PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Wait a minute, that's not a cat!

But it's still cute so I'll forgive it.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

All of them.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Hi 30, I'm dad

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 months ago

Sure. America has its slimy tendrils in everyone else's business, so it's only fair that you have a say.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

"Gradient descent" ≈ on a "hilly" (mathematical) surface, try to find the lowest point by finding the lowest point near an initial guess. "Gradient" is basically the steepness, or rate that the thing you're trying to optimize changes as you move through "space". The gradient tells you mathematically which direction you need to go to reach the bottom. "Descent" means "try to find the minimum".

I'm glossing over a lot of details, particularly what a "surface" actually means in the high dimensional spaces that AI uses, but a lot of problems in mathematical optimization are solved like this. And one of the steps in training an AI agent is to do an optimization, which often does use a gradient descent algorithm. That being said, not every process that uses gradient descent is necessarily AI or even machine learning. I'm actually taking a course this semester where a bunch of my professor's research is in optimization algorithms that don't use a gradient descent!

 
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They created a good product so people used it and there were no alternatives when it got shit.

They created an inherently centralizing implementation of a video sharing platform. Even if it was done with good intentions (which it wasn't, it was some capitalist's hustle, and its social importance is a side effect), we should basically always condemn centralizing implementations of a given technology because they reinforce existing power structures regardless of the intentions of their creators.

It's their fault because they're a corporation that does what corporations do. Even when corporations try to do right by the world (which is an extremely generous appraisal of YouTube's existence), they still manage to create centralizing technologies that ultimately serve to reinforce their existing power, because that's all they can do. Otherwise, they would have set themselves up as a non-profit or some other type of organization. I refuse to accept the notion of a good corporation.

There’s no lock in. They don’t force you off the platform if you post elsewhere (like twitch did).

That's a good point, but while there isn't a de jure lock-in for creators, there is a de facto lock-in that prevents them from migrating elsewhere. Namely, that YouTube is a centralized, proprietary service, which can't be accessed from other services.

[–] [email protected] 179 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I also respect your freedom to like what you want, but also also

Out of context screenshot from a Wikihow article that shows someone pointing at a cat with the text "5. Be firm and consistent. No" at the bottom

Upvoted because it's unpopular.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Also: model trains. I was into model trains for a few years, but I realized that I didn't really have the life experience to make a fulfilling model trainset. Like I did the thing, I made a (really childish) layout with some crappy blocks and streets, and I got the trains to move and stuff, but it didn't...say much? It was "I'm a child and I like trains", which is great! Probably wouldn't have become interested in trains at all otherwise!

But I want more...I always want more. I need to go more hardcore into the few things I can actually tolerate doing...

And as a child, I saw some really cool trainsets built by adults that told stories, made me laugh, made my parents laugh, made me feel awe at the storytelling and creativity of the craft. Even my cousin, who built a trainset in his basement in his early twenties, had a much more inspired trainset than mine (when I was much younger, like 10 or 12). His trainset was cool. He studied how trains worked, how to make a realistic line with realistic scenery and infrastructure. His trainset reflected who he was, and ultimately forecasted what he became. He literally works for a rail company now designing the train tracks.

So I'm kinda "saving" that hobby for when I'm in my 60's after I integrate enough life experience (and hopefully some capital) to build a trainset that really reflects the person I ultimately became.

My trainset is gonna have a sick, functioning roller coaster, some overly complicated automated control circuits, some heavy metal references, some intentionally goofy shit, serious shit, an anarcho-communist bent, a layout that at least is informed by modern infrastructure design, etc., because that's at least partially the person I will have become.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Roller coasters. I'm too heavy to go on them, too poor to afford to ride them, too busy to simulate them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Or you're just not posting trash enough content.

1
An Anarchist FAQ (anarchistfaq.org)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

A reminder for the liberals who seem to be finding this space and spamming us with "gotchas" like anarchist spaces having rules or anarchists talking about banning stuff.

These questions have already been answered hundreds of times and debating each and every one of you individually is simply too much work and just not very fun.

Note that anarchists are not a monolith and nothing here is set in stone, but IMO it's a pretty well-researched guide for contemporary anarchist thought.

1
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

In all seriousness, Joe Biden has ended his campaign for reelection. He has not stepped down as President 🤞.

 

Literally I'm shaking with anger two days later over Independence Day. It breaks my fucking heart over and over to see my parents heaping praise on the people who want to kill their children because they still operate under the delusion that we're the lucky few who won't get fucked by the system, despite the fact that 2 of the 3 kids would be fucking homeless if we weren't living with them. My siblings and I basically trauma-dumped for several hours after dinner and...look I read a lot of stuff from LGBTQ communities on Lemmy, I've talked to a lot of LGBTQ people on Lemmy, I lurk in some of the trans subs...I knew it was bad, really bad, insanely bad, but still...

I think what really shocked me is just how much of their time and energy the system and the bastards who support it are sucking out of them, how many basic things I (white cishet) take for granted that are fucking gone. It feels like they're shells of the people they used to be even within the past year.

My heart hurts.

 

I'm autistic. This problem shows up for me all over the place, to the point that I typically don't recommend reading anymore except when strictly necessary. However, it is showing up now because I'm working with people on a project (and generally everyone I have worked with at school so far) who will not read, particularly documentation for tools and programs, data sheets, and application notes. How do I get people "up to speed" if they refuse to read the things I send them?

