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codyb

3,405 karma · joined June 16, 2013

I do stuff! Working at a media company, living in NYC. Big user experience advocate and community builder
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codyb··on Tech CEOs attend Amazon-funded "Melania" screening at White House
Yea, Apple's decision to have its CEO embrace fascism has really destroyed a ton of my goodwill towards the company and I'm actively looking for alternatives, delaying further purchases, and encouraging others to do the same.

Doesn't help that they appear to have shot all of their UX designers into the sun judging by the most recent iOS and MacOS upgrades.

codyb··on White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"
Sure. I participate quite frequently through calls, donations, and voting.

But I'm not sure if you've looked at the news lately... we're pretty far into "too late".

Non-violent protest movements have a great record of creating real, and sustained change. Whether that's in India, or the civil rights and gay rights and suffrage and abolition movements here, peaceful protest is a powerful way to send a message to the people in your governments what you and the rest of the people there support and expect of them.

It's a great way to meet folk, to get good energy, to get a message out, to get a little exercise and fresh air, and to support your causes in an effective and, relatively light time commitment manner.

codyb··on ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data
Thanks for coming out!!

At the walkout on Monday, it was a smallish group of us out, and then like a class of high schoolers came out and joined us and it was such a nice burst of energy.

"New York City get litty! Donald Trump is shitty!" lol, they were having some fun with the chants.

Would love to see more young people come out

codyb··on White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"
You found my message condescending? Lol. You must be really easily offended
codyb··on A macOS app that blurs your screen when you slouch
Yea, you relax, and then your brain produces random thoughts about things.

I suspect it's just about getting the space to relax, which is why I frequently have thoughts when staring at the wall, or taking a walk, or washing dishes, or doing any other myriad activities which are relatively easy on brain processing.

codyb··on ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data
Tons of young people either voted for Trump or didn't vote at all this time around.

Undoubtedly influenced by social media, they're now realizing that what they voted for was their own future's destruction and are now abandoning him in droves.

We'll see if it's too late or not.

Delete your social media, shit is poison.

codyb··on [dead]
Get out and protest y'all! If this is what they're doing publicly, what they're doing privately is much much worse.

I find actions here - https://www.fiftyfifty.one

I also boycott as much as possible, and encourage others to get out with me to very little success.

codyb··on White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"
There's a lot of folk out here downvoting my protest and boycott encouragement. I just assume they're do nothing goobers or worse.

The sad fact is, even most of the people who're sympathetic to democracy and human rights will do just about zero to protect or fight for them.

I don't really know what else to do though, so I keep trying!

codyb··on A macOS app that blurs your screen when you slouch
Oh, lol, now I get your question. Yea, it turns out the silence and lack of distractions are what produce "shower thoughts", more so than the act of showering itself.

Doing any relatively rote act like washing dishes, walking places, etc can also give rise to them. Not having a device in your hand to constantly steal your attention really helps though.

codyb··on A macOS app that blurs your screen when you slouch
With a faucet my good friend!
codyb··on A macOS app that blurs your screen when you slouch
If you delete social media, and leave your phone away from your person all day with notifications turned off, you can have these moments all the time it turns out.

Considering how much more productive these moments are for me than the bullshit I used to do on my phone and social media, it was an easy decision to make.

codyb··on White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"
Non-violent protest only! Encouraged by me based on successes at Selma, in India, and in response to the killing of George Floyd.

It's a long, inexorable march, but violence only perpetuates more violence and reduces sympathy for the protest movement.

codyb··on [dead]
Probably cause all the tech billionaires have been lining up on the side of fascism.
codyb··on UN declares that the world has entered an era of 'global water bankruptcy'
Lol. Yes, no one has ever been born in a water scarce location.
codyb··on Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android
Apple's certainly been working to destroy their consumer trust though!

At least on my end the political knee bending by Tim Cook and their recent iOS and MacOS updates have me firmly on the side of not giving any more money to Apple. (Sadly, I still pay for Apple One for hy family, so I'm not perfect. But... hey, it's a start. Speak with your wallets).

