Nollij
@Nollij@sopuli.xyz
- Comment on DNA 2 days ago:
I’m impressed by how much Cunningham’s Law is in the comments. I can’t tell if they don’t get the joke, or if the joke is too deep and I’m the one missing it.
- Comment on "You can't have our trash because we don't have a way to charge you for it" 3 days ago:
Giving these items to employees could be considered part of their compensation package, like gift cards. Those have to be appropriately recorded and taxed.
FWIW, a lot of these places now send damaged/surplus/whatever items to a salvage company, who then pays the original retailer “fire sale” prices. These items are usually auctioned off locally for a fraction of MSRP.
Same for many returned items, BTW. There’s a local auction site that runs like eBay, but it’s overwhelmingly Amazon returns.
- Comment on Why did people in the 90s/early 00s say that the internet "couldn't be taken down"? 5 days ago:
A 1993 Time Magazine article quotes computer scientist John Gilmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as saying “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”[7]
That applied a whole lot more when most connections were using a phone line, and a decent size city could have hundreds of ISPs. But part of the design of a redundant mesh network is that there are tons of different paths to any destination. Cutting any of those links would simply force traffic to other routes.
The early Internet was decentralized in other ways, too. Rather than flock to corporate platforms like Facebook, people spent a lot of time on federated and independent platforms. This included Usenet, IRC, and BBSes. In the event that the feds, lawyers, etc could take one down, a dozen more could spring up overnight. There was such a small barrier to entry, and many were run by hobbyists.
It’s somewhat true today. There are countless Lemmy instances that are completely independent. Pirate Bay famously references the Hydra, and it applies to their peers as well. But these are limited in scope.
Xitter has shown us just how quickly and thoroughly a platform can collapse through hostile admins, and how slowly people will reject it.
- Comment on [deleted] 6 days ago:
I work an office job in the US. You need to find a better job. No one here is required or even expected to skip lunch. Scheduling is often difficult, so many of my colleagues put it on their calendars as reserved time/another meeting. You can’t schedule a meeting with John at noon. It doesn’t matter if it’s because he’s in another meeting or at lunch; he’s already booked.
Yes, there are many terrible employers. If you work for one, you need to leave.
- Comment on This app requires access to your contacts 6 days ago:
Shares with all of your contacts by default. Also includes a sales pitch to each of them to sign up as well
- Comment on TW: suicide 6 days ago:
That might even just be the “call of the void.” Throw in some very minor extras, like alcohol or a bad day at work, and it’s easy to see someone heeding that call.
- Comment on I bought an HP Laptop with 8gb of Ram...and was suppose to be 256gb SSD. I downloaded one game and its all the way down to 80. Is there any free software to download to help? 1 week ago:
You can’t broadly say that for a brand, especially one as diverse as HP. Some are very easy, mostly the enterprise models. Many are borderline impossible. Without knowing the model, it’s impossible to say. It could require removing the motherboard, or special tools to open the case.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 week ago:
The answer is actually pretty simple. They all used to, at some point. But then they started having bad experiences, and there were clear trends. Now, because of classical conditioning, they avoid those experiences. Is the filter perfect? No, of course not. But it’s good enough.
TL;DR: Bad men start by talking the same way you do.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 week ago:
Unless women have taken a very sharp turn towards hookups, or polygamy, that’s only a partial explanation. The desirable men are still taken, just as before.
I presume your younger colleagues are all men, and of the segment that does poorly with women. Try asking women about their perspectives on the matter. I promise you’ll get a different answer.
- Comment on I'm having second thoughts about quitting my current position, I'm scared and I don't understand myself. What's happening to me? 1 week ago:
It’s become clear that you and the manager are not compatible. It may or may not be a reflection on either of you, but it’s definitely not a good fit either way.
The best way to resolve a bad fit like this is to separate the pieces. Since they are the manager, that typically leaves it to you as the employee.
This isn’t even a bad thing, necessarily. Switching jobs brings uncertainty and fear, but also opportunity. Not only do you have a chance to get into a situation more to your liking, you can branch out into new areas. These jumps also usually bring a pay bump, although that depends on how patient you can be and how hard you can negotiate.
There’s a quote that has stuck with me for a while, and I encourage you to take it to heart.
“All of the best things in life come when you’re out of your comfort zone, and everything worth doing is scary at first”
You’re scared of the unknown, and understandably so. But it also doesn’t sound like you’ve even looked into it. I can promise you don’t currently have the only job that would work for you. It’s also very unlikely that you have the best one. You probably don’t even have the best one you could have by Xmas.
Go explore. The future is rosier than you think, if only you let it happen.
- Comment on Do you want the murderer of the UnitHealthcare CEO prosecuted? 2 weeks ago:
I’m confident that someone will get caught and be made into an example.
Whether they were the one that actually did it is immaterial.
- Comment on How am I supposed to obtain income? 3 weeks ago:
What kind of engineering? Designing what? How’s your local market for those positions? Is it something that can be done remotely, and thus you could apply to positions nationwide?
The really short version is that if you aren’t finding positions, you’re in the wrong line of work or location. If you’re finding positions and applying, but not getting any responses, then your resume/etc is bad. If you are getting responses but no offers, then your interview technique is bad.