Some concepts are simply too complex or too lengthy for me to explain correctly in a real conversation. It's really the fact that nobody seems to want to read in any field of endeavor suggests that it's something wrong with me and how I perceive things.

 

It's one of those "self-loathing days" so this track is particularly fitting.

 

My grandmother wants to install Mahjong onto her phone. I couldn't find any results on the Play Store with no ads or in-app purchases. She doesn't understand technology and could get tricked into purchasing stuff or compromising her data.

 

Transcription: Four-panel Gru's Plan meme. 1st panel: "Decide to make a Gru's Plan meme." 2nd panel: "Come up with a sick punchline." 3rd panel: "Make the last two panels different." 4th panel: "Get lots of downvotes for some reason."

 
97
RANT: out of gas (lemmy.sdf.org)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

I'm fucking tired of explaining to business ghouls that I AM FUCKING DESPERATE. I'M INTERVIEWING WITH YOU BECAUSE I WANT TO SURVIVE. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT MY DREAMS OR WHETHER THIS JOB OR YOUR COMPANY LINES UP WITH MY CAREER GOALS. WE ARE HOLY-SHIT PAST THE POINT WHERE I'M ABLE TO BE CHOOSY. ALL YOU FUCKING NEED TO DO IS READ THE FUCKING RESUMÉ THAT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR GOD-DAMNED EYES, ASK ABOUT MY QUALIFICATIONS, AND TELL ME WHETHER OR NOT I'M A GOOD FIT.

NO, your company isn't special to me, and it isn't special to ANYONE but you and your business-ghoul friends. Your company is merely the LABEL that will decorate my paycheck and LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE, AND I'M SICK OF PRETENDING OTHERWISE.

And WHY the FUCK are you calling me to literally REPEAT SHIT YOU'RE TOO FUCKING IGNORANT TO READ ON THE GOD-DAMNED FUCKING RESUMÉ?

I've applied for at least 200 engineering jobs (I recounted the ones on job sites; but even that's nowhere near all of them) this year and gotten zero offers. This job search is LITERALLY DRIVING ME INSANE, because I can no longer fucking afford antidepressants and I'm on the verge of blowing up in people's faces all the goddamn fucking time. I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE.

Try [insert nearby industry here]

Funny story: turns out, there are people who studied for degrees in those nearby industries. No I can't land a software developer, data scientist, IT, etc., job, because (1) I've applied for all those several times and not even gotten an interview and (2) my school produces students who actually studied those topics as a major!

So thank you genuinely to the dozens of people who have recommended that, I really do appreciate the help ... but that only works if you're an appealing candidate in general.

Why are you unhirable?

Bad GPA (~2.8; many firms have hard cutoff > 3 or 3.1), no experience/internships, no support/professional network, recent downward trajectory on transcript, autistic, mentally ill getting more unstable by the day, terrible attitude that's impossible to fully hide, no charisma to accommodate for my deficiencies, no access to a time machine. I KNOW how I got here, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

At least when I worked in food delivery I managed to make non-trivial money. AT LEAST I WAS HAPPY while being exploited. Now I'm thousands of dollars in debt, literally a hundred pounds heavier, psychologically and emotionally BROKEN, and no closer to getting a real job than I was before.

 

I was actually going to write a fresh post, but then I realized that a lot hasn't changed since the last time I posted here. Here's the old post if you're interested.

Short version: I cannot find employment at all in my field (electrical engineering). It's not "we're not hiring", it's "we're not hiring you." I need to pay bills. I am physically and emotionally exhausted from being so close to poverty for so long.

What has changed:

  • I have been through about 10 interviews. Furthest I've gotten in one company's hiring process is to 2nd interview. Rather than 30 applications, I have filled out over 150 applications, but I've honestly lost track. No offers. I have exhausted all the entry-level engineering opportunities my college's job board has to offer. I literally have to wait for new jobs to be posted because I applied for everything. The problem is that I don't have experience. My resumé is fine (probably) as it gets me interviews, but I simply do not have engineering experience. I am fully convinced that no engineering firm will hire me in my current state.

  • I ran out of meds about a month ago, so I feel a lot more irritable. My parents have offered to pay for a psych appointment and meds, but like...once. I will take it, but I'm waiting until I know for sure I can get more meds by the time I run out.

  • To my absolute shock, I was accepted to pursue a master's degree at my alma mater, and the Financial Aid department has assured me that I qualify for financial aid. So at least I'm allowed to...go into further debt for further education. Yay.

Now if capitalism [1] were not an issue, I would immediately pounce at the opportunity to do a masters degree. I enjoy learning and if I thought I could choose, I would go into research. However, I gotta pay the rent (even and especially if I live with my parents), I gotta eat, and I gotta pay back the loans. Even if I go with the degree, I have to make money to pay the rent while I'm in school.

My degree is/would be in electrical engineering. I always told myself I'd be able to get a job after all this, I always told myself I picked a "safe" major. But I can't do this anymore. I can't be constantly living on the edge of poverty like this. And the fucking interviewers are starting to ask about the gap in my work history since I fucking graduated. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO GET EXPERIENCE IF YOU STUPID FUCKS WON'T LET ME GET EXPERIENCE?!?!? I wish I never went back to fucking school and I fucking hate my life.

[1] Not looking to proselytize or debate politics, but I'm not sure how else to explain to people what economic impulses force me and most other humans to act against our interests. If it bothers you, replace "capitalism" with whatever you think is responsible for making ordinary people act against their economic interests.

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