mortimer
@mortimer@lemmy.world
Freelance Subversive
- Comment on Do you use your blinker in a car? 6 hours ago:
I use them all the time. Pisses me off when other road users don’t. They’re called indicators here in the UK and apparently if you pass an advanced driving test and get an advanced licence you don’t have to use them all the time, particularly if there’s no-one around to see them. Advanced courses are about thinking rather than being on autopilot, and so indicating out of habit suggests you’re not paying attention to what’s going on around you.
- Comment on Does anyone have ideas for cable management here? 4 days ago:
Aye, it’s a fucking shit show alright. Hide the cables behind some low wooden shelves under the TV and put all the devices on those shelves (drill holes in the back of the shelves for the cables to go through). Otherwise stick that big black hairy god-awful pimp carpet over the whole lot of it and velcro it to the wall. Also, you need to get a good plasterer. That back wall is a fucking disgrace.
- Comment on Which actor did not have a single bad film? 5 days ago:
Cloud Atlas was brilliant.
- Comment on Which actor did not have a single bad film? 6 days ago:
Tom Hanks.
I’ve never seen a bad Tom Hanks movie.
- Comment on Do snakes prefer to drink warm or cool water? 1 month ago:
I can see an experiment coming on. Give your snake two dishes and see which it prefers.
- Comment on Is there really a difference between my understanding the phrase "go for a walk" and my dog understanding the phrase "go for a walk"? 1 month ago:
Yeah, I can see that, but with a horse it’s more about training I would imagine. A punishment/reward system. With a dog it’s more buddy like. I’ve never really had to chastise my dog, other than perhaps a little shock value smack when he was a pup. As for rewards , it doesn’t even have to be a treat (although it helps). Sometimes his reward appears to be just seeing me smile or laugh, which brings me on to sense of humour. My dog certainly has a sense of humour and knows what’s funny.
All that aside, I wouldn’t want a horse jumping up and sitting on my knee.
- Comment on Is there really a difference between my understanding the phrase "go for a walk" and my dog understanding the phrase "go for a walk"? 1 month ago:
Dogs are way more smarter than we give them credit for. They are the only animal that has been able to establish a relationship with humans to such a close degree, having evolved alongside us for tens of thousands of years.
I don’t look at my dog Rocket as my pet, but rather as my best friend whom I rely on daily.
A while ago I didn’t want him to get overly excited when I said the word “walk”, so I started spelling it out instead. Didn’t take him long to figure out it was the same thing.
It’s not just a monologue either. He responds in ways that have subtle differences depending on how you say something and the intonation of what is said.
No other animal has even come close to creating such a close co-existence with humans. I’d go so far as to say they are better than most human. People can be wankers, but a good dog will always have your back if treated with kindness and respect.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
Young.
- Comment on Why do some laws exist if everyone is expected to just break them? 2 months ago:
I got caught once by a speed camera doing 65 in a 50 zone. The camera was in an unmarked van parked on the motorway lay-by (conveniently just after some temporary road works). A few days later the postman delivers a fine in the mail, so I ignored it as it wasn’t sent by recorded delivery (so no proof of receipt). Now, by law in the UK, the police have 21 days to inform you of the offence and three weeks later I get another letter from the cops informing me that I have an unpaid fine. So I write to them and tell them that I never received it and that I have no recollection of being on that road. They then send me photographic evidence of my car being caught at 65 mph in a 50 zone and that I am obliged, by law, to declare who was driving. I write back and inform them that it was so long ago I have no memory of who might have been the designated driver, let alone even being on that road, and that because more than 21 days have passed they have failed to inform me of the offence. They write back with some nonsense about having proof that the letter was sent, but I argue that this isn’t proof or receipt and that I’d be guessing if I declared who I think might have been driving that day. Result being that I never heard from them again.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
Some people function fine with it and others don’t. Just like some people get aggressive with alcohol and others become funny or idiotic. I used to smoke weed in my 20s and early 30s but then it started to make me paranoid so I quit. I know people that have smoked it all their life and are fine other than being a bit lazy or boring. It’s a good tool if you play an instrument and write music. Some of the strains that are available these days are more akin to taking a psychedelic than smoking the weed I remember.
- Comment on How is the current AI bubble when compared to the .com bubble in the early 2000's? 2 months ago:
If you’re going to use quotes then at least make sure you quote me correctly. I didn’t say that it wouldn’t generate wealth - read my post again. I said “very little of value [is] being generated by most end users”.
I can see why you need AI.
- Comment on How is the current AI bubble when compared to the .com bubble in the early 2000's? 2 months ago:
The pop of the AI bubble will probably be much worse. During the Dot Com era, people were actually generating wealth for a period. With AI, so much has been invested in the concept with the result being very little of value being generated by most end users.
