scarabic
@scarabic@lemmy.world
- Comment on [deleted] 5 days ago:
And some people don’t read much, talk to very many people, or ever leave their home country.
- Comment on [Poll] What social media platforms do you know about? 6 days ago:
Metafilter
- Comment on [deleted] 6 days ago:
Some people say “make a decision” and some people say “take a decision.” In my experience most Americans say “make a decision,” but both are valid and mean the same thing.
- Comment on [deleted] 6 days ago:
Controlling the meeting calendar for the president is more than just the clerical work of a personal assistant. The president works and makes decisions by meeting with people. She decides who gets access to him today. She deflects people she doesn’t think are worth his time. Over the long run she can have extraordinary influence over him and what choices he has in front of him to make. She can effectively block people she doesn’t want to have any access. Thats a lot of power for someone most people don’t know by name.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 week ago:
I have kids and wanted them when I had them in my early 30s. I did not feel that want at 22. But neither did I think “I never want kids.”
A lot of people’s view on this eventually crystallizes based on who they choose to spend their life with. You could meet someone who changes you and changes your view and who definitely wants kids and with whom you feel good about doing it. You could change your mind and that’s what it would look like if you did.
I have had a vasectomy and when you do it you’re supposed to tell them if you have any chance of ever changing your mind. If I were you I’d answer yes to that.
There’s no guarantee a vasectomy can ever be reversed. However they can perform the procedure in a way that leaves as much of your tubes as possible in the event that you might someday want to reconnect them. In my experience they will also make damn sure you know that there’s no guarantee. However though people lean hard on emphasizing that lack of guarantee, the fact is that many vasectomies are successfully reversed, so it is possible.
- Comment on What do you think is the largest number a human can actually grasp / truly comprehend? 1 week ago:
Yes I believe there’s an over-emphasis on the visual here. There’s a low limit on how many distinct objects we can perceive visually at once but that’s not entirely the same as what numbers we can grasp and comprehend.
- Comment on How do you reconcile staying sane while keeping yourself up-to-date with the news? 1 week ago:
I remind myself that news media have a vested interest in keeping me outraged and on the edge of my seat, addicted to consuming their every update.
There are definitely things worth getting outraged over. But on top of that we have an outrage industry harvesting our attention and fear for ad dollars.
So I remind myself not to spiral down the doomclick drain. If something is THAT important I’m going to hear about it. I don’t need to be checking a news app daily.
On top of this I do what I can to support change. We donate to Ukraine and Gaza relief efforts. We vote. We make our political views known to those around us to support right action in them as well (not talking about politics is what Trumpers want - they want cover for their fascist hate and violence - I make damn sure that everyone I know is aware that there’s no room for that shit in my life).
Conserve your strength. Do everything material that you can, and don’t spend yourself past that point.
But that first part is important: DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN.
- Comment on The Age-Checked Internet Has Arrived 1 week ago:
It plays quite well with the “I think about things for two seconds, and mostly think with my lower intestine” crowd.
They hear “kids shouldn’t be able to access porn” and they think yeah what’s wrong with that. Then they hear “Democrats want your kids to get porn” and they hit share.
- Comment on People who have been in meetings to determine back to in office policy. What was the discussion like? 2 weeks ago:
Well that’s for sure. But this is where their egos go big. They aren’t about optimizing just their job and leaving others alone. No, if it’s their way, it must be the best way. After all, how could anyone want or need anything other than they do? Unless something’s wrong with them! /s
- Comment on People who have been in meetings to determine back to in office policy. What was the discussion like? 2 weeks ago:
I guess they don’t, I was just thinking of how their job is essentially meeting and talking with lots of people, including inside and outside the company, and this benefits from in-person interactions moreso than, say, a programmer’s job does. It would have been more accurate if I’d said a CEO’s job is easier to do well and more enjoyable when everyone is in the office.
- Comment on The company behind Candy Crush is preparing to lay off around 200 employees amid a push to replace designers, researchers, and creative staff with AI. 2 weeks ago:
Good. It’s soul crushing to think that actual humans deliberately made the crap in that app.
- Comment on People who have been in meetings to determine back to in office policy. What was the discussion like? 2 weeks ago:
CEOs basically have to do it, and most want to. And they think “hey I’m the CEO so I must be doing something right - my way is clearly the best way.” And that’s that in their minds. Hustle culture goes all the way to the top CEOs in the world. They just use different language, like “you must be driven, you need to want it more, if you don’t move aggressively to succeed then your competitors will…” they truly believe it’s the correct and virtuous life. To force it on others, in their mind, is doing them a favor.
