This is one of the examples that came to mind for me when it comes to ‘mixture of both’.

Seconding this recommendation. If OP is after novelty, this book might seem, at first glance, to not fit the bill. However, there’s a reason why it’s become a cult classic. I really like how, although it uses LISP for its examples, it’s actually a really cool look at the more abstract side of computing. As I understand it, for its time, it was weird as shit

I’ve found that learning programming from books to be more reliable, especially with how much slop there is on the modern web. I find that books (which don’t necessarily need to come in the form of a physical book — there are some great ones that are fully online). A crucial aspect though, regardless of what resource you use, is that you need to do the exercises as you go. This is something that I wish that I had understood earlier; I wasted a lot of time trying to treat this learning as something that you can do purely from reading, whether that be books or resources on the web.

It’s because C sounds like “sea”. It’s a joke that’s more about the sea-faring kind of pirate than the online kind

I have a bunch of disabilities that are nowhere near the scale that you describe, but often I feel so demoralised by how hard it is to exist as a disabled person that I want to die. But my resistance is galvanised by knowing that the people and the systems that would most benefit from my death are the ones who are making things harder for me, and people like me. Is it sustainable to continue living out of spite? Probably not, but it’s not just spite that keeps me going, but solidarity with other disabled people, and people who are marginalised by society in other ways too.

It sucks to be disabled. Even if society were radically different and far kinder than it currently is, it would still suck to be disabled. However, so much of my suffering is based in the world rather than my disability. Recently, for example, I had a meltdown because I was on holiday and the venue had described itself as being wheelchair accessible. It was not. When I complained that they shouldn’t list this as being the case if they’re not, this caused great offence. We found somewhere else to stay that night, and I later broke down at how fucked up it is that there’s more social stigma around being thought of as ableist than actually being ableist. Travelling with mobility problems is hard, but it would be way easier if there were less “compassion theatre”, where people want to appear accepting but are so deeply uncomfortable with thinking about disability and disabled people that they don’t meaningfully engage with accessibility issues.

My theory is that disability makes people feel uncomfortable because it reminds them of their own mortality. Being able-bodied is a temporary state, and that scares people. It means that a person like me merely existing at all is an act of rebellion and activism. I deeply wish that this weren’t so, because it’s so much work on top of the additional effort it takes to exist with a broken body, but besides dying, I can’t really opt out of that work — and if I did opt out in that manner, the work would still need to be done by the people who are just as tired and burnt out as I am. If being alive is an act of resistance, then I reckon that if I hold out as long as I can, I might be able to make the journey a little easier for those around me, or those who come after me. If I had to answer your question with respect to my current circumstances, I’d say that no, I don’t want to live. But I do anyway, out of defiance.

I reckon the same logic would resonate with me even if my needs were more significant. Hell, part of what led me to develop the views I currently hold is by being in community with disabled people whose lived experience is not far from what you describe. I have a lot more in common with them than it might seem at first glance, and that understanding gave me a lot of strength. It may well be a foolish hope, but if enough people push for change, then maybe we can build a world where fewer disabled people feel that death is preferable to life.

Here’s an image that captures my sentiment effectively, and has literally saved my life before: “I’m fucking fed up and tired and I want to die but living is the most punk shit I’ve ever fucking done”

I would be sad, because I would be unable to see how pretty I look

I bought this game on a whim after reading that the devs had said they’d rather people pirate it than have it spoiled for them. I don’t usually buy games full price, so this was a rare thing for me, but I have no regrets; it was one of my favourite games of that year.

I just love how ripe for thematic analysis it is. For example, I’m a woman who has read a bunch of feminist and queer theory, and some of my interpretations of the themes were drastically different to a friend’s. I found it really cool that I didn’t necessarily disagree with their takes, nor they mine, but we both resonated with the game is strong but different ways

The constant stream of piracy related utilities that end in “rr” never ceases to amuse me.

Bonus joke! “What’s a pirate’s favourite letter of the alphabet?”

(People often say Arrrrr! here, especially if you seed that context earlier in the conversation)

“You’d think so, but actually it’s C”

That sounds like you’re doing TDD, albeit informally.

