[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Upvote for relevance and quality of the content.
Downvote for irrelevance or bad vibes.

The problem I’ve had with Reddit for so long is people using the arrows for agree / disagree. This does not promote discussion or interesting ideas. This often promotes comments that are irrelevant to the story people are commenting on. If I read a headline, I want the top comments to expand upon and contribute to that story.

Example: the headline might be about the decline of people eating apples. The highest voted comment might be a smartass comment about how red delicious is not delicious. But the article is actually an in depth report on the affects of climate change on apple production increasing the costs to consumers while processed foods have become more popular.

The amount of garbage on Reddit is just unreal. And now they’re training AI with it. All because people use the voting system improperly. Using my example, AI now believes apples are less popular because they’re not delicious. When people use an AI search engine, they’re not getting the true story.

I will absolutely upvote someone I disagree with. It’s rare but if they have an interesting thing to contribute while displaying knowledge of a subject, I’m all here for that. Genuine engagement with people we disagree with is how we all partake in poking holes in our echo chambers.

It’s an increasingly fine line but I don’t see these forums as social media. Ranking things by agreement or popularity feels like social media to me.

If you’re interested in a reward system, check out minds.com. Although, since it’s inception, this platform has become a cesspool or right wing extremism. It’s sad what it’s become.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I use this as a guide but I generally brew my tea a bit cooler to avoid bitterness.
https://yunnansourcing.us/pages/brewing-guide-for-green-black-oolong-and-pu-erh-teas

Green/White Tea:
Water temperature should be close to 85C Use 5-6 grams of green/white tea per 100ml of volume. Brief 10 second wash... then 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, and then maybe a minute each time until it's brewed out. I prefer to gradually coax out the subtle flavors.

Black Tea:
Water temperature should be close to 90C Use 5-6 grams of black tea per 100ml of volume. Brief 10 second wash... then 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, and then maybe a minute each time until it's brewed out. I prefer to gradually coax out the subtle flavors.

Oolong Tea:
Water temperature should be close to 95C (or higher). Use 4-5 grams of oolong tea per 100ml of volume. Brief 10 second wash... then 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, and then maybe a minute each time until it's brewed out. I prefer to gradually coax out the subtle flavors.

Pu-erh Tea:
Pu-erh tea brewing is not so different from oolong teas. You want the water as hot as possible when you pour it into the pot. If you are going to use yixing, I would dedicate one pot for ripe pu-erh and another for raw. Up to you.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 days ago

I don’t have any doubts. I have grave concerns that anyone, literally anyone, would argue that DT is a better option than Biden in any regard. That’s not to say I’m happy to have an old white dude as the nominee but he’s been exceptionally productive and has near infinite less baggage than the alternative.

I’ve yet to be presented with a legit legal way Biden could drop out and allow voters to choose another candidate. Lots of opinions that he should do it but no experts weighing in on how. I could have missed a lot of coverage so I ask people to respectfully share this policy with me.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 days ago

Fantastic 👏👏👏

To add to that, all I keep seeing in the news is about Biden's poor performance. Yeah, we knoooow. Can we maybe get some coverage of the report of Trump raping a child or how many mentions he has on Epstein's list? Is there anything else going on in the world we should know about? All the news is doing is grabbing hold of the most sensational topic that every other outlet is ~~reporting on~~ speculating about so they don't lose ratings / clicks.

The world we live in is not about genuine creativity or challenging perspectives or journalistic responsibility. All we have going forward is what generates ad revenue. What's "engaging". And our dumbass brains only care about dopamine. So anything that challenges us to think outside the box is too difficult for us to engage with. The corporations and special interest groups have won. I wouldn't be too worried about climate change at this point, kids. I doubt you'll be aware of your surrounds enough to realize what's going on around you.

I'm just hoping for a new Age of Enlightenment. Maybe people will realize that having everyone else do the thinking for us isn't such a great idea.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 days ago

~~Political ads on social media~~ The Internet rife with misinformation and scams, new research finds.

FTFY

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 days ago

That's why we have a vice president.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 31 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The rule you’ve described is ‘you have the right to treat people how others have treated you’.

That is not the Golden Rule. The point of the Golden Rule is to proactively be a good person, not one who reciprocates. Regardless of how others treat you, by treating others how you want to be treated, you will be seen as a good and decent person who spreads kindness in the world. Someone whom others won’t go online and complain about. Someone who is less likely to make someone’s day a little more shitty.

The Golden Rule is awesome. I struggle daily to abide by it.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 days ago

I still regularly use my iPod. Going on 20 years old! I’ve replaced the battery and swapped the hdd with an sd card.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 29 points 4 days ago

Dude. Everything?

I’m exhausted with how much stuff I can’t use like I used to because a dev or manufacturer updates software. Granted, the speed of things is much improved thanks to chip technology. Software, in some cases - many cases in my experience, is getting worse.

A big one for me is music. I prefer FM radio and my own music library (digital, iPod, cd, vinyl). Because, as it’s increasingly becoming the case with everything else, you’re relying on someone else or some algorithm to do the thinking for you. And when you finally get used to something, they break it or add needless complexity.

Another one is cameras - they just do way too much crap now. Lots of people might find added features and improvement but for me it just gets in the way of iso, aperture, shutter speed. And then they’re outdated in five years anyway.

