shoelace's recent activity

  1. Comment on How the Netherlands bent bureaucracy into something beautiful in ~society

    shoelace
    Link Parent
    ...or to spell it out in a less 'fluff'-y way: Germany is notoriously bad for this stuff. I've seen an awful lot written and said about how every element of bureaucracy sticks rigidly to their own...

    ...or to spell it out in a less 'fluff'-y way: Germany is notoriously bad for this stuff. I've seen an awful lot written and said about how every element of bureaucracy sticks rigidly to their own rulebook, and how there's a strong culture of absolutely never looking out towards the big picture.

    "The book says this, so this is what must be done". No agency, no flexibility, no humanity...

    3 votes

  2. Comment on How the Netherlands bent bureaucracy into something beautiful in ~society

    shoelace
    Link
    pssst Hey, Germany? Look over there, straight to your left! Yeah, right there, do you see it? Do you see it? ...please see it...

    pssst

    Hey, Germany? Look over there, straight to your left!

    Yeah, right there, do you see it? Do you see it?

    ...please see it...

    2 votes

  3. Why do I almost never catch colds anymore?

    ~health Ask
    Something I'm wondering about: since COVID, I just don't seem to get colds anymore. Before COVID, I recall that I very regularly had some kind of minor cold – it felt like it was about 50% of the...

    Something I'm wondering about: since COVID, I just don't seem to get colds anymore.

    Before COVID, I recall that I very regularly had some kind of minor cold – it felt like it was about 50% of the time, realistically let's say maybe 20%? But of course that's just my recollection.

    I then caught the original strain of COVID in March 2020, and suffered fairly badly from it for 3 weeks – definitely the worst illness of my life, though I was very lucky not to need to go into hospital. Since then I've had 3 doses of the COVID vaccine, and had COVID at least twice more, both times very mildly.

    Since then though, I've noticed that I almost never have any sort of cold any more. I think my partner and I had some kind of brief minor flu back in September, but I've not had anything since, and I remember thinking that it had been a long time since I'd had anything like that.

    For reference, I don't wear a mask nowadays, or otherwise do anything much different to my life before COVID.

    Does anyone have any thoughts on why this might be?

    Uneducated theories on my part:

    1. Somehow having COVID made me less likely to catch colds
    2. Somehow having the COVID vaccine made me less likely to catch colds
    3. During COVID I got used to holding my breath around people coughing, and that's surprisingly effective towards not catching colds
    4. I'm now mostly around people less likely to pass on colds for some reason

    I would love to hear your thoughts on this, especially those who have some actual knowledge about this topic!

    31 votes

  4. Comment on Six months with Zen Browser in ~tech

    shoelace
    Link
    I've been using Zen daily (no idea when I started! 6 months ago? A year? Really not sure!) and the remarkable thing is that I just don't even think about using it. It's so good, and does...

    I've been using Zen daily (no idea when I started! 6 months ago? A year? Really not sure!) and the remarkable thing is that I just don't even think about using it. It's so good, and does everything I want it to so effortlessly, that I totally forget that I ever used anything else, or even that I'm using an unusual browser at all! I switched from Firefox so under the hood everything works the same way it always did which probably helps that, but even so, now that you mention it, it's impressive how stable and well-made it is for such a small project!

    This in contrast to e.g. Qutebrowser which I use on a hobby laptop, where I constantly have to find ways around problems and have to consult documentation to work out how to do things. Which isn't surprising given how very different that particular browser is – but I suppose I want to emphasise that Zen isn't just a wacky bleeding edge experiment for developers and enthusiasts with ideological browser preferences, but rather something I could recommend to a great many people.

    7 votes

  5. Comment on Advice on avoiding the hedonic treadmill of endless content? in ~life

    shoelace
    Link
    For yourself: everyone's brain is different, and there's really a drastically large spectrum of experiences with all the things you want to avoid, so I'm sure realistically there's no one right...

