schwartz's recent activity

  1. Comment on Is gerrymandering about to become more difficult? in ~misc

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    Yeah, it's simple. Both parties love gerrymandering, they only get angry about it when the other one does it.

    Yeah, it's simple. Both parties love gerrymandering, they only get angry about it when the other one does it.

  2. Comment on The Machine - A webcomic about consciousness, identity and teleportation in ~humanities

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    Orson Scott Card wrote a series of stories about people going into stasis by being injected with a drug. In the story, you get your mind mapped, get injected, go to sleep and then wake up and have...

    And thus if pain was to be felt you would either remember it, or be anaesthetized for its duration (in this case, a necessary component of the machine).

    Orson Scott Card wrote a series of stories about people going into stasis by being injected with a drug. In the story, you get your mind mapped, get injected, go to sleep and then wake up and have your mind reprogrammed according to the mapping.

    It's eventually revealed that the process is extremely painful, feeling like you are dying, but because of when it happens in the process, you wake up thinking it was completely painless.

    2 votes
  3. Comment on So ... The Expanse in ~tv

    schwartz
    Link
    I tried so hard to like it but I couldn't make it through the first season. I found it really boring and full of tropes. It kind of shocked me how bad it was. I love science fiction, but I...

    I tried so hard to like it but I couldn't make it through the first season. I found it really boring and full of tropes.

    It kind of shocked me how bad it was. I love science fiction, but I couldn't find much to like about the expanse. Maybe I didn't give it long enough, but if a show is that boring 7 episodes in, how long do you slog through?

    1 vote
  4. Comment on Grammarly's predatory model and cultural biases in ~humanities.languages

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    I use it in code reviews to make sure I'm not coming across too angry sounding.

    I use it in code reviews to make sure I'm not coming across too angry sounding.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on At some point, many people will return to office life, at least part time. How do you think that'll affect work behavior and the tools for it (Slack, Zoom, etc.)? in ~talk

    schwartz
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    We were doing one laptop per person in meetings before the pandemic to support our remote workers. If remote continues to be supported "post pandemic", then I would expect this to continue in good...

    We were doing one laptop per person in meetings before the pandemic to support our remote workers. If remote continues to be supported "post pandemic", then I would expect this to continue in good workplaces.

    However, I believe it will be years before working in the office is the norm again for tech people. I don't expect us to go back during the 2020s

    4 votes
  6. Comment on I'm considering on becoming a first-time dog owner soon, looking for advice in ~life.pets

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    We have a greyhound and she's an amazing apartment dog. I try to get her about an hour of exercise per day split up over a few short walks, but some days she can do less. Otherwise she is...

    We have a greyhound and she's an amazing apartment dog. I try to get her about an hour of exercise per day split up over a few short walks, but some days she can do less. Otherwise she is basically whiny, tooth-chattery furniture.

    10 votes
  7. Comment on What pandemic-related norms would you like to see remain once the current COVID-19 crisis is "over"? in ~talk

    schwartz
    Link
    people giving you space in lines people standing far away in casual conversation limited occupancy in stores nobody gets to call themselves a "hugger" anymore.
    • people giving you space in lines
    • people standing far away in casual conversation
    • limited occupancy in stores
    • nobody gets to call themselves a "hugger" anymore.
    6 votes
  8. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    I am still fleshing out a lot of functionality, but it takes advantage of the fact that Gmail let's you put any arbitrary string in your email by using a +. Each post or response gets a unique ID,...

    I am still fleshing out a lot of functionality, but it takes advantage of the fact that Gmail let's you put any arbitrary string in your email by using a +. Each post or response gets a unique ID, and this feature lets you include that ID in your response reply+SOMEID@yourdomain.com.

    At build time, I download new emails, validate that they are responding to valid posts, and then the site regenerates to include them. Email addresses are hashed to allow me to maintain a user identity without actually keeping any useful information around.

    I haven't decided if I'll be constantly polling for new email, but I kind of like the idea of running the build on a cron job. Maybe once an hour.

    3 votes
  9. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    schwartz
    Link
    I'm working on (yet another) static site generator, but this one uses Gmail as an ingestion service for content (and comments! And responses to comments!)

    I'm working on (yet another) static site generator, but this one uses Gmail as an ingestion service for content (and comments! And responses to comments!)

    5 votes
  10. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    schwartz
    Link
    I just watched Mirai for the first time with my daughters. Really beautiful movie! They completely captured the dynamics of a house with small children.

    I just watched Mirai for the first time with my daughters. Really beautiful movie! They completely captured the dynamics of a house with small children.

    5 votes
  11. Comment on What’s something you think more people should know about? in ~talk

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    What else do you think you need besides a pencil and paper (and practice)? Sure you could pay for classes or books, but practice is the number one method to learn to draw.

    What else do you think you need besides a pencil and paper (and practice)? Sure you could pay for classes or books, but practice is the number one method to learn to draw.

