SabinStargem
@SabinStargem@lemmings.world
- Comment on YSK: That nazis Don't Actually Believe in Free Speech 30 minutes ago:
I was looking to jot down that quote. It perfectly encapsulates the shitbags who denies vaccinations or the damage that DOGE is doing to humanity.
- Comment on YSK: That nazis Don't Actually Believe in Free Speech 46 minutes ago:
I disagree about private corporations. Money is no different from that of religion, violence, or any other form of power. So long as you have a large monopoly on these things, you can greatly influence people to speak…or silence them. Reddit traditionally served as a public square, but now we see selective speech being forced upon everybody: Musk good, Luigi bad.
It is one thing to control speech within your personal dwelling, but it is quite another when you are in charge of a service. Should you be allowed to ban gay folk from buying cake? Or prevent a black man dating a white girl from dining at a classy restaurant?
Violence has many permutations, and forcing everyday norms is by far the most corrosive to personal identity and the social fabric.
- Comment on YSK: That nazis Don't Actually Believe in Free Speech 4 hours ago:
I am a free speech absolutist. Evil people should say what they want to do…so that I can tell them what will happen if they try to ICE my neighbors. 🔫 🩸
The thing about modern discourse on social media platforms like Reddit, is that bigots get to threaten people all they like. If a good person mentions Luigi or what should happen to Musk, they get banned. THIS is the real threat to democracy.
It is best if the bad guys don’t work in secret. They should expose themselves to be monsters early and often, with decent folk making it clear that evil positions deserve equally merciless responses. I think part of why the Republicans have been so successful, is because they feel like “winners” to people who value assertiveness. Democrats almost always holds true to decorum and norms - which gives them the impression of being “weak” losers.
Some people vote for the strong, because by extension, it makes themselves feel strong. I think this explains why some people simply never listen to any amount of reason or evidence - they perceive the world through feelings, not thought. This is why “rough” speaking democrats might hold value in our society, because they can speak the same language, while still holding the values of goodness close to their heart.
To put it simply, a lot of Republicans might cease supporting Trump, if the following entered their mind: “They are stronger than me. I don’t want to get punched! Let’s stay home.”
…it isn’t terrific, but I think some people are simply biased towards authority. Be it good or evil.
- Comment on Surprise! People don't want AI deciding who gets a kidney transplant and who dies or endures years of misery 11 hours ago:
Thing is, those terrible people don’t enjoy the everything that they already own, and don’t understand that they are killing cool things in the crib. People make inventions and entertain if they can…because it is fun, and they think they got neat things to show the world. Problem is, prosperity is needed to allow people to have the luxury of trying to create.
The wealthy are murdering the golden geese of culture and technology. They won’t be happier for it, and will simply use their chainsaw to keep killing humanity in a desperate wish of finding happiness.
- Comment on Surprise! People don't want AI deciding who gets a kidney transplant and who dies or endures years of misery 23 hours ago:
I don’t mind AI. It is simply a reflection of whoever is in charge of it. Unfortunately, we have monsters who direct humans and AI alike to commit atrocities.
We need to get rid of the demons, else humanity as a whole will continue to suffer.
- Comment on Kagi search engine now has a Fediverse search option. 1 day ago:
This is what their Privacy Pass extension is for. Once it verifies you as an user, it doles out a bunch of generic “arcade tokens”, which don’t have any identifying information. You lose Kagi’s personalization features while using them, but your searches aren’t tied to any account beyond just “Kagi”, so you and everybody else using the privacy extension are the same person.
At least, as I understand it.
- Comment on Archivists Recreate Pre-Trump CDC Website, Are Hosting It in Europe 4 days ago:
Didn’t know that. Thanks for the tidbit of lore. :)
- Comment on Archivists Recreate Pre-Trump CDC Website, Are Hosting It in Europe 4 days ago:
I hope California, blue states, and Europe all bankroll this into an official Neo-CDC, free of Yarvin’s hatred and stupidity.
- Comment on Three years later, the Steam Deck has dominated handheld PC gaming 1 week ago:
I would like Gabe to with the EU to make a EULinux. They both have respective reasons to get away from Microsoft’s control over software, and I would very much like to daily drive a Linux without worrying about game compatibility. Unfortunately, I am stuck with Windows because I play many obscure or old games, and simply hate dealing with technical hassles enough as it is. Here’s hoping that Linux becomes good enough within a couple years from now.
- Comment on ‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners 2 weeks ago:
I was raised in the boondocks. You couldn’t get reception there back in the 90’s, and there weren’t any kids or neighbors that I could visit without having to be driven. My parents didn’t have any community at all, so I in turn never learned how to socialize properly. To say the least, I never became comfortable with phones, even after moving into civilization. It just wasn’t part of me.
Isolation from people is a huge disadvantage in life, you don’t get to make friends, network, or learn what it means to be part of society. Here’s hoping that cellphones and whatnot become rights, as you have said.
However, some states might provide SSI recipients a LifeConnect program. You get a free smartphone and low-end plan.
- Comment on ‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners 2 weeks ago:
I am still on a flip phone. It is usually silent, and I don’t spend much time with it at all. While I am missing out on discounts and such, I simply hate the idea of constantly using a phone. Email is my telecommunication of choice, but receptionists don’t understand the idea, unfortunately.
My household bought a Rinnai water heater, and the bastard needed a phone to set the temperature. Thing is, it couldn’t communicate with the two or three phones that were used on it. Fortunately, there was an old-school modification for a physical keypad, but that had to be bought separately.
Phones are just not my thing.
- Comment on How is the Stock Market keeping it's value after *points to everything*? 2 weeks ago:
More than fair. It would be nice to rub the back of my neck and feel embarrassed for overreacting. Here’s hoping your timeline is what happens.
- Comment on How is the Stock Market keeping it's value after *points to everything*? 2 weeks ago:
I have an ABLE account, for people on SSI. It is untaxed, though there is a small fee for just the money to be managed. It is handy, since there is a $2,000 limit on the wealth beneficiaries can have - the ABLE account allows for up to $100,000 to be in there before most benefits are lost. It also invests the money into a stock/bonds/FDIC portfolio of your choosing. If you have enough wealth, you can just deposit money in there until you reach $500,000ish cap for what you can add.
It is really helpful for the poor, since we don’t have many methods for storing wealth that doesn’t involve a mattress. Also, ABLE accounts should be state owned - theoretically insulating them from Musk’s grubby paws. Unfortunately, my state’s ABLE program doesn’t permit Euros, so I suspect no ABLE to be safe from hyperinflation.
- Comment on How is the Stock Market keeping it's value after *points to everything*? 2 weeks ago:
I think economy, in the sense of money as a concept, is an illusion. We all just agree that money is worth something. When our belief in the American Dollar fails, so would follow any stocks tied up in businesses that rely upon it. Those trillions and tax cuts that Musk has? Worthless.
shrug
That is my hypothesis, anyways. My guess is that we are into a Weimer Germany sort of scenario. I have been converting my money into Euros, with the assumption that America as we knew it is going to die horribly within years. Hopefully, my efforts are pragmatic, not paranoid. 😕
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 2 weeks ago:
Having term limits on politicians (including judges) would be key. At some point, an old person simply can’t relate to the world that younger people grew up in. More importantly, they either being angry codgers (Republicans) or domesticated sheep (Geronocrats), which is innately an imbalance in political influence. An assertive person, in most situations, gets a bigger piece of the pie, be it political, fiscal, sexual, or some other thing.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 2 weeks ago:
I think if there is a new Constitution, it would need to incorporate economic rights. People can’t abandon work to strike or protest, which negates the voice of the poor and working man alike. The wealthy can afford to voice their politics, which is likely the biggest reason why Yarvin’s Cabal succeeded. Ordinary people simply can’t dedicate the time to research nor influence politics.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 2 weeks ago:
Bullet box has yet to be opened. But I can hear the hinges creaking.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 2 weeks ago:
I would say so. The only question is whether the good guys win a civil war. My money is on ‘yes’, since Yarvin’s Cabal is hellbent on exiling all of the competent people from their society, along with being jackasses who have alienated many peoples. It will be a bloody struggle, but I think that Dogey America will ultimately receive the Old Yeller treatment. I only hope that every member of Yarvin’s Cabal are executed - Elon, Thiel, ect.
Let’s not make the mistakes of the 1st Civil War, 1st Business Plot, and 2nd World War, where many high ranking members were permitted to escape justice. These worms will insist on burrowing into the apple, and ultimately destroy the very thing that allowed them to live in prosperity.
- Comment on Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills 3 weeks ago:
Looking up the Vilvaladirt, I am guessing it is a group of Let’s Players who do a Mystery Science Theater 3,000 take on their gameplay? If so, that would be neat.
- Comment on Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills 3 weeks ago:
It is good to hear what a full DeepSeek can do. I am really looking forward to having a better, localized version in 2030. Thank you for relating your experience, it is helpful. :)
- Comment on Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills 3 weeks ago:
Can the full-size DeepSeek handle dice and numbers? I have been using the distilled 70b of DeepSeek, and it definitely doesn’t understand how dice work, nor the ranges I set out in my ruleset. For example, a 1d100 being used to determine character class, with the classes falling into certain parts of the distribution. I did it this way, since some classes are intended to be rarer than others.
- Comment on Google Calendar removes Pride Month and Black History Month 3 weeks ago:
Aside from political leanings of services like Protonmail and Kagi, I look at one key thing: where they are headquartered. Kagi is in California, while Protonmail is in Switzerland. IMO, this means that if a civil war breaks out, they are less likely to poison or remove their service.
It is all about whether the workers and leadership are within reach of the law, be it official or the jungle.
- Comment on Google Calendar removes Pride Month and Black History Month 3 weeks ago:
You can also use Kagi’s video search AI to vet the political alignment of a video before watching. I don’t want to waste my time on facist-leaning content, be it political or economic.
- Comment on Google Calendar removes Pride Month and Black History Month 3 weeks ago:
I am hoping that Google bites the dust from this. Having stuff like Peertube becoming common, would go a long way towards mitigating media moguls from controlling narratives. As we have seen, the media organs of the right are staying silent or downlplaying what has been happening.
Also, it would be nice if the folk didn’t have to deal with baseless copyright takedowns. A lot of culture has been lost to feckless corpotacracy.
- Comment on Google Calendar removes Pride Month and Black History Month 3 weeks ago:
Most of the key people behind the Civil War and 1st Business Plot also were excused from justice, for the sake of soothing political tension. IMO, executing them would have been better for curtailing the corrosion of our society.
- Comment on Google Calendar removes Pride Month and Black History Month 3 weeks ago:
I used Thunderbird to simultaneously access and download my gmail and protonmail, gradually migrating my ecosystem to the latter. The way I figure, Protonmail would be good, on account of being based in Switzerland. That means assorted EU protections - and now with Vichy America likely to become a thing, having the servers in a safe spot seems really helpful.
The odds of us having military action in our neighborhoods has shot up by a disturbing degree.
- Comment on For No Reason in Particular Here's a Bunch of Games Where You Kill Nazis 4 weeks ago:
I would like a game where we pursue Yarvin’s Cabal, Agent 47 style.
- Comment on For No Reason in Particular Here's a Bunch of Games Where You Kill Nazis 4 weeks ago:
Law only works when the authority, whatever form that takes, wishes to uphold it.
Elon took over the treasury, despite not having the security clearance or congressional oversight. Yarvin’s Cabal does not respect authentic law, and treats it merely as set dressing to justify whatever pleases them.
The left should do the same in kind. Use both force and words, but never mistake the latter to hold weight among those who don’t care.
- Comment on For No Reason in Particular Here's a Bunch of Games Where You Kill Nazis 4 weeks ago:
Here, try this. The Internet Archive is very useful, as is abandonware sites and CDRomance for your vintage gaming needs.
- Comment on Reddit is purging NSFW subs as well as trans-related subreddits 4 weeks ago:
I am hoping the EU and Blue States does a funding program to make open-source and federated projects more user-friendly. There is far too many proprietary ecosystems that will turncoat within years. We need alternatives that are approachable and easy for people to transfer their lives into.