I don’t remember a mod but I seem to remember that Gamepro magazine would sometimes parody their own magazine calling themselves “Lamepro” followed by a few pages of fake upcoming games, a nude Lara Croft I think was part of all that.

I appreciate this tip, I’ve had lots of trouble trying to make home made cheese sauce. Even if I felt the flour and milk cooked long enough and I added cheese slowly, I had trouble getting everything to come together. It may be that I still wasnt cooking long enough either because I have a bad habit of scorching the milk, so I would pull it off the burner perhaps too soon. I don’t know exact I haven’t tried it enough, because I don’t like wasting food.

I hope it’s not for a long time. I grew up seeing my great grandmother age gracefully and finally pass in peace in her favorite chair reading John Grisham novels. I admired that woman so much, despite the fact that she lived alone, her life partner long gone, she enjoyed her humble life in her cozy home.

I hope to do the same, for my heart to just stop beating in my advanced age. I’ve told my family that I don’t think I’ll mind even if I’m the last to go, I want to see how it all ends. I want to see the good and the bad of everything. I want to live as long as I possibly can.

I found Elite: Dangerous incredibly cool. How many chances will we get to explore some version of our solar system? I know the game feels empty, but I found it relaxing for the same reason truck simulator is relaxing, just cruising and enjoying the scenery

I suppose we will have to agree to disagree on that one. If you aren’t concerned about the information that others collect on you and you don’t care to imagine how it could be used against you then I’ll stop there

That’s true, but I’m also cynical. Policy makers only have to serve up a phantom to instill fear into the general public and then they can drum up support for policies that appear to serve the public interest; for the sake of “protecting” the public.

There’s plenty of reasons to be fearful or suspicious: corporations who develop all the new tech we use today have shown already they don’t respect our privacy. Our smartphones, computers, and other Internet connected devices are always harvesting data to advertise to us, so it follows that any brain-implanted device could be used to harvest data for similar purposes. Not everyone gives a shit about this one, but there are plenty who would at least like to be paid for the data that is collected from them and used for profit; barring that we should have the right to forbid data collection without consent.

There are, of course, more sinister applications for brain-implanted devices that can interface with the Internet (and if they don’t now, they surely will in the future). I think a lot of us immediately think of the science fiction book and movie, “Minority Report” wherein law enforcement has access to the private thoughts of citizens and arrests and convicts those who have contemplated crime but have not yet perpetrated the crime. Any sane person would never allow the police access to one’s private thoughts, let alone a corporation.

Elon Musk has said his ultimate goal with Neuralink goes beyond merely restoring function to injured parts of the body; he wants to make it possible to save and load memories and with those two functions we may also be able to delete memories too. Imagine someone hacking your memories, it could fundamentally alter your perception of yourself and your reality. You could become a prisoner in your own brain, subjected to the censorship of a corporation or government.

These are worst case scenarios and I’m not saying we are there yet, maybe not even close to that level of technology, but we should be aware of what kind of control we may be giving away to a company or authority by allowing such implants to be installed. I hope that we will use it as a means of improving people’s lives, but I’m very cautiously optimistic as well.

To me such language signals that the author’s purpose is not to enlighten or dispell ignorance, but to get the upper hand, be the one who is “right” and the opponent is made “wrong.” It’s not only a lazy way of thinking, but it prevents anyone from actually learning anything. Instead we just get to be self-righteous for being “smart.”

Any time I see an article that attempts to bash, slam, destroy, demolish, etc, etc. I cannot take it seriously because the author has convinced me from the start they are not interested in inspiring honest dialogue about a social issue. They just want to draw you into their own limited, biased way of thinking.

Same :(

It’s really a nasty habit too. It precludes any kind of reasonable, honest discussion. Criticism is too often conflated with insult.

Fair enough I see this conversation is centered around first impressions and dating, but in a more general context it worries me. I see polarization in general as a net harm, because it divides us as people. Creates isolated points of view, otherizing, makes more people comfortable with perpetrating violence against the other because they are ignoring the other’s humanity. I’m not equivocating, tolerance for intolerant opinions is not acceptable, but people can be ignorant for one reason or another, it doesn’t make them evil.

