sparksbet's recent activity
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Comment on Dutch parliament calls for end to dependence on US software companies in ~tech
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Comment on Please stop externalizing your costs directly into my face in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentTech companies absolutely do scraping themselves and have for a while.Tech companies absolutely do scraping themselves and have for a while.
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Comment on Please stop externalizing your costs directly into my face in ~tech
sparksbet Link Parentyeah, the dot-com bubble burst but we still have the Internet and online shopping. I suspect it'll be similar for LLMs.yeah, the dot-com bubble burst but we still have the Internet and online shopping. I suspect it'll be similar for LLMs.
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Comment on Request: etiquette instructions for neurodiverse teens in ~life
sparksbet Link ParentAh, that makes sense. It's more or less the opposite context from where I come from -- I worked with pragmatics as a linguist in an academic setting (and if money were no object, I'd still be...Ah, that makes sense. It's more or less the opposite context from where I come from -- I worked with pragmatics as a linguist in an academic setting (and if money were no object, I'd still be doing that), but there it's obviously looking at it from a very different perspective than any programs that are intended to be educational or therapeutic. I honestly didn't really know much about pragmatics being included in that kind of setting until this topic!
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Comment on Request: etiquette instructions for neurodiverse teens in ~life
sparksbet Link ParentI don't have any personal experience with ABA, but the autistic people I know have opinions ranging from mild displeasure with its practices to accusations that it's straight-up torture, so I'd...I don't have any personal experience with ABA, but the autistic people I know have opinions ranging from mild displeasure with its practices to accusations that it's straight-up torture, so I'd hesitate to recommend it. The link you provide is from Autism Speaks, which is pretty widely decried by actual autistic people.
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Comment on Video game workers launch industry-wide union with Communications Workers of America in ~games
sparksbet Link ParentMost unions are diversified and cover a variety of industries, even when their name indicates that they clearly started in a specific industry, so it's often wisest to go with one of these that...Most unions are diversified and cover a variety of industries, even when their name indicates that they clearly started in a specific industry, so it's often wisest to go with one of these that already has a presence in your community. If your workplace already has a union, obviously join it, but if not, you'll want to work with one of these larger organizations to form one at your workplace. This will require some work and getting coworkers on board (can't have a union of one, after all), but the larger existing unions will often provide a lot of support in the process.
A few large unions with a presence in Canada that cover private-sector employees from a variety of industries:
There are more, and there are also other more specialized unions within certain industries, but the list of industries you gave is really broad and thus makes it difficult to recommend something even if I were more of an expert on Canada. This comment was the result of someone who isn't Canadian or affiliated with any of these unions just doing some web searches, so with your more specific knowledge of your industry and personal situation I think you can find some more unions and resources yourself with some targeted searching.
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Comment on Request: etiquette instructions for neurodiverse teens in ~life
sparksbet Link ParentEh, as someone who studied pragmatics, it would be a component of this but not the whole -- only communication-related portions of this would be pragmatics. I think politeness/social etiquette are...Eh, as someone who studied pragmatics, it would be a component of this but not the whole -- only communication-related portions of this would be pragmatics. I think politeness/social etiquette are terms that encompass all of the stuff OP mentioned better. That said, I only studied these things academically rather than in any sort of therapeutic context, so it's possible resources for children with social pragmatics issues also branch out into related concepts. I wish I knew of something specific to recommend.
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Comment on What's the oldest tech you use, and why do you still use it? in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI definitely prefer the feeling of mechanical keyboard switches (and the sound doesn't bother me when I'm the one typing anyway). Luckily there's a range of sound levels available these days, so...I definitely prefer the feeling of mechanical keyboard switches (and the sound doesn't bother me when I'm the one typing anyway). Luckily there's a range of sound levels available these days, so it's possible to use quieter switches for a setup that's in a place where a lot of people need to focus.
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Comment on EU slams the door on US in colossal defense plan in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentHow dare the EU not give us money from their funds that we no longer contribute to unless we sign a defense pact with them!How dare the EU not give us money from their funds that we no longer contribute to unless we sign a defense pact with them!
