There were some good tips in this podcast episode: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/28/1190725808/tackle-your-medical-debt-with-life-kit

And Onion articles, and other satire.

You didn’t read the article. These are images that appeared in the documentary and were not marked as generated. It was implied they were real photos.

If they’re consistently looking down and to the right (for most apps) and not scanning/reading, they’re probably looking at their own video. I’ve certainly noticed it.

Yep. Everybody does. Watch where their eyes are pointing, you can tell. I hide the window on apps that let me (or un-maximize the window and slide it off the screen a bit if I’m on one side).

The bridge in Baltimore collapsing after its pier was hit by a cargo ship.

They work better for podcasts than music. For music, they’re better than a phone speaker but worse than cheapo earbuds in terms of sound quality.

I have those exact ones and I love them; I use them for running and when I’m doing stuff around the house but still want to hear people getting my attention. I had a previous version that I also accidentally turned to Chinese but I just learned to recognize the different messages.

These people are saying “we finally created the utopia of Neuromancer.” And I look at them and I go, “I don’t think you read Neuromancer."

–Cory Doctorow

Yeah, I’ve been buying more expensive floss (Cocofloss) and it’s awesome. God I’m old.

Beyond the time/energy cost, you’re comparing two different things: cooking healthy food from scratch vs. buying boxed ‘unhealthy’ food. Buying boxed ‘healthy’ food is more expensive than buying boxed ‘unhealthy’ food, and cooking ‘unhealthy’ food is cheaper than cooking ‘healthy’ food.

For example: I could make a huge mess of white rice and oil very cheaply and quickly. Every other ingredient I add will raise the cost and time investment. People say, “oh, just throw in some eggs/grilled chicken breast/fresh veggies and you have a cheap healthy meal!” but it’s still a lot more expensive to do that (in both money and time) than to just make rice.

Cooking costs time and energy, which not everyone can afford.

Yep. My boomer dad: “When I was a kid, we walked everywhere! Nobody walks anymore!” Also my dad: “I’m afraid to drive into Portland because my truck might get stolen.”

I had a (wonderful) colleague who would call a big fuck up an “opportunity for excellence”.

Nah, flip that around. What’s a random crackhead going to do with a stolen car? Vs an already-organized and knowledgeable business like a towing company who wants to add a lucrative side gig. That’s who’s doing catalytic converter theft, too.

Culture comes from the top.

What an enormous public heath issue iodine deficiency was in Switzerland and how completely everyone forgot about it after it was fixed by the introduction of iodized salt in the 1920s: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n23/jonah-goodman/a-national-evil

Because some scammer told them they could fire people if they did.

Some examples of short-term consequences that the book explores: who is the last human on Earth? How do they feel? How do humans come to terms with the extinction as it’s happening? How does society prepare, and how do we avoid sabotage and violence on the way out?

Longer-term consequences that the book explores: what lasts longest of what we leave behind? If the extinction happens after we develop more autonomous computers, what do those computers do once the humans are gone? What have they been directed to do?