psi's recent activity
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Comment on Texas A&M, under new curriculum limits, warns professor not to teach Plato in ~humanities
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Comment on Debunking the AI food delivery hoax that fooled Reddit in ~tech
psi Link ParentFor what it's worth, Casey Newton (the author of the article) co-hosts the podcast Hard Fork, and I 100% expect them to discuss this story on this week's episode.For what it's worth, Casey Newton (the author of the article) co-hosts the podcast Hard Fork, and I 100% expect them to discuss this story on this week's episode.
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
psi (edited )Link ParentI think it is both more and less nuanced than that, if you would permit the possibility. The NYT had a pretty good summary of the different schools of thought within the administration: "How Oil,...I think it is both more and less nuanced than that, if you would permit the possibility. The NYT had a pretty good summary of the different schools of thought within the administration:
[The campaign] reflects overlapping drives by Mr. Rubio and Mr. Miller, who have worked in tandem on policies against Mr. Maduro. Each has come to it with a focus on long-held goals: for Mr. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who also serves as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, a chance to topple or cripple the governments of Venezuela and its ally, Cuba; and for Mr. Miller, an architect of Mr. Trump’s anti-immigration policies, the opportunity to further his goal of mass deportations and to hit criminal groups in Latin America.
Larger excerpt
This account of how Venezuela moved to the center of the administration’s foreign policy agenda this year — to the point of a possible war — is based on interviews with current and former U.S. officials, almost all of whom agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because of sensitivities about national security. Among the findings:
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Mr. Miller told White House officials in the spring to explore ways to attack drug cartels around their home countries in Latin America. Mr. Miller wanted attacks that could draw widespread attention to create a deterrent.
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The focus on Venezuela intensified after late May, when Mr. Trump was upset about tough negotiations involving Chevron. Venezuela’s oil has been more central to Mr. Trump’s deliberations than previously reported.
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In meetings in the early summer, Mr. Rubio and Mr. Miller talked with Mr. Trump about striking Venezuela. The president appeared swayed by Mr. Rubio’s argument that Mr. Maduro should be seen as a drug kingpin.
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Mr. Miller told officials that if the United States and Venezuela were at war, the Trump administration could again invoke the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law, to expedite deportations of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans the administration stripped of temporary protected status. He and Mr. Rubio had used it earlier in the year to summarily deport hundreds of Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador, only to be stopped by court rulings.
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The secret order for military action against the cartels that Mr. Trump signed on July 25, calling for maritime strikes, is the first known written directive from the president on such strikes. Administration officials referred to the boat attacks as “Phase One,” with SEAL Team Six taking the lead. They have discussed a vague “Phase Two,” with Army Delta Force units possibly carrying out land operations.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth kept many career uniformed military officials and lawyers from the drafting of the “execute order” that guides the boat strikes. As a result, the order had problematic holes in it, including a lack of language on how to deal with survivors.
Some want to topple Venezeula for its oil reserves, others (like Marco Rubio) are philosophically opposed to the Maduro regime, while Stephen Miller is doing it for the most reprehensible reasons possible (as an excuse for mass deportations).
Of course, none of those people have the final say. That would be Trump. But I honestly doubt Trump could articulate any of these justifications. My guess is that Trump has rotted his brain on conservative ragebait, which has for years demonized Venezuela as a socialist hellhole. And now Trump is being driven entirely from his id, reflexively drawn to the conclusion that Venezuela is bad and its government is bad and its people are bad but unable to explain why or to formulate any sort of long term strategy, instead choosing to offload the cognitive effort to others in his administration. The result is that there is no real justification, just a vibe and an all-you-can-eat buffet of pretexts.
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Comment on Stranger Things finale discussion in ~tv
psi (edited )Link ParentFor what its worth, I think the reveal with El is meant to be ambiguous. Personally I thought it was a nice touch, as it simultaneously gave the ending real stakes while also leaving room for hope.For what its worth, I think the reveal with El is meant to be ambiguous. Personally I thought it was a nice touch, as it simultaneously gave the ending real stakes while also leaving room for hope.
