@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

zakalwe

@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com

Culture Special Circumstances, detached.

pp desc for vision impaired: The N7 (Systems Alliance Special Forces) Seal from the Mass Effect games.

Neuro-spicy. Aspie pretending (sometimes badly) to be human (at least, it often feels that way) while fighting depression and chronic insomnia. Aspiring mostly-SF writer, burned-out IT geek, humanist who wants to see us make at least a token effort to stop enshittifying our entire planet. Is there really anything so incredibly, soul-threateningly terrible about the idea of giving a shit about other people?

Something I said pissed you off? It may be a misunderstanding, I'm far from immune to foot-in-mouth disease. Please check with me before you assume it was malicious. It most likely wasn't. If I don't think you're someone worth talking to, I just won't talk to you in the first place, period.

Follow-backs: If you have something to say, sure. No posts? Nothing to say? What would be the point? In the words of @PatternChaser, "I don't follow back, I follow interesting." I'm trying to keep the signal-to-noise ratio in my feed high. Still, if you follow me and I see it, I will do my best to at least find time to look. I can't guarantee I won't miss it, I'm not awake 24/7.
(And sorry, but don't expect me to follow you if you're posting the same dozen posts, day in, day out, day after day after week after month. In fact I'll most likely mute you.)

Came here to put words into my mouth so you could attack me over something I didn't say? (Yeah, sadly, it's happened.) Just don't. I WILL block your ass. Nobody has time for that shit.

Geek Stuff: I run Gentoo Linux, and I maintain a personal overlay with packages for dev-perl/Tk-MListbox, sys-apps/procmeter3, net-misc/icbm, media-sound/perljammer, app-crypt/sherpa, and app-editors/xnedit. Of those, net-misc/icbm and media-sound/perljammer are my own projects.

#nobot #writer #geek #linux #mysql #Gentoo #nosystemd #science

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RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Is this what y'all think living with me is like?!

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr to me, small talk is the sort of empty ritual social grease, where someone says, "Oh HI, how are you", and you know you're supposed to answer "Oh, fine, how about you", and FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S MERCIFUL don't actually answer the question unless you want to get a deer-in-the-headlights stare and a hurried "Oh, excuse me, how time flies, I need to go and varnish the cat."

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@skweetis @RickiTarr This sums it up EXACTLY.

"So how about that local sports team?"
"Which one?"
"Uh, the one with the ball ... I guess?"

zakalwe, to random
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

!!!!!!

Tip for the wise (and the less wise): DO NOT play the drinking game "One shot for each count."

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

This was a fun one, so let's do it again. What is something you've learned that seems unlikely, even though you know it's true? Here's one I think about a lot:

Sight, while being something something many people are born with, is not an innate ability, but something we learn to do. People who were born blind or were blind for a long time, who get sight, have to learn to see.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@mikey @RickiTarr And yet here's another thing related to this. Individual atoms are too small to have "color" in the conventional sense. And yet, gold is very clearly colored.

Gold does not get its color by any of the conventional mechanisms. The color of gold comes from the fact that the nucleus of the gold atom is so heavy, and its outer electrons moving so fast as a consequence, that relativistic effects come into play.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr @mikey 🎼 And nothing to get hung up on
Strawberry fields forever 🎵

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr Possibly falling into the original question: The Monty Hall "paradox" still really, really breaks my brain. I've been through the math multiple times and understand that it does actually work that way ... and yet every fiber of intuition still screams that it SHOULDN'T.

Waitnwallflower, to random
@Waitnwallflower@beige.party avatar

In case anyone remembers the threatening email I received (and griped about) that said I would be kicked out of the work system I've been working in for >6years if I didn't take introductory training (to which 1 literally says I did already and for which do not specify duration to take, have multiple modules, and must be physically manned to progress slide after slide as it reads to you):

The 10 day warning has come and gone. I received another warning email now. The clock has apparently been reset.

I'm dug in.

I remain firm on not taking unnecessary introductory training on a system I work in often and have worked to have tools implemented in.

I'm fighting the good fight, peoples.

Stop making us take bullshit trainings that waste our time for no good reason. Allow a demonstrated-skill option if you must, by skipping to test. Less than 5m, 5 or less relevant questions.

⏰️🗓

image/gif

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Waitnwallflower I remember a colleague of mine being asked to demonstrate proficiency with some software tool or another, I forget offhand what.

His answer was three words. "I wrote it."

zakalwe, to random
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

OK, so look, I'm seeing a lot of people who are really, really unhappy with how the current system in the US works.

And you're not wrong. It's bloody awful and has a staggering amount of room for improvement.

The troubling part of this is how many people think that the solution to this is to burn it all to the ground and start over.

