thecakeisalime's recent activity
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
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Comment on Breadmaker update: one year in! in ~food
thecakeisalime Link ParentYou can also just take a frozen (half)loaf out of the freezer the day before you're going to need it - no microwave required. If you likely to forget to take it out ahead of time, you can slice it...You can also just take a frozen (half)loaf out of the freezer the day before you're going to need it - no microwave required. If you likely to forget to take it out ahead of time, you can slice it before freezing; the individual slices will defrost pretty quickly just sitting at room temperature.
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Comment on The cost of safetyism - what we lost when we stopped letting kids leave the front yard in ~life
thecakeisalime Link ParentThat's fair. There's definitely a tightrope to walk here when trying to set your children for success without pressuring them into being successful. I don't think I was pressured to do specific...That's fair.
There's definitely a tightrope to walk here when trying to set your children for success without pressuring them into being successful. I don't think I was pressured to do specific extracurriculars - it was just something to fill the time and keep me active. I definitely wasn't doing a miserable grind. The only activities that my parents "forced" me to do were swimming lessons (until a certain competency) and piano lessons. I also happened to have good grades, but other than making sure I finished my homework, it didn't feel like there was any pressure to do well in school.
In my interactions with high schoolers these days though, there is clearly pressure from themselves, their parents, and the future university admissions departments to be able to distinguish themselves beyond just good grades. Middle/elementary school still seems pressure-free. It's a problem that I'm not looking forward to navigating when my kid reaches high school.
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Comment on The cost of safetyism - what we lost when we stopped letting kids leave the front yard in ~life
thecakeisalime Link ParentI'm only a few years older than you in my mid 30s, and I spent a lot of time in extracurriculars. Sports, piano lessons, Scouts, maybe something else I can't remember. I think this was about 4...I'm only a few years older than you in my mid 30s, and I spent a lot of time in extracurriculars.
Sports, piano lessons, Scouts, maybe something else I can't remember. I think this was about 4 nights per week. I still had plenty of time to play with my friends, but it was nowhere near 8 hours free every day. I got to bike to my friend's house, I got to play in the yard, and I still played too much Starcraft, Diablo, and Rollercoaster Tycoon.
Looking back, I think most of the kids I knew from middle class families did one or two nights of extracurriculars per week, except for the ones with Asian parents (like myself) where we had most or all of our week scheduled. Unfortunately, this seems to have led to what I'll call "extracurricular inflation" (akin to grade inflation) where everyone thinks you need to be in more extracurriculars than everyone else and have a LinkedIn profile by the time you hit puberty or you'll never get accepted to university. And some of that is true - the admission average for the program I took in university is about 10-15 percentage points higher than when I was admitted. They need something extra to differentiate between every highschool student with a 95% average. It's a complicated thing to navigate, because every parent is thinking "if I don't sign my kid up for [activity], are they going to be behind in life?" and unfortunately, our capitalist overlords respond to that with "yeah, probably".
Even as an adult though, I set myself up with a lot of "extracurricular" activities, because if I didn't, I'd probably never leave the house. (Before having a kid) I coached 2 nights per week and competed and refereed on many weekends throughout the year. I also had dedicated nights for DnD, board games, and Magic at the local nerd store. Now I just spend my nights composing very long comments on Tildes.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #6: Vote for the next four surveys we do! (Results) in ~talk
thecakeisalime Link ParentIn this particular case, the middle two options could be "don't care, but it's currently over" and "don't care, but it's currently under". Though maybe we also need an option for people who just...In this particular case, the middle two options could be "don't care, but it's currently over" and "don't care, but it's currently under". Though maybe we also need an option for people who just have a loose roll of toilet paper sitting on the cistern.
For other questions though, I do think neutral options have value sometimes.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #6: Vote for the next four surveys we do! (Results) in ~talk
thecakeisalime Link ParentSome surveys have 5 options, from strongly disagree to strongly agree. That might work here. Or a sliding range (or similar) from strongly prefer over to strongly prefer under, with "don't care"...Some surveys have 5 options, from strongly disagree to strongly agree. That might work here. Or a sliding range (or similar) from strongly prefer over to strongly prefer under, with "don't care" being right in the middle.
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Comment on Signal, NordVPN, Proton to leave Canada over C-22 in ~society
thecakeisalime Link ParentI've worked internal tech support for a large company. There were people, seemingly weekly, who would forget their passwords and need them reset. And with the ubiquity of password managers, that...I've worked internal tech support for a large company. There were people, seemingly weekly, who would forget their passwords and need them reset.