    For yourself: everyone's brain is different, and there's really a drastically large spectrum of experiences with all the things you want to avoid, so I'm sure realistically there's no one right answer. But for me, the only real way to avoid The Treadmill is through some level of self-discipline. Others may have had great experiences with app X which blocks you from opening InstaBook and limits your TikTube time to 17 minutes per day and so on. But I find for my brain that if I try and outsource responsibility for avoiding these services, then exactly that happens – I feel I have outsourced the responsibility, and I end up finding ways around it (and on modern devices, there are COUNTLESS ways around blocking almost any platform if you're even remotely tech-savvy) and falling back into the same old cycle. I've tried limiting my phone to certain apps, I've tried blocking websites, none of it ever sticks in a meaningful way.

    Two things that to some extent do work for me: self-discipline, and positive reinforcement. I think what made a difference for me was having a concrete, blanket, heavily internalised rule about which platforms are terrible for me, rather than just trying to avoid individual ones and ending up replacing them with something else equally bad. For instance, I tried really hard to stop using Instagram, and ended up just scrolling through Reddit all day instead. But once I decided that anything with an algorithmic feed is essentially demonic and the utter bane of my existence and wellbeing, following that rule made things easier for me – because instead of just jumping from one algorithmic platform to another in order to obey my own rule, I just "escaped" this limitation by spending time on non-algorithmic platforms instead. Still bad? Maybe. Better? Absolutely!

    And the positive reinforcement one is something I'm still working on, but having a system where I earn points for doing things each day that I feel I want to do more but tend not to (like reading 1 page of a book, or getting up before a certain time in the morning), and rewarding myself by spending these points on nice things that I enjoy but want to do a little less (like eating chocolate, or eating out) seems to work well for my brain. I don't like using an app for this, I prefer a physical whiteboard or similar to make it feel more tangible and visible. And if you can do it with a partner or someone else, I think the shared accountability helps in sticking to it.

    As for the kids, I am very interested in this topic for the potential future, but I can't advise with any experience! I'd love to hear what other people have experienced in terms of not giving them their own devices or letting them use anything internet-related unsupervised, because that's definitely an approach I'd potentially like to take if the time ever comes.

    19 votes

  6. Comment on Anyone know of any good way to transfer Apple Music playlists onto a hard drive? in ~tech

    shoelace
    Link
    Sorry for your loss. Someone else will have to suggest a way to do this I'm afraid - but I want to warn you just in case, that you shouldn't let that Apple Music subscription end (assuming it was...

    Sorry for your loss. Someone else will have to suggest a way to do this I'm afraid - but I want to warn you just in case, that you shouldn't let that Apple Music subscription end (assuming it was your father's account, or otherwise) until you've found a way to transfer everything you want! I found out the hard way that if you let your AM subscription lapse, then even if you start it again later, ALL your playlists and saved albums and everything will be gone forever. Just something to keep in mind, unfortunately.

    15 votes

  7. Comment on ‘Don’t ever assume there’s anything to eat!’ Twenty-nine tips for perfect vegan holidays, from where to go to how to order. in ~food

    shoelace
    Link Parent
    I believe it's because they're fungi, not animals?

    I believe it's because they're fungi, not animals?

    3 votes

  8. Comment on Calgary brings fluoride back to its drinking water in ~health

    shoelace
    Link
    Is it really true that this wasn't conclusive even as late as 2011? That sounds surprisingly recent to my ears!

    In Calgary, a city of about 1.8 million people in Alberta, the City Council voted to remove fluoride from its drinking water in 2011, two decades after it was introduced in 1991. The water treatment infrastructure to process the fluoride was at the end of its life cycle and councilors did not believe that the cost to replace it outweighed the existing science around the health value.

    Is it really true that this wasn't conclusive even as late as 2011? That sounds surprisingly recent to my ears!

    2 votes

  9. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    shoelace
    Link
    I'm playing a Minecraft mod called Better Than Wolves. I'd heard of it years and years ago, described as an attempt (originating from when the game was still in beta) to add a system of...

