zazowoo's recent activity

  1. Comment on Is Tildes failing to thrive? in ~tildes

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    The small text at the bottom of the login page does say "Tildes is currently in invite-only alpha." (you need to be logged out to see it)

    The small text at the bottom of the login page does say "Tildes is currently in invite-only alpha." (you need to be logged out to see it)

    23 votes

  2. Comment on Oregon decriminalized drugs. Voters now regret it. in ~life

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    Is there evidence that the decriminalization in Oregon was purposefully setup to fail? I don't know much about it, so this is a genuine question. With my limited background here, I just imagine it...

    Is there evidence that the decriminalization in Oregon was purposefully setup to fail? I don't know much about it, so this is a genuine question.

    With my limited background here, I just imagine it being more likely that people really thought decriminalization would help. If you'd asked me before the law went into effect, I would've been one of those fighting for it, and I would've assumed the law was going to be successful in reducing harm.

    I worry that we are generally too quick attributing things to malice, which makes the world feel colder and meaner than it really is.

    6 votes

  3. Comment on Looking for songs that include recordings of commentary in ~music

    zazowoo
    Link
    I also love the combination of spoken word or commentary with music. I'm sure I'll think of more after I post this but some that come to mind: The New Math - OSI Space Dye Vest - Dream Theater...

    I also love the combination of spoken word or commentary with music. I'm sure I'll think of more after I post this but some that come to mind:

    2 votes

  4. Comment on Three long-term effects of a "plastic wrap parenting" style in ~life

    zazowoo
    Link
    This reminds me a recent article in the New York Times about how many parents are restricting their kids' sleepover experiences (like picking them up before bedtime or staying at the house...

    This reminds me a recent article in the New York Times about how many parents are restricting their kids' sleepover experiences (like picking them up before bedtime or staying at the house themselves). Growing up in the 90s, I had so much fun and social growth at sleepovers, and it makes me sad to think some kids are not getting to experience that in the same way today.

    9 votes

  5. Comment on CMV: Once civilization is fully developed, life will be unfulfilling and boring. Humanity is also doomed to go extinct. These two reasons make life not worth living. in ~talk

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    Yes!! And how unbelievably lucky are we that out of all the lifeforms in the world, we get to experience life as a human? We get to self-reflect and dream, or simply sit and observe, or observe...

    Yes!! And how unbelievably lucky are we that out of all the lifeforms in the world, we get to experience life as a human? We get to self-reflect and dream, or simply sit and observe, or observe our observing. We have such interesting and complicated minds that we get to experience and explore.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on How to watch Super Bowl 2024: All the best streaming options in ~sports.american_football

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    Well, most browsers. "Due to our security rules, you can't log in to our site with the Brave browser. To access the site, you must use browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Edge, Mozilla." Even so,...

    is viewable in any web browser.

    Well, most browsers.

    "Due to our security rules, you can't log in to our site with the Brave browser. To access the site, you must use browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Edge, Mozilla."

    Even so, thanks for the link!

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Jon Stewart returns to ‘The Daily Show’ as host in ~tv

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    I thought the jury was still out on the lab leak theory? Is there some conclusive evidence against against it?

    I thought the jury was still out on the lab leak theory? Is there some conclusive evidence against against it?

    25 votes

  8. Comment on What’s something you wish more people understood? in ~talk

    zazowoo
    Link
    If you read or watch something online and feel outraged, try to notice that outrage and invite skepticism and curiosity about other explanations or framing. Given the same facts, what other...

    If you read or watch something online and feel outraged, try to notice that outrage and invite skepticism and curiosity about other explanations or framing. Given the same facts, what other headlines might have been chosen? This is especially true where there appears to be some evil or incompetent guy/organization/institution to blame.

    Regardless of whether you're on the left, right, or something uncategorizable, I believe most of us have a tendency to jump on these outrage bandwagons, and it takes intentional effort and humility to resist this.

    13 votes

  9. Comment on When the New York Times lost its way in ~humanities

    zazowoo
    Link
    That was long, but I finally finished it. I thought he made some very good points, and as someone who's both a subscriber and daily reader of the Times and wishes they were not so biased, I...

    That was long, but I finally finished it. I thought he made some very good points, and as someone who's both a subscriber and daily reader of the Times and wishes they were not so biased, I appreciated hearing an insider's take.

