smores's recent activity
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Comment on Mooneva Cycle: The private period tracker that never sees your data in ~health
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Comment on Mooneva Cycle: The private period tracker that never sees your data in ~health
smores Link ParentGenuinely thank you for sharing, @kfwyre! My wife was just complaining about how her current app has never recovered from her not having a cycle while she was pregnant (duh) — it still seems to be...Genuinely thank you for sharing, @kfwyre! My wife was just complaining about how her current app has never recovered from her not having a cycle while she was pregnant (duh) — it still seems to be weighting all of her estimates as if she had a single nine month cycle. But the privacy landscape for these apps is miserable!
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Comment on Modern, abstract art makes me angry in ~arts
smores Link ParentRight, I mean, poetry also exists. You can obviously use language abstractly! You can use any expression abstractly if you try hard enough. I was just drawing a contrast between concrete...Right, I mean, poetry also exists. You can obviously use language abstractly! You can use any expression abstractly if you try hard enough. I was just drawing a contrast between concrete communication of concepts like happiness and sadness, which is often done with language ("He felt sad") and abstract communcation of those same concepts via musical arrangement.
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Comment on Modern, abstract art makes me angry in ~arts
smores Link ParentI think, at the end of the day, what you're maybe experiencing is that some art just doesn't have you, @preposterous, as you are in July of 2026, as the target audience. Unlike how we consume,...I think, at the end of the day, what you're maybe experiencing is that some art just doesn't have you, @preposterous, as you are in July of 2026, as the target audience. Unlike how we consume, say, music — via channels and streams and playlist segregated by genre and taste — visual art is often experienced in museums, which are aggregators. They tend to aggregate across taste and genre, because... well, there are a lot of reasons, some are interesting and some are silly. But either way, a museum must serve perveyors of very many different preferences for visual arts, and so some of those pieces are, almost by definition, not for you (at least, not right now) — they're for someone else!
I think that's fine? I think it would be sad if museums didn't show monochromes (or, worse, artists didn't create them) because you didn't like them. I do like them (like @Evie mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I was first really introduced to Rothko via the play RED), and so do others. They're there for me!
I think that lots of other art has qualifications like this as well. Industrial metal is extremely dense and unapproachable for many unfamiliar with it — I suspect you would need far more than 15 minutes of background to develop an appreciation for it. Same with Free Jazz, or any number of other genres that are built on extensive iteration on and dissection of specific musical traditions.
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Comment on Modern, abstract art makes me angry in ~arts
smores (edited )Link ParentThose are examples of abstraction, no? Someone telling a story with words is "not" abstract (I mean it is a little abstract, obviously, language is an abstraction of information/experience, but...Those are examples of abstraction, no? Someone telling a story with words is "not" abstract (I mean it is a little abstract, obviously, language is an abstraction of information/experience, but it's about as literal as we can get when it comes to narrative information). Someone strumming strings on a guitar in an order that you have never heard before is significantly more abstract, even if there are components of the sound that you are familiar with. They are not representing concrete components of experience or narrative information, they are representing one particular expression of a feeling about experience.
Notably, things like "major keys imply happiness" are cultural. Cultures with different musical traditions have different associations with components of sound and music than we do. That's another good piece of evidence that musical expression is rather abstract. A photograph is (relatively) concrete: you can show almost anyone in the world a clear photograph of a tree, and as long as they've seen a tree before, they will understand that you are expressing something about trees. If you play the same piece of lyric-less music that you composed about trees for three different people, how many of them will know that you are expressing something about a tree?
I think part of @V17's explanation ("it's just making sounds for the sake of making sounds") maybe indicated to you that they meant that music was arbitrary, which it definitely isn't (or at least, most of the time it's not). That's true of abstract visual art, as well, for what it's worth. In all forms of art, the artist has an experience that they are trying to craft for their audience, and they do so with intention. That doesn't mean that there's no abstraction, though! And nearly all non-lyrical components of music are quite abstract, though of course it varies across genres, styles, and traditions.
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Comment on Mark Zuckerberg's increasingly bizarre war on whistleblowers in ~tech
smores Link ParentThanks for sharing, it's worth the (fairly short) read. I'll probably pick up Careless People, as well!Thanks for sharing, it's worth the (fairly short) read. I'll probably pick up Careless People, as well!