- Comment on What positive things do you expect from Trumps upcoming four years? 1 month ago:
There is a possibility that Elno gets EVs mandated, or at least promoted to a greater extent. Of course this will only be for Tesla, but there would be a ripple effect on other brands.
- Comment on How come Food Network doesn't show the labels of what they are using? Wouldn't be great advertising for corps who would probably pay food network to advertise on show? 1 month ago:
If they didn’t already know about it, they’re pretty shitty execs. It’s been SOP for decades
- Comment on Realistically... How fucked is the US? 1 month ago:
It’s little solace, but not all destination countries will care about that. It might force you to stay away, which creates its own issues.
- Comment on How long do you think we'll keep seeing "formerly Twitter"? 1 month ago:
Some places tried calling him “The Artist”, but it never stuck. Not even “The Artist formerly known as Prince” stuck. But “Prince” has endured to his grave and beyond.
- Comment on Do PhDs HAVE to use Dr? 1 month ago:
While misrepresenting yourself or your credentials can be fraud, the title of PhD/Doctor (outside of MD) is not regulated, at least not in the US. It’s almost like an endorsement from the university that you passed their tests.
But that’s not very regulated either, and there are countless certifying boards (Boards of Regents, typically).
Falsely claiming to have a PhD in Neuroscience from Harvard, or an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Knox College, would be fraud. But just saying that you have a PhD without specifying anything more specific is not.
And it comes up regularly - an easy example is the author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
The most likely scenario is that both the presidency and vice presidency would be vacant. That means it would go to the speaker of the House, most likely to still be Mike Johnson.
But if Democrats have an unexpectedly good result, they could control the House and elect a new speaker. Similarly, Republicans could replace Johnson with someone else.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
They both end at noon on January 20, 2025. In such a scenario, it is likely - but not guaranteed - that both would be vacant. At that point, it would go to the (new) speaker of the House
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
No. That’s not how the system works at all.
Short of a violent coup, the president’s term ends at noon on January 20, 2025. At that point, there is simply a vacancy in the presidency. It would then be filled according to the line of succession (VP, speaker of the House, etc)
- Comment on How do I... Do court? I didn't realize my license was expired and got pulled over. Now I have court tomorrow. 2 months ago:
Don’t bother pleading not guilty unless you have an attorney. It grants you (your attorney) time to negotiate with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge or similar. But an expired license is about the lowest charge you can get.
Traffic court is very routine. People get up, hear the charge, mostly plead guilty/no contest, hear their sentence (usually a fine, probably under $200 depending), and get pointed to where they can pay. You negotiate payment terms at the later office.
It will help to show how you’re going to address the original issue. Even just having an appointment at the DMV, which you can probably book online.
- Comment on How do I... Do court? I didn't realize my license was expired and got pulled over. Now I have court tomorrow. 2 months ago:
The bigger thing is to look like you put effort into your appearance. Everything clean, no wrinkles, etc. Dress as nice as you can within that. Think whatever you would wear to a job interview.
You will probably (and should) be dressed better than most of the people there. It does get noticed, and will help you out.
- Comment on Has anyone else noticed that J.D. Vance looks like a Temu version of Norm Macdonald? 2 months ago:
He’s dead? I didn’t even know he was sick…
(/s for anyone not familiar with his work)
- Comment on Amazon orders workers to return to the office five days a week 2 months ago:
This is known as the “Dead Sea Effect”
- Comment on Can i safely turn the power on on this open outlet? if not, how do i solve this? 3 months ago:
FWIW, here is the US, the ground wire is often completely exposed. As in, no colored jacket, just the bare copper throughout the entire run. Attached to ground at the breaker box, and attached to any grounding ports or metal boxes throughout the building.
- Comment on Lowe's becomes latest company to scrap DEI policies amid 'woke' backlash 3 months ago:
The problem is that their competitors are similarly bad, albeit in different ways. I would be surprised if Home Depot has a DEI program next year. They already champion a number of right wing causes.
- Comment on Why did Hamas choose Oct 7 to strike? Instead of say another day? 3 months ago:
To add to this, imagine the reverse. Can you imagine if they passed up better opportunities, just so that it could happen on a specific date on the calendar?
Sounds absurd, right?
- Comment on [deleted] 3 months ago:
I think you’re approaching the wrong aspect. While that could be a scam where a man is impersonating a woman, there are plenty where it’s actually a woman running the scam. There are plenty of red flags here, and those don’t change.
The problem is that I’m sure your friend is aware of those red flags. He’s also choosing to ignore them. I suspect he doesn’t do well with women IRL, and this at least gives him hope.
Assuming that’s all true, this is way above the pay grade of random people on the Internet.
- Comment on Walmart's use of digital price tags signal the future of retail shopping, but consumers are worried 3 months ago:
Even at stores that have this feature, I rarely see people use it. It’s clearly not an experience that people flock to.
OTOH, on the rare occasion I’ve visited a Walmart in the past 10 years, I have a 100% rate of checkout taking an absurdly long time. Everyone there just seems to accept it like they have no choice.
- Comment on Why are vegan and gluten free items more expensive? 3 months ago:
Economies of scale affects the costs to the manufacturer. Competition/demand affect the price to the consumer.