sparksbet's recent activity
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Comment on Is OneDrive for Linux Mature Enough Yet? in ~comp
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Comment on What does the word "cancelled" mean to you? in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentI think it's also very worth mentioning the other side of this coin: that humans have always been ostracizing each other. This has been a thing since prehistoric times (albeit with significantly...Human culture spent years covering for each other
I think it's also very worth mentioning the other side of this coin: that humans have always been ostracizing each other. This has been a thing since prehistoric times (albeit with significantly different scale) and it's far from a rarity in recent history.
During the 40s and 50s, there were Hollywood blacklist against suspected communists. In the 1970s, Eartha Kitt made an anti-Vietnam War statement at a luncheon with the president's wife, and her career in the US was more or less over -- the CIA even built up a dossier on her and branded her a "sadistic nymphomaniac." Even more recently, the Dixie Chicks were boycotted when they said they didn't support the Iraq War in 2003. These things roughly fit the modern definition of being cancelled, demonstrating that it's far from a new phenomenon. Social media has only changed the speed and frequency at which we learn news like this about public figures, not how people respond to it.
On a more personal level, I know people personally who were ostracized by not only their peers, but their families for being queer. Sexual orientation and gender identity were only made protected classes by the Supreme Court in 2020 -- until then it was perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay or trans in much of the US. But this is never what people are talking about when they criticize "cancel culture," is it?
I think there are some criticisms of mob mentality and online anonymity and harassment that are really worth discussing. I've seen these discussions happen occasionally within leftist spaces online. There's a lot of nuance to these discussions, and there are a lot of real problems at play. Weaponizing mass harassment against (usually the most vulnerable) members of the community over what are ultimately petty disagreements or unrealistic standards of behavior is a thing I've definitely witnessed. But when actual good, nuanced discussions of these problems happen, if they use the term "cancelled" at all, it's with an explicit acknowledgement that most mainstream conversations criticizing cancel culture are gross and regressive defenses of bigotry.
If I hadn't learned enough from experience to know better, maybe I'd assume people criticizing cancel culture were interested in having nuanced discussions about these actual problems. But whenever people use the term "cancel culture" unironically, especially when they treat it like some fundamentally new and aberrant thing, time and again they're inevitably insisting that some one shouldn't suffer social consequences for something awful -- whether it's something bigoted they said or did, or sexual assault allegations, or whatever else. Ultimately the logic turns out to be the same as that of so-called "free speech absolutists". They want to be immune from social consequences for what they say and do. Much like it's impossible to have a constructive conversation about the First Amendment with a free speech absolutist, it's impossible to have a constructive conversation about online harassment with someone who rails against cancel culture.
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Comment on Should a country speak a single language? In India, one of the world’s most polyglot countries, the government wants more than a billion people to embrace Hindi. in ~humanities.languages
sparksbet Link ParentYeah, France in particular has an absolutely disgusting history when it comes to stamping out regional languages. That said, it seems that there's enough consolidated opposition to these language...Yeah, France in particular has an absolutely disgusting history when it comes to stamping out regional languages. That said, it seems that there's enough consolidated opposition to these language policies in India that they can accomplish some rollbacks of harmful policies, which means I'm more hopeful that their language communities survive this and that the political pendulum eventually swings back against this type of Hindu nationalism. The fact that India has many more and far more diverse languages than France ever did, as well as larger speaker populations, is on its side here. But it's also important to speak out about how this isn't just language. It never is.
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Comment on Should I stop using Kagi because they do business with Yandex? in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI definitely won't dispute that it's gotten way worse over time than it was, but I still think the starting point was pretty bad.I definitely won't dispute that it's gotten way worse over time than it was, but I still think the starting point was pretty bad.
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Comment on Should a country speak a single language? In India, one of the world’s most polyglot countries, the government wants more than a billion people to embrace Hindi. in ~humanities.languages
sparksbet LinkWhile this article does a reasonably good job of addressing this issue, I think anything it's underselling how deeply rooted in disgusting ethnonationalism this type of language policy is. Not...Since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.) came to power, it has made the future of Indian languages even more uncertain. In addition to its well-known Hindu fanaticism, the B.J.P. wishes to foist Hindi on the nation, a synthetic marriage that would clothe India in a monolingual monoculture. Across northern and central India, roughly three hundred million people speak, as their first language, the standardized Hindi that the B.J.P. holds dear—but, this being India, that leaves more than a billion who don’t. Even so, the government tried to make Hindi a mandatory language in schools until fierce opposition forced a rollback. The country’s Department of Official Language, which promotes the use of Hindi, has had its budget nearly tripled in the past decade, to about fifteen million dollars. A parliamentary committee recently urged that Hindi be a prerequisite for government employment, raising the possibility that such jobs might become the preserve of people from the B.J.P.’s Hindi-speaking heartland. Three years ago, India’s Home Minister called Hindi the “foundation of our cultural consciousness and national unity”—a message that he put out in a tweet written only in Hindi.
