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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 9th, 2023

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  • Yes! What the Dems have been is history. What voters make it is the future. That’s what primaries are for. So imagine what you want them to stand for and vote for the candidates that fit that vision.

    Everyone should vote in their primaries, even if they can’t make the general. Your vote is higher impact there than in the general election for a few reasons:

    1. The folks who usually vote in the primaries, bless ‘em, are not good at picking winners
    2. Participation tends to be so low that it doesn’t take many additional votes to elect progressives
    3. Progressives are MAGA kryptonite; people will actually show up for them in the general.

    Also voting in primaries is easier, since early voting can often be completed digitally or by mail. You don’t have to take off work. And if you vote in person, you don’t have to be registered beforehand. Just show up to your polling center and they’ll have you fill out a special affidavit ballot that’s submitted in an envelope with your registration info.

    Vote in your primaries people.


  • First off, it’s OK. We all make mistakes and misrepresent our feelings sometimes, which can affect others in ways we don’t intend. The particular social accident you describe is also quite common. I promise she will quickly recover from the inadvertent rejection.

    My answer is: practice. 8-9 years is a long time to be out of practice at anything of this sort.

    There are a variety of ways to actively pursue that practice, some more creative than others, but the most natural way is simply to invite interaction with others in general such as, apparently, drawing on a bench at the park :)



  • I’ve been checking out the localhost tracking vulnerability and there’s something I can’t work out: it’s not even a terribly obscure or convoluted exploit, especially Yandex’s implementation that’s been chugging for more than 8 years over basic HTTP. It’s just a glaring sandboxing workaround that’s been exclusive to this OS for more than a decade.

    No matter how many ways I look at it, I haven’t come up with a reasonable explanation for how it was ignored, by demonstrably capable engineers, unless Google itself had use for it in the first place. And that fits a pattern of selective competence in information security that they just can’t seem to quit.

    In short it’s the data collection backdoors they leave themselves that defeat the otherwise top-tier security of their consumer offerings, and it’s why I’ll probably never trust anything they’ve touched until I’ve taken it apart and put it back together again.

    So no, you probably shouldn’t use it. Trusting the privacy or security claims of any adtech company will always be a mistake.



  • Important caveats:

    (1) Measure expectations

    To know oneself is a personal journey one must travel themselves. You can accompany them to a nearby milestone and/or encourage them to find the next, but ultimately you can’t fight their intellectual battles on their behalf. Expecting to will lead only to frustration.

    (2) Be forewarned

    Note that even in the best case, proceeding will almost certainly alter the dynamics of your relationship, and perhaps end it altogether.

    (3) Consider the safest approach

    If you’re interested in maintaining the relationship, it would be far better if they were supported in this long journey by a professional (a cognitive behavioral therapist / social worker) rather than a friend/peer. This is especially true for anything so extensive as what you’re describing.

    With these caveats carefully considered…

    I have found that most people are receptive to a method of periodic open-ended questioning, a common technique of active listening.

    I don’t mean confrontational interrogation or leading questions (to which there are “correct” answers). I mean precisely the kinds of unassuming questions someone with more developed introspection might ask themselves internally. Questions of clarification or contemplation, for example, and general curiosity regarding others’ motivations, as well as one’s own.

    This method, used carefully, seems to work by temporarily donating perspective to someone, via simple demonstration, which aids them in cultivating their own.

    Over time, you may find that they begin to anticipate your questions (perhaps with friendly exasperation) which is the first sign that it’s working.

    Best of luck.



  • IME this sort of error is often related to the aggregation of traffic through a single IP address. (Commonly: VPNs, public WiFi hotspots, large commercial networks, and so forth.)

    The safest workaround is to temporarily change your server location (if using a VPN, which is advisable).

    Another easy solution is a different connection, such as switching to mobile data (less safe due to ISP fingerprinting).

    Also, since this error is often generated by simple time-based access quotas (throttling), you can confirm the root cause by refreshing once the next hour or day ticks over. (If due to throttling, the error will suddenly disappear.)




  • Focus on maximizing empty horizontal surface space.

    Explanation

    Have you ever noticed that restaurants and bars often decorate their walls with stuff that would easily be considered clutter on the floor?

    Apparently “clutter” is a highly relative descriptor, and the visual-spatial bias behind it privileges horizontal surface space.

    You can leverage that knowledge to quickly de-clutter spaces without investing in lots of new storage furniture and organization systems.

    It’s by far the cheapest trick I know.

    How (basic)

    Move and reorient items from horizontal surfaces to vertical ones.

    Horizontal surfaces include table tops, floors, chair seats, and so forth.

    Vertical surfaces are everything else: shelves, hanging storage, stackable cubes, upright bins, baskets that can sit on top of cabinets, boxes that slide under beds, wall-mounted anything, shelving beneath any horizontal surface, any storage above eye level, etc.

    Even just stacking things can make a space look less cluttered.

    How (advanced)

    Once you start getting creative with this concept, you can build it into the planning of your living space.

    For example, you might figure out what stuff can live in wall-mounted dispensers instead of occupying the space of a counter/vanity/floor.

    Similarly, you might find visually appealing ways to store “clutter” out in the open, such as a ceiling-mounted pot rack or a stainless steel prep table used as kitchen island storage.

    One of my favorite side-effects of this technique is that once you’ve minimized the footprint of items lying on horizontal surfaces, cleaning becomes a snap.

    For example, fewer obstructions on the floor lets you use cheap sweeper bots on a schedule that keep interior dust levels low.

    Likewise, wiping off counter tops and bathroom vanities takes mere seconds when you don’t have to move anything.

    ETA: tldr — “picking up,” interpreted literally, is an endlessly useful principle of housekeeping.