For awhile it was single downvotes, but it seems that moved up to 2-3 on each comment. Even the most benign stuff gets hit, the pattern is clear.

Can I find this person and block them from seeing my posts? Never really delved into how lemmy works.

Probably doesn't matter much because after awhile the forget and leave me alone for a bit.

I see this on Imgur and Bluesky as well. Here's a great example, and the one that prompted me to finally ask. My daughter has autism and ADHD. She takes speed to slow down. Best friend is ADHD, same deal. But they're basically "normal" people. I'm truly sorry is this comes off as insensitive.

• It's normal to be aware of how people perceive us. We are apes. Need I elaborate?

• We ALL mess up more when someone is watching. Forget the word, but it's a well-known psychological tic.

• Yes, we all conform and hide parts of ourselves in public, doesn't mean you can't "be yourself". Want to see someone who doesn't mask at all? Trump.

• If you're not aware of threats, Darwin would like a word. And yes, many things we perceive as threats are dumb monkey perceptions. We're all silly in this way.

• Uh, I double check my door locks. Not paranoid, but my situation in America makes that a simple, smart move. Some people live around lots of strangers, checking your private space is a normal thing.

• We all hate being stared at. That's a monkey threat. We evolved that way.

The "suspicious sounds" thing is the only part I'd pick out as a bit strange. But who hasn't jumped when the ice maker kicks in? I've often thought someone crawled in the dog door. (A bear did one time, a hybrid wolf another, so let me slide on that one.)

I can go on /c/autism and pick 100 other memes for examples. Almost every single thing I see there, "Yeah, we all go though that/feel that way/do that thing." Here's one:

https://piefed.cdn.blahaj.zone/posts/6k/Lb/6kLbDigyQuftk4k.jpg

Doesn't everyone do that now and again?! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Serious questions:

• Does lemmy have an above normal number of autistic/ADHD people?

• Is this perception a way for young people to feel special and different?

• Maybe young people don't realize just how fucking weird growing up is and think they have a problem?

• Do people not realize that even after adulthood, we all have weird foibles?

• Are people so socially isolated that they think their weird thoughts are uncommon?

Just want to start the discussion. Help me understand.

Also, they're sensitive to moving shadows. As with motion sensors, if you move slowly enough, they cannot sense you. Slowly circle behind them and they jump into your death mitts.

Anyway, this has worked out better for me than a Bic lighter and hair spray. But that works too.

For those not in the know:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room

Very first words:

The Chinese room argument holds that a computer executing a program cannot have a mind, understanding, or consciousness,[a] regardless of how intelligently or human-like the program may make the computer behave.

😆

Wife and I stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. Pulling up I noted an old SUV on the side of the road that seemed to have one or more cars pulled over (4-5 total vehicles), blue flashing lights on the interior sides and interior rear. Y'all, blue lights are cop only, with some jurisdictions allowing ambulances and fewer allowing fire, not filthy unmarked 20-yo SUVs.

There was a young man standing by the driver's door talking to someone in front of him, but he was the only human I saw when we drove in and out. Plain clothes, but his position and body language said the flashy car was his.

Say it was a dumb kid with illegal lights, purposefully impersonating law enforcement. This was in the country, but it wasn't in the middle of nowhere. Legit cops would have been all over his ass.

The infuriating part? I have a legal, brown, immigrant wife and live in a country where that well could been an ICE agent hassling people. Or a rando hassling people.

Also infuriating, the Republicans told me my whole life that the Democrats wanted to turn America into Soviet-style communism. Now my wife has to carry her fucking papers every time she leaves the house, comrade. And even that doesn't protect her from arrest.

Can't imagine anything else this could have been. I've seen hundreds of plain vehicles over the decades, this was not one of them unless it was a seriously deep-cover thing, and if it was, the officer wouldn't have fucking lights.

Cannot think of a rational explanation except ICE. Am I nuts?!

EDIT: I should note the dumbest part: Saw no one with a mask. Is it really legitimate law enforcement if they're not masked?!

At first internet advertising was a no-brainer. Agree to host ads, get revenue to keep your site afloat, make a profit, expand. Fine. But now we're inundated with ads to the point people are turning off. Hell, there are ads I'd be happy to see, but I never will because I've blocked them with a Pihole and Ublock. The vast majority of people aren't doing that, but are they actually buying the advertised products and services?

Guess I can't get my head around the logistics. Seems like all the money in the world is available for advertising, but are these companies actually seeing a return on that investment? Reddit's basically bots advertising to bots, and the stock market rewards them handsomely. Nobody involved is stupid, they know this is happening, yet companies are still throwing money around. (Someone will relate this to the AI bubble, but it's not really the same thing.)

