gary's recent activity
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Comment on Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US? in ~transport
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Comment on We’re seniors. It’s not our responsibility to fix the housing supply. in ~society
gary Link ParentMuch harder is arguable. There are situations where it's harder by far, for sure, but on average, it's a little murkier. The cost of housing went up a lot. Household income did not go up as much....Much harder is arguable. There are situations where it's harder by far, for sure, but on average, it's a little murkier. The cost of housing went up a lot. Household income did not go up as much. But interest rates went down so much that the monthly cost burden of a home might actually be less than it was 4 decades ago on average. When you're buying a home, it's not necessarily the ratio of income to house price. It's really the ratio of income to monthly payment.
The square footage of the average home and the amenities in the average home are also a lot higher now, which is another factor that is rarely considered. Yet, for the new homebuyer, it's not up to them in many cases if there are simply no small starter homes to buy. It's all quite complex but I think my peeve here is we're presenting it as this catastrophic anomaly where no one is able to buy a home, but there are still large groups of Gen Z that are buying homes and Millennials are just about neck-and-neck with prior generations, so the focus for me is how to get Gen Z fully caught up.
Why focus on the behaviour of the victims rather than the perpetrators?
Some of the lag with Gen Z is their desire to spend disposable income on eating out and travel rather than saving for housing. It seems like they value permanent housing a little less than prior generations. I do advocate loudly for more housing to be built. I'm sure I've had a few arguments on Tildes about increasing supply. But in terms of blame, I see it as too nihilistic to not let Gen Z take some of the blame themselves. We can do more as a society to make things better, but a person should always focus on what they can and just not using Uber Eats is not that hard to do. Like I'm the weirdo in my friend group because I drive to pick up food instead of having it delivered from a few blocks away.
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Comment on We’re seniors. It’s not our responsibility to fix the housing supply. in ~society
gary Link ParentThey spend fewer dollars, but they spend more of their dollars eating out relative to eating in. Source, which pulls from BLS (See the "Food Away From Home" part). The absolute dollar value will...They spend fewer dollars, but they spend more of their dollars eating out relative to eating in. Source, which pulls from BLS (See the "Food Away From Home" part). The absolute dollar value will be less because Gen Z makes less money than Millennials. However, I think this is likely sufficient enough to show that Gen Z has markedly different habits from the seniors in the OP that were being compared to. Different enough that compared to how the currently-senior would have behaved at a similar age in time, although I'm unable to find anything for exactly that comparison.
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Comment on We’re seniors. It’s not our responsibility to fix the housing supply. in ~society
gary Link ParentIf they're in that position where they could eat rice and beans for every meal and not afford a house, but also use Uber Eats and DoorDash a ton, then I would say they should still cut down on it...If they're in that position where they could eat rice and beans for every meal and not afford a house, but also use Uber Eats and DoorDash a ton, then I would say they should still cut down on it and focus their income on maintaining stability. Maintain stability in their situation or improve it. It doesn't mean never eating out, but it means eating out relative to what you can afford.
The truth is that not every person will achieve enough financial success in their life to reach all the goals they want. My grandparents never bought a home. Their kids did, but just barely. My generation are all homeowners and have solid careers. Maybe the generation after mine will be able to explore the arts. We're all stepping stones for the next iteration and we just hope that those who come after will do better.
If that's all too depressing, then it's raging against how humanity has always worked. We can attempt a social revolution, but those don't have great track records either.
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Comment on We’re seniors. It’s not our responsibility to fix the housing supply. in ~society
gary Link ParentSomeone with that mentality is probably not conscientious of other areas of their spending. It all adds up. Hey, if someone would rather make Uber richer instead of buying a home with that money,...Someone with that mentality is probably not conscientious of other areas of their spending. It all adds up. Hey, if someone would rather make Uber richer instead of buying a home with that money, who am I to tell them what to do? But let's dispel the notion that Gen Z/Millennials are eating rice and beans for every meal and still unable to buy a home.
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Comment on We’re seniors. It’s not our responsibility to fix the housing supply. in ~society
gary Link ParentGen Z dines out and orders takeout far more frequently than older generations. My millennial peers already do it more often than our preceding generations, but Gen Z does it even more.Gen Z dines out and orders takeout far more frequently than older generations. My millennial peers already do it more often than our preceding generations, but Gen Z does it even more.