- Comment on Is there a name for the smell or sensation experienced right before dawn? 2 months ago:
The Dawn Breeze, perhaps?
- Comment on Chinese Keyboards 2 months ago:
Just tried it on Ask Jeeves as you suggested. It wasn’t very helpful:
- Comment on Chinese Keyboards 2 months ago:
And the point is that I’d rather talk to a human.
- Comment on Chinese Keyboards 2 months ago:
See, now I’ve learned something that I wouldn’t get from Google.
- Comment on Chinese Keyboards 2 months ago:
I don’t use Google. I deGoogled my life. Besides, if we just used Google for everything there would be no point communicating at all and thus no point in Lemmy. We could all just ask the Master Google questions, chat with it’s AI and stay locked in our bedrooms eating pizza sponsored by Google.
- Submitted 2 months ago to [deleted] | 36 comments
- Comment on Please explain this to me. Are consumers that dumb?!? 2 months ago:
It used to be called Oil of Ulay here in the UK. When I went to Australia in the late 90s is was Oil of Ulan. Then one day I discovered it was Oil of Olay. I thought I was losing my mind and that this was a classic case of the Mandela Effect. Turns out it was just marketing, like Marathon becoming Snickers.
- Comment on Should I get a drum kit, or a pressure washer? 3 months ago:
Go for it man. It looks awesome. I might actually save up and get one myself. Fuck pressure washers!
- Comment on Should I get a drum kit, or a pressure washer? 3 months ago:
Ah, but with a drum kit you could join a band, tour the world and pick up lots of hot chicks.
With a pressure washer you might be able to clean a patio or two, earn some loose change and be constantly covered in mud.
- Comment on Should I get a drum kit, or a pressure washer? 3 months ago:
Drum kit.
Pressure washers seem great ‘n’ all until you use them. Then you end up soaked, splattered and covered in all kinds of shit. I used mine once to clean a driveway and no longer wish to repeat the experience. I didn’t even bother trying to wash the clothes I was wearing as it would have buggered up my washing machine. I just dumped them in the trash.
With a drum kit you don’t even have to leave the house.
- Comment on is feeling disrespected reason good enough to change jobs? 3 months ago:
It’s always worked for me.
- Comment on what was the last game you played in 2024? 3 months ago:
Wipeout Omega Collection.
- Comment on is feeling disrespected reason good enough to change jobs? 3 months ago:
Satisfaction at making your asshole boss do something that he/she clearly didn’t want to do. Satisfaction that you made it as awkward as possible for them. You can also play the game of threatening to take them to an industrial tribunal for harassment. They might even give you a financial incentive to go peacefully. It worked for me on a couple of occasions and the bastards deserved it.
- Comment on is feeling disrespected reason good enough to change jobs? 3 months ago:
Make them fire you. I’ve done it that way loads of times when dissatisfied in a workplace. There’s nothing quite like being fired and out of work to make you get your shit together and find something else. Also, make a plan to become self-employed if you can. Having been fired loads of times I now work for myself and it was the best move I ever made. I no longer have to deal with asshole mangers any more and if there’s someone you dislike and don’t want to work for, you can either not take on the job or over-quote on the costs to get rid of them. Sometimes they’re stupid enough to agree to those costs, so then you at least feel satisfied about working for an asshole.
- Comment on Why does the winter solstice mark the beginning of winter, and not the center? 3 months ago:
Yup. “The map is not the territory” as Alfred Korzybski put it.
- Comment on How would you forgive someone that poisoned your dog when they only offer bad faith apology ? 3 months ago:
My dog is better than all humans. There’d be no forgiveness. Only murder.
- Comment on What do people (as in, IRL) actually think of the [alleged] perpetrator involved in the NYC shooting? 3 months ago:
As a person living in Scotland I was initially perplexed why this was even a story. I mean, isn’t this what Americans do? Shoot each other all the time?
If the guy that was shot was a bum living out of a dumpster at the back of McDonald’s would this even be a story? And therein lies my initial naivety: this was a CEO of a company ranked 8th on the 2024 Fortune Global 500, and therefore a very important person indeed apparently.
Money talks and bullshit walks I guess.
As for the shooter, I haven’t really been following the story, but I guess he was someone who got fucked over by the health insurance company.
To me this is just box standard America: people shooting each other, fat folk eating too much, car chases, wars everywhere, idiots for presidents, corrupt companies. The kind of stuff that’s in every Hollywood movie.
As an outsider looking in, it’s kind of sad yet fascinating watching the most powerful country in the world fall apart.
- Comment on Trump's eligibility 5 months ago:
I’m going to miss you.
The only apethetic attitude I’m aware of is the Democrat’s apathy towards genocide in Gaza.