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Comment on Stranger Things finale discussion in ~tv
psi (edited )Link ParentI also thought it was pretty weird. I understood that this was supposed to be Joyce's cathartic moment, but the execution almost felt like a lynching. Like, here is a person who transgressed the...My biggest dislike with it was the gratuitous beheading of Vecna.
I also thought it was pretty weird. I understood that this was supposed to be Joyce's cathartic moment, but the execution almost felt like a lynching. Like, here is a person who transgressed the social norm, and rather than dealing with him through an act of justice (which probably actually means killing Vecna -- he was very dangerous after all!), the showrunners have Joyce kill him in this overtly violent manner while everyone else gives their silent approval.
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Comment on Stranger Things finale discussion in ~tv
psi (edited )Link ParentI tend to agree. Some episodes in the later seasons became extremely bloated, lasting as long as a feature-length film while barely trudging the plot forward. (In particular, I'm thinking of the...The show suffers from an immensely large cast. No plot point or relationship receives the appropriate attention it deserves because they have to move things forward for 20 different pairings, multiple friend groups, age groups, B plots, C plots, and the main story thread.
I tend to agree. Some episodes in the later seasons became extremely bloated, lasting as long as a feature-length film while barely trudging the plot forward. (In particular, I'm thinking of the parallel plot lines of season 3: Jim enduring a Russian prison, El regaining her powers, the hunt for El, the hunt for Jim, the hunt around the mall....) I wish the showrunners had dedicated episodes to subsets of the cast instead of constantly interrupting the pacing by switching back and forth between five ensembles.
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
psi LinkThe US just kidnapped a head of state for reasons it can barely articulate. Wow.The US just kidnapped a head of state for reasons it can barely articulate. Wow.
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Comment on Backing up Spotify in ~music
psi (edited )Link ParentOn the other hand, they explicitly solicit donations from those wishing to use their catalog to train generative models, so it's not like their preservation efforts are exactly pro-author/-artist....On the other hand, they explicitly solicit donations from those wishing to use their catalog to train generative models, so it's not like their preservation efforts are exactly pro-author/-artist. From elsewhere on their site:
LLM data
It is well understood that LLMs thrive on high-quality data. We have the largest collection of books, papers, magazines, etc in the world, which are some of the highest quality text sources.
Unique scale and range
Our collection contains over a hundred million files, including academic journals, textbooks, and magazines. We achieve this scale by combining large existing repositories.
Some of our source collections are already available in bulk (Sci-Hub, and parts of Libgen). Other sources we liberated ourselves. Datasets shows a full overview.
Our collection includes millions of books, papers, and magazines from before the e-book era. Large parts of this collection have already been OCR’ed, and already have little internal overlap.
How we can help
We’re able to provide high-speed access to our full collections, as well as to unreleased collections.
This is enterprise-level access that we can provide for donations in the range of tens of thousands USD. We’re also willing to trade this for high-quality collections that we don’t have yet.
We can refund you if you’re able to provide us with enrichment of our data, such as:
- OCR
- Removing overlap (deduplication)
- Text and metadata extraction
Support long-term archival of human knowledge, while getting better data for your model!
Contact us to discuss how we can work together.
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Comment on What are some of your "life hacks" you use regularly? in ~talk
psi Link ParentAlternatively, you can use some of that new age math. Given that 1 mile = 1.609 km, you get a fairly good estimate by calculating K = M + 1/2 M + 1/10 M So, for example, 13 miles = 13 km + 6.5 km...Alternatively, you can use some of that new age math. Given that 1 mile = 1.609 km, you get a fairly good estimate by calculating
K = M + 1/2 M + 1/10 MSo, for example, 13 miles = 13 km + 6.5 km + 1.3 km = 20.8 km (real value is 20.917 km).