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Comment on What mattress would you recommend? in ~life.home_improvement
sparksbet Link ParentFor those who balk at separate beds, there's also always the option of doing a "split king" by putting two twins together. It doesn't solve every issue but it allows for separate mattresses (and...For those who balk at separate beds, there's also always the option of doing a "split king" by putting two twins together. It doesn't solve every issue but it allows for separate mattresses (and my impression is that it's more common to have this sort of split setup in some countries). Regardless of whether you share a mattress, I highly recommend separate quilts/comforters -- doing so cut down on the conflict over one of us (me) hogging the covers!
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Comment on Introducing two new PebbleOS watches! in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI suspect that if an EU-based customer went to them within the 2 year window asking for repair/replacement, they'd be receptive because of how clear things are legally there. That would be the...I suspect that if an EU-based customer went to them within the 2 year window asking for repair/replacement, they'd be receptive because of how clear things are legally there. That would be the best way to keep that short warranty policy for non-EU customers on their website and avoid getting sued.
The warranty side of things doesn't really affect my personal calculus on whether to buy one or not, but I can understand why it would for some other people.
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Comment on Rodent for dinner? US residents encouraged to eat invasive nutria. in ~enviro
sparksbet (edited )Link ParentThere are a few factors, though none are particularly dispositive and they tend to impact carnivores in general, not exclusively obligate carnivores. Biomagnification/bioaccumulation, which you've...There are a few factors, though none are particularly dispositive and they tend to impact carnivores in general, not exclusively obligate carnivores.
Biomagnification/bioaccumulation, which you've mentioned, is one. Apex predators in particular have higher rates of parasites. For instance, bear meat is pretty famously full of parasites and it's frequently the source of outbreaks of trichinellosis and other parasitic infections in parts of the US. While parasites can often be dealt with through thoroughly cooking the meat, other toxins that bioaccumulate may not be as easy to deal with.
Another issue is the taste and texture of the meat. This is probably a bigger factor in practice than bioaccumulation, imo. An animal's diet can have a strong effect on the taste of said animal's meat, and that effect can be negative when that animal is fed a diet of meat. Reportedly bear meat tastes better when the bear has been feeding on berries than when it's been eating fish, for example. This taste factor may be the one that hits specifically obligate carnivores the strongest, since it can't be mitigated through diet in the same way. Carnivores also tend to be pretty lean and muscular, carrying much less fat than herbivores, which means the meat tends to be tough and stringy. The carnivores that are more frequently eaten tend to have some features that make them exceptions on one or both of these fronts -- carnivorous fish are very commonly eaten, for instance, but they accumulate fat in their muscles very differently from land-dwelling predators.
Another factor in why we tend not to eat the meat of carnivores, however, is probably practical. Carnivores are difficult and inefficient to farm because they're higher on the food chain -- if you feed 1000 calories of beef to a tiger, only about 10% of those calories go into the tiger's biomass, so you're going to need to raise an order of magnitude more cattle for the same amount of calories as tiger meat. Even considering the world prior to agriculture, the risk involved in hunting carnivorous predators is very different from that of hunting herbivores, as carnivores tend to be more dangerous and herbivores more numerous in the wild. These historical practicalities have no doubt influenced human cultural preferences and taboos around eating certain animals as well.
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Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games
sparksbet Link ParentNitpick: Mind Over Magic shares a publisher with Oxygen Not Included, not a developer. Klei Entertainment both develops and publishes Oxygen Not Included, whereas Mind Over Magic is from indie...Nitpick: Mind Over Magic shares a publisher with Oxygen Not Included, not a developer. Klei Entertainment both develops and publishes Oxygen Not Included, whereas Mind Over Magic is from indie studio Sparkypants (whose previous titles were both free-to-play).
That said, the comparison to ONI makes me eager to pick it up, as ONI is one of my most played games.
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Comment on Texas arrests midwife and associates on charges of providing abortion (gifted link) in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentIf you plan on actually nullifying a jury, the thing to do is not admit to that until you're on a jury.If you plan on actually nullifying a jury, the thing to do is not admit to that until you're on a jury.
