nothis's recent activity

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

    nothis
    Link Parent
    I honestly believe you can make that decision with maybe an hour of effort. How many issues can there be to shape that decision? Who genuinely watches the news “to make a decision”?

    I honestly believe you can make that decision with maybe an hour of effort. How many issues can there be to shape that decision?

    Who genuinely watches the news “to make a decision”?

    1 vote

  2. I think it's time to give a "news detox" a try

    ~talk Text 478 words
    I've spent the past months with an unhealthy obsession with "the news", due to both an election in my own country and the one in the US. Maybe it was an attempt at being in control of a situation...

    I've spent the past months with an unhealthy obsession with "the news", due to both an election in my own country and the one in the US. Maybe it was an attempt at being in control of a situation I have absolutely zero control over, despite it shaping aspects of the world I really care about. But that control is an illusion.

    I've rediscovered an older article by Rolf Dobelli called "Avoid News – Towards a Healthy News Diet". It argues against the value of high-frequency (daily) news consumption in 15 points. It does not vilify journalism as a whole, however, arguing for replacing a daily feed of online news with individual, high-quality, in-depth articles consumed weekly or so.

    I know that I probably can't resist having some idea of what is going on in the world (and I have some niche interests that I genuinely find productive to keep up with). So I'll try something simple: No "news" (quotes because I include random social media feeds in this) during weekdays. No news websites, no tildes, no reddit. There's ways to filter for the top posts of the "last 7 days". I never use this feature since I look almost daily, anyways. Well, I'll try and make that my default way of consuming social media. On weekends I can decided to use some of my precious free time to read up on the "big" events of the week. I hope this will make me realize that most weeks go by without producing any information that I can use to improve my own life (both privately and at work) or that of people I care about.

    There is stuff I'm looking forward to: This sounds depressing but I have this huge list of non-critical things I wanted to accomplish that I kinda stopped even considering because every damn minute of free time I had was spent doom-scrolling. I hope the "touch grass" people are right and spending more time focused on my own environment will also help me get a better sense of what is important.

    I also feel slightly guilty about the thought that this will make me less compassionate towards people who live outside my own bubble and whose stories I would not hear just talking to friends and family. This is an attempt to put my head in the sand and pretend that large parts of the world do not exist. But the truth is: There is only so much I can do, effectively. I can maybe join a group dedicated to fixing a specific wrong or raise awareness. Maybe two. But I could never address that whole laundry list of problems from my news feed that left me paralyzed with fear. I will have a more positive impact on the world if I focus on less.

    Let's see where this goes.

    67 votes

  3. Comment on €78 ($90) mount is now available for World of Warcraft - more than three times more expensive than anything else in ~games

    nothis
    Link Parent
    That’s not what I am concerned about. What bothers me is that this sends a message that virtual scarcity is a more lucrative business than actually developing gameplay. Concrete big-name example:...

    That’s not what I am concerned about.

    What bothers me is that this sends a message that virtual scarcity is a more lucrative business than actually developing gameplay. Concrete big-name example: GTA V was supposed to get a massive single player expansion but it was scrapped when they found out they can charge teenagers for virtual Ferraris in the online mode. Why would you ever develop a proper game when you can just milk a franchise for cosmetics for decades?

    There was an interesting thread about this on /r/games where people basically argued that they no longer buy new games because they’re hooked on Wow, LoL, GTA V or some mobile gatcha mill. And we see big AAA publishers basically abandon single player games left and right as they not only make less money than “service” multiplayer games but nobody even has time for them anymore.

    Excuse the snobby wording but to me, that’s a cultural loss. It basically makes an entire medium work in service of a single section of the brain dedicated to addiction or status-seeking. It’s a tragic loss, IMO, one that already swallowed mobile gaming whole and now does the same with big-budget PC and console gaming. Yes, there’s commendable exceptions (indies, Nintendo, occasional prestige releases by AAA studios) but the trend is clear and accelerating. Nothing about human nature suggests we’ll ever snap out of this while it’s offered. Basically, at this rate, there will be no more AAA single player games by 2040. And yes, that’s because of $90 mounts in WoW.

