nickwitha_k

@nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org

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nickwitha_k ,

Yup. This is a direct consequence of the looking of pensions and wage suppression. Without meaningful change, even those with healthy 401k savings are likely to have trouble retiring.

This stuff about the price reductions after 4 years of blatant gouging is really freaking me out

I mean, that’s 4 years of our lives taken! 4 years of opportunities that were more challenging because they wanted a number on a computer to go up! 4 years of feeling worse than necessary about my finances and management of them and general personhood because i felt like i couldn’t afford anything because everything was...

nickwitha_k ,

I think that you may be mixing up two things here: political systems and economic systems. Capitalism, socialism, and communism are economic systems. Political systems are things like monarchy, republic, and oligarchy.

I will also highly recommend Wage Labor and Capital. I had to study it in university and find that it is a good high-level analysis of the systemic issues in the capitalism. For a deeper analysis from Marx, while he is most known for communism, his magnum opus was really Das Kapital, which is not about communism.

nickwitha_k , (edited )

It definitely was due to ignorance, it was not intentional.

That means you learned something new today! :D (I don't mean this in a condescending manner at all - I just love learning and even when it's vicariously through other people).

That being said, the economic system in place is always at the mercy of those in political power, is it not?

Yes and no. There is a really complex interplay between political and economic systems. Despite this, differentiating between the two types of systems is an important tool for better understand how they work and influence eachother and society.

I'm not being facetious, it just seems to me that no matter the conomic system in place, human nature seems to be to find a way to exploit it. I just can't think of a scenario where that can be protected against.

That's a fun thing and you've unknowingly underscored a massive flaw in a lot of political and economic theory (especially the later). Humans must be understood through multiple lenses:

  • We are animals; biological entities with material needs to sustain life and drives to reproduce (some exceptions, like ace folks, though arguably, there are more forms of reproduction than biological). Nearly all biological entities pursue some form of reproductive competition/selection. Even the baboons who selected for less aggressive/more cooperative males select against these traits, competing with groups that are not selecting for cooperation. (Further note: I do not say this to mean that I believe that competition "human nature" - there are too many counter-examples but, from a high-level perspective, all organisms are effectively competing, even if, paradoxically against competition.
  • We are not rational actors; humans do incredibly illogical and irrational things all of the time. Many of the popular models championed by supporters of neoliberal capitalism completely fail to account for this, instead, assuming rational self-interest.
  • And many others.

ETA: From my perspective, as one who is cooperatively-minded, the best political and economic systems are the ones that can be currently conceived that result in the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people while providing protection to vulnerable populations and individual agency. I also think that this is a process rather than an endpoint - technology and organisms evolve over time, our social constructs have to do so as well in order to be useful.

nickwitha_k ,

AI tools to create art to be exclusively consumed by AI tools? I approve.

nickwitha_k ,

*boil it for at least 5 mins

Private Equity–Backed Firm Bowlero Is Ruining Bowling ( jacobin.com )

For the most part, Bowlero doesn’t build its own centers. Instead, it purchases existing ones and makes them over in the Bowlero style: dim lights, loud music, expensive cocktails. At Bowleros, bowling isn’t bowling. It’s “upscale entertainment.”...

nickwitha_k ,

Private equity seems to ruin literally everything that it becomes involved in.

nickwitha_k ,

The jurist system that has been irreparably corrupted by bribery from the wealthy who heavily support far-right politicians? The ones making rulings that conflict with the wording and clear intent of the US Constitution, citing case law predating the country by a century, and mysteriously being in line with far-right political leaders' biases 9/10 times? That one?

nickwitha_k ,

And time

nickwitha_k ,

Best place to get news on Lemmy.

nickwitha_k ,

Teamwork makes the dream work.

nickwitha_k ,

33 old? Nah. 30s are just the start of actual adulthood (as opposed to young adulthood).

nickwitha_k ,

And in 10Forward you're absolutely brutal, keeping the comm in constant fear. You rule with an iron tentacle.

nickwitha_k ,

If you have a penis, you should be able to use tools competently and perform basic maintenance and repairs.

I don't think a penis is required. I personally think that every human being should know basic maintenance and repair skills.

nickwitha_k ,

As much as I hate sales and marketing, salespeople are human beings trying to get by too. It's another case of worker on worker violence that doesn't touch the root cause.

nickwitha_k ,

The argument that Hillary is responsible for Trump is pretty ridiculous.

Yes, but no. Her campaign and the DNC actively worked to elevate Trump in hopes that he'd be unelectable so that they wouldn't have to compromise with the Left. The "pied piper" tactic that the Dems are now continually using is extremely high risk but they would rather see fascism than leftward movement.

TIL in the Carboniferous Period, no fungus existed to decompose trees. They just grew on top of each other up and up.