    I pulled out some of the sections that spoke to me the most in case others don't have the time to read the full thing:

    Don’t get me wrong. Most journalism obviously doesn’t require anything like the bravery expected of a soldier, police officer or protester. But far more than when I set out to become a journalist, doing the work right today demands a particular kind of courage: not just the devil-may-care courage to choose a profession on the brink of the abyss; not just the bulldog courage to endlessly pick yourself up and embrace the ever-evolving technology; but also, in an era when polarisation and social media viciously enforce rigid orthodoxies, the moral and intellectual courage to take the other side seriously and to report truths and ideas that your own side demonises for fear they will harm its cause.

    One of the glories of embracing illiberalism is that, like Trump, you are always right about everything, and so you are justified in shouting disagreement down. In the face of this, leaders of many workplaces and boardrooms across America find that it is so much easier to compromise than to confront – to give a little ground today in the belief you can ultimately bring people around. This is how reasonable Republican leaders lost control of their party to Trump and how liberal-minded college presidents lost control of their campuses. And it is why the leadership of the New York Times is losing control of its principles.

    As the number of subscribers ballooned, the marketing department tracked their expectations, and came to a nuanced conclusion. More than 95% of Times subscribers described themselves as Democrats or independents, and a vast majority of them believed the Times was also liberal. A similar majority applauded that bias; it had become “a selling point”, reported one internal marketing memo. Yet at the same time, the marketers concluded, subscribers wanted to believe that the Times was independent.

    When you think about it, this contradiction resolves itself easily. It is human nature to want to see your bias confirmed; however, it is also human nature to want to be reassured that your bias is not just a bias, but is endorsed by journalism that is “fair and balanced”, as a certain Murdoch-owned cable-news network used to put it. As that memo argued, even if the Times was seen as politically to the left, it was critical to its brand also to be seen as broadening its readers’ horizons, and that required “a perception of independence”.

    Perception is one thing, and actual independence another. Readers could cancel their subscriptions if the Times challenged their worldview by reporting the truth without regard to politics. As a result, the Times’s long-term civic value was coming into conflict with the paper’s short-term shareholder value. As the cable networks have shown, you can build a decent business by appealing to the millions of Americans who comprise one of the partisan tribes of the electorate. The Times has every right to pursue the commercial strategy that makes it the most money. But leaning into a partisan audience creates a powerful dynamic. Nobody warned the new subscribers to the Times that it might disappoint them by reporting truths that conflicted with their expectations. When your product is “independent journalism”, that commercial strategy is tricky, because too much independence might alienate your audience, while too little can lead to charges of hypocrisy that strike at the heart of the brand.

    It matters that conflicting views do not just appear before different audiences in politically rivalrous publications or cable news networks, but instead in the same forum, before the same readers, subject to the same standards for fact and argumentation. That is also, by the way, an important means by which politicians, like Cotton, can learn, by speaking to audiences who are not inclined to nod along with them. That was our ambition for Times Opinion – or mine, I guess. Americans can shout about their lack of free speech all they want, but they will never be able to overcome their differences, and deal with any of their real problems, if they do not learn to listen to each other again.

    The Times’s failure to honour its own stated principles of openness to a range of views was particularly hard on the handful of conservative writers, some of whom would complain about being flyspecked and abused by colleagues. One day when I relayed a conservative’s concern about double standards to Sulzberger, he lost his patience. He told me to inform the complaining conservative that that’s just how it was: there was a double standard and he should get used to it. A publication that promises its readers to stand apart from politics should not have different standards for different writers based on their politics. But I delivered the message. There are many things I regret about my tenure as editorial-page editor. That is the only act of which I am ashamed.

    I did not hear from Sulzberger, but the speechwriter who drafted many of his remarks, Alex Levy, contacted me just before the meeting began to tell me to use whatever question I got first to apologise, and at some point to acknowledge my privilege.

    A Zoom call with a couple of thousand people is a disorienting experience, particularly when many of them are not particularly mindful of your “full humanity”. I do not recommend it. As my first turn to speak came up, I was still struggling with what I should apologise for. I was not going to apologise for denying my colleagues’ humanity or endangering their lives. I had not done those things. I was not going to apologise for publishing the op-ed. Finally, I came up with something that felt true. I told the meeting that I was sorry for the pain that my leadership of Opinion had caused. What a pathetic thing to say. I did not think to add, because I’d lost track of this truth myself by then, that opinion journalism that never causes pain is not journalism. It can’t hope to move society forward.

