/bag still), but it seems the majority of our customers (in a suburb that leans conservative, in the heart of local oil and gas production country) have adapted to either bringing their own or just carrying out their stuff just fine, despite the grousing when this first started for about a month or so.

    The real surprising one is that Walmart ditched single use bags entirely (no paper ones) after this ban, I would have thought they would fight tooth and nail against this.

    I wish we'd see some action on food containers, although I have noticed more and more places going to (industrially) compostable containers in the last couple years, at the least.

    3 votes
  9. Comment on Google Pixel 9 launch event live coverage: all the news in ~tech

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    I kind of wish they'd return to what they did with the OG Pixel and have the width taper down along the phone, so the cameras still stay flush with the back. I can't say I hate the camera bump...

    I kind of wish they'd return to what they did with the OG Pixel and have the width taper down along the phone, so the cameras still stay flush with the back.

    I can't say I hate the camera bump though, I do like it more than the camera square that the 4a 5G had (and the ones on the past couple iPhone generations), and I like the rounded take on it of the 9.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on Any good auto or renters insurance companies? in ~finance

    frostycakes
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    I'll throw in for Lemonade for renter's insurance, at least. They've consistently been cheaper than anyone else for the same amount of coverage, and were quick to pay out for some damaged stuff...

    I'll throw in for Lemonade for renter's insurance, at least. They've consistently been cheaper than anyone else for the same amount of coverage, and were quick to pay out for some damaged stuff after a tree branch broke a window in my apartment during a storm, causing a lot of water damage.

    They offer car insurance too, but I haven't tried that yet, so I can't speak to it. I've just been lazy and kept my policy with The General for my cheap old shitbox, as I needed SR22 insurance once upon a time, and just never switched away after I no longer needed it. I wouldn't get a new policy for a new car with them, though. I haven't had much reason to consider going through the effort to switch, plus my rates have dropped consistently with every renewal so far.

    2 votes
  11. Comment on 'I was misidentified as shoplifter by facial recognition tech' in ~tech

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    I work for them currently, and either that was specific to the division you worked in, or changed since then. My division has fired people for simply going and capturing images of the license...

    I work for them currently, and either that was specific to the division you worked in, or changed since then. My division has fired people for simply going and capturing images of the license plates of shoplifters, and their official policy is do nothing besides alerting store management. Even attempting to ask them to check their receipt is against policy now.

    My division also only places security guards at the union stores, nonunion ones (I work at one, sadly) do not have that. We have kids stealing cases of beer constantly, and all corporate did was turn the door that's on the deli/cafe area side into an emergency exit, but months later they still haven't installed any form of alarm on it, so they just walk out that door anyways. And I work at a store that has often been the single busiest store in all of Kroger nationally, not just in my division, no less. They have crap ass cameras that throw alerts all the time for theft if it so much as detects a purse swung off of a shoulder at the wrong time on the SCO registers, but do nothing to enforce things. It's an asinine waste of money.

    I'm not complaining about not being required to intervene, but Kroger corporate clearly doesn't care that much about theft that isn't internal. God forbid you sample a produce item for a customer and eat the other portion yourself though, I had someone on my team written up for theft for that one.

    6 votes
  12. Comment on Amid marijuana legalization, a civic problem lingers: that smell in ~society

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    You'd be surprised at just how many people are hitting carts when they're out and about. That's the main selling point of them, IMO. They're discreet enough that most people cannot tell you're...

    You'd be surprised at just how many people are hitting carts when they're out and about. That's the main selling point of them, IMO. They're discreet enough that most people cannot tell you're doing anything but vaping unless they're up close or it's a super terpene heavy live rosin cartridge, and even those dissipate quickly.

    Back when I was taking transit to work, I'd keep a battery and cart in my backpack that I'd hit while waiting for the train to head home, and I was never the only one doing so IME.

    I still use them at home to help me fall asleep, as my partner and I have a roommate who doesn't partake, so I want to minimize the smell for her. I do vape flower in our garage or when I'm out camping/hiking, and for the latter I'll bring some joints too, as the high is undeniably different between all of these consumption methods, and a joint is just something I've always done on camping trips since a friend and I would go on them back in high school.

  13. Comment on 2024 Ford Ranger first drive review: A capable truck I don’t want to drive in ~transport

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    My partner has an '06 Tacoma, even that one is larger than what I'm looking for. Something the size of the late 90s Taco is about as big as I'd go.

    My partner has an '06 Tacoma, even that one is larger than what I'm looking for. Something the size of the late 90s Taco is about as big as I'd go.

    6 votes
  14. Comment on 2024 Ford Ranger first drive review: A capable truck I don’t want to drive in ~transport

    frostycakes
    Link
    Yet another truck ruined by the endless march to get larger and fancier. My '01 Ranger that I had when younger would be an equivalent of $29k new today after factoring inflation. A $40k+ Ranger is...