Stop and think for a moment about where the power lies right now.

You are deluding yourself if you think that YOU are going to get to define the new system. It is going to be designed and built BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HOLD THE POWER. And it will have none of the protections that keep them from just doing that right now.

If you succeed in burning the existing system to the ground and starting over, what those people will build to replace it will ALMOST CERTAINLY be SO MUCH WORSE that I don't think you can even really imagine it. The people you are so violently opposed to WOULD JUST LOVE to see you burn it all to the ground.

That way, they get to build THEIR utopia on a clean sheet of paper with nothing to hold them back.

But it won't be YOUR utopia.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

How much alone time vs socializing do you need?

For me there are a few people who are usually equalizing, and I can just be around them, so I won't count that. But generally, I find about 3 times a week, I'm game for socializing. A day in between to rest is usually nice, but the larger the gathering or if we go somewhere particularly noisy or I'm meeting new people that involves more effort, and my social battery empties sooner. I'm very curious where everyone else falls on this!

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr About half a dozen people is really my comfort limit. Much over that, and I get overloaded and need to go find some quiet. Especially if there are LOUD people.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

The Epaulette shark is only about 9 million years old as a species, making it the most recent branch in the shark family. And it is slowly but surely evolving into a land animal!

You will have to choose your side!

HELP THEM! “We' missed you, pal!” “Their filthy Water" "If you see a Horrid Beast evolving, welcome them home.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr I, for one, WELCOME our new landshark comrades-in-arms! 😁

ayoub, to Israel
@ayoub@spore.social avatar

bombed a displaced persons camp after designating it a humanitarian area in . Reports of dozens of civilians killed.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@maddad @MikeImBack @enoch_exe_inc @Mary625 @ayoub Not sure they have any people LEFT in Gaza. Israel has been selectively targeting them and is trying to shut them down. (And has banned them from Israel iirc)

dangillmor, to random
@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar

The cops who tortured a bogus murder "confession" out of a man -- even threatening to kill his dog along the way -- are still employed by the Fontana, Calif., police department. The city's taxpayers paid for the $900,000 lawsuit settlement.

https://www.sbsun.com/2024/05/23/fontana-pays-nearly-900000-for-psychological-torture-inflicted-by-police-to-get-false-confession/

This tells you everything you need to know about police impunity.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@dangillmor The police are aimost THE LAST PEOPLE EVER who should be above the law, second only to the lawmakers themselves.

_L1vY_, to random
@_L1vY_@mstdn.social avatar

I've said it before but I'll say it again.
It's not that everyone I know who had has developed terrible new medical issues.
It's that everyone I know who has developed terrible new medical issues recently had Covid.
And in every case I'm thinking of, it's become a health crisis within about three months of their most Covid bout. (Usually not a bad bout, either.)

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@_L1vY_ A recent SciShow video mentioned that there is growing evidence that Covid is associated with measurably increased risk of multiple cancers.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Study Finds That 52 Percent of ChatGPT Answers to Programming Questions Are Wrong

https://futurism.com/the-byte/study-chatgpt-answers-wrong

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@cstross I see upon reading that the article states, "AI platforms like ChatGPT often hallucinate totally incorrectly [sic] answers out of thin air."

While this is true as far as it goes, I believe it misstates — and understates — the problem. A more accurate statement of the problem is, "Large language models hallucinate ALL of their responses. Some of the hallucinations merely happen to coincide well with reality." But you cannot obviously tell them from the ones that don't.

They do not understand anything. They are not designed for understanding. What they are designed to do is very specifically to generate grammatically correct output that looks convincing.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

If the gods exist, it's mighty presumptuous to think they have our best interests at heart, or even think about us at all.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr @skribe Yeah, the telepath arc is not widely popular.

zakalwe, to random
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/american-airlines-lawsuit-camera-bathroom-b2549541.html

On Monday, a lawyer representing [American Airlines] wrote in a filing that the [9-year-old] girl should have been aware that a device [secretly placed by an American Airlines employee] was recording her while she was using the bathroom.

Dear American Airlines,
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Sometimes the way people phrase things is so telling. For instance, telling women they should be "taking care of" their husband and children. Another adult doesn't need taken care of like a child, what you want is for women to be a Sex Mom.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@HunkThunderzone @RickiTarr But maybe it would get the attention of techbro CEOs who keep whining that nobody wants to work¹ any more.

¹ ... sixty hour weeks at wages they can't live on

ChrisMayLA6, to climate
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

So while you & I might think its necessary to speed up the Green Transition & enhance/accelerate measures to reduce emissions, Shell's shareholders disagree.

