norb's recent activity

  1. Comment on TEMPdle: Is your next city hotter or colder in ~games

    norb
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    Thanks for implementing my idea! It's a lot harder than I thought it would be lol

    Thanks for implementing my idea!

    It's a lot harder than I thought it would be lol

  2. Comment on 2026 United States midterm elections megathread in ~society

    norb
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    Yes, also annoyed by that one but Ohio has to Ohio at least a little. I'm sure it'll be a problem at some point in the future - like if we ever decide to have virtual voting or something.

    Yes, also annoyed by that one but Ohio has to Ohio at least a little. I'm sure it'll be a problem at some point in the future - like if we ever decide to have virtual voting or something.

    8 votes

  3. Comment on 2026 United States midterm elections megathread in ~society

    norb
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    Every statewide office except auditor went to a Democrat, we added an additional D supreme court justice and re-elected the only other one (giving us a 5-2 R/D court make up), and the GOP lost...

    Every statewide office except auditor went to a Democrat, we added an additional D supreme court justice and re-elected the only other one (giving us a 5-2 R/D court make up), and the GOP lost their legislative supermajority so that Acton's vetoes won't get immediately overturned (In Ohio the governor has line item veto) so yeah, pretty stoked for it today!

    Oh and that human piece of shit Max Miller also lost. So yeah.

    18 votes

  4. Comment on TEMPdle: Is your next city hotter or colder in ~games

    norb
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    This is really fun! I have an idea for a "hard mode" where you pick places that aren't that far apart and move around the globe. It can be easy when you get Siberia and then Colombia or something....

    This is really fun!

    I have an idea for a "hard mode" where you pick places that aren't that far apart and move around the globe. It can be easy when you get Siberia and then Colombia or something. Keeping them closer together might be an interesting challenge.

    Also, maybe points for how long you take before picking?

    I don't know, just tossing out some ideas!

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Anthropic's financials are surprisingly strong in ~tech

    norb
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    I can't even tell what's sarcasm anymore. That's how far this shit has gone.

    I can't even tell what's sarcasm anymore. That's how far this shit has gone.

    17 votes

  6. Comment on Maybe I hate technology in ~tech

    norb
    Link Parent
    I mean sure, we can apply a different label. I would argue the function is the same though. In advertising, a campaign is a set of ads with a common theme or style and defined audience. A...

    I mean sure, we can apply a different label. I would argue the function is the same though.

    In advertising, a campaign is a set of ads with a common theme or style and defined audience. A political campaign is an advertisement for a particular party or politician aimed at particular people (be that by geography, demographics, or some combination of those two plus other defining characteristics). I don't think a "campaign" by itself determines that it is for a net social good (at least the way we define that word today).

    PSAs are "announcements" which may be a better term for what "advertising" in a non-capitalistic society might look like. Just telling people that your thing exists as an announcement without any enticement to go and acquire it. I also think that if you are producing something for other people to consume or acquire, then you are implicitly stating that you think others should have it, and are going to argue for why your thing is the thing people want. Which again, comes back to making some sort of argument for why yours is the thing over other things. And then we're back at advertising, which is announcing with the intention of convincing others.

    I think at the end of the day, whatever term you use, letting people know about the existence of stuff is a necessary part of having a robust society with options and choices.

    I'll also admit that I'm so fully entrenched in a capitalist society and mindset that I might have some level of blindness or bias to this type of thinking. In a truly "free" economy maybe my entire mindset doesn't make sense?

    4 votes

  7. Comment on Developers are using AI to strip ads and tracking from smart TVs in ~tech

    norb
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    I am so wary of stuff like this. Yes, I think its great that people are taking back their devices, but vibecoding an IoT device feels like a dangerous proposition. There's not much incentive for...

    I am so wary of stuff like this. Yes, I think its great that people are taking back their devices, but vibecoding an IoT device feels like a dangerous proposition. There's not much incentive for the maintainer to update security findings, and even less for the user to jailbreak again (unless the new OS has update mechanics, which I'm not sure of in any given instance).

    Corporations at least have some incentive to keep things secure. Yes I am aware of the absolute glut of shitty IoT stuff out there that is basically one step above vibecoded, and like anything this latest trend is a double edged sword.

    I guess the full impact remains to be seen, but for me I'll continue to not put my TV on wifi (until it's proven that even that doesn't stop them).

    12 votes

  8. Comment on Maybe I hate technology in ~tech

    norb
    Link Parent
    I think we're conditioned to assume advertising within the context of capitalism. But, if we think of the world where everything isn't for sale, there's still a need for advertising. Say I write...

