mildly_obsolete
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User ID: 1305
mildly_obsolete
10mo ago
Why attempt such a brazen, obvious lie, with approximately nothing to gain? Just baffing. Make me think I'm being psyoped somehow.
mildly_obsolete
10mo ago
timer rigged to the voice recognition too
Nothing so fancy! I did not try using triggers, holding out for AI assistants instead. By 'quite closely' I meant more that I tracked essentially every hour of the year, but making extensive use of Edit->Action->Divide functionality whenever I forget to switch activities.
I was going for detail initially, but unsurprisingly that risks burnout - I instead settled on pretty broad 'activities' that serve as baskets for everything other than distinct activities I definitely want to track - 'Sleep', 'Books', 'Anki', 'Mealprep', 'Exercise' etc. Baskets like 'Routine misc' (tasks that keep you from falling apart), 'Tasks misc' (small tasks that get you somewhere you want to be), 'Nothing' (exclusively bad, mindless web browsing goes here). I don't bother with activity tags, it's more clicks, more decisions, and rarely a tag is more justified than another activity.
It also helps the app has the widget that cuts the interaction to just Touch Widget -> Touch activity.
Working to have 'Nothing' diminish as % of total hours tracked, while remaining honest, is a nice goal, most tangible positive effect the app had for me.
I was tracking my daily activities quite closely this year - Simple Time Tracker (ignore the screens they show, dark version is far more visually pleasing) is one of those best-in-category things I wish I knew a good list of. I intend to continue, it's motivating and therapeutic both.
I'm at 429 hours of books for 2024, +/-13k pages, only 30 pages/hour. Far, far more than the year before - in my case at least, it came down to the combo of accessibility (god bless Anna and her archive), seamless switching to 'audiobook' with text-to-speech (Voice Aloud is awesome for books in all formats, or any text really, especially with the new Google Journey voices) and a wireless headset. Now if only I had an endless supply of genius-tier literature recommendations.
Safe in South America, as far as I can tell.
mildly_obsolete
10mo ago
I did try it a while back, based on a weak recommendation from here, as well. Was mostly curious if they managed to make at least one good show under the IP.
I hated it. Paper thin on all fronts.
mildly_obsolete
11mo ago
The panic in Canada, Mexico, and Europe over Trump's tariff proposals
My impression is that this 'panic' is considerably overstated, triumphalism and wishful thinking that translates into deranged twitter takes about Trump charming entire rooms of pliant European elites. Reminds me a little of the "we're the good guys again!" atmosphere among American plebs and elites both after the war in Ukraine began.
would European politicians be willing or able to accept it
It is, unfortunately, much easier to argue the opposite, as you do. And past the atlanticist status quo and soft power, there are tools like natgas supply blackmail, devastating sanctions liftable when negotiations with the Authoritarians are broken off, outright assassinations.
On the other side, I can't really think of anything other than business community revolt, establishment self preservation attempt after economic hardship translates to electoral sweep for the "far" right, uncharacteristically well executed Chinese influence campaign, some significant US blunder or distraction.
Great men of history urgently needed.
mildly_obsolete
11mo ago
I'm somewhat surprised they wouldn't wait for Trump to actually show he can do something, instead of reacting on his babble.
In any case, I very much hope this heavy handed approach backfires in the case of Europe. As things stand, helping to maintain US hegemony looks like certain pain, dubious gain. It's perverse how little the US is willing to offer, given their advantages and prosperity. Ideally the Chinese would come up with a straightforwardly superior counteroffer that gives Europe time to restructure while on the side-lines of the broader conflict.
mildly_obsolete
11mo ago
US is prosperous, prosperity is desirable, hardly a reason to pat yourself on the back. If you blur the distinction between the country and the empire, of course the enmity will be diluted.
mildly_obsolete
11mo ago
DO NOT GET INVOLVED!
US obviously is involved, has been for more than a decade. The proxies are remote enough for this to be an opportunity to throw a bone to the part of his base that wants less adventurism/imperialism. Trump is still a philosemite and for hostilities with Iran.
mildly_obsolete
11mo ago
I'm so glad you linked that manga, it's a ton of fun.
mildly_obsolete
1yr ago
There can be multiple losers
And there is a clear winner, too, the US.
Even Ukraine being ruined is a good thing if you take the longer view - sure, there will be tensions and resentment for some years, decades maybe, but these are people with a common language and culture. You can't rule out another reorientation in 10 years, so squint a little, and civilizationally degraded and depopulated Ukraine is weaker future Russia.
Perhaps https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2022/10/11/why-high-speed-rail-hasnt-caught-on/? I remember it making a good point for airports over high speed rail, at least good enough to sway me.
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