The firm has just sought & obtained agreement from investors to slow down its measures to mitigate its environmental impact & reduce progress towards its own (already weak) climate targets.

More reason(s) the fossil fuels sector cannot really be central to climate response(s).

We don't have the time to slow down!

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@IveyJanette @pete @Mary625 @KimSJ @GhostOnTheHalfShell @Npars01 @ChrisMayLA6 And then the Ivy League schools of business management realized that they could normalize plundering the entire heart of the economy for its assets, and nobody would stop them.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

What I find most disgusting is all the people who knew Diddy was abusing Cassie and others and kept their mouths shut because of money. I have no respect for that shit. It’s INDEFENSIBLE.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@StillIRise1963 We have GOT TO STOP WORSHIPPING MONEY.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is the thing(s) that attracts you to a person romantically or otherwise?

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr Intelligence, compassion, and competence really top the list, I think. Not in any specific order, but all three have to be there. Oh, and integrity...

"I'm sorry, we'll come in again."

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Seriously heard someone saying they don't listen to many black artists, because they aren't really into rap. Bitch please, feel free to share songs from Black artists from any genre. Here is one of my favorites, if you like this song please check out her other work:

https://youtu.be/KovrJ8HXI1Q?si=HOYIG7YMuAUTsJz6

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@iamdavidobrien @RickiTarr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGpzGu9Yp6Y ​:blobcatcheer:​

zakalwe, to random
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

"I paid off MY myself! Why should these kids get theirs ?"

Dude. You had $3,000 in student loans. Some of "these kids" graduated from college $70,000 in debt for the same degree you got, now they're earning half as much as you did for a comparable job and they have no expectation of any retirement benefits, and they've been paying on that loan for fifteen years and owe more on it now than they did when they started paying it. They are being ruthlessly exploited by student loan management companies whose entire business model is based upon gouging people who are struggling to pay off their student loans.

Would it fucking KILL YOU to show a little compassion and understanding?

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Where do you live and how do you feel about it?

Obviously, don't tell me exactly where you live, no actual addresses please! You can be as vague as you like.

I live in Central Missouri in the U.S.

Pros:

This is an absolutely beautiful place, green rolling hills, lots of rivers, lakes, ponds, and natural springs, cool caves to explore.

Lots of farming here, so great access to quality fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, and dairy.

It's relatively inexpensive to live here compared with other states, because it's a "flyover".

I'm close enough to three major cities, that it's an easy day trip, and I'm about halfway to anywhere in the U.S.

We have one of the best Conservation departments in the U.S. and this is one of the few things that is a bipartisan issue. Lots of awesome nature programs that are free or cheap, state parks, conservation areas, bird watching, hunting, boating, foraging available to everyone.

Cons:

Yeah, it's a big one, it is a RED STATE, while a lot of the cities are blue, there is a large rural population, that votes red. Abortion is not legal here. People often vote against their own self interest.

While I'm not against responsible gun ownership, lots of people aren't responsible, and people have access to guns that definitely should not.

We have very few employee protections here, while the cost of living is relatively low compared with other places, it's taken years to get to a $12 minimum wage, and it's still not enough.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr The thing is, I remember when the Libertarian party sounded like the sane alternative.

Now, and especially since the von Mises caucus staged their coup, they've gone utterly and completely raving batshit, out-MAGAing the MAGAts. The VERY FIRST thing the von Mises people did when they took over was to remove the anti-racism plank from the platform.

I guess the problem is that when all of the actual middle-of-the-roaders who are looking tor a sane, reasonable balance give up and move on, all that's left is the frothing, raving lunatics.

zakalwe, to random
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/02/microsoft_google_passkeys/

The tech, simply put, works like this: When you create an account for a website or app, your device generates a cryptographic public-private key pair. The site or app backend gets a copy of the public key, and your device keeps hold of the private key; that private key stays private to your gear. When you come to login, your device and the backend authentication system interact using their digital keys to prove you are who you say you are, and you get to login. If you don't have the private key or can't prove you have it, you can't login.

So ... "passkeys" are 30-year-old with a shiny new name.

Hey, you know what? If Microsoft and Google can finally mainstream public-key infrastructure, MORE POWER TO THEM.

skykiss, to Ukraine
@skykiss@sfba.social avatar

Putin's barbarians are using choking agents in , US reports. The International Criminal Court at The Hague (ICC)has issued a warrant for arrest of Vladimir Putin's for his genocide of .

The state department says Moscow has used a World War One-era weapon to "dislodge" Ukrainian troops. Choking with deadly chemicals.

Please boost. 🇺🇦

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68941220

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@skykiss Putin's Russia violates the Hague Chemical Weapons Convention again ...

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