    I think we're conditioned to assume advertising within the context of capitalism. But, if we think of the world where everything isn't for sale, there's still a need for advertising.

    Say I write books, and I want people to get my newest book and read it. I'd need to advertise it! Whether or not people have to pay for it or not isn't directly tied to me telling them about it.

    Same could be said for anything that we produce as humans for other humans. You want people to use your stuff so you have to let them know it exists! That's advertising at its simplest, most basic form. Your post here linking to your own blog is a form of advertising - even though we can all just click the link and read your words for free.

    Sure in our current society it is used to sell stuff to us and drive profit grown, but that at its base is also just letting us know the stuff exists so we spend our resources acquiring it.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on Donald Trump strikes deal with Vladimir Putin to get diesel in sharp reversal of US policy weeks before midterms in ~society

    norb
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    ORRRRR Trump is a Russian asset. Or, actually, why not both?

    ORRRRR

    Trump is a Russian asset.

    Or, actually, why not both?

    21 votes

  10. Comment on UN says world will miss its climate target, warming must be reversed in ~enviro

    norb
    (edited )
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    Pretty sure the movie is called “Twelve Monkeys” (That’s kind of a joke as I mostly forget the reason the virus was released but my mind wants it to be eco terrorism)

    Pretty sure the movie is called “Twelve Monkeys”

    (That’s kind of a joke as I mostly forget the reason the virus was released but my mind wants it to be eco terrorism)

    3 votes

  11. Comment on Is Flowers for Algernon sci-fi? in ~books

    norb
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    Huh... I've never really thought about a genre to encompass both sci-fi and fantasy. I'm always just arguing that one is a subset of the other (generally I think sci-fi is a subset of fantasy)....

    This is one of the reasons I prefer the "speculative" genre titling which also groups in fantasy, because it still distinguishes and groups similar works, while also giving them a bit more room to breathe. I understand this is an unpopular opinion in some circles, though.

    Huh... I've never really thought about a genre to encompass both sci-fi and fantasy. I'm always just arguing that one is a subset of the other (generally I think sci-fi is a subset of fantasy). But having a way to kind of group both but not require the strictures of one affect the other is a good idea.

  12. Comment on What are your memorable airport stories? in ~transport

    norb
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    As far as airport experiences, the worst was a return flight from Oslo to NYC in early January. We were stuck in Oslo and left late due to snowstorms there. Then when we landed in JFK airport a...

    As far as airport experiences, the worst was a return flight from Oslo to NYC in early January. We were stuck in Oslo and left late due to snowstorms there. Then when we landed in JFK airport a few hours later, they had also had a snowstorm over night. Our plane was the first one to land in something like 24 hours. The airport did not have any baggage handlers available due to the storm, and since it was an international flight that we had to go through customs after, we could not leave the baggage claim area.

    We stayed in that baggage claim for 6 or 7 hours as more and more flights landed and people got off but couldn't get their bags. Baggage claim is one of those classic liminal spaces - there aren't really places to comfortable wait. You're meant to move through "quickly." Anyway, people were posting up everywhere they could. Sitting on the baggage carousels. People were lining up at every available outlet to plug in their phones. The bathrooms were disgusting after a few hours.

    We did finally get our bags but by then we had missed our connecting flight. We were put on a new flight the next day at like 6am. By the time we made it to the hotel (which the airline provided, thankfully) we had enough time to shower and nap for like an hour then we had to go back to the airport. Probably the worst travel experience of my life.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on What are your memorable airport stories? in ~transport

    norb
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    Can I post a bus station/Greyhound story? Cause I'm going to. Back in college I dated a girl in a city about 3 hours from where I lived. For the first year of college I did not have a car on...

    Can I post a bus station/Greyhound story? Cause I'm going to.

    Back in college I dated a girl in a city about 3 hours from where I lived. For the first year of college I did not have a car on campus, so I would take the Greyhound bus to her city. For those that aren't in the US, Greyhound is/was about the cheapest way you could travel and it's notoriously "bad." For the record, I never had what I could consider a terrible experience. Mostly you're just traveling with people that can't afford to travel any other way. Most of them just want to get where they're going like you do.

    Anyways, I rode the bus from my city to hers without incident. I got off the bus and went to wait for my girlfriend to come pick me up in the bus station lobby. As I'm standing there minding my own business, a very large woman comes out of the women's restroom and proceeds to pull her dress off over her head. She's wearing nothing underneath. She then squatted right there in the middle of the lobby in front of I don't know how many people and starts pissing all over the floor. After she's finished, she sprinted out of the building (rather quickly for a woman her size).

