Unpopular Opinion

I see a lot of people complaining that the Fairphone 6 doesn't have an Aux jack.

Just use an adapter cable.

A 3.5mm Aux jack takes up a significant amount of space just to connect a few wires that could be connected through USB-C anyway, that space could be used for a bigger battery.

Even if there was a good enough reason to keep Aux it should be 2.5mm Aux and not the usual 3.5 as it does exactly the same thing but uses less space

She's Filipino by birth and culture, dad was Japanese. She won't say a single word against the Japanese unless you really drill into her opinions, simply won't talk about it. But JFC does she hate them, deep down. It's funny that her sisters live in Japan ATM. :) They don't seem to care.

But I get it, deep down. Japan raped her country in WWII, literally and figuratively, and while she's ignorant of modern Western politics, she know plenty about the Japanese using babies for bayonet practice. Have to admit, I wondered if her dad raped her mom.

My father died of mesothelioma sucking down asbestos while fighting in the Pacific Theatre. Watched him suffer to death for two years as a child. You might think I would hold a grudge. I do not, history to me.

All that to say, I don't blame her and I'm fine with her prejudice. OTOH, she refuses to do cute shit like wear a kimono or chops sticks in her hair. Fuck me, I signed up for an Asian chick! (That is an attempt at humor for the autistic among you.)

Thoughts?

We've all seen the video of that woman freaking out because she had to sit next to a fat person, we've seen video's of passengers acting a fool on the planes and in the airport.

My solution is that every airline in North America agree to create a board where they each have equal numbers of representatives, give all crew members body cameras and when an incident happens or when a passenger refuses to follow instructions they can create a case with the board, they look over it and they vote if a majority votes in favor they can then decide for how long they're blacklisted from flying including for life. This should also be done with trains and busses.

Following a conversation / thread is a hot mess at the best of times, it's mostly just brain farts, and #people #write #out #things #like #this #as #some #sort #of #shitty #search #engine #optimization #because #EVERYONE #MUST #FIND #MY #BRAIN #FART #AT #ALL #COSTS .

If you have something of substance to say, just blog it or make a post on a proper platform where you can actually make your point without the reader having to put together the worst IKEA jigsaw puzzle known to humans. The technology to edit/update a post has existed forever, so it's stupid to just keep replying to yourself as new information "breaks".

Microblogging is dumb.

#Twitter #Mastodon #Threads #McDonalds #Walmart #TheGap #Baseball #NFL #RockAndRoll #TheInternet #Starbucks #DisneyWorld #Porno #Valium #Reeboks #FakeTits #Sushi #TacoBell #Rodeos #BedBathAndBeyond #TheAlamo #KitchenSinks #Sportsmanship #Books

There's no good reason for them to be on the road. Consider the following:

• They're extremely loud and cause noise pollution

• They're very dangerous on the road and have high accident rates

• They're bad for the environment and cause air pollution

• They're extremely inefficient as they can only carry 1-2 people max

• They can't carry cargo

• They're dangerous for pedestrians

• They're very demanding to operate

• They're virtually useless in the winter when there's snow, ice, and hail

• The people who tend to drive them tend to be assholes who don't respect road laws

People complain about cars all the time, and while our car dependency is definitely a big issue that we need to address, cars still have a lot utility. Motorcycles on the other hand? Not really. I think getting rid of them once and for all is good way to immediately make our roads safer, simplify traffic, and open up a pathway to move away from cars.

IMPORTANT: "Criticism" that starts with "All *..." or is obviously insulting, or defaming beyond verified facts is excluded.

You might be thinking "no shit, Sherlock", but it is really common that legitimate criticism is dismissed as anti-* or *-phobic, or because of political or religious ideology.

We do not need our bodies once we leave this world regardless of what you think happens after we die. We should be focused on curing diseases and extending the life of living humans. Science would go so far if we used human bodies after death instead of requiring people to give consent to something they don't need.

The entire organization is extremely shady, and Vibrant Behavioral Health subcontracts to a bunch of random companies. There is often zero requirement that the “trained counselor” on the other end of the line has any form of clinical experience - the only requirement for hire is often just a psychology BA.

