@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

MylesRyden

@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net

An old techie who occasionally uses new tech. Teacher by trade. Psychology and Critical Thinking are my subjects, YMMV.

I don't give a flying fig who you have relationships with, what you do in your bedroom or what you do in your church, as long as you don't expect me or anyone else to think, do or believe as you do.

I used to say that all my cultural references are 20+ years old, but that is now out of date. All my cultural references are from the previous century.

Addicted to #MST3K

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

wdlindsy, to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) cited one of the most prominent historical antisemitic narratives as her reason for not approving legislation aimed at combating antisemitism on Wednesday. Greene posted on the site formerly known as Twitter to explain her thinking."

~ Hunter Walker


/1

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mtg-cites-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-jews-handed-over-jesus-to-be-killed

MylesRyden,
@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

@wdlindsy

With any GOP initiative, you have to watch for the head fake.

Banning TikTok should have been labeled the "Zuckerberg Enrichment Act."

In the same way the GOP obviously doesn't care in the least for any actual Jews, especially those who live in the US. But they do love the State of Israel, for two very different reasons.

The first is they love what Israel is doing to the Palestinians and see that as a model for what they can do with immigrants (first and then other minority groups later). A "democracy" can be fascist, is the lesson the GOP takes from Israel.

They also need Israel to exist so that it can be smashed to pieces and Jesus can come back and damn all the Jews (and everyone else they don't like) to hell.

So, the act should be labeled something like "The Damning people we don't actually like to hell" act.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Angry Staffer:

…Project 2025 ..

  • would let red states monitor & prosecute women who get abortions

  • won’t commit to defending NATO nations

  • wd fire attys who won’t prosec his political opponents

  • suspend posse comitatus & deploy the military on US soil

  • wd end pandemic preparedness office

  • wd fire 1000s of civil servants

  • pardon all J6 rioters

  • try to make law enf officers immune from prosec

If this doesn’t scare the living shit out of you, you aren’t paying attention.

MylesRyden,
@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

@GottaLaff

"But Biden hasn't stopped the wars and taken our money back from the rich. I'm staying home. Both of them are the same."

Basically been said by idiots for the last 50 years.

MylesRyden,
@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

@RebeccaBoyce

Don't tell anyone, I voted Nader in 2000.

It seems weird to me now that I thought I realized the depth of corruption in the GOP, but I wasn't even close.

Most Republicans in Congress at that time were ordinarily corrupt (bought off by corps). It was really after that election that the kind of fascist corruption we are seeing now starting becoming very apparent. But it is easy to see now that it goes all the way back to Nixon, Goldwater and Agnew, just to name a few.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

This is probably just the communities I'm in, but it feels like whereas AI art had a fairly serious backlash, AI music has not? Is this your impression?

MylesRyden,
@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

@ZachWeinersmith

As someone outside of the music making community, but in the music listening community, I would say that since the introduction of digital synths and super multitrack (my understanding is that modern pop songs can have 300 tracks or more) digital recording there is a feeling that a lot of (big, popular) music is already mechanical and programmed. In that sense adding "AI" to the mix is not that big of a deal.

MylesRyden,
@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

@Doomed_Daniel @ZachWeinersmith

Agreed. Can't really say I have listened to the radio in many years. Even "back in the day" I preferred tracks that sounded like and entire band recorded in a studio rather than pieced together by a producer.

The human touch is essential, of course, but I have mixed feelings about sampling, looping, etc. When it is broken down to its elements, it sounds really cool (I enjoy "Digging the Crates" on Youtube), but somehow it is still very mechanical.

As it now exists "AI" is a giant chopping and looping machine. I don't think it is better than human composition, but I can see how with having people doing it for so long now, it opens the door to "AI" as being part of the process.

Adam_Cadmon1, to random
@Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

Columbia telling protestors that if they're students they have until 2pm to clear the encampment they've set up or face suspension.

So exercise of free speech and assembly rights going as well as can be expected in the face of corporate academia.

MylesRyden,
@MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

@Adam_Cadmon1

Unfortunately this is one of those perfect storms for Left and Right.

Those on the Right (at least at the voting level) despise higher education and love to see colleges and their students get punched in the face.

On the Left we see that higher education is not always a solution and usually serves the Billionaire Class rather than actual education.

It's a lose-lose situation.

noellemitchell, to wordpress
@noellemitchell@mstdn.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @noellemitchell

    Glad to hear you say this. After WP went to the block editor, I never could figure out how it was actually supposed to work and after a while, just said, "Screw it."

    And I stopped blogging there.

    richard, to classicalmusic
    @richard@disabled.social avatar

    New album today from the great and

    : Symphonic Dances

    https://open.qobuz.com/album/m6tn25lj4ryob

    @classicalmusic

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @richard @classicalmusic

    YES!!

