John BS @johnabs@social.cleverlibre.org

Nevermind, I'm a dang genius.

Be amazed at my IQ.

My goals are beyond your comprehension now mortals.

Just kidding, I found a line I forgot to uncomment and for some weird reason it was only effecting 1 of my 2 monitors.

Hey all,

Anybody an xmonad aficionado? I could use some help fixing a few very minor issues, and I think I've reached the limit of the amount of random Haskell I can digest for a while lmao

@jmw150 Already did, as I installed doom emacs.

I'm so stoked to do some literate programming and improve my zettelkasten with org-roam and such. I just need a way to integrate zotero so I can access my bibtex keys.

I used to be a hardcore vim user. I recently discovered emacs (tonight, in fact), and I'm blown away.

Once I migrate, I'm probably not going back. If you guys want to know why, I'll be glad to write up a quick post on it.

P.S. If you're a vim user, you can keep the awesome keybinds, I heavily suggest you give it a shot.

@jmw150 Well, since nobody has lived past 200, and the first 2^68 have been checked for convergence, you don't have to believe! It's true!

@freemo @zpartacoos @funny @lucifargundam Do you think all religions are cults? I think there's a pretty substantial difference. Primarily, adherents to a religion try to act in truth and what they believe is in the best interest of others. Cults, particularly cult leaders, are predatory and are almost always obviously lying.

Also, all the places I've been to church have never demanded anything, only asked politely for financial or other forms of assistance. They taught that "God knows your finances" and wouldn't want you to donate uncomfortably, but rather cheerfully.

And of course religions want new members, though this isn't for MLM style reasons. They believe many people are missing out on purpose, and are suffering horribly for it. Even worse, if they're correct, people need to know God to experience fullness in life and some manner of salvation in death. Failure to reach out to others (especially the weak and needy) is one of the least loving things you can do from a religious perspective, as you may have been the only person capable of opening their eyes to the truth and helping them turn their life around.

Once you consider the effectiveness of these sorts of 12 step programs and the other positive mental, emotional, and spiritual effects religious people experience, I think it's an unfair characterization to refer to all, or even most, as harmful or cults.

@lucifargundam @freemo @zpartacoos @funny Thank you for the input! I was unaware that many of these programs use a more pseudo-religious shift, rather than a preexisting world religion to base their sessions on. I would imagine more concrete teachings and applications would be more useful than this seemingly "new-age" interpretation (i.e. a more "pick a lane" approach).

To clarify, which part is in steep contrast? "Using 'god' to convey a message?" I kind of lost what you getting at in the last two sentences of your post.

@freemo @zpartacoos @funny I'm honestly struggling to see how these programs are taking advantage of people in some fundamental way by introducing them to a religious perspective as a means of reducing recidivism.

I would make the case that most people who become addicted to drugs lack a sense of purpose and meaning in life, and a way to appropriately deal with the tragedies of their lives that were thrust upon them. Notably, one woman said that she did heroin because it "felt like a warm hug".

At the very least, even if you are an atheist and think religion is ridiculous, you have to admit these hurting people are being directly connected to a perceived transcendent source of meaning that allows them to properly contextualize their trauma as something that can be used for good, rather than the injustice of an arbitrary, uncaring universe. Most people tend to respond better to the idea that their suffering has a greater purpose, as compared to the alternative.

Even better, these programs tend to work for the people who join them([source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3753023/)), and the Christian worldview aids in allowing adherents to forgive themselves and others, as they have a mechanism of redemption of their past faults and the associated guilt.

Obviously, there are ways that this can be taken too far, or shady individuals may take advantage of the vulnerability of the system. But I think that can be said for most institutional hierarchies, not just the subset of them which are religious in some way (just look at Larry Nassar for example).

Thoughts?

@zpartacoos Very nice! I have something similar setup in my vim config, though it doesn't compile a single input to multiple outputs. Are you using pandoc or something else?

@jmw150 Yo, this is where I'm currently enrolled for my PhD! Thanks for pointing this lab out :D

Hot take (would appreciate discussion on this point if anyone (dis)agrees): individualism and collectivism are both good and necessary, but it depends on their direction. Top-down individualism, I would say, is necessary for a government that respects the rights of its citizens. If the highest ideal of the highest governmental authority is fundamentally collective, then the government can justify ignoring the rights of the individuals by using the "greater good" as a scapegoat.

Bottom-up individualism fundamentally becomes toxic. But bottom-up collectivism helps me maintain my relationship with my neighbors, my community, and my country. In a world where each of these philosophies is in balance, and coming from the appropriate place, I think we can produce a more civil, polite, and effective society. However, when either force overwhelms the other, or is applied from the incorrect direction, I think it leads to great injustice and lack of consideration for either the non-politicians, or those in our communities.

@jmw150 I like stats, but I hate how it's taught to non-math people (myself included). I also really hate the various "rules of thumb" that have good justifications in certain cases, but completely break down in others. I cannot tell you how many scientists I've met that don't know how to use stats properly. I've had to argue with people (including professors) in my previous research groups over faulty stats, and they were incredibly resistant to the criticism. Fortunately, my current advisor is actually quite good at stats, so he addresses the issues instead of me 😂

@trinsec @zpartacoos @freemo That's awesome! I'm pretty jealous after Freemo's response tbh 😩

@freemo I've been watching a new channel on how awesome the Netherlands is, called "[Not Just Bikes](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0intLFzLaudFG-xAvUEO-A)".

Is it really such a "modern utopia"? What's your take on it? Things you love vs hate, that sort of stuff.

Also if it is truly that great, how would you suggest getting your foot in the door for academic/research/programming work? I know I've got a while to go on my PhD, but I'm thinking this may be a place to consider in the next few years.

Thanks for input you have! :)

I am so sick of ending up in group projects that I end up leading because nobody has any drive. It's exhausting, and I just wish people would carry their weight.

It's happened on some actual research projects, and in my courses; it's just too much of this crap.

@trinsec Thanks! I am slowly building a workshop and it's so rewarding to build stuff like this.

@zpartacoos @freemo Similar story here. My wife had fibromyalgia for most of her life, and we were able to put her in remission via loads of research on google scholar and testing different interventions. It's frustrating that people who tend to stop learning new information after medical school have such a large say in who gets diagnosed and how seriously they decide to treat people's symptoms.

Here's the finished board (with lunch in the frame lmao)

I made this end grain cutting board and I'm quite proud of it