OpenStars

OpenStars , 8 days ago

Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt

OpenStars , 13 days ago

Not just the mods but the admins are using the deceptive database manipulation practices. i.e. this is not a fixable problem by merely appealing one layer up from a mod of a community - the only layer above admins is defederation from the Fediverse overall, which is what OP is advocating.

It is a pain yes, but also it only takes 2 clicks to migrate your settings from one instance to another - go to Settings and under "Import/Export Settings" click the big Export button, then in the new click Import. With a similar iconic avatar and name, people likely won't even notice the difference. Your old comments/posts/points won't transfer though. Bonus: you can keep both, so while e.g. one instance is upgrading you still have another with which to read/reply/etc.

People on lemmy.ml are going to notice a noticeably reduced functionality over the next several months regardless, as many, Many, MANY users start blocking the instance on a personal/user level even if not an instance-wide block. Imagine every single comment you write receives 10x fewer replies back, or votes, just you shouting into the void, and the only people responding back... are the fascists, and those more neutral to fascism.

So OP is bringing up the problem, which is the first step towards healing. :-)

OpenStars , 14 days ago

The “election” is perpetual. People will vote with their participation.

As it should always be.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

You are talking about user-level blocking, whereas iirc defederation is an instance-level blocking that also stops user comments too, as well as votes.

OpenStars , 1 month ago

I wonder where they went?

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Beauty != Taste

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Someone writing a wall of text when it is not asked for or appreciated may be being insensitive to their audience. On the other hand, I've literally had people ask for it and then someone else steps in to complain, so definitely there are Karens who feel entitled to whinge no matter what you do. Just settle in your own mind whether you are doing the right thing, and let being correct remain your guide as to what to do.

OpenStars , 1 month ago

I am not the person you replied to but I wanted to echo and extend their statement: you may need to come to terms with the fact that you might not have the capability to help your friend, and it's even possible that nobody does, unless and until they become receptive to that kind of aid.

I am not saying to do nothing, but do be aware of that, e.g. if you give them money and they gamble it away, will you just keep giving them money until neither of you has any at all? And then repeat for every single one of your friends as well?

Decide what you can do and what you cannot. In any case you may not be able to "save" him - that is something that as an adult he needs to do for himself, and may resent you for even trying?

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Yeah, along with the tiny soft semi-permeable bags that swim in it and wiggle and breathe, that's some other robot's problem.

OpenStars , 1 month ago

no cap

OpenStars , 1 month ago

If they are incapable of seeing the beauty that is right in front of them, then pity them.

Social media algorithms & enshittification really are destroying everything online, with their "engagement statistics" that predate upon hate & fear to drive continual profits. Trash talk sells, e.g. on X or Reddit, hence people use it, and then spread it to other platforms.

OpenStars , 1 month ago

It's bc it said two, isn't it? If it had been more believable and just said one...

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Don't forget: you can become one yourself, by running your own community.

OpenStars , 1 month ago

This alone is enough to answer why people need to vote for Biden next term!!!

OpenStars , 1 month ago

No...

spoiler

(yes)

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Boss makes a (million) dollar, I make a dime tenth of a penny, that's why I let crows eat my entrails on company time. :-P

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Now we have graduated to the disinformation age:-(

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OpenStars , 1 month ago

Fwiw, this is how I choose to view the situation:

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OpenStars , 1 month ago

At the same time, his leaving was also a success story in itself. He had all the money he ever needed in life, he was at the top of his game except just was exhausted working that continual grind, and was feeling his age so unlike e.g. any member of Congress, decided to voluntarily relinquish his power in order to create room for new people to step up, while he went on to blaze entirely new pioneer territory outside of mainstream TV, which was quite a risk even for someone like him. Wow... what a class act! 😍

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Unfortunately it's only slated to last until the election results... though this is one time that I hope things do not go as planned!:-P

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Tbf, those are some big shoes to try to fill:-) (I mean, not like, literally... but you know what I mean!)

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Afaict he is the last "investigative journalist" left in America, though he is biased himself, yet who else comes close that amount of depth?

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Trevor's standup specials are all really good, both before and after he came to America. He has a strong act, talking about his personal life and responses to that.

But he wasn't as good a fit in a team environment talking about mainstream American matters, except ironically when the show was "over" for the day and he talked more in his personal voice again. I strongly hope to see him land somewhere else where I can enjoy him again - I'd definitely keep following his comedy specials.

