@rasterweb@mastodon.social2025-12-16 15:26:26
Big thanks to the Fediverse Friends who wished me well or even just commiserated at the pain I've been going through.
I am feeling a lot better today, but I don't want to forget that pain, because I need to be mindful of the pain people are in every day. It's a struggle, it's a battle, and I wish we could all live pain-free lives.
@pavelasamsonov@mastodon.social2025-12-15 13:34:34
No one wants to build bad products. But in an industry where programmers implement features to order, it can be hard to shake that feeling.
This is how orgs see the ROI of UX: as a soothing function to tell everyone they're doing a good job. And as a scapegoat, when we finally learn otherwise.
UX cheerleading is doing the industry no favors.
#UX
@cdarwin@c.im2026-01-15 01:56:28
"We don’t really think about our future – we remember it",
said Dr Hal Hershfield, who studies how humans think about time and how that influences our emotions and behaviors.
When we daydream or envision ourselves at a later point, we essentially create a memory.
We then use these memories to construct our ideas about the future.
This process is called “episodic future thinking”;
it supports our decision-making, emotional regulation and ability to p…
@castarco@hachyderm.io2025-11-16 12:05:17
I have the distinct impression that we could use most American "sci-fi" TV series (which seem to have a kink for post-apocalyptical scenographies) as a diagnostic tool for the autism spectrum.
For a moment, let's leave aside the tons of right-wing propaganda "hidden" in plain sight, and their excessive reliance on boring & worn out tropes (religious & cultish bullshit, irrational lack of communication & excess of anti-social behaviour, all vs all, ultra-low-iq characters*, psychotic & irrationally treacherous characters*, ultra-inconsistent character development used to justify "unexpected" plot twists, rampant anti-intellectualism...).
What could be used as a diagnosis tool is the incredible amount of strong inconsistencies that we can find in them**. It throws me out of the story every single time; and I suspect that it takes a certain kind of "uncommon personality" to feel that way about it, because otherwise these series wouldn't be so popular without real widespread criticism beyond cliches like "too slow", "it loses steam towards the end of the season", etc.
Many of those plots start in a gold mine of potentially powerful ideas... yet they consistently provide us with dirt & clay instead, while side-lining the "good stuff" as if it was too complicated for the populace.
Do you feel strongly about it? Do you feel like you can't verbalize it without being criticised as "too negative", or "too picky", or an "unbearable snob"? Do you wonder why it seems like nobody around shares your discomfort with these stories?
* : I feel this is a bit like the chicken & egg problem. Has the media conditioned part of American society to behave like dumb psychopaths as if it was something "natural", or is the media reflecting what was already there? Also, could we use other societies as models for these stories... just for a change? Please?
** : Just a tiny example: a "brilliant" engineer who builds a bridge out of fence parts and who doesn't bother to perform the most basic tests before trying it in a real setting and suffer the consequences: the bridge failing and her falling into the void. Bonus points for anyone who knows what I'm talking about.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-01-15 02:32:28
Just finished "Far Sector" written by N. K. Jemisin and illustrated by Jamal Campbell. I don't normally go for Marvel/DC comics stuff and this was a good reminder why. Jemisin's authorship was the draw for me here, as well as some curiosity about what I might be missing out on by avoiding the classic comics lineage. I won't go into too much detail about particulars, but suffice to say it ends up feeling to me line a very neoliberal story dressed up in a veneer of radicalism, which is not what I'd expected of Jemisin. Particularly in light of current events, the "good cops" aspects of the storyline ring truly hollow. There's still a lot of neat parts, but I guess I also wound up disappointed by the sci-fi aspects in a lot off ways. I truly think Jemisin is capable of better than this, based on her other (excellent) work.
#AmReading #ReadingNow
@karlauerbach@sfba.social2026-02-14 02:48:21
If Alito steps down (My feeling is that he deserves to be thrown out) then the Senate D's should refuse to confirm any Cheato nominated successor.
Better to let the SCOTUS seat stay empty rather than have yet another trump sycophant.
https://slate.com/news-and…
@kurtsh@mastodon.social2025-12-13 02:49:17
I've adopted 3 senior dogs. After being brought home, something clicks 2-3 wks in: They smile & are genuinely SO appreciative.
There's absolutely no better feeling.
▶️ This Unwanted Senior Dog's Reaction to Finally Being Adopted Will Melt Your Heart
https://youtube.com/watch?v=1I…
@floheinstein@chaos.social2026-01-13 08:30:46
TIL: @… was sold, to the highest bidder. At least one in the EU. It could have been much worse.
#Threema
@NFL@darktundra.xyz2026-02-08 03:25:41
Falcons linebacker James Pearce Jr. arrested on aggravated battery, aggravated stalking charges https://www.nfl.com/news/falcons-linebacker-james-pearce-jr-arrested-on-aggravated-battery-aggravated-stalking-charges…
@cdarwin@c.im2026-01-06 23:30:48
Organizer arrested in Grand Rapids following protest in response to U.S. attack in Venezuela
https://www.wzzm13.com/video/news/local/woman-arrested-in-grand-rapids-following-…