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Comment on Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes in ~tv
gary Link ParentI used to be on that train. Super excited when self-publishing books looked like it could take off. Internet services that published whatever you wanted as long as you were willing to pay. Kindle...I used to be on that train. Super excited when self-publishing books looked like it could take off. Internet services that published whatever you wanted as long as you were willing to pay. Kindle would publish your eBooks. But in the last two decades, all I've learned is that while the democratization of these methods has increased availability, the large studio/publisher is still largely in use. It turns out that most artists do not have the ability to put up a lot of money to create art and try to sell it.
Let's look at comic books. Image Comics consistently puts out some great comics (hi, Manifest Destiny). Creators get to own their intellectual property. There's less sharing of profits than if they went with Marvel and DC. And yet.. so many creators still work for the Big 2. Why? Because at Image, as I understand it, for each print run the creator has to put up the finances required to get a print run going. If the sales are bad, they could be financially ruined.
So coming back to the earlier example of music, if the music publishers are so unnecessary and the tooling today is so great, then why do so many artists keep going to the publishers? They need them. Economically, if giving away your music for free in exchange for exposure is so great, few artists seem to be able to make it work?
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Comment on Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes in ~tv
gary Link ParentI think you're speaking to an ideal that I am not even railing against given that I'm only commenting in a thread that chooses to not show any nuance. I wouldn't speak up if the poster I replied...People aren’t paying for the content, they’re trying to maintain access to a “scene” and participate in pop culture. The value function isn’t just based on what size library you have available.
I think you're speaking to an ideal that I am not even railing against given that I'm only commenting in a thread that chooses to not show any nuance. I wouldn't speak up if the poster I replied to mentioned anything about paying for content up to the point that they could afford and supplementing with piracy when they can't. What does payment have to do with being able to participate in the cultural zeitgeist, unless payment is not possible? All of what you referenced is not something I'm occluding by telling people that they should be discreet about piracy; all I'm hearing from certain (not all, but some) people in this thread is that they don't want to pay, not that they can't afford to. Again, let me emphasize, I'm not pointing at you.
And besides all that, there's a lot of talk about sending payment to creators directly that continues to miss the point that everyone else gets fucked. The editors, the makeup artists, the writers, etc. Those people can get bent, I suppose. The next time a Tilderino posts about the new book they helped edit, I hope someone comes in here to mention that the book can be found at
m******m.org, right? And just send a few dollars to author; screw the editor! It's classless, is my point. Even if you do it, I do it, whoever does it, whatever I don't care. Just don't talk about it so openly. We used to have standards on the internet. -
Comment on Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes in ~tv
gary Link ParentOne thousand listens is not a lot. If I buy a song for $1.29, I could listen to that song a thousand times on my own over the course of a decade. There's a reason why those rates are low, by the...One thousand listens is not a lot. If I buy a song for $1.29, I could listen to that song a thousand times on my own over the course of a decade. There's a reason why those rates are low, by the way. The amount that the artist gets paid is directly linked to the number of plays x revenue per user. The only way to increase the amount the artist gets paid is to raise the subscription price (which is what this thread is railing against?) or restrict the number of listens a user gets per month. When the pie is $11 and the number of songs practically limitless, there's really not much to go on.
The "attend a concert" model doesn't work as cleanly for tv shows and movies.
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Comment on Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes in ~tv
gary Link ParentPeople today eat out more than they ever have. They travel more than they ever have. People aren't unable to pay $20/month for streaming; they just have an easy and cheaper alternative to it lol....People today eat out more than they ever have. They travel more than they ever have. People aren't unable to pay $20/month for streaming; they just have an easy and cheaper alternative to it lol. People have always been viewed as bags of money to be squeezed; someone in the 80s was under no delusion that the media companies of those times wanted more money. When people could steal cable connections, they did. When people didn't know how or were afraid, they didn't. That's the only thing that's changed in the modern era; every person today knows how to access media for cheaper.
That might have been true before but it’s quickly becoming not true as an average bundle of streaming packages approaches the prices of a cable subscription.