    As he asserts the independence of Times journalism, Sulzberger is finding it necessary to reach back several years to another piece I chose to run, for proof that the Times remains willing to publish views that might offend its staff. “We’ve published a column by the head of the part of the Taliban that kidnapped one of our own journalists,” he told the New Yorker. He is missing the real lesson of that piece, as well.

    That op-ed was a tough editorial call. It troubles my conscience as publishing Tom Cotton never has. But the reason is not that the writer, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the deputy leader of the Taliban, kidnapped a Times reporter (David Rohde, now of nbc, with whom I covered the Israeli siege of Jenin on the West Bank 20 years ago; he would never be afraid of an op-ed). The case against that piece is that Haqqani, who remains on the FBI's most-wanted terrorist list, may have killed Americans. It’s puzzling: in what moral universe can it be a point of pride to publish a piece by an enemy who may have American blood on his hands, and a matter of shame to publish a piece by an American senator arguing for American troops to protect Americans?

    As Mitch McConnell, then the majority leader, said on the Senate floor about the Times’s panic over the Cotton op-ed, listing some other debatable op-ed choices, “Vladimir Putin? No problem. Iranian propaganda? Sure. But nothing, nothing could have prepared them for 800 words from the junior senator from Arkansas.” The Times’s staff members are not often troubled by obnoxious views when they are held by foreigners. This is an important reason the paper’s foreign coverage, at least of some regions, remains exceptional. It is relatively safe from internal censure. Less than four months after I was pushed out, my former department published a shocking op-ed praising China’s military crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong. I would not have published that essay, which, unlike Cotton’s op-ed, actually did celebrate crushing democratic protest. But there was no internal uproar.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on Day 7: Camel Cards in ~comp.advent_of_code

    zazowoo
    Link
    I really had fun with this one. It felt like just the right balance of challenging without being overwhelming. These AoC exercises are making me fall even more in love with Elixir, which I started...

    I really had fun with this one. It felt like just the right balance of challenging without being overwhelming. These AoC exercises are making me fall even more in love with Elixir, which I started learning earlier this year.

    Part 2 Solution (Elixir) 
    defmodule Solution do
  def run(filename) do
    File.stream!(filename, [:read])
    |> Stream.map(&String.trim/1)
    |> Stream.map(&parse_line/1)
    |> Enum.sort_by(fn {hand, _bid} -> hand end, &right_better_than_left?/2)
    |> Enum.with_index(1)
    |> Enum.reduce(0, fn {{_hand, bid}, rank}, total ->
      total + (bid * rank)
      end)
    |> IO.inspect()
  end

  defp parse_line(input) do
    [hand, bid] = String.split(input)

    {hand, String.to_integer(bid)}
  end

  defp right_better_than_left?(left, right) do
    left_hand_type = hand_rank(to_charlist(left))
    right_hand_type = hand_rank(to_charlist(right))

    cond do
      left_hand_type < right_hand_type ->
        true
      left_hand_type > right_hand_type ->
        false
      true ->
        tie_break(to_charlist(left), to_charlist(right))
    end
  end

  defp tie_break([], []), do: raise("same hand")
  defp tie_break([left_head | left_rest], [right_head | right_rest]) do
    cond do
      card_rank(left_head) < card_rank(right_head) ->
        true
      card_rank(left_head) > card_rank(right_head) ->
        false
      true ->
        tie_break(left_rest, right_rest)
    end
  end

  @card_ranks %{
    ?A => 14,
    ?K => 13, 
    ?Q => 12, 
    ?J => 1, 
    ?T => 10 
  }

  defp card_rank(card) do 
    Map.get(@card_ranks, card, card - 48)
  end

  defp hand_rank(hand) do
    cond do
      five_of_a_kind?(hand) ->
        7
      four_of_a_kind?(hand) ->
        6
      full_house?(hand) ->
        5
      three_of_a_kind?(hand) ->
        4
      two_pair?(hand) ->
        3
      one_pair?(hand) ->
        2
      high_card?(hand) ->
        1
    end
  end

