blarghly

@blarghly@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨how to watch less youtube on my tv?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  My honest recommendation: realize that you’ve been sucked in to using youtube as an addictive coping mechanism. You say you love youtube, and I get it - there is a lot of fun stuff and a lot of useful information there. But YOU ARE WASTING YOUR LIFE. For many people, watching some youtube videos sometimes is fine - but for you, at this moment, you should strongly consider the tradeoff between continuing to watch videos and doing literally anything else in your life. Finding and spending time with a significant other, cooking healthy food and exercising, making new friends and spending time with old ones, advancing your career and making more money, creating art, exploring nature, learning about the world, becoming a valued member of your community, etc. Looking at those great big distant dreams you had during childhood and adolescence and chasing them!

  I highly recommend that you do everything possible - EVERYTHING possible - to remove youtube from your life Right. Now. Seriously - take your tv off the wall, stand it up on the ground, and give it a swift kick in the screen with the toe of your boot. Or if you wanna be an environmentalist about it, list it for sale on fb marketplace and take it off the wall so you can hand it off as soon as someone comes around.

  Install every app/site blocker you can on every device that you own. Pay for the premium version so you can get all the features to keep you off the platform.

  Make plans for what you are going to do with the time you are no longer spending watching youtube. Hang out with friends. Sign up for a pottery class. Volunteer at the animal shelter. Clean your home up.

  Your brain will fight you. It will say “but youtube is so fun, and I’m really invested in these channels right now, so I can just cut down a bit and it will be fine.” It will say “but youtube has lots of good information - what if I need to fix my car?” It will say “but youtube has a lot of cultural relevance - how will I keep up with the memes my friends are sharing without it?” Your brain is trying to protect itself from being deprived of its most consistent, low effort source of feel-good chemicals by coming up with all sorts of convincing-sounding reasons for never having to change. Don’t listen to it. For any benefit youtube might provide you with, you can get that somewhere else in the world. If you want to laugh, you can see a standup show or make jokes with your friends. If you want to learn something, you can read a book or take a class or read wikipedia or ask a friend who knows more. And the biggest one of all - if you want that feeling of feeling comfortable hearing about the small minutiae and updates of someone’s life that you’ve known for a long time, you can do that with your friends! You can do that, and have the other person actually know you exist!

  And of course your brain will say “I’m not addicted, I just need to cut down a little, but I could stop anytime I want.” Yeah? Then prove it. Try to go 2 weeks without youtube. If you can’t, then you have a problem

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Basketplane⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  d/dBasketball

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I could quit AI anytime I want to⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Has anyone ever opened one of those books? For all we know, they could just be a bunch of blank pages on the inside

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I could quit AI anytime I want to⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It seems like most of my friends are on addy, so… yes?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  After doing some research on the US census website, my best guess is that, yes, tourists are required by law to complete the census. Though they definitely seem like an afterthought, since I couldnt find any direct reference to tourists completing the census. And also, while technically legally required, on the same page that explains that you are legally required to respond to the census, the government also wrote a whole section about why you should respond to the census.

  So in practice, almost no tourists are going to complete a census form, and they will face no legal consequences as the census has basically no legal enforcement mechanism.

  As for your followup - why would they want tourists on the census? - Well, because they want the best data they can get. They’re a bunch of nerds collecting data to do statistics on. Why would they just leave data on the floor?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨is it weird to have your own religious beliefs system⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I think you just described being “Not religious, but spiritual”.

  So, like, you’re the worst

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How best to open a blueberry?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Ooh, size 30, a very standard size! How considerate. I always hate the size 25 screws, since the 30 doesnt quite fit, and then I have to dig around for my other bit

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How com the ad industry make so much money?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m just saying

  They have established themselves as the critical and inescapable middleman between consumers and providers, not necessarily directly or exclusively but in every practical way possible and in such subtle ways that it’s not always obvious how much they actually control.

  You can hear the creepy piano music when you read this

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How com the ad industry make so much money?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, sure. But if that’s your standard for “mind control” then asking someone to pass the salt counts, too

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How would I go about turning this into a power-generating wind turbine.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Image

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How com the ad industry make so much money?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  This sounds like a weird conspiracy theory. Communicating with potential customers that your product exists and is good isn’t some concept that the advertising industry has somehow wrested from the hands of good hardworking people in return for their wages. It’s what marketing and advertising IS. It’s like saying the cheeseburger industry controls our access to cheeseburgers - like, kinda. But also, that’s kind of definitionally true. You can, of course, raise and slaughter your own cow to subvert the cheeseburger industry. And you can hand out fliers you made yourself advertising your business on the streetcorner. But it is a lot less work, and you’ll probably get a better product, if you outsource the work to a specialist

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How com the ad industry make so much money?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  This is not, in any meaningful way, mind control. It’s just making something memorable. You don’t become a mindless zombie because you listened to a jingle. Instead, it just means that when Jerry, who is really busy because of his kids and career and hobbies has State Farm hike his rates, he will think “those motherfuckers! Who else sells insurance?” And will then remember the jingle.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Drop your unpopular opinions here because c/unpopularopinions is filled with popular opinions⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Ticketmaster’s real job isn’t selling tickets. It’s being the bad guy, so fans hate them instead of hating the band or venue.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Drop your unpopular opinions here because c/unpopularopinions is filled with popular opinions⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Lemmy users have an irrational hatred for slightly-special characters.

