reallykindasorta
@reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net
- Comment on That explains a lot 6 days ago:
Since we’re sharing pyramid theories I saw one recently hypothesizing that for the first step pyramid they used a system of hydraulics to lift the blocks up a shaft in the center
- Comment on No room for romance when there's rising and grinding to be had! 1 week ago:
Idk if it’s satire but the company website exists and this guy is listed as the founder rockroserisk.com/about
RIP to him if he posted this in seriousness
- Comment on Residents who live near data centers say a constant low-frequency vibration is ruining their health and homes 2 weeks ago:
“We would offer to purchase those properties at market value and provide a subsidy to help cover the cost of moving,” he said of residents who live adjacent to the data center.
No big deal
- Comment on How to know if that job will crush your soul 3 weeks ago:
My org seems to be making hard choices to do the wrong thing at the moment. Hope I am wrong.
Agreed I’ve usually found existing employees honest and helpful. Often it’s hard to get an opportunity for an honest conversation before you accept a new job though.
- Comment on How to know if that job will crush your soul 3 weeks ago:
Good questions
- Comment on Music just isn't good anymore 5 weeks ago:
I was curious too so I pulled up the study.
First off, this is a marketing paper aimed at companies trying inform the industry about taste demographics.
Secondly, I think it’s relevant to note they selected sample songs from billboard top ten (excluding the top 3) so the data is definitely only speaking to ‘an average of average taste in billboard pop music’ and not to musical taste overall.
This is the bit that I think gets at our question:
Peak Preference in SSA indicates the peak preference of each respondent based on their birth year, so if you were born in 1970 and the testing showed you favoring the 1990 song Vogue- Madonna as your peak preference, your SSA would be 20 (you favor music from when you were 20).
My impression from this scatter chart is that a lot of people liked 80s music regardless of when they were born haha.
- Comment on Meta is rapidly reorganizing its workers’ jobs around AI: ‘Transfers aren’t optional’ 1 month ago:
“The pace of what we are building is unprecedented, and these are exactly the kind of challenges that define what we do best.”
What is it that you do best though? What do you sell?
Moving 1000 engineers to a “data labeling team” and calling it applied AI basically seems like demoting 1000 engineers to non-engineering roles, I’d be insulted but people working for Meta in 2026 probably don’t have a lot of pride to lose. Seems like most AI companies outsource the labelling stuff so I wonder how Meta is justifying paying people engineering salaries to do it.
- Comment on We’re NHS analysts organising together against Palantir. Here’s why 1 month ago:
When people tell you who they are, believe them! Palantir’s agenda is straight movie villain stuff.
- Comment on Palestine Action Activists to Be Sentenced As Terrorists in Move Kept Secret From Jury and Public 1 month ago:
Eroding the legitimacy of the courts doesn’t seem like an excellent strategy right now
- Comment on They got us by the balls 1 month ago:
In math most people publish their papers on arxiv regardless of whether they get published in a journal. Arxiv has its own moderation structure, but theoretically published peer reviewed articles should be more trustworthy because they’re reviewed by your peers. In reality reviewers don’t have time to read papers super closely so some shoddy research gets through even when no blatant corruption is involved. In pure math this isn’t a huge issue because the work usually speaks for itself, but for some areas, especially applied statistics, it’s not so obvious whether an argument is actually well supported or statistically cherrypicked.
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
All the subtle techniques eventually produce enough evidence to sum up one’s observations into a really big and gross elephant. Standing right there.
That’s such a great description, you somehow start being able to see through the mist if you pay attention to a topic for long enough and the details coalesce into a clear picture of the situation.
I’m sure the wool is still over my eyes on some important things but my bullshit detector is constantly improving.
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
Nah you’re completely right it merits an angrier tone, it’s just so exhausting!
Agreed on the lack of legitimate publications. Pretty much every mainstream news source is compromised. You just have to piece together the truth from independent sources and read between the lines.
