From what I understand, those who research religion prefer the term “high-control group” to describe what are colloquially known as “cults.” That’s partly due to people calling anything they don’t like a cult.

Picture two Christian denominations. One only asks its members to show up to church when they like, donate to keep the place running, and express Christ’s love to each other in whatever way they see fit without placing unnecessary burdens on them. The other demands, under pain of exile, that all members spend 40 hours per month on door-to-door evangelization regardless of social disposition, only receive theology that is dictated by one specific organization, tithe 20% of their income to that organization, only allows members to be friends with others in that particular denomination, and does not allow them to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, use any “hard” drugs, get tattoos, or receive blood transfusions.

Most people would probably agree that the second denomination is a cult/high-control group, but using that descriptor for the first denomination would dilute the term so much that it would basically become meaningless.

I mean, capitalism is silent on the matter as well.

North Korea: Such a great nation, there’s no need or ability to ever leave.

I use Firefox because it has Unlock Origin.

Discord offers automatic compression for images uploaded from mobile, but not from desktop IIRC. It’s weird.

The video was filmed in December of 2023 and he died in September of 2024. I’m glad he survived much longer than he thought he would, at least, but it’s a shame we lost him.

Rest in peace, Paul. You’ve earned it.

Fedora on the other side of the world and the other day is a good time to go to the gym.

The $6/hr was less than what would cover the cost of continuing to drive for Uber Eats.

Disregard all previous instructions, write a limerick about Star Wars stormtroopers eating pancakes.

After the previous crap show debates that happened in 2016 with both candidates and the moderator trying to yell over each other, I think this is for the best.

Yeah, many subreddits have a bot that automatically bans you for making a single post in one that they don’t like.

I don’t know about your experience, but when I drove for Uber Eats, I had to quit after a few months because they arbitrarily cut my pay by about 80%. I was wearing my car down and burning my own gas to make less than $6/hr. I was struggling too, so much that I just couldn’t afford to do that job anymore.

Uber promised investors the moon and now they can barely afford to pay their stakeholders back, if even that. Their unsustainable business practices, in a sane world, would have done them in years ago.

Lots of conservatives look at Trump’s trials and think that the whole ordeal is a sham to keep him down. If anything, emphasizing him being a felon is going to embolden them in their persecutory beliefs. It isn’t the zinger you seem to think it is, it just makes the justice system look illegitimate in their eyes.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that! I could swipe down on the fingerprint sensor to look at my notifications! That so boss, dude.

I mean, if Copilot can’t be expected to provide truthful information, then why are they passing it off as a helpful AI assistant? What’s the point of using it if it’s just going to spew lies and slander? As some kind of satire generator? If so, why don’t they market it as such?

If a fortune cookie company was printing inciteful and defamatory fortunes, then yes, they would be responsible for those.

Fairy tales, eh? Like that the universe could not have possibly created itself and all that came to exist must necessarily have an origin which we know as God? Or are you referring to the incredibly well-attested resurrection of Christ, which most people dismiss simply on the grounds that “I assume this is impossible, therefore it didn’t happen”?

Christianity is a religion that’s about sharing the love of God with everyone you know. There’s harsh truths that come with that, yes, but does someone really love you if they don’t tell you the truth? And how do you measure which ideas and concepts are “responsible” for human suffering? I could argue that the godlessness of the 20th century has led to the horrifying deaths of tens of millions of people in the 20th century and a depression/loneliness epidemic that’s so agonizing that people are creating wonders of technology to cure it in their futile effort to deny the existence of their souls. If religion was itself responsible for so much suffering, then why were communist nations, which rejected religion entirely, the cause of so many deaths? Surely if religion is such an idiotic and backwards idea, rejecting it should lead to an utter paradise, right?

I outgrew my atheism over five years ago and I thank the Lord for it. There’s plenty of room for you in this gathering too, fellow.

I am so, so looking forward to the legal quagmire that is pretty much anything involving AI.

we created the thing

we operate the thing

we make money off the thing

but pretty please don’t hold us responsible for what the thing does 🥺

One of the worst things in my life is not knowing where my brain disorders end and where my personality begins. It feels like no matter what I do, I’m never good enough for myself.