tuftedcheek's recent activity
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Comment on I tried to protect my kids from the internet. Here’s what happened. in ~tech
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Comment on I tried to protect my kids from the internet. Here’s what happened. in ~tech
tuftedcheek LinkWithout self-doxxing, I work in a field that deals with the fallout of unchecked social media and its harmful effects on children. It's a real threat. Children as young as 4 and 5, and as old as...- Exemplary
Without self-doxxing, I work in a field that deals with the fallout of unchecked social media and its harmful effects on children. It's a real threat. Children as young as 4 and 5, and as old as 16 and 17 are all falling prey to unregulated social media. Examples of what I've seen: drug dealers using Snapchat/FB/Insta to sell HARD drugs to pre-teens; pedophiles hanging out on Discord/Reddit/Roblox grooming kids to send them explicit pictures or meet up for sex. I've worked with kids who were kidnapped and raped, families who were burying their kids that OD'd from drugs they bought off of social media, not to mention kids financially extorted with no real recourse. And I've seen it happen across the racial/class spectrum. Sometimes kids are actively looking for a transgressive outlet and get too deep into trouble. Sometimes kids don't know any better or are targeted by sophisticated predators. But the common thread is that social media lowers the barrier for bad actors to target and exploit children in a way that we've NEVER dealt with before.
In this thread, I see a lot of FUD from the comments in here about regulating private companies. A lot of commenters admit they either (1) aren't parents, or (2) have a fairly sophisticated tech background. I think it's easy to sit in the "ivory tower" of technologically literate adults and say that parents need to do better to regulate, but that's simply unrealistic for a large plurality of people.
For a layman, the tech is difficult to navigate, and more importantly, for the parent, regulation is a game of whack-a-mole. Block Snapchat and the child will go to Instagram. Block Discord and the child will go to Roblox (I've seen both of those examples in real life). And the companies know it's a problem because they deal with me and people like me on a weekly basis discussing these issues. Companies hide behind laws like Section 230 and feign ignorance and helplessness when pressed to do anything voluntarily. It's candidly sickening.
Is regulation perfect? No. But it's a hell of a lot better than burden shifting an increasingly complex maze of devices, apps and websites to parents who usually don't even know what their kids are doing. Worried about a "list" of people on porn sites? There are ways to sanitize the data and prevent the government from using it -- we already do that with cell phone data. For example, your location is triangulated thousands of times daily, but the data is anonymized and sanitized and the government can't (both legally and practicably) use it to track you indiscriminately. Basic age verification is the minimum of what we as a society should be doing to hold social media companies accountable.
Big Tech has done an amazing job of selling fear mongering about big brother and the futility of any such regulation. Don't buy into it, we can do both: You as a consenting adult can still consume porn without the government looking over your shoulder, and we as a society can put basic guardrails up for the sake of our kids.
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Comment on My guess and opinion on the common blockers to Linux adoption in ~tech
tuftedcheek LinkFor me, the only impediment to switching full time to Linux is software lock-in. Microsoft knows where to exercise its monopoly powers: the workplace. In every job I've worked, there is at least...For me, the only impediment to switching full time to Linux is software lock-in. Microsoft knows where to exercise its monopoly powers: the workplace. In every job I've worked, there is at least one mission-critical piece of proprietary Windows-only software that I must use, either with my own employer or with a client. That makes full-time Linux (or even Mac) use a nonstarter. Which is a shame, because I would love to throw a Linux distro on my PC that I built at home, and never look back.
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Comment on Support for rightwing populists and the far right declined in Finland, Sweden and Denmark in Sunday's European elections, with a surge for Greens and left-leaning parties in ~society
tuftedcheek LinkSometimes I feel like we are living in a bizarro world. In my lifetime, I never expected European nations to openly embrace Nazi-adjacent parties. Similarly, as an American, I never expected to...Sometimes I feel like we are living in a bizarro world. In my lifetime, I never expected European nations to openly embrace Nazi-adjacent parties. Similarly, as an American, I never expected to see so many of my fellow Americans openly embrace Nazi ideology and symbology. It's stunning that in less than three generations so many westerners, European and American, have forgotten the hard-fought truths that our grandparents and great-grandparents united against. Naziism is revolting, as is anything even remotely approaching Naziism, and yet I now see that my instinctive, dogmatic opposition to naziism isn't a universal truth. It completely breaks my mind. How can anyone justify it, morally or intellectually? When the Nazi-sympathetic watch movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, do they jeer Indiana Jones and root for the villains?
