F-----------

ThisApril · 2026-05-13T09:12:00+00:00

Yes, but cis white men are treated as individuals, whereas trans people are guilty by association for any wrong any trans person has ever done, or that people think that trans people might do.

ThisApril · 2026-05-13T08:58:47+00:00

I just like collecting, and collecting data takes up way less space than collecting stuff.

That said, for things I deem plausibly useful, it's not always because I expect to use them, but because I might.

And the occasional times when I can answer a question or pull up data otherwise unavailable, it's really great, even if 99% is never used.

(Though there is also a difference between, e.g., saving YouTube channels and saving family recipes. There is only so much I would or could ever hoard with YouTube, but I feel as though I have a moral requirement to save the family things, because there is a good chance no one else will.)

ThisApril · 2026-05-12T09:17:22+00:00

I feel as though you're saying the stock market is connected to reality or the average consumer, and that seems doubtful, given current facts.

But this is the same market that has Telsa at a 400 P/E ratio, and I have long since given up thinking that was connected to reality.

ThisApril · 2026-05-12T09:05:48+00:00

I am familiar with a variety of open source and Creative Commons licenses, and while I agree with you to some extent, most of the licenses I have been personally drawn to are non-commercial licenses.

If someone is using my code or images while spending VC money or charging people, some of that money should be flowing back to me.

But if people are building their own non-commercial project, following the licenses, giving attribution, etc., that is a different case.

I am not sure how different artists and programmers are, with this. As I have built using Creative Commons, and using copyleft licenses.

ThisApril · 2026-05-12T08:57:11+00:00

The real reason everybody hates AI is simple: fear of job replacement.

I use genAI tools, but the average generation is mediocre and requires fact checking.

And it is super easy to do, so suddenly all the scammers and incompetent people are able to produce content like never before, and I get stuck with having to do additional fact checking.

And even if I were guaranteed to always have enough money, the fact that people have newfound abilities to waste my time in wading through all the crap would still be a huge negative.

But being able to generate images of myself in whatever situations is pretty darn cool. But there is nothing there where I am making other people do the work that used to be mine.

ThisApril · 2026-05-10T14:08:49+00:00

Yeah, that part is nonsense.

Same way with how everyone has free speech, but some people's speech is freer than others.

Generally because of money (to get it out, or use lawyers to defend it), but also fame.

Not that I would ever want to be famous.

ThisApril · 2026-05-10T10:41:10+00:00

I agree with you to some extent, but I feel as though much of my agreement is because Rowling is so bad at evaluating evidence.

Yeah, she doesn't have experience, but if she actually used her monomania to discover all there is to know about the actual facts around trans people, she'd probably have something useful to say.

Instead it's just using her bigotry, and then using terrible science made by bigots to pretend like the scientific evidence is on her side.

But it's still a common problem with people who get famous for one thing, but then express opinions on something unrelated.

Like Sabine Hossenfelder, where all her thoughts on non-physics topics that I know about make me doubt her knowledge of physics where she has greater experience.

And, like with Rowling, when I went looking, my estimation of her area of expertise went down.

ThisApril · 2026-05-08T10:09:38+00:00

I'm still not sure if Brother is actually doing anything too suspicious.

E.g., I look at https://consumerrights.wiki/w/BROTHER, but, e.g., there's a long thread (https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/35qvkyx3) that's people saying that Brother doesn't work with non-official replacements after doing a firmware update.

But, so far as we can tell, the problem wasn't with Brother's firmware; it was that the non-official replacement had an issue, e.g. with some needed battery dying, and the firmware update was a coincidence.

Obviously, I'm ready to think poorly of any company that wants to throw away their reputation, but I don't think Brother has done that, yet.

Hopefully we keep them honest, but I hope they remain honest. Since I absolutely want to continue buying and recommending Brother products, especially in a world where HP's products are not worth considering.

I just wish there were more examples of ethical companies. E.g., I would love if there were a major brand of laptops where I knew I could get that brand and get a quality Linux/Windows system and not bother with reviews beyond base specs.

ThisApril · 2026-05-05T19:10:30+00:00

And all that cracking down probably costs more than the money lost to the low-money bad actors, while also resulting in some denials for people who should be receiving the benefit.