Though nothing compares to Jon Stewart being back in the saddle again!!! 🎉 🤩

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Yeah, and CGP Grey, Ian Danskin's Innuendo Studios, I enjoy the Crash Course series though more classes than topical, and Kurzgesagt is amazing though has their own type of bias.

But if I want to know something about e.g. Boeing or train derailments or a deep dive into student loans, or something I did not even know that I wanted to know about e.g. the current status of ethical farming wrt chocolate, or food delivery apps, he has it all covered. So it is not only the depth that is fascinating, but the width and breadth of coverage as well (both wrt a single video and moreover the number of those total).

Unfortunately it mixes in opinion and interpretation directly integrated alongside the delivery of the facts. So it is funny (juvenile), informative (truly!), and overbearing all at once, and seems designed to leave you feeling more informed than you actually are upon watching.:-(

Still, they offer so very many videos on so very many topics, and I have never seen anything these days that comes close - e.g. their Boeing video describes more in 10 of its 30 minutes than a typical TV "documentary" these days (at least, of the type my mother watches), and then it goes on to cover essentially what a full length feature film documentary would cover, all in something digestible while eating a lunch (or two). And I respect that so much - that takes effort and skill that is hard to match.

OpenStars , 1 month ago

In that case, what are we?

Meat suits hung onto skeleton hangers, obvi.

Or even more foundationally, proteins doing things with fatty membranes.

Basically piles of highly organized goo.

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OpenStars , 1 month ago

@Potatos_are_not_friends and @rockerface

We are beings of electric patterns, with our thoughts riding our brains the way the brain rides the body, and it begs us to wonder then: what rides us in like manner - memes & TV commercials? :-P

OpenStars , 1 month ago

Surely you mean that you totally believe that these totally real creatures have "nothing whatsoever" to do with any kind of... um... surveillance capacity, government or otherwise, r-r-right, RIGHT!?

OpenStars , 2 months ago

Hrm, they seem off by a little, maybe... 42 units?

OpenStars , 2 months ago

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OpenStars , 2 months ago

As I understand it, bc printing something on paper with ink has costs associated with it. Hey... wait a minute!? :-P

OpenStars , 2 months ago

This does not go nearly far enough imho. The woman on the right needs to be literally enslaved, in bondage (but not the fun kind) while the woman in the red dress needs to be appreciated not just in passing but during every waking moment of every hour of every day, with every thought, hope, wish, dream, prayer, and most importantly action dedicated to her eternal happiness, but more importantly her happiness right the fuck NOW in the next quarter.

Also it's not just the USA but the entire Western world... and quite frankly the entire non-Western one too just with Profit substituted with Power.

But the REALLY fucked up part is that literally nobody that I have ever met IRL has ever acted that way, though conversely who doesn't have that culture going on at their workplace? It's a HIGHLY skewed distribution where the "job creators" act that way, and not even like 99% of them but only the billionaire and wannabe class, and bullies, whereas everyone else seems to remember the human... except, for whatever odd reason, when it comes time to vote.:-(

OpenStars , 2 months ago

Uh, ma'am, this is a Wendy's... did you want to like, order any food?

OpenStars , 2 months ago

B-b-but... you weren't supposed to eat my face off!?

OpenStars , 2 months ago

Oh no! Even as a Christian myself, I loved (& continually recommended) his books and thought of him as a great thinker. This is truly a loss.:-(

OpenStars , 2 months ago

I think Capable should be downgraded to a Maybe at this point...

OpenStars , 2 months ago

Aren't we in the USA already at >200 electoral votes total that have pledged to put all of their votes towards whoever wins the popular vote? That said, I would expect a more serious resistance as it inches closer to where it might actually make a difference.

Also, I realize that isn't quite the same thing as fully moving away from a first past the vote system, but it is a type of reformation and it does help get away from the electoral college system in particular, so seems somewhat related.

OpenStars , 2 months ago

So far... this time could legit be different.

We've Fucked Around with the planet (since the Industrial Revolution), and also invented nukes, so... I suppose we're about to enter the And Find Out stage of FAAFO.

OpenStars , 2 months ago

I have heard that that word most often translated as "virgin" is elsewhere translated as "maiden" aka young woman just out of girlhood. I always wonder how much emphasis has been placed on that translation effect:-).