The fact that it's only approaching prices from over a decade ago despite money having devalued so much should show how not-unreasonable-by-historic-measures media is today. Any person can access more media than they have time to watch by paying $20/month and changing services every month. No one needs to have every streaming service available every month.
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Comment on Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes in ~tv
gary Link ParentYes, in one very limited view of it, but no. Let's take a band for example. If you buy a song for 1.29, sure it's not a lot of that 1.29 making it to the band member by the end of it. But that...Yes, in one very limited view of it, but no. Let's take a band for example. If you buy a song for 1.29, sure it's not a lot of that 1.29 making it to the band member by the end of it. But that 1.29 is part of an ecosystem that enabled the record label to hire out a studio and pay in advance for the work required to product an album.
If you're pirating the song and sending the 1.29 to the band directly, the macro effect of everyone doing this would break the current ecosystem, leading to no studios financially risking it on new bands in the future. Sending the 1.29 to the band directly also fails to compensate literally every other person involved in the recording except the band. Performing the music is just a slice of what it takes to create a song.
Paying via streaming or purchasing media is still the most fair way to distribute profits as we've had decades to refine the royalty model so that people in the chain get paid a portion of the direct sales. Unless you find a better way to do so, you end up weighting too heavily towards one part of it.
Arguably, we're paying too little for media these days. With inflation and the move towards and streaming, the average person is probably paying way less for media today than they were paying 20 years ago.
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Comment on Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes in ~tv
gary Link ParentContent creators don't get paid when you switch to piracy. If you're fine with that, you do you, but I will never understand why you guys can't keep your knowledge to yourselves. There's plenty of...Content creators don't get paid when you switch to piracy. If you're fine with that, you do you, but I will never understand why you guys can't keep your knowledge to yourselves. There's plenty of ways to purchase media on the terms that you want: blu-rays, digital retailers, or streaming. The only thing that you're not able to decide is media at the price you want. When that happens, just discreetly do your thing. I have a NAS; I'm not blind to the realities of it. But I also purchase media because I can and because artists get compensation for it.
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Comment on The Buff Scammer, isolation, and the male loneliness epidemic in ~life.men
gary Link ParentYeah thanks for understanding. :) I'm a bit raw right now because I got lectured three times recently. Two times after I asked someone out at a wedding. I had chosen the timing and location to...Yeah thanks for understanding. :) I'm a bit raw right now because I got lectured three times recently. Two times after I asked someone out at a wedding. I had chosen the timing and location to give her the greatest sense of security possible (at the end of the wedding, around all her people, in order to make her not feel trapped).
The other time, I got lectured after going on a date that a woman asked me out on, despite me being upfront multiple times that it was a longshot there'd be a second date*. We didn't have sex either. We just talked and I paid the bill.
After reflection, I think the criticism I got from third parties had more to do with general bad man behaviors that I don't feel I was exhibiting, but ended up bearing the responsibility for anyway. But for weeks after the criticism, I felt hurt because.. what did I as an individual do wrong?
* it's possible we weren't on the same wavelength but given that we live in different countries, I thought she'd understand..
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Comment on The Buff Scammer, isolation, and the male loneliness epidemic in ~life.men
gary Link ParentI don't feel annoyed if someone tells me any of those things individually, but if I were to be told that over and over again by different people, I'd get annoyed for sure. As someone living in a...I don't feel annoyed if someone tells me any of those things individually, but if I were to be told that over and over again by different people, I'd get annoyed for sure. As someone living in a liberal city, I've heard the evils of man my whole life. At a certain point, you're just piling on with no benefits. We know. We try to abide by good values, conscious of the potential perceptions of all our actions. And then we're rewarded by more moralizing.
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Comment on Jimmy Kimmel to return to ABC on Tuesday after show’s controversial suspension in ~tv
gary Link ParentI think that's mixing up cause and effect. It was down a few percent following his suspension because there was a possibility that the US government would take action against ABC/Walt Disney...I think that's mixing up cause and effect. It was down a few percent following his suspension because there was a possibility that the US government would take action against ABC/Walt Disney Company. I don't think the stock dropped because Walt Disney lost a valuable IP in Jimmy Kimmel; it dropped because there's a bully looking in their direction.