Most of what 988 does is call the police. Calling will end up with essentially a robot reading a script of questions to you, and choosing to hang up or answering the questions in a way the random person on the other end of the line finds unacceptable will have the cops knock on your door. Even if they don’t call the cops, the most they will be able to do is say “I’m sorry, that sounds hard.” They will lie and claim resources are available, when they often are not unless you have the ability to pay/insurance.

They have probably spent more money on advertising than they have researching into effective ways to prevent suicide. They are completely opaque about how many calls end with non consensual intervention - and often these calls are made completely inappropriately. There is no accountability - complaints are handled by Vibrant, not necessarily the subcontractor you spoke to. There’s evidence that they are lying about the number of nonconsensual interventions.

988 primarily exists so that people have something they can say to someone in crisis. It is a pretend solution to a problem - it allows Americans to pretend the mental health crisis is being addressed by someone.

Involuntary inpatient hospital stays increase the risk of suicide for years after. Having the police show up at your door to take you to a filthy facility where you lose all rights, where you can be physically assaulted and verbally abused - this is not “care,” but this is often what happens.

It’s a bandaid on an amputated leg. It lets people pat themselves on the back for “helping.”

Those who cheered on the latter murder should now be examining their consciences.

The historical record is very clear: in politics, violence begets violence. This story is only beginning and it may not end well for America.

See details about the recent shootings.

I support giving users the choice between AI and non-AI services and products.

But workers protesting the use of AI in their industries are dumb in my opinion.

AI is going to change a lot of industries forever and there is almost nothing workers and unions can do currently to actually stop the progress.

I even had seen some worker unions who are protesting AI use, accept working with companies that use AI and I support them, Because they won't be taken seriously if they did not do that.

In short: I think workers should protest workers conditions and wages, rather than protesting technology.

AI adaptation is inevitable.

OC by @Flax_vert@feddit.uk

"Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" is when corporate pigs try to get ahead on open standards, make their client the main one used, then make their client drop the standard.

Email is at risk since most normies use Gmail or Outlook. Google and Microsoft could agree to drop support for all other providers and people probably won't switch to the other providers.

The most Meta can do is add a load of more users to the fediverse then take them away again. For them to successfully EEE the fediverse, it would require convincing existing fediverse users to switch to threads. I cannot see that happening on here on any noticeable scale.

The worst that can happen, is a bunch of new users appear on the 'verse from threads, then disappear again.

If anything, Bluesky is the bigger threat as it touts itself as "decentralised" in order to gain users who would have otherwise gone to Mastodon, then easily pull the plug on that, and we have to wait another decade for a maniac to ruin the platform to cause people to reconsider the fediverse.

Of course, organisations that directly act to facilitate these effects are acting against the interest of humankind. Even still, they can only do so because the public give them permission to do it.

"AI" (LLMs, CNNs, deep learning and all the hype around them) supplanting much of genuine thought, burning fuel polluting the atmosphere and heating the world, privacy being encroached upon by invasive tracking, censorship and sterilization of the internet. I argue that these things happen because individual consumers (that is, the vast majority of people) permit them to happen. Companies generally act to maximise profit, but can only ever earn revenue if people are buying. And when a person buys a product, they vote with their wallet that they are OK with that product and its making.

It is usually easiest to go with the flow. To buy cage eggs because they are $3 cheaper than free range. It just makes economic sense. I argue that we should never do this. We must only ever buy the option that fits our ethical minimum, even at a higher cost.

One might consider that many people can't afford the "ethical" product, and will need to fall back on the cheaper option. I argue that they should go without. I have, in recent history, been in a position where I couldn't afford the classical weekly shop. I could have saved good money by buying cage eggs. Still, either I buy free range, or I go without and substitute with something else.

There is always an alternative. Don't like Facebook? Start a blog website. Don't want those new AI features in your preferred app? Uninstall it and use one that fits your needs. If it comes down to it, learn how to make your own. Want to slow climate change? Be conscious of your energy use and burn less fuel - swap your car for a bike, use public transport if you can. EVs can be good, too.