And with the ubiquity of password managers, that just opens a whole new can of worms. If the police can compel my Tildes password, but I need to unlock my password manager to give it to them, does that give them the right to all of my other passwords (similar to if I had an already unlocked phone)?
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Comment on Signal, NordVPN, Proton to leave Canada over C-22 in ~society
thecakeisalime Link ParentMost of those have very little to do with our online presence, and none of them are solved by C-22 or any other privacy destroying bill. Almost all of your examples are just politicians and rich...Most of those have very little to do with our online presence, and none of them are solved by C-22 or any other privacy destroying bill.
Almost all of your examples are just politicians and rich people getting away with crimes right in front of us because the police and judges refuse to do anything about it. They're not being ignored for lack of evidence; they're being ignored because laws don't apply to the rich and powerful (see: the Epstein Files, the Panama Papers, or even pre-internet stuff like the Catholic Church and Jimmy Saville).
Crime networks propping up human rights-abusing authoritarian states?
I want to call this one out as being especially ironic. You do understand what this bill is doing, right?
The government can't stop people from encrypting things. They can give people an extra hoop to jump through, but the actual criminals are probably already jumping through multiple hoops to encrypt their stuff, and this law will do nothing to prevent that (because it's literally impossible to prevent). The only thing this does is weaken privacy for people who aren't jumping through those extra hoops.
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Comment on Signal, NordVPN, Proton to leave Canada over C-22 in ~society
thecakeisalime Link ParentWhat happens when you can't remember your password? Do you just go to jail for the rest of your life? We've all heard about the people who've forgotten their bitcoin passwords worth millions of...What happens when you can't remember your password? Do you just go to jail for the rest of your life?
We've all heard about the people who've forgotten their bitcoin passwords worth millions of dollars, so it's clear that it does happen sometimes.
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Comment on Signal, NordVPN, Proton to leave Canada over C-22 in ~society
thecakeisalime Link ParentThat's not at all evident to me. What's wrong with the internet right now that makes it so essential to monitor everyone's activities?Doing nothing is not an alternative, as is evident today
That's not at all evident to me. What's wrong with the internet right now that makes it so essential to monitor everyone's activities?
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Comment on Tildes Gardening Group: Week 18/5/26 in ~hobbies
thecakeisalime LinkSpent the long weekend tidying/weeding the garden beds and planting vegetables. The local squirrel population didn't dig anything up overnight, which I hope is a good sign.Spent the long weekend tidying/weeding the garden beds and planting vegetables. The local squirrel population didn't dig anything up overnight, which I hope is a good sign.
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Comment on From neat lawns to wild havens: how No Mow May is transforming England’s gardens in ~enviro
thecakeisalime Link ParentDandelions are not a great source of nutrition for bees. Probably better than monoculture lawns, but pretty much everything is. If you can re-wild your lawn with native plants and flowers, that's...Dandelions are not a great source of nutrition for bees. Probably better than monoculture lawns, but pretty much everything is.
If you can re-wild your lawn with native plants and flowers, that's certainly a much better option.
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Comment on Reddit reports 69% jump in revenue, topping analyst estimates in ~tech
thecakeisalime Link ParentA lot of stock prices drop from the IPO price. Going by this site (I don't know how complete or accurate this information is), 160 companies are down from their 2025 IPO price, and 123 are up....A lot of stock prices drop from the IPO price. Going by this site (I don't know how complete or accurate this information is), 160 companies are down from their 2025 IPO price, and 123 are up. With some rough calculations, if you invested the same amount in each company's IPO and held through today, you'd have a total ~8% return, which isn't awful, but it's slightly below average, and a lot below the actual returns from the past year. You're also taking a huge risk to do this, since many of these companies have seen huge swings in price.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
thecakeisalime LinkIn the final stretches of Memory of Light (the final book in the Wheel of Time series). I'm about a quarter of the way through Chapter 37, which my Kindle has estimated will take me about 4 hours...In the final stretches of Memory of Light (the final book in the Wheel of Time series). I'm about a quarter of the way through Chapter 37, which my Kindle has estimated will take me about 4 hours to read. This chapter is longer than many books.
