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
volkris
boosted
@admins Holy itchy trigger finger Batman. I went through their list and they blocked journa.host because they are “an instance of journalists?” I would consider this a badge of honor. You aren’t truly on Mastodon until you’ve been blocked by .a*t! We made it, folks!
I'm seeing a good bit of misinformation about the lawsuit against Media Matters, which is funny because it's a lawsuit alleging misinformation.
For example people are saying the suit is over scrolling too fast without looking at the next line in the complaint that finishes the sentence to say that led to misleading results being reported, and THAT is the charge.
It's one of those sad cases where people are so eager to take things out of context that they don't even finish reading a sentence much less an entire document.
Such is the state of the world.
volkris
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Another person criticized me for promoting my Patreon. Let me put this into perspective. People spent $74.6 million to see the 2019 film Cats in theaters. At the current rate, it would take 34,158 years for my project to bring in as much money as Cats. I like to think Low Quality Facts provides at least as much entertainment value as Cats, a film which one critic described as "The worst thing to happen to cats since dogs".
In conclusion, here's my Patreon:
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts
volkris
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volkris
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Me, finishing another long day at the tortilla factory: "Well, that's a wrap!"
volkris
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As usual we turn to @ScottManleyHimself for a breakdown of todays #SpaceX #Starship test flight and possible causes of the RUDs.
volkris
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There seems to be a great gulf between space industry followers and people who don't usually follow space industry news but do so they can bash Musk. Reminds me of that time someone was utterly convinced that private companies had no business working in space when NASA is the one that nurtured this public private partnership for greater efficiency. Government can't do everything folks. It's not God. 🙄 #SpaceX #starship
volkris
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I once saw a woman on TikTok who only had one hand. One of her arms ended at the wrist. And she made a video explaining how she puts her hair into a ponytail with just one hand.
It was interesting! She was so brave to share that. I appreciated her answering a question I never knew I had. So I gave her the token of the realm: a like.
Reader, when I tell you how many amputees I saw after that. Good LORD. It took weeks for me to convince the algorithm to stop.
This is what TikTok does.
volkris
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Yes, this is the reason so many people left. One person who I respect, who started here and is now on Threads, said that the culture here is too "scoldy."
volkris
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There should be an option to make your Roomba swear when it bumps into things.
When I hear #Trump supporters describing him as not part of the establishment I roll my eyes thinking about the guy who headed **the entire executive branch of the US government for four years.**
But mainly I think of the press that utterly failed to frame their reporting accurately to lay that on the table, instead obsessing over him personally instead of him as chief magistrate.
And that's why we can't have nice thi... government.
volkris
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First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled
NuScale and its primary partner give up on its first installation.
From listening to mainstream #conservative commentators I get the impression that core #Republican voters are very insular, an enormous echo chamber that doesn't recognize the positions of even Republican leaning independents in the country.
This is interesting because it's one thing for a small group or faction of a movement to be an echo chamber, but this seems to be basically an entire major political party buying into confirmation bias.
The midterm elections and then yesterday's VA election highlighted this, as Republicans were excitedly predicting a sweep, that they told themselves was coming, that didn't come.
The implications for the presidential primary process are significant, as the primary process exists to overcome the wasted ballots of the voting system, but that doesn't work if a party is so disconnected from the larger voting population.
volkris
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(I just want to be clear, because this is getting boosted and I'm a pedantic sort of person, that the "whose" is the joke)
Struggling with malfunctioning autocorrect on my new pixel phone, I'm just saying, I'm not going to trust AI to drive cars until it can at least master the Oxford comma.
Whose with me?
volkris
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@volkris "There are a broad variety of users on SPC, from "normal people" to edgeposters, to creatives. Mostly we want to have a good time. You have free speech on SPC but at the same time, we don't want the server to turn to shit and flamewars and Heil Hitler All The Time. So try to relax and have fun. This isn't a rule, but a plea. We've been around for almost five years and the server's got a comfy vibe and we want you to be a part of it." This is the official stance on our culture.
#RT because I feel like I honestly learned something that other people might not realize.
I thought shitposter.club was an instance actively devoted to shit posting, but apparently not?
I'm genuinely relaying this post because I judged posts from that domain as unserious and so spreading the word that apparently they can be serious.
@volkris Keep lurking more and you'll discover that we're a diverse and generally chilled instance. We've been around since the GNU Social days of ...
volkris
boosted
If we're going to do daylight saving time we should really commit to the bit and switch to Fahrenheit in the winter so it sounds warmer too.
With the furor over the election of #Johnson to Speaker of the House spreading through the feeds here, NOW can we finally hold #Democrats responsible for the votes they actively chose to place that set this up and enabled the #GOP nutjobs?
Maybe people were holding out over a misguided fantasy that Dems and Reps would form a sort of coalition government, but now that they've elected someone so many here don't like, is finally OK to point out that their strategy was a bad one?
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
