preposterous's recent activity

  1. Comment on Good time to buy a gas/diesel car (in the EU)? in ~transport

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    I’d steer clear of diesel (polluting, many cities forbid these vehicles from entering, fuel price is insane right now) Instead, I’d consider an older gasoline car because they can usually run fine...

    I’d steer clear of diesel (polluting, many cities forbid these vehicles from entering, fuel price is insane right now)

    Instead, I’d consider an older gasoline car because they can usually run fine with a mixture of ethanol (or even pure ethanol sometimes) without modification.

    I don’t know if you have e85 where you live, but here it’s 3x cheaper than regular gasoline. My car won’t do 100% without modifications I’m not willing to do but it runs just fine on 50% ethanol and 50% e10.

    The trick is to gradually increase the e85 portion and watch your LTFT with a cheap OBD scanner to find the max ratio your car can use and then dial back a notch so you never have issues.

    2 votes
  2. Comment on What are the current channels to find remote work? in ~tech

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    Looking at the recruiter’s job history is a good heuristic for me: if they’re a couple years out of school and were selling shoes 6 months ago, selling clothes 3 months ago, and now selling warm...

    Looking at the recruiter’s job history is a good heuristic for me: if they’re a couple years out of school and were selling shoes 6 months ago, selling clothes 3 months ago, and now selling warm bodies to companies, chances are they’re not worth your time, will only have crap offers trying to race you to the bottom, and they’ll be selling furniture in 6 months.

    I don’t usually work with recruiters but when I do I make sure they’re career, experienced recruiters.

    5 votes
  3. Comment on Which Linux distro do you use, and why? in ~tech

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    I’ve been curious about fedora. Using mint for a decade now and I have an extensive ansible playbook to bootstrap a blank machine so switching isn’t cheap in terms of effort, but I’m curious. What...

    I’ve been curious about fedora. Using mint for a decade now and I have an extensive ansible playbook to bootstrap a blank machine so switching isn’t cheap in terms of effort, but I’m curious.

    What little thing or feature do you love about fedora?

    1 vote
  4. Comment on Allbirds announces pivot from running shoes to AI compute; stock surged over 700% in ~tech

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    Adidas are pretty good fwiw and ubiquitous. I buy pairs on sale, usually under 50$ and they last me 2–4 years typically. They’re comfortable and well made. I buy a new pair way before mine are...

    Adidas are pretty good fwiw and ubiquitous. I buy pairs on sale, usually under 50$ and they last me 2–4 years typically. They’re comfortable and well made. I buy a new pair way before mine are shot so that I can grab a really good deal and never be caught short.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing -- colonies surged fifteen-fold in ~science

    preposterous
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    Thank you. Something I forgot to add is that I also think employees should have a stake in their employer by law. Employees should get a part of the profits generated by their work beyond their...

    Thank you.

    Something I forgot to add is that I also think employees should have a stake in their employer by law. Employees should get a part of the profits generated by their work beyond their salary that is often only a ridiculous fraction of these profits, and employees should have a voice into how the company is run.

    I’ve always resented being an employee because it felt exploitative even though I was always in comfortable white collar jobs (well except when I was younger). But I see it from others who work their asses off to enrich an employer and only get peanuts (and 50h weeks) in return.

    Employers should get a bigger share of the venture since they’re taking more risk on, but employees should also get some beyond their salaries because they’re giving up a significant chunk of their health and lives (over a lifetime) for barely enough to exist in return.

    1 vote
  6. Comment on Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing -- colonies surged fifteen-fold in ~science

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    I wish I had a clever answer but I don’t know what system would be a sound replacement. I think putting limits on capitalism and greed would help, encouraging people to think differently about...

    I wish I had a clever answer but I don’t know what system would be a sound replacement.

    I think putting limits on capitalism and greed would help, encouraging people to think differently about consumption and needs would help, pricing externalities better would help, reconsidering our culture of “I consume therefore I am” would help. But I’m far from smart and knowledgeable enough to tell you which system would embody these things perfectly.

    I try to fight these things at my level, limit or avoid giving money to companies and entities I feel are building a world and pushing values I think are harmful but there is only so much I can do at my level.

    3 votes
  7. Comment on Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing -- colonies surged fifteen-fold in ~science

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    I’m not saying that’s a better option. As soon as something becomes a resource with a cost associated to it, it’s a race to the bottom to reduce that cost at the expense of anything else. Call it...

    I’m not saying that’s a better option.

    As soon as something becomes a resource with a cost associated to it, it’s a race to the bottom to reduce that cost at the expense of anything else. Call it capitalism, socialism, communism, whatever you want the result it the same.

    I challenge the idea that anything exists to be exploited for our own gain. We behave like we’re the only species that matter, everything else is there to either serve us (and thus be exploited to collapse) or hinder us (and thus must be eliminated).

    I think capitalism is one of the most vicious incarnations of an economic system that incentivizes exploitation and suffering (across all species, including humans), but it’s not the only one.

    3 votes
  8. Comment on Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing -- colonies surged fifteen-fold in ~science

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    How can you tell they’re not sentient? Not so long ago we used to think babies didn’t feel pain/were barely sentient. Wouldn’t it be safer to err on the side of caution, assume they are, and treat...

    How can you tell they’re not sentient? Not so long ago we used to think babies didn’t feel pain/were barely sentient.

    Wouldn’t it be safer to err on the side of caution, assume they are, and treat them as such? Worst that could happen is that we were wrong and treated another living thing well.

    3 votes
  9. Comment on Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing -- colonies surged fifteen-fold in ~science

    preposterous
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    This is how we treat most animals because capitalism. They’re just resources at our disposal and either they’re profitable or they aren’t. They’re not allowed to just exist and do their own thing....