- Comment on Apple sues YouTuber for alleged iOS 26 trade-secret theft 2 weeks ago:
You can read it two ways:
- gee they’re so WFH friendly
- they drive their people hard and they work nights and weekends
- Comment on Human-level AI is not inevitable. We have the power to change course 2 weeks ago:
Couldn’t we have a good old fashioned butlerian jihad?
- Comment on What are the best single episodes to show people new to Trek? 2 weeks ago:
It’s got some good hooks too because once you watch it with someone you can run around saying “Shaka, when the walls fell,” and they will feel like they are now in on the joke.
- Comment on What are the best single episodes to show people new to Trek? 2 weeks ago:
I have shown this to people as their first. It works. It’s a highly unusual story so some people may or may not “get it” but there isn’t any issue with it being a first entree into the franchise.
- Comment on Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes? 2 weeks ago:
It looks like you just heard a swipe at Christianity out of the blue and took offense to it, but there is actually a significant amount of context here. OP’s conflict is framed very much as a Christian struggle between “being a spiritual person” according to the bible and “lusting after women.”
I don’t think we need more information from OP to label Christianity’s attitudes toward sex and even women generally, and absolutely sex workers, as toxic. You don’t have to agree with that but it’s not exactly out of the blue.
- Comment on Personal Responsibility 3 weeks ago:
Gotta be fake, right? This is beyond.
- Comment on Say Hello to the World's Largest Hard Drive, a Massive 36TB Seagate 3 weeks ago:
Christ, remember when NewEgg was an actual store? Now they’re just a listing service for the scum-level of retailer and drop shippers. What a shame.
- Comment on Do the needs of the many outweigh the whims of the few? 3 weeks ago:
Trans need to be safe. RWNJ’s need to feel safe
Being safe outweighs feeling safe, so this whole analogy is void.
- Comment on Do the needs of the many outweigh the whims of the few? 3 weeks ago:
It’s not necessarily zero-sum to say that occasionally people’s interests come into conflict.
- Comment on How come nobody does anything about North Korea? 3 weeks ago:
The US has invested a lot in its capacity to police the world (just look at how many bases we have around the world). So it’s logical to ask why the US would or wouldn’t police something. And usually before the US polices something with force, they start talking about it publicly.
Benin has no such capacity or intentions and so neither polices anything nor telegraphs its opinions.
- Comment on How come nobody does anything about North Korea? 3 weeks ago:
NK could not defeat the US or China militarily but it could do quite a bit of damage to SK before anyone could stop them. This is a big reason the US doesn’t intervene.
China is concerned about the population of NK suddenly becoming millions of refugees they’ll need to recuse and deal with. So they would rather the regime not collapse.
- Comment on Why doesn’t Apple/Samsung/Google use new tech like every other phone maker? 3 weeks ago:
Turning the question around, too, it is clear why small manufacturers MUST use all the top spec parts: they don’t have Apple or Google’s brand and ecosystem of services to fall back on. Who’s going to buy a phone from a nobody brand with no services or ecosystem that also has crappy specs? Apple and Google can get away with it, and cheaper parts are cheaper which helps their profit margins. Small brands have to try hard to wow the world and get noticed. One way to do that is to compete on specs. In my opinion it’s a crappy way. But it’s a way.
- Comment on [deleted] 3 weeks ago:
If you had any idea the kind of info that mothers and daughters have to talk about, you wouldn’t worry about helping your son trim the verge :D
- Comment on Why Americans Can’t Buy the World’s Best Electric Car 4 weeks ago:
Detroit is easy to hate but there’s more wrong here than how much can-do energy they wake up in the morning with. If they competed on features and quality they could never compete on price. Everything we do to keep the dollar strong makes it impossible to manufacture here.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
I don’t have a source but I’ve read that young children can learn up to 4 languages at once, without mixing them up, before they show any sign of strain.
- Comment on ‘You can’t pause the internet’: social media creators hit by burnout 4 weeks ago:
Yeah sheez. You know what you can’t pause? The flow of customers into the drive through. Internet influencers work on their own clock.
Let’s get an article about fast food worker burnout please.
- Comment on Why doesn't the US government just tax illegal immigrants a little bit more than the Average american? Then use those funds to fix infastructure or a new WPA of the 21st century? 4 weeks ago:
Family visiting is a nightly so why does anyone launder money? Isn’t the whole purpose of that to hide conspicuous flows of cash from illegal activities? If it’s safe to pay taxes on ill gotten gains, why launder?
- Comment on Why doesn't the US government just tax illegal immigrants a little bit more than the Average american? Then use those funds to fix infastructure or a new WPA of the 21st century? 4 weeks ago:
I just mean that the aphorism about drugs dealers is colorful and amusing. I understand it’s making a real point but it’s also funny.