I still have a dumb tv from ~2012. The back lighting is starting to go and I’m terrified of getting a new one.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 68 points 4 days ago

If you’re continually having issues passing a written exam, I would respectfully request that you just stop now. These “laws and rules and stuff”, generally, are not complicated and are far from stupid. This is the bare minimum you should know in order to operate a motor vehicle safely in the presence of other vehicles and children. If you’re unable to grasp the seriousness of this, how it can literally impact your very existence, you may not be responsible enough to operate a vehicle. Granted, probably half the people on the road shouldn’t be on the road either.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 20 points 5 days ago

It's too hot here because of all the global warming so let's get on an airplane and fly someplace cooler. Or hotter - I don't know why people fly to Florida in the summer.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 17 points 5 days ago

through time

Dude, you're saying this as though the internet has been around for millennia. And as if you've never been to / heard of a library.

I've downloaded a ton of music videos to create my own self-hosted MTV station. I've downloaded music and books. I've used it to view non-paywalled (NYT) articles shared on Lemmy. I live in Philadelphia so I've used it to look up the earliest version of the "yellow pages" or "white pages" from the 1800s. I've searched for the videos they used to show us in elementary school on 16mm - stuff about the expansion of the USA, the national parks, history of my state or city, etc. I've used it to look up tv commercials from the 1980s for a bit of nostalgia and older tv shows that people have uploaded from their personal VHS collection. Some people just upload personal stuff that's entirely mundane but voyeuristically interesting. And I'm certain I haven't even scratched the surface of what's on there.

-8
submitted 11 months ago by oxjox@lemmy.ml to c/news@lemmy.world

Gotta love the top comment, “If sincere, what a great move, and a great recognition of the need for preserving historical truth and solidarity.”

10
submitted 11 months ago by oxjox@lemmy.ml to c/apple@lemmy.ml

This might be the wrong place to ask this question but, as someone who has owned more Apple products that I could count, I'm interested in reducing my dependency on them (and tech, in general) moving forward.

A significant portion of my life has included spending time and money on devices and applications to "make my life easier / more productive". It's becoming all too apparent though that this has created a reliance on technology that can become difficult to separate from if a company, such as Apple, makes changes that are displeasurable or disruptive to the habits I've adopted my daily life.

I mean, my bluetooth trackpad is acting wonky right now, so that's not fun. Wired always works. Is there too much technology?

I am not a fan of having to keep a phone on me at all times. It's always in silent mode and visual notifications are kept to a minimum. I can and do sometimes go two to three days without even knowing where my phone is. If I leave the house, I more often just take my Apple Watch and a note pad. (However, with the realization that Apple is changing the Watch UX with OS10, I'm not so sure I'll be using it much longer.)

I'll go through my phone once in a while and delete apps I rarely use. If I need something, I can easily reinstall it. The only things I really need a phone for are Maps for navigation, Safari to open a restaurant's menu, to manage my Apple Wallet, to get a Lyft, to view my Fitness / Health info, and to access an MFA Authenticator app.

After my Apple TV, my iPad is probably my most used device, closely followed by my Mac mini. (I have a MacBook for work - I don't consider that part of this conversation.) Thinking about it though, I could probably eliminate the iPad in favor of the desktop experience. Since there is not Finder replacement on iPad, I need a MacOS computer to mange my music, photos, files, etc. Although, I hate sitting at a desk more than I need to already for work. If ~~MacOS~~ Finder were available on an iPad, I might be able to ditch a desktop computer.

I just checked Screen Time on my phone - I'm averaging about 1 Hour / Week. My iPad is about 4 Hours / Week. Why do I even have these devices?

So, my problem is that I need(?) each of these devices for just a small handful of tasks. Stepping back from it, it feels stupid that I have all this crap. It's a lot of money spent and it's a lot of opportunity for something to break my daily habits. Although, speaking of habits, I have to admit I feel an addiction to these things that prevents me from getting rid of them.

Aren't we all addicted to out devices? Are we actively encouraging or reducing our dependency on technology and what affect does this have on our mental well being?

I'm wondering if anyone has taken steps to replace or eliminate devices or experiences. How are you living a minimalist technology life?

108
submitted 11 months ago by oxjox@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

For example, I'm on Lemmy.ml and I've joined !photography@lemmy.ml, !photography@lemmy.world, and !photography@kbin.social. In this example, it's not very different from the number of similar groups on Flickr but, in comparison to Reddit, it seems like the decentralized platform can be a little unruly.

How are you going about joining different communities and managing your engagement? Are you only participating on the community on your instance? Are you joining and posting in as many instances that seem relevant?

11
submitted 1 year ago by oxjox@lemmy.ml to c/lemmy_support@lemmy.ml

When I followed the instructions shown when selecting "Set up 2-factor authentication", there's a pop-up that says to reload the page. When I did that I was immediately signed out and was unable to log back in without a 2FA key.

Click 'Save', then manually reload this page, scroll down and use the '2FA installation link' to obtain the oath URL for your authenticator.

263
submitted 1 year ago by oxjox@lemmy.ml to c/reddit@lemmy.ml

I admit to spending too much time on Reddit during my work day as a distraction. It's a problem. What's worse is that Reddit has become so full of uninteresting content that I spend most of my time downvoting things that aren't at all relevant to the sub they're posted in. And with a lot of the front page subs being offline, the experience is dreadfully worse.

Reddit is barely any different from any other social media platform now. People just want to argue for the sake of arguing and getting hive mind support without any interest in the relevance or context of the original post (ie., no one reads the articles). Reddit has an algorithm just like any other social media platform to push engaging content to the top so they can get more ad revenue. I've been saying it for years now, Reddit is trash. But damn is it addictive.

I'm thankful for Lemmy and KBin and Mastodon (and my RSS reader) for providing interesting, relevant, chronologically posted content with a minimal amount of dilution. I don't spend as much time here but it serves the purpose of informing and entertaining me for a five minute work break without the frustration of "being social media".

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oxjox

joined 1 year ago