WesDym

@JeroenBaten@mastodon.nl I'm not sure cheap insults count as clever, never mind 'sick burn'. Also, staring is very rude. Does a grown man not know that? Where I'm from, you can get stabbed for it. So the 'joke' here is apparently: My elderly father has no filters or manners, and lamely tries to insult strangers who dare to call him out on his poor conduct -- which he then confirms with even worse conduct. It's a good joke on its own, but the packaging -- "Unusual people deserve abuse." -- is terrible.

@petersuber@fediscience.org I keep hoping MY bosses will fire me over it, because I could use the money.

@Zestryon@mastodon.social It would not be, if environmentalists were criticizing smartphones. That's the point here. Using AI to mock a society that's destroying itself through wasteful use of resources is pretty steep hypocrisy, and eligible for criticism.

@Kensan@mastodon.social A very old problem. Over a century ago, Mark Twain noted that a lie gets around the whole world before the truth can get its shoes on, and he wasn't by any means the first person to note that. I'd bet good money that some Ancient Greek wag said the same.

@Zestryon@mastodon.social I'm trying to imagine if you could possibly be more full of yourself.

@MissConstrue@mefi.social 2/ Ever donate books? A lot of those get thrown away, too. Ever donate an entire set, like an encyclopedia? It's probably on a shelf in an office or TV set, just for looks, because that's it's only real value to most people. Not all cadavers are USEFUL for science, or usable. And they're not going to warehouse them forever. Somewhere in the fine print, it says something like, "or any other purpose deemed suitable". Because they can't make promises they can't keep. #

@FreakyFwoof@universeodon.com I'm honestly not sure. There's a growing field of essentially entertainment videos portraying such people just to be funny, or to try to inject some ideas into discourse that might -- just might -- get through to the same kinds of people. And it's harder and harder for me to distinguish such performers from sincere cultists, since the latter are so cartoonishly ridiculous on their own. I'm not sure it's possible to clearly parody them anymore.

@curtmack@floss.social Indeed. Pretty much the same thing is happening now, only magnified. The answers sound cogent, sensible, informed, and even 'intelligent'. I noticed years ago that people confuse performance with competence, which fact makes it easier to con people, be it pennies or politics. I've often been accused of being AI myself -- as near as I can tell, just because I write well enough to seem like it to some people.

@typeswitch@gamedev.lgbt This tale is likely analogue for real-life experiences or observations. In this case, the infernal habit of large companies to pour horrible amounts of treasure into half-baked plans, only to have to come back later and do the same, only much more, to fix those oversights. My father, when he was a consultant, said the mentality is, there's never time and money to do it right the first time, but there's always time and money to do it over.

@curtmack@floss.social I didn't find an explanation for this episode, and everyone involved except Shatner is dead now, but Serlng's closing monologue makes it clear the story is about the folly of supersticion. The same point has been made many times by many people. James Randi showed audiences how this works with horoscopes, by having them all read what he said were horoscopes created just for them, which they all agreed seemed apt, and then revealing that they were all identical.

@tym@tilde.zone I work in govt offices a lot, and all the competent ones are run by women like this. I'm 100% on board.

@MissConstrue@mefi.social My guess is that this is a Fine Print issue. There are countless examples of this in real life that most people never consider -- never mind think about -- that are actually kind of obvious when you think it through or have it explained to you. For example, anything you donate to Goodwill might end up in a dumpster that same day. Because they can't actually use everything they get, and some of it's crap or has some other problem, no matter what YOU think. /2

@VeroniqueB99@mastodon.social Tomi Lobotomy might be factually correct about this one person (I wouldn't know), but she's wrong about a great many people who support strong firearms regulation. A great many of them are EXACTLY the kinds of people who DO know a lot about firearms, probably much more than her -- and know exactly why we DO need strong firearms regulation. We'd also 'take' dangerous toys from any children or childish adults, Tomi, for every obvious good reason.

@JosephLeedy@phpc.social It's evidence of their ignorance, gullibility, bigotry, and overall stupidity. Even at this late date, they still readily accept lies they're told about people they perceive as different from them, because they want to. I've known some authetically intelligent people like this. They WANT it to be true, so they just believe it uncritically.

@nimi@digitalcourage.social I don't think they're learning. They've had 10 years to learn this guy's a career con-man, so why did they put anything down for this phone?

@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place Okay, just out of curiosity, what WERE you thinking?

@Thatonepersonwithaface@todon.eu Managers, like cynics, know "the price of everything and the value of nothing". (Credit to Oscar Wilde -- 'Lady Windermere's Fan', 1892) They think it's "good pay" if it's equal to or greater than what they believe PREVAILING pay is, or what is required by law. What the actual VALUE of that pay is, they have NO IDEA. This is also how and why "work for a living" has very different meaning depending on class and experience.

@Cedar@neurodifferent.me Pacific treefrog, also called Pacific chorus frog. Here's some sound samples: https://californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/p.regilla.sounds.html

@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place I have no idea what you're trying to say.

@tasket@mas.to The language-like noises that spill out of this demented man's piehole don't actually mean anything. Even HE won't recall what he said, just hours later. It means nothing. He's operating on instinct, from long experience as a career con man and craven criminal, but that's all it is. He's imitating his older, saner self, out of habit, because it's all he knows. But under his scalp, his brain is pudding. And yes, that unfairly creates a real hardship for everyone else.

@cancel@merveilles.town I personally find it difficult to believe that ALL of them are stupid enough to believe the hype. So I tend to assume that more than a little of this is just phony market driving, with short-term profits in mind. Which should be illegal, but probably isn't.