Similarly, 1 km = 0.6214 miles, so the following is a pretty good estimate (but not quite as good as converting the other way)
M = 1/2 K + 1/10 K -
Comment on What are some of your "life hacks" you use regularly? in ~talk
psi (edited )Link ParentKind of a pedantic point, but it's worth keeping in mind that this trick only works if the function is linear. (And not merely affine; that is, the function should be like y = a x with the origin...Kind of a pedantic point, but it's worth keeping in mind that this trick only works if the function is linear. (And not merely affine; that is, the function should be like
y = a xwith the originb = 0preserved.) So you can't use this trick to convert degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius (f = c *1.8 + 32), for example. -
Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: Holiday 2025 in ~games
psi (edited )Link ParentThanks! And no, please don't add me to the raffle. As much as I love the Persona series, I've already played P5R, and I'd much rather somebody else get to enjoy it. I was just adding my own...Thanks! And no, please don't add me to the raffle. As much as I love the Persona series, I've already played P5R, and I'd much rather somebody else get to enjoy it. I was just adding my own anecdote and it definitely wasn't only because I misread your request.
Unfortunately, the blades on the Christmas pyramid-buildings don't seem to actually move. (Likewise, the giant candles also aren't real -- double bummer). However, I would agree that this presents a very exciting opportunity for the enterprising carnie.
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: Holiday 2025 in ~games
psi (edited )Link ParentI'd like to put in a request for this one. As for gaudy decorations: I live in a city, so I don't really see lawns anymore, but I do encounter plenty of Christmas markets. Probably the most...Iconoclasts
I'd like to put in a request for this one.
As for gaudy decorations: I live in a city, so I don't really see lawns anymore, but I do encounter plenty of Christmas markets. Probably the most ridiculous decorations are the Weihnachtspyramide (Christmas pyramids), elaborate candle holders that almost look like a windmill except with the blades fastened horizontally instead of vertically. As warm air rises from the candles, it hits the rotor, causing it to rotate (supposedly -- I tried blowing on one once to see what would happen, and an annoyed merchant told me off: Bitte mach das nicht). They are neat if somewhat silly, but the ridiculousness is magnified a 100-fold when the city scales them up by a factor of 20 and attach these things to the top of Glühwein stands (like so).
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Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news
psi (edited )Link ParentJust in case someone's wondering what a kākāpō looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKYJust in case someone's wondering what a kākāpō looks like:
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: Holiday 2025 in ~games
psi Link ParentIt's not obvious to me what any of these are, but I can't resist a good mystery! I'd like to roll for 4 (Mouse, Ostrich, Kangaroo).It's not obvious to me what any of these are, but I can't resist a good mystery!
I'd like to roll for 4 (Mouse, Ostrich, Kangaroo).
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Comment on Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer found dead at LA home; homicide suspected in ~movies
psi (edited )Link Parent"Trump Blames Rob Reiner for His Own Murder." The Atlantic.Looking for a considered meaning in Trump’s words might be a wild-goose chase, though. The simplest reason Trump posted this is the same reason he posts anything: The man cannot resist making everything about himself, even if it’s the heartbreaking murder of a beloved artist in an alleged domestic dispute. If “TDS” ["Trump Derangement Syndrome"] is the tendency to become irrationally obsessed with Donald Trump and project that obsession onto everyone else, then somebody is indeed deranged, and it wasn’t Rob Reiner.
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Comment on Twenty years of digital life, gone in an instant, thanks to Apple in ~tech
psi LinkHere are two common pieces of tech wisdom: You should have backups of your data. You should use a password manager. Consider the password manager advice. When I tell someone that they should use a...Here are two common pieces of tech wisdom:
- You should have backups of your data.
- You should use a password manager.
Consider the password manager advice. When I tell someone that they should use a password manager, I don't mean that they should use keepass with a self-hosted gitlab instance. I mean they should use any reputable password manager they can find -- even if it's the one built-in to their phone or browser. Yes, that means my mom could lose access to her passwords if she becomes locked-out of her Apple account. But that risk is so much smaller than all of her accounts being compromised by reusing a password that was pwned a decade ago.
Similarly, when I advise someone to backup their data, I mean they should use anything that works for them. Yes, there is still a risk of being locked-out of their account, but the more likely threat is a hard drive failure or a stolen device.
So sure, the OP is more technically inclined than most and probably could have written some automated backups (my mom, in contrast, definitely could not have). But they were adhering to good advice; they just got screwed by an improbable edge case.
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Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk
psi Link ParentWhatever happened to Panama being controlled by China? Or Trump's bid for Greenland? "The Conservative Movement’s Intellectual Collapse." The Atlantic. [archive] These people are epistemological...Whatever happened to Panama being controlled by China? Or Trump's bid for Greenland?