And I will be considering alternatives when my machines which I will be running to their end stop working.

It's really such a shame cause I really liked their privacy stances, accessibility work, and focus on user experience.

Now I say, screw Apple, and encourage people to boycott and be wary of upgrades.

codyb··on UN declares that the world has entered an era of 'global water bankruptcy'
Ah yes, it's just dirty Indians polluting the Ganges. And dumb Iraqis settling in the desert.

Crazy's probably not the word I'd reserve for you.

codyb··on UN declares that the world has entered an era of 'global water bankruptcy'
Okay, so then you should read the article?

"Four billion people face severe water scarcity for at least one month each year, and almost 75 percent of the global population lives in water-insecure or critically water-insecure countries, according to the U.N. report."

But thanks for pointing out that what I provided was examples.

codyb··on UN declares that the world has entered an era of 'global water bankruptcy'
And being told to restrict showers, not to water lawns, etc
codyb··on UN declares that the world has entered an era of 'global water bankruptcy'
Lol... really? Are you as a poor Iraqi villager able to make use of this information when you need water? Or poor Indian person?
codyb··on The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe
When I read the welcome screen which includes the "hit features", all I remember was

"You can change your icons!" - What? Was that the big issue of my day? (Although, after I saw what they had done to them, it certainly loomed larger in my mind)

and

"Notification summaries that may be incorrect"

Miserable. Won't be upgrading the personal computer, am fast moving away from Apple as a whole, am telling others not to upgrade for as long as possible.

codyb··on AI coding assistants are getting worse?
One way to help stop it is to get off social media and stop giving these tech billionaires so much money.

The less people on social media, the less real the network effect is, the less people who join in the first place, the less money the billionaires have to throw hundreds of millions into politics, the less inadvertent cult members.

I've gotten to the point where I just leave my phone at home at this point, and it has been incredibly nice. Before that I deleted most apps that I found to be time wastes, deleted all social media (HN and two small discords are my exception).

It's very nice, I'm less stressed, I feel more in the moment, I respond to my friends when I check my phone every few hours on the speaker in the other room.

I encourage others to try it, add it to your dry January.

And ya know what I ain't doing a lick of? Sending money and reams of data to these billionaires I think are really lame individuals with corrupted moral compasses.

Now it ain't perfect, I'm sure Google's still getting reams of info about me from my old Gmail account that I still use sometimes, and Apple too from a few sources. But... getting closer!

So many folk sit here and recognize the same problems I do, the way it warps your attention, the addictiveness of the handheld devices, the social media echo chambers, the rising influence of misinformation, the lack of clarity between real and fake...

Seems like there's a solution in front of us :-)

codyb··on Nvidia Kicks Off the Next Generation of AI with Rubin
Yea, definitely a good point. Going to be interesting to see how it plays out. I definitely do not have the expertise to answer the question
codyb··on Nvidia Kicks Off the Next Generation of AI with Rubin
If their new platform reduces inference token cost by 10x, does that play well or not well with the recently updated GPU deprecation schedules companies have been playing with to reduce projected cost outlays?

For context, my understanding is that companies have recently moved to mark their expected GPU deprecation cycles from 3 years to as high as 6 which has huge impacts on projected expenditures.

I wonder what the step was for the Blackwell platform from the previous. Is this slower which might indicate that the slower deprecation cycle is warranted, or faster?

codyb··on LLM Problems Observed in Humans
The studies are actually pretty interesting here...

This article is from 2021 - https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/crash-rates-jump-in-wake-of...

The conclusion seems to be that if you _only_ smoke marijuana you're actually less likely to be involved in a crash than a sober driver, but if you combine marijuana with alcohol you're _more_ likely to crash (which, duh).

Obviously not totally conclusive, but interesting none the less. Anecdotally, coming from a high school where folk smoke and drove all the time because they couldn't smoke in their houses or on the street where they'd face police harassment, it was always the alcohol that got them nabbed for DUIs. It's anecdotal, but my anecdotes are many and I'm not sure I've heard of any one I've ever known crashing while just smoking weed.