  Which makes complete sense, as most lemmy users are slightly special characters who hate themselves

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How to get attention around here.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, I feel like you are weirdly close to my view. Incentives matter.

  I’m not sure why you think that markets are inherently bad, though, or what incentive structure you think would be a better alternative.

  Personally, my view is that markets are a naturally occurring phenomenon in any sufficiently large and complex human society, and if we try to design a society without them, we will simply create bad outcomes, like the rise of a wealthy and powerful criminal class.

  My view is that, absent a better (and importantly, proven) structure, the best structure we have yet developed integrates markets into society in a pro-social manner. We allow legal markets, but create rules and guardrails to align incentives, so that the individual’s work benefits both themselves and society as a whole.

  An analogy I like is that of a river. A completely unregulated river will ebb and flow, often help water your crops, and sometimes overflow its banks and flood your home. If you try to completely remove the river, it will not disappear - it will simply build up and overflow, causing greater floods, and depriving everyone of water. If you create a huge dam and completely control water flow, then the water will flow very consistently and you can avoid floods, but you will disrupt local water ecology, lose a lot of water to evaporation, and risk an enourmous calamity if the damn ever fails. A large dam might be the correct solution some of the time, but typically the best solution is to let the river flow mostly freely, while building small dams for water reservoirs and power generation and levees near population centers to protect against flooding. It is not just necessary but beneficial to let the river flow, but we must also protect society from its excesses.

  So, too, with markets. They are going to happen, and they provide a lot of benefits to a lot of people. But the people and the government must be protected from its excesses. We can allow people to build and own a taco truck or a cement factory or a software product and make money on it, but we can create protections, incentives, and regulations so they don’t sell us toxic food, exploit workers, or buy elections and control politicians.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Don't be influenced⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  SPIRAL OUT, KEEP GO-ING!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whats the point of the 2nd amendment⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Are you 14? Because it seems like you are posting here for the sake of picking a fight, rather than understanding anything.

  The people responding to you are explaining the commonly accepted rationale for and history of the second amendment in an attempt to help you understand it. You seem to be taking this as full throated support of it, which I doubt many people here have.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do so many people regardless of whether their reasonings are justified or not pinpoint South Park for ruining a generation of millenials?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I feel like I very much doubt the showmakers would claim the title “socialist” in their worldview

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do posts continuously end up "*Permanently Deleted*" here?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Because they asked a stupid question

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What stratgies do you have for dealing with people who "live in your head rent free"?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, first of all remember that it is a dumb internet community, and especially the ones like you describe tend to be populated by shut in neckbeards. You, meanwhile, have shit to do that is more important. Go do that shit.

  If it is really invasive, then stop thinking about it and start feeling it. That is, don’t try to logic the feeling of how it was unfair, or they are assholes, or you’ve been mistreated. Instead focus on the sensations of the emotion you are feeling. You are feeling angry? How do you know you are feeling angry? A tightness of facial muscles? The hairs standing up on the back of your neck? Thoughts of violence or revenge? Notice the feeling with curiousity for a breath or two, or a minute or two if you still have time, or until the feeling passes and your mind wanders to something else.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do so many programming languages have their own package manager?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Tbf, both C# and VB use NuGet. Which also functions as the command line software installer for Windows in general. So it is kind of what you are looking for.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Invisible Social Hierarchies - Dominance Vs Prestiger⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sweet, I look forward to it!

  My personal take is that any kind of theory in self improvement is a lot more useful when you have an example to go along with it. It’s like… if you are programming against a proprietary software, and find a new function you want to call, the documentation can tell you the idea behind it, but how you actually use it becomes a lot more clear when you can look at some example code.

  Also, I watched a few more of your videos. Good stuff!

  I notice you said you have a difficult time maintaining an exercise habit - I have a lot of thoughts here, but the main one is that the biggest issue most people have with maintaining an exercise habit comes from the vast body of fitness culture that has been pervasive for the last half century: in order to get in shape, you must beat yourself up in the gym for hours and hours. It’s about discipline and hard work and blood, sweat, and tears. Waking up at 3am because you’re a fucking Alphalete (an actual, literal activewear brand)! RAAAAAAWR!!!

