gpl's recent activity

  1. Comment on Has anyone here received any benefit as a consumer from algorithmic ad targeting? in ~tech

    gpl
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    My instagram ads are pretty good, clearly the algorithm has figured me out. I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything directly from one but it has made me aware of brands which I have then bought from.

    My instagram ads are pretty good, clearly the algorithm has figured me out. I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything directly from one but it has made me aware of brands which I have then bought from.

    7 votes
  2. Comment on Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban in ~tech

    gpl
    Link Parent
    Where does TikTok claim to be restricted to 18+?

    Where does TikTok claim to be restricted to 18+?

    4 votes
  3. Comment on Pebbles in ~creative

    gpl
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    I really like this! If you care to explain, I was wondering what your thinking was behind the line breaks.

    I really like this! If you care to explain, I was wondering what your thinking was behind the line breaks.

    3 votes
  4. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    gpl
    Link
    I’ve gotten back to a good place in terms of running after a bit of a hiatus, where I am running consistently and tossing some longer runs (for me) into the mix. Love feeling sore after a good...

    I’ve gotten back to a good place in terms of running after a bit of a hiatus, where I am running consistently and tossing some longer runs (for me) into the mix. Love feeling sore after a good run, but have yet to really get that runners high during.

    I’d like to get into some type of weight training, honestly just to improve my physique a bit. I always find the gym pretty intimidating as I really don’t know where to start in terms of a routine, nor do I know proper form for most machines or free weights.

  5. Comment on Canadian father asks court to stop 27-year-old daughter's MAID death, review doctors' sign-off in ~health

    gpl
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Not to get involved with the first two points here, but I'm not so sure your final sentence is true and its something that is sometimes missed in conversations like this. A present desire to die...

    Not to get involved with the first two points here, but I'm not so sure your final sentence is true and its something that is sometimes missed in conversations like this. A present desire to die does not mean someone has a persistent desire to die. Most people who attempt suicide and survive do not go on to die by suicide, by wide margins. And most people who die by suicide had never attempted before. Without knowing any more about this case, I really don't think its clear that its either this or jumping off a bridge.

    22 votes
  6. Comment on Webb & Hubble confirm Universe’s expansion rate in ~space

    gpl
    Link
    Nice article. Even before JWST, the consensus in the community was moving towards this being a real tension between measurements as opposed to some systematic error. On the CMB side, systematics...

    Nice article. Even before JWST, the consensus in the community was moving towards this being a real tension between measurements as opposed to some systematic error. On the CMB side, systematics are pretty well understood, and in fact the tension between the early-universe inferred expansion rate and the direct measurement by Riess and others persists even if you switch out all the data sets for other ones. You can even infer the early universe expansion rate without using the CMB at all and you get something in tension with local measurements.

    6 votes
  7. Comment on US President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address in ~news

    gpl
    Link Parent
    Another reason this speech was more political than typical SOTU speeches is that it has taken place historically pretty late and in an election where the primary has wrapped up kind of early. It’s...

    Another reason this speech was more political than typical SOTU speeches is that it has taken place historically pretty late and in an election where the primary has wrapped up kind of early. It’s essentially a rare SOTU during the general election.

    17 votes
  8. Comment on Why is the discourse on Tildes so much nicer than most places on the internet? in ~tildes

    gpl
    Link
    You mention lack of downvotes, but I think the lack of persistent karma is a related yet perhaps more important feature of the site. At the end of the day there is simply no incentive to carry on...

    You mention lack of downvotes, but I think the lack of persistent karma is a related yet perhaps more important feature of the site. At the end of the day there is simply no incentive to carry on a discussion once you lose interest, or to perform for the community. Sure, you get votes in a thread, but you forget about them as soon as you click away. It makes it much easier to disengage when there are few incentives baked in to keep you engaged past when you should.

    19 votes
  9. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    gpl
    Link Parent
    Just got out of Dune Part Two and it was visually stunning and had that touch and care you want in an adaptation of such a book. It’s undeniably great sci fi. That being said, I bought in to a lot...

    Just got out of Dune Part Two and it was visually stunning and had that touch and care you want in an adaptation of such a book. It’s undeniably great sci fi. That being said, I bought in to a lot of the “masterpiece” hype beforehand and because of that I left a little underwhelmed. It is a great movie, especially when viewed with the first one, but it’s not going to change your life. I only say this to temper people’s expectations so they don’t leave feeling a bit underwhelmed like I did! Not trying to rain on anyone’s parade.