  defp replace_jack_with_most_common_card(hand) do
    frequencies = 
      Enum.frequencies(hand)
      |> Map.delete(?J)
      |> Enum.sort_by(fn {_card, freq} -> freq end, :desc)

    hand
    |> Enum.map(fn card -> 
      hd(frequencies)
      |> elem(0)
      |> replace_wildcard(card)
    end)
  end

  defp replace_wildcard(replacement, ?J), do: replacement
  defp replace_wildcard(_replacement, orig), do: orig

  defp five_of_a_kind?(~c"JJJJJ"), do: true
  defp five_of_a_kind?(hand) do
    replace_jack_with_most_common_card(hand)
      |> Enum.frequencies()
      |> Map.values()
      == [5]
  end

  defp four_of_a_kind?(hand) do
    replace_jack_with_most_common_card(hand)
    |> Enum.frequencies()
    |> Map.values()
    |> Enum.member?(4)
  end

  defp full_house?(hand) do
    if Enum.member?(hand, ?J) do
      two_pair?(hand |> Enum.reject(fn card -> card == ?J end))
    else
      Enum.frequencies(hand)
        |> Map.values()
        |> Enum.sort()
        == [2, 3]
    end
  end

  defp three_of_a_kind?(hand) do
    replace_jack_with_most_common_card(hand)
      |> Enum.frequencies()
      |> Map.values()
      |> Enum.sort()
      == [1, 1, 3]
  end

  defp two_pair?(hand) do
    freqs = 
    Enum.frequencies(hand)
      |> Map.values()
      |> Enum.sort(:desc)

    hd(freqs) == 2 && hd(tl(freqs)) == 2
  end

  defp one_pair?(hand) do
    replace_jack_with_most_common_card(hand)
      |> Enum.frequencies()
      |> Map.values()
      |> Enum.sort()
    == [1, 1, 1, 2]
  end

  defp high_card?(hand) do
    Enum.frequencies(hand)
    |> Map.values()
    |> Enum.sort()
    == [1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
  end
end

System.argv()
|> then(&(Enum.at(&1, 0) || "input"))
|> then(&(Solution.run(&1)))
    1 vote

  11. Comment on Day 1: Trebuchet?! in ~comp.advent_of_code

    zazowoo
    Link
    This is my first year doing AoC after hearing about it from coworkers for a while. Curious to see how long I can stick with it! Here's my Elixir solution for part 2. Day 1 - Elixir defmodule...

    This is my first year doing AoC after hearing about it from coworkers for a while. Curious to see how long I can stick with it! Here's my Elixir solution for part 2.

    Day 1 - Elixir 
    defmodule Solution do
  def run(filename) do
    File.stream!(filename, [:read])
    |> Enum.reduce(0, fn line, sum -> 
      sum + get_number_from_line(line)
    end)
    |> IO.puts()
  end

  defp get_number_from_line(line) do
    case Regex.run(~r/^.*?(\d|one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine).*(\d|one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine).*?$/, line) do
      [_, first_digit, last_digit] -> create_number(first_digit, last_digit)
      nil -> case Regex.run(~r/^.*(\d|one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine).*$/, line) do
        [_, digit] -> create_number(digit, digit)
      end
    end
  end

  defp create_number(first_digit, second_digit) do
    to_integer(first_digit) * 10 + to_integer(second_digit)
  end

  defp to_integer(number) do
    case number do
      "one" -> 1
      "two" -> 2
      "three" -> 3
      "four" -> 4
      "five" -> 5
      "six" -> 6
      "seven" -> 7
      "eight" -> 8
      "nine" -> 9
      number -> String.to_integer(number)
    end
  end
end

Solution.run("./input")
    1 vote

  12. Comment on Intense day in ~travel

    zazowoo
    Link
    Very well written! I felt like I was right there myself. Glad you made it out ok.

    Very well written! I felt like I was right there myself. Glad you made it out ok.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Recommendations for laid-back games in ~games

    zazowoo
    Link
    My go-to laid back game for listening to podcasts or watching something at the same time is OpenTTD. It takes a bit to get used to laying down rail lines and signals, but once you've got the...