  Instead, my experience is kind of the exact opposite. I went from living a sedentary lifestyle to exercising regularly simply by having fun. I was in school at the time, and I started by going backpacking in the mountains sometimes on the weekends, playing ultimate frisbee during my lunch break, and joining the swimming team. Overall, I think this strategy is far more effective and sustainable for the average person who is starting from scratch than doing the typically recommended “fitness” things like couch to 5k programs or lifting weights. The three important components are (1) make it fun, (2) make it social, and (3) make it regularly scheduled. Some ideas for things to do are pickup team sports like ultimate frisbee or soccer (most cities have groups that regularly play in the parks), independent sports where people get together to train like running or cycling clubs, athletic arts like acroyoga, lyra, or unicycling, independent but social sports like bouldering in the climbing gym or skating at the skate park, or group training classes like for martial arts or spin cycling. And coming full circle back to the “working out in the gym” motif - this is why CrossFit has been so successful over the years. You show up at a designated time and place to see the same friendly faces, and then complete a series of novel challenges together. The fact that CrossFit regularly turns unathletic people into ripped monsters has far less to do with their specific training methodology, and far more to do with the fact that they cultivate a welcoming communtity with engaging workouts so that people keep showing up and trying hard. It is hard to keep an exercise habit when you think “ugh, its wednesday, I told myself I was going to go to the florescently lit gym and ride the exercise bike while watching TV like that one episode of Black Mirror”. It is easy when you think “thank god it is Wednesday so I can look forward to having fun with my friends after work!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The cashier said "hello" instead of "hi" 😳⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  But you are also human, which means you might also fail yourself. Best to be on the safe side and build a resiliant social support system as well as a resiliant self

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The cashier said "hello" instead of "hi" 😳⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I certainly agree with you there. I think this is a big part of why young men are increasingly moving to right wing spaces. If you look at right wing messaging towards young men, a lot of it centers around their romantic lives. Why? Because that is their pain point. And the right gives them an achievable, believable path to get what they want: get jacked, get rich, be a leader, talk to a lot of women but ignore negative responses. Then add in some casual misogyny to stroke their bruised egos.

  The left’s advice for men’s romantic woes, on the other hand, couldnt be less appealing. Don’t do X. Don’t do Y. This is easy, what’s wrong with you? If you don’t have a satisfying romantic life, you must be a misogynistic piece of shit. If women aren’t interested in you, then just accept it.

  The effect is that the left tends to only attract the most depressed, self hating, and socially anxious men, while the remainder either check out politically or move to the right.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The cashier said "hello" instead of "hi" 😳⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As someone who actually climbs mountains, I can tell you that it can actually be quite complicated depending on the mountain, lol.

  But anyway - climbing a mountain is impressive, if I do say so myself!

  On the whole, I agree and disagree. I think that in general you should focus on doing things that would impress you. Like, I like climbing mountains, and so I set climbing goals for myself that I find impressive. And then girls with similar values to myself - adventurous, athletic, pragmatic, open minded women - are attracted to me because I am doing things they also find impressive. On the other hand, women who, say, really like going to the club and working corporate office jobs and starting families in white picket fence homes tend to be less impressed. But this works out for me because I will enjoy my time with the former far more than the latter, while someone with different values from me may enjoy the latter more than the former.

  So I’m a big fan of being the best version of you that you can be.

  But on the other hand, I think we should be quite frank about the fact that there are some things that guys can do that are generally attractive. Trying to improve these things, especially in a place like Lemmy, is often construed as misguided or shallow or fake - but I think this is mostly because Lemmy is a crab bucket for lonely men, and even if you improve at these things solely for the purpose of getting more bjs, your life will be better for it in the long run

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The cashier said "hello" instead of "hi" 😳⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  How to impress a girl: do something impressive.

  How to get compliments as a guy: do something that is compliment-worthy.

  How to get called hot as a guy: be hot

  It’s not complicated. It’s a shit ton of work, but it’s not complicated.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The cashier said "hello" instead of "hi" 😳⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Please provide an example of an average guy trying to strike up a respectful conversation with a random girl and going to jail for it. Literally any example. Just one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI girlfriends VS Egirls⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  And what about pineapples, huh? Not from a pine tree, not an apple! What the fuck society, are you high?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI girlfriends VS Egirls⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Why? E girls provide a service that is rare and valuable, and the people who pay them clearly prefer to pay them for this service rather than not recieving the service. So do you think the E girls should be made to provide their services for free, or do you want to deprive the people who pay them of assuaging their loneliness even a little?

  Sure, you could say something about how if society were structured differently, no one would be lonely and everything would be sunshine and unicorn farts. But neither the E girls nor their customers can have any real impact on the whole shape of society.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Invisible Social Hierarchies - Dominance Vs Prestiger⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Good vid. Would like to see more. Also, I feel like the video format would be improved with personal anecdotes from your own life - after all, why would I trust you to improve my life, if you haven’t had the experience of improving your own?