MimicSquid's recent activity

  1. Comment on Matt Gaetz withdraws as US attorney general nominee in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    Brock Allen Turner, the rapist, who often goes by his middle name to try to avoid being known? That Brock Turner?

    Brock Allen Turner, the rapist, who often goes by his middle name to try to avoid being known? That Brock Turner?

    1 vote

  2. Comment on China population set for 51 million drop as pro-birth moves fail in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    "Do you know where your children are?"

    "Do you know where your children are?"

  3. Comment on Reddit is hosting a hackathon for indie developers - Nov 20th to Dec 17th in ~games

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    But that doesn't prevent Reddit from seeing your specific code and implementation, seeing how well it works, and then making their own copies from scratch for anything that looks appealing.

    But that doesn't prevent Reddit from seeing your specific code and implementation, seeing how well it works, and then making their own copies from scratch for anything that looks appealing.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on China population set for 51 million drop as pro-birth moves fail in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    My wife and I have a dog, a couple who are good friends of ours have a daughter. Our joke has always been "You don't have to send a dog to college.", but practically it starts so much earlier than...

    My wife and I have a dog, a couple who are good friends of ours have a daughter. Our joke has always been "You don't have to send a dog to college.", but practically it starts so much earlier than that. You don't have to have a babysitter to leave a dog alone for an hour. You don't have to transport them to a school everyday. Etc, etc, etc. You don't have to change every aspect of your life to ensure the ongoing supervision, care, and education of another human being.

    Even with it being so much easier than a kid, we're not getting another pet. Being able to lock the house and go out for a whole weekend without needing to worry about the care or feeding of another living creature would be an incredible luxury. And in cases where we need to respond quickly to an emergency or the changing world, not having to manage pets would be so much easier.

    Pets are wonderful, but when there are so many things to worry about I'd rather prioritize taking care of the humans close to me than opting into additional responsibilities.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on ‘Do not pet’: A robotic dog named “Spot” made by Boston Dynamics is the latest tool in the arsenal of the US Secret Service in ~tech

    MimicSquid
    Link
    As little as I like the president-elect, at $75k a pop they make a lot of sense. They can take a lot of pressure off of the humans in the Secret Service, and robots on pre-programmed routes are...

    As little as I like the president-elect, at $75k a pop they make a lot of sense. They can take a lot of pressure off of the humans in the Secret Service, and robots on pre-programmed routes are exactly what any near-future dystopian thriller needs in the lead up to the grand denouement.

    18 votes

  6. Comment on "Americans get screwed because they can’t read" in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    I didn't notice that; what I have noticed is going back to books for adults that I loved as a kid and noticing how much subtext I entirely missed in the early readings.

    I didn't notice that; what I have noticed is going back to books for adults that I loved as a kid and noticing how much subtext I entirely missed in the early readings.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on "Americans get screwed because they can’t read" in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence. Legislatures, corporate document-writers and academics are so steeped in their respective fields forget how jargon-dense they...

    Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence. Legislatures, corporate document-writers and academics are so steeped in their respective fields forget how jargon-dense they actually are. It takes training and work to communicate clearly with everyone, and many professionals are terrible at it. This is precisely why people like LegalEagle, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and other media personalities exist: to translate from professional speak to common language.

    19 votes

  8. Comment on Linkin' Park - From Zero (2024) in ~music

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    You need there to be significant amounts of public information regarding the exact degree she's connected with a notoriously private organization before you won't ignore her affiliation? That...

    You need there to be significant amounts of public information regarding the exact degree she's connected with a notoriously private organization before you won't ignore her affiliation?

    That seems like a requirement that makes it easy for you to not think about it and just enjoy this band you have a lot of appreciation for.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    I think that's reasonable? I certainly couldn't whip up a complex meal at the drop of a hat. That's why we always have frozen spinach in the freezer, onions in the basket, and a package of paneer...

    I think that's reasonable? I certainly couldn't whip up a complex meal at the drop of a hat. That's why we always have frozen spinach in the freezer, onions in the basket, and a package of paneer in the fridge. Saag Paneer is fastish, tasty, reasonably healthy, and is made from ingredients that don't go bad quickly.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    Because she does so more often than me, so it's not a terrible assumption. But the moment where I say, "No, I made it." and they pause before complimenting me feels particularly uncomfortable. I...

    Because she does so more often than me, so it's not a terrible assumption. But the moment where I say, "No, I made it." and they pause before complimenting me feels particularly uncomfortable. I struggle with the difference between society's masculine standard and my own self, and so I'm perhaps more sensitive than is reasonable to perceived slights.

    Which, I realize as I type it, is exactly fragile masculinity.

    4 votes

  11. Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men

    MimicSquid
    Link
    I know how to cook, but don't do it much, because I find it an absolute chore. If my choice is eating a piece of toast or a beautiful roast, I'll take the toast, thank you. There's two parts of...

    I know how to cook, but don't do it much, because I find it an absolute chore. If my choice is eating a piece of toast or a beautiful roast, I'll take the toast, thank you.