While this article does a reasonably good job of addressing this issue, I think anything it's underselling how deeply rooted in disgusting ethnonationalism this type of language policy is. Not because it doesn't bring it up, but because it's hard to oversell how important language is to culture and identity and how harmful language policies like these are. It's no surprise that linguistic imperialism is far from the only way in which the BJP are putting their Hindu nationalism into practice, but the language policy is a particularly disgusting aspect of it for me.
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Comment on Should I stop using Kagi because they do business with Yandex? in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentIf /b/ is the opposite end of the spectrum from /pol/, I don't think anywhere on the spectrum is somewhere I want to spend my time.If /b/ is the opposite end of the spectrum from /pol/, I don't think anywhere on the spectrum is somewhere I want to spend my time.
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Comment on Maybe Bluesky has "won" in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI think there are some advantages to social media regardless (though I'm a bit biased, as I met my wife that way before we lived in the same hemisphere, through a hobby that is rare enough that...I think there are some advantages to social media regardless (though I'm a bit biased, as I met my wife that way before we lived in the same hemisphere, through a hobby that is rare enough that there would never be socialization with other hobbyists without the internet), but I definitely think a lack of third places makes social media something more people feel the need to rely on in unhealthy ways. I don't think more third places would solve that issue but it would certainly improve things for many people.
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Comment on Should I stop using Kagi because they do business with Yandex? in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI do think you're underestimating how easily advertisers are put off by certain content. If anything, advertisers can be far MORE skittish about where they're advertising (though they tend to be...I do think you're underestimating how easily advertisers are put off by certain content. If anything, advertisers can be far MORE skittish about where they're advertising (though they tend to be skittish about different things than many users). The difference is that services that rely on advertising much more frequently acquiesce to the desires of advertisers than they do to users. YouTube's draconic demonetization rules are a very good example of this.
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Comment on Maybe Bluesky has "won" in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI agree that the bulk of posts are quite American politics-centric, especially if you're browsing the "Discover" feed, but this can definitely be addressed by following people who talk about other...I agree that the bulk of posts are quite American politics-centric, especially if you're browsing the "Discover" feed, but this can definitely be addressed by following people who talk about other things. I followed one New Zealander who posts about an area I'm interested in and got a refreshing look into their politics, for instance! I've been able to find a lot of good accounts to follow that post about other areas I'm interested in by finding lists and feeds on those topics and scoping out the accounts in them.
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Comment on ‘Do not pet’: A robotic dog named “Spot” made by Boston Dynamics is the latest tool in the arsenal of the US Secret Service in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI'm much more horrified by their use by law enforcement than by the Secret Service, tbqh. I remember when Boston Dynamics would put out cute videos of their robots (including Spot) dancing, and...I'm much more horrified by their use by law enforcement than by the Secret Service, tbqh.
I remember when Boston Dynamics would put out cute videos of their robots (including Spot) dancing, and people would get downvoted for pointing out that these would inevitably be used to enact violence. The more cops have access to these, the sooner we'll get one killing an unarmed civilian, I suppose.
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Comment on United States Department of Justice will push Google to sell Chrome to break search monopoly in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentThe vast majority of browsers on the market these days are chromium-based, so I think if they're allowed to reenter the browser market at all, they'd be allowed to do it with something...The vast majority of browsers on the market these days are chromium-based, so I think if they're allowed to reenter the browser market at all, they'd be allowed to do it with something chromium-based. Not sure if they'd be able to fork chrome directly though as afaik it's not open source?
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
sparksbet Link ParentI'm kinda surprised intermissions haven't caught back on in the US, if only as an opportunity for the theater to sell more snacks. They're a thing to this day in some countries! I can understand...I'm kinda surprised intermissions haven't caught back on in the US, if only as an opportunity for the theater to sell more snacks. They're a thing to this day in some countries! I can understand disliking them as a filmmaker because obviously you don't necessarily want to structure your film around one, but at least they give you more control over when people inevitably leave to go pee.