    7 votes
  10. Comment on Favorite game shows? in ~tv

    gpl
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    My absolute favorite is the trivia show University Challenge on BBC 2, but then I love any form of trivia.

    My absolute favorite is the trivia show University Challenge on BBC 2, but then I love any form of trivia.

    4 votes
  11. Comment on Kagi Smallweb [a website where each visit shows a random indie/small website, e.g. personal blogs] in ~tech

    gpl
    Link Parent
    This is the first time I'm hearing about Kagi, and I'm definitely interested, especially because Google and other engines have been feeling so broken lately. What makes it particularly good for...

    This is the first time I'm hearing about Kagi, and I'm definitely interested, especially because Google and other engines have been feeling so broken lately. What makes it particularly good for programming/code work?

    5 votes
  12. Comment on Kagi Smallweb [a website where each visit shows a random indie/small website, e.g. personal blogs] in ~tech

    gpl
    Link
    Amazing, instantly reminds me of StumbleUpon back in the day, which is how I eventually discovered Reddit.

    Amazing, instantly reminds me of StumbleUpon back in the day, which is how I eventually discovered Reddit.

    17 votes
  13. Comment on Weekly Israel-Hamas war megathread - week of February 19 in ~news

    gpl
    Link Parent
    It’s also what we see daily coming out of Gaza. It sounds like we don’t necessarily disagree on the basics here, but to me (and genuine apologies if I’m reading into things) there was a subtext to...

    It’s also what we see daily coming out of Gaza. It sounds like we don’t necessarily disagree on the basics here, but to me (and genuine apologies if I’m reading into things) there was a subtext to your original comment implying that perhaps the atrocities and destruction we’re seeing daily in Gaza is being overblown or misrepresented by people with an agenda. Sure, perhaps there are certain groups in specific cases, like the one you point to, who have misrepresented things, but my point is just like on Oct 7 we have enough raw and first hand evidence that what is happening there is not okay. If we are on the same page there then ok, but that is the notion I got from your comment that I wanted to push back on.

    As for the utility of main stream media, I think there’s a sense in which their function is changing, but I think they’re still very important. I do think it’s unreasonable to expect the average person to both follow and understand the context of the myriad crises and atrocities occurring across the world each day. Compassion exhaustion is a thing. And here I think mainstream media can help: to contextualize and verify unclear parts of the story, provide input from experts, and devote time and resources to holding elected leaders accountable and uncovering wrongdoing. I’m not thinking about the average CNN or Fox News talking head here, which I tend to totally ignore, but investigative journalists, foreign correspondents, and local papers that do this type of thing. Of course every organization, no matter how “unbiased” they claim or appear to be has an angle. That’s step number 1 of media literacy is identifying the author and whatever agendas they might have, and step 2 is comparing and weighing multiple different coverages of the same event to see what details get emphasized and deemphasized by each. What we now call “mainstream media” used to be called “the free press” after all and has historical been a counterweight to overreaching governments.

    7 votes
  14. Comment on Kenji's Vietnamese garlic noodles... with twenty cloves of garlic in ~food

    gpl
    Link Parent
    No idea if it's related, but he said on Instagram a few weeks/month ago that he is now sober, and my impression is that has him looking/feeling better! Not that he looked rough before.

    No idea if it's related, but he said on Instagram a few weeks/month ago that he is now sober, and my impression is that has him looking/feeling better! Not that he looked rough before.

    2 votes
  15. Comment on Delaying parenthood via the cryopreservation of live-born children - the unintended consequences of blurring embryonic and human rights in ~life

    gpl
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Let me preface by saying that I vehemently disagree with the Alabama ruling. That being said, and addressing what you say here: Perhaps you can make this argument, but I think it is far from a...

    Let me preface by saying that I vehemently disagree with the Alabama ruling. That being said, and addressing what you say here: Perhaps you can make this argument, but I think it is far from a settled legal conclusions that if you make laws for one, it must apply to the other.

    And the entire point of fetal personhood laws is that the same laws that apply to infants will apply to embryos. Anything that applies to infants will apply to embryos, and vice versa.

    My read of these laws (I am not a lawyer) is that they are one ways statements, "if" statements as opposed to "if and only if", iff you will. The vice versa part that I am emphasized is not at all clearly intended to me.

    In short:

    How do you legally distinguish a premature infant from an embryo?