Anyway, all that to say, I'm not sure that the Nordic countries have ever been a genuine bellwether to mass political movements. Scandinavia seems to be in its own cultural bubble that, as someone looking from the outside in, comes across rather enviably.
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Comment on How to find purpose in life? in ~life
tuftedcheek Link ParentI agree wholeheartedly. Man's Search for Meaning is like a prism for the soul - reading it helps bring your own values into focus. It's short, succinct, and beautiful. It doesn't proscribe some...I agree wholeheartedly. Man's Search for Meaning is like a prism for the soul - reading it helps bring your own values into focus. It's short, succinct, and beautiful. It doesn't proscribe some self-help path toward meaning, but it does allow for some meaningful introspection. Everyone should read it at least once.
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Comment on California junk fee ban could upend restaurant industry in ~food
tuftedcheek Link ParentI wish that was the case. Unfortunately, because of how taxes work, service fees will never replace tips. California is heading in the right direction with its junk ban interpretation. It's very...I see service fees as a bridge to get us out of the US tipping culture
I wish that was the case. Unfortunately, because of how taxes work, service fees will never replace tips. California is heading in the right direction with its junk ban interpretation. It's very pro consumer. The next step should be legislative action to end tipping, or dramatically redefine when tips are allowed (e.g. no tipping at POS for non-service work).
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Comment on Many Americans who recently bought guns open to political violence, survey finds in ~society
tuftedcheek Link ParentWhat's ludicrous is the proposition that somehow the second amendment is a check on the police. Bad faith arguments notwithstanding, the framers never conceived of modern day firearms or how the...What's ludicrous is the proposition that somehow the second amendment is a check on the police. Bad faith arguments notwithstanding, the framers never conceived of modern day firearms or how the second amendment has been used to justify the proliferation of these death machines. Do you really envision a scenario where you will be in an armed standoff with the police? Or is that simply a fantasy to fuel politically charged anti-establishment beliefs? Armed citizens aren't going to beat the state. Ever hear of Ruby Ridge? Waco? The state has unlimited resources and if it wanted to, it would crush an armed citizen uprising. No amount of gun-toting LARPers is going to win that fight, I'm sorry to tell you.
Let's take a moment to look at the reality of gun proliferation: the 21st century has seen more frequent and more severe mass shootings than any other point in our history. There are many reasons why citizens are slaughtering citizens, but virtually all of them are secondary to the Occam's razor reality that easy access to guns has enabled people who were predisposed to kill with the ability to do so with shocking ease. If you want to talk about stopping violence, let's focus on something tangible and grounded in reality: mass gun ownership has enabled mass violence.
I've encountered your take before and it always disappoints me. But here's what disappoints me the most: you talk about the virtues of the second amendment and arming citizens because the police need to be held accountable. But accountability and justice aren't meted out over dueling guns. In a democratic society we hold ourselves accountable to the law, including in how we dole out punishment. The appropriate punishment for dirty cops isn't death by citizen vigilantes, it's judicial punishment, maybe prison time. So instead of talking about opposing "expanded restrictions" on the Second Amendment, why not focus on expanding better government? Oversight boards, more transparency in policing, independent prosecutors to review legitimate instances of police brutality? Kids are being trained in school how to handle mass shootings because of political cowardice over reasonable restrictions on firearms. If I had to pick between kids never having to worry about getting shot up in school, or "protecting" some asshole protestor's second amendment right to open carry so that he can get into a fight with the riot police, I'm voting against guns every time.
I'm tired of keyboard warriors railing against the police and dancing with armed rebellion online. Grow up.
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Comment on What email client do you use? in ~tech
tuftedcheek LinkOutlook at work, Thunderbird for my custom domains, and the default web client for any big email provider. I would consolidate everything into Thunderbird if I could, but Google and Microsoft...Outlook at work, Thunderbird for my custom domains, and the default web client for any big email provider. I would consolidate everything into Thunderbird if I could, but Google and Microsoft constantly seem to break imap functionality.
