@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io2025-11-01 16:19:33
The most interesting type of replyguy is the meta-replyguy (as in the greek prefix, not the tech company).
Here's a typical interaction:
Me: [Question] Please only reply if you know the answer.
Someone: I googled it for 5 seconds, here's the answer. [It's not the answer.]
Me: Did you not read my post? I only wanted replies if you know the answer.
Meta-replyguy: You're an asshole.
???
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2025-10-02 15:22:04
Folks, @… from Gaza is doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) about Gaza:
https://mastodon.social/@AhmedOuda/115305232117184704
“Life here in …
@inthehands@hachyderm.io2025-12-02 05:05:03
I’m not saying the answer will always be “no,” but people are wildly, wildly overselling the number of situations in which the answer will be “yes.”
Sometimes the answer is “no” because incorrectness is a deal-breaker — and that scenario’s been getting a lot of attention (fake legal briefs, vibe-coding faceplants, etc).
Sometimes, however, the answer is “no” because making something •typical• isn’t really helpful. Where humanity needs to come to the foreground, homogeneity is positively unhelpful. Here’s a fascinating example:
https://hci.social/@bwaber/115647856415818492
@teledyn@mstdn.ca2025-10-02 20:38:30
Yes, The News is reaching new heights of bad, but I dont think keywords are really the cause of my suffering.
So I ask myself why they irk me and it generally comes back that I want control over others, which, as tyrants inevitably find out, isn't really possible. Hard enough controlling myself!
So, given what feeble control I have, I ask what needs doing, here, now, and find I need to know what's happening around me, here, now, to answer 😅
My strategy for news is roughly
- compare multiple sources eg AP, Reuters etc
- ignore what anyone says
- ignore claims what they will do or have done
- ignore predictions and interpretations
- be skeptical of causal inferences
- attend to what was actually done
The first and last when combined are often amusing in which actual observations are included or left out. Humans are awfully clever, and so cunning in their rhetoric 🤣
@grumpybozo@toad.social2025-10-02 13:45:02
In a decade on the Fowl Site, I don't think I ever saw anyone post pictures from or mention Empire, which is a very special place for me. In 3 years here, I've had the boon of new ones every day (from @…) and a trickle of fabulous shots like this one. Sleeping Bear and South Manitou in the distance anchor it for me as being a very parti…
@vrandecic@mas.to2025-10-01 06:01:23
Google, which is happy to answer all kinds of questions using their AI, seems to answer with a mix of non-committal results, a few current ones, and plenty outdated results for "who has the majority in the house" and similar questions.
Are you getting better results?
EDIT: I get reports from people that they get better results
#uspol
@Mediagazer@mstdn.social2025-10-30 22:25:24
Sources: Gayle King, who has anchored CBS News' morning show for over a decade, is expected to leave the program next year; her existing contract expires in May (Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/gayle-king-cbs-mornings-anchor-out-1236565036/
@jamie@boothcomputing.social2025-10-31 23:30:32
This sentence is my nemesis. I mis-translate it every time and I still don't understand the rules that make it work.
#Duolingo
#Nederlands
@inthehands@hachyderm.io2025-11-02 20:24:20
Look, say what you will about about all the practical good and bad of all the things the Obama admin did — and please DO NOT say it in my replies, I’m aware, I do not need your input, instant timed mute, thank you — but just take a minute to watch this video. This is a crash course in how every anti-fascist politician should be campaigning right now.
Just copy the guy. Steal from the best. Do it. He’s giving you the answer key for your campaign homework; it’s right there, and it’s free for you to use. Take it. https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:esrrgaktqbyod6pcd7fvh66x/post/3m4naj4t4322p
@teledyn@mstdn.ca2025-12-01 19:15:30
Found an obscure hint that perhaps instead of authenticating through #Evolution I should instead authenticate through the #Gnome settings for attached accounts, so I tried that approach, this time it asks for far more permissions (8 in all) but, you guessed it, a classic Sam Beckett "No Answer" and the terse response, "timed out".
So the app doesn't matter. The browser doesn't matter. The account or any legacy cruft doesn't matter.
Does this leave as the only explanation that perhaps Google no longer provides OAuth2 tokens? Surely that would be all over the news if true, but I'm running out of local culprits. Also Emacs inability to authenticate Mastodon suggests its neither google nor Debian per se? Maybe I should spend my time more productively slamming a car door on my fingers?
I have a dread feeling wiping the laptop and carefully reinstalling from scratch will not work.