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Comment on Question: Pedicure pricing differences in ~life.women
sparksbet Link ParentI prefer when salons just say manicure/pedicure vs. manicure/pedicure + polish instead, since I'm not currently perceived as a man but prefer no polish, which I'm more comfortable asking for when...I prefer when salons just say manicure/pedicure vs. manicure/pedicure + polish instead, since I'm not currently perceived as a man but prefer no polish, which I'm more comfortable asking for when it's not label "men's manicure/pedicure." But at the same time, yeah, there are probably a lot of cis guys who'd enjoy a manicure or pedicure without polish who would be way less comfortable without very explicit "THIS IS FOR MEN" labeling. Hopefully that'll change over time.
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
sparksbet Link ParentI think, rather than guesstimates, it's more effective to look at what entertainment industry publications were saying when the film released, as well as what the studios ended up doing with the...I think, rather than guesstimates, it's more effective to look at what entertainment industry publications were saying when the film released, as well as what the studios ended up doing with the property. The fact that I'm having trouble finding contemporary articles on Sicario's box office returns (though the ones I can find are positive, they focus on the film's initial six theater limited release) because my search results are full of articles about how Sicario 2 made a killing indicates to me that Sicario was probably viewed as a success by the studio.
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
sparksbet Link ParentIncluding Dune: Part One as "barely broke even" is also... technically true but very much ignorant of the context in which the film came out. It was released in 2021 and had a simultaneous release...Including Dune: Part One as "barely broke even" is also... technically true but very much ignorant of the context in which the film came out. It was released in 2021 and had a simultaneous release on streaming (something Villeneuve and others worried would hurt its box office takings). Contemporary sources thus regard the film as a financial success, and it surpassed its box office estimates.
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
sparksbet Link ParentI also think Dune: Part One tells a satisfying narrative even if it doesn't actually finish the plot of the book. Paul and his mother make it to relative safety by the end of the film, and Paul's...I also think Dune: Part One tells a satisfying narrative even if it doesn't actually finish the plot of the book. Paul and his mother make it to relative safety by the end of the film, and Paul's character arc in the first film has a satisfying conclusion. I was super excited for Part Two when I finished watching the first movie, but the narrative ended at a place where I felt sufficiently satisfied but eager for more, which is exactly what you'd presumably want for an audience member who hadn't read or watched Dune before (I came solely as a Villeneuve fan and bought a boxed set of the books shortly afterwards). If anything, I think the ending of part one would have been more satisfying if it hadn't gotten a follow-up than Part Two's ending would be (presumably because Villeneuve already knew he'd get to make Dune Messiah), as there were character-relationship-based loose ends at the end of Part Two unlike in Part One. If I didn't now own that boxed set, it wouldn't have surprised me to find out Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two were based off two successive books in the series (although presumably there'd be a better name than "Part Two" in that case).
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
sparksbet Link ParentI can definitely see expanding some portions of the original musical as part of adapting it to film -- Wicked is very economical with its time when it comes to communicating certain plot points,...I can definitely see expanding some portions of the original musical as part of adapting it to film -- Wicked is very economical with its time when it comes to communicating certain plot points, and I can thus see a bit of expansion during those bits (for instance, Dancing Through Life would probably make its plot points feel rushed in a film in the way it doesn't in a musical, due to different expectations of the medium). But I cannot fathom how a straightforward adaptation of the musical could find enough material for two whole long films.
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
sparksbet Link ParentThe book is VERY different from the show beyond merely having had things cut from the show, though. The Musical's an incredibly loose adaptation to the extent that they're very different entities....The book is VERY different from the show beyond merely having had things cut from the show, though. The Musical's an incredibly loose adaptation to the extent that they're very different entities. It's been a joke for ages about how shocked naive theater kids who pick up the original book are. The film is absolutely not being marketed as an adaptation of the book either -- for one, it's being marketed as family-friendly, which the book decidedly is not.
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
sparksbet Link ParentIf Across the Spider-verse's cliffhanger counts as "small", so does Dune's. Maybe IT's too (but I haven't seen that one).If Across the Spider-verse's cliffhanger counts as "small", so does Dune's. Maybe IT's too (but I haven't seen that one).
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Comment on United States Department of Justice will push Google to sell Chrome to break search monopoly in ~tech
sparksbet Link Parentnot sure if this is the same Youtube issue or another one, but I do recall one slowdown in particular that was solved just by setting one's user agent to Chrome rather than Firefox without...not sure if this is the same Youtube issue or another one, but I do recall one slowdown in particular that was solved just by setting one's user agent to Chrome rather than Firefox without changing anything else.
If your partner hates the web office products, I cannot imagine them adapting well to open-source alternatives like LibreOffice, which are a far more jarring transition ime. That in addition to the lack of OneDrive support means that it's probably not a great idea to switch them to Linux.