smores's recent activity
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Comment on Donald Trump administration moves to cut off transgender care for US children in ~lgbt
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Comment on Donald Trump administration moves to cut off transgender care for US children in ~lgbt
smores Link ParentI will be glad to be wrong about this, but this seems overly optimistic of AP. The administration could simply leverage it's ability to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding tomorrow to force the...The proposals, set to be announced by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his deputies, are not final or legally binding. The federal government must go through a lengthy rulemaking process, including periods of public comment and document rewrites, before the restrictions become permanent. They are also likely to face legal challenges.
I will be glad to be wrong about this, but this seems overly optimistic of AP. The administration could simply leverage it's ability to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding tomorrow to force the issue, and there's nothing anyone can (or at least will) do about it.
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Comment on Experiences with foster system and support for removed relatives in ~life
smores (edited )Link ParentThis is ultimately what I wanted to emphasize as well. I have a close friend that spent years as a public defender, representing parents who had their children taken from them by CPS. In the US,...- Exemplary
This is ultimately what I wanted to emphasize as well. I have a close friend that spent years as a public defender, representing parents who had their children taken from them by CPS. In the US, at least, CPS has an unbelievably racial and anti-poor bias, and is keen on removal as a first step in many cases.
What I think she would emphasize is that removal is very often the single most traumatic event in the lives of both the children and parents. Parents are often required to follow very specific and restraining protocols after removal, which they often struggle with because they are contending with the emotional upheaval if having their children taken from them. Children, like @RoyalHenOil says, rarely have any tools for dealing with this trauma, and it can come through in unpredictable ways.
I guess my two takeaways from this (though I defer to @RoyalHenOil who unfortunately has firsthand experience) would be:
- Search for patience and grace in interactions with the parents. Even if their relationships with their children and/or you have been complicated in the past, they are now likely experiencing one of the most emotionally and psychologically challenging events of their life, and they will potentially act in ways that will be challenging to you.
- If the child doesn't have a therapist, try to find them one, ideally one with specific experience with forced family separation. @RoyalHenOil said "being seized from your family is a far more horrible experience than I could possibly describe to someone who's never gone through it" — it's not entirely on you to wrap your head around this and understand it. Find professional support!
Ultimately, I suspect that taking this child into your home as soon as possible is probably the thing that will have the least negative impact on them, but that's basically a guess. It just feels right to me. Non-familial group homes and foster care seem to lead to astonishingly poor outcomes across the board, and staying with family instead seems to mitigate a lot of the worst of those harms.
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Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech
smores Link ParentHere's the full build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/s.moores/saved/#view=TTzXnQ I'm using a Pulse Eight USB CEC adapter, which basically uses USB as the transport layer for the CEC protocol, and...Here's the full build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/s.moores/saved/#view=TTzXnQ
I'm using a Pulse Eight USB CEC adapter, which basically uses USB as the transport layer for the CEC protocol, and provides a little module with the proper CEC header for the HDMI out to connect to.
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Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech
smores Link ParentI'll try to rember to elaborate tomorrow, but I built my own fanless "home theater PC" (HTPC) and it's our primary entrypoint to our TV. It's just running Ubuntu. I installed FlexLauncher on it...I'll try to rember to elaborate tomorrow, but I built my own fanless "home theater PC" (HTPC) and it's our primary entrypoint to our TV.
It's just running Ubuntu. I installed FlexLauncher on it and configured it to use CEC to turn the TV on and off when it comes in and out of sleep.
It's... Fantastic? We love it. We use an "airmouse" (basically a Wiimote with mouse buttons and a keyboard on the back) as a controller.
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Comment on What's your favorite RSS reader? in ~comp
smores Link ParentThanks for mentioning Capy Reader — I just have it a shot and I really enjoy it!Thanks for mentioning Capy Reader — I just have it a shot and I really enjoy it!
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Comment on Supergirl | Official teaser in ~movies
smores Link ParentThis is a weird artifact of those other representations (especially CW, which didn't put much effort into representing its characters "accurately" to the source material), not an attempt by these...This is a weird artifact of those other representations (especially CW, which didn't put much effort into representing its characters "accurately" to the source material), not an attempt by these current writers to differentiate her. This is a very comic accurate take on Supergirl, and is heavily inspired by Woman of Tomorrow, widely regarded as the best Supergirl story!