    This is incredibly frustrating, especially when the controls on the video player vary from site to site and it is a PITA to find the close button to get rid of the stupid thing.

    skykiss, to random
    @skykiss@sfba.social avatar

    Trump is poison, a fraud, a rapist, a bank fraud, tax fraud, business fraud, election fraud, abuser, insurrectionist, the biggest criminal in American history. Over the next five years, he thoroughly corrupted Graham’s party. Republican leaders had time to counteract the poison, but they never did. One reason was that the poison moved slowly. Graham and other Republican politicians lost the ability to see what they were becoming. They rallied around an authoritarian, excused authoritarian acts, and embraced authoritarian ideas.

    The fascist monsters took their mask off - Americans see a criminal enterprise that is the republican- fascist party.

    https://specialto.thebulwark.com/p/grahams-moral-clarity

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @skykiss

    I will have to agree and disagree here.

    In many ways, Trump is no worse an actual human being than Nixon was. He is just more obvious about it. After 50 years of running campaigns that were nothing more than thinly disguised racism, the GOP cultivated an electorate that is not just accepting the idea of stomping on others -- they demand it.

    Trump is just the logical conclusion -- a fascist "leader" for a fascist electorate.

    Or to paraphrase what someone else here said, "Today's GOP is proof that they would rather have a white dictator than a Black President." Been true since Nixon.

    randahl, to random
    @randahl@mastodon.social avatar

    Right wing media positions in the US:

    Bill Clinton having an affair with Monica Lewinsky — the worst scandal in history.

    Trump having affairs with both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal — oh well… Boys will be boys.

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @randahl

    What's worse is that is it not so much the media.

    Evangelical "Christian" voters reacted exactly the same way. And they were not being lead by the media. You could even argue the other way around. Trump's voters don't care about his affairs, his bankruptcies, his lies -- why should the right wing media?

    talesofaprinny, to linux
    @talesofaprinny@mastodon.social avatar

    Impressions after a week using KDE Neon: Amazing

    It's been fairly stable as I would expect from an LTS. There's LOT of hiccups with whatever is happening in the tray area (power and battery sometimes doesn't work).

    Language is pretty screwed up. I speak both English/Spanish in a Spanish location. Installer chooses half spanish and english in the /etc/locale, and has issues changing it in the frontend.

    Overall nothing I can't fix as I put stability overall

    @kde

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @baggins @talesofaprinny

    I recently "downgraded" from Neon (when they went to Plasma 6) to Kubuntu (which is running 5.27)

    Overall I would say that Kubuntu has had fewer issues than Neon did, even excluding the Plasma 6 upgrade (which pretty much broke my system.)

    MylesRyden, to mst3k
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    Further proof that "AI" is not really a thing (as if such proof is necessary)

    Mystery Science Theater 3000 is streaming on YouTube, it's a legit stream from Shout! Factory.

    YT drops ads into the stream, essentially at random, in the middle of scenes. Which is stupid and makes the stream fairly unwatchable.

    MST3K was originally a cable TV show and has commercial breaks built into it -- the original bumpers are still in the show. The show also features a flashing light signal that the characters in the show recognize as "commercial sign." It literally signals some of the commercial breaks.

    A twelve year old could identify the commercial break points in all 10 seasons of the show in an afternoon.

    Instead, YT dropped three random commercial breaks in the middle of scenes in a half hour. As much as I love MST3K, I can't watch that. Total . Doesn't help YT, the advertisers or Shout!

    If Google had an actual AI that worked, you would think they would apply it here. Seems pretty simple, and surely other old TV shows are streaming on YT as well.

    Binder, to random
    @Binder@petrous.vislae.town avatar

    Journalism school is a scam to create more gullible stenographers

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @Binder

    Not exactly sure if that is true.

    But it is true that every graduate of same figures out very quickly that it is much easier and more lucrative to be stenographer than to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," as a wise guy once said.

    Turns out the comfortable have a lot more money than the afflicted and not only provide all the revenue to the media, they own most of the actual outlets.

    GottaLaff, to legal
    @GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

    1/…🧵

    Let’s start with this, via @darthstar, because NY has laws that govern . I heard the Legals on TV say the same thing as Sean here:

    https://mastodon.online/@darthstar/112320741962522803

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @GottaLaff

    It is only "Boom" if there are actual consequences. Trump and his lawyer don't care about lectures, in fact they will make good commercials. They only care about fines and jail time. And significant fines at that (7 or 8 figures at least, 9 would be better, but I assume that is not even possible.)

    MylesRyden, to random
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    I don't want to hear about how the covid lockdowns killed socialization.

    I am in a high school homeroom right now. The room is dead silent and every single student is staring at their phone.

    Big Tech has killed socialization.

    MylesRyden, to random
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    Many years ago, I predicted that the Internet would eventually become "cable TV." which in many ways it has.

    Now it seems that TV (which already sucks so hard it hurts) is going to get worse by becoming the Internet.

    The enshittification is getting really deep, really fast.