  12. Comment on What’s something you think more people should know about? in ~talk

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    Couldn't that be said about any new field of study? If you learn new skills as an adult often enough, you can get used to feeling like a beginner. You can maybe even learn to find that frustration...

    I beg to differ that it's easy. It's easy to get started, but it's incredibly demoralising for most people to know how something is supposed to sound, to be able to play each individual note/chord, even whole bars, but to still struggle with it all together.

    Couldn't that be said about any new field of study?

    If you learn new skills as an adult often enough, you can get used to feeling like a beginner. You can maybe even learn to find that frustration fun.

    Truthfully, even after 22 years of guitar playing I still struggle to play certain songs or styles. There's no such thing as a good musician, just someone who has spent a lot of time practicing.

    3 votes
  13. Comment on In-depth walkthroughs of Rust solutions for Advent of Code 2020 by Amos Wenger (fasterthanlime) in ~comp

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    It's not that bad to learn. I'm devoting my holiday break to learning (my background is mostly JS). The complexity is reduced by good tooling and smart design. I run a language server plugin on...

    It's not that bad to learn. I'm devoting my holiday break to learning (my background is mostly JS).

    The complexity is reduced by good tooling and smart design. I run a language server plugin on sublime text that autosuggests useful fixes for compiler errors, this removes a lot of the friction.

    3 votes
  14. Comment on What do I need to know about switching from Android to iOS for my phone? in ~tech

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    I can see you interact with the ecosystem in a fundamentally different way. Apple Watch? The feature set overlaps so much with the phone itself that I don't understand the point of ownership. Can...

    I can see you interact with the ecosystem in a fundamentally different way. Apple Watch? The feature set overlaps so much with the phone itself that I don't understand the point of ownership. Can you replace your phone with it? Why have both? Full disclosure, I haven't bought an apple product since they killed the headphone jack on the iPhone.

    I wouldn't call it "ritual maintenance" plopping your headphone case on a wireless charging pad once a week

    Another battery that has to be maintained properly? In the case now? Can you replace that battery when it inevitably stops holding a charge someday in the future?

  15. Comment on Ween - She Caught My Fancy (2000) in ~music

  16. Comment on What do I need to know about switching from Android to iOS for my phone? in ~tech

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    I don't care about the latency, just the need to perform ritual maintenance on yet another battery-powered device, especially one I can't replace the batteries on. What do you do if you want to...

    I don't care about the latency, just the need to perform ritual maintenance on yet another battery-powered device, especially one I can't replace the batteries on. What do you do if you want to listen to music and your headphones aren't charged?

    1 vote
  17. Comment on What do I need to know about switching from Android to iOS for my phone? in ~tech

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    Maybe it's just because I have been using them my whole life, but the so-called inconveniences of wires just don't bother me compared to the downsides of batteries. Like I recognize the examples...

    the hassle of dealing with wires getting tangled in your pockets, getting caught on things, blocking your messenger bag strap, slapping against your chest and creating noise. . .

    Maybe it's just because I have been using them my whole life, but the so-called inconveniences of wires just don't bother me compared to the downsides of batteries. Like I recognize the examples you give above, but I've literally never thought to be bothered by the sound of my headphones cable "slapping" against my chest. Is this a real problem?

    Additionally, you can get great wired headphones for a fraction of the price of airbuds, which is great for the clumsy and forgetful (of which group I am a proud member).

    1 vote
  18. Comment on What do I need to know about switching from Android to iOS for my phone? in ~tech

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    You're not actually making a case for wireless headphones. Wireless headphones need to be charged and paired, how can that be more convenient than plugging in a pair of headphones and it just works?

    Honestly, unless you want to listen on HiFi equipment you're better off just getting a set of wireless earbuds with W1 chips. The AirPods are the standard but the BeatsX are solid, cheap(er) alternatives as well. The convenience is really just too much to pass up.

    You're not actually making a case for wireless headphones. Wireless headphones need to be charged and paired, how can that be more convenient than plugging in a pair of headphones and it just works?

    2 votes
  19. Comment on Not every Trump voter is racist or misled. There’s a rational Trump voter too in ~misc

    schwartz
    Link
    Hilary, and later Biden, consistently gave the message that the status quo is fine, which is why she lost and he came closer to losing than any of us would like. America sucks for a lot of...

    Hilary, and later Biden, consistently gave the message that the status quo is fine, which is why she lost and he came closer to losing than any of us would like.

    America sucks for a lot of Americans. Trump agreed with them that it sucks and said he was going to make it better. The fact that he was lying doesn't negate this fact. Obama also won with a "change" message. Imagine that.

    9 votes
  20. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk

    schwartz
    Link Parent
    I am more in the "This is life for the foreseeable future" camp. I'm convinced I'll have to wear a mask at my daughter high school graduation (in 2033)

    I am more in the "This is life for the foreseeable future" camp. I'm convinced I'll have to wear a mask at my daughter high school graduation (in 2033)

    4 votes