@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

Okay, all Superheros are, at least, marginally problematic, but what Superhero do you think is the most problematic, and why?

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@GayDeceiver @RickiTarr He did shape up in the end. But I do love the scene where it dawns on him that his Stark Tower is EXACTLY what Loki would look for. "Wait ... am I the asshole here?"

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Peternimmo @RickiTarr "You want to know my secret? I'm always angry." ๐Ÿคฃ

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@ignova @RickiTarr The counter-argument is that Batman tries never to kill anyone, even villains, and unlike certain other superheroes doesn't ever accidentally devastate entire city blocks as "Oops" collateral damage.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr "Most" problematic is difficult.

Let's not forget that Wonder Woman was born out of one writer's bondage-submission fetish.

But the Watchmen take a lot to beat on the problematic front ...

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@ignova @RickiTarr Yeah, that scene was high comedy. ๐Ÿ˜‚ Though my best comedic moment of all of those movies is where Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman comes flipping out of the one building, flip flip flip flip, right up to him, stops right in front of him.
"Meow." KABOOOOOM
And she's gone in some different direction, and poor Batman is left standing there blinking in confusion, with this look on his face of "Wait, WTF just happened?"

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@HelenWheels @RickiTarr Though actually I don't think the problem is "Jesus and his followers" as "Paul and his followers who thought they were following Jesus"

Yeshua ben Joseph would, I think, have been horrified at all the evil things done in his name.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Last night, my husband asked me to look at something that felt weird on his back, and honestly, it looked like a cancerous mole. I told him he needed to go to the doctor this morning, so he did. The Nurse Practitioner said, Yep, that looks gnarly, and took a biopsy. Now we have to wait for a week, which feels way too long. I know basal cell carcinomas are very treatable, and almost never lead to death, but I still feel anxious. Has anyone else dealt with this before?

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr I have. I've had two or three removed; one lesion on my scalp was pre-cancerous, all the others were benign. Don't sweat it until the biopsy results come back. Seriously.

(I know; easy to say, harder to do.)

โ€‹:neofox_hug:โ€‹

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

https://youtu.be/oRng27SVUDY?si=26jzHFVnS8Cogy8G

JUST THE VIDEO ITSELF IS OVER 10 MINUTES.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@michaelgemar @RickiTarr I have a silly idea sometime to get a cake made at one of those places that prints the design of your choice on the top in edible dyes with an inkjet printer.

I want it printed with a graph of the E8 group.

"The cake is a Lie."

Adam_Cadmon1, to random
@Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

See, the thing that I don't think a lotnof my white friends get is, that when Black people are talking politics, we're talking survival. You guys tend to treat all political discussion as little more than thought experiments.

Smh. We're trying to come up with contingency plans and survival stategies.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Adam_Cadmon1 There's way too many people who don't understand โ€” or refuse to believe โ€” that the visibly different are only the FIRST in line. The zealots will keep coming for the "impure" until the definition of "pure" is so strict that NOBODY except themselves meets it.

"...And then when they came for me, there was no-one left to speak up for me." โ€” Rev. Martin Niemoller

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@CStamp @Adam_Cadmon1 yeah, that just utterly breaks my brain. Just how brainwashed ARE the women who still vote Republican? Do they somehow think they're going to be treated differently because they're special or something?

FFS, they're agitating to revoke women's ability to vote at all.

dave_andersen, to random
@dave_andersen@hachyderm.io avatar

It's interesting that this article comments that "casual observers may be surprised" at (Chinese automaker) BYD's success and prices. I'm not surprised, because @mekkaokereke has been saying this about them for several years, if we're keeping score.

https://fortune.com/2024/01/06/byd-china-tesla-beating-electric-vehicles-maker-has-global-carmakers-in-shock-over-prices/

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@dave_andersen @mekkaokereke BYD makes something like 4 (maybe 5) of the ten top-selling EVs in New Zealand, and EVs were >50% of all new passenger vehicle sales in NZ in 2023. So BYD made something on the rough order of 25% of all new cars sold in New Zealand in 2023.

lilithsaintcrow, to random
@lilithsaintcrow@raggedfeathers.com avatar

No, Goalpost-Moving Theft Apologist Reply Guy, I will not "kindly point" you to โ€œthe answers to these questions." They've been exhaustively answered elsewhere and I'm not doing that labor for free.

You demonstrably have an internet connection, go figure it out.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@lilithsaintcrow "LMGTFY ..." ๐Ÿ˜„

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

I legitimately don't understand pride in where you were born or where you live. You had nothing to do with it, and probably your parents didn't either, most people move for economic reasons. At best, I guess, it makes sports more interesting, and at worst, it leads to genocide. If some places seem better than others the reason is usually money, better infrastructure, better schools, which is a whole other rant. Nothing wrong with enjoying the place you are, but feeling superiority about it, is just cringe.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr :
โ™ซ They shoot without shame
In the name of a piece of dirt
For a change of accent
Or the colour of your shirt
Better the pride that resides
In a citizen of the world
Than the pride that divides
When a colourful rag is unfurled โ™ซ

Teri_Kanefield, (edited ) to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

I had an "ah ha" moment when thinking about the angry responses to yesterday's blog post.