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Comment on What's your favorite RSS reader? in ~comp
smores LinkMaybe not helpful for you, @3dge (sorry!), but I selfhost miniflux and I like it a lot. I have used the PWA on Android and iOS and it's pretty much perfect for me. -
Comment on Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled? in ~life
smores Link ParentSo glad you pointed this out. Taking this completely at face value, these are students who got accepted to Stanford despite their disability. I would, in fact, expect them to do better than...So glad you pointed this out. Taking this completely at face value, these are students who got accepted to Stanford despite their disability. I would, in fact, expect them to do better than average (even Stanford average) when their disability is accommodated.
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Comment on Pluribus S01E01 - “We is Us” in ~tv
smores Link ParentOh, yikes, thanks for the heads up. I often only have small chunks at a time to watch and have lost all sense of what happens in what episode. Removed the potential spoilery bit!Oh, yikes, thanks for the heads up. I often only have small chunks at a time to watch and have lost all sense of what happens in what episode. Removed the potential spoilery bit!
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Comment on Pluribus S01E01 - “We is Us” in ~tv
smores (edited )Link ParentFirst of all, thanks for the overview of different hive structures in nature, that was neat. Also, thank you for expressing this sentiment! I agree that this seems to be how the hivemind in...First of all, thanks for the overview of different hive structures in nature, that was neat.
Also, thank you for expressing this sentiment! I agree that this seems to be how the hivemind in Pluribus is represented (so far, at least), and it's been kind of a trip seeing people liken it to something authoritarian.
I think one of the most fascinating things about Pluribus so far is that it hasn't really leaned into very many existing tropes, but I've seen a lot of viewers seem to bring their favorite tropes with them. There have been assumptions that They must be behaving insidiously or nefariously, or that this virus must be some sort of pre-strike infection from an alien force. And, maybe! But I think it's pretty interesting that, so far, the biggest tension in the show is between two fairly reasonable philosophies of socialization — this brand new psychological assimilation, and bog standard human individualism. "Who is right?" is not a trivial question to answer with the information we have so far.
There's an aspect of The Vampire Problem here, too. Carol seems, by and large, miserable — even before her only loved one died in front of her and the entire human species was forever transformed. An entity, with seemingly iedetic memory of nearly every moment of her life that was shared with another person, tells her that she, personally, would be infinitely happier if she "became a vampire," and she can't actually imagine the other end of such a transformative experience.
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Comment on This climbing gear is designed to fail in ~hobbies
smores LinkThat was fascinating! Those folks look like a blast to hang out with haha. I hadn't heard of these devices — it took me a second to understand the purpose, but they're pretty cool. It seems like...That was fascinating! Those folks look like a blast to hang out with haha. I hadn't heard of these devices — it took me a second to understand the purpose, but they're pretty cool. It seems like only the G Screamer actually managed to keep the load at around 4kN, though the other devices obviously still helped to some extent. It's definitely prompting me to think about how meaningful various factory test load numbers really are for aid devices.
Also, super interesting how much more load was placed on the rope by the rock than the bag of water! Obviously humans are able to absorb some amount of shock by both having compressible anatomy and by actually moving our bodies in response to force, but I wasn't expecting over a kN of difference!
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Comment on This climbing gear is designed to fail in ~hobbies
smores Link ParentOh, hi! Yeah, I've been climbing indoors and outdoors (mostly top rope and sport lead) for about a decade. Looking forward to watching this video (even though trad scares the poop out of me, and...Oh, hi! Yeah, I've been climbing indoors and outdoors (mostly top rope and sport lead) for about a decade. Looking forward to watching this video (even though trad scares the poop out of me, and I'm not sure I'll ever try it 😅)
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Comment on Core Devices keeps stealing our (Rebble) work in ~tech
smores LinkJoshua (the friend whose text messages Eric shared screenshots of) wrote his own blog post. I found it measured, reasonable, and reassuring.- Exemplary
Joshua (the friend whose text messages Eric shared screenshots of) wrote his own blog post. I found it measured, reasonable, and reassuring.
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Comment on Goo Goo Dolls: Tiny Desk Concert (2025) in ~music
smores (edited )Link Parent"Slide" has been stuck in my head for the past 20 minutes since I saw this post title. I can't decide whether to thank or curse you for that? I also enjoy the Goo Goo Dolls as something of a..."Slide" has been stuck in my head for the past 20 minutes since I saw this post title. I can't decide whether to thank or curse you for that?