    30 votes

  4. Comment on €78 ($90) mount is now available for World of Warcraft - more than three times more expensive than anything else in ~games

    nothis
    Link Parent
    In so tired of the MO. They absolutely know that their price is outrageous. They know there are idiots who will buy it. They know the only thing between those idiots’ money and them is community...

    In so tired of the MO. They absolutely know that their price is outrageous. They know there are idiots who will buy it. They know the only thing between those idiots’ money and them is community scorn. So they do a shock-and-awe tactic, charging the absolute maximum they think anyone ever would pay (or rather the price at which enough people would buy to maximize profits), await the inevitable community backlash (who knows, maybe nobody would have noticed), put out a “we listen to our fans” statement, generously slash the price in half and end up with still the most ridiculously priced cosmetic item in their catalog while the community feels like it had an impact and they can claim that they listened.

    I’ve seen this over and over and over again in gaming.

    13 votes

  5. Comment on Paper: Feminism in Programming Language Design in ~comp

    nothis
    Link
    This is not how the non-fascists will win the culture wars.

    This is not how the non-fascists will win the culture wars.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on AI will use a lot of energy. That's good for the climate. in ~enviro

    nothis
    Link
    Most cynical reasoning on energy use I’ve come across in a while, lol. How about we increase the poison in our air so scientists will develop better breathing masks? Accelerationism has always...

    Most cynical reasoning on energy use I’ve come across in a while, lol. How about we increase the poison in our air so scientists will develop better breathing masks? Accelerationism has always been bullshit but I did not expect seeing it applied to climate change (and apparently in a good-faith attempt). Beyond weird.

    15 votes

  7. Comment on New largest prime number found! 2¹³⁶²⁷⁹⁸⁴¹-1. See all 41,024,320 digits. in ~science

    nothis
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    Only asking this since it’s a video: as the headline suggests a single number being big news, how long does it currently take for new prime numbers to be discovered? Is it like a yearly event?

    Only asking this since it’s a video: as the headline suggests a single number being big news, how long does it currently take for new prime numbers to be discovered? Is it like a yearly event?

    10 votes

  8. Comment on Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year in ~enviro

    nothis
    Link Parent
    That headline is stupid, isn’t it? Most intuitive interpretation is that trees are worthless at absorbing CO2 after all, which is dangerously wrong.

    That headline is stupid, isn’t it? Most intuitive interpretation is that trees are worthless at absorbing CO2 after all, which is dangerously wrong.

    19 votes

  9. Comment on Star Trek: Section 31 | Teaser trailer in ~movies

    nothis
    Link
    That will be an entertaining Red Letter Media review!

    That will be an entertaining Red Letter Media review!

    5 votes

  10. Comment on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ to lose $150 million to $200 million in theatrical run after bombing at box office in ~movies

    nothis
    Link Parent
    Hmm, it’s been a while but I do remember a distinct “we live in a society” energy carrying the movie and, yes, mostly the online-hype around it. I definitely felt like the movie criticizes “the...

    Hmm, it’s been a while but I do remember a distinct “we live in a society” energy carrying the movie and, yes, mostly the online-hype around it. I definitely felt like the movie criticizes “the society” rather than the people acting like absolute assholes. I don’t quite buy the whole angle of, if I remember correctly, not getting health care leaving him no choice but become a mass murderer and half the city cheering him on in the streets. There’s plenty of aesthetically lit scenes of mayhem that seem clearly celebratory and I don’t really believe any claim that the movie tries to work on a meta level beyond that. If it does, it makes it way to easy to skip that layer and just fantasize being the cool anti-society clown, and at the very least, it was marketed for that.

    6 votes

  11. Comment on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ to lose $150 million to $200 million in theatrical run after bombing at box office in ~movies

    nothis
    Link Parent
    Only thing that worries me is the musical part.

    Only thing that worries me is the musical part.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ to lose $150 million to $200 million in theatrical run after bombing at box office in ~movies

    nothis
    Link
    Wouldn’t have guessed that to be a flop. I heard that people who loved the first movie hated the second because it “insults fans of the first movie”. I hated the first movie (mostly because of the...

    Wouldn’t have guessed that to be a flop.

