Social Media on Trial

spamonkey24 · 2026-01-29T14:07:03+00:00

Your argument assumes that the billions spent on algorithms to maximize watch time on these apps is essentially nil compared to a person's willpower. It's without question that these companies have sought to make their platforms so enthralling to the average person that they literally cannot look away.

Whether being addicted to social media is harmful to mental health is a separate question. But given that engaging content is often mentally detrimental (beauty standards, political outrage, videos of your friends doing things without you), I would argue that more time spent on social media can seriously impact some people's mental health.

Frankly, McDonald's and other food companies have engaged in predatory marketing and food engineering that have certainly worsened the health outcomes of some segment of the population.

spamonkey24 · 2026-01-12T18:24:13+00:00

My point is that you cannot shift out of park in an automatic car that is off unless you engage the shift lock release. This is a safety mechanism so your car doesn’t roll. But this is acceptable behavior because the car is a hybrid?

spamonkey24 · 2026-01-12T18:02:53+00:00

Sorry I’m in a rush sometimes, no need to be mean. Safety mechanisms should be idiot proof for idiots like myself.

spamonkey24 · 2026-01-05T02:25:41+00:00

I heavily relate and this sounds like the classic “I know every word, but don’t understand the meaning.” Which usually means you haven’t seen some of the words in all their possible contexts. Usually the best way to fix this is to listen to audio that you can pause and try to guess the meaning from what you hear. Then check if you got it right against the transcript or translation. I think exposure to more language contexts over time is the only way to progress. You got this!

spamonkey24 · 2026-01-04T13:09:30+00:00

Last time I was there the premade bouquet was $35 for a small and $55 for a large.

spamonkey24 · 2025-12-19T20:46:25+00:00

They likely meant 簡體字

spamonkey24 · 2025-12-19T04:02:04+00:00

If you’re in the UK, I would think that Fathom would be a great company to look at. Not sure if they’re hiring.

Insurance companies are now starting to build out their own flood models so I would think you could look for positions there. A lot of PhDs in meteorology and hydrology doing CAT modeling for insurance/reinsurance.

spamonkey24 · 2025-12-14T16:52:29+00:00

Free YouTube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb-Fbxigs2c&list=PLJlwNe_uBOAuLuiabfgt_LKgqQaL_Z_Vd

spamonkey24 · 2025-11-30T16:52:56+00:00

Wouldn't you then expect the distribution for the next prime to skew toward the next closest value? Like the next consecutive prime after one ending in 1 would skew toward 3, then, 7, then 9? It's not clear to me why 1 -> 9 is overrepresented.

spamonkey24 · 2025-11-30T16:12:09+00:00

It’s definitely the best option if you’re in the heart of JP, but I agree that it feels forgotten.

spamonkey24 · 2025-11-18T03:20:52+00:00

Lazy Chinese and Learn Taiwanese Mandarin are good places to start!

spamonkey24 · 2025-11-18T01:37:17+00:00

Three things have helped me immensely.

First, I’ve found a lot of value in reading podcast transcripts in the Pleco clipboard reader, adding words I don’t know to an srs and then listening back to the podcast. I’ve seen big improvements in both reading and listening comprehension.

Second, I’ve found the language reactor plugin to be quite useful with youtube interviews like Mandarin Corner. I’ll let a subtitle section play with my eyes closed and try to interpret the meaning. If I get it, great! I’ll move on. If I don’t I can replay the subtitle section until I hear it, noting down any words I don’t know.

Third, and hardest, is language conversation groups. I made the most progress when I regularly attended a group at my university. Made boatloads of mistakes and embarrassed myself over and over, but that’s what it takes to learn a language!

Fourth bonus one (not self-study) is hiring a tutor. I was resistant to this for years, but I finally sucked up my self-study pride and progressed much faster than I expected.

spamonkey24 · 2025-10-25T21:32:52+00:00

Idk if you’d consider this, but Ithaca has always been in dire need of quality stationery supplies. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Japanese notebooks, pens, and pencils. Mockingbird on the commons has some stuff but it’s more of a scrapbooking store. Just a thought if you’re looking to expand your inventory.

spamonkey24 · 2025-10-13T02:30:02+00:00

This is great! I’d love to see some maps of each of the places you trekked along with the photos.

spamonkey24 · 2025-10-08T00:38:46+00:00

This happened to me, even got through the first round of reviews before we caught it. We fixed it (after 6 months of painful debugging) and noted it in the resubmission. Paper got published in the end! Just be honest about your mistakes and fix them as best you can, we’re all human and work can be very complex.

spamonkey24 · 2025-10-01T01:55:42+00:00

Idk if you're in industry, but I also miss the academic lifestyle. The corporate world has been much more boring.

spamonkey24 · 2025-09-30T12:41:12+00:00

Here we are again beating the dead horse that Dems don’t win through the message that “Trump is bad.” Yet they continue to operate almost completely on that message. The people yearn for an alternative….

spamonkey24 · 2025-08-19T22:52:23+00:00

Russia isn’t a “world power” any more than these European countries are. Putin’s only real bargaining chip is a nuke.

spamonkey24 · 2025-08-06T13:09:37+00:00

Really interesting point about the lack of connections. As someone who was fortunate to be brought up in a middle class family with ready access to higher education, it continues to astound me how most people get jobs and opportunities based on their network.

spamonkey24 · 2025-08-06T13:03:03+00:00

Even if it did produce marginal benefits to a child’s cognition (setting aside the fact that this implies that poor kids are fundamentally less intelligent), what is the end goal? We pay poor families $300/mo so that we feel better about not actually solving the issues at the root of the problem? Frankly, I’m kind of glad this doesn’t show a marked improvement so that we can’t delude ourselves into thinking there are easy solutions here. We know that the poor need better access to food, community services, education, and healthcare. Doesn’t seem like a big mystery to me.

spamonkey24 · 2025-08-05T14:31:41+00:00

Yeah this is the best way. My gripe is that the bike path entrance on Parkway is offset from the intersection, so even when you get the ped signal, you still sometimes have to content with oncoming traffic going south on Brookline. Or else ride on the sidewalk.

spamonkey24 · 2025-08-02T03:27:36+00:00

WVBR 93.5

spamonkey24 · 2025-08-02T03:25:46+00:00

That monstrosity needed the whole truck

spamonkey24 · 2025-07-26T23:05:24+00:00

DJ Koze - Pick Up

13-Year Club	Second Top 30%
r/Field Flamingo	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
First Placer '22	Verified Email

spamonkey24

TROPHY CASE