The weight of the trees was so great that the ones on the bottom got squished and became coal. That’s where coal is from. Bonus fact: the whole time this was happening, sharks were hunting in the oceans. Sharks are older than trees and fungus!

nickwitha_k ,

TIL that barnacles are crustaceans. Had thought that were mollusks. Yeah. I'm going to have to agree with them bring a horrifying twisted version of the clade.

nickwitha_k ,

I think that the majority of those are either accelerationists and/or state/political actors. Accelerationists soundly believe that the ends justify the means and think, despite a clear lack of solid evidence (and contrary evidence ex. Spain), that making things worse will force people to act to make things better. Mass repression and genocide of LGBTQ+ and POC are acceptable losses to reach Utopia... despite that literally never being the outcome at any point in recorded human history.

Can I refuse MS Authenticator?

So my company decided to migrate office suite and email etc to Microsoft365. Whatever. But for 2FA login they decided to disable the option to choose "any authenticator" and force Microsoft Authenticator on the (private) phones of both employees and volunteers. Is there any valid reason why they would do this, like it's...

nickwitha_k ,

SMS is woefully insecure.

nickwitha_k ,

As a security enthusiast, please also push for allowing physical security keys. They are awesome.

nickwitha_k ,

Yes. FIDO2 keys are awesome.

nickwitha_k ,

You might not own the company but do you like job hunting, the prospect of having the stigma of being the guy who caused a breach following you around, or screwing over your coworkers'. Noone is an island.

nickwitha_k ,

True. App-based is a bit more secure than SMS but nothing beats hardware.

nickwitha_k ,

Weird seeming personal attack there. In case it is defensiveness from a perceived attack from myself, that's not what was intended. My intent was to point out the potential consequences of viewing it in such a seemingly myopic way.

  • Job hunting and stigma: If one's accounts are found to be the cause of a breach, and it is found to be due to negligence, there's a good chance of that resulting in a firing. Being fired due to security-related negligence is likely to make it a challenge to get past screening when hunting for a job (that's what I mean by stigma). And finally, job hunting fucking sucks, in my opinion.

  • Screwing over co-workers: You don't have to be friends to care about how your action or inaction impacts others. Being the cause of a breach has a real possibility of getting people laid off, if the scope is significant. Maybe less of a big deal if you're in most countries outside of the US but, here, the ramifications are pretty substantial. For example, I work with several people who are undergoing chemotherapy or who have spouses needing medical care. If laid off, health insurance evaporates and now they literally cannot afford the treatments necessary to live. Others have mortgages or rent to pay. Execs are not even going to entertain the idea of taking on the responsibility that is claimed to be the reason for their absurd pay.

Yes, it is healthy to set boundaries between your work life and personal life and to leave work at work. But, like I said, noone is an island, our actions in our work life can have profound impacts on others.

nickwitha_k ,

Are you autistic by any chance ?
...
Please go see a therapist, please.

Actually, quite likely on the spectrum and diagnosed with ADHD (this is a major contributor to my verbosity, so apologies if it comes across as a big rant). I do have a therapist indeed and have found it very helpful - highly recommend it if you're in need. Not sure why this is relevant.

Maybe we're hitting a bit of an "impedence mismatch" here. I suspect, partly as you're coming through from an Aussie instance that it may be partly due to a lack of context on how fucked things are, labor-wise in the States. Healthcare here is tied to one's employment, intentionally. It is technically possible to get insurance through a public exchange but, practically speaking, it's not going to do much, especially if one has chronic or severe health problems. Also, we have very poor protections against firings and layoffs (most US labor contracts are pretty well one-sided).

Is work the purpose of my life? Fuck no. I have, however, been repeatedly screwed over, job-wise, by things outside of my control (Recession, offshoring, mergers, untreated ADHD). It is pretty awful, if you haven't yourself, I recommend giving the experience a pass. This has made me acutely aware of the impact that my actions can have on others, not just the immediate but also the secondary and tertiary impacts. I'm also the primary income for my household, so, that rather raises the stakes a bit.

Put these things together with the fact that I now have have coworkers who will literally die without medical care (insurance through work - so cancer patients have to have a job or a spouse with great coverage) and it should paint a good picture for someone with a healthy dose of empathy. Because of how labor is structured in the US, screwing up in a manner that has a big impact on the company means that I could be killing someone indirectly. Should that kind of thing be an employee's responsibility? No. But that's the reality of it. Actions have consequences within the system that one operates in, fair or not.

As for cybersecurity, somewhat fair. I'm not fixated on it but do definitely have a more significant interest than most. With the overall increase in cyberattacks on companies, states, and individuals, I'd recommend everyone being more security conscious.

nickwitha_k ,

Would my nice if we got an entry here: https://sdf.org/?status

nickwitha_k ,

This is even better than my answer.

nickwitha_k ,

Fellow ADHDers, please note: None of these are likely to help you. If you try them and they don't work, don't beat yourself up. They are strategies most suited to neurotypical brains.

