yarr

joined 2 years ago
MODERATOR OF
[–] yarr 4 points 14 hours ago

So next time someone trots out the "life in blue cities is hell...." sounds like I can just bring up Miami

[–] yarr 3 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Miami has its share of violent crime, doesn't it?

[–] yarr 28 points 15 hours ago (10 children)

It seems like a lot of the time they are like "boy, crime is higher".... but if you live in a city that's just a fact of life. It's pretty obvious that there will be less crime out in the sticks. I wouldn't really attribute this to any "blue" policies.

 

It's become somewhat of a meme now when there is a story on crime, or other bad things happening in a city, people pipe up and say "That's how it is in blue cities!" "This could only happen in a Democrat city!" However, I noticed they never say "... and that's why only want to live in X" or "... that would never happen in Y".

If living in "blue cities" are such a nightmare, where are all these Utopian "red cities" that people are apparently in favor of?

[–] yarr 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Is this a reply to the right comment? I am not sure this makes sense here.

[–] yarr 19 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Stories like this is very much why I severely limit the amount of time I spend on Windows. Having been with Windows nearly since the beginning of its history, it's insane to see the amount of reduction of user control that's gone into it.

One of the most egregious things is the lack of control around updates. Often I'll finish a session with my laptop and go to store it in the bag. Windows will cheerfully inform me that there is a forced update and then I end up having to wait for my machine to finish its shit while I sit around tapping my toes.

Meanwhile, in Linux-land, I have as much control over updates as I wish. I almost breathe a sigh of relief when I reach my Linux desktop, because it's still a place that feels like MINE. I feel like I'm some kind of sharecropper or temporary house guest when on Windows 11. It doesn't feel like "my" environment. It feels like it's Microsoft's computer and they just let me use it occasionally.

For myself, I was lucky(?) enough to have wasted my best years playing with Linux and running Linux boxes is no problem now. For the average Joe that needs to mess with computers, I feel bad for them. Windows 11 feels like shit, MacOS sure isn't great either, and that's pretty much the only choice.

No wonder I'm seeing less and less households with PCs and laptops. I think the average person in 2025 has just given up on computers and makes do with their phone or tablet.

Thank fucking god for Linux, because if I was forced to use Windows 11 full time, I think I'd snap and go live in the middle of the forest or something. It's actively annoying to even look at at this point, and I only see things getting worse. For example, the troubles with Windows "Recall" have barely even started.

I loathe to see what Microsoft has in store for us next, and I would guarantee it's not user friendly.

[–] yarr 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Oof, the web isn't as light as it used to be. Some websites won't even OPEN now with <2GB of RAM. Yes, it is that sloppy.

[–] yarr 15 points 3 days ago

All we need is for both Trump and Ellen to move. Two less insufferable people in the USA sounds good to me. The way Ellen treated her former staff was disgusting.

[–] yarr 6 points 3 days ago

If everyone's credit score falls, aren't we all set?

Or is every single service in the USA that depends on credit score all going to tank at the same time?

[–] yarr 2 points 3 days ago

You're just getting worried now?

[–] yarr 5 points 3 days ago

I hear this argument over and over again: "Why should I bother recycling? China is poisoning the planet." It's like reverse-whataboutism. I find it really lazy and a pointless attitude. The argument generalizes to: "Why do anything good when bad exists in the world?"

Cleanliness is its own reward. I can tell you if I lived in stink-town where 100% of everyone else's house was a festering mess, I would keep mine clean.

[–] yarr 10 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Being ecologically friendly is its own reward.

If your neighbor's house and lawn is cluttered with garbage and rotting food, do you also let your house gather the same?

Or do you wish they did a better job and kept your house clean all the same?

What if you had 95 neighbors all full of garbage and rotted food? Is there any number that would make you do the same?

[–] yarr 4 points 5 days ago

I don't read this as a win. One man finished in front of OpenAI and many, many, many finished behind OpenAI. If this is the future of coding, it's bleak indeed.

The top 1% of developers will probably be OK no matter what, it's the rest of the crowd who isn't an award winning developer that are probably in trouble.

 

I realize there's no singular answer for this, but many of the MAGA crowd attribute many of our current woes to the prior administration, like cost of living, inflation, unemployment rates, etc.

I'd imagine that every day that passes and we get more and more distant from Biden's presidency, it gets a bit harder to blame him for every problem.

e.g. It'd be hard to blame many of the increased prices on electronics on him, since much of this has been driven by Trump's tariffs (but I bet someone will attempt to refute this!)

This is a long-winded way of me asking the community, have you seen any Trump fans start to come around at all? When do we start living in the conditions (good or bad) of Trump's America and stop laying blame on the last administration?

I'm interested to see what people of all persuasions feel about this.

For myself, I have seen some minor loss of enthusiasm among Trump followers, but I haven't seen anyone register as a Democrat yet :)

 

I was talking to one of my friends and he mentioned staying home on July 4, citing how there are a lot of really ugly things going on in the US.

After thinking about this myself, I'm starting to feel the same way. Instead of being proud of the country, I'm feeling like I'm just another wallet that companies and the government are trying to suck all the money out of.

The cost of living is going up, the housing market is a nightmare, I don't feel very confident in our government at all, the job market is a nightmare...

I think I'll be staying home this year too... anyone else?

 

JP recently appeared on "Jubilee", the YouTube channel known for having "debate-ish" videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwk5MPE_6zE

The setup here is they will take some person and surround them with tens of their opponents, so you have "Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists".