    That sounds super sad for bees. They're not tiny machines, they're living critters with a family and love of balls and sunshine and outdoors.

    This is how we treat most animals because capitalism. They’re just resources at our disposal and either they’re profitable or they aren’t. They’re not allowed to just exist and do their own thing.

    Even pets, the breeding industry is nightmare fuel just like farming meat or milk or eggs is.

    10 votes
  10. Comment on What does someone do if they think they are a fan of photography? in ~arts

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    Yes, it took me on that train of thought that I wanted to share.

    Yes, it took me on that train of thought that I wanted to share.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on What does someone do if they think they are a fan of photography? in ~arts

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    Ultimately, does it matter how good or bad a photograph is according to experts if you enjoy it? I don’t know you so I’m not jumping to conclusions; just asking the question as a point to ponder....

    Ultimately, does it matter how good or bad a photograph is according to experts if you enjoy it?

    I don’t know you so I’m not jumping to conclusions; just asking the question as a point to ponder.

    Experts and other authority figures in a specific domain will always be (intentionally or not) gate keeping a little and enforce their vision of what is “good” or “worthy”.

    In highly subjective domains as art, there is no “objectively good”.

    If you’re enjoying a particular style, photograph, exhibition but everyone else says it’s junk, how much does that matter?

    I have this approach for wine where people feel dumb if they don’t parrot someone else’s opinion on a bottle. I refuse to learn anything about wine because I trust myself enough that if I taste a bottle and like it, that’s enough for me to make it good. I don’t want someone else to ruin it for me because it’s too much this or too little that, or to tell me what I enjoy. Could that apply to your interest in photography too?

  12. Comment on Nasdaq's shame - how to rig an index to appease a billionaire in ~finance

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    I hold ETFs based on indices and I bought them exactly because they’re the index. I can’t just dump and buy something else, the capital gains taxes would kill me.

    Just don’t buy ETFs based on indices that have a fast track rule?

    I hold ETFs based on indices and I bought them exactly because they’re the index.

    I can’t just dump and buy something else, the capital gains taxes would kill me.

    10 votes
  13. Comment on Hisense TVs show ads during normal operation in ~tech

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    idk. There are no YT ads in Albania.

    idk. There are no YT ads in Albania.

    1 vote
  14. Comment on Hisense TVs show ads during normal operation in ~tech

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    FWIW, NextDNS is an easy to setup line of defence for this kind of enshitification. It also works on the iPhone, I have no ads anywhere except the YouTube app (for which I use an Albania tunnel so...

    FWIW, NextDNS is an easy to setup line of defence for this kind of enshitification. It also works on the iPhone, I have no ads anywhere except the YouTube app (for which I use an Albania tunnel so I get no ads)

    10 votes
  15. Comment on ‘I took two bites and had to spit it out’: US candy makers are phasing out real cocoa in chocolate in some products in ~food

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    Treets uses choviva and I found it pretty compelling. However: ChoViva uses palm oil which is a major deforestation driver and orang outang killer (not only by destroying their forest but also by...

    Treets uses choviva and I found it pretty compelling.

    However: ChoViva uses palm oil which is a major deforestation driver and orang outang killer (not only by destroying their forest but also by actively killing them, look it up if you think you have the stomach). So that’s a no go for me until they reformulate without palm oil. What’s the point if the substitute also causes suffering and destruction on a massive scale.

    11 votes
  16. Comment on Norwegian influencer buys failed property development in Spain to build ‘self-sufficient’ eco-community – Modern Eco Village plans to erect 500 homes, schools and shops in ~design

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    Ha, I was under the impression housing was cheaper in Spain (outside of major metros like Madrid etc)

    Ha, I was under the impression housing was cheaper in Spain (outside of major metros like Madrid etc)

    1 vote
  17. Comment on Norwegian influencer buys failed property development in Spain to build ‘self-sufficient’ eco-community – Modern Eco Village plans to erect 500 homes, schools and shops in ~design

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    I was being charitable in my interpretation :)

    I was being charitable in my interpretation :)

    5 votes
  18. Comment on Colossal Game Adventure Schedule: April - September 2026 in ~games

  19. Comment on Norwegian influencer buys failed property development in Spain to build ‘self-sufficient’ eco-community – Modern Eco Village plans to erect 500 homes, schools and shops in ~design

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    Self sufficient, in Spain? The place that’s looking more like the Sahara everyday and has massive droughts + fore problems? I’m sure the land was cheap but that an interesting choice. This is...

    Self sufficient, in Spain? The place that’s looking more like the Sahara everyday and has massive droughts + fore problems? I’m sure the land was cheap but that an interesting choice.

    This is presumably aimed at rich foreigners:

    from one bedroom and 50 square meters (538 sq ft) starting at €165,375, to four bedrooms and 150 square meters (1,614 sq ft) for €479,588. You can also add empty modules as desired for €84,000 each. Then there are the villas: the standard, two-story villa costs €770,000, and the most luxurious one is €1.4 million.

    AFAIK the fiscal climate in Spain is rather detrimental to rich people, which makes this choice an even more interesting one.

    At least it’ll be EMF free they say…

    16 votes
  20. Comment on I'm going to Thailand next week. Looking for advice on clothing. in ~travel

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    Whatever you do make sure to get tropical mosquito repellent. I caught dengue in koh phangan and I don’t recommend it. Make sure you have good travel insurance (safety wing absolutely sucks, ask...

    Whatever you do make sure to get tropical mosquito repellent. I caught dengue in koh phangan and I don’t recommend it. Make sure you have good travel insurance (safety wing absolutely sucks, ask me how I know) because hospital bills can get expensive (around 800–1000 usd/day)

    5 votes