    I'm playing a Minecraft mod called Better Than Wolves. I'd heard of it years and years ago, described as an attempt (originating from when the game was still in beta) to add a system of progression to the game, that the author felt was lacking from Mojang's updates (i.e. they didn't think adding wolves to the game had been a good use of time and energy). Other than that, and the knowledge that it was specifically not compatible with any other mods, I didn't know much about it. I also stopped playing Minecraft probably around 2017-ish, so everything added to the game since then seems weird and alien to me, and I honestly don't really have a lot of interest in exploring it.

    Recently the YouTube algorithm recommended me a very long, edited video from an apparently-popular Minecraft YouTuber playing through the mod. I was intrigued to find out that this mod I remembered hearing about so long ago is still around, and further so to see it being framed as a mod that makes the game much harder than the vanilla version. It seemed that so much of the game had been changed to lock things behind a very slow and difficult system of progression, which made it difficult even to get past the early game survival stage. I enjoyed the playthrough a lot, and once I realised that the mod depends on a very old version of the game from around the time I stopped playing (and thus I wouldn't be put off by not knowing about more recent things in the game added in vanilla), I felt the urge to try it myself.

    I'm absolutely terrible at most games (I have terrible hand-eye co-ordination, my reaction time is awful, and I really don't get much enjoyment out of the real-time-action side of things), so I didn't expect this to go very well - and indeed, I'm struggling greatly at it! Every time you die in this version of the game you get respawned in a semi-random location far away, and you can't view your co-ordinates, so you essentially just have to start again from scratch. Though I thought I'd quickly get frustrated with this and give up, I find myself ever so slowly getting further and further each time, and I find that rewarding despite how stressful it is - in a way I very rarely get from this kind of game. Most of all I enjoy the strategy aspect: of using the very limited time available to gather the bare minimum resources necessary to survive the first nights, scout for locations and landscapes that allow for suitable shelters, set up camp near animals that will provide the resources I need, and slowly start to accumulate tools and resources that allow for longer-term planning. I'm so very far away from getting to the stage of having a permanent base and exploring the mechanisation stage of progression, but I really want to get there!

    It's really nice to be playing something outside of my comfort zone - though the launcher helpfully informs me that I've spent almost 24 hours playing the game in total since I started a few days ago, which as a relative non-gamer is pretty horrifying to me how much the time can fly by when playing a game like this!

    4 votes

  10. Comment on Trans refugees turn to TikTok and Instagram for help fleeing red states in ~lgbt

    shoelace
    Link Parent
    No, you don't understand, it's the 'freedom' to live a pure, traditional life without ever encountering undesirables like trans people... You know, I'd put an '/s' after that, but I wonder if it...

    No, you don't understand, it's the 'freedom' to live a pure, traditional life without ever encountering undesirables like trans people...

    You know, I'd put an '/s' after that, but I wonder if it isn't how a lot of the people responsible for this horrible situation actually feel about it? Clichéd as it may be to draw certain historical parallels, I can't help but wonder if people living under fascism saw their lives being free of encountering certain minority groups as 'freedom' also.

    4 votes

  11. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~transport

    shoelace
    Link
    I'm not Canadian so I'd be interested to hear from those who are: can we simply expect that this will be cancelled (or watered down to mediocre insignificance) after the impending Conservative...

    I'm not Canadian so I'd be interested to hear from those who are: can we simply expect that this will be cancelled (or watered down to mediocre insignificance) after the impending Conservative landslide?

    2 votes

  12. Comment on How Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters put actual lives at risk in ~health

    shoelace
    Link
    (Note: Despite what the first two-and-a-half minutes of this video might suggest, this isn't about the affair!)

    (Note: Despite what the first two-and-a-half minutes of this video might suggest, this isn't about the affair!)

    6 votes

  14. Comment on Experiment - Are there any Tildes users in Europe, Asia or Australia/New Zealand who might be interested to meet for a meal or a drink? in ~travel

    shoelace
    Link
    In theory I would certainly be happy to do so, in west-central Germany or south-west England (I live in one and will visit family for Christmas in the other). Feel free to PM me at any point to...