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Comment on Our interfaces have lost their senses in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentThe yarn art/feltwork definitely wasn't physically crocheted/felted -- as someone who sometimes shops for crochet patterns, GenAI has meant having to learn to keep an eye out for the signs that...The yarn art/feltwork definitely wasn't physically crocheted/felted -- as someone who sometimes shops for crochet patterns, GenAI has meant having to learn to keep an eye out for the signs that pictures of yarnwork aren't representing a real piece someone could make by hand. I think these pictures are almost certainly AI-generated, but from my background/perspective there's not much difference if it is a human artist making these digitally, since that would cause the same problems in the places AI-generated yarnwork is most pervasive (i.e., to sell fake patterns on Etsy). I'm not familiar with any digital artist who works in this style, though, so I'd love for you to link me to someone if you know of any human artists who specialize in digital art that looks like yarnwork.
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Comment on My sixteen-month theanine self-experiment in ~health
sparksbet Link ParentWhen I was in linguistics, there was some joking that you could tell when a given academic had kids because they'd suddenly start writing about language acquisition. I definitely feel the draw to...When I was in linguistics, there was some joking that you could tell when a given academic had kids because they'd suddenly start writing about language acquisition. I definitely feel the draw to experiment if/when I have kids. Maybe I'll become like the one guy who tried to teach his son Klingon.
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Comment on How do you feel about your PTO? in ~life
sparksbet Link ParentYeah, this is why I said it's up to company culture. Unlimited PTO has a bad reputation precisely because of bad company culture creating pressure to never take time off, as in the original...Yeah, this is why I said it's up to company culture. Unlimited PTO has a bad reputation precisely because of bad company culture creating pressure to never take time off, as in the original commenter's case.
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Comment on How do you feel about your PTO? in ~life
sparksbet Link ParentI mean, I don't think anyone is under the delusion that unlimited PTO is actually unlimited. I don't think it's necessarily fair to call it a scam given this, though the name is definitely...I mean, I don't think anyone is under the delusion that unlimited PTO is actually unlimited. I don't think it's necessarily fair to call it a scam given this, though the name is definitely somewhat misleading. Pretty much everyone knows that "unlimited PTO" actually means it's just the lack of a hard limit -- how much leave you can take is a flexible, subjective judgment call rather than set in stone. This was certainly reflected in the internal documents at my last workplace, for instance. The subjectivity in determining how much leave is reasonable is why it's so easy for companies with bad work culture to use unlimited PTO policies as a way to discourage employees from taking even as much leave as they would have at other companies with a hard limit -- but it's also why it can be so variable between companies. I prefer the large amount of leave I am mandated to take each year here in Germany, but given how many stories there are even in this topic of companies not respecting even the hard numbers of leave they offer their employees, I don't think unlimited PTO policies themselves are always awful.
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Comment on My sixteen-month theanine self-experiment in ~health
sparksbet Link ParentI don't think this necessarily needs to be held to the same standards as a published study anyway, but honestly even on that front it's not nearly as bad as I worried when I saw the title. The...I don't think this necessarily needs to be held to the same standards as a published study anyway, but honestly even on that front it's not nearly as bad as I worried when I saw the title. The author clearly put a lot of thought into how to test this for themselves and looked at existing research ahead of time. If this were being published in an actual academic venue there would definitely need to be changes to the study design, ideally made prior to the study, but I don't think the author has any illusions about that and they did a good job recognizing (and in some cases correcting) issues in the design. I think for something that directly affects only their personal choice to use a certain supplement, with the results and methodology published in a blog post, it exceeds expectations.
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Comment on My sixteen-month theanine self-experiment in ~health
sparksbet Link ParentMoreover, the fact that this wasn't the sort of study that could get into a peer-reviewed journal has nothing to do with the fact that the dependent variable is a subjective assessment of one's...Moreover, the fact that this wasn't the sort of study that could get into a peer-reviewed journal has nothing to do with the fact that the dependent variable is a subjective assessment of one's feelings. There are plenty of high-quality scientific studies in peer reviewed journals that measure such things. There are other reasons this obviously can't be as rigorous as an actual study, but "it's fake science to measure a participants' subjective feelings" is not one of them.
The specifics depend on the particular country, but the EU Blue Card is the most common way software devs and other skilled workers get legal residency in the EU (excluding Denmark and Ireland). You need to have a binding job offer to get a Blue Card, so the step to take before that is applying to software dev positions in the country where you want to immigrate. How easy that is to do from abroad depends a lot on how in-demand your individual skillset and expertise is. Some EU countries have job-seeking visas available if you can prove you have enough to support yourself for that time period, and that can make the process of applying and doing interviews easier.