OpenStars , 2 months ago

I know in some places, like Texas, they seem to presume that you have a tall truck. Anyone with even a normal-height vehicle is thereby put at a severe disadvantage, especially when you try to see past the tall truck that has pulled way far FORWARD past the line, just to stop at a red light.

i.e., it is for measuring the size of one's dick, even (especially?) for women drivers. Learn to swing it proud, or else never get anywhere in those places!

OpenStars , 2 months ago

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OpenStars , 2 months ago

In both suburban(+rural?) and city areas, I hear a lot more of people racing their cars and honking lately. I suppose it is how they deal with their stress, by ignoring the needs of others as they think only of themselves.

Even if the former stuff is not the actual and literal cause of sleeplessness, I do find it highly emblematic/symbolic. People get theirs and everyone else can deal with it as best they can, or not, whatevs.

OpenStars , 2 months ago

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OpenStars , 2 months ago

What ladder?

spoiler

(I hope people can see where I was headed with this... :-P)

OpenStars , 2 months ago

Actually... yes, it literally is. They focus on what is effective, and if the pushy behavior works for them to get what they want, they do it. And it does. So they do.

OpenStars , 2 months ago

I think many conservatives are "good" (to the extent that any of us are, really), kind-hearted people. The movement itself is not, but the people who believe in it tend to fall for certain types of errors, e.g. being gullible.

Though many are not that way, and liberals also tend to fall for different types of errors, ironically also being gullible if we think our leaders give a damn.

The important thing is that our overlords want to keep us at each other's throats, as if it is two parts of the common man that are fighting against one another, when really it is the wealthy who regardless of which side wins the election, swoopes in to buy the political players and get their own interests, at the expense of the common man.:-(

OpenStars , 2 months ago

There is a fascinating video series on YouTube by Innuendo Studios called The Alt-Right Playbook that explains far better than I what I am attempting to convey.

Basically, it is not nearly as simple as that - yes there are elements of the conservative movement that use violent propaganda, but often it "hides" its true intentions well, and instead merely talks about the love, peace, and saving little babies aspects. Once you get drawn into those, the layers of the onion begin to peel back, and you get drawn in deeper, and deeper still, but at first, it is important to note that they have candy-coated "nice" versions as well. This makes it far more dangerous than it would be otherwise, if it were instead just straight-up Nazi propaganda visible to everyone from the start.

And yes, "collaborators" hurt people, arguably more so than full-on true believers, if only b/c there are so very many more of the former compared to the latter. Please note that I did put the word "good" in double-quotes, thereby calling into question whether it could fully apply - and yes I realize I am being inconsistent in that, b/c I also put the word "collaborators" that way too, that time more for the different reason of emphasis, but hopefully this deeper explanation helps to clarify. i.e. intentions matter, for some things. e.g. these self-described "good" people may not deserve to be killed for their involvement in their crimes, though neither should they be allowed to retain a leadership position, especially over & above those of us who... you know, actually read books & know stuff. This is why I did not put the word kind-hearted in double-quotes, in the sentence overall of "many conservatives are... kind-hearted people", b/c that one I truly do believe in. i.e., kind-hearted, not necessarily clear-thinking, as those are entirely disjunct concepts.

As is often the case, Truth is somewhere in-between the extremes. They can be "good" as in kind-hearted people, yet "bad" at fulfilling a leadership role, at the same time. And they can also be gullible, as too can liberals - we should all strive to not fall into those, or any, traps imho.

OpenStars , 2 months ago

Simple: when someone decides to put them in charge. Before then, they are simply "folk", and since intelligence is to a large degree domain-specific (in contrast to attitudes such as wisdom, the willingness to learn from mistakes, either made by oneself or others), someone could be perfectly happy, willing, and capable of e.g. oh let's say running a farm, or doing a minimum wage job such as working at a fast-food restaurant. But that does not necessarily translate well into "citizenship" i.e. voting (+ other things too, but that is the main, minimum-entry one), which requires a level of education in the complex matters of economic policy, foreign affairs, or hrm... I dunno, maybe starting with the ability to simply name the 3 main branches of government?

It is dangerous for them to vote yes, but they do not know that. Would you ask your dog to fly? Or your car to "do more with less" as in go a greater distance with less gasoline?

i.e., don't hate the playa, especially instead of working to change the game.

