meristohm · HackerLangs

3 dagen geledendiscuss

Fair question (I'm neither the blog author or the person who linked it here). I read the short blog entry and the why is not answered. My own reasons for de-Googling is that I'm uncomfortable with how I pay for Google's services (with my usage data, time, attention, media data, etc). I still have a gmail account because I'm skeptical it won't be reused in a potentially-harmful-to-me-or-others way and because I haven't put in the time to answer that concern and go through the account-deletion steps. I have it automatically send any emails (very few these days) to my ProtonMail account, which I pay for. I'd rather pay a few US dollars a month to a company that at least doesn't seem based on selling more-more-more (Google being an advertisement company).

meristohm

3 dagen geledendiscuss

Taxes support the infrastructure that those with Dragon's Sickness need to keep extracting gold from the uninfected and less symptomatic.

meristohm

3 dagen geledendiscuss

Years ago, when I was considering putting effort and time into learning more computer programming languages, I realized I cared far more about learning other human languages: I was a recent parent, and the importance of strong, positive bonds with other humans was dawning on me, along with an appreciation for mortality. So, I dropped a few energy levels in the computing realm and jumped into learning more spoken languages, using Anki, library books, podcasts, movies in the target languages (thanks to kanopy, another public-library resource paid for by tax money), and, more recently, Clozemaster and Mango (through the local public library! and they have some indigenous north american languages, but none from the region where I currently live; I'll seek local help for that).

meristohm

9 dagen geledendiscuss

What does "human flourishing" mean? And why do you want humans to have maximal access to energy? (what I'm getting at is, what story of humanity matters to you?)

meristohm

9 dagen geledendiscuss

I abhor exercise for the sake of it. Instead, I refuse to use a car to do anything but bring my family members to distant medical appointments, and the rare carpool'd vacation. Anything within ~ten miles of home I do with human power, sometimes augmented by stored electrical energy (cargo ebike; I contribute ~1/3 the Wattage). Thus, I get plenty of exercise throughout the day. We used to meet our needs by moving our bodies. Understandably, there are perceived benefits to outsourcing transportation, and very real consequences.

Exception is a morning plank to wake up my core, and sometimes forward bends with a weight. I don't like to do it, but I do feel better afterwards (like with cold showers), so I do it. Harder to do with longer exercise routines, which is why I addressed the cause of my unease rather than slapped on plasters.

meristohm

13 dagen geledendiscuss

Somewhat related: in logging country, on several occasions I've seen logging trucks full of tree trunks pass each other in opposite directions.

meristohm

16 dagen geledendiscuss

One way to reduce the speed of such large vehicles in urban areas is cyclists to conspicuously use the wider lane. I do this regularly with my Class 1 ebike (assists to 20mph), in part because the wider lane is smoother (I often carry a child whose disability means they don't handle bumps well), there's less debris, and especially because I'm so much more visible. Yeah, I get honked at (which means drivers see me!), but the speed limit is an upper limit, not a minimum, and I'm usually going close to that (yeah, I know that doesn't matter when we get splattered by a road-rager in a toy tank, but I will not sit idly by). The normalization of massive climate-controlled lazy-boxes is both bonkers to me as a person who thrives on moving under my own power, and understandable: we like getting something for ~nothing, and it's so easy not to consider the long-term consequences of regularly spending fuel to move a couple tons of metal and plastic to drive two miles to pick up some groceries.

meristohm

16 dagen geledendiscuss

Long-time de-Googled Pixel user here: while it's not for most of the people I know, for whom the barrier to install LineageOS / GrapheneOS / etc on their Android pocket computer is as yet too high, advertisement-company Google's nonsense can be uninstalled. It helps that I use my less-smart phone much less than back when these things were a novelty. Nice to be able to call and text, snap photos, take notes, visit some websites with JavaScript turned off, set alarms, and learn stuff with Anki, all with one high-tech slab that fits in my pocket. I also appreciate F-Droid and the contributions of so many people making useful software. Still, I'd trade computers and all the pollution from the underlying infrastructure for lower population density and the ability to regularly eat fish from local waterways without getting poisoned.

meristohm

16 dagen geledendiscuss

...and a consequence of living in dense concrete "jungles" is increased energy consumption to cool ourselves, further increasing average global temperatures. What might the consequences be of living amongst trees (and plants in general) and spending much more of our time meeting our basic needs by moving around on the earth under our own power?

meristohm

16 dagen geledendiscuss

Yep! Evaporation through leaf stomata creates the internal pressure drop that pulls water from the earth into the roots.