    One has been born and the other hasn't. Why can that not be the legal principle guiding the distinction? I guess the fact that we can, in our plain and imprecise language here, understand the difference between saying "premature infant" and "embryo" or "fetus" indicates to me that these notions can be delineated, especially with a more precise legal statement. We are already quite used to laws that apply to fetuses in different stages of development; even prior to Dobbs abortion could be restricted in the last trimester, for example.

    Also a minor point, you say:

    If you try to pass a law stating that no one can be frozen say, 6 months after fertilization, then you would also ban normal IVF freezing.

    Maybe I am misinterpreting what you mean by this, but IVF embryos are never frozen after 6 months of normal development. The amount of development as opposed to the raw time elapsed since fertilization, regardless of development, could very well be the metric used to distinguish the two.

    5 votes
  16. Comment on Ukrainian forces withdraw from Avdiivka; megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 17 in ~news

    gpl
    Link Parent
    Sorry, hope it didn't come across as me putting words in your mouth. I was only meant to paraphrase. I suppose everyone has different lines in the sand for what they deem useful. To me, knowing...

    That’s not my word, I didn’t use it. I only said it impedes communication.

    Sorry, hope it didn't come across as me putting words in your mouth. I was only meant to paraphrase.

    Yep, a detail that carries very close to zero useful information. It’s burdensome to have to remember non-meaningful information about people.

    I suppose everyone has different lines in the sand for what they deem useful. To me, knowing that someone uses one of these non-standard pronouns tells me a lot about a person, about how they want to present themselves to the world, and also provides opportunities for learning more (should the context deem that appropriate) by asking them about it or at the very least looking it up on my own time. The pronouns are only meaningless if they are arbitrarily chosen — although certainly the meaning might only be properly understood by talking to the person about it (again, if appropriate) as opposed to being societally known. I'd wager that for a large majority of the people using these pronouns the specific one they identify with is not arbitrary, to them. It's a choice that's meant to convey some facet of their identity and (again, to me) you can certainly get to know someone by understanding why that set of pronouns.

    9 votes
  17. Comment on Ukrainian forces withdraw from Avdiivka; megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 17 in ~news

    gpl
    Link Parent
    I'm 28, but I've been in environments where these things are not super uncommon for about a decade so maybe I got used to them younger.

    I'm 28, but I've been in environments where these things are not super uncommon for about a decade so maybe I got used to them younger.

    1 vote
  18. Comment on Ukrainian forces withdraw from Avdiivka; megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 17 in ~news

    gpl
    Link Parent
    Genuinely asking: have you ever been in a situation where someone's pronouns have seriously impeded communication? What does that look like? I interact with people who use 'neopronouns' on a...

    Genuinely asking: have you ever been in a situation where someone's pronouns have seriously impeded communication? What does that look like? I interact with people who use 'neopronouns' on a semi-regular basis and it has never complicated things other than being a detail to remember about them.

    5 votes
  19. Comment on Ukrainian forces withdraw from Avdiivka; megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 17 in ~news

    gpl
    Link
    The Avdiivka withdrawal seems worse for Ukraine than initially thought: Hundreds of Ukrainian Troops Feared Captured or Missing in Chaotic Retreat I wish Congress (read: the GOP) would stop...

    The Avdiivka withdrawal seems worse for Ukraine than initially thought: Hundreds of Ukrainian Troops Feared Captured or Missing in Chaotic Retreat

    I wish Congress (read: the GOP) would stop delaying but there are so many incentives for them to continue rejecting more funds that I am not hopeful. I think the initial delay in supplying Ukraine with heavy arms will be seen as a massive strategic blunder in years to come. Allowing Russia to dig in over winter 2022-2023 has made it much more difficult to see an endgame where Ukraine returns to its pre-war borders.

    11 votes
  20. Comment on Weekly Israel-Hamas war megathread - week of February 19 in ~news

    gpl
    Link Parent
    There is plenty of high quality information out there verified by multiple reputable media orgs. Sure, those all could be likewise massaged and manipulated, but I find that unlikely. Your point is...

    There is plenty of high quality information out there verified by multiple reputable media orgs. Sure, those all could be likewise massaged and manipulated, but I find that unlikely. Your point is a good one but I would be careful extrapolating conclusions from some video on social media to ALL of media or sources in general. We live in an era where it is not even impossible to find direct videos and interviews from people on the ground in Gaza talking about their experiences over the past months, not filtered through any news orgs.

    Quality information is out there and not too hard to access, and concluding that we simply cannot trust anything we hear about this conflict from any source I think is an overly strong conclusion.

    12 votes