(This one, if you missed it.) https://terikanefield.com/section-3-and-the-spirit-of-liberty/

First, I'll share a positive response. (Screenshot #1)

(Screenshot #2 was typical of the angry responses.)

About 5 years ago, I took the tact of responding to "there are never any consequences" by listing the consequences.

I figured, you know, facts. For example, see #3

1/

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Teri_Kanefield @Mary625 I think a lot of people say "Where's the beef consequences?" because he has been indicted on 91 charges, from election interference to conspiracy to classified materials charges and espionage, and so far he really hasn't incurred much in the way of actual penalty. No fines (yet), no jail terms (yet), the delisting of all of his New York businesses was appealed. (And I'm not sure what's happened there since.) The press is still treating him as just a normal political candidate, his base still accepts his every word as gospel, pollsters are still pushing him like the horse they bet on on Derby night. (Makes you wonder what he has on them.)

The process is grinding along, but in the eyes of most people, there really hasn't been much in the way of visible consequences. A lot of people are demanding, "Why isn't he in jail yet." Especially when they see the GOP solidly behind him and trying their best to make all of the charges and prosecutions un-happen.

There are consequences in process, and I for one fervently hope they all come home to roost, hard. On him and on all of his so-far-unindicted co-conspirators in Congress. But I can understand people looking at 91 felony indictments and no actual criminal sentences handed down yet, and asking "Where's the beef?"

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Teri_Kanefield @Mary625 A lot of people ARE very ignorant about how both democracy and the legal system work. I'll freely confess to being ignorant of the finer details, especially compared to a professional such as yourself. But I think there are a lot of people who won't really see him as having suffered consequences until and unless he is found guilty and sentenced.

cakeisnotalie, to random

deleted_by_author

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    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @cakeisnotalie An understandable position. Though I'm not convinced it's correct. It is not the fault of the computers that so many people misuse them for such selfish ends, and much good has come of them.

    DrALJONES, (edited ) to Israel
    @DrALJONES@mastodon.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @DrALJONES Article seems to have vanished. I'm guessing suppressed.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @DrALJONES Hmm. I'm getting nothing but an access error page.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @DrALJONES Geo-fenced maybe?

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @DrALJONES I have. That's a 403 as well.

    StillIRise1963, to random
    @StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

    It's extremely dangerous to let these private equity firms buy up swaths of homes.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @StillIRise1963 Truth to tell I'm increasingly of the opinion that almost everything that private equity firms do is harmful to the vast majority in the long run.

    RickiTarr, to random
    @RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

    What do you think is a subject that most people misunderstand, and if they were more educated in the topic it would probably change their mind?

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @RickiTarr I'm not convinced there is any such subject. If their opinion on a subject matters to them, on anything from national politics to how disease works to which is the absolute best sportsball team of all time, then a terrifying number of people will simply sort and filter everything presented to them such that anything that matches their existing belief they consider true, and anything that contradicts it, false. You can't convince people who are religiously certain that they already know the truth. For someone to change their minds, they have to be open to the possibility of doubt.

    skykiss, to random
    @skykiss@sfba.social avatar

    New: Florida man arrested and accused of threatening to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell and his kids.

    This is #Stochastic #terrorism brought to you by insurrectionist republicans.

    "Stochastic terrorism" is a term used to describe a process of incitement where a leader provokes extremist violence under the guise of plausible deniability. Although the exact location, timing, and source of the violence may not be predictable, its occurrence is all but inevitable.

    ๐Ÿงต

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/florida-man-arrested-allegedly-threatening-kill-rep-eric-swalwell-kids-rcna132198

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @skykiss It is hard and wearying trying to stay positive that America can survive this.

    Adam_Cadmon1, to random
    @Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

    Nothing passes me off more about the Epstein/Maxwell case than everybody knowing his island was "pedophile island" and still shit has happened to the fuckwads who frequented that place.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @kierkegaank @Adam_Cadmon1 bastards gonna bastard. That never changes. And the ones most likely to end up on the top of any heap are the bastards, because they have no scruples about how they get there.

    glennf, (edited ) to random
    @glennf@twit.social avatar

    Harvard's president will be ousted for all the below reasons:
    โ€ข an organized right-wing bad-faith effort to find any thing that sticks
    โ€ข mainstream media can't identify bad-faith
    โ€ข sheโ€™s a Black woman in a key role and vulnerable because of pressure by wealthy white male alumni already angry about her reaching the highest position at Harvard
    โ€ข a lack of citation rigor in a tiny percentage of her work that nevertheless violates policies, not having been found and corrected contemporaneously

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @glennf It's possible. The Guardian article didn't go into a lot of detail but I don't recall it mentioning more than two.

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