They make their agenda kind of transparent just in what they do choose to cover (like Bezos’ papers hyping billionaires and AI) vs what they choose not to cover (perpetual and well documented rape murder and other war crimes by Israel).
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
I guess I felt like the evidence spoke for itself, my aim was to communicate that Guardian was acting in bad faith in their reporting of this. “Grain of salt” was just colloquial language. I hadn’t read the paper so I couldn’t speak to the actual contents.
I’m also disappointed that Stanford, Upenn, and Duke would be okay with this (there are rules for putting your university affiliation on illegitimate research to make it seem legitimate). I would kind of expect it from Stanford (who also sponsored the research) tbh but not Duke or Upenn.
No wonder people are losing faith in the scientific establishment. If anyone reading this goes to one of those universities you should email the VPR/OPR office to complain. This is eroding your legitimacy too.
This whole thing is an excellent example of how corporations wield their ‘soft power’ to try to make their policies seem reasonable.
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
I think we agree! I was the original commenter in this comment thread and posted the screenshot of the sponsorship issue
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
Typically when a news article mentions a “study” it’s a peer reviewed research article. If it’s a white paper or a working paper that is typically pointed out. Leaving that detail out is notable and probably a purposeful decision by my reckoning.
Generally they don’t mention conflicts of interest even if they’re listed so that bit isn’t especially atypical here to me.
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
I had seen the LLC thing and raised my eyebrows at the projects listed on their wiki, but didn’t see the META board thing, good catch. Everything is both awful and exactly as expected.
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
Interesting that Guardian didn’t see fit to mention it was a white paper unless I missed something.
- Comment on ‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools 2 months ago:
Keep in mind the paper is a white paper (not peer reviewed) and it is sponsored by the Bezos Family Foundation and Walton Family. Personally taking it with a grain of salt and waiting for some experts to weigh in who are not economists (like most of the authors are) since I don’t feel like combing through this 100 page document.
- Comment on Google says 75% of the company's new code is AI-generated 2 months ago:
Rude for no reason
- Comment on Google says 75% of the company's new code is AI-generated 2 months ago:
I asked what they meant not what they said, they share a CEO
- Comment on Google says 75% of the company's new code is AI-generated 2 months ago:
Do they mean Google or Alphabet?
- Comment on Anon needs a good response 2 months ago:
I think it’s only called that when it’s being used to manipulate you, paradigm case being an abuser who swears they didn’t mean to they love you so much they weren’t thinking straight please say you love me
- Comment on Anon reads about Milton Friedman 2 months ago:
I mean maybe shovels created exactly the right amount of jobs
- Comment on 'Star Trek': Andy Weir Apologizes To Alex Kurtzman Over Podcast Remarks 3 months ago:
Is it an alt right podcast or something? I’ve never heard of it
- Comment on On The Enshittification of Audre Lorde: "The Master's Tools" in Tech Discourse 3 months ago:
Simiarly, if you read the silicon valley artificial intelligence pseudo-research happening specifically from the computer science perspective right now it’s kind of hilarious how much of it is elementary takes on well established philosophical questions that people think they’re discovering for the first time. Look up neuralese if you want an example. Classic example of silicon valley being so excited it ‘invented’ the taxi.
- Comment on The Famed 1967 Bigfoot Film Was an 'Incredible Hoax,' Says the Director of a Groundbreaking New Documentary 3 months ago:
Does this prove bigfoot was a hoax or that we in fact have SEPARATE video confirmations of two different bigfeet in the same area a year apart?
- Comment on pretty average movie tbh 3 months ago:
The limit does not exist!
- Comment on UK-linked components identified in US Tomahawk missile used in Iranian school strike that killed multiple children 3 months ago:
Damn I didn’t know our canning jars were also evil:(
- Comment on Anon is terminally lonely 3 months ago:
expectations / reality
- Comment on Lik the bone 3 months ago:
If you have two you can try to see if they’ll rattle