Neurotypical/non-ADHD folks: If these help you to be productive, that's awesome and I'm both envious of and rooting for you.

nickwitha_k ,

I think it's a healthy part of a relationship and shows consideration for one's partner.

ETA: Thanks for the perfect setup.

nickwitha_k ,

"Uplifting" intelligent species through selective breeding and/or other techniques. Impractical? Yes. Probably not a good idea? You bet. However, I would really like for humanity to have sentient company.

nickwitha_k ,

If genuinely disturbing, therapy can help.

nickwitha_k ,

Part of that is because private education there is not a thing. So some of the funds that would go to for-profit education at the expense of public schools instead goes into taxes to more efficiently fund education.

nickwitha_k ,

It also prevents use of education to enforce class divisions.

Has anyone here been prescribed TRT? Or had a partner on it?

Got my bloods done and my Testosterone levels are LOW. I'm working out a lot and kind of pissed Ive been doing it on "hardmode" for god knows how long, but before I take the doc up on the script I'm doing my due diligence on the realities. It seems like every article I find is either written by a trt clinic or is a one sided hit...

nickwitha_k ,

The biggest thing that you want to be sure if, in my experience, is ensuring that the dosage results in steady levels throughout the month. I had an awful time with the dose being every other week. And when I say awful, I mean "having a full fledged anxiety attack causing me to be pretty much locked inside my head every fortnight, resulting in needing to seek professional help". Hormonal imbalances can really fuck you up.

nickwitha_k ,

I'd guess the latter, unless the licensing is in conflict with their values.

nickwitha_k ,

You get it. That's exactly what I advise to anyone wanting this feature. I'm not familiar enough to know if it's something that I care about.

nickwitha_k ,

This. The 401k is a scam, letting the wealthy profit off of investing hypothetical retirement savings and reduce labor compensation. I have one but whether it will actually matter and payout is a gamble.

nickwitha_k ,

Having worked there right after uni, I refuse to eat there. Not because of the food quality (it's not great) but because of the awful way that they treat employees and their acceptance of abuse towards employees from customers.

nickwitha_k ,

Yes.

nickwitha_k ,

This has become so non-stop that I had to do some research on logical fallacies because I was quite sure that there was a formal name for what we're seeing from anti-electoralists and accelerationists (the Venn diagram is pretty much a circle). And I was right.

In this thread there's actually two (at least).

  • False Dilemma (aka false dichotomy): "You can either support genocide by voting for Biden (or Trump) or oppose it by voting third-party (or not voting)." This is just ridiculous levels of oversimplification with an implicit nested False Equivalency fallacy ("both sides are the same").

  • Denying the Correlative (what I had to look up): "Vote third-party." In the first-past-the-post, two-party system, there are only two choices that can have an impact. According to the data, voting third-party is nothing but a spoiler for the candidate of the major parties that one prefers. The choice is Biden ⊕ Trump. This fallacy is basically the inverse of the False Dilemma, which makes it all the more impressive to see the two used alongside one another.

nickwitha_k ,

Yes.

nickwitha_k ,

It left?

nickwitha_k ,

I know you've got a ban but, hopefully you can see this.

I find it concerning that I no can no longer tell which group is supposed to be the one telling the other to shut up about the toppings

This is actually a rather good reflection of the reality, though maybe not the way that you intend. Anti-electoralism, accelerationism, and right-wing politcs, by the data on outcomes are equivalent. It is hard to tell, at this time, whether an individual supporting the former two is genuinely a believer, a state actor, or other political operative.

nickwitha_k ,

Fighting the good fight against accelerationism, authoritarianism, and bad faith. I don't have the emotional energy to do so with any consistency at this time - the 21st century has been very draining. Make sure that you take time for self-care. @pugjesus you too.

nickwitha_k ,

I don't think that you and people sharing your thoughts are the target of the meme. There is an exceptional amount of accelerationist and/or anti-electoralist (they are indistinguishable in outcomes) posting going on. People are trying to discourage voting for Biden AND voting altogether.

nickwitha_k ,

Hey now. It's all about perspective. If you think about it in terms of geological history or the history of the universe, the discovery pretty much just happened.

nickwitha_k , (edited )

Pretty sure that the kilt was invented by an Englishman so that scots working in his factories would be less likely to get clothing caught in the machinery and maimed. I say this as a kilt-loving descendent of scots.

EDIT: To be clear, I was referring to a Small Kilt, whose intention is attributed to an English mill owner named Rallinson circa 1720. Not the Great Kilt, which to my knowledge is Scottish in origin.

nickwitha_k ,

A Great Kilt (invented by Scots, as far as am aware) definitely. I should have been more specific. I was referring to the Small Kilt (which is what I most often hear people referring to as a kilt), which comes from the 18th century.

nickwitha_k ,

Should have been more precise, I think. I most frequently hear "kilt" referring to the Small Kilt which comes from the 18th century, not the Great Kilt.

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