Maybe I’m just in an echo chamber here and that’s why my dissenting opinion is getting so much backlash, but I’ll always advocate for nuance. I’ve met many with rather differing opinions, opinions which I’m categorically opposed to, but further conversation has revealed these people to be good on the whole. And non-violent to boot. We grew and understood each other from a conversation. I see so much bandwagoning on the Internet and all I want is for people to think a little more deeply about it. I get very emotional seeing people go, “Yeah! Fuck them for having that thought!” Because it reflects back at me a fear of being misunderstood, but I choose to speak up in hopes that it will bring about a more rational conversation.

By all means if your gut tells you run, run. All I’m saying is that simply holding a single, opinion is not nearly enough information. What scares me to begin with is that ideas are so polarizing that it turns off our ability to think. Not everyone who holds an opinion is polarized though, some people may be on the fence and that may show in their attitude. A better metric for measuring someone’s moral compass would be how they treat waiters or waitresses or how they respond to animals.

And that’s jumping to conclusions, why would having an interest in a podcast automatically make one make you believe that the other thinks of you as lesser. Adults should have adult conversations with each other.

It’s an interesting study and I understand why people would feel that way, the only thing that rubs me the wrong way about these things is the human tendency to paint someone in a totally negative light once they see the “red flag.” I feel the comments are evidence to that fact. If you know someone who hold offensive opinions you should actually ask them why they hold that opinion. People are enormously complex and their personalities or even morals cannot be boiled down to a small handful of extremely polarizing opinions.

Unrelated question: is it pronounced go-DOT as in polkadot, or go-DOH, like the actress Gal Gadot?

I am not arguing in favor of pacifism. I fully recognize the need to defend against harmful ideologies that infect people’s minds with bad ideas. And if those who harbor bad ideas threaten violence then it may be necessary to react in kind. I accept that.

I’m simply saying that it matters what kind of language we use when we talk about it. Calling conservatives, or any opposing side perceived as a violent threat, subhuman creates the misconception that your own side could not ever be in the wrong. In so doing, it is possible that the we too could become infected with the bad idea that “All (insert opposing threat here) must die.” I don’t ever in my life time want to see anything like the Holocaust happen because people couldn’t stop and think that at some point the killing needs to stop, because it’s reached a point where we are no longer defending and only killing out of pure and base fear that the threat will rise up again. There is a point where self defense goes too far and gives rise to genocide. That possibility scares the hell out of me.

It does depend on the state you live in and the industry you work in. This is just my opinion, but I get the sense that a rather significant proportion of the US population regards any kind of assistance as synonymous with admitting defeat. It’s not just unions, but for any kind of welfare too, people think they are leeches if they have to ask for help. But it’s what our tax money is for; we pay a certain percentage of our income to support the unemployed and medically needy. We also have food programs and shelter to provide to the poor and homeless. Many of these programs don’t get enough funding to provide enough for those in need because their use is stigmatized and importance minimized in our culture. The propaganda about the American dream is at least in part responsible, I think. When people speak against welfare programs you hear a lot of selfish talk, such as, “I work hard, why would I pay more taxes so that someone else can sit on their ass all day?” Or sometimes these heated discussions have a racist overtone; that immigrants will come and sponge off our welfare programs if we expand them. Whether that is true or not is irrelevant to me. Compassion for fellow citizens is the point for me and it’s why I would support any assistance programs no matter the risk of whether bad actors will try to take advantage, that’s the government’s responsibility to provide a tidy set of policies so that help falls into the hands of those truly in need.

Sorry for the digression but I see the attitudes about welfare as linked to that about unions. Many citizens don’t believe that unions would have their best interests in mind (as with government on welfare programs) and that to pay dues would be simply to line the pockets of the union reps at the top for little to no benefit. Some people also buy into the notion that they can rather earn the trust and loyalty of their employer by working hard and that working hard is a virtue in and of itself. If they mean working hard to achieve a personal goal, then I do see the virtue of that point of view, but otherwise, I disagree, work is simply a means of making an income to support life in society.

Yep, that’s the one. When I really needed a job fast, Walmart was practically the only option I had in the small town I used to live in when I was a student. Hated every moment, not because the job itself was bad, but I recognized all the attempts at brainwashing and I was so disgusted by it.

Walmart employees desperately need union representation. Unfortunately Walmart goes at great lengths to demonize unions with their “Protect your Signature” training videos. It’s part of orientation for every employee and the propaganda unfortunately is quite effective.