Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful youā€™ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cutā€™nā€™paste it into its own post ā€” thereā€™s no quota for posting and the bar really isnā€™t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned soo many ā€œesotericā€ right wing freaks, but thereā€™s no appropriate sneer-space for them. Iā€™m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged ā€œculture criticsā€ who write about everything but understand nothing. Iā€™m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. Theyā€™re inescapable at this point, yet I donā€™t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldnā€™t be surgeons because they didnā€™t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I canā€™t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

Last weekā€™s thread

(Semi-obligatory thanks to @dgerard for starting this)

    • swlabr@awful.systems
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      5 days ago

      Ok, so, some typical clueless VC mixed up atlas and sisyphus, which absolutely tracks. A VC thinks they are performing the all-important task of holding up the universe, when really they are just pushing a boulder up a hill and letting it fall down again.

      VCs really think they are prometheus bringing fire to man, when really they are the eagle eating prometheusā€™s ever regrowing liver, where prometheus is the working class and the liver is collective wellbeing.

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    5 days ago

    Breaking news: ā€œAI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorablyā€!

    Or, you know, not.

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    5 days ago

    New superpredictor lore dropped on r/mapporn. If you believe in prediction markets and meet someone from Blaine MT or Essec NY, you have to do whatever they say because they are smarter and better at predicting than you.

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      5 days ago

      If you gotta conclude with, ā€œtee hee! simulation theory!ā€ youā€™re not just cookedā€¦ youā€™re seared and roasted

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      So why must binary digits define, for all time, the limits of computation, and our experience of it?

      Thereā€™s enough layers of irony here that itā€™s a bit hard to tell if heā€™s making a serious argument here or not; but this is one of the weirder straw-men arguments Iā€™ve ever read.

      ā€œNo no no, itā€™s not all the exploitation, social ills, lack of user control, shoddy quality, and general capitalism I hate in the modern ā€œtechā€ industry; itā€™s the fact that it uses binary!ā€

    • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems
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      5 days ago

      I was watching an old Day9 stream today and this story is bouncing off of some comments he made about the importance of degenerate players to competitive design. Like, this is a pretty dumb outcome of regulation, but at the same time if you try to define regulations to create an exception for what ā€œeverybody knowsā€ is in something suddenly that process gets taken advantage of by self-interested manufacturers who will figure out how to convincingly argue that ā€œeverybody knowsā€ their generic shampoo contains peanuts and shellfish or whatever. And in the context of this kind of regulation that degenerate play will get people killed.

    • Soyweiser@awful.systems
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      Gasp

      This is just like the fall of Rome.

      E: eurgh the people arguing against regs that help people with allergies.

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    Crossposting this thread from nottheonion@lemmy.world with the fortune article ā€œElon Muskā€™s AI turns on him, labels him ā€˜one of the most significant spreaders of misinformation on Xā€™ā€. The article itself is nothing much, but it does have this quote:

    The smackdown from his own AI system, ironically, came soon after Musk touted the system to his followers in a tweet reading ā€œUse Grok for answers that are based on up-to-date info!ā€

    A little delicious irony is fine as a treat.

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      6 days ago

      Competitive college admissions and tech-industry hiring practices really have done permanent damage to these people, havenā€™t they

    • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systems
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      TL;DR:

      AI will take over the economy for reasons so humans will have no economic value for reasons which is terrifying for reasons and also we canā€™t just have males sitting around because yā€™know so we need to make a pretend economy because communism. So anyway yā€™know PageRank? Well donā€™t be shocked but humans have relationships too. So yeah basically letā€™s distribute ownership of all the worldā€™s resources once a month proportionally to how many likes they receive (no I am not a vtuber why do you ask?).

      What the heck did I just read?

    • blakestacey@awful.systems
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      If you find yourself saying

      There isnā€™t a single good term in English for people who are post-pubertal but below the legal age of consent or majority

      you may already be morally diseased.