    I heard that people who loved the first movie hated the second because it “insults fans of the first movie”. I hated the first movie (mostly because of the psychopathic celebration of edgelord logic). May I actually like the second?

    9 votes

  13. Comment on Looking for slim wallet recommendations in ~life.style

    nothis
    Link Parent
    Yes, I live in a very pro-cash country so that was a requirement. But they should offer some card-focused models as well. I like their paper-like faux-leather but it definitely looks a bit rough,...

    Yes, I live in a very pro-cash country so that was a requirement. But they should offer some card-focused models as well. I like their paper-like faux-leather but it definitely looks a bit rough, it’s really a compromise for slimness.

  14. Comment on Looking for slim wallet recommendations in ~life.style

    nothis
    (edited )
    Link
    I had no idea this space was so busy, lol. Anyway, I eventually found this German company, Paprcuts which makes these low-key, super slim wallets. I've been searching for ages before that,...

    I had no idea this space was so busy, lol.

    Anyway, I eventually found this German company, Paprcuts which makes these low-key, super slim wallets. I've been searching for ages before that, previously had one that is no longer made. Been using one of their most basic models (that model is more cash-focused than cards) for a few months now and rather like it. My only complaint is that the coin compartment is a little hard to open since it just snaps shut using a flat magnetic stripe at the top, you need to get in there with your finger nail or get better at squeezing it open from the side. But otherwise, it's exactly what I've been looking for, slimmest wallet I ever touched.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Box office: ‘Megalopolis’ bombs with D+ CinemaScore, ‘Wild Robot’ soars to no. 1 in ~movies

    nothis
    Link Parent
    I‘m ready to give it a try. The vibe I get from the trailer is that it’s Synecdoche, New York but with more epic lighting. Maybe not a comfortable movie but a memorable one?

    I‘m ready to give it a try. The vibe I get from the trailer is that it’s Synecdoche, New York but with more epic lighting. Maybe not a comfortable movie but a memorable one?

    3 votes

  16. Comment on The Office (Australia) | Official trailer in ~tv

    nothis
    Link Parent
    That’s actually a fair point!

    That’s actually a fair point!

    1 vote

  17. Comment on The Office (Australia) | Official trailer in ~tv

    nothis
    Link
    Ouch, none of these jokes landed.

    Ouch, none of these jokes landed.

  18. Comment on Donald Trump is safe after Secret Service opened fire at suspect with firearm near his Florida golf club in ~news

    nothis
    Link Parent
    Yup, this looks like another assassination attempt.

    The person appeared to push the muzzle of the rifle through the fence line and that’s when agents fired, the officials said

    An AK-style firearm was recovered at the scene near Trump’s golf course, one of the officials and a third law enforcement official said.

    Yup, this looks like another assassination attempt.

    30 votes

  19. Comment on Travel recommendations for Japan in ~travel

    nothis
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    Take a day trip to Nara and feed some deer! You got to visit some of the most beautiful gardens in Kyoto. A lot are along the “philosopher’s path”. Even outside the super dense spots, check out...

    Take a day trip to Nara and feed some deer!

    You got to visit some of the most beautiful gardens in Kyoto. A lot are along the “philosopher’s path”.

    Even outside the super dense spots, check out some random bar and try to communicate with someone more local. We got a recommendation from a nerdy jazz DJ for a really cool bar on like the third floor of a residential building. Note that this is supposedly how you can get ripped off in some of the more touristy spots, be weary about people being super pushy.

    Not sure if you are art people but even if not, consider the Hakone Open Air sculpture museum. It was an unexpected highlight for us.

    Try investing in a stay at a traditional ryokan, it’s magical and there are places where English is no problem (we stayed in one near Hakone).

    If you’re feeling like hiking, consider visiting the moss-covered forests of Yakushima. A bit of a trip but probably the most amazing thing we saw in Japan.

  20. Comment on Introducing Steam Families - now out of beta! in ~games

    nothis
    Link Parent
    Absolutely not defending this. I’m just talking about things like, well, steam family sharing and not making you jump through hoops once they know they got your attention.

    Absolutely not defending this. I’m just talking about things like, well, steam family sharing and not making you jump through hoops once they know they got your attention.

    1 vote