In this exact video, one of the people asks JP if he's a Christian and he replies "Don't be a smartass!"

I haven't seen someone that espouses so many Christian values and philosophy while trying to hold it at arm's length. Is this just part of the usual JP tactic where you call into question any terms used in a discussion to sound deeply philosophical?

He seems to have an atypical relationship with Christianity and I can't decide if that's some genuine crisis he has OR if he just pretends to hold this stance just to add one more slippery facet to his behavior.

If nothing else, it's very odd.

 

Another "win" for the tariffs... Good luck blaming this one on Biden!

https://www.wtrf.com/news/devastating-blow-ohio-company-will-no-longer-develop-transformer-production-plant-in-the-ohio-valley-that-was-bringing-in-over-600-jobs/


WEIRTON, W.Va. (WTRF) — The future of the proposed transformer manufacturing facility in Weirton is facing uncertainty after union leaders learned that the project is facing major challenges.

Earlier this week, union leaders with the United Steelworkers say they met with company officials with Cleveland-Cliffs to talk about plans for the transformer facility in Weirton.

What they thought was going to be a meeting to discuss bringing back workers to the idle mill turned into unexpected news of an indefinite delay for the project.

United Steelworkers staff representative John Saunders says the reason for the pause in plans is because of financial issues and the uncertainty surrounding tariffs.

He says the change in plans leaves a lot of questions about what’s next.

It was unexpected and devastating; we thought we had the potential to bring back 600 people at Weirton over a period of time, and then we find out it’s indefinitely delayed, so that’s a really tough setback.”

John Saunders – District 1, Staff Representative for United Steelworkers The decision coincided with Cleveland-Cliffs’ release of its first-quarter 2025 results, in which the company announced it would no longer deploy capital toward the Weirton transformer plant.

 

The phenomenon of sovereign citizens persistently trying to win court cases with their principles, despite a lack of success, is indeed puzzling. On YouTube alone, there are around 5,000 videos showing sovereign citizens facing defeat in the courtroom. These individuals often make claims that have yet to prove successful and frequently end up incarcerated.

Why do people continue to adopt this seemingly futile approach? It's akin to watching 5,000 parachutists attempt a failed jump from the Eiffel Tower, only for newcomers to keep trying despite knowing, or perhaps ignoring, the inevitable outcome. Despite the growing pile of mangled bodies at the base of the tower, every day people decide to climb up and try for themselves.

The dedication of these individuals is noteworthy; they invest a great deal of time mastering the intricacies of their "sovereign" defense. Yet, it seems that they dedicate little time to researching previous legal outcomes or understanding why their arguments haven't held up in court historically.

What drives this persistence? Is it a deep-seated belief system that overrides rational analysis, or is there another factor at play that encourages them to keep going despite overwhelming evidence of failure?

 
 

I’ve been reading up on the tariffs that were imposed during the Trump administration and I keep seeing mixed reviews about their effectiveness. On one hand, they seemed to protect certain domestic industries by making imported goods more expensive; on the other hand, there’s a lot of talk about higher prices for consumers and retaliatory measures from trading partners.

The thing is, these tariffs aren’t exactly popular among everyone. If we were to look back 1 year out, 2 years out, and even a few more years down the line, how will we actually know if this was a good move?

Surely there are some metrics or outcomes that can help us evaluate their success or failure. I guess it's not as simple as checking stock market performance alone, although that’s probably part of it, right?

Is it primarily about looking at changes in trade balances with countries like China, or do we need to consider the broader economic impacts, such as job growth within certain industries? And how much weight should be given to the political ramifications, like strengthened relationships (or tensions) with trading partners?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on what metrics or indicators would help determine whether these tariffs were indeed a beneficial strategy. Thanks in advance for any insights!

 

Back in 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock, where he introduced the idea that too much rapid change could leave people feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and disconnected. He called it "future shock" — and honestly, reading it today feels almost eerie with how accurate he was.

Toffler believed we were moving from an industrial society to a "super-industrial" one, where everything would change faster than people could handle. The book was a huge hit at the time, selling over six million copies, but what's crazy is how much of what he talked about feels even more true in 2025. Some examples:

  • Disposable culture: He predicted throwaway products, and now we have single-use plastics, fast fashion, and gadgets that feel obsolete within a year.

  • Tech burnout: Toffler said technology would become outdated faster and faster. Today, if you don’t upgrade your phone or update your software, you feel left behind.

  • Rent instead of own: Services like Airbnb and Uber fit his prediction that we’d move away from owning things and toward renting everything.

  • Job instability: He nailed the rise of the gig economy, freelancing, and how fast-changing industries make it hard to stay trained up and secure.

  • Transient relationships: He warned about shallow, fleeting social connections — something social media, dating apps, and global mobility have absolutely amplified.

  • Information overload: This term literally came from Future Shock, and if you've ever felt exhausted just from scrolling through your feeds or reading the news, you know exactly what he meant.

Toffler also talked about the "death of permanence" — not just products, but relationships, jobs, even identities becoming temporary and interchangeable. He warned it would cause "shattering stress and disorientation." Looking around at the rising rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout today, it’s hard not to see what he meant.

I think about this book a lot when I read about some of the sick things happening today. Is this a warped perspective?

 
 

For those of you that haven't seen, 4chan was hacked:

https://boingboing.net/2025/04/17/4chan-hacked-obliterated-and-unlikely-to-be-back-soon.html

A deadly blow? Will a copycat spring up? Where are the users going in the meantime? Does any of this really matter?

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