tripu @tripu@social.cleverlibre.org
Technologist, Spaniard, male, 42
Joined May 2020
tripu
boosted
I identify as a #consequentialist and a (negative) #utilitarian, I suspect that existence is _probably_ not worth it because of the asymmetry of #qualia, and yet I have no intention of ending my own life (and I think that's rational). Why?
When we're #children we don't really understand what suffering is, and we don't even know that living is a choice. So we live.
#Teens and young adults famously tend to get closer to one of two poles: either they're disappointed, miserable, or lost (some of those do end their lives), or they are having a great time: they're at their prime, disease and pain are unknown to them, they discover pleasures, etc (those are happy to live).
We #adults are usually so entangled in relationships by this stage of life that even if/when we decided that non-existence beat existence _for us_, we wouldn't want to cause more suffering to those who love us and those who depend on us. So we (usually) live.
Second, even though I think that life is mostly #suffering, including human lives, that is just a generalisation, an average. Some lives one can expect to be miserable in all likelihood, while others are set to be as good as possible — even a net positive.
I live in one of the most prosperous countries on earth. I earn well above the average salary here, and so does my wife. We are relatively healthy and free of major health conditions. No history of relevant communicable diseases in our families, no major mental health issues, addiction, or tendency towards violence. We eat reasonably well, we are calm, we don't spend recklessly.
I expect our children to have lives that are better than the average human being's. Perhaps even lives worth living, after all.
First of all, I'm not _that_ convinced that antinatalism is true. I still have major doubts or objections. At the same time, my instinct is to want to have children.
I don't think that is hypocrisy. I usually want to be as rational and detached as possible. But when reasons seem weak or risky, and intuition plus tradition plus social norms plus advice from those close to me point somewhat strongly in the opposite direction, the gut can override the brain, and I think that's indeed reasonable.
Lately I've become quite sympathetic to #antinatalism.
And yet I have two kids, and if I were to start over again I think I would decide to have kids again.
How's that possible?
(thread)
With 95-octane #petrol at 1.70 €/ℓ,
and us paying 0,14 €/KW×h at home,
we're saving ~1,200 €/year in fuel.
Assuming we paid a €10K premium for a 100% #EV (over a comparable petrol-powered #car), we'll break even in little more than 8 years.
Throw in some likely savings in vehicle taxes, maintenance, and parking meters, and it's more like 7 years until we recoup the extra investment.
We bought it one year ago, so we'll start saving actual #money in 2029.
tripu
boosted
I wish more people understood that "I want the computer to generate a natural language text that sounds like a plausible answer to a question about x" and "I want the computer to answer a question about x" are two very different problems.
The plugin ecosystem for [templating engines in Express](https://expressjs.com/en/resources/template-engines.html) is (still) larger than [in Koa](https://github.com/koajs/koa/wiki#templating).
In particular, for #Handlebars, there seem to be just 3 in #Koa, and all quite outdated (last updated in 2016, 2017 and 2017).
Alternatives to #Handlebars:
[**Mustache**](https://mustache.github.io/): zero dependencies, and dead simple. Too simple? Being logic-less means that conditionals and loops are pre-cooked, and that may limit options.
[**Pug**](https://pugjs.org/): main advantage and main drawback: its concise but idiosyncratic syntax, similar to that of #Slim — which I know and have used in the past, but is too much of a departure from #HTML.
[**EJS**](https://ejs.co/): similar to Handlebars, simple but apparently versatile. Documentation isn't great.
#JS #JavaScript 
#Node.js #Node
Alternatives to #Express:
[**Koa**](https://koajs.com/), which can either [replace or complement](https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/docs/faq.md) both Express and [Connect](https://github.com/senchalabs/connect).
[**Fastify**](https://www.fastify.io/), which looks straightforward and very similar to Express. Plugin for templating (supporting Handlebars, Mustache, Pug and EJS): [@fastify/view](https://github.com/fastify/point-of-view).
[**NestJS**](https://nestjs.com/), which seems too convoluted and probably redundant since it works on top of either Express or Fastify (?).
[**Meteor**](https://www.meteor.com/): more of a platform. No tutorial for vanilla JS (only for React, Vue, etc), and not oriented towards SSR.
I'll probably go for #Koa or #Fastify.
#JS #JavaScript #Node.js #Node
What should I use instead of #Express and #Handlebars for a web application in Node.js in 2023? Can someone summarise pros and cons of the most popular alternatives? I see way too many…
tripu
boosted
Oh, man. This comic — from 1993 — could NOT be more relevant today. As usual, Bill Watterson hits it out of the park.
tripu
boosted
Nationalism and socialism caused WW2... and today their popularity is growing again. Shit.
This proves that strong criticism of modern #feminism is not a fringe position in 2023 by any means, and that _even among women_ and _even among the youngest generation_ a large proportion of people (ranging from ⅓ to ½) are sceptical, resisting, or noticing discrimination against #men.
It's [a 32-country survey of 22+K adults](https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/international-womens-day-global-opinion-remains-committed-gender-equality-half-now-believe-it) by #Ipsos (the world’s third largest research agency) and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (King’s College London).
Not all aggregates are representative because some countries with large populations (eg India, China, Indonesia) probably skew less feminist than others. But even the figures for specific Western democracies (and those _are_ accurate) show less than clear enthusiasm, even from women themselves.
This will be surprising.
To some people.
tripu
boosted
Hey everyone, I have an exciting federated.press announcement to share:
We just released an integration with News Detective—a new project to reduce misinformation on social media and teach media literacy with built-in transparency. They're part of MIT's Sandbox Innovation Fund Program, and are working with journalism students and the public to promote media literacy.
Read on to learn more. 👀👇
#Journalism #Misinformation #MediaLiteracy #Mastodon #FederatedPress #NewsDetective
Technologist, Spaniard, male, 42
Joined May 2020