Yes, it will be inconvenient. It might be painful. But isn't that worth proving that your own principles mean something? That you are more than a consumer?

For most of the people who can read this, we always have a choice. Having lived through the last decades, we have learned the effect of complacency. We now know better, and must choose better.

It's the biggest bummer when I go to a place hungry for some chips and they're the kind of chips with the skin on. I'm not not a fan of them at all, the texture is gross and it also looks ugly

It has no additional flavor other than adding sweetness. I would rather have no syrup than "fake" pancake syrup (e.g. Ms Butterworths).

I much prefer maple syrup. Of course it is expensive, so the Log Cabin table syrup is a good substitute that still has actual flavor and is affordable.

Edit: Also if you still want maple flavor for cheaper, a mix of half maple and half cane works good, like the stuff at Cracker Barrel. It doesn't deserve the hate.

The "dead internet" theory gets thrown around a lot these days especially by people critical of AI. The worry is that large language models and bots will flood the web with so much synthetic content that real human interaction will disappear - that everything will become artificial, empty, and repetitive.

But I’d argue we’re already well into that phase - and it didn’t take AI to get us here.

Originality is rare. Most content is recycled, reposted, reformatted like an endless stream of re-runs. Even the way people respond has become increibly predictable. You can write something mildly controversial or just unfamiliar, and you already know what you’re going to get: knee-jerk downvotes, the same tired comebacks, some vague accusation about your motives or identity - not a genuine engagement with the point. People don’t seem to read anymore so much as scan for whether you’re “one of them” or not.

And that’s the thing. Most users aren’t engaging with ideas - they’re running scripts. They’ve absorbed certain patterns from years online and now just execute them reflexively: a snarky quote from a meme here, a one-liner they saw get upvotes last week there. It’s social media call-and-response. And it’s killing the internet way more effectively than any AI could.

And yes, I already know how some people will respond to this - with some version of “I’ve never had those issues, maybe you’re the problem.” But never facing pushback isn’t a flex when you’ve been conditioned to avoid it. It’s like priding yourself on never failing when in reality you’ve never even taken a risk. Of course it feels like everything is fine if you’ve learned how to blend in. You’ve trained yourself not to touch the wire. That doesn’t disprove the problem. It is the problem.

Lemmy is a really great piece of software and i'm happy to use it but i have to say the quality of the content is really low and the way the platform is structured isn't helping. The frontpage is filled with memes and news from third parties and most discussions are happening below stupid headlines. If i were to document a live event i have no idea were i should post.

I was reading about Mel Gibson's anti-semitic rants, and his apology about being drunk* when I remembered this meme. I agree with the meme, that our brains tend to feed us what we've heard from our environment, but our conscious mind overrides that with our processed thoughts.

People use "he didn't mean it, he was drunk/high" as an excuse for racist/misogynist/whateverist comments. The response is typically "you don't become racist when drunk, you just drop your inhibitions and reveal who you are."

But if you agree with the First Thought meme, what if being impaired isn't revealing what you really think, but is preventing you from thinking at all, and just getting stuck on your conditioned response?

*Gibson is just an example. This post is not about litigating whether he personally is racist, but about this sort of behavior in general.

'Be nice' is a great idea in concept but when it comes down to concrete justification for post deletions and bans, it just becomes a general tool of oppression

Simply disagreeing with a political position has triggered rule #1 bans and removals across several subs, Gaza is a great example of this.

If we just want to keep pretending that mods are any different here than reddit, then they need to be held to a better degree of responsibility when it comes to their abuse of overly broad definitions.

Thank goodness this never happened to me cause my parents were good parents, it's just as much the childrens home as the parents and children should be allowed to say "I don't feel comfortable with another man or woman living hear" Its the parents responsibility to make sure their children are comfortable and feel safe around a new adult. The parent should plan a public meet and greet parent, child, step and after each one the children should have the right to say no more and it end there.

Upscaling and Frame Generation are disasters meant to conceal unfulfilled promises from GPU makers for 4k gaming, and as a coverup for the otherwise horrible performance some modern games have, even at 1080/1440p resolutions.