There was a great article posted here about how 40% (?) of ad views are bots. (If someone can find it, that would be great!) The issue came up to the author because he was tasked with finding out why the advertising spend wasn't getting expected sales. The number of clicks didn't jive with sales results. The advertiser was seeing some ludicrous clicks vs. sales that was 1/10th of what it should be.

And companies are paying for these dismal results?! Think of a time where you were responsible for results at a company. If your spent $X on a thing, and didn't get at least $X dollars back, you would back off that spend or your boss would pull the plug. (Sure, marketing often takes time to get a foothold, I get that.) That's how capitalism fucking works. And for all the bitching about capitalism, the players don't seem to be doing that thing. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Is internet advertising a sort of bubble? Doesn't seem to be as it just keeps going.

Why is this not all over lemmy?!

tl;dr: Trump bumped marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. This is a big deal for research and has been holding the US medical community back for decades.

Yes, I'm certain there was a bribe involved. Maybe he got a golden bud. Don't care. This Executive Order blows out a load of red tape. This is a huge move.

Doubt many hate Trump as much as I. 01/06 gave me PTSD light. And I'm not just saying that, still in shock, still can't look at pics and certainly not videos. But FFS, can we not talk about a win when we get one?!

There was 1.5B when my great-grandparents were born (1898), 3.7B for me (1971). Now there are 8.1B souls, better off economically and consuming to match.

Don't tell me we have enough food, "if it wasn't for evil peoples!". Don't care, we don't have enough water. We're draining aquifers that took 1,000s of years to fill, major cities are basically out of water all over the globe. And that was before AI!

Immigrant hate? Overpopulation. As a kid, most folks looked like you. By middle age, the world is clearly shittier, but the economy was on an upward trajectory for great-grandad, grandad and dad, but not for you. You look around today. Suddenly there are shitloads of poor people who don't look like you! See how that works? (I don't think the haters understand this.)

Global warming? Did I mention people are far better off and wanting their share? Global poverty rates dropped through the floor. The newly "rich" want to enjoy the life the rest of us had. Can't blame 'em. Look at China, still building coal plants to get "caught up". Remember the crazy smog in their major cities? LA was like that when I was a kid.

Hell, even the billionaires wouldn't be so rich and have so much influence if there were half the people to get rich off and influence. Orgs like FB and AWS could not exist as they do now with half the customers, scale wouldn't be there. If I could get one penny off every human, once a year, I'd be making $81,000.

Best part? Depopulation and deflation are economic disasters. Don't know of a time in history where we successfully navigated depopulation in the short to midterm.

EDIT: Forgot to add! We've lost 74% of the animals on Earth since I was born. That's on human activity, and lately, global warming. Our ecosystems are crashing, and unrecoverable in some cases. As one example: There are too many humans who don't want bugs around. If you're 40-50+, you knew a very different world. Hell, if you're 30, I can show you ways the local ecosystem has crashed out, ways you'll remember. "Oh shit! I forgot it was like that!"

Guess I'm wrong. We just need to allocate food, water and wealth fairly (which has rarely if ever happened). Stop pollution in the form of CO2, plastics, herbicides, pesticides etc. All while elevating the way of life for 8B, soon to be 9B, humans. Oh, and every tribe, counter to our entire history and evolution, should suddenly love one another. And somehow, we magically stomp out the wealthy. Super simple stuff! Easier than saying, "Maybe there's too many of us?"

If you haven't seen it, skip the trailer. Doesn't totally ruin it, but allow me to whet your appetite. (I did not intent that sort of pun, leaving it.) I only knew something would turn out "wrong". And that is all you need to know.

I'll admit to prejudice because I have the hots for Anna Taylor-Joy, but still, she shines in this role. Never been a huge fan of Ralph Fiennes, certainly not a detractor, but his acting chops belted me right in the face last night. Everyone else was supporting cast, and they all filled the bill perfectly. My compliments to the chef, all around!

How can I say more without spoilers? I am at a loss. Wikipedia has a fair enough entry:

Wealthy foodie Tyler Ledford and his date Margot Mills travel by boat to Hawthorn, an exclusive restaurant on a private island operated by celebrity chef Julian Slowik... The group is given an island tour by maître d'hotel Elsa, who notes that Margot is not Tyler's designated guest.

That is it. That is all you need to know. I can't even say what sort of movie this is without possible spoilers. Strike "documentary" off the list? What I can say is that my wife and I were glued to the screen for every minute. Bet I'll pick up on loads of details and themes on a second watch.

Next time someone comments that Hollywood is out of ideas, produces nothing original, I'll hand them The Menu.

Widely available: 🏴‍☠️