swordgeek

@swordgeek@lemmy.ca

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Most people do not know how they died⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Nobody knows how they died, because they’re dead.

  Many people know how they’re going to die, at least approximately. When you’re 93 and have cancer, you know.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Thinking About Adopting a Dog? Here’s What You Need to Know⁩ ⁨⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Wrong group.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do most people still use computers, or do people only use a smartphone as their main/only device?⁩ ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I work with a number of developers who don’t know how to find and edit a file on their computer.

  Literally.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨So, is the USA screwed?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes.

  The amount of harm already done to your country by Trump and Musk is immeasurable, and will take a generation or more to recover from.

  The amount of harm done to your standing in the world is equally bad. The world was skeptical after Trump’s first term fucked over the rest of the world, but we were hopeful that maybe the US had learned their lesson?

  Nope. They elected a fascist. They RE-elected a known fascist, felon, rapist, idiot-child, psychopath. Worse, they bolstered Musk to get into a seat of unauthorized and unimaginable power.

  When Trump announced his idiotic tarrifs, Canada collectively said “that’s it - we’re divorcing.” When he pulled back on the idea for 30 days, Canada said “don’t care, still divorcing.”

  Trump is following the exact model of HItler, and it’s only a matter of time until he actually invades either Greenland or Canada if he’s not stopped. The USA has to collapse into ruin and rebuild from scratch before anyone is going to trust them again.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why isn't free stuff (public domain/noncommercial) discussed as much as paid stuff?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  On review sites in particular, there are kickbacks involved - and free/OSS products can’t pay as much as for-profits.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What would happen if USA invades Canada?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Well for one thing, you’ll find out how many Canadians are willing to use a gun in defence of their country, despite very few being invested in the American gun culture.

  Also, it would likely be the beginning of WWIII.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Report: Unity continues mass layoffs with 'abrupt' communications and 5am emails⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The ad company that fucked developers over a few months ago?

  So long losers!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone actually know what MAGA all agree they are getting out of all this?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  “What MAGA all agree” is a fool’s errand, like most universal consensus questions.

  But here are a few high points:

  • Some genuinely believe the rhetoric about how Trans/brown/non-Christian/etc. people are destroying the American way of life, jobs, safety, sports, the economy, and whatever they get pointed to at any given moment.
  • Some are outright racists, bullies, and fascists, and absolutely love what Trump is doing right now.
  • Many are just frustrated with their lot in life, and are willing to try anything (except personal action) to improve things.
  • Many more feel like they’re just a few paycheques or a small windfall away from living the rich life like Musk et al. As about 90% of lottery winners can attest, winning $10M or so doesn’t make you obscenely wealthy, and it’s still pretty easy to piss it all away. They have no concept of the difference between “rich enough to not work” and “rich enough to own multiple superyachts.”

  Most importantly, a large subset of this last group overlaps with the others, and believe that they only way for them to get ahead is by climbing over the bodies of others.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google has dropped its promise not to use AI for weapons. It’s part of a troubling trend.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  What trend? Lying about being noble while trying to destroy everything im their way?

  They’ve been doing that for 25 years now. It’s not a trend, it’s a business model.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨people who drink, how long do your hangovers last?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Don’t drink quite so much.

  Seriously, hangovers are a sign of excessive drinking. Last memorable one I had was 16 years ago.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta says this is the make or break year for the metaverse⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  ‘Fascist thugs to spend 2025 trying to suck fleeing customers back in with proven-bad idea.’

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The real reason OS/2 flopped shaped modern software⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not sure if the article had a point, or if it was just scattered fragments of thoughts.

  Regardless, I always felt that the death of OS/2 came later, and was due to IBM’s inability or unwillingness to market their products. “We’re IBM! People will flock to us and wait for our release schedule!” But it didn’t happen, and they lost all of their momentum.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Should I get a drum kit, or a pressure washer?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  If you want to learn drums well, skip the gimmicks and toys, and get a solid practice pad (Remo, Vic Firth, etc.). You can learn a lot - and can practice fundamentals endlessly with that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Should I get a drum kit, or a pressure washer?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Drums are more fun. Music is more fun, and will last you a lifetime.

  But absolutely make sure you factor in the cost of lessons.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Has the USA turned into an oligarchy?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes.