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Comment on Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to twenty-five years in US prison in ~finance
tuftedcheek LinkIt’s not enough. He literally and intentionally sat atop and orchestrated a fraud to the tune of billions of dollars. He laughed in the face of law enforcement and law abiding citizens while...It’s not enough. He literally and intentionally sat atop and orchestrated a fraud to the tune of billions of dollars. He laughed in the face of law enforcement and law abiding citizens while pretending to be masters of the universe with his equally culpable cadre of crooks in a literal offshore lair. He lined the pockets of politicians with other people’s money as he tried to rise above the law. He is a bad, bad man and he deserved worse.
In criminal law, the courts look at a criminal’s mens rea when considering punishment. Effectively, mens rea is a measure of someone’s evil mind. That’s how we get different “degrees” of murder: we punish a killer worse depending on how evil his intent was when he killed his victim. SBF didn’t murder anyone, but his mens rea was as evil and intentional as the worst murderers. His lawyers did a good job infantilizing him. This wasn’t a kid with a cooky haircut, this was a 30-something year old man. He should have been punished to the fullest extent of the law. Put differently, if a man who knowingly defrauded billions doesn’t deserve the maximum penalty, who on earth does? It’s a shame.
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Comment on Behind F1's velvet curtain in ~sports.motorsports
tuftedcheek Link ParentAs good as the article is (and it’s very good), the fact that this article was unceremoniously pulled from Road & Track is the real story. F1 has so many powerful people within its sphere of...As good as the article is (and it’s very good), the fact that this article was unceremoniously pulled from Road & Track is the real story. F1 has so many powerful people within its sphere of influence that anyone could have made a phone call and had it removed (also, I can’t help but draw the connection between the Saudi royal family’s influence on F1 and their history with critical journalists).
All that to say, the fact that someone pulled this mildly critical story about F1, which controls its brand image extremely well, vindicates everything Wagner was saying in the actual article. It’s the perfect bookend to an interesting take on the sport.
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Comment on What watch do you wear daily? in ~hobbies
tuftedcheek LinkI vacillate mainly between a Rolex Submariner, and a Seiko Alpinist (blue ed). I have a handful of “enthusiast” digital, quartz, and mechanical watches that I’ve picked up over the years. I...I vacillate mainly between a Rolex Submariner, and a Seiko Alpinist (blue ed). I have a handful of “enthusiast” digital, quartz, and mechanical watches that I’ve picked up over the years. I started watch collecting just out of grad school and burned a fair amount of disposable income on it, but since the pandemic the market has been crazy, and personally I’ve had a hard time justifying big expenditures on any hobby (let alone jewelry) over the other demands in my life.
There are still great deals to be had on the grey market but a lot of my excitement in the hobby dwindled as speculators started taking over hobbyist forums and trading platforms.
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What’s the best way to self-learn the piano and guitar?
My whole life I have lived with the regret of not becoming proficient in a musical instrument. I grew up with a piano and acoustic guitar in my childhood home, and I actually took lessons for both...
My whole life I have lived with the regret of not becoming proficient in a musical instrument. I grew up with a piano and acoustic guitar in my childhood home, and I actually took lessons for both but never committed to practicing or improving. As a result I grew up tinkering with both hit never learned how to read music or actually develop any fundamental techniques to play either.
I am an autodidact and have always felt that with the right resources, and a little discipline, I could at least learn enough to play a few songs on either instrument, and possibly with time become a sight reader.
To that end, I am curious, musicians of ~Tildes, what resources are the best to self-learn piano and guitar? Books, videos, apps, anything that you’ve used or know people have used and actually went from complete novice to reasonably proficient?
Thanks and happy new year!
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Comment on Vibrating capsule developed as an obesity treatment in ~health
tuftedcheek Link ParentHard disagree, and in fact, your comment borders on victim-blaming in my opinion. While mechanically "eat better" is accurate, it completely ignores the realities of societies where obesity is...- Exemplary
Hard disagree, and in fact, your comment borders on victim-blaming in my opinion. While mechanically "eat better" is accurate, it completely ignores the realities of societies where obesity is rampant. Some clear societal factors affecting obesity apart from "eat better": (1) economic incentives to eat high-calorie processed food, both upstream and downstream (2) work cultures that emphasize efficiency over all else leading to people eating convenience foods (3) car-driven culture that causes people to sit from home-to-office with minimal walking (4) the erosion of public spaces leading to most leisure activities to take place at home often in front of a TV or computer screen.