    Yet another truck ruined by the endless march to get larger and fancier. My '01 Ranger that I had when younger would be an equivalent of $29k new today after factoring inflation. A $40k+ Ranger is obscene, and the Maverick, while neat and the size I want, is still FWD if you want the hybrid and built on a car platform, not a true body-on-frame truck one.

    Give me a small, RWD/4WD pickup with a manual transmission option, or failing the manual, a true hybrid or EV one that isn't a full-size truck. Screw the giant tablet dash too, while we're at it-- that is one of the worst trends in modern cars, IMO.

    30 votes
  15. Comment on WiFi 7 is officially here, but routers are pricey. Do you need it yet? in ~tech

    frostycakes
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    Given that I used moving to a new place that had gigabit fiber available to upgrade my routers to two 6E mesh nodes, it's rather pointless. 6E gives me the 6GHz band that's great to have living in...

    Given that I used moving to a new place that had gigabit fiber available to upgrade my routers to two 6E mesh nodes, it's rather pointless. 6E gives me the 6GHz band that's great to have living in an apartment building, and I paid ~$300 for two mesh nodes that even have 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports, so they're decently futureproofed if/when my ISP starts offering faster than 1Gbps speeds. Mine and my partner's phones are 6E capable, as is our roommate's laptop, so we're getting some use out of it already.

    If I was still using my old AC router, I might have gone straight to 7 instead of 6E, but this is good enough for our needs for the forseeable future.

    1 vote
  16. Comment on ‘No cash accepted’ signs are bad news for millions of unbanked Americans in ~finance

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    Money orders are what are used instead, and basically every grocery store and many convenience stores sell them for a $1-$3 fee. I use them myself since I get 1% cashback on transactions with my...

    Money orders are what are used instead, and basically every grocery store and many convenience stores sell them for a $1-$3 fee.

    I use them myself since I get 1% cashback on transactions with my debit card, and money orders at the grocery store are just processed like any other transaction there-- nets me more than the $1 fee costs me. The grocery store especially will typically offer check cashing as well (naturally for a fee), so it's rather common to see people on the first of the month at the customer service desk cashing their paychecks and getting a money order for their rent at the same time in poorer neighborhoods.

    3 votes
  17. Comment on What's the deal with the popcorn button? in ~food

    frostycakes
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    Sadly, all but one of my apartments has had a built-in over the stove microwave, all GE ones, which all have/had the crappy time-based popcorn button without a sensor. I dunno why GE/Haier seems...

    Sadly, all but one of my apartments has had a built-in over the stove microwave, all GE ones, which all have/had the crappy time-based popcorn button without a sensor. I dunno why GE/Haier seems so resistant to putting a sensor in (even the one in the house my family lived in when I was in high school, a pre-Haier buyout Profile model) did not have a sensor for popcorn.

    I'm partial to the Whirley Pop popcorn pot I got as a gift some time back though. Toss some ghee in the pot as the popping oil/flavoring, crank the handle while it's popping, then toss the popcorn in a bowl with Old Bay as the seasoning. Beats crappy theater popcorn by a mile, IMO. I don't know why people are so enamored with the greasy, fake-tasting theater popcorn in the first place. So much better to find seasonings of your own to like.

    3 votes
  18. Comment on Firefox will support at least 200 new extensions on Android this December in ~tech

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    BPC does have a combo blocklist for uBlock Origin and a companion user script install that works on Tampermonkey (and by extension, Firefox on Android) here. It's not quite as good as BPC on...

    BPC does have a combo blocklist for uBlock Origin and a companion user script install that works on Tampermonkey (and by extension, Firefox on Android) here. It's not quite as good as BPC on desktop, but it does the trick for the vast majority of paywalls I come across on my phone.

    1 vote
  19. Comment on The US tried permanent daylight saving time in the ’70s. People hated it. in ~life

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    As someone who often has to clock into their job at 4am, neither do I. I never see daylight when I'm heading into work (aside from the earliest bits of twilight for a week or so around the summer...

    As someone who often has to clock into their job at 4am, neither do I. I never see daylight when I'm heading into work (aside from the earliest bits of twilight for a week or so around the summer solstice), and it really doesn't make a difference. Having it be dark before 5pm in December absolutely decimates my moods, however.

    I'd be pushing for my state to move up a time zone if we got stuck with permanent standard time, and I live at the reference longitude for my current time zone, even.

    2 votes
  20. Comment on Can Windows make the jump to ARM like Apple did? in ~comp

    frostycakes
    Link Parent
    WIndows NT (the base for all modern Windows, including 10 and 11) was originally developed on the i860 architecture explicitly to avoid making it dependent on x86 specific quirks or features....

    WIndows NT (the base for all modern Windows, including 10 and 11) was originally developed on the i860 architecture explicitly to avoid making it dependent on x86 specific quirks or features. There's been various versions of release Windows for MIPS, Alpha, Itanium, and PowerPC, in addition to the x86, AMD64, and ARM versions that we see today.

    4 votes