I am a very “techy person” (in fact Y-Combinator’s Hacker News has been a partial Reddit replacement for me), but like you, I too cringe at Lemmy’s constant stream of shitty star trek memes, repetitive “this is what living with ADHD is like”, and posts with days-old news items from 3rd rate wannabe-journalism sites. I mean a quarter of this site is literally screenshots of Twitter posts.

The obvious answer to the shitty content here would be to stop complaining and just start posting the things I’d want to see. But there’s a sense of futility in throwing good things into what feels like a giant pool of detritus.

Anyway one of the great things about old reddit was that, overall, the site (or rather the reddit hive brain) did a decent job at pushing the good stuff to the top. For reasons I don’t entirely understand, that doesn’t seem to be happening as much here on Lemmy.

As with alcohol, I think it really depends on the individual.

For me, I find that too much regular pot puts me in a dim, slightly dissociated place. But it might also be that in the past I may have smoked too much cannabis at times when I was already headed for dim dissociation, so bit of a chicken and egg situation maybe. Meanwhile I have friends who swear that cannabis has saved their life, helping them cope with anxiety, OCD, etc.

Either way, if I had to choose between a pot or alcohol abuse problem, I’d def choose the former. It’s not ideal, but it’s far less likely to kill you or ruin your life.

That’s exactly the point. There is a cost. The news media and the public discourse has limited bandwidth. There are only so many things we can talk about and fight for at any given time, and to me it seems like this issue may be drowning out more existential issues.

The irony is that the argument over pronouns is intentionally being amplified by right wing media and activists. They’re trolling us into being outraged about this, and we’re falling right into their trap.

It’s classic bikeshedding being used against us, and most of us seem to be entirely unaware.

I’d have no issue with you calling me ma’am or whatever you feel comfortable with, but that’s only because that part of my identity is not something I’ve struggled with for much of my life.

I totally understand and empathize with people for whom perceived gender is not what they identify as, and I’m 100% in support of ensuring that everyone has the right to be referred to by their chosen pronouns.

My point is that I worry that this issue is overshadowing other issues that I think are existentially threatening to our entire way of life.

We’re busying ourselves over respectful word use, while the world crumbles around us.

Do you think anyone will respect anyone’s pronouns when the world’s superpowers are run by fascist governments or our ecosystems and food production have collapsed?

On the other hand going to war over word use is not a good use of the left’s energy.

I understand the words are supposed to be proxies/symbols for inclusivity and respect for freedoms and charter rights, but that tends to get lost, to the point where both sides start to believe that it really is just about pronouns.

There are really big, scary things going on out there — corporatism, environmental disaster, and a geopolitical powder keg building — and I’m starting to worry we are spending way too much effort and energy on kindergarten-level righteousness.

There is a similar rule in Ontario, but it doesn’t apply to buildings built after 2018.

This exemption was put in place as an incentive for more rental units to be put on the market (or to enrich developers and landholders, depending on your political stance).

Meanwhile something like 30% of all online orders (and way more in the case of clothes) get returned, and a majority of that then goes straight to landfill/incinerator.

The majority of the electorate — 65%+ — own homes, and 75%+ of Canadians’ wealth is tied up in real estate.

There is absolutely no way this can get fixed politically in our democratic system. Any party that tries to deflate house prices in any meaningful way is committing its own suicide.

The only hope is that prices level off (or … you know… at least stop doubling every 3 - 4 years?) and the rest of the economy somehow catches up to make houses affordable again.

But I can’t see how that’s going to happen. We’re going to have to have a nasty recession to sort this out, and that won’t be because of anything whoever is in power at the time did intentionally.

Alkaline batteries lose voltage as they drain, so 1.5V is at full charge but it drops down to about 1.2V very quickly and then stays at 1.0V - 1.2V for most of the alkaline battery’s operating life.

NiMH batteries tend to consistently stay at their nominal voltage (1.2V) through their entire charge.

So in other words, if you have devices that really expect exactly 1.5V per battery, they would only work with alkalines at the very top of their charge. Nowadays most non-garbage circuits should be designed to work just fine with anything above 1V per battery.

There have been a number of attempts in Canada to sue credit agencies for libel. None have succeeded so far, largely because the cases have been a bit murky.

This one seems really clear cut though. I really wish this person would try to sue for libel. A successful precedent could end up drastically changing the way credit scores work in Canada. The credit agencies might suddenly find themselves having to be accountable for their sketchy practices. Imagine that!

She herself seemed to lack this sort of nuance. She refused to play in Israel, for example, effectively accusing and dismissing an entire nation as oppressors.

I suspect she was, deep down, not a particularly reflective person. We all know people like these. Feel a feeling, act on it immediately, and maaaybe consider the implications and consequences later. Maybe. Or just double down, and never dare to truly look at yourself in the mirror.

It’s unfortunate because these types of people also sometimes turn out to be incredible artists. I assume it’s the combination of talent plus the ability (/curse?) to experience raw feelings much more strongly than the rest of us.

Also looks like the Climate Action Incentive (i.e. carbon tax) got paid out this week.

Or all the shitpost meme communities… at least you can block porn with the NSFW flag.

🔮🧙‍♂️

Chances are those 1,700 were some of our best and the 30,000 incoming are mostly junior / helpdesk / support people.

Fair question, and looks like I overstated that link.

Chronic stress affects your immune system (via cortisol, long term inflammation) and that is no bueno for all sorts of health outcomes, including likely making it harder to fight off tumours.

But to my surprise, there doesn’t actually seem to be solid evidence of a causal link between stress and increased risk of developing cancer.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you’re worried about getting cancer from 3-4 drinks per year, it sounds like you might be dealing with a fair bit of anxiety.

Stress caused by anxiety is bad for your health and a possible cancer risk, and almost certainly worse for you than 3-4 drinks a year. I don’t want you to now be anxious about your anxiety, but this might be a good thing to focus on to improve your general quality of life (and possibly reduce your cancer risk in the process).

You could start by talking to a doctor or other medical professional about it, or try finding a therapist in your area. The therapist search on https://www.psychologytoday.com/ is a good place to look, or try an online service like Better Help.

[edit: corrected overstatement about stress being a major cancer risk]

It’s the Canadian Cancer society “reacting” to the WHO, adding zero new information. And the link is to a paywall to boot. This is not the kind of post that’s going to help Lemmy succeed.

I think the construction is to upgrade the Bloor GO station. They’re adding a new track, connecting the station to Dundas West subway, etc.

More info here: https://www.railpath.ca/construction-info

Yes it’s super annoying, will probably last 2+ years, and they seem to have given zero thought to providing a safe route for cyclists and pedestrians around all of this.

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