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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • What if I told you that Germany is a federation. NRW would be the fifth largest US state, Bremen the third smallest (actually, almost identical population to DC), most of all the US has more states. They can do stuff in parallel that’s no excuse to not have quick election results. And now don’t come with “but there’s so much space in between” you’re not sending the results via horse buggy are you.

    And, no, of course the federation doesn’t legislate on state elections. It gets to say how federal (and EU) elections are run. State’s rights my ass in Germany the federation has no tax office, it’s all collected by the states, and their police can’t put boots on the ground outside of international borders (incl. airports) and the train system (cf Amtrak cops). Certainly can’t just decide to invade a city like is happening in LA. They also don’t have anything like ICE, that’s all state responsibility.



  • The German constitutional court declared voting machines unconstitutional for the simple reason that they don’t allow people with just an ordinary education, no specialist knowledge, to ascertain for themselves that the vote is kosher.

    The CCC actually tried to get them outlawed based on technical grounds, including that it’s impossible to have electronic voting that is both secure and private (“can’t prove to the Mafia boss how you voted” type of private), the judges listened intendedly and asked many smart questions, just to then turn around and say “yeah we barely understood that and we’re practically all professors and it’s our job, can’t expect J. Random Citizen to do that between shifts”.





  • The green sign reads “Please don’t leave empty boxes here. Bring them to the bin outside”

    No it doesn’t. It has a bad slogan in big font: “If we all unpack here, we can all pack up” (the idiom probably works if you squint hard enough). Then “Please don’t leave waste paper (carton) in the self-service-zone. Carry your empty package to the container. The environment will be just as happy as us”.

    It does not say where the container is (despite the definitive article in English, it’s not implied that there even is one at location), nor does it have relevant information in large letters, just lots of fluff. It’s accessively passive-aggressive, trying to give the impression that it’s all polite while simultaneously ordering you around. Trying to invoke social responsibility while completely ignoring that that’s a two-way street: Where’s the fucking container? You had one job with that sign, and you failed.

    Here’s what would work: Big: “Waste paper container is around the corner”. Small: “Please. Thanks”. You don’t have to convince people, you just have to make it convenient and they’ll be happy to carry their stuff five metres instead of playing carton Jenga.

    Also they’re using “Packerl” for package that’s probably Austria. Maybe Switzerland it’s not like I’m a specialist in mountain gibberish. Also not enough yellow for a Deutsche Post shop.


  • The Steam store is a nightmare for discovery.

    It’s brilliant actually. I mean it’s still arguably a shitshow, but Steam is very good at letting shovelware sink to the bottom of their algorithms.

    1000xResist was an indie title that was named GOTY 2024 by a few publications, but they only just crossed 100,000 copies sold about a week ago.

    Not bad for a story-focussed adventure.

    Sifu sold 3m, Baba is You about half a million. The game may be brilliant, the GOTY award may be perfectly deserved, still ain’t going to play it because it’s not my genre. “Story-focussed adventure” is like a quarter of a step above walking simulator when it comes to ludological complexity I’d rather read a book. That’s of course just me, for the general audience… well, it’s niche.

    Also btw young people never drove sales. The reason is simple: They’re broke.


  • I was talking about the foundation itself, not foundation+subsidiaries. And yes ever since the writing was on the wall wrt. google funds they’ve been putting more and more money in investments to make sure they can survive, as opposed to grants. Still keeping with the foundation’s mandate, though, e.g. all their VC investments into AI are the polar opposite of what the likes of OpenAI are doing. Kinda sceptical e.g. huggingface will ever turn a profit, much less a significant one, but it’s important to have them.






  • barsoap@lemm.eetoMildly Infuriating@lemmy.worldTorrenting is not allowed on Windscribe
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    3 months ago

    Yep if you run a seedbox you shouldn’t be surprised if consumer-grade offerings don’t want you on their service, they provision their capacities, whole business model, for a certain average usage.

    There’s a huge difference between “I downloaded that ISO because I needed it and am going to seed it 24/7 because I’m too lazy to turn off my PC in the evening” and “I grab every fresh release and mirror it”.

    OP you gotta pro up. You don’t want a VPN you want a server or rackspace at a datacentre or IXP. If all you’re seeding really is linux ISOs talking to the right people even might get you free access to overcapacity, as in free transit to wherever your location doesn’t pay transit for, and whatever minute-by-minute capacity doesn’t cost them anything on the upstream (those links are billed by max bandwidth used, not transfer volume, so if there’s a lull in their traffic you can soak it up and all it costs is electricity).


  • barsoap@lemm.eetoMemes@lemmy.mlIt's Women's Fault
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    3 months ago

    I don’t believe there is no difference at all between men and women. I simply believe that a lot of the things we say are inherent differences are actually not as inherent as people tend to believe.

    Depending on who you mean with “we” I definitely agree.

    For example, I’ve seen no evidence that women are inherently more kind/caring/empathetic than men in any biological way, only that society socializes them to be so,

    …and fails at doing so, if I may add. Male-pattern aggression is simply more obvious because it’s in your face physical while female-pattern is psychological, always ensuring plausible deniability.