    • self@awful.systems
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      7 days ago

      no part of me is surprised that every famous FOSS personality has a ridiculously bad age of consent take, but it is a real fucking problem that this keeps happening

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          Heā€™s definitely up there, or at least used to be. The Cathedral and the Bazaar, his attempt to justify why Linux is more successful than GNU or BSD, used to be very much a part of the open source canon. He cofounded OSI. He forked some POP3 client to make his own bad and insecure one called Fetchmail, then refused to improve it.

          Personally Iā€™m happy to know heā€™s become less relevant nowadays.

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            4 days ago

            Emphasis on used to. He worked fairly hard at becoming a household name, but ultimately his fame was pretty brief. Stallman achieved meme status, love him or hate him. Torvalds actually ships shit people use. Thereā€™s just no discourse around Raymond these days, good or bad.

            Every once in a while someone trips over one of the pitons heā€™s driven into the wall of FOSS to try and climb it, discovers his abysmal takes, amd everyone promptly forgets about him again.

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          dunno, itā€™s definitely up there. maybe not a recent one, and I could understand people sub-25 perhaps not knowing the name, but across a fair bit of the foss space the name is household

          unfortunately

          • Soyweiser@awful.systems
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            6 days ago

            Yes, he even gets mentioned by xkcd in the same breath as Stallman or Linus. (That it turns out the latter is the least worse of the three (he actually realized that being an asshole was bad) is quite the surprise).

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              That was way back in 2007. Probably close to when I read his stuffā€¦ but even then he was clearly still clinging to the Halloween Letters and seemed extremely old school.

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      7 days ago

      On top of the disgusting subject matter, why do these people think that even unlimited-character Twitter is a good format for posting these screeds? The site design, even on the main site, is absolutely terrible for presenting this much writing. Everything mashed into the constrained center column means way too many line breaks, meaning itā€™s a chore to read. Same thing with that freak Ackman; whatever overwrought bullshit he was posting just made my eyes glaze over.

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    8 days ago

    Folks, huge W today. I was hanging out with my parents today and my mother was scrolling her feed, commenting out loud about everything she saw when she came across some autoplag content. ā€œThis is fake!ā€ she said, and I could not be prouder. Not just because she IDed the slop, but because it meant she at least has a better brain than my trumper family members that habitually repost trumper slop.

    Cherry on top: she showed me a text chain where she was trolling a ā€œmy phone died, this is my new numberā€ scammer.

  • BlueMonday1984@awful.systemsOP
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    9 days ago

    Elon Musk, Ramaswamy land Trump admin roles

    President-elect Trump has tapped tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory group focused on cutting federal spending and reducing the size of the government.

    Trump announced Tuesday that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead his ā€œDepartment of Government Efficiencyā€ (DOGE), an initiative meant to ā€œslash excess regulations, cut wasteful expendituresā€ and restructure federal agencies.

    We live in the dumbest timeline

      • ahopefullycuterrobot@awful.systems
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        Fascists were always cringe. Himmler was a weird occultist. Goering was a drug addict still high on his glorious from World War I. Hitler was a profoundly lazy man with terrible taste in art. There were normal fascists (there had to be), but the leadership was always cringe. Unfortunately, being cringe doesnā€™t stop a movement from killing vast numbers of people.

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          This Adolf guy kinda had me when he was just a dude traumatized by war who liked buildings and was kinda shit at drawing them, but his political takes were full on yikes and he quickly lost me when it came to the arts as well.

      • BlueMonday1984@awful.systemsOP
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        9 days ago

        Its gonna be the largest embezzlement scheme in US history, that much Iā€™m certain. How much damage the pair will do to the federal gov Iā€™m not sure, but I expect there wonā€™t be much left of it once theyā€™re done.

          • corbin@awful.systems
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            8 days ago

            Personally Iā€™m betting on Teapot Dome: somebody in the Cabinet will be convicted of something like bribery, foreign influence, or electoral interference; and the cleanup will implicate multiple other Cabinet members. Trump needs to do this at some point anyway; heā€™s already done all of the Nixon things like Watergate and interfering in foreign wars, and while he attempted a Teapot Dome last time with Ryan Zinke, he needs to actually have a Cabinet member removed or convicted in order to truly be a worse president than Warren G. Harding.