I also enjoy the Goo Goo Dolls as something of a guilty pleasure. It was the first real concert I went to, with my dad and brother! I still think about how many guitars they had backstage sometimes.
Edit: Following up now that I've watched the first song (which was, in fact, Slide!). I'm actually a bit stunned at how good they sound. Rzeznik really sounds just as good as he did when I saw him like 17 years ago. I will have to watch the rest to see if he makes it through the whole gig without forgetting any verses 😅
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Comment on Core Devices keeps stealing our (Rebble) work in ~tech
smores Link ParentYeah I think I basically agree with you. On a personal level, I would be extremely upset of someone that I considered a friend shared my private messages about my coworkers in public, without so...Yeah I think I basically agree with you. On a personal level, I would be extremely upset of someone that I considered a friend shared my private messages about my coworkers in public, without so much as a warning. I think that is ultimately a cruel-hearted thing to do, even after being blindsided by a public letter criticizing someone for things they feel they didn't do.
But, like, I'm not trying to be Eric's friend, I'm trying to buy a neat watch. And I imagine that he was very much put on his back foot by the Rebble post, which was also full of ad hominem criticism. The whole thing sucks, and I'm going to try to stop paying attention to it now haha
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Comment on Core Devices keeps stealing our (Rebble) work in ~tech
smores Link ParentWow, I truly assumed that Eric had checked with Joshua before posting those messages, and I thought it was interesting that there was dissent among the Rebble board. The fact that he didn't is, as...Wow, I truly assumed that Eric had checked with Joshua before posting those messages, and I thought it was interesting that there was dissent among the Rebble board. The fact that he didn't is, as Joshua puts it, gross.
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Comment on Is trying to become an author insane in times of LLMs? in ~tech
smores LinkAll I can really say is that I'm incredibly confident that in ten years I will still be exclusively reading books written by humans. I have no interest whatsoever in a book that is produced by an...All I can really say is that I'm incredibly confident that in ten years I will still be exclusively reading books written by humans. I have no interest whatsoever in a book that is produced by an AI agent (at least one that is not obviously conscious and having some sort of real, embodied experiences), especially LLMs.
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Comment on Any chance we can get a shorthand for the <details> tag? in ~tildes
smores (edited )Link ParentHahaha yes, I think we've actually chatted about this before! Yeah, I do contract work for https://moment.dev, who uses Markdown as the serialization format for their rich text editor. Their text...Hahaha yes, I think we've actually chatted about this before! Yeah, I do contract work for https://moment.dev, who uses Markdown as the serialization format for their rich text editor. Their text editor, of course, has things like comments, multicolumn sections, and live compute cells. Figuring out how to serialize those to markdown has been.. a journey haha.
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Comment on Advice on Fairphone in ~tech
smores Link ParentOh, me neither! De-googled Android OSes almost always rely on the Aurora Store, which is an alternative frontend for the Play Store that doesn't require installing Googe Play Services on your...Oh, me neither! De-googled Android OSes almost always rely on the Aurora Store, which is an alternative frontend for the Play Store that doesn't require installing Googe Play Services on your phone. You can use almost any Play Store app, but you can't make in-app purchases (because that infrastructure is built on Google Play Services), and you can't use some apps that rely on specific "integrity checks". The latter group includes many European banking apps, as I understand it, but it's not something I've run into at all, actually.
The Aurora Store is the flakiest piece of software on my phone (it's not entirely its fault — presumably Google doesn't really want it to exist), though it has been getting slowly more reliable over time. Using a de-Googled OS is not in any way a requirement for using the Fairphone though, and it's certainly less convenient than just using the stock Android that Fairphone comes with. I only use it because I'm personally very anti-Google and really don't want my phone spying on my all the time. I thought it may be helpful for you to know as someone concerned with side loading, in case Google every really does do away with it, but for now it seems like it will still be possible even on stock Android!
Right, totally understand. I think I'm reacting to the usage of "must" here:
I just... No longer feel that it's responsible for news organizations to make assertions like this about this administration, at least without some qualifiers about the fact that they have a tendency to bypass required legal processes.