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - June 2026 - How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler in ~books
smores Link ParentIn case you were curious, the footnote narrations are totally fine in the sequel. My guess is (I've seen this before, especially in fiction) they literally forgot to record the footnotes for the...In case you were curious, the footnote narrations are totally fine in the sequel. My guess is (I've seen this before, especially in fiction) they literally forgot to record the footnotes for the first book, and the narrator recorded them from a home setup instead of in the studio
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Comment on Thoughts on graphene OS? in ~tech
smores Link ParentMy understanding is that no one has an AOSP RCS implementation because the RCS protocol is extremely complex and it would be a massive undertaking to implement from scratch. I use iodeOS, which is...My understanding is that no one has an AOSP RCS implementation because the RCS protocol is extremely complex and it would be a massive undertaking to implement from scratch. I use iodeOS, which is based on Lineage, and there's no option for me either. That said, it does seem like as of very recently, the Graphene team has started looking into making their own RCS implementation! https://piunikaweb.com/2026/04/21/grapheneos-to-add-native-rcs-support-to-default-messaging-app/
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Comment on How do I keep my dog from fearing water sprinklers? in ~life.pets
smores Link ParentSo I have a ten year old German Shepherd mix. He's a great dog, truly. He's as gentle as a 90lb dog can be, he's attentive, he's snuggly, he's just great. He also clearly has anxiety. When he was...So I have a ten year old German Shepherd mix. He's a great dog, truly. He's as gentle as a 90lb dog can be, he's attentive, he's snuggly, he's just great. He also clearly has anxiety. When he was a puppy, if one of us went to the bathroom and closed the door, he would scream, like a human child scream, until the door was opened. If we left him alone, he would scream for an hour straight until we returned. And when we had our D&D nights every week, for some reason I still don't really understand, he would get so anxious that he would spend half an hour standing in the doorway of the dining room whining and barking.
We hired a dog behaviorist to work with us on the game nights (and help prepare for when our daughter was born, which ended up being a very good idea, because that was also very stressful for him at first). She explained it like this: working dogs are bred for anxiety disorders. They needed to be vigilant, attentive, working, and looking out for threats essentially from sunup to sundown, every day. And then you take away that work, and you're left with a creature predisposed for anxiety with nowhere to direct it.
SSRIs are not magic. They have side effects, like loss of appetite (less of an issue for dogs but still possible) and mood dampening, and they don't work for all dogs (just like they don't work for all humans). But we did start Wally on Fluoxetine (Prozac), and as best I can tell, it has been all benefit for us. He still loves all the same things he did before, still gets excited for walks and bones and food and snuggles, but down time is much more down. Our game night friends came over last night, and after some initial excitement, Wally found a bed, laid down, and was calm for the rest of the night. We even reduced his dose recently and found that the lower dose still seemed effective, which I think suggests that the relaxation training we have been doing while he was on the meds have given him some more overall peace and tools for destressing.
All that to say: I also felt uncomfortable with the idea of medicating my dog for anxiety. The framing that we got from our behaviorist helped me a little, and I'm very glad that I changed my mind. I think my dog is much happier now for it. And if anxiety medication doesn't work for your dog (it might not!) you'll know! You'll see that they seem sullen or inattentive, and you can lower the dose or stop altogether. It's not irreversible.
Anyway, not trying to convince you, just wanted to share my experience!
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - June 2026 - How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler in ~books
smores Link ParentI agree that this was a pain, BUT, in case it's helpful, EPUBs almost always have a link on the footnote number to the footnote content, and vice versa, so that you can pop over to the footnote...I agree that this was a pain, BUT, in case it's helpful, EPUBs almost always have a link on the footnote number to the footnote content, and vice versa, so that you can pop over to the footnote and back with two taps. This was the case for my EPUB of the book!
And yes, footnotes are almost always read inline in audiobooks (and were for this one, with some very weird recording setup or post filter to make them sound aurally distinct, which I think mostly just made them sound terrible).
