volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
Yeah, I was always a huge fan of xquery, xslt, etc, and I've always been disappointed that they didn't catch on more broadly and weren't more developed.
But then, I like the functional paradigm of programming, and that is similarly unpopular.
I think the two go hand and hand, and because they require different ways of thinking that humans weren't interested in exploring.
@tc_morekindness well it's not about what *should be,* but about what *is.*
It's not about my opinion about how elections should be run. Regardless of what I think about it, the state doesn't do a European style PR system.
Of course people could push to change that, but for now it's not how the election system works.
For better or worse, the state votes by district, and given that the state votes by district instead of proportional voting, the proportional voting result doesn't enter into the process.
Whether I like a rule or not, it is the rule.
Here's the voting roll where 208 Democrats voted to shut down the House.
@wjmaggos I think this really highlights the ActivityPub design decision to centralize around instances instead of decentralizing down to users.
By default the experience is subject to the moderation decisions of an instance operator unless the user decides to opt out by giving up the technical and other advantages of the instance and making his own.
Sounds like nostr goes the other direction, letting the user be in control from the beginning, adding in others' moderation assistance if they want.
In my personal opinion, the ActivityPub instance orientation was the wrong decision with this being just one of the downsides, but the horse is out of the barn now.
The history of technology is littered with better options being left behind as mediocre ones were in the right place at the right time to reach critical mass.
@f17f9f6ff8e3a5ef95bbd20958678b0218df25d253a3485f756d8755e6208ead @c37b6a82a98de368c104bbc6da365571ec5a263b07057d0a3977b4c05afa7e63
If only ActivityPub had done better ;)
@f17f9f6ff8e3a5ef95bbd20958678b0218df25d253a3485f756d8755e6208ead @c37b6a82a98de368c104bbc6da365571ec5a263b07057d0a3977b4c05afa7e63
Sounds like much more interesting #moderation options on #nostr than #Fediverse
there is more than that, there is delegated distributed moderation via reports, mute lists, web of trust, keywords and some algos, also ip filters ...
@itwasntme223 That's not how the House works, though.
It's not about the minority party helping the majority party, and that narrative really distracts from substantial progress. It lets representatives off the hook for the votes they're actually casting.
Democrats actively voted to shut down the House, whether one prefers that or not, and now they continue to vote in ways that keep their chamber closed.
Again, maybe you like that, in which case great! But if you DON'T like the House being unable to function, then you might want to see how your representative is voting, whether they're voting for or against moving forward.
It really isn't confusing. These dramatic narratives about helping do tend to confuse things, though.
The voting rolls are simple enough:
IMO the main problem with XML is that it required a little more thought and conceptual understanding than so many programmers were used to, so it was misused, and between the effort and misuse due to the effort, the result was the hate for XML.
Take the core question of tag vs attribute. It takes a little conceptual thought to think about which to use when.
And then you see badly implemented XML where some developer decided the "wrong" way. And your eyes bleed to see it :)
It's like seeing a badly designed SQL table with garbage crammed into fields that obviously should have been different columns in the table.
The difference is that at least the SQL would be internal, but XML tended to inflict itself on others.
volkris
boosted
one of the biggest mistruths i've seen about the fediverse is that it is based on specifications. fedi followed a couple of specifications a long time ago. now it is unregulated, based on whatever behavior mastodon happens to have. the specifications themselves don't provide an entire social media network, which is why there are so many extensions just to make it usable. the spec is the mastodon codebase
and even then, activitystreams borrows it's extension system from json-ld, an overcomplicated serialization format for RDF, which is just worse XML. this means that, in order to make activitystreams usable, you have to implement an overcomplicated schema system that nothing else uses
the fediverse is unstandardized and entirely based on whatever happens to end up being used in practice. it is violated as implementations please and extensions end up based on throwing shit at the wall waiting for something to stick
@manton really?
Why in the world would you look to someone like Biden to figure out whether you want peace or not?
That seems like a strange place to look to make up your mind on such a thing.
@itwasntme223 it's not like Jim Jordan has control of this, though.
This is the whole of the House humiliating the entire Congress through their disinterest in working together to function.
But meh, the American people elected and reelected these jerks, so I guess they're supporting this trainwreck.
@Dogzilla I think it's really straightforward, but you're getting caught up in your own opinions so you're missing the forest for the trees.
If X was going to be elected by a democratic process, but you block X from being elected, that necessarily undermines the democratic process.
You can talk all day about X, fill in the blank for who X is, go through all your problems with X, talk about their mother, review their college transcripts, throw mud on their great, great grandfather, bash their choice in underwear brand... but at the end of the day all of that is distraction from the paragraph I wrote above.
I don't like Jim Jordan and I hope he doesn't become Speaker. I wish Democrats would end their campaign that even makes that likely.
But at the end of the day, if X is elected, well that's democracy for you, and we need to stop reelecting the jerks who settled on him.
@CuriousMagpie@mastodon.social I still think it's worth criticizing the press when they put out misleading articles, and even headlines.
Counting on readers to know better than the report isn't a great excuse for them.
@tc_morekindness but the extract overlooks the core notion of districting being geographic, so that argument misses the mark.
If it was purely a matter of dem and rep votes being counted equally then they'd need to stop districting altogether and move to more of a parliamentary election system. But since they're retaining the geographically based districting, that's not what they're implementing.
You also mention proportionately representing the view of Black voters, but that too conflicts with counting dem and rep votes equally. You can't put your finger on the scale AND want the scale balanced.
So your argument seems to keep going back to being dissatisfied with the wrong team winning, which defeats the purpose of holding democratic elections in the first place.
If this really is the previous court's argument, then the previous court was obviously wrong.
@tc_morekindness no, I really appreciate the long message because I want to understand the situation.
The problem is you still didn't say exactly what was wrong with the maps.
It still sounds like you are simply saying the wrong team is winning, but that's not itself proof that the maps violate the free requirement.
Maybe the previous court ruling was incorrect.
@KatieLoves2Read oh I'm hearing a TON of Republicans saying that US aid has been ineffective due to the policy of providing weapons so slowly.
Even Republicans who are in favor of sending more aid are criticizing the administration for slow walking things like tanks and missiles that they refused to give early but are now pivoting to provide.
I think that's a very common perspective in Republican circles among both those pushing for more aid and those tapping the brakes.
@chad That's just not factual.
Republicans voted overwhelmingly to keep the House operating in the face of Democrats, voting unanimously to derail it and shut it down.
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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