voting with your wallet

I’m terrified how many people think buying and selling stuff is moral, civic, and democratic duty. Econ 101 doesn’t even work in economics, why are we applying it to everything?

I had an opportunity to socialize with some young people recently and the one thing that struck me the most was how far ahead the girls were in social skill and maturity.

I don’t think this has anything to do with sex difference or nature. I think that girls are simply expected to pay attention to other people and boys aren’t.

I don’t exempt myself, I was a solipsistic goblin at that age.

unfortunately, Windows is integrating AI into core apps by using AI to code. Microslop has promised that the next version of Windows will be agenic first, which means Windows will be a feature of Copilot, not the other way round.

At that point the only script that’ll strip the AI out will be: shutdown /s /f /t 000

No bubble burst has ever been a surprise, only the timing is a mystery. It’s obvious to the casual observer that the US stock market is a sandcastle. And not just AI exposure, but wildly overvalued tech stocks. Everyone knows that a correction is coming, and it’s going to be brutal.

It’s astonishing that you believe you ever had any agency, but thanks for being honest.

You must understand that your engagement may improve your suggestions but the ultimate beneficiary is a trillion dollar company. The creators have a chance to be compensated for adding value to the platform, but you’re working for, I don’t know, vibes?

It’s likely that Homer didn’t author the Odyssey, but rather wrote down the oral tradition that already existed.

I don’t understand why the dislike button is important. Do you feel like you’ve lost agency over the algorithm? Or do you value the opportunity to publicly disapprove?

Perhaps you trust that a like/dislike ratio is correlated to video quality.

For my part, like, share, and subscribe are just different buttons in the Skinner box that is algorithmic entertainment. “Engagement” is free labor for to improve algorithms and train “AI”.

People don’t understand that feminism is less about who pays on the first date, and more “please stop raping us”.

In the 1970s rape was basically legal in all 50 states. From colonial times until then, every husband was immune from charges of rape so long as the victim was his wife. In other cases of rape you could not, by law, bring charges unless there was a corroborating witness. The “lying bitch” defense was automatic and statutory.

By the mid 90s, marital rape was criminalized in all 50 states, but some states still have higher burdens of proof, and/or less jail time.

For those who think this is all in the past, clearance rate for rape charges today is in the low single-digits.

If you teach women about their bodies and give them the choice, they will have fewer children.

Trying to compare Valve to Sony on the basis of pro/anti-customer basis is a great way to embarrass yourself. Yea, Valve doesn’t have disks, so they’re the same right?

Just like I thought. You think it’s your civic duty to train Google’s algorithm in the hopes that it may favor the stuff you like.

You’re a model consumer. I’ll bet you pause the ads when you leave the room.

This has always confused me.

I’ve never liked, disliked, rated, commented, or shared a Youtube video. Because I’m using Freetube, I technically don’t even subscribe anymore. Why are y’all so eager to maintain the algorithm? Does “disliking” a video feel like agency?

If you really wanna punish Youtube creators, watch their video for less than 30 seconds. That won’t count as a view, but I bet the algorithm clocks it as a dislike.

I always save the 3.5 jack from headphones when they die. I carry them with me because they can instantly silence any TV you can reach. Doctors offices and airports are much better now.

At this point, I have difficulty following a conversation in the same room where a TV is playing.

It doesn’t have to be high tech. Sometimes plain glass is installed and later applications, etchings, or abrasions are added for privacy.

There is a known phenomena among some E Asian living in America to learn English so thoroughly that they loose the accent. The problem is that their English is too good; their diction becomes the accent that gives them away.

It’s almost impossible to pass as a native speaker without years of immersion in the culture.

That’s why we’re invading Cuba: to teach them baseball! We might even share our American love of classical cars.

The problem was that the work tasks were supposed to occupy the students as well as teach them. The teacher was annoyed because this kind of student requires more attention than a student kept busy for the allotted time.

The idea that educating students is the primary goal of school at any level is naive. Everything up to the High-School level is half job-training and half daycare. Education is something that the student may pursue, but it’s optional.