    There's two parts of cooking, yeah? There's the mechanical process of taking ingredients and making them into food, and then there's the process of taking care of yourself, your family, and your friends on this deep and fundamental level.

    When I cook something for my friends group, my wife gets compliments on the food. It strips away a lot of the joy and meaning that might otherwise be attached to the process.

    17 votes

  12. Comment on Waymo’s robotaxis are now available to everyone in Los Angeles in ~transport

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    Yeah... it's estimated to eliminate a full 5% of all street parking in the city, which has some people frothing at the mouth. But practically, we dedicate a huge amount of city infrastructure and...

    Yeah... it's estimated to eliminate a full 5% of all street parking in the city, which has some people frothing at the mouth. But practically, we dedicate a huge amount of city infrastructure and square footage to people being able to store their cars for free. Cutting that back a bit so that people don't get injured or killed by cars quite so often seems like a decent tradeoff.

    7 votes

  13. Comment on Waymo’s robotaxis are now available to everyone in Los Angeles in ~transport

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    To some extent, but most of the deaths weren't from dramatic events that might have gotten a ticket, but little moments of inattentiveness on the part of drivers. The new intersection daylighting...

    To some extent, but most of the deaths weren't from dramatic events that might have gotten a ticket, but little moments of inattentiveness on the part of drivers. The new intersection daylighting law that's going to be enforced starting in January will do a lot more to save lives than any number of tickets from the police. Without cars parked within 20 feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk, pedestrians will be visible far sooner and much less likely to be hit by a driver turning right while looking left. That's the #1 cause of death and injury, and kudos to the state government for working to fix it when city politicians dragged their feet in the face of unhappy community members.

    7 votes

  14. Comment on Waymo’s robotaxis are now available to everyone in Los Angeles in ~transport

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    It's walkable, though not without its issues. 2024 has seen more pedestrian deaths because of motor vehicles than in any year since 2014, a sad blemish on the ten year anniversary of City Hall's...

    It's walkable, though not without its issues. 2024 has seen more pedestrian deaths because of motor vehicles than in any year since 2014, a sad blemish on the ten year anniversary of City Hall's promises to have reached zero pedestrian fatalities by this year.

    5 votes

  15. Comment on Dwayne Johnson became the world’s biggest movie star. Now he’s trying to disappear. in ~movies

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    You might read the article. His goal as an entertainer has been to be accessible to everyone, not to stretch his boundaries.

    You might read the article. His goal as an entertainer has been to be accessible to everyone, not to stretch his boundaries.

    11 votes

  16. Comment on Tens of thousands of Chinese college students went cycling at night for soup dumplings in Kaifeng. That put the government on edge. in ~transport

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    I know that in my area the bike/scooter share companies have people in vans that drive around rebalancing the distribution of bikes/scooters. The usage flows don't naturally balance, and so...

    I know that in my area the bike/scooter share companies have people in vans that drive around rebalancing the distribution of bikes/scooters. The usage flows don't naturally balance, and so there's a hidden labor and fuel cost to the convenient bike or scooter you can pick up nearby.

    2 votes

  17. Comment on Update to Google Workspace TOS regarding public posts in ~tech

    MimicSquid
    Link
    That does seem a bit excessive. If I'm writing a blog about business management and I talk about my experience using Google Workspace in comparison with Microsoft's offerings, am I violating this...

    That does seem a bit excessive. If I'm writing a blog about business management and I talk about my experience using Google Workspace in comparison with Microsoft's offerings, am I violating this bit of the ToS if I don't get permission first?

    6 votes

  18. Comment on I think it's time to give a "news detox" a try in ~talk

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    I like incremental games to consume that need to attend to something at all times. Cookie Clicker was good for a long while, but the one that's held my attention for the last two years is Cell:...

    I like incremental games to consume that need to attend to something at all times. Cookie Clicker was good for a long while, but the one that's held my attention for the last two years is Cell: Idle Factory Incremental, which has just enough changing nuance that there's always something new to incorporate into your picture of how to make number go up. It's not a productive use of time, but it's much better than reading social media.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Rebuilding The Village - The Radical Act of Depending on Each Other in ~humanities

    MimicSquid
    Link
    This is definitely part of the answer. How do we protect ourselves and our loved ones? Community, and community action.

    This is definitely part of the answer. How do we protect ourselves and our loved ones? Community, and community action.

    7 votes

  20. Comment on Make it ephemeral: Software should decay and lose data in ~tech

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    The laws already have deadlines for how far back you need to be able to provide documentation, and it's generally 3 or 7 years. Practically, I sort documents in subfolders by topic and then year...

    The laws already have deadlines for how far back you need to be able to provide documentation, and it's generally 3 or 7 years. Practically, I sort documents in subfolders by topic and then year specifically for this purpose. When it's the right number of years old, it's two clicks to delete the appropriate years. But it only happens when I want it to, and that's important. Imagine a 3 year automatic deletion trigger that goes off when you're being audited for the last three years?

    Maybe future generations will have solved things, but the thought of automatic data deletion makes me itchy.

    5 votes