    In theory I would certainly be happy to do so, in west-central Germany or south-west England (I live in one and will visit family for Christmas in the other). Feel free to PM me at any point to discuss further, and more importantly, best of luck with your trip!

    12 votes

  15. Comment on Finland's former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb will run as a candidate in the presidential elections – will face the popular former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in ~society

    shoelace
    Link Parent
    Would you mind explaining this one, too?

    I'm not excited for Haavisto

    Would you mind explaining this one, too?

    3 votes

  16. Comment on The Reddit protest is finally over. Reddit won. in ~tech

    shoelace
    Link Parent
    I would spend hours of my life, pretty much every day, on either the website or the RiF app (or both) - for about nine and a half years. I thought I'd never be able to leave, and it's incredible...

    I would spend hours of my life, pretty much every day, on either the website or the RiF app (or both) - for about nine and a half years. I thought I'd never be able to leave, and it's incredible how okay I now feel about having almost completely stopped using it (probably down to about an hour per week or so, now?). I'm not sure I'd have been able to without the help of Tildes and Hacker News as replacements for some of the things I liked about Reddit, but I definitely feel as though the daily arrangement I have now is healthier (not healthy - but healthier!).

    39 votes

  17. Comment on The Reddit protest is finally over. Reddit won. in ~tech

    shoelace
    Link Parent
    I've seen multiple complaints on /r/linux that the quality of posts has declined, which I'm pretty certain is entirely due to the moderators going for a 'quiet quitting' strategy of not bothering...

    I've seen multiple complaints on /r/linux that the quality of posts has declined, which I'm pretty certain is entirely due to the moderators going for a 'quiet quitting' strategy of not bothering to curate beyond the bare minimum. That said, I don't know if the same will be true for many other subreddits, especially less technology-focused ones?

    33 votes

  18. Comment on X user “super pissed” that Musk ordered takeover of his @music account in ~tech

    shoelace
    Link Parent
    Perhaps that theme would become a problem when it comes to an 'XVideos' account, given the existing usage of that particular name?

    Perhaps that theme would become a problem when it comes to an 'XVideos' account, given the existing usage of that particular name?

    15 votes

  19. Comment on What are your favourite transport maps? in ~transport

    shoelace
    Link
    It isn't world class or anything, but the local bus network in Salisbury, England has this map - unfortunately I can't find a high-resolution digital copy, but that link should give you the...

    It isn't world class or anything, but the local bus network in Salisbury, England has this map - unfortunately I can't find a high-resolution digital copy, but that link should give you the general idea. These maps are present (in quite a large form!) within bus stops in Salisbury.

    I (of course) like the colour-coded lines, but being a bus service I also really appreciate that they've put some labelled roads on there. With e.g. the London Underground, one thing it (by necessity) lacks is much in the way of reference points - you have to know the name of the stop you're looking for, and unless you have prior knowledge you have very little idea how the map actually relates to locations in London.

    But I also just appreciate it because it's for such a small city of only around 40 000 people. Naturally it's for tourists as much as locals, but even so I think it's really nice to have this level of graphic thoughtfulness for smaller areas as well as the biggest cities! And I could be wrong, but I think it's quite unusual in doing so - in most similar places you just have to rely on Google Maps and such, with nothing in the way of well-presented network information beyond a timetable for whichever stop you're at.

    3 votes

  20. Comment on Ghost – Jesus He Knows Me (2023) in ~music

    shoelace
    Link
    I've never heard of Ghost, but as an occasional Genesis enjoyer, seeing a cover of this song was fun! I would have assumed this would be a song that aged poorly, but I can only assume...

    I've never heard of Ghost, but as an occasional Genesis enjoyer, seeing a cover of this song was fun! I would have assumed this would be a song that aged poorly, but I can only assume televangelism still lives on through the internet (and probably on TV too, in the rural USA?). Either way, it's nice to hear the song with a modernised sound!

    1 vote