    Yet if you ask most people, they’ll assume there’s something biological that makes women more like that emotionally.

    Women favour low-risk engagement, passive aggressiveness over overt aggressiveness. Thus you see emotional manipulation used way more often, one approach being self-victim-framing, and for that the narrative of “oh women are so delicate and emotional they have to be protected no matter what they do” fits the bill. Female viciousness is beautiful but I very much prefer it in the “never start a fight, but always finish it” version. Relevant symphonic metal. Also if you’re trying it with me you’re getting tickled into submission.


  • barsoap@lemm.eetoMemes@lemmy.mlIt's Women's Fault
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    3 months ago

    TBH, Silverbacks are actually good role models: Big, bulky, sit around grooming the troupe, know everyone, emotionally support everyone, when someone wants to start a fight, intervenes, “You wanna fight? Yeah, fight me! Both of you at once, if need be!” – and then suddenly the others lost interest in fighting.

    Proverbial gymbro speaking softly and carrying a big stick, far from a tyrant, you know the type. Chimpanzees are the closest to us, with warfare and everything. Bonobos are… well, they are what biologists start talking about when they want to get into your pants. Let’s just say there’s a reason you don’t see them in zoos, parents don’t want to hear kids asking those kinds of questions.

    Isn’t it weird that for humans, sex is a private matter? Completely singular among all the animals. And that’s independent of social status, like a smaller sea lion seducing a female one while the big hunk de jure leading the pack isn’t looking, it’s universal. Even if sex is a group activity, then that group itself is putting up layers of privateness and propriety. Swinger clubs with fancy dress codes, doesn’t matter if you end up naked but you have to start out in suit and tie.

    If a scientist would, today, discover humanity and describe their behaviour they’d be laughed out of any conference, “did you get your notes mixed up”. “Next thing you want to tell us camelopards are real”.


  • barsoap@lemm.eetoMemes@lemmy.mlIt's Women's Fault
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    3 months ago

    hooks suggests that men need to develop a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of masculinity, one that values emotions, relationships, and mutual respect.

    Yep, written by a woman. Replace that with “value traversing rivers on couches strapped to floats and having a blast with the pals” and you’ll get somewhere.

    Valuing something already is an emotion so you’re being emotional about being emotional about something so, yeah, no. Go climb a tree, create a tasty recipe, fix a shoe. Shave the soap.


  • barsoap@lemm.eetoMemes@lemmy.mlIt's Women's Fault
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    3 months ago

    Boys develop coarse motor skills first, then fine motor skills, for girls it’s the other way around. Which also means that girls are quite good at sitting still in primary school, boys, without getting tired out in recess, very much aren’t. Cue “behavioural issues”.

    Lego did control for everything that could be controlled. They’re the OG “our toys are for everyone” company. They thought that their stuff was gender neutral, that stores and parents, society, were the problem, but had to admit that, no, kids actually do have, statistically speaking, different play preferences. Their female set designers didn’t catch it because they were not kids, any more.

    And “no hormones to speak of” MF if there were no hormones involved male karyotypes would develop female.


  • barsoap@lemm.eetoMemes@lemmy.mlIt's Women's Fault
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    3 months ago

    they generally just go with what they prefer in the moment along lines that don’t match the gender binary

    Nope. Lego did a large behavioural study on this because this was their assumption, they thought they were doing completely gender-neutral stuff, but even controlling for parents’s biases their stuff wasn’t gender-neutral when it came to actually be interesting to kids. I’m talking about stuff like the city series, here: A street, bunch of houses, bunch of minifigs. Figures that the girls by and large where looking at the inside of the buildings, finding them empty, and lost interest while boys where seeing the streets, found ample of detail and also a car to drive around, and created stories. There are, of course, as always exceptions to the binary but the overall trend was undeniable.

    That (and the insistence of US stores on not having gender-neutral isles and putting Lego in the boy’s section) made them create the Friends series: Detailed house interiors, larger, more detailed minifigs. The pink is for the stores and parents, the interiors for the girls, the build-what-you-want flexibility for the humans.


    Generally speaking, I think that difference feminism has been discarded prematurely. Sure, none of the normative BS that many of its proponents espoused should ever see the light of day, but denying difference is harmful in its own way, and the reason is the inevitability of essentialising: If you say “there is no difference at all between men and women” you’re bound to essentialise everyone towards your own gender. And it’s way better to be essentialised as an apple when you’re an apple than it is to be essentialised as a pear.


  • Three days is the (generously calculated) time until civil defence will have soup kitchens up and running, and at least over here they stock three months worth of lentil stew, pea stew, and bread and more than enough diesel to keep logistics, kitchens and crucial infrastructure such as water pumps running. Heating, push come to shove, would be supplied at the gymnasium of your local school or suchlike. Recommendation is to have 7-10 days worth of stock.

    But yes I’d recommend against (completely) relying on stocks that need preparation because electricity and water might fail. Canned soups and stews are good and don’t forget canned peaches or such so you can have dessert. Woodgas burners are cheap camping supplies and you’re bound to be able to find some sticks somewhere so with some water reserve you even can have your morning coffee.