ArbitraryValue
@ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
- Comment on Anon describes experience 4 days ago:
In fourth grade we would read short stories and answer multiple-choice questions about them. One such story was about romantically involved terrapins, and the question was “What would be a good title for this story?” The answers included
a) A turtle love story.
b) Two turtles in love
I don’t remember which one I picked but the correct answer was the other one.
- Comment on Mages be like: 5 days ago:
You’re never going to get power, limitless power if you’re not even willing to read a few cursed tomes.
- Comment on Grok got a Nazi patch 5 days ago:
What was the prompt? I’m not going to be outraged if it have you Holocaust-denier talking points after you asked for Holocaust-denier talking points, even thought ideally it wouldn’t answer questions like that.
- Comment on 32, f. Are there any dating sites that are actually free and don't suddenly force me to pay to actually use the site? 1 week ago:
Heck, are there dating sites that work at all anymore? Over a decade ago I had some success with OkCupid but my impression is that ever since swipe apps became a thing, online dating went from bad to terrible for everyone except gay men looking for hookups.
- Comment on unsolicited nudis 1 week ago:
Reminds me of a calendar of nudibranch photos I saw at a dive shop. Due to a typo they were called “Colorful sea sluts”.
- Comment on riders on the storm 1 week ago:
There used to be at least some fireflies every year where I lived in Brooklyn when I was a kid but now there aren’t.
- Comment on riders on the storm 1 week ago:
That’s a long exposure, but there really can be that many of them. I was out on a moonless night in upstate New York. It was dark enough that an amazing number of stars was visible (I could even see the Milky Way), I was surrounded by fireflies and glowworms, and there were no other sources of light one I turned my flashlight off. It was so dark that I couldn’t see my own feet, just lights in all directions.
- Comment on rinse 1 week ago:
That and the sign is probably not real too.
- Comment on rinse 1 week ago:
Isn’t this a very reasonable rule? I really would prefer that you did not wash your balls in the Baja Blast.
- Comment on I dont even know where my shit is. 1 week ago:
That advertisement had no effect on me whatsoever.
- Comment on Bernie Sanders says that if AI makes us so productive, we should get a 4-day work week 2 weeks ago:
I don’t mean to say that no-one would choose to work less, or that doing so is a bad idea. Heck, I’m unemployed and not actively looking for work right now myself.
- Comment on Bernie Sanders says that if AI makes us so productive, we should get a 4-day work week 2 weeks ago:
I think that in some domains (for example, software development) one person working 40 hours is significantly more productive than two people working 20 hours each. Coordination adds a lot of overhead. There’s also the difficulty of finding a second qualified employee.
But that’s all moot anyway. Someone working 4 days is always going to earn less than someone working 5, and I’m pretty sure most Americans would choose to work more and get more money even if they could afford to work only 4.
- Comment on Officials Concede They Don’t Know the Fate of Iran’s Uranium Stockpile 2 weeks ago:
I’m not sure what you’re talking about, because I’m not trusting any claims that anyone is publicly making. I think the information that the USA actually has about the status of the stockpile is currently classified and what we’re hearing is either empty boasting or uninformed speculation.
- Comment on Officials Concede They Don’t Know the Fate of Iran’s Uranium Stockpile 2 weeks ago:
I assume that both Israel and the USA were watching Iran’s nuclear facilities very closely in the days before the attack, and therefore that the officials who do have access to classified information and don’t talk to newspapers about it know a lot more than the public is told.
- Comment on Anon likes trains 3 weeks ago:
But 500 km is at the upper end of the distance I’d drive.
- Comment on A Completely Natural Conversation in the NYC Reddit 3 weeks ago:
Nah if I’m going to shill for any Manhattan grocery store, it will be Fairway. It’s also really expensive but it feels like being in the sort of store you’d go to if you were rich, not like being ripped off. Their cheese counter has prices per 1/4 pound for some of the cheeses but then if you get some $15 per 1/4 pound cheese it will taste so good that you’ll think it was worth it. I haven’t been in years but I still long for that cheese.
- Comment on A Completely Natural Conversation in the NYC Reddit 3 weeks ago:
I don’t think that’s actually an unusual conversation for people who live in Manhattan to have. The comments about relative prices are accurate in my experience - I live on the same block as a Gristides and I still never shop there because of how expensive it is, even compared to Whole Foods. I get most of my groceries in Brooklyn on the weekends.
- Comment on Anon likes trains 3 weeks ago:
I fly because it’s fast, not because I like airplanes. Even the fastest train is way too slow to replace a plane for a flight across the USA. Then for shorter distances cars win out because of how convenient they are. There’s no niche for trains except commuting into urban areas with no parking.
- Comment on Good luck, mom 3 weeks ago:
My mother loved Dr. Mario. She would sometimes encourage me to skip school (“Are you sure you feel alright? You look like you might be sick . Maybe you should stay home just in case.”) and we would play it until my ten-year-old self got bored first. However, she had zero interest in even trying any other games.
- Comment on Deez peets 4 weeks ago:
As if human legs aren’t the weird ones - they evolved from feet into hands and then into weird hands that we walk around on and call feet.
- Comment on Fabulous through the ages 4 weeks ago:
I see a dimetrodon.
- Comment on Anon has a dream 4 weeks ago:
I had a dream once in which an ex-girlfriend from years ago who I was still in love with appeared and told me that I would never have her back so I should stop being so obsessed with her. Good advice, perhaps, but not what I feel I deserve in my own dreams…
Now that I think about it, I realize that I can’t remember ever having sex in a dream. So much for dreams as wish fulfillment.
- Comment on Well whenever you notice something like *that*, a wizard did it 4 weeks ago:
You could jump to conclusions, or you could ask whether or not there is evidence that scientists’ work in their own field is affected by irrelevant unscientific beliefs that they hold. In my experience, people are very good at compartmentalizing their beliefs.
- Comment on "And my dick fucks your wife more than you do. What's your point?" 4 weeks ago:
Serious answer:
That’s cool. What makes it special?
Sometimes people talk about how expensive something they own is simply because they’re proud that they could afford it and even when they’re being tone-deaf, there’s no benefit to getting offended when you could just move the conversation along instead. (Although you might have to listen to them talk about watches.) If they were trying to brag, now they’re stuck trying to explain why the watch is actually worth what they paid and you’re the one judging them.
Cars (and watches) aren’t so expensive that a middle-class person can’t plausibly already own the one he would buy even if money was unlimited. My former mother in law was bothered by the fact that I owned an old car, but when she would bring it up I would just say “I really like the 2008 model.” She couldn’t argue with that.
- Comment on AI Training Slop 5 weeks ago:
Your facial data isn’t private information. You give it away every time you go outside.
- Comment on buddy of mine is in a horrible mood 5 weeks ago:
Artists.
- Comment on I hope i don't get downvoted for this 1 month ago:
There are a lot of cute people out there walking around with their feet visible, and if you stare at their feet while talking to them, they’ll just think you’re shy.
- Comment on I do it around town all the time 1 month ago:
The guy selling your the property is much less likely to rip you apart with his powerful fangs than the wolf would be in the analogous situation.
- Comment on Or does and doesn't care? 1 month ago:
Your computer will be restarted. Do not attempt to resist.
- Comment on Life hack 1 month ago:
I saw a guy yell at the gate employee. The guy’s flight had arrived late and the employee was telling him that the door to his connecting flight was already closed so she could not let him board even though the plane hadn’t left yet. Eventually a manager showed up and got yelled at too and he opened the door and let the guy on the plane. So it can work.