The point is that "eat a whole food based diet," much like the solution in Israel/Gaza is "stop killing people," is more of a platitude than a solution addressing the real concerns underpinning the problem.
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Comment on Post-affirmative action, Asian American families are more stressed than ever about college admissions in ~life
tuftedcheek Link ParentAA definitely has other issues but American elitism is pervasive, especially in higher ed. The solution, in my opinion, is what Bernie suggested: make public colleges free. The elitism is a...AA wasn't the real issue, but instead it's the American obsession with elitism and exclusivity
AA definitely has other issues but American elitism is pervasive, especially in higher ed. The solution, in my opinion, is what Bernie suggested: make public colleges free. The elitism is a self-fulfilling prophecy in that the ROI for Ivy League schools is high and therefore the candidates applying are more competitive. By dropping the bottom out from public schools, the ROI equation changes dramatically (suddenly getting saddled with 20 years of non-dischargeable student loan debt at an Ivy doesn’t seem as appealing as getting a comparable degree at State for free). Free public education has plenty of other benefits but democratizing higher ed is one of the most important in my opinion.
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Comment on American transit agencies are constantly at risk of financial ruin. How can we fix this problem? in ~transport
tuftedcheek LinkThe answer is always the same: more taxes. And yes, in fact, it is that simple. Higher taxes on higher earners, both personal and corporate. There is a strong correlation between higher tax rates...The answer is always the same: more taxes. And yes, in fact, it is that simple. Higher taxes on higher earners, both personal and corporate. There is a strong correlation between higher tax rates and better public services (which include public transit) both internationally and in the United States. There’s no surprise that public infrastructure was more robust decades ago at a time when taxation was significantly higher.
Higher taxes means more public revenue but it also has downstream effects: it reduces the ability of wealthier parties to shirk public resources by opting for private alternatives.
Now whether there’s political or public appetite to call for more taxation is a different question and is what I believe pieces like this article are really addressing — what are creative ways to generate revenue without offending the anti-tax contingent (n.b. the authors briefly touch on raising taxes, but it’s nowhere near the central thesis). At the end of the day though, it’s really all trying to squeeze blood from stones. Anything short of taxing the higher brackets at reasonably higher rates is never going to produce the kind of significant public funding necessary to maintain and develop these resources.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~travel
tuftedcheek Link ParentSome recreation areas charge a small entrance fee. The fee is nominal but it allows them to control the total number of entrants. When they hit a certain allotment, they don’t let anyone else in...Some recreation areas charge a small entrance fee. The fee is nominal but it allows them to control the total number of entrants. When they hit a certain allotment, they don’t let anyone else in (or control new entries by monitoring the number of people exiting). I could see Venice use this as a way to control the total number of tourist entrants on any given day.
I actually wish more overcrowded tourist areas would do this. There’s nothing as miserable as fighting the zombie hordes of tourists anywhere that’s halfway nice and famous.
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Comment on If you don't like a type of content, don't complain about it. Filter it! in ~tildes
tuftedcheek Link ParentRespectfully, "engagement" and "content that nobody cares about" seem to be nominally different variations on the same thing. I've never heard of "engagement" as being "toxicity-encouraging"; and...Respectfully, "engagement" and "content that nobody cares about" seem to be nominally different variations on the same thing. I've never heard of "engagement" as being "toxicity-encouraging"; and while I understand that the connotation is that "engagement" is a popular buzz-word for SEO and marketing types, I don't see how the verbiage exclusively belongs to that industry.
If people aren't contributing to the discussion of a posted topic, doesn't that indicate that nobody cares about the topic, and, therefore, that the topic is failing to drive community engagement? I'd submit that when one person serially posts articles that on average receive <3 replies from the community, that pushes down more interesting and more "engaging" topics and prevents casual users from seeing them due to their being drowned out.