              • corbin@awful.systems
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                Trump would have to literally kill all lawyers. Think of the DoJ as a pile of folks who all took an oath to the law itself. When pundits complain that itā€™s being ā€œweaponizedā€, theyā€™re actually talking about a facet of overcriminalization where the DoJā€™s limited attention can be controlled somewhat; itā€™s always going to be a full-power laser that targets what the law perceives as criminality.

                In particular, the President doesnā€™t have the authority to tell the DoJ to stop an investigation, and the DoJ usually canā€™t tell individual prosecutors to stop filing motions. Trump wasnā€™t able to protect Cabinet member and Teapot Dome Candidate #2 Michael Flynn from prosecution, nor can he protect Eric Adams. The worst that he can do is a Saturday Night Massacre, where he fires lawyers until the investigations stop, and the entire pattern of special counsel is purpose-designed to prevent that from actually working.

              • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems
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                7 days ago

                Because project 2025 and the mass deportations wonā€™t actually solve the problems his base is feeling, and at a certain point this kind of scandal will either be his downfall or his only option to scapegoat someone else.

    • Mii@awful.systems
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      9 days ago

      Such meme. Much wow. I see weā€™re continuing with giving dumb names to everything the Muskrat is involved in. Glad that hasnā€™t changed.

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      10 days ago

      But Trump canā€™t explain things, and Urbit defies explanation. So does the statement ā€œTrump explains Urbitā€ represent undefined behavior in English?

      • Soyweiser@awful.systems
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        What is worse? Trump explaining urbit and coming close? Or him explaining it so wrong you feel the need to set the record straight about the gravest misconceptions? (ā€œTrump said Elon invented it, but it actually was Yarvin, also as Elon didnt invent it, he certainly didnt say ā€˜good idea sirā€™ to Trumpā€).

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          I think in this case, the equivalent of a compiler error for undefined behavior would be a swiftly forgotten wire story entitled ā€œTrump promotes cryptocurrency projectā€ published on a Friday afternoon. Just one more scam among the flood, and not one that can be offered for easy monthly payments with a banner ad in the margins of an RSBN broadcast.

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            9 days ago

            Yeah, everyone in the traditional media seems to be even more committed to sane-washing than they were in the lead up to the election.

            Though the spike doge got today is definitely in the ā€œlaugh to avoid screamingā€ column.

    • o7___o7@awful.systems
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      begins invisible accordion

      Then Curtis Marvin, very smart guy, went to MIT like my famous uncle, he said, ā€œbut sir, a monad is just a monoid in the category of endofunctorsā€

      Many such cases, I said.

    • swlabr@awful.systems
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      10 days ago

      Have any of the trumps been on the red scare pod yet? Feel like thatā€™s on the timeline.

    • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systems
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      9 days ago

      Yeah itā€™s sad. As the article points out similar incidents have happened repeatedly. Anyone who saw the door design could have (and did!) predict something like this would happen. My coworker was trapped in his Tesla in his garage for 15 minutes (and he wasnā€™t in a panic).

      Look at the picture of the manual door release here: Itā€™s pretty well hidden, you reach in and pull up on the door buttons.

      ā€¦ then scroll down and look at the picture of the rear door manual release. You have to pull off some trim from inside the pocket, pull off another panel, and then pull a cable.

      ā€¦ but wait! Thereā€™s more!

      Note: Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors.

      Jesus, I hope the engineers who signed off on this think about what theyā€™ve done and do better. I would say I hope someone regulated bad emergency door releases out of existence butā€¦ yā€™know.

      • Soyweiser@awful.systems
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        9 days ago

        Imagine what other flaws these cars have if the tried to ā€˜innovateā€™ like this on the solved technology that is fucking doors.

        • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systems
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          The lack of a speedometer in front of your face is a pretty glaring quality issue. You have to turn your head to look at the massive touchscreen. The one that replaces all other dashboards and most tactile controls for manufacturing cost savings to be a cool futuristic vehicle of the future.