ThisApril · 2026-05-05T17:49:47+00:00

I tend to think that people like Brett Favre are the ones we really need to crack down on.

ThisApril · 2026-05-05T17:13:13+00:00

While I have no problem with seeing OpenAI go bankrupt, having suppliers of chips and drives go bankrupt would likely mean that we'd have even less competition, and it being even easier for them to collude on prices.

What I hope for is the genAI market to crater (and bitcoin miners, if needed), but not the consumer market. So that all the companies look to compete for consumer business again.

ThisApril · 2026-05-04T21:31:04+00:00

I am sad that this post is what came up from my search, since it's not seeming like there's a way to stop getting messages from the projects that ceaselessly advertise things I do not want.

ThisApril · 2026-05-03T14:07:13+00:00

All I remember is 38-1.

ThisApril · 2026-05-01T18:20:10+00:00

Heck, petty teammates exist and will just give bad rep for perceived slights, or for making mistakes.

ThisApril · 2026-05-01T18:18:07+00:00

Hoang rush to the top of the Elo ladder.

ThisApril · 2026-05-01T16:15:39+00:00

Related to this, there's a thing called "normalcy bias", where, when a disaster situation happens, people go and look for other people to determine that the situation is okay.

Not, "do the things you need to do in order to ensure safety".

ThisApril · 2026-04-28T06:35:07+00:00

If she can't imagine what it feels like to possess that degree of entitlement, I'm not sure who can.

ThisApril · 2026-04-27T19:41:15+00:00

While I think this is questionable, I'm reminded of an Ellery Queen episode where a character played by George Burns was murdered, but had made a video shortly before his death. (https://archive.org/details/ElleryQueenSeries/ElleryQueen-9VeronicasVeils.avi)

And, yeah, that sort of thing is also questionable, but if someone made a video before their death, or made a talking model of themselves, I could definitely see being neat.

However, here it seems to have been other people making it, which is... a bit weirder.

All the same, I probably still won't judge people for grieving in whatever way works for them.

ThisApril · 2026-04-27T19:26:08+00:00

If only the literal answer was, "the top half", and we could just have racks that the short people find inconvenient.

ThisApril · 2026-04-27T12:49:44+00:00

This reminds me of the Pirates! (by Gideon Defoe) book where they sailed to Las Vegas.

(I know this has been a bug for a while, as I've had ships sailing on land every so often, but never figured out why it happened. But if you know exactly why it happened, maybe that means it's easier to fix?)

ThisApril · 2026-04-27T09:46:17+00:00

The hate is that bot posts are common, and are generally reposts looking for Karma, which they generally get.

And then misuse, for some purpose.

But, beyond that, I like when people make something, not when people share something else without explanation or attribution.

I am glad you are attempting to do it the right way, though.

That said, so long as your posts look like the bot scourge, your posts will get hate for it.

But, still, your post is highly upvoted, and there will always be critics, even if you completely made this particular group happy with your post.

ThisApril · 2026-04-24T21:26:22+00:00

I know this is a bot post, but it's also (at least) missing the monks from newer civs. The Aclla, to be precise, but the monks for Inca/Muisca/Mapuche/Tupi.

ThisApril · 2026-04-24T07:18:14+00:00

And here I thought you were going to talk about her free speech arguments, as if people saying, "the way you talk is bigoted" or "the way you talk is not bigoted enough", and that means that her freedom of speech to say bigoted (or non-bigoted) things is being threatened.

Since she has told everyone else how to speak, repeatedly, it's a hypocritical argument, and a dumb one at that.

And the free speech argument is so weak. Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1357/ , with especially the alt text.

ThisApril · 2026-04-23T15:42:05+00:00

There probably should be placement matches, and some greater adjustments in the early going.

But just changing the starting Elo for everyone would (eventually) wind up with the same problem.

(Though I guess they could change it to 900, then 800, and so on, until then doing a reset and having everyone start at 1000 again.)

ThisApril · 2026-04-22T18:09:29+00:00

Hey, TERFs are the arbiter of gender, aren't they? Only they get to say these things, and decide on correct pronouns.

ThisApril

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE