ThrowdoBaggins's recent activity
-
Comment on Scientists study thousands of giant space shades to cool Earth in ~space
-
Comment on Does Shawarma Law give a more definitive answer on whether or not a Hot Dog is a sandwich? in ~food
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentYou’ve got me sorely tempted by the idea of going at it with chopsticks — after all, if I’m arguing for invariant I nachos, then using the correct tool is just the natural extension!My argument treads close to the no true Scotsman fallacy. Nevertheless, unless one is willing to go at the pile with a fork, like a psychopath, I think my argument holds.
You’ve got me sorely tempted by the idea of going at it with chopsticks — after all, if I’m arguing for invariant I nachos, then using the correct tool is just the natural extension!
-
Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentFully agree here, any kind of change like this would be an incredible change for the system as a whole, and that on its own would be a big enough hurdle. But the years (decades? Centuries?) of...IMO making it mandatory without fixing the access barriers would be unconstitutional (potentially at both levels depending on the state constitution)
Fully agree here, any kind of change like this would be an incredible change for the system as a whole, and that on its own would be a big enough hurdle. But the years (decades? Centuries?) of disenfranchisement and barriers and friction that’s been put between a person and their vote are much larger and more beneficial targets than just suddenly saying “you gotta”. Which ties in with your other point too:
None of that overcomes the "you can't tell me what to do" mindset of Americans either though. And I just don't see us getting past that childishness
Australian culture has a decent bit of an anti-authority streak too, but it’s a lot more cheeky prankster vibes and a lot less petulant toddler vibes. That will definitely make mandatory voting a much more difficult challenge to introduce into US voting than here in Australia, even if all the other barriers vanished overnight.
-
Comment on Does Shawarma Law give a more definitive answer on whether or not a Hot Dog is a sandwich? in ~food
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentFor a large enough serving of nachos, I would posit that the orientation and location for an individual nacho is sufficiently random as to defy classification as merely D (aside from those at the...As eaten, a nacho is merely D, and the whole dish, a platter of D. [1]
────────
- One hopes it is a large platter.
For a large enough serving of nachos, I would posit that the orientation and location for an individual nacho is sufficiently random as to defy classification as merely D (aside from those at the base which have little choice in their orientation due to the forces pushing down from above)
Therefore I would like to request a new classification to allow orientation-agnostic carbs, for example a bowl of popcorn
Unless I’ve misunderstood nachos entirely, and you are suggesting that mathematically they can only ever be an infinite plane measured along two axes, and never stacked vertically?
-
Comment on Does Shawarma Law give a more definitive answer on whether or not a Hot Dog is a sandwich? in ~food
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentPersonally, and this might be a hot take, but saying pumpkin pie is “bent toast” is a total cop-out. I can understand and accept that an unsliced pie is topologically different from a slice of...Personally, and this might be a hot take, but saying pumpkin pie is “bent toast” is a total cop-out.
I can understand and accept that an unsliced pie is topologically different from a slice of pie, but they are being cowards if they don’t sit down and define the two-plane (base and one side) morphology as distinct and worthy of definition.
-
Comment on Swipeblocked: the phrases your iPhone won't suggest in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI’m not a lawyer but I wonder if just using existing laws around editorial choices (for lack of a better word) as a hammer in this way might sway them? For example, I would like to argue that if...I’m not a lawyer but I wonder if just using existing laws around editorial choices (for lack of a better word) as a hammer in this way might sway them?
For example, I would like to argue that if they implement a non-neutral autocucumber, then they are inviting liability for that output, therefore I assume they would quickly remove those filters in order to regain their status and hide behind neutrality.
It hasn’t happened with algorithmic feeds, which in my mind are much more obviously egregious (e.g. how quickly the algorithm pushes new users towards extremist content in social media etc), so I can’t imagine how much would need to change politically for this to be considered. But I don’t think the proposed laws would need to be that explicit in order to influence behaviour.
-
Comment on Swipeblocked: the phrases your iPhone won't suggest in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentAha, so we’ve found the solution! Always type your first draft (swear words and all) into Safari, then copy-paste into your actual text box of choice, et voilà!(Also, not having autocorrect for typing search queries in Safari is obnoxious.)
Aha, so we’ve found the solution! Always type your first draft (swear words and all) into Safari, then copy-paste into your actual text box of choice, et voilà!
-
Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentThis has got me wondering, because I’m not familiar with US voting systems, could individual states introduce mandatory voting? Or would it need to be a federal initiative? Do any states already...so is much more achievable than mandatory voting which would have to be federal all at once.
This has got me wondering, because I’m not familiar with US voting systems, could individual states introduce mandatory voting? Or would it need to be a federal initiative? Do any states already have mandatory voting in place?
-
Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentHaving lived my whole life in Victoria Australia, I didn’t realise that this was a particularly unique vibe! You’re right that it’s often a fun and positive experience! With the state elections at...Voting day has a fun, almost festival-like vibe with everyone in the community coming out together, chatting with their neighbors, buying street food, etc. I always look forward to it.
Having lived my whole life in Victoria Australia, I didn’t realise that this was a particularly unique vibe! You’re right that it’s often a fun and positive experience! With the state elections at the end of this month, I’m looking forward to finding whichever local voting place has the best bake sales or Democracy Sausages.
If you know of any bake sales or sausage sizzles at polling places, please submit them to https://democracysausage.org/ to help fill out the map! Personally I’ll admit, this map ends up substantially influencing where I will choose to submit my vote, so the more info the better!
-
Comment on YouTube mobile app has deeply hidden the subscription feed in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentMicrosoft acknowledged this way back before they introduced the Ribbon to most programs, they even had A/B testing for UX/UI well before everything was connected to the internet, and they had a...User behavior follows design choices. To then act like it’s users who choose a certain behavior is silly.
Microsoft acknowledged this way back before they introduced the Ribbon to most programs, they even had A/B testing for UX/UI well before everything was connected to the internet, and they had a clear pattern of behaviour that people were much more likely to use functions that were immediately available and much less likely to use them if they were buried under menus.
My understanding is they initially tried various options to learn “actually people use this function more often therefore we should make it easier to get to” but the data was so heavily shaped by the UI that they couldn’t really get useful insights for what is easily available versus what is hidden several menus deep.
I strongly believe that YouTube deciding what to emphasise and what to hide has much more impact on user behaviour, than user behaviour has any impact on YouTube’s interface decisions
-
Comment on 2026 United States midterm elections megathread in ~society
ThrowdoBaggins Link Parent64! = 1.269×10⁸⁹ Gosh, that’s a lot! However did you find the time?!? /noise64! = 1.269×10⁸⁹
Gosh, that’s a lot! However did you find the time?!?
/noise
-
Comment on Google receives response from Project Suncatcher prototype satellite in space in ~space
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentThat still doesn’t really make sense to me. If you’re considering data centres in space, then you’re considering data centres which don’t need a single physical location, and don’t need human...That still doesn’t really make sense to me. If you’re considering data centres in space, then you’re considering data centres which don’t need a single physical location, and don’t need human maintenance, in which case why not pile all your cubesat data centres on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean for basically 0% of the launch costs, and all the same benefits?
-
Comment on Contender for the most non-viable startup: Reflect Orbital in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentReally bright clouds /noiseReally bright clouds
/noise
-
Comment on Proton to ‘re-interview’ staff about AI to see who gets to keep their job in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI think you’ve articulated something here that I’ve seen before but I’ve never really unravelled it in my head. If the claim is “AI is fundamentally changing the way we work” then it’s important...and they can’t even articulate what they mean when they say “AI is fundamentally changing the way we work”. Fundamental at which level?
Or is all of that the same except the text box you’re typing into is now dependent on another subscription to an overvalued tech company that’s losing $80B annually with no profitability in sight?
I think you’ve articulated something here that I’ve seen before but I’ve never really unravelled it in my head.
If the claim is “AI is fundamentally changing the way we work” then it’s important to ask for the distinction between “AI in general” (in which case why are they using paid models when free models aren’t that far behind) or if they only mean “these few LLM companies” (in which case is the value really worth the risk of infinitely escalating costs as your “business critical” tool starts ramping up subscription and usage costs)
I’m glad I saw your comment here, because I’ll be bringing this idea to my workplace to see if “last year’s model basically for free” is a better value proposition, especially if we can have the whole thing running in our own sandbox without feeding sensitive information back to Anthropic/OpenAI/Microsoft/Google et al
-
Comment on Proton to ‘re-interview’ staff about AI to see who gets to keep their job in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentThat sounds a lot like my experience with FastMail too, especially just replying in the app via my @gmail address. However I’ll admit that I haven’t needed to set up family sharing etc. There’s an...That sounds a lot like my experience with FastMail too, especially just replying in the app via my @gmail address.
