@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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flexghost, to random
@flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

** ITโ€™S HERE! FRIDAY NIGHT MUSIC THREAD ON **

Tonightโ€™s theme is:

๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ… 10/10 ๐Ÿฅ‡๐ŸŽ–

โ€”
๐ŸŽต Post your absolute best of the best, cream of the crop musicians along with what youโ€™re drinking. ๐ŸŽถ
โ€”

And now we're flyin' through the stars
I hope this night will last forever

Ain't nobody
Loves me better
Makes me happy
Makes me feel this way...

๐Ÿท Ain't Nobody - Chaka Khan + Gin Martini๐Ÿธ

Post often โ€ข share โ€ข make some friends

Video of absolutely perfect, wonderful Chaka Khan ...and Rufus.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@flexghost Not drinking. Possibly my first mistake.

But the mention of several great Canadian artists makes me think of Stan Rogers. White Squall perhaps, or maybe Witch of the Westmoreland.

Matter of fact I think I'm'a listen to that right now. Might ease my mood.

Here's a t00b link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxls60aYSZA

Saltssaltgirl, to random
@Saltssaltgirl@mas.to avatar

Let's be honest, if it were raining men, a lot of us would be crushed.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Saltssaltgirl Personally if I were among them, I'd be heartbroken.

And probably everything else broken, too.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

One of the things that drives me crazy is the people who are constantly saying we need to go back to our roots, eat, sleep, and live like Amazon tribes or Neanderthals. If you do any research at all, this is just a ridiculous concept. Especially when you the are also encouraging people to reject modern medicine in favor of "natural" medicine. Now I understand that our current modern medical establishments are rife with issues, and I'm not denying or excusing that. But let's just address basics, life expectancy, only about 20% of Neanderthals made it past 40 years of age, and the average life expectancy for modern Amazonian tribes is 53 years. Being that I am now 42, I'd like to live a little longer than that, and the reason I can is MODERN MEDICINE, access to clean water, good and plentiful food, living indoors when it's too cold or hot, working jobs that aren't as physically demanding. Telling people that if they go back to some kind of traditional past lifestyle, that they will live a healthier happier lifestyle is a falsehood and a dangerous one. Get medical advice from a medical professional, who bases their research on science, not some person on YouTube who bases their ideas on things that seem true to them.

I'm sorry this was so ranty!

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ โค๏ธ โ€‹:ablobfoxbongo:โ€‹

People who think that life in pre-industrial, pre-scientific societies was so fucking wonderful should sell off all their shit, donate all their money to charity, then go live someplace like Borneo or Pitcairn Island AND TRY IT.

Or, you know, they could just STFU. I'd be fine with that, too.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr people need to remember the case of Albert Alexander, one of the first people to be treated using penicillin. He died, because they ran out of the very limited experimental quantity available ... from a severe infection caused by a scratch from a rose thorn.

Shit like this HAPPENS when you don't have modern medicine.
Is it perfect? Of course not. But it's a hell of a lot better than the alternative.

johnshirley2024, to random

Unholy Moses: Mike Johnson claims God chose him to lead America to a Republican promised land

In a recent speech before the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, Johnson said God woke him up in the middle of the night to tell him it was His plan all along to publicly humiliate His faithful servants Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, and Steve Scalise so House Republicans would finally be exhausted enough to accept Mike Johnson as their leader.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/7/2210272/-Unholy-Moses-Mike-Johnson-claims-God-chose-him-to-lead-America-to-a-Republican-promised-land?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@johnshirley2024 In other news, the Speaker of the House of the United States of America has undiagnosed schizophrenia.

georgetakei, to random

Does he hear His voice in his head or something? https://secondnexus.com/mike-johnson-speech-new-moses?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=infeed&utm_campaign=linkprogram

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@georgetakei seriously, I want to know how many of these people have undiagnosed schizophrenia.

Skepticat, to random
@Skepticat@mstdn.social avatar

Women should not have to go before a judge to get a MEDICALLY NECESSARY Medical Procedure.

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@Skepticat Women should not have to go before a judge to get a medical procedure, period.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is the most irrational thing you've ever done?

zakalwe,
@zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

@RickiTarr Oh gods.

