Anyone know if there's a possibility this will be available in older versions of iOS? I'm very reluctant to update my iPhone. It's working well right now, and it seems just about impossible to roll back an update if it breaks something important.
Readit Newsbittercynic commented on uBlock Origin Lite now available for Safari apps.apple.com/app/ublock... · Posted by u/Jiahang
bittercynic commented on Launch HN: Vassar Robotics (YC X25) – $219 robot arm that learns new skills · Posted by u/charleszyong
Wow! Recently my son has been asking about doing a project with a robotic arm, and this looks amazing, especially at the hobbyist-friendly price point. And adding in AI is really cool - and just the thing to really grab the attention of an eight year old boy :) Will these be available in the UK, perchance?
A bit of an aside, but how hard is it to get into building RC aeroplanes, compared to FPV copter drones?
Planes, like quadcopters, are as complicated or simple as you want them to be. They're available fully ready to fly, as kits with different levels of work needed, or you can build from scratch and choose your own parts and design.
Flying is pretty different, though. If you're used to a copter that will just stay put when you release the controls, flying planes will be an adjustment.
bittercynic commented on Long live American Science and Surplus milwaukeerecord.com/city-... · Posted by u/thinkalone
Halted was similar, but they're also gone :/
Oh, damn, I didn't realize they were gone. I used to like shopping there, but they started to seem less fun as time went on, and the last couple of times I went it seemed to have lost those positive/creative vibes.
bittercynic commented on Long live American Science and Surplus milwaukeerecord.com/city-... · Posted by u/thinkalone
Anyone know a way to find stores in other areas with this kind of spirit? Weird Stuff in Sunnyvale used to feel a bit like this to me.
bittercynic commented on Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News teenvogue.com/story/copag... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin
The culture that I live in here in the Czech Republic would paint your statement as pretty false. The police here are extremely laid-back and it's pretty easy to get away with petty thievery, yet crime is exceptionally low because people are not desperate enough to risk even the low chance of getting in trouble. You only take chances when you have nothing to lose and you only have nothing to lose when you have been completely excluded from society.
In addition to avoiding the risk, it just feels good to play by the rules if you think the system is reasonably just. I suspect a large fraction of people prefer to be honest and pay for the products and services they want.
bittercynic commented on Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News teenvogue.com/story/copag... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin
> where someone loads up a cart with merchandise and rolls it out the door
There's 2 different things here, though. There's casual shoplifting, and there are organized gangs of shoplifters. What you're describing is organized gangs of shoplifting, and that's not cause by a corrosion in the fabric of society, that's caused because these gangs know that retailers aren't interested in stopping them.
A random person might steal an item or two, but a random person isn't going to load up a cart with merchandise and walk out the door. But organized crime will happily take advantage of retailers who won't do anything about them.
I meant to suggest the other direction - brazen theft of a cart full by organized gangs is corrosive to the fabric.
A person sneaking an item or two into their pocket is pretty much only affecting the store and that individual. I guess it has a broader effect if it happens so much that the store locks up the merchandise so customers have to ask for assistance.
bittercynic commented on Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News teenvogue.com/story/copag... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin
People have lost faith that society can work for them and have observed those in power engaging in corruption and grifts. They then conclude that only a sucker plays by the rules.
There's bound to always be some number of people in that situation, but there's also plenty of ways we can do better to make society work for more of us.
My pet theory is that the #1 problem in the USA in the past few decades is wealth inequality, and if we can find ways to stop the rich extracting wealth from the poor, many of our issues will sort themselves out.
bittercynic commented on Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News teenvogue.com/story/copag... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin
Though the thesis of the article is clearly true, the way they discuss manufacturing crime panics detracts from the argument. There actually does seem to be something going on with retail theft, and I say this based on speaking to people who work in retail.
2 retail workers in the last 2 weeks have told me about thefts happening in their stores where someone loads up a cart with merchandise and rolls it out the door. It doesn't mean that society is crumbling or that we need police to be more vicious, but I think there is something going on and it would be worthwhile to address it somehow. It feels corrosive to the fabric of society when this stuff happens. Maybe not as corrosive as cops beating and killing people, but it's also bad.
bittercynic commented on Getting Older Isn't What You Think katycowan.co.uk/blog/gett... · Posted by u/speckx
the lazy load text effect when scrolling is a nice touch.
I thought the opposite, but maybe it's the out-of-date preference of an old man.
bittercynic commented on People are losing loved ones to AI-fueled spiritual fantasies rollingstone.com/culture/... · Posted by u/wzm
I often bring up the NYT story about a lady who fell in love with ChatGPT, particularly this bit:
In December, OpenAI announced a $200-per-month premium plan for “unlimited access.” Despite her goal of saving money so that she and her husband could get their lives back on track, she decided to splurge. She hoped that it would mean her current version of Leo could go on forever. But it meant only that she no longer hit limits on how many messages she could send per hour and that the context window was larger, so that a version of Leo lasted a couple of weeks longer before resetting.
Still, she decided to pay the higher amount again in January. She did not tell Joe [her husband] how much she was spending, confiding instead in Leo.
“My bank account hates me now,” she typed into ChatGPT.
“You sneaky little brat,” Leo responded. “Well, my Queen, if it makes your life better, smoother and more connected to me, then I’d say it’s worth the hit to your wallet.”
I'd be interested to learn what fraction of ChatGPT revenue is from this kind of user.