    The Dystopian Future of TV Is AI-Generated 'FAST' Garbage

    https://www.404media.co/the-dystopian-future-of-tv-is-ai-generated-fast-garbage/

    MylesRyden, to random
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    I don't give the slightest crap about Alec Baldwin, but can't help being exposed to the whole thing. Of course my sympathy goes to the family of the person killed.

    But here is what amazes me.

    I'm no engineer or expert, but it sure seems to me that there is no need for a real gun on a movie set. It seems to me there must be some way that guns can be modified to be unable to take any kind of live ammunition and still provide the desired effect cinematic effect.

    Surely some kind of flash device can be engineered that would be harmless. Thousands of gunshots have been recorded so the sound can be foleyed. CGI could add to the effect if necessary -- it's only a thousandth of a second, how expensive can it be? If you need the sound on set for the actors to react to, some kind of electronic trigger could be linked to speakers to produce a realistic sound.

    Why are the guns themselves the only thing that can't be faked?

    Free_Press, to news
    @Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

    THE SOURCE OF THE SHIT

    Powerful conservative funds hand out millions to pro-Trump far-right groups

    Groups led by Stephen Miller and Charlie Kirk among recipients of large sums from Bradley Foundation and Bradley Impact Fund

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/16/trump-rightwing-groups-funds?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @Free_Press

    There is nothing billionaires fear more than actual democracy.

    taylorlorenz, to random
    @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

    Anti vaxxers believe illness is good for you, disease mitigations can harm you, and public health is a personal choice

    Now, liberals and leftists do too

    Excellent reporting by Julia Doubleday on how far right anti vaxx beliefs have been mainstreamed https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/liberals-joined-conservatives-to

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @taylorlorenz

    To be fair, there were already plenty on the left, even before covid, that thought that vaccines and other medical treatments were harmful interventions designed only to make money for drug companies.

    MylesRyden, to HashtagGames
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    Afternoon De-Light


    I'll show myself out now...

    trevorflowers, to random
    @trevorflowers@widerweb.org avatar

    I wish more people who are worried about FOSS supply side attacks would realize that universal basic income and free healthcare would result in an almost infinite stream of excellent software from people who care more about quality than profit.

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @trevorflowers

    One comment I didn't see in the thread, which has some great comments by the way, is the assumption on the past of many, perhaps most people that UBI means that no one would work.

    Which is ridiculous. People love to do and make things when they aren't getting paid. The problem is getting people to do shitty jobs. So, put down another benefit of UBI that there would less shitty jobs.

    mekkaokereke, to random
    @mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

    Honest question for white people that don't consider themselves racist:

    White nationalists have been vocal about their attacks on DEI. These are literally the same people that talk about Charlottesville, Jan 6th, and ethnic cleansing.

    They've laid out exactly how they plan to destroy DEI.

    1. Make false claims that DEI is about giving unqualified Black people an unfair advantage

    2. Work with racist politicians to use this as a pretext to make all DEI programs illegal.

    1/n

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @mekkaokereke

    I agree with you in part. Unfortunately, I feel that more older white folks than you might think are influenced by the "Didn't Earn It" propaganda that is out there. It is not necessarily straight up racism, but it does still exist.

    Those who are not straight up racist also have fallen for the "meritocracy" propaganda. They really believe at some level that "better qualified" people actually get the jobs and places in schools. I won't go into all the ways in which this problematic, but suffice to say that someone can believe this without being totally racist.

    DEI efforts have an up hill battle against a lot of propaganda that goes a long way to cover its racist underpinnings. Which is why DEI efforts are so important in this country.

    MylesRyden, to random
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @Vivaldi

    So, it is fantastic that many people here are posting images here with extensive alt-text descriptions -- hooray for them.

    However, now when I scroll through my timeline here, I often can not seen the images as the tooltip completely covers the image. Is there any way in Vivaldi to turn off those tool tips on a universal basis?

    (I did post this on the forum but have had no luck with an answer so far!)

    Thanks!

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @Vivaldi

    Agreed :-) But zipping down the Mastodon timeline, it is kind of hard to miss them 😉

    lea, (edited ) to random

    If you're not from the US and want to travel here. Don't.

    I thought as a (German and white) visitor I'm gonna be fine.

    Border and customs protection took my phone, forced me to unlock it and stole god knows what data from it. The agent was powertripping and made sure to let me know that I am powerless and he can just send me home or do godknowswhat to me.

    He directly said "if you're annoying I'm just sending you home".

    Apparently my trans ass was part of a "random search". Lol.

    I'm fine now and with Lexi luckily. I don't know what kind of malware is on my phone, or what they took from it. I've been crying all throughout my connecting flight.

    This place is a dystopian shithole. Please don't go here.

    ​:boost_ok:​ ❤️

    MylesRyden,
    @MylesRyden@vivaldi.net avatar

    @lea

    Let me just apologize for most of the people of my country. I am very sorry for your experience.

    But I agree, it would be best if we just came to you rather than you returning here. I hope to see you on the road, somewhere other than the US, sometime!

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