meristohm

17 dagen geledendiscuss

I like helping others learn and grow. Having a child helped focus my sense of purpose, but I already cared to help others, as a classroom teacher and private tutor. Parenting gave me a second childhood, during which I read Complex PTSD by Pete Walker (2010) and significantly reduced passing on the ongoing trauma I experienced during my childhood. I find joy in being okay with simply pausing and breathing like a resting dog (inhale until full, then relax and let it out, not inhaling again until the need arises), observing how my body feels wherever I am. I find joy in moving around the world under my own power or augmented by an ebike (bakfiets, for carrying my child, groceries, etc). I do not find joy in sitting in a car and letting gasoline or electricity move me and more than a ton of metal and plastic along a lifeless strip of asphalt, but I do it to meet the medical needs of my family members (otherwise I seldom outsource my mobility needs beyond human-powered machines). I find joy in learning, which is part of why I keep returning to HN; I find many of your choices to be harmful to life on earth in the long run, and it's also where I learned of solar.lowtechmagazine.com, so here I am.

meristohm

17 dagen geledendiscuss

I prefer breathing like a resting dog: deep inhale, immediately relax and exhale (just let it out; it'll be forceful at first and taper off), and take the next inhale when the need arises. Ideally I do this with water and food, too (feast/fast). I find the 4-4-4-4 contrived, but I can see the potential mental-focus benefit.

meristohm

18 dagen geledendiscuss

Zero. Unless by "AI" you mean "software tool", in which case full-text search in Calibre ebook reader, language training with Clozemaster (I don't use the LLM-generated definitions, nor the images--too disturbing, and I dislike the refusal to use human-made art, like that at thenounproject), spam filters for email, Libby for library access (I now refuse to click on the LLM-generated suggestions for related reading), and The Internet, where I prefer sites like text.npr.org and solar.lowtechmagazine.com because they're static.

The main exception I'll easily grant for LLM use is towards equitable access for those with disabilities, and possibly for text-to-speech in general, though both of these things can be addressed with more human-to-human support; we don't have to do everything by ourselves.

meristohm

18 dagen geledendiscuss

Incredibly efficient, but if they're burning hydrocarbons to move, at scale they are incredibly damaging to earth's atmosphere, and to animals disrupted by engine and propeller noise.

International trade is wonderful, all this new tech we're drowning in is amazing, and- understand that every one of us will eventually die, hopefully passing on some positive influence to others along the way, and that it turns out opting for the new car, the big climate-controlled house, the weekly/monthly/annual/still-too-frequent long-distance flights/drives, the new pocket computer every few years, the fancy unnecessarily-powerful laptop, the hours spent on all the man-child hobbies because we haven't outgrown our childhood insecurities, all this is an incredible waste compared to the meaning derived from healthy relationships with people within walking distance, tending the land we get our food from.

meristohm

20 dagen geledendiscuss

Too many of us (here in the United States, anyway) rely on external energy conversion to do what we humans once did with our stored chemical energy. Using a drug to treat the symptoms of that technology-enabled behavioral dis-ease feels wrongheaded. A huge step in a healthier direction involves moving around the world predominantly under our own power or equivalent (a nod to those with mobility disabilities, and equitable access to resources), and by "equivalent to walking or cycling" I'm not suggesting multi-ton automobiles, but electric-assist or electric-powered bicyles, tricycles, and wheelchairs.

meristohm

27 dagen geledendiscuss

If the clog involves toilet paper, I'd rather not put a brush in that. Here's how I use a plunger effectively: Submerge it and then angle it to swap out some air for liquid, so you have more mass to push into the pipe. Tip it back upright, then slowly push down, relax and let the bell fill back up with water, and repeat, finding a resonant frequency where the pushed water doesn't just jet out the sides (due to imperfect seal) but because there's a pressure-wave action the clog gets moved in and out repeatedly until it breaks down enough for water to scoot by. Then one more flush to clean the plunger.

meristohm

10 maanden geledendiscuss

Whatever I do for money isn't a huge part of my identity, so telling a boss (if/when I find myself in that situation) to stuff it with the AI nonsense isn't going to be difficult. Decoupling one's self-worth from the job makes it much easier to roll with being fired.

"Playing along" is a great way to be part of someone else's potentially-harmful project. Consider your values, and don't cross those lines. If the boss is upset about it, they have options. I don't do their work for them.

Collective action with your fellow workers against enshittification is a humanist way forward.

meristohm

5 jaar geledendiscuss

In principle it seems unfair. Case-by-case I have a hard time being against this sort of reporting because of how much influence that money might have. How is it that an individual has so much money? My feeling is that it was enabled in part by tax-funded infrastructure and insufficient government regulation. Too much individualism is trouble (see the USA response to COVID-19). Likewise too much central control.

If we’re collectively being exploited and some publicity is what is effective at change, so be it. I still see the super-rich as individuals, intrinsically no better or worse than anyone else, worthy of empathy, and answerable for their actions, which generally feel unethical.

Where might we cap wealth? What is a better way to go through life than playing the acquisition game and feeling like we’re not adults until we have the fancy, humorless luxury things? How do we otherwise meet the needs of those who thirst for more and more power and resources?

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