If you filter out the “buzzwords of the week” you generally get calmer threads

Its not perfect but I’ve been lucky enough to have some very pleasant interactions here

I was very on board with your comment until the Meyers-Briggs pseudoscience BS and then you lost me

I love this

Neat idea, or, you could just tell them directly and be like “hey I’m not gonna respond here due to [reasons], come find me on signal if ya wanna chat”

People are usually more engaged when you communicate to them directly

Nah, its been becoming more popular, at least in my circles.

This is the one case where I’d make an exception. I read through the threads, it got particularly heated.

I put on my robe and wizard hat

Life has gotten better since I dropped it. Moved a dozen or so people over to Signal and have been running with that ever since.

I do miss the ability to easily stream games, though.

Someone feel free to jump in and audit my take:

The Internet Archive is not a company, does not sell me anything, and is merely providing a public service.

The service has nothing to do with my health or wellbeing. It is not marketed as being privacy forward. Hell, the whole purpose of the project is to make data publically accessable.

Therefore, exposing email addresses… I kinda don’t care?

Of course, it would be way better if they just used generic login numbers etc instead, but… I feel like this is the equivalent of my library card number getting leaked, and these headlines are treating it like Equifax just leaked my SSN again.

I already subconsciously do this because I know it pisses them off, but I like your justification much better

874 partners

Man these polycules are getting crazy

Most recently, I’ve made some very interesting friends through volunteering. You’re pretty much stuck with a group of people for a period of time and it gives you a perfect pretense to start conversations - and if you pick a cause you care about, you’re very likely to meet like-minded people.

most notably, in-person friendships require much less time investment to develop than online friendships, IMO (not that online friendships aren’t just as enjoyable)

Its truly a numbers game, though. Put yourself out there enough and eventually something will click.

I define it by whether something is independently verifiable.

I am told that there are 8* planets in our solar system, and where they are located. If I wanted to, I could buy a big telescope, point it at the sky and find all 8.

I am told that it is possible to boil water through nuclear fission. If I had the means, I could take a number of resources, spend decades researching nuclear physics, build my own test reactor, and verify that this is possible.

I am told that the earth is flat. I could get a pilots license, buy a plane, and fly to Antarctica to see the ice wall. I would find that there is no ice wall, just a number of scientists who are very passionate about ice samples. Therefore, it is not independently verifyable.

I don’t have the money to verify all of these claims, but they are all claims that have been verified by hundreds, if not thousands of independent people and organizations throughout history.

Quantum immortality is just solopsism, with the added twist of watching all your loved ones die

Hard pass

No matter how you look at it, Wikipedia is one of the modern wonders of the world; those who maintain and defend it are doing holy work. The availability of free, high quality, publically indexed and equitably accessible information about our modern world is such an under-appreciated gift.

Education is a powerful tool, but when most people hear “knowledge is power” they think of personal success or political might. But its true power is on an evolutionary scale.

No other species in the history of our (known) universe has the capability to study the world, and then share those the conclusions to the next generation with high precision, like we do. It’s absolutely fascinating. It’s what sets us apart from the rest. It defines the human experience.

The reality is that the integrity of this mechanism (or rather, the democratization of said mechanism) is under threat. It always has been, but the nature of the threat has changed, and its scary. I’m glad it is being protected, at least for now.

I have no sympathy for those who attack and deface our libraries, whether they be physical or digital

For a human-supporting craft, absolutely. From what I understand, these craft weigh less than a kilogram, so you can accelerate them much faster.

Theres a non-zero chance we could send a camera-equipped spacecraft to the nearest star and get the pictures back within our lifetimes

https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3

So if nothing else, I’m sticking around for that

That is interesting, the last time i tried Element/matrix it did not have these features. Can I ask, is your screen sharing of a quality that you can stream videos and games at equivilant frame rates?

This is so stupid. God forbid they actually police their ads for malware. No, instead let’s push the responsibility onto the individual, by adding get another “Papers, Please”-esque stamp that very few people will know about and even less will actually use.

Hard pass. The day I saw them promoting malware above legitimate search results is the day I turned on ad blocking for my entire org, and a stupid little pay-to-verify badge isn’t going to change that.

/end rant