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - June 2026 - How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler in ~books
smores Link ParentYes, those were the footnotes, and dear god the narration/recording choices for them were... bizarreYes, those were the footnotes, and dear god the narration/recording choices for them were... bizarre
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
smores Link ParentThis happened to me on my home network, not connected to a VPN, just the other day. I couldn't even log in if I wanted to, because every single page returned that error.This happened to me on my home network, not connected to a VPN, just the other day. I couldn't even log in if I wanted to, because every single page returned that error.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - June 2026 - How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler in ~books
smores Link ParentOh, I'm glad you mentioned this actually. I was sort of on the fence about reading the sequel, but it sounds like I'll probably enjoy itOh, I'm glad you mentioned this actually. I was sort of on the fence about reading the sequel, but it sounds like I'll probably enjoy it
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Comment on How The New York Times changed its coverage of Trans people in ~lgbt
smores Link ParentThis is true within the Times, as well, which I'm sure is not surprising to you. Trans employees at the Times and their allies (which was, luckily, most of their colleagues) were regularly...This is true within the Times, as well, which I'm sure is not surprising to you. Trans employees at the Times and their allies (which was, luckily, most of their colleagues) were regularly outraged at how attrocious the Times' coverage of trans people was. Not that it helped, obviously.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - June 2026 - How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler in ~books
smores Link ParentThey're both pretty short (Psalm especially); you can probably do both!They're both pretty short (Psalm especially); you can probably do both!
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Comment on US Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, ruling against Donald Trump's order in ~society
smores Link ParentI think it feels very hard to celebrate something like this. It's like... if you get mugged, and then partway through, something interrupts the mugging, and you don't end up being killed or...I think it feels very hard to celebrate something like this. It's like... if you get mugged, and then partway through, something interrupts the mugging, and you don't end up being killed or robbed. Do you celebrate that you didn't get killed or robbed today? Probably not — not getting killed or robbed is the baseline expectation for most days. You're probably feeling worse off than before you were mugged, even though the negative outcomes "didn't happen."
I can't speak for everyone else here, but I mostly feel, like, the tiniest bit of relief, which is quite overshadowed by the impending sense of doom that this almost happened. I let out half a breath when I saw the headline, but I'm really feeling nowhere near celebratory.
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Comment on Could I travel back in time? How physics tackles the paradoxes – with Jim Al-Khalili in ~science
smores Link ParentWhich might happen all the time — how would anyone ever know? If every single iota of mass and energy gets moved back in time, then it's sort of... the same as nothing changing at all, right?...Which might happen all the time — how would anyone ever know? If every single iota of mass and energy gets moved back in time, then it's sort of... the same as nothing changing at all, right? Everything will play out just like it did "the first time". For this to be interesting, there must be some sort of 4th(5th?)-dimensional consciousness that doesn't get reset when moving laterally along the "time" axis, I think
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Comment on Tildes Book Club - Have you started How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying? in ~books
smores Link ParentAgreed! The audiobook was really well done — this was the first time I've ever listened to an audiobook and thought "I should see what else this narrator has read"Agreed! The audiobook was really well done — this was the first time I've ever listened to an audiobook and thought "I should see what else this narrator has read"
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Comment on Around twenty drown in France as French seek relief from heatwave in ~enviro
smores Link ParentFair enough, I technically meant "Mid-Atlantic". New Jersey this year had several consecutive weeks of below-freezing weather, such that over a foot of snow remained on the ground for over two...Fair enough, I technically meant "Mid-Atlantic". New Jersey this year had several consecutive weeks of below-freezing weather, such that over a foot of snow remained on the ground for over two weeks. Nothing like that has ever happened here since I was born, that I can remember (and we were wholly unprepared for it)
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Comment on Around twenty drown in France as French seek relief from heatwave in ~enviro
smores Link ParentIn the northeast US, winters have actually been getting harsher. One of the weird things about climate change is that it tends to make local weather more extreme, but not exclusively warmer.In the northeast US, winters have actually been getting harsher. One of the weird things about climate change is that it tends to make local weather more extreme, but not exclusively warmer.
This is the one my wife has been using, but it got completely messed up by her first pregnancy and now all of its estimates are wildly off. Seems like it's somehow acting as if she actually had a single, mine month long cycle, and there doesn't seem to be any way to correct it!