aren’t they pretty staunch bloc supporters rather than lib or con

Pretty easy choice these days

The scientific process derives consensus from not observing what is expected in a theory, rather from repeated failure to observe counter examples to what is expected. This is the whole point of “reject the null hypothesis”.

Stated more plainly, a scientific theory is solidified when you put yourself in the shoes of your own fiercest critics, and attempt to question your own idea (in good faith) and fail to observe any evidence to substantiate that criticism. A scientific theory, is then put under that scrutiny for real, and gains consensus when others fail to observe any counter examples for themselves.

So to answer “what to look at”, the answer is always, what would your competition look at to try to disprove you? Then look at that, to see if there is anything of substance to discredit your own idea, and save everyone the time and your embarrassment in case there are easy counter examples.

Just check your tea leaves.

It’s insane to me that any government would approve “digital licence plates”. Clowns making decisions “because we can”, not “because we should”. Result: a circus.

Lots of great points in the comments. But I think so far no one has really addressed your core complaint head on, which is why society tolerates a double standard here.

Parents get a pass because they are supporting more than just themselves… It may appear that the parent who is getting a free pass is pulling less weight, if you look at this exclusively through the lens of comparing contribution to the company’s productivity. But if you expand that lens a bit, you see that raising a child is also work to be valued (which you benefitted from yourself, btw). Frankly, a company with a work culture that considers its social responsibility to the community beyond merely spitting out products is a really good thing.

If you are ok with the double standard of handicapped parking, you should be ok with this too.

I now only buy offline or local-only software and products. If it doesn’t exist, I hack it.

AFAIAC, all that that achieved was to push me off of those MS products.

All prices are set based on what consumers are willing to pay.

The only way prices ever go down is by exercising a decision not to buy something or to go somewhere for an item.

It will not come from the government, unless the government mandates a specific rate.

It’s the great flood of (miss)information, drowning out truth, and AI is only making it worse. People have forgotten how truth is generated and why it is valuable. This will continue untill people adapt to the new reality that information (AI) is not the same thing as truth. And people being people… they will only adapt and learn after a lot of people get hurt.

Agreed. We should be supporting Israelis who recognize and promote that the only solution to peace is harmonious coexistence. Calling it “marketing” seems irrelevant and disingenuous, about as solid an argument as calling “peace and love hippies” fakers.

All this convenience in tech. We never stopped to ask ourselves what we were giving up. Add protest to the list of sacrifices to the altar of affluence.

Seems like an irrelevant detail.

Wait, you are telling me he drank water too???

I’m not convinced that people, yes even the bad ones, wake up, get out of bed, and think to themselves “let’s do evil today”. Rather, I think people tell themselves lies about how their actions are morally justified for some greater good, or at least remain willfully ignorant (i.e. psychopaths), or just complicit in a rotten system (passive bystanders).

I can’t relate with this feeling of wanting to “troll people on Reddit” at all. Are you conjoined at the hip with them? Is your identity defined by your relationship with them?

Cut them out. Try some scissors.

My experience with TP-link matter devices is you need a TP-Link account authentication. Excuse me? Fuck off TP link. I only want local-first devices.

There is no justice in the US right now. Why bother holding this person accountable when we can’t even hold the highest position in the land accountable for their crimes. The social fabric is unraveling.

The 2017 one was based. All the other ones are a big fat meh, especially the 2024 one.

The tech behind chatGPT is no more useful for that kind of decision than an apple peeler. Humans have been dupped to think that LLMs resemble intelligence.

Information is not truth. A do or die slogan for the 21st century.

No, no, you are supposed to eat the glue.