OpenStars , 2 months ago

You bring up some points I did not say... but to confirm, yes totally agree with. Capitalism isn't the only evil, and may in fact be the least evil of them all, yet it does have a tendency towards slavery, doesn't it? :-( Ofc, so too does socialism, in part b/c just as pure capitalism has never once been tried in the world (afaik?), neither has communism. Everything is just a blend - I mean no judgement there, just that it is what it is.

Yet looking back, democracy+capitalism did some wonderful things in the so-called "Western world" (ironically including Australia that is located in the East, but you know what I mean:-), but in the USA at least, it looks like we are ready to end it. Not the capitalism part, but democracy. Or at least that is what the people - like Majorie Taylor Greene, a literal sitting congresswoman - are calling for, and Donald Trump too, who says he wants to be emperor "for a day". If these people get their way - and the likelihood looks to be something along the lines of just shy of 50%? - then the ability (/burden/responsibility) to vote will be removed. But either way, as I mentioned, the consequences of voting has long since been taken away from us, in certain main aspects - importantly, not all, but many.

Btw you are off on your numbers: try the numeral three. Not 3 million, but literally three as in one person more than two and one shy of four. THREE people have as much wealth as the entire bottom HALF of America - and that was 5 years ago, before billionaires doubled their portfolios just last year alone. More recently, I see titles like "The bottom half of American families hold just 2% of the country's wealth — while the top 1% of families have a third". That is beyond "outsized influence", they have it ALL (almost). Tbf, there is still a very healthy middle class it seems, but the wheels definitely seem to have come off of this ride i.e. the trends are not good, and the "outsized influence" of those at the very top who can literally purchase Supreme Court Justices with their enormous wealth is a problem that seems like it will only solidify the issues.

Also, don't glaze over the percentage of Americans that have only 2% of its wealth: to state it again, it is HALF. Granted, some are children, but many/most are GenZ to Millenials - those who have started families and are looking to purchase a home, but find out that not only can they not, but it looks likely that they never will. Is that an exaggeration? Only time will tell, but neither Trump nor Biden look to be fixing anything, and Congress only recently passed its budget for the 2024 year (which started on October 1) here a couple of weeks ago - we very nearly started into the 7th month of the year before it got passed. This is routine, now. And don't even get me started on the corruption of the Supreme Court Justices. Or our for-profit, click-bait media. So if help will not come from the Presidency, Congress, Judiciary, or Media, and it certainly will not come from corporations, then from whence will it come?

Rather, we will see a slide - sometimes steady, sometimes rapidly falling - into anarchy as people find themselves not vested in the system anymore; or alternatively the healthiest people will be those who simply give up and accept their new station in life, at the very bottom, as peasants, making up part of that HALF of all members of society who control <2% of the nation's wealth, and who cannot afford a home or advanced medical care. In short, America won't be what it used to be - the dream has died.

So, you are correct that Trump is an example of enshittification of politics but that it does not mean that the entire concept is invalid, however I am relying on that one singular point to make that claim. Also, I am not stating that it is entirely invalid - a glance at the European Union is enough to dispel that. Rather, I am stating that the current state in America is not good, and only looks to be worse. Btw if you have any counter-examples I would love to hear them, but I have heard that no country that has ever devolved to become a 2-party system has ever managed to survive, and that worries me. So even if we managed to fix literally everything else, so long as that foundational flaw remains we may still be doomed, even if the deadline would have been pushed back? In that sense then, therein may lie some glimmer of hope: Donald Trump was so bad, that he may have woken up this sleeping giant to realize its predicament, so we might finally be more open to tinkering with this democratic system that could be done better? e.g. replace first-past-the-post voting with something else, which would force politicians to actually offer something positive merely than claiming that they are not the other side.

Also, note that I am not advocating for a civil war, nor a coup. I am only stating that some people are, and the fact that a coup has already been attempted is proof enough that it could happen again, by the end of this very year even. "Cvil unrest" is present, and I am only trying to open my eyes to acknowledge that. Also, I agree that it is likely to be some kind of boring "constitutional crisis event", rather than a full-scale shooting one, though the latter is not beyond the realm of possibility either? The people who Putin has working for him are quite good at what they do... and they may yet find another way, like the January 6 attack, to turn a handful of people into a force for a much larger change. "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."