All I will say is that I wasn't in my right mind at the time. Psychiatric malpractice was involved. I don't want to remember any more than that.

DrALJONES, to Israel
@DrALJONES@mastodon.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @DrALJONES 20 years for throwing stones โ€” often provoked โ€” is utterly fucking ridiculous. Might as well just stop pretending you're not imprisoning Palestinians for BEING ALIVE.

    DrALJONES, to Israel
    @DrALJONES@mastodon.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @NMBA @DrALJONES On the contrary, I recall years ago Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania being asked a question in a radio interview about "the bad old days" when every politician was for sale.
    "Oh, no, it's not like that any more," Specter said. "Now, you have to RENT them."

    RickiTarr, (edited ) to random
    @RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

    Here's something I've been thinking about lately:

    Does society need psychopathic behavior? Does it exist for a Social or Natural Evolutionary purpose?

    I have edited the questions somewhat to emphasize behavior and not a person themselves.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @Itty53 @RickiTarr This is totally a valid observation about the climate crisis. We COULD address it affirmatively and decisively. We're not because too many people with too much money and influence are too invested in not addressing it, and don't care if they make two thirds of the planet unlivable. (But you can bet they'll have something to say about it when a million or two of those displaced people show up on their doorsteps howling for their blood.)

    A space elevator is an entirely separate class of problem. The materials science just is not there yet. We do not have a material with sufficient tensile strength per unit weight. Spider silk is actually on the way there ... but it would melt from the internal heat it generates as it stretches. We could devote the entire gross world product to it and we still couldn't start building a space elevator tomorrow, because we simply don't have a material strong enough to build it from.

    georgetakei, to random

    Trump claims he intentionally mixes up Obama and Biden because, per modern GOP conspiracy theories, Obama is still running things. First of all, no. Trump mixes them up because his brain is addled. Just like he mixes up World War II and III, and thinks Victor Orban rules Turkiye. I suppose in America in 2023, itโ€™s still easier to blame a Black man for something heโ€™s not remotely responsible for.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @georgetakei The incredible thing is not that he is so clearly suffering from senile dementia. It's that his fanboys and fangirls continue to willingly swallow it as absolute gospel.

    zakalwe, to random
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/24/opencart_vulnerability_dispute/

    "You have a ," says security researcher to author, "here's the details and a fix"
    "Not a problem, not a vulnerability, stop wasting my time, says OpenCart author
    Oh look, CVSS severity 8.8 (on a scale of 10), says

    tl,dr on the article: This is not a one-off. Kerr (author of OpenCart) has a well established history of cavalier attitudes towards reported security vulnerabilities. "Shut up, I meant to do it this way."

    Capsule summary: ... maybe don't use OpenCart?

    zakalwe, to random
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    In which and are

    So. You have an outdated email address that you no longer have access to on your Barnes & Noble account, and you want to update it to a current address.

    You can't. Because the only authentication method B&N will accept is a 6-digit one-time code sent to the old address. Even if you're already logged in. Even if they already let you update the password using your "security" question.

    Customer service can't do it for you, either by phone or chat.

    The only thing you can do is delete your old account. Except that you can't do THAT, either, for exactly the same reason. And neither can Customer Service.

    So you go to create the new account and just hope nothing jams up because it conflicts with the old one. You HAVE to set a security question. And it has to be chosen from a fixed list โ€” the usual list of Stupid Questions The Answers To Which Are Almost All Public Record. Ykou know, the kind of things you were warned NEVER to use as a a password.
    So you pick the least awful question and start composing a non-obvious-yet-rememberable answer to it. And that's then you learn you're only allowed fifteen characters for the answer.

    FOR FUCK'S SAKE, PEOPLE. Are you trying to ENSURE that you have identify breaches? โ€‹:blobcatfacepalm:โ€‹

    RickiTarr, to random
    @RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

    Name a film you've seen that left you with the thought, "This is art." If you want to explain why it made you feel that way, that would be pretty cool of you.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @RickiTarr Jupiter Ascending. There are plot holes in the story, but OH GOD IT IS JUST BEAUTIFUL.

    RickiTarr, to random
    @RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

    What is that one thing you will never do again?

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @RickiTarr Never marry until you are certain that you know who the person you plan to marry really is inside. If that means walking away, so be it. It's better than the alternative.