So... maybe everyone should toke a little before they drive, sounds like they'd leave more distance between the cars in front of them, and go at a more relaxed pace, and not try to do any crazy passes of the people in front of them. Road rage is a very real thing in America, and the stereotype isn't of your typical stoner.

codyb··on Texas A&M bans part of Plato's Symposium
Genuinely hateful usage is of course important to stop but let's not pretend that hearing negative things called something you are all day isn't damaging to people.

The idea that gay people walk around and hear "Oh that's gay as hell!" whenever someone stubs their toe, or loses in a game or whatever and don't have that affect them is silly and it clearly progresses into a culture where people don't feel comfortable being themselves.

It's a good thing that since I've grown up we don't say "oh you're not acting black enough", or "oh that's so Jewish", or any other variation of things that may not seem harmful at the time but end up perpetuating a "right" and a "wrong" whether intentional or not.

codyb··on Texas A&M bans part of Plato's Symposium
Ah yes... sixth graders and human adults have so much in common.

In fact, the culture at the school changed, and people stopped saying gay so much. It was very cool.

You should try standing up for something you believe in sometime, maybe you'd like it.

codyb··on Texas A&M bans part of Plato's Symposium
Huge eyeroll.

Who said anything about scolding anyone lol. I responded very calmly.

I'm sorry, but you'll never win me over that the world be a better place if only we could bring back overtly prejudiced speech.

Actions have consequences. You can say whatever the hell you want, but doesn't mean you deserve respect, or not to be corrected, or not to face the consequences of saying overtly bigoted words.

The fact is... calling negative things gay implies being gay is bad, and therefore we should stop calling negative things gay if we want to support all the good people in the LGBTQ community.

codyb··on Texas A&M bans part of Plato's Symposium
Yea that's it... definitely wasn't on our minds when we were 14 in middle school in America lol
codyb··on US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes
Seems reasonable to me, a very anti Trump individual. Now deliver.

And which of his buddies does this benefit?

I'm trying to think if there will be ramifications to this...

- Obviously forced divestment of all Wall St owned single family homes could impact housing prices which is both the point, but of course... also hurts many families borrowing power and net worth

- I guess that crash could potentially have people paying lots of money for homes that aren't worth that much anymore, which sounds pretty negative

- Of course... wow, would it be nice to be able to afford something in the city I love (which I doubt will be impacted by this)

Of course, no clear plan here. Just Trump saying something, why wasn't the "Trump says" part kept in the headline here?

codyb··on Texas A&M bans part of Plato's Symposium
I've heard an uptick in derogatory terms being thrown around recently and while unsurprising, it sure is sad.

Recent events...

- Went to a concert, an underage kid with a fake ID couldn't get a beer, turned to me and goes "Isn't this guy a f----"

Uh... well, he may be making your night less enjoyable, but I don't see why gay people have to catch strays cause of it...

"I don't think I'd call anyone that" was my response, and "it's okay to be gay" was a follow up

- My boss said something was retarded. I'm a bit wishy washy on the r-word myself as, while I'm friends with people with Down Syndrome and other maladies, it never occurred to me to relate the word to them (especially since they're generally really very nice people)

It's similar to how I never associated the word spaz with... I dunno what it is... multiple sclerosis or whatever, apparently that's a very common association in the UK, but I'd never heard of it (the association)

But now I've stopped using it entirely, although in this case I did not correct my boss (who I respect as a person and enjoy working for very much)

- One of my other friends called something "gay" recently

"Don't call things gay bro" was my response. As my mom explained to me in sixth grade "even though you don't really even have an idea what it means to be gay, when you say that negative things are gay, you're implying that being gay is negative, but gay people just are themselves and don't deserve that"

I became the "don't say gay kid" at school after that and I'm damned proud of it

All these losers trying to turn back the times to put gay people back in the closet give me "peaked in middle school" vibes, and it's sad to see that it's also slowly becoming normalized with people who I don't even think have that inclination or care to say prejudiced shit again too

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