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Texas is freedom land

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joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC 

				
User ID: 647


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
netstack


								

								

								
								
									
								
								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Texas is freedom land

				
				
				

				

					6 followers  

					follows 3 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 647


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Friday Fun Thread for April 28, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I remember watching a series called Tom Keating on Painters. Tom was an art forger who, despite being arrested, managed to charm his way into celebrity. He went on to paint for the camera while explaining the original artists' techniques, history, and signature features.


You may be interested.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My instinct is that investing/saving carefully will give you more options 20 years from now. It's good to have a backup plan, sure, but that doesn't have to mean going all in on Canada.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I work in defense, too, and I quite like it. By design, as you get closer to an end user, requirements and schedules get more carefully set in stone. Engineers are not the frontline like in some software houses.


It pays decently well. Does even better when adjusted for cost of living (say, Tucson or Huntsville). A lot of places are also hiring, at least here in Texas.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You don’t think they have any information over a layman? No assessment of dead-end vs. promising approaches, no sense of the state of the field? I’ll agree that purely technical arguments deserve healthy skepticism. But the floor for beating random guesses is pretty low.


I think there has to be a middle ground between “technical expertise” and thinking Terminator was a documentary.


If nothing else, the Hintons of the world should have insight into their company culture. An oil-rig janitor doesn’t have to be an expert to notice if the crew never wears hi-vis. I want to know if engineers are reckless before they plug their latest project into the stock market.


(Hinton is carefully avoiding making such claims about Google, at least. They’re probably not a machine cult actively trying to unbox the AI.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My employer recently held a DEI week. One of our Human Resources VPs sent out an email with information about this “dedicated” event. The main course was a series of videos. Managers were expected to replace a normal staff meeting with one of these videos followed by a “conversation.”


Needless to say, this did not occur. Our monthly staff meeting went exactly as planned—brief program updates followed by technical presentations on recent tasks. Not a peep from our manager, who probably had to take some sort of training. This foiled my plans to write a review of our corporate strategy and emphasis, because I’m not watching a video version if I don’t have to. Instead, a few remarks on the framing.


Much emphasis is placed on “employee-driven” culture, putting the onus on managers and employees. At the same time, the initiative is very open about being “CEO action,” a coalition for executives to pledge how much they like DEI. Roughly half the subjects appeared to be advertising actions already taken at the corporate level.


The signaling strategy is obvious. Executives are more coordinated and socially skilled than 99% of the company, so they get to read the room and sign on to initiatives which they think will be well-received. HR departments make that intent into a program. Managers and employees enact it—in proportion to how much they already buy in. And in the end the company gets a few sympathetic stories for the executives to advertise next board meeting.


I want to emphasize how short this falls of the consultant-driven, aggressive approach which gets skewered on social media. No one is asking defense engineers to hold struggle sessions or reflect on whiteness. Twitter would like to show you the most dramatic, offensive version. If your workplace looks more like Twitter than like this…consider moving to Texas.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don’t really have an emotional reaction. Hearing about all of yours is like hearing about celebrity gossip. I’m sure someone feels a burning sense of jealousy and injustice when seeing a picture of Leo DiCaprio’s youngest girlfriend, but that someone is not me.


My intellectual reaction is more along the lines of “yeah, definitely trans.” It’s not great as an iconic propaganda piece. Then again, I’m not sure any state politician could make that setting look good.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 28, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Holy shit. That could be so good. Infinite MUD.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You’re going to have to be more specific. Disco Elysium is a fiendishly clever, bitter, political game. Which parts of that make it “based?” What does “truth-pilled” even mean?


Clever and bitter feels like a niche that should be occupied, but I’m struggling to come up with anything. Dark humor, perhaps. Roguelikes such as Cataclysm might have a really bleak, evocative setting, but they’re sandboxes for the player, not statements. I think bitterness implies a certain intent on the authors’ part.


Bitter/political, maybe something like Papers Please? This War of Mine? I think this is the realm of deeply personal traumas or niche art games. Indie material. Maybe wordier CRPGs like Tyranny fall into this category.


For clever/political, I have a soft spot for Iconoclasts. Environmentalist, but not in a culture-war way. It’s a weird one.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
How would you disprove that?


HR can already assign training, mandate activities, set the narrative, and probably fire anyone who pitches a fit. The CEOs are on board. What are they waiting for?


I think you’re assuming too much coordination. Companies are competing on brand, just like they do with advertising. And that ad copy doesn’t have to suffuse the whole organization to be effective. It will always trade off with realism: the demographics of places of work, the supply of female engineers, the available HR budget.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I…I never knew nickelback was Canadian. Wow.


Streaming services already push a lot of mediocre in-house projects. The modern equivalent of “direct to VHS.” I assume market research says that having a broad catalogue is better than a deep one; it seems plausible, at least.


Maybe this just makes each service set up a Canadian studio hiring Canadians to make quota. I can’t really be upset if the second and third rows on the Netflix homepage are full of Canadian filler instead of American. It’s still vaguely unappealing, though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
American here. What are those obvious reasons? What empire?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not sure if they’ll go along with his coup, yet powerful enough to have them executed anyway? Curious.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


[don’t] know who Keith is or his politics




Judging by the context, I’m guessing he hates Jews? Spends all his time looking out for secret field trips? Somehow, I doubt that he’s trying to “goad” Trump Jr. into more socially acceptable forms of political speech.