    My go-to laid back game for listening to podcasts or watching something at the same time is OpenTTD. It takes a bit to get used to laying down rail lines and signals, but once you've got the basics down, it's very relaxing to just play with trains and railroad tracks indefinitely.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Intelligent traffic control with smart speed bumps in ~transport

    zazowoo
    Link
    Interesting! I wasn't familiar with using non-Newtonian fluids to create speed bumps, but I found this video helpful for being able to visualize how it works. Also enjoyed reading this overview of...

    Interesting! I wasn't familiar with using non-Newtonian fluids to create speed bumps, but I found this video helpful for being able to visualize how it works. Also enjoyed reading this overview of liquid speed bumps.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on The GDP gap between Europe and the United States is now 80% in ~finance

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    I mean I guess the visibility would highly depend on your personal experience and exposure to different people? Anecdotally, I know a number of people in Germany who are really struggling these...

    I mean I guess the visibility would highly depend on your personal experience and exposure to different people? Anecdotally, I know a number of people in Germany who are really struggling these days compared to the Americans I know. Or do you mean visible in some other way?

    1 vote

  16. Comment on Why Americans love big cars in ~transport

    zazowoo
    Link
    My spouse and I were hit by a car that missed a stop sign a month ago, and I am so glad we were driving an SUV. Our car was totalled, but we both walked away from the crash. The car that hit us...

    My spouse and I were hit by a car that missed a stop sign a month ago, and I am so glad we were driving an SUV. Our car was totalled, but we both walked away from the crash. The car that hit us was a larger SUV, and you could see it was much less effected than our car was. I'd probably be dead if we'd been driving our sedan.

    In a place where most drivers are in SUVs, it feels dangerous to me to not have one as well. So regardless of how the US got into this situation, I can easily see how it becomes self-pertuating.

  17. Comment on Human operator pleads guilty in first ever US self-driving pedestrian fatality case in ~transport

    zazowoo
    Link
    This is only somewhat related, but I recently read this write-up about the current state of the self-driving car landscape and found it well-written and pretty interesting/enlightening:...

    This is only somewhat related, but I recently read this write-up about the current state of the self-driving car landscape and found it well-written and pretty interesting/enlightening: https://www.understandingai.org/p/the-death-of-self-driving-cars-is

    2 votes

  18. Comment on London and possibly Paris by Eurostar. Tips and advice? in ~travel

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    I was just in Paris a couple months ago, and the one taxi we attempted to take did not take credit cards. We didn't have cash, so we just got out and took the (way cheaper) public transit instead....

    Not sure about taxis, but I'd assume they all accept credit cards by now.

    I was just in Paris a couple months ago, and the one taxi we attempted to take did not take credit cards. We didn't have cash, so we just got out and took the (way cheaper) public transit instead. Make sure you ask before the trip starts!

  19. Comment on How to deal with a deep-rooted feeling of apathy? in ~health.mental

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    For what it's worth, it doesn't feel worse/bad to me. It gives me something to value, something to care about in moments when I realize how meaningless everything is. That gives me some joy in...

    I've just never had times where I think none of this matters except that I be nice to people. That sounds worse to me than just plain old none of this matters. I hope people who are in that place are doing ok.

    For what it's worth, it doesn't feel worse/bad to me. It gives me something to value, something to care about in moments when I realize how meaningless everything is. That gives me some joy in what would otherwise feel just empty.

    1 vote

  20. Comment on How to deal with a deep-rooted feeling of apathy? in ~health.mental

    zazowoo
    Link Parent
    I feel the same way as the person you're responding to, but I'm not sure whether I can put the "why" into words. I'll give it a try. The only thing I have is my experience. And that experience is...

    I feel the same way as the person you're responding to, but I'm not sure whether I can put the "why" into words. I'll give it a try.

    The only thing I have is my experience. And that experience is sometimes incredibly painful. I assume other people and animals have some inner experience too, and at times their experiences are also painful. I know how bad it can feel to suffer, and I don't want that experience for myself or for anyone else.

    If some action I take makes someone suffer more than they would have otherwise, at a very deep level, this just feels horrible to me. To think someone would be happier if they hadn't met me immediately brings up feelings of sadness and shame.

    On a more positive note, if I can make someone happier, there's a good chance I'm improving the inner experience of not just them but lots of people, because that person might go out and make someone else a little happier, and you get a wonderful chain reaction.

    I guess it all comes down to just a foundational belief that a life (even if it isn't yours) with less suffering is a good thing.

    2 votes