However I’ll admit that I haven’t needed to set up family sharing etc. There’s an element of FastMail that’s set up for businesses though, where for example you create inboxes for each staff member, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you could use the same for family set ups. Actually on that note they might even have a family sharing setup anyway and I just never looked for it.
They have a page specifically about migrating from Proton, so maybe take a look for yourself and see if these claims make sense for your experience? https://www.fastmail.com/how-to/move-from-proton/
-
Comment on Contender for the most non-viable startup: Reflect Orbital in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentGiven the website is already vying for military attention, my worry about it being misused is substantially outweighing any of my delight at the positive possibilities. I’m just imagining the...Given the website is already vying for military attention, my worry about it being misused is substantially outweighing any of my delight at the positive possibilities.
I’m just imagining the catastrophic results of sudden daylight brightness on a 5km length of freeway at night, or an airport or dock, or just randomly in population centres every night for a week in the lead up to a military invasion so that everyone is sleep deprived, or a dozen other applications I can think of.
-
Comment on Tildes exclusive: the Ethoscore Project in ~creative
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentApologies in advance if I’m way too corporate-brained at the moment, but maybe “integrity” or “honesty” or something? Just a suggestion.I'm with you there. I struggled with that when naming the Ethics metric. I needed a category for everything that was left after Environment and Human Rights that wasn't clunky or unintuitive (like Governance). I look at it as a way of capturing company behaviors that people would generally consider unethical (lying, cheating, stealing).
Apologies in advance if I’m way too corporate-brained at the moment, but maybe “integrity” or “honesty” or something? Just a suggestion.
-
Comment on Denmark has quietly ended its Collabora pilot, halting a major effort to replace Microsoft software and achieve greater technological independence in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentWorking in a (non-tech) corporate space has unfortunately broken me a little bit, because I’m absolutely the kind of person who will troubleshoot for a solution, but the environment is so locked...But pushing your average bureaucrat to troubleshoot in any situation is going to be hard.
Working in a (non-tech) corporate space has unfortunately broken me a little bit, because I’m absolutely the kind of person who will troubleshoot for a solution, but the environment is so locked down that most solutions I come across are basically non-starters. Can’t install custom software, can’t make changes to half of the settings in any apps or the OS itself, certainly can’t edit the registry.
The organisation is big enough that I probably won’t be able to just make friends with someone in IT to help implement random registry edits to fix a gripe I have. Even if that’s the clear solution to my problem when I’ve searched the internet for a fix. I’m sure in a smaller company, I could totally build trust with IT enough to maybe even get temporary privileges, but with my org as big as it is, I find that deeply unlikely.
-
Comment on Tildes exclusive: the Ethoscore Project in ~creative
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI think having both approaches makes sense is possible, especially if we start looking into the enormous conglomerates of FMCGs like Unilever and Nestlé. For example, maybe there’s a fairtrade,...I suppose you could do both, score everything in the ultimate parent and also score all individual brands. It would be amazing to get to the point where there's a big and engaged enough community to make that possible
I think having both approaches makes sense is possible, especially if we start looking into the enormous conglomerates of FMCGs like Unilever and Nestlé.
For example, maybe there’s a fairtrade, all green energy, responsibly sourced chocolate or coffee or something, but if they’re also willing to privatise and cut off the water supply of a third world region, any individual might have their own way of weighting those two sides of consideration.
-
Comment on Denmark has quietly ended its Collabora pilot, halting a major effort to replace Microsoft software and achieve greater technological independence in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI don’t have the context of what you were doing or how the software was “supposed to” behave but at least in Excel, I often see that exact behaviour when the column isn’t wide enough ti show the...you open it and see a table half full of hashes
I don’t have the context of what you were doing or how the software was “supposed to” behave but at least in Excel, I often see that exact behaviour when the column isn’t wide enough ti show the value in the cell. Could it be as simple as re-aligning column widths to get it working as intended?
I agree in principle, it’s definitely important to consider both prevention and repair. Definitely don’t want to abandon either if we’re going to recover from this mess.
But in the context of the space mirrors idea, I just don’t see it coming online before we’re already seeing those deaths. The article states that as long as launch costs continue to come down, maybe they can start in 20 to 40 years! The scale of engineering is astronomical (pardon the pun)