          I wonā€™t even start talking about the whole CyberStuck thing again because thatā€™s too easy; except to point out that it has turn buttons on the steering wheel instead of a turn signal stalk, a shifter on the ceiling, and the steering wheel is not round.

          I only recently bought my first car and itā€™s just old enough that it didnā€™t even have a backup camera until I got one installed. Honestly half the reason of buying used was so I could have a car without a touchscreen haha.

          • self@awful.systems
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            a shifter on the ceiling

            I still canā€™t get over the design, engineering, and basic reasoning failures that must have gone into the decision to put supposedly the main way to change gears on the same type of mount that secures your rear-view mirror; a notably inconvenient and fragile place to put anything (and just like a rear-view mirror that got fucked with too intensely, a bunch of these shifters have already detached)

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                wikipedia picture of austin allegro steering wheel. It is square with deeply rounded corners.

                absolutely delightful

    • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systems
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      A bit of an aside, but how did everyone decide to use the exact phrase ā€œdecisive victoryā€ when congratulating president elect Trump? It keeps jumping out to me and I find it kind of weird. It has almost a militaristic tone.

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        11 days ago

        IMO, coordinated media strategy. you can send all the people you want to congratulate you a prebaked message or tweet or whatever, saves them the trouble of writing something themselves. That or copy paste

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          11 days ago

          I think that particular talking point also serves an exculpatory purpose: ā€œIf it was only a razor-thin victory I might understand being angry with me, but see itā€™s a decisive victory. He has the mandate of heaven of the people (this is a Trumpian victory! not a Democrat failure!) ! It would be wrong not to congratulate him!ā€

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            11 days ago

            after this decisive victory, I guess I have no choice but to take this mask off, what a shameā€¦

            that+ losing the popular vote in 2016 must have really hurt that ego of his.

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        10 days ago

        Also it isnā€™t? 50.2% to 48.1% of votes is not decisive in any sensible meaning of the word?

        If you account for the turnout (around 60%) it means 30% voted for Trump and 28.9% for Harris, so ā€œnone of thoseā€ won decisively with 40%!

        • bitofhope@awful.systems
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          10 days ago

          Losing every swing state and failing to even win the consolation trophy of the popular vote after even Hillary fucking Clinton managed that much is something Iā€™d call getting your ass handed to you. The US election system is terrible, but itā€™s the game they were playing and Trump won hands down.

          Also, not that itā€™s the point but I have to note that technically most election victories are decisive, in the sense that they resolve the winner with little to no ambiguity (which is usually the case, even when the margin is narrow). In that sense, the only way Trumpā€™s victory is not decisive is if you contest the legitimacy of the whole election.

          • V0ldek@awful.systems
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            10 days ago

            Also, not that itā€™s the point but I have to note that technically most election victories are decisive, in the sense that they resolve the winner with little to no ambiguity (which is usually the case, even when the margin is narrow). In that sense, the only way Trumpā€™s victory is not decisive is if you contest the legitimacy of the whole election.

            This is such pedantry that you might as well say ā€œthe Merriam-Webster dictionary defines decisive asā€¦ā€

            • sc_griffith@awful.systems
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              10 days ago

              considering trump has spent the last four years pretending he won the previous election I actually do wonder if part of the subtext is ā€œwe acknowledge you won for real realsies and we cannot talk shit about you as a fake presidentā€

            • bitofhope@awful.systems
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              Yea I know, had to get that digression out of my system, especially since you said ā€œin any sensible meaning of the wordā€ and all. Sorry, I didnā€™t mean to nuh-uh you on semantics, just point out something that tickled my pedantry sense.

              Edit: I also brought it up because IMO ā€œdecisiveā€ is a bit of an odd choice to describe election victory, unless referring to some grander context where the election marks a major historical turning point in national or international politics in favor of the winning side.

      • Soyweiser@awful.systems
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        11 days ago

        Could be they are sharing a bit of a media bubble. In 2016 there was a bit of a (pre election) ā€œhe will win in a landslideā€ thing due to Scottbert.

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      11 days ago

      That they are posting this on substack, and how important that platform has become in the blogosphere is already a bit of a sign.