Something I love about this piece is that it being written by a person who cares deeply about stuff means that I now have a positive opinion towards the two places linked as being good places for recipes ([https://www.theguardian.com/profile/meera-sodha](http://www.meera.com/ Sodha) and Smitten Kitchen). I’m going to promptly forget about them, because I’m not the kind of cook who uses recipes, but still, it’s striking to me how transferable caring about stuff is. I don’t know the author of this blog, but based on this post (and the zippity-fast speed that their website loads), I’m positively inclined towards them, because I am a silly human, and that means I am a deeply social creature.

Because the AI industry is a bubble that exists to sell more GPUs and drive fossil fuel demand

Fun fact! The Roman emperor Diocletian abdicated the throne after he stabilised the Roman empire after the Crisis of the Third Century. He retired to his villa in what is now Croatia to grow cabbages. This was an unprecedented move — typically an emperor served for the rest of their life and/or were violently overthrown. However, it took only a few years for the peace that Diocletian had established to begin to crumble into civil war again; when his friends and colleagues beseeched him to return to stabilise things, he was reported to have said “If only you knew the peace and tranquility I gain from tending and growing my cabbages, you would understand the impossibility of such a request!”^[1][2]

I sincerely wish Dylan a life of as much peace and tranquility as the MVP ex-emperor Diocletian.

[1]: I don’t remember the source of this particular translation, but the original source for this is Epitome de Caesaribus 39.6

[2]: A different translation of the same line is “If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn’t dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed.”. I prefer this one, because it makes it sound like he was disproportionately proud of his cabbages rather than just glad to be away from the shitstorm of Roman politics. However, the one I actually used fit the sentiment of my comment better.

n.b. I am not a Historian, just a scientist whose late best friend was a Historian, and thus I am morally obligated to use what he taught me to make shitposts.

Edit: formatting

Exploitative individuals may well be a part of human nature, but cooperating with other humans to build communities that are greater than the sum of its parts is human nature too.

I don’t believe that it’s possible to necessarily reverse the toxic dynamic you describe, but I do believe that it is possible to move forward in a way that is more productive for wellness. Maybe I just believe this because it’s what I need to believe in order to not go mad and top myself, but I’ll take the free hope.

I agree with you. I think that what most people think of as “objectivity” isn’t a thing that exists in reality, but as an ideal that we can strive towards. In practice, there is no neutral journalism — especially in this topic, my instinct is to be extra cautious of pieces that appear objective at first glance.

The piece you shared is a good example of how the bias in reporting can be found both in the micro-level prose, and the macro level framing of the piece (in this case, the macro framing being that the killing of journalists sets a scary precedent).

The ones I’ve seen in real life have a tendency to become a bit culty.

That’s a really good point. I remember at the most recent DEFCON, Cory Doctorow got a heckton of cheers when he was talking about tech workers waking up to the fact that they were workers, and are beginning to push towards unionising. In the comments, people were glad to hear the cheers, seeing it as evidence of the shifting tide that Doctorow spoke of.

However, as you highlight, this mass squeezing of the middle class will also send a significant chunk of people over to Fascism. We definitely shouldn’t become complacent

I’m using a Ulefone armour 4 (I think), coming from a Samsung Note 10+ and I have found the camera to be a big downgrade. However, I have found that alternative camera apps can make a surprisingly large difference. The stock camera app was bad enough that it often didn’t feel worth it to even try taking a photo. I’m currently using OpenCamera from fdroid, and performance is far better now (though the quality is still a downgrade from before).

It’s annoying because I don’t care about fancy features and high end cameras, I just want something that will allow me to capture spontaneous photos

Sympathy and solidarity. I’ve been there

I think that yes it’s an autism thing. It’s also an ADHD thing. Neurotypical people definitely do experience this also, but my opinion is that it’s more prevalent in neurodivergent people.

Well damn. I wasn’t expecting to be adding a new book to my reading list as a result of this thread, but y’all’s enthusiasm is such that I feel I have to.