Upscaling will never, no matter how much AI and overhead you throw at it, create an image that is as good as the same scene rendered at native res.

Frame Generation is a joke, and I am absolutely gobsmacked that people even take it seriously. It is nothing but extra AI frames shoved into your gameplay, worsening latency, response times, and image quality, all so you can artificially inflate a number. 30FPS gaming is, and will always be, infinitely better as an experience, than AI frame doubling a 30fps experience to 60FPS.

and because both these technologies exist, game devs are pushing out less optimized to completely unoptomized games that run like absolute dogshit, requiring you to use upscaling and shit even at 1080p just to get reasonable frame rates on GPUs that should run it just fine if it was optimized better (and we know its optimization, because some of these games do end up getting that optimization pass long after launch, and wouldnt you know.. 9fps suddenly became 60fps)

If I can smell your perfume as you walk past and it lingers for a while I assume you don't wash yourself simple as that, why would you subject everyone and yourself to that if you didn't reek and need to cover it up. The only person who would smell you is the person in bed with you.

Title says it all. I just watched Blue Origin land a bunch of rich space tourists and it’s being called a successful “mission”. IMO trying to massage egos of the vendor and participants as having something greater than an exclusive joyride with no greater purpose than to have personal bragging rights.

Online marketplaces (like eBay) should mark all "ungiven" feedback as positive unless the buyer specifically opts-out of giving feedback (which must be selected on each order) or, obviously, leaves negative feedback. The current system punishes good sellers just for selling their items to buyers who can't be bothered to click through two forms on an email.

People are very quick to leave feedback when something goes wrong but rarely go out of their way to write a review when the order is fulfilled just as expected, this artificially inflates negative feedback. The feedback system I'm suggesting would counter this effect.

An order where nothing goes wrong is a "good" order! If an item you ordered arrives exactly as you expected, when you expected, etc., then the seller should receive positive feedback on their end, yet people rarely do so because they consider that the bare minimum. Counterpoint: Maybe so, but what's the "above and beyond" in that situation? The reality is that marketplaces require sellers to have positive ratings in order to succeed.

I think part of the reason that many Americans have the mindset they do is because the US thrived after WW2 by not having any large scale infrastructure damage. War torn areas force people to become more caring and work together. Being isolated and never having directly experienced war caused a reinforcement of exceptionalism and individualism. I think a war on its soil would do a large amount to change peoples mindsets.

Edit: just a reminder unpopular opinions should be upvoted.

Recently over the past couple of months, I've seen political discussion on every single social media (yes, that includes Lemmy) become a bear fight full of propaganda. Twitter/X is becoming a racist hellhole with people hating Jews, Black people and Muslims for existing whilst Lemmy is quickly fostering extremism. There is no where on the Internet, except for small chat channels, that is normal. What do I mean by normal?

Every single place is an echo chamber. Those inside it will shout that the other place is one, but we all know it. Lies and propaganda are constantly being cycled on Lemmy and the other Fediverse, but nobody bats an eye because "we're better" and the other side is full of disgusting people. The same thing is happening in conservative spaces. I don't want to talk about "race wars" "black fatigue" or "Jew bioweapons" nor do I want to talk about mass murder of billionaires and complete social destruction. I just want all of you to be normal.

Tribalism has influenced all of these spaces. In the information age, we have become the dumbest and most extreme political speakers in history. We no longer value the truth of information, just the optics. We sour the airwaves with filth, bringing it into schools, universities and even political administrations. We have madmen destroying the biggest country on Earth whilst people here defend the indefensible.

There is no more love in politics. No more "agreeing to disagree", no more facts or intelligence. It's just pure, unfettered hate.

Lemmy's just the lesser of two evils. Whilst I post here a lot, let me be clear: this place is a shithole. Sure, you guys aren't as washed and feral as conservatives, but you guys are still washed and feral. You guys infect everything with misplaced social justice, constantly finding to ruin everything on the basis of your apparent prejudice. You can't wait to bring people down, and never the other way around.

There is no reason to talk about politics on the Internet anymore. Everyone is lying. Everyone has an agenda. Everyone is being a bad person.

I am so tired