@alicetragedy@mastodon.social I will agree, that is a thought.

@DrollTide@mastodon.social 100%. Here, he uncritically parrots bald lies about purported fraud in Minnesota. He'll believe anything he's told.

@ridetheory@mastodon.social Enemies of the jet stream?

@MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk Movie trivia that involves this man: The 1980 ZAZ comedy 'Airplane!' is a nearly shot-for-shot remake of the thriller 'Zero Hour!' (1957). But 'Zero Hour!' itself is a remake: The year before, James Doohan starred as George Spencer (the Ted Stryker character in later versions) in the ORIGINAL original, 'Flight into Danger' -- a CBC teleplay that they've confirmed they still have in their vault, but no plans to release.

@ProPublica@newsie.social DeSatan has a sadistic streak, even more than most people you'd say that about. And, he's extremely bigoted. (Some say he's closeted or self-loathing, which may be true, but here I mean deeply racist.) People who worked with him in the past have testified to it. He seemed to get off on torture of prisoners. He's a very sick man who needs professional help. Unfortunatley, he's supported by many people, and many will suffer and die because of that. Many already have.

@jabgoe2089 I'd like to think his son could have learned this, if he was skeptical enough that he had to be 'talked into' the phone thing. But I would not bet money on it.

@highvoltage@pleroma.debian.social ..said someone frivolously using the Internet. Look, we're ALL hypocrites here. Don't try to cop out.

@nixCraft@mastodon.social I'm glad you find the destructive disruption of workplace hilarious, enough to illustrate your amusement with tiny cartoons. And I'm sorry that whatever disability you have prevents you from capitalizing words like a fucking mature, educated grown-up would. Here's hoping you're betting in a few years. Bye.

@dalias@hachyderm.io I wouldn't want my employers to provide me with a computer for private use, for that very reason. If it's not really mine, then I can never really know if they'd be snooping. It's not worth it to me.

@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place Something against conlangs? I'm confused.

@davetroy@toad.social I'd like to think so, but I doubt it. If raping underage girls he got from a world-class sex trafficker he was best friends with isn't enough to take him down, then what would be? His supporters are insane cultists, who excuse everything he says and does, no matter how heinous. They are hopeless.

@davidbcohen@twit.social I'm not saying it's realistic. It's not. But it's how they think.

@Spanishrevolution@mastodon.social The cruelty is the point. While many people roll their eyes at comparisons to Nazi Germany, that was a real thing that happened to real people in the real world, and there's nothing but the People to stop it from happening again. People need to be paying much more attention, be clear-eyed, and stop worrying about other people's judgement of their clear-eyed assessments. We are living through another fascist regime, and it's potentially just as bad. We can still stop it.

@davidbcohen@twit.social I think it's an effort at anonymity.

@edavies@functional.cafe Yes, thank you!

@maggiejk@zeroes.ca It's not linked to age in any way. This is in fact childish behaviour, which sadly many legal adults have. A lot of people never really grow up. We excuse it to some extent in younger people, for lack of knowledge and experience, but adults have much less excuse. Plenty of adults also devise personal philosophies or rationalizations for such conduct, but they all reduce to essentially childish motivations. In this case, othering a complete stranger for how they look.

@space_cadet@aus.social Notice he's careful enough to use 'natural' instead of 'fake'. His 'good' example is fake, and only 'natural' compared to what it's imitating. No one actually has natural hair that looks like that.

@Christo_459@mastodon.me.uk Folded back, more or less permanently. Like most modern dog breeds, pit bulls are as much as anything else a collection of accumulated careless choices made by breeders trying to make a buck.

@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place Grow up already.

@ASprinkleofSage@mastodon.social He did accents. I met him once, and he did a few different ones he'd learned.

@tasket@mas.to We have intelligent enemies, but they are not the people we usually name. Leonard Leo is an example. The Heritage Foundation. And many more. But they're mostly smart enough to avoid undue public notice. The assclowns running our govt are not among them. But they carry the spear for them. You're right that we must attack the real brains of our destruction. But I suspect their own schemes will undo them, once the floor falls out from under them. None of this is sustainable; it must fail.

@richarddegenne@mastodon.online That's very few words for, "I'm not up to having a grown-up discussion about this."

@tasket@mas.to I can see how that might make sense to someone who's read a lot of Clancy novels, but I think you give this regime far too much credit. There are conniving aparatchiks among them, but the top leadership are bumbling fools and crazy people who have no idea what they're doing from day to day, never mind tomorrow. Let's revisit this closer to the election, and see if there's any sign that anything's better by then. I would not bet on that.

@felipeB@hachyderm.io I can't stand junky writing like this.

@JulianOliver@mastodon.social You know what I bet there IS plenty of in that part of the country? Dynamite.

@pdcawley@mendeddrum.org Your implied analogy doesn't hold water for me. Did your employer somehow prevent you from having access to any other laptops on Earth? Also, I've NEVER been required to provide my OWN laptop for any job I've had. Would you prefer that? Because I don't believe I would. "Your own tools" is a flabby, vague concept here that's not transporting well in this analogy. A hammer is one thing, a computer quite another.

@MugsysRapSheet@mastodon.social I'm sure that's skipping a few details. Just for starters, this is not a power the mayor has.

@MatWright@mastodon.social It's not a 'boycott'. They're not merely miffed with us. They're genuinely worried, even afraid, and they have very good reason to be. So does literally anyone in the world. It's dangerous for ANYONE to visit the US right now, no matter who they are or how they feel about us. I strongly encourage people to stay away, as long as this regime is still in power. Hell, many of us would gladly LEAVE if we could.