Do you remember, back in January, when Trump announced that he simply must possess Greenland and the Panama Canal? A series of conservative thinkers dutifully explained the strategic imperatives undergirding this demand. Trump was aware of the need to control Greenland’s mineral assets, they insisted, and to keep China from seizing control of the Panama Canal.
Trump appears to have completely abandoned both goals. It would be edifying to know how the conservatives who had deemed possession of these previously ignored territories to be a vital U.S. interest now judge Trump’s dereliction of these missions. But those defenders give no indication that they have undergone any reconsideration of Trump’s clumsy imperialist gestures. That silence leaves the impression that the president was correct to grow suddenly obsessed with territorial expansion, and he is correct to have apparently forgotten all about it.
These people are epistemological nihilists.
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Comment on Meet Pebble Index 01 - External memory for your brain in ~tech
psi LinkE-waste or not, I see a much larger problem: who really believes this product will still be available to purchase a couple years from now (when they need to be replaced)? Given how niche this...E-waste or not, I see a much larger problem: who really believes this product will still be available to purchase a couple years from now (when they need to be replaced)? Given how niche this product is, I'm skeptical it will be successful. So what will people do when they've become dependent on a device that they can't really replace?
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Comment on CGA-2025-12 🏴☠️🏝️🍌 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Secret of Monkey Island in ~games
psi (edited )Link ParentLooks like the game's currently on sale for about $2 almost everywhere except Steam and GOG. Fanatical linkLooks like the game's currently on sale for about $2 almost everywhere except Steam and GOG.
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Comment on US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to end all monkey research in ~science
psi (edited )Link ParentIt's a long piece, so thanks for pulling out some more quotes. (I considered drawing some more excerpts, but given the length of the article and the number of subjects, I didn't think I'd be able...It's a long piece, so thanks for pulling out some more quotes. (I considered drawing some more excerpts, but given the length of the article and the number of subjects, I didn't think I'd be able to faithfully summarize it; instead I focused on the group mentioned in the OP's article.)
At any rate, you're right to point out the failings at Alpha Genesis. People shouldn't reflexively assume that the status quo is hunky-dory -- the treatment of the macaques is unacceptable and, in some cases, possibly not of much scientific merit regardless (e.g. the P.T.S.D. experiments conducted by Murray, as mentioned in the article).
The danger the Trump administration presents is not, by itself, the reduction in animal testing. (I'm a vegetarian -- I would generally support this move!) Rather, the danger is the black-and-white thinking; it's the temptation of a simple, universal, exemption-free solution; it's this mode of thought that is just so exhaustingly omnipresent in everything this administration does, from the constant scapegoating of immigrants to the misguided allure of tariffs. For all the flak PETA gets, I think they have the most relatable quote of anybody in the article (emphasis added).
The collaboration between certain MAGA influencers and animal-rights activists has drawn out the most confrontational tendencies within each camp. This summer, Loomer and White Coat Waste took aim at an unusual target: Nicole Kleinstreuer, a toxicologist who is spearheading the N.I.H.’s effort to expedite, of all things, the replacement of animals in regulatory testing and research. Under Kleinstreuer’s leadership, the agency has launched a new office to develop and validate alternatives to animal studies, such as computer simulations and “organ on a chip” technologies. Kleinstreuer has said that she wants to “create lasting change for animal-free science.” But because she has echoed the scientific consensus—namely that, in the meantime, some animals remain necessary—White Coat Waste has branded her an enemy of progress and a “Fauci-loving ‘animal testing czar.’ ” Kleinstreuer, who subsequently received harassing messages and death threats online, has required security protection.
White Coat Waste’s criticism of Kleinstreuer has set it apart from the broader animal-rights movement. (“Have they lost their fucking minds?” Lisa Jones-Engel, the PETA scientist, said.)
I think @FishFingus's point is that academics don't use the term "gender ideology" (Wikipedia redirects to the anti-gender movement instead). It's an intentionally nebulous term, similar to how the right throws around the term "critical race theory" (albeit with the distinction that critical race theory is, in fact, a thing, just not the thing conservatives think it is).