    Near me there are two security guards standing there, all of us with the same OMFG jaw dropped face. One of them looks at the other and says "Well, are you chasing her or am I?" The other guy started running and said over his shoulder "I guess you have to get the mop out, sucker!" I followed the guard outside to see what would happen and I saw the woman sprinting down the street, buck naked. Everyone she passed just stopping in their tracks and making the same "OMFG" face. The guard gave up after 20 or so yards and just turned around and walked back into the station.

    My girlfriend came up just then and said "What the hell was that?" and all I could say was "A piss and run incident."

    6 votes

  14. Comment on PBR and Grillo's Pickles are releasing a limited-edition pickle beer in ~food

    norb
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    I have had this pickle beer from Urban Artifact numerous times and it is very good (of course, you have to like Gose in the first place)

    I have had this pickle beer from Urban Artifact numerous times and it is very good (of course, you have to like Gose in the first place)

    1 vote

  15. Comment on The center has a bias in ~tech

    norb
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    I don't know if it's the case that people now are less supportive or if those that never supported it in the first place feel emboldened to be openly racist just in general. I think enough people...

    The backslide of civil rights seems to contradict this, but it definitely feels worth exploring.

    I don't know if it's the case that people now are less supportive or if those that never supported it in the first place feel emboldened to be openly racist just in general. I think enough people realized "Hey, I can just be racist and there's no consequences" so they are.

    I think the only real truth to it is that once you have kids, you're much less likely to throw yourself into danger for their sake.

    Yes this for sure. Until people can't feed their families, then I think it swings hard the other way. But in our society as it is today, if you are comfortable enough and have enough to live on, it's hard to push to potentially make your family's situation worse.

    8 votes

  16. Comment on The center has a bias in ~tech

    norb
    Link Parent
    Kind of off topic, but there's an old-ish movie called SLC Punk! (Matthew Lillard at his best, IMHO) that your comment made me think of. At one point, the main character's father says "I didn't...

    20 year old occupy wallstreet protestor me would be appalled

    Kind of off topic, but there's an old-ish movie called SLC Punk! (Matthew Lillard at his best, IMHO) that your comment made me think of. At one point, the main character's father says "I didn't sell out, Son, I bought in. Keep that in mind." and as I get older the more I can relate to that.

    I think that relates to the old adage that as you get older you get more conservative. While I've always felt that at a certain point you kind of get stuck in your ways, and what was once progressive is soon seen as conservative (just by the nature of things always moving and changing - not that at some point you go "You know what, minority rights weren't as important as I thought when I was younger!" or whatever).

    9 votes

  17. Comment on Finishing the toy that Nintendo abandoned -- breathing new life into Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit in ~games

    norb
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    This is really cool! Have you ever worked with Child's Play to get this kind of setup in other hospitals? I know it might be hard since these are no longer in production, but it sounds like you...

    This is really cool! Have you ever worked with Child's Play to get this kind of setup in other hospitals? I know it might be hard since these are no longer in production, but it sounds like you have some expertise others could take advantage of.

    6 votes

  18. Comment on I turned my Kindle into my own personal newspaper in ~tech

    norb
    Link Parent
    Kobo recently put in Instapaper support, which might be something you could semi-automate and utilize as well.

    Kobo recently put in Instapaper support, which might be something you could semi-automate and utilize as well.

    4 votes

  19. Comment on Why the US Navy won't open Hormuz in ~society

    norb
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    I would think that past administrations would have had an actual reason for beginning an operation like this and would have garnered international support BEFORE doing military excursions that...

    Even if we hadn't been bombarded by idiocy for the past year, even in the best of times, why would these allies absorb casualties for the US as a shield? It seems like that would be the kind of operation that would be super unpopular at home even when things are friendly.

    I would think that past administrations would have had an actual reason for beginning a war an operation like this and would have garnered international support BEFORE doing war military excursions that caused a major shipping lane for the entire world to be closed down almost completely. I would think the economic aspects alone would've made the case for international cooperation.

    Therefor the international help would've been warranted and supported, instead of whatever the fuck is going on now since it most likely would've been initiated by something the Iranians did or some other tangible issue that needed a kinetic response as the last option.

    6 votes

  20. Comment on Pam Bondi ousted as US attorney general in ~society

    norb
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    Except when the bad things are intensified due to the disarray...

    The more disarray this administration throws itself into, the less bad things they can achieve.

    Except when the bad things are intensified due to the disarray...

    5 votes