  Really and truly, yes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 1 Reddit Refugee⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Welcome!

  You’ll find that the volume here is much (much much MUCH!!!) lower than reddit. As frustrating as this can be, the only solution is to stand and create more content. More worthwhile posts, more comments, more interaction. At its height, that was exactly what made reddit successful.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨what was the last game you played in 2024?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  System Shock, the remake by Nightdive.

  I’m old enough that I bought and played the original SS back in the day, and it was transformative.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there any way to search through all the games on Steam for titles that don't use the word "dystopian" anywhere in the description?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Just search for Slime Rancher.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta says it’s mistakenly moderating too much⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They already have no problem promoting violence and white supremacy. How much worse is it going to get?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pokémon Go Players Have Unwittingly Trained AI to Navigate the World⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  So slavery, then. No surprise.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If media corporations worked together to convince you that a half decent politician is evil incarnate but the politician that helps corporations extort the people is good, what would it look like?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is questioning in bad faith, and is asked to push a narrative.

  Even if I agree with the narrative, it doesn’t belong here.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do the majority of women still take their partner's last name?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Two short answers: Tradition and simplicity.

  If you have different names, which one do the kids get? Also, it’s sometimes challenging to fill in school forms when your kid has a different last name than you.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That is probably true up to a point - but there is also a point where some ‘honest opinions’ shouldn’t be tolerated or debated. The Nazis marching through Columbus two days ago don’t need to be respectfully convinced, they need to be put down however possible.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s not something you do, it’s something that society is. Japan has a long cultural history of a few things that are absolutely foreign to Western culture (not just the USA, but Canada, Great Britain, Australia, most of western Europe, etc.)

  Even in a high-stakes game of consumer-capitalism, Japan has a sense of ethics that just isn’t present elsewhere. A CEO might pull the same shady shit in Japan as they would in the US, but if they’re caught, they still mostly take responsibility - resigning in disgrace, rather than “resigning” to another company with a fat bonus, which is what we see elsewhere. I mean, three years ago McDonalds actually made news for clawing back a $105M severance package from their disgraced ex-CEO, who was having an affair with several of his employees. The fact of the matter is that he initially got the package, no matter what he did.

  Likewise, there is an expectation of acceptable behaviour in Japan. There are all sorts of circumstances where a blind eye is turned, but they’re oddly strict - and sketchy behaviour outside of that is considered reprehensible.

  So can we? Maybe in theory, but we’d have to revamp our culture - and in a direction opposite to the trajectory it’s currently on.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨U.S. Copyright Office rejects DMCA exemption to support game preservation⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Interesting points, but you’re missing an important point: This isn’t necessarily about the definition of what SHOULD be or MUST be preserved, but whether studios should be allowed to PREVENT it from being preserved by those who want to.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What does this emoji mean? Is this a British thumbs up?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Hang Loose (both gesture and phrase) goes back to at LEAST the early '70s.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What do you call your first cousin's child?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  First cousin, once removed.

  For the record, ‘once removed’ refers to the generation. Your cousin’s grandkid would be your first cousin twice removed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I get what you’re saying, but it never works like that.

  You said it yourself: “I hope reddit exists to…be a breeding ground…” And it will. The worst of humanity will collect and fester and grow in numbers. And what’s going to happen then? Some will spill over to here, and other ‘safe’ communities.

  There’s no way we can thrive and simultaneously isolate ourselves from assholery; and by encouraging it to thrive elsewhere, we’re only expanding its power and reach; and at the same time, enriching and empowering asshole billionaires like spez, Zuck, Musk, etc.

  No, we need to fight them. We need to wade hip-deep in the shit to shovel it down the drain, rather than hoping it’ll just go away on its own.

  Look at it another way: If you have a garden, what happens if you designate one corner as “the weed corner?” It grows, spreads, and takes over the rest of the garden.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta won't say whether it trains AI on smart glasses photos⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Let’s be honest. The company won’t admit to it, but of COURSE they are.

  Remember, Facebool was founded on the premise of invading your privacy, and have gotten worse ever since. They’re not suddenly going to stop fir any reason.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yep, agreed. The biggest problem there is that Meta is generally not making life worse for its users than they’re used to. Facebook and Instagram are giving you almost the same shitty experience you got a decade ago.