    LALegault, to random
    @LALegault@newsie.social avatar

    Joe Biden deserves to lose for overseeing the slaughter of children. That doesnโ€™t mean Trump deserves to win. It means your standards are now so low you are going to defend the man who allowed a live-streamed genocide to happen, and continues to. You have no idea what is waiting for you in 2024:

    Polling:

    Pollster explains how Biden will lose 2024

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @violetmadder @hfinyow @LALegault @Mary625 A vote for the lesser evil is still a vote for evil. As long as parties can keep you "strategically" โ€” which is to say, blinkeredly โ€” voting for "the lesser evil", all they have to do is be the SECOND WORST choice on the ballot.

    cstross, (edited ) to random
    @cstross@wandering.shop avatar

    My answer to the baby/parachute problem:

    I pull my ripcord and let the baby die.

    Its godโ€”if they existโ€”will know their own, so baby goes to heaven ("Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius").

    If god doesn't existโ€”baby's trying to blackmail me, so fuck you, baby.

    That's the same reply I'd give an adult evangelist who pulled this stunt: they chose to die on that hill, I didn't impose a choice on them. I admit I may be flying my ASD freak flag here.

    (EDIT: It's an abortion alegory.)

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @levpetrovitch @cstross And then there's the Mormons who believe that they have the right, should one of my grandchildren some day decide to join the Church of latter-Day Saints, to retroactively unwillingly convert my child, myself, my partner, and all of our descendants back to, um, I don't even know when, to Mormonism. The arrogance!
    A Mormon former friend asked, "Look, it's not going to affect you, so why should it matter to you?"
    Look, if it's "not going to affect me" anyway, then WHY THE FUCK DOES IT MATTER TO YOU?

    Adam_Cadmon1, to random
    @Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

    Been thinking about the psychological makeup of the billionaire class. Seems to me that there is a great, possibly overwhelming, fear among them that they won't have "enough". So they overcompensate and take far too much.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @dharmadischarge @Adam_Cadmon1 I consider it a mental disorder. The circuit in their brain that says "I'm OK, I'm secure, I have enough now" is broken.

    StillIRise1963, to random
    @StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

    We're watching TWO genocidal invasions take place in real time. Why the fuck do we have international bodies. Why can't there be REAL PENALTIES for doing shit like this. It can't be that we all just WATCH and some of the assholes get in trouble later.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @fulanigirl @StillIRise1963 more data: There are five 'permanent members' of the UN Security Council: Russia, China, the US, the UK, and France. All of these five have a unilateral veto power. The veto is widely held to be the main cause of inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    The US issued 56% of all vetoes between 1970 and 1991, then Russia became the most common user. As of May 2022, Russia/USSR has used its veto 121 times, the US 82 times, the UK 29 times, China 17 times, and France 16 times. The UK and France have not used it since 1989.

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @fulanigirl @StillIRise1963 yeah.

    Honestly my answer would be, first of all, remove the veto.

    And then there is Ukraine's challenge as to whether the Russian Federation is actually the LEGITIMATE inheritor of the USSR's permanent seat. I would argue it is not.

    And I think there's a strong case that we should eliminate the permanent seats, PERIOD.

    mentallyalex, to random
    @mentallyalex@beige.party avatar

    In your life, would you rather have a rewind button, or a pause button?

    Why?

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @mentallyalex Of course that raises a question too. If you "rewind" ... DO you still know?

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @mentallyalex yeah, so would I. Rewind to go through it all again? FLAT NO. Period. Rewind to make different choices with foreknowledge, even if that different choice probably invalidated much of my foreknowledge?

    I can think of one particular period of a few weeks where I would instead run screaming.
    But then again, I can think of ANOTHER about six years earlier ... and ...

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @mentallyalex (It's no accident that one of my novels in progress is explicitly about being yanked out of a life become unbearable and given a second chance, a new life in a new world.)

    zakalwe,
    @zakalwe@plasmatrap.com avatar

    @mentallyalex Not playing it quite that way actually. That character starts out as a cipher about whom we know almost nothing, then as he grows into his new life and finds out who he really is and why he's there, we also learn about the trauma and abuse he left behind him as he comes to grips with how abusive his past was.

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