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Comment on If you don't like a type of content, don't complain about it. Filter it! in ~tildes
tuftedcheek LinkWhile this is a great suggestion, unfortunately, sometimes the issue isn't the content but the person submitting the content. And for whatever reason, Tildes doesn't have a way to "ignore" or...While this is a great suggestion, unfortunately, sometimes the issue isn't the content but the person submitting the content. And for whatever reason, Tildes doesn't have a way to "ignore" or filter out on a per-account basis. I'm sure there's a philosophical reason behind ignoring topics but not people, but in the interest of communal harmony, an ignore-user feature (to filter out comments and submissions by that user) should be an option. Personally, I know at least one user who tends to spam new submissions that fail to drive engagement. That user's posts are indistinguishable from a submission that an AI could produce. It would be a boon to be able to ignore that user, and that user's posts, so that I can weed out low-engagement spam posts from the front page.
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Comment on Mike Huckabee: 2024 will be last US election ‘decided by ballots rather than bullets’ if Donald Trump loses over legal cases in ~society
tuftedcheek LinkHuckabee isn't exactly an objective commentator here. Trump gave his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a cushy cabinet appointment as White House Press Secretary despite any actual merit or talent...Huckabee isn't exactly an objective commentator here. Trump gave his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a cushy cabinet appointment as White House Press Secretary despite any actual merit or talent for that position. Undoubtedly, her cabinet appointment helped launch her subsequent political career and was a major factor in her becoming Arkansas' current governor (where, I might add, she rolled back, inter alia childhood labor laws). Huckabee either explicitly or otherwise is indebted to Trump and I imagine he will continue to shill the most extreme takes in service of Trump through the 2024 electoral cycle.
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Comment on How to move your Instagram feed to Pixelfed, the photo app that doesn't track your every move in ~tech
tuftedcheek LinkThe problem with pixelfed is the same faced by all challengers to incumbent social media platforms: lack of critical mass. Certainly websites die and people join new platforms en masse (see...The problem with pixelfed is the same faced by all challengers to incumbent social media platforms: lack of critical mass. Certainly websites die and people join new platforms en masse (see Xitter, Digg, or arguably Reddit) but these platforms gain inertia that takes a major shift to drive away users. I don’t think Instagram is going anywhere soon, and obviously data tracking hasn’t impeded its growth so far, so I don’t see pixelfed, which is advertising itself as a privacy friendly alternative, siphoning away many current Instagram users, let alone establishing the kind of critical mass needed to make it a compelling social media platform.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the fediverse in principle. But social media by its design needs as many users as possible. The draw of these platforms is their ubiquity. I can follow all of my friends and they can follow me. If I wanted a private photo hosting locker I’m probably going with something more robust as a photo locker (something that can serve high res or even raw photos). But pixelfed doesn’t do that either. So if I can’t follow all of my friends, and I can’t store high quality files, what is pixelfed offering me really?
No offense taken, just as I hope you don't take offense at me saying that "dunking" is a bit... generous for what was clearly you doing a cursory search on the subject and pasting snippets.
If we're really comparing apples to apples, then you surely already know (with your data science degree) that your ISP knows what websites you're browsing and if "big brother" really was so inclined, it could pull that data to use against you. There's a reason people aren't already being prosecuted (or persecuted as is the apparent fear) for their website browsing habits: laws preclude dragnet monitoring, which are actually quite effective at curbing government surveillance, and anonymizing features do a reasonably good job making mass surveillance difficult. That doesn't mean either are impossible to overcome, but it does mean that for the majority of cell phone users, they'll never be the subject of targeting in their lives. Both of those hurdles would continue to serve against the unfounded fears of the government broadly targeting individuals for doing something lawful like consuming pornography or visiting websites that support marginalized groups.
The frustrations I have with comments like yours are that you let perfect be the enemy of good. There is a real harm happening in the world and there is a real solution that could be implemented today to mitigate the harm. The costs associated with age verification are dramatically outweighed by the benefits, even if it isn't perfect.
Put differently, if you can't explain to me why you're comfortable with your ISP and DNS provider tracking your browsing history but aren't comfortable with the same amount of data being used to verify a user's age, then I have to respectfully discount your resistance to it. Because it's the same. The difference is that your ISP isn't spending literal hundreds of millions in lobbying and dark advocacy suggesting that there's a huge difference when it applies to FAANG.