While I appreciate Robert Jordan for the world and characters that he created, I'm much happier with Brandon Sanderson's writing in these last few books. I probably wouldn't have finished reading the series if Robert Jordan had written it through to the end. There was just too much repetition and unnecessary descriptions for my taste.
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Comment on Very Important People: Boris Tarshkokan in ~tv
thecakeisalime Link ParentI think there's only a couple episodes of Play it by Ear that I enjoyed more than the Game Changer episode. There's only two seasons, and it's worth watching if you enjoy that niche. I didn't...I think there's only a couple episodes of Play it by Ear that I enjoyed more than the Game Changer episode. There's only two seasons, and it's worth watching if you enjoy that niche. I didn't dislike any episodes, but there's definitely a few weaker episodes.
Zach and Jess also have a musical improv podcast that I haven't listened to yet, but it's supposed to be quite good as well.
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Comment on Income tax will be dead within five years as AI jobs crisis grows, says Monzo founder in ~tech
thecakeisalime LinkTaxing compute seems to be the next big craze, and it really just seems like another attempt to add complexity and loopholes and avoid taxing corporations properly. If a corporation is selling...Taxing compute seems to be the next big craze, and it really just seems like another attempt to add complexity and loopholes and avoid taxing corporations properly.
If a corporation is selling compute, or selling widgets, it doesn't really make a difference - money is money, so you can tax both corporations. If a company replaces all their workers with AI robots, you don't need to tax the robots, just tax the corporation on their newly created profits.
Any policy that doesn't just tax the profit of a corporation is leaving itself open to abuse.
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Comment on How are we all feeling about piracy these days? in ~movies
thecakeisalime Link ParentInstead of that, you can usually just email one of the authors and they'll be more than happy to send you a copy. They don't get anything when you pay publishers to access their papers, so they...There is this very weird forum-like website where you can request papers with a bounty of "points", and you get some points by clicking a button each day (enough for 3 or so papers) . I would have to dig through my bookmarks to remember the name. I only really need it for papers that are both paywalled and don't have a preprint available now
Instead of that, you can usually just email one of the authors and they'll be more than happy to send you a copy. They don't get anything when you pay publishers to access their papers, so they don't care. They're usually just excited that someone's interested in their work.
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Comment on Am I German or autistic? in ~health.mental
thecakeisalime Link ParentI'm 60% German and 56% autistic. Beneath the result it says "Scores are independent — they don't need to add up to 100%" which bothers both the German and autistic sides of me.I'm 60% German and 56% autistic. Beneath the result it says "Scores are independent — they don't need to add up to 100%" which bothers both the German and autistic sides of me.
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Comment on Competence is lonely. Nobody talks about why. in ~health.mental
thecakeisalime Link ParentYeah, this seems like it's focused on people whose whole social lives revolve around their workplace, which is unhealthy whether you're competent or not. At my last job, I was the competent one,...Yeah, this seems like it's focused on people whose whole social lives revolve around their workplace, which is unhealthy whether you're competent or not.
At my last job, I was the competent one, and while that meant I kept getting interrupted to answer questions, I never would have called myself "lonely", because, frankly, I will never care about my colleagues in that way. And at 5 pm, I'd leave, and not have to think about them until I got to work again the next day. For those people who don't always clock out at 5, or don't have other adult relationships outside of work, I can see how this could be lonely. But the problem isn't competence - it's the fact that meeting people and making friendships as an adult is hard. Incompetent people might be able to make friends at work (I guess that's the implication of the article), but I suspect they're just surface level friendships of convenience that would fall apart pretty quickly if one person got a new job.
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Comment on Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor in ~tech
thecakeisalime Link ParentIt sounds a lot like "I had too much clutter so I burned down my house and now I'm living in my car". Yeah, it works, I guess. But the problem isn't the big monitor. It's that he's using it to...It sounds a lot like "I had too much clutter so I burned down my house and now I'm living in my car".
Yeah, it works, I guess. But the problem isn't the big monitor. It's that he's using it to watch YouTube videos while working. Surely there's a better way to improve focus (and if there is, I'd appreciate tips).
Like, it's great that this works for this guy. But in my experience, this is just treating a symptom and not the cause. You can still distract yourself with your cellphone or any number of other things.
I only read up through the end of book 3. I thought it was over and didn't even realize there were two more books; it really felt like the end of a trilogy. And looking at the published dates, they weren't out when I finished the third book.
I guess I've got some more books to pick up.