UltraMagnus

joined 9 months ago

I think the Sunni and the Shia might want to have a word with you with whether or not Islam can be interpreted in different ways.

That being said, when we see strict interpretations of religions, it's usually in particular sects or denominations (unless it's a very new religion, such as scientology - which is a cult and a religion, of sorts). The Amish and the Shakers might be examples of particularly strict sects within Christianity.

And in the case of the article, I think the situation is impacted strongly by governmental corruption and lawlessness. The way children are treated in Jordan and the way children are treated in Iraq are very different, even if they might both be majority-Islam countries.

By limiting ourselves in only thinking what cultures are "good" or "bad", we will severely hamper our abilities to protect children and uphold justice. This is how we end up with people thinking banning niqabs or burkas in France will somehow prevent child marriage.

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 16 points 5 days ago (5 children)

I think there are cultural differences that we ought to tolerate and be mindful of our biases on (how you prepare food, the clothes you wear, difference in manners, accents, language, etc.) and there are things which are universal evils (murdering children for not marrying).

It is unfair to ascribe the latter to all people belonging to a particular culture (the "you people" comment), since "universal" evil goes both ways - all people should consider it evil, but it is not unique to a particular people. A strange duality. Reminds me of the dad who "accidentally" shot and killed his daughter in Texas after an argument about Trump and was never investigated.

Ooo, that list is super useful and it's getting bookmarked

Woah, that looks surprisingly in-depth for an rpgmaker game! I will have to give it a go

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Oh gee, I hadn't heard of books before.

In seriousness, this came about from visiting a museum and wishing that there was an easy way to revisit it through some sort of 3d simulatio.n And then thinking back on how I enjoyed Carmen Sandiego growing up.

Obviously neither is ideal for learning (focused books are a more effective tool than walking through a museum with a bunch of disparate exhibits), but I wouldn't discredit the educational impact of the experience. Humans are very visual and tactile creatures.

That being said, I don't spend my downtime attempting to do things as efficiently as possible. I'm not on a deadline, so there's no reason for me to pick up a textbook and write essays for the most efficient learning possible. It's OK to enjoy the experience.

 

E.g., like Assassins Creed Origins' museum mode where you could learn about Egypt. Less so things like Hearts of Iron or Crusader Kings.

There's plenty of educational games aimed at elementary school students, but I'm curious if there are any aimed at older audiences, like the game equivalent of a nonfiction book.

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 4 points 9 months ago

No, what you say makes sense, and I think it's part of the reason why linux usage (as a daily driver) is starting to increase now versus 20 years ago. It's just easier to install and use linux distros nowadays.

And most folks who want office for free are going to go with google docs, for the convenience factor.

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 2 points 9 months ago

I disagree with the idea that some "great leader" would be helpful and not a liability. Or the idea that there aren't already leaders in the movement.

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 3 points 9 months ago

Yes. It's natural that participation will ebb and flow, that's why it's important for folks not to give up and say it was all useless after just one day. Having regular weekly events and a monthly "big" protest seems to be the strategy for maintaining momentum.

Escalation could also be useful - though of course that doesn't necessarily mean jumping to blood-and-violence, there are many other tactics that can be used (like the targeted boycotts, for example, or a general strike). Even more "passive" things like voter education (where polls are, how to register, etc.) can add up over time.

 

One of the shorter presentations at FediCon, but definitely interesting, especially since lemmy instances are very much driven by the user base (whereas Linux doesn't really change based on how many users there are). Also interesting since the speaker, Janet Vertesi, is one of the people working on the "Europa Clipper" project (the one where we're flying a satellite through Europa's geysers to get water samples, since landing and drilling under the ice is impractical. This has nothing to do with the presentation, I'm just excited about it).

Video Highlights:

2:00 - The current dominance of a few social media companies was predicted. Although there are lots of neat tools for opting out of Microsoft/Google/etc., but it's the community of these tools that matters

7:30 - Difficulties with how entangled folks are with mainstream tools (maps, calendars, clubs, etc.) - and how to overcome these obstacles. Interesting bit about how all the privacy toggles on Facebook, etc. give a false sense of security and discourage users from making bigger, more effective change. Additionally, behavior change happens at the group level, not the individual level.

12:00 - Building a network of "Tech Reclaimers" to help others make the change. Teaching social and technical skills (e.g., moderation - people are used to the technology doing everything for them on "traditional" social media), taking small steps, etc.

17:30 - Ongoing events

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 65 points 9 months ago

The assumption that you'll lose a lawsuit against a large corporation probably stops a lot of viable lawsuits from ever happening - good for him for giving it a go.

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 4 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Even if a movement went all "blood and violence" it wouldn't be done in a day. What makes you so certain that something is useless just because it doesn't immediately solve everything?

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 1 points 9 months ago

The newer zelda games are interesting since you can see how the world has changed between botw and totk, but on the macro scale you're definitely right. Most zelda games have formula of "all is well, bad guy appears to threaten realm, link saves the day, back to normal". BOTW was an interesting way to change that formula - hyrule isn't restored after you beat ganon, but things change with new settlements being formed and so on in totk

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 2 points 9 months ago

To be honest, I don't know much about film at all! That is pretty interesting to hear about Kodak - if all the indie/"hipster" companies are dependent on it, then I can see why you wouldn't want to lose it. That was my bad for relying on memories of 20+ years ago - naturally, they would've changed since then

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