Now after this news it seems to be rebounding.
The day that Jimmy Kimmel was announced would come back, the 22nd, the stock is still down 1.05% for the day and up 0.02% after-hours (aka, noise).
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Comment on Is Tildes protected from malicious actors, aka paid trolls, aka bots? in ~tildes
gary LinkIf you flag them, I believe Deimos would see and likely ban if it was obviously a bot. But I haven't seen any such comments and wonder if you're seeing ghosts. (Am I a bot for suggesting nothing...If you flag them, I believe Deimos would see and likely ban if it was obviously a bot. But I haven't seen any such comments and wonder if you're seeing ghosts. (Am I a bot for suggesting nothing is wrong?)
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Comment on iPhone 17, 17 Pro and Air announced in ~tech
gary Link ParentI'm asking you to point out one of these "no compromise" comments. Generally, I've only ever seen the desire paraphrased as "it would be nice if we could have the current slate of phones plus a...But I've found it's this no compromise approach with small phone people.
I'm asking you to point out one of these "no compromise" comments. Generally, I've only ever seen the desire paraphrased as "it would be nice if we could have the current slate of phones plus a smaller variant". Why are you so mad at that opinion? I don't think I've seen people advocate for removing your option in order to advance theirs.
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Comment on iPhone 17, 17 Pro and Air announced in ~tech
gary Link ParentPoint to where the small phone people are saying that the small option should be the only one. You're the only absolutist I've seen in here.- Exemplary
Point to where the small phone people are saying that the small option should be the only one. You're the only absolutist I've seen in here.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump orders federal takeover of DC police, deploys National Guard in ~society
gary Link ParentYou and I agree that the response from the administration is completely unwarranted for the level of crime in DC. And I suspect that we would also agree this is less driven from Trump's desire to...You and I agree that the response from the administration is completely unwarranted for the level of crime in DC. And I suspect that we would also agree this is less driven from Trump's desire to help the common person than it is to consolidate more power for himself. Or PR driven.
I only felt the need to respond because I think there's a difference between saying that these incidents are not widespread enough to justify the erosion of our democracy versus saying that this adult got his ass whooped by a 15 year old girl.
re: Chicago. It depends. It's less predictable than it was pre-pandemic, which I think adds to people's fears even if the stats overall are better. But overall I do think most people feel better today than they did 2 years ago. I don't know where your family lives; safety is still mainly driven by which areas you frequent or live in. There's 2 train lines that can take me home or get me close enough, but 1 of them I would feel uneasy taking past 7pm and the other one I wouldn't mind taking at midnight.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump orders federal takeover of DC police, deploys National Guard in ~society
gary (edited )Link ParentThis is the one I was thinking of, but my first search dug up this one as well. There was the time a pregnant woman lost her baby after being attacked by some teens senselessly. Here's a video of...This is the one I was thinking of, but my first search dug up this one as well. There was the time a pregnant woman lost her baby after being attacked by some teens senselessly. Here's a video of teens gathering downtown with some jumping on cars; I was looking for a much more chaotic one I had seen, but having trouble finding it.
A few years ago, I was driving to the downtown Taco Bell location for a late night snack and my friend in the passenger seat saw a guy walk up to another guy and sucker punch him.
EDIT: @DefinitelyNotAFae, I noticed that either a lot of the web resources had died or Google was not surfacing things unless I got very specific with what I was looking for.
EDIT 2: Here's a much clearer video of what it looks like when a mob of teens simultaneously wails on a victim. @DefinitelyNotAFae idk if this pings you, but I didn't want to clutter up the thread by replying again.
TIL the names for these lanes. I read most of these 3 resources:
And it seems that it's not clear? The Jiang paper argues that it's more dangerous, but when reading through the paper, it doesn't compare accidents and fatalities. It instead tries to look at dangerous factors (speed, yield rates), but the ultimate goal should be to compare injuries IMO. The Potts paper states that there are fewer crashes, although the Jiang paper notes that the Potts paper is comparing pedestrian data from over 2 decades ago at this point. The Nevada paper seems to believe that channelized lanes are safer and that slip lanes specifically are likely to be an even safer design.