ronnieboy493
But here we are, detached modals, because of Apple's weird fetish for mobile UI on everything.
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[0] https://kagi.com/proxy/latest?c=LsHiRSPxhD29sXqLhdI0j1EsQ98n...
Would be very interested in this.
If there would six parties to choose from, for example, I think it would be hard to argue that closed primaries are harmful. But since we have a duopoly, they exclude a significant portion of the voting population from participating until late in the process.
Previous to 1988 the League of Women Voters[0] handled presidential debates. A fully independent outside organization.
Since then, the Commission on Presidential Debates[1] set rules for admittance to president debates. The CPD was founded jointly by Republicans and Democrats and is controlled solely by both parties.
At best, there _appears_ to be a large, gaping conflict of interest when it comes to admitting candidates to presidential debates. In 1992 Ross Perot was invited to the debates as a third option. In 1996 Clinton and Dole successfully argued for Perot to be excluded from the debates as he had no "realistic chance to win" [2]. Perot aside, what happened was downright anti-democratic and further enforced the two party system.
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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Presidential_Deb...
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/09/18/p...
Playing DOOM, which I hid from my hyper-religious parents, was always a blast. It trashed the battery so I kept it plugged in - it would get very hot. Probably terrible for the device but I was a kid and wanted to slay some demons.
There was a Mandelbrot viewer that was pretty cool. Lots of stuff I'm probably forgetting.
It also functioned as a device for adult images that I would dual boot into. Not the best for my young brain most likely. Still, I have plenty of nostalgia around using computers to solve parental problems. Or creating more because I didn't understand partitioning, boot loaders, or really anything when installing Ubuntu on a family machine. :)
Even if you have every intention to stay within limits they don't work. In the US we have these massive stroads in urban areas posted at 35 mph. When I drive (rarely) I have to constantly monitor my speed. It doesn't feel natural and also takes away from, ya know, paying attention to the road. Aside from my opinion that 35 is way too fast anyways.
At the same time I've seen people complain that roads which are clearly not narrow, are too narrow because they can't barrel down side streets at 50. But at least it forces them to drive slower.
> It essentially makes driving much more stressful, which is exactly what it should be. ... the easiest and most convenient mode of transport ...
It boggles the mind. We sit in these big cozy chairs that transport us almost anywhere with little to no effort. It's pretty incredible. Yet, the most minor of inconveniences can cause a lot of car brains to absolutely lose it. Driving feels adjacent to addiction to many Americans and if people don't get their fix they go into complete meltdowns.
I think people do find driving stressful, but for the wrong reasons. Sitting a red light? Stressful. Cyclist slowing you down? Stressful. Too many other people are using cars at the same time you are? Stressful. It's stress originating from believing you had the god given right to drive like a maniac at all times.
In every part of US cities pedestrian walkways have to cross roads. But really roads should have to cross the walkways. Instead of sidewalks dipping down into four lane highways, roads should have to go up and over sidewalks at intersections. In Amsterdam there was huge expansive brick walkways that cars can use, but they're the foreign entity. Not the pedestrians.
* I removed all apps that aren't tools/utilities to help me get things done. No entertainment (including RSS!). For example, I have Busycal, Things, and Bear installed along with a few other utilities. I also removed non-essential utilities. There is no need to pay my credit card from my phone. This also has the benefit of reducing tracking.
* Disabled JS for Safari. I would find myself surfing the web and wasting time. Even if I initially started with good intentions. Turns out, a lot of my web usage was "I wonder about this, let's search it". "That was a cool movie, let's see what other people think online". It is an absolute pain to dig 37 menus deep to enable JS again, which forces me to live without it.
* Time limits never worked for me. I'd always ask for five more minutes. Just one more hit Tim Apple, I promise. Last time. They may work for you though.
* Either disabled notifications or set them to appear in daily reviews. Now I get those daily reviews and realize it's filled with stuff that doesn't matter. Every time I pick up my phone I risk falling into a black hole. The less I'm notified to pick up it, the less time I lose. Only alerts from my partner and similar get through immediately.
* Get an alarm clock or use a smartwatch. Seriously. You know those people who wake up and reach over for cigs before they're even out of bed? Don't do that with your phone.
* I lean heavily into my smart watch. For me, trying to create friction on my phone was only mildly successful. A smart watch has a ton of organic friction that feels natural. Instead of giving your Ferarri a flat tire to slow it down, just ride a bicycle. Synthetic friction vs organic friction. I'm bad with analogies. Leaving my phone behind is something I do sometimes but not as much as I should.
* These days the only social media account I have is HN. It's not ideal but everything is a WIP.
There really should be some concerted effort by the government to study these behaviors and what can be done. We dramatically dropped cigarette use with a lot of work and I believe we can do the same with phones.
I still waste time on my laptop but it's not a quick dopamine hit. I spend more time on side-projects though now that I'm forcing myself to be in front of a real machine. Reducing all screen-time is something I still need to work on.
[1] https://kagi.com/search?q=strongbox+site%3Anews.ycombinator....