The full text of the bill can be found here. Your summary is not correct.


Littering is classified as a hate crime if and only if it falls under the new section, “intentionally dumping litter onto private property for the purpose of intimidating or threatening the owner…” Sounds fair to me. Dropping a cup on the sidewalk will not pad any hate crime stats.


Edit: Definitely not. In addition to the above criteria, for it to count, the crime must have been motivated by "race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, homeless status, or advanced age."


In fact, these offenses are generally reasonable corollaries to existing Florida law. Anyone who “Does not have legitimate business on the campus,” is already committing a second-degree misdemeanor; first-degree if they refuse to leave. This act merely breaks out the “intent to threaten.” I much prefer specific, explicit laws to the generalist approach used by Virginia.


Maliciously disturbing a funeral? Added to an existing offense for disrupting schools and assemblies for worshipping God. Projecting images onto buildings? That one…I feel like there must be a headline behind that. But you know, if someone projects “I am going to kill netstack” on a building, I don’t mind making that a third-degree felony.


Just because Israel endorses something doesn’t make it a bad idea.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The OP is misleading. It’s not a hate crime unless you litter flyers on someone’s private property. Even then it requires “intimidating or threatening,” which, per Virginia v. Black, has additional safety rails. For what it’s worth, I’m still expecting acquittal on the tiki-torch cases.


Edit: there are actually even more limits than I thought. The law cites Florida s. 775.085, which defines a category of crimes that "evidence prejudice." In addition to threatening someone on their private property, it has to be motivated by "race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, homeless status, or advanced age," and the perpetrator has to know it. Sounds reasonably strict to me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Last time I voted, I ran into my incumbent county clerk campaigning outside the local courthouse. Very secret, very nefarious. She hadn’t even gotten it broadcast on Fox!


Or there was that time Ted Cruz flew away to Mexico during the big freeze. He broadcast it on Twitter, and the Texas media really picked it up. Not a great look. I wonder what percentage of Americans heard or cared?


This is fun; hit me with some more examples!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That same argument could apply to different degrees of murder or even felonies in general. Clearly there’s some value to creating a continuum of punishments. I find it reasonable to rate crime+intimidation slightly higher than the crime alone.


Is stereotypical intimidation not effective?


If I had a cross burned on my lawn, I think I’d be fearing for my life. That’s a sign someone really wants you dead or gone. Flyers, less so, but more due to history. It’d still be really unsettling.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure, it’s new. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I’d much rather have hate speech and intimidation codified in law rather than trying to stretch a cross-burning statute to cover tiki torches.


The line for intimidation is secure enough for me. I don’t mind holding to the O’Brien test.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Only if we can pair it with this one.


Frankly, I expect the reasoning for “but women have it so easy” is pretty motivated. I don’t think the actual evidence for it is very strong, either, but it’s better than appeal to consensus.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That’s a good point. Texas v. Johnson demanded exacting scrutiny because it was obviously speech. It did not meet that scrutiny, either by breach of the peace, fighting words, or threatening to ruin the flag in general. I’m not sure which cases drew the throughline from this scrutiny to “intent to intimidate” as in these laws.


For the record, I don’t expect the Charlottesville tiki-torchers to be convicted. Maybe if they’re on camera naming specific people, or if I’m otherwise missing information. I don’t think they’d fall afoul of these Florida statutes either.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The mainstream response to a witch is burning. The contrarian response is effusive praise. Both are closing ranks to defend the ingroup. I’m proud that the motte is more likely to point out witch trickery and provide evidence for and against. Sometimes that devolves into arguing whether curse victims were crisis actors.


The motte is overly credulous when it comes to contrarianism and overly critical when it comes to the mainstream. I don’t think that’s enough to count as a circlejerk.


Some of you have the worst opinions I’ve seen discussed on the internet. That’s because you’re actually discussing them, rather than taking them as axioms. I have to respect that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I can’t help but see that likes/dislikes section as a Dwarf Fortress list of preferences. Our median dwarf is probably chronically depressed and alcoholic, but at least he recently admired a finely-crafted firearm.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No, we aren’t!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Quality Contributions Report for April 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I thought much the same.


All that institutional pushback would be downstream of an understanding that the pope does not get to do that. Asserting that he can just say “I’m the prophet now” is a misunderstanding of the institution. Vatican II was long, formal, explicitly not infallible, and still wildly controversial.


I wish @FarNearEverywhere had been around to set the record straight.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
In general? Probably. In Florida? Most likely, or even unbalanced in the other direction. DeSantis has already played with using progressive rhetoric against critical theory.


I disagree that’s a good heuristic. Most law is boring. My hometown has half a dozen sister cities spread across Africa, Asia, and Europe. The vague foreign interest in these relationships does not make them any more sinister…or any more impactful.


But this is a criminal penalty! Yes, for things that I’m fine criminalizing. Israel’s approval doesn’t change that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not unless you count minecart railgun installations.