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What do you fear the most?
| 5% | 10 votes |
| 5% | 10 votes |
| 2% | 4 votes |
| 3% | 7 votes |
| 9% | 17 votes |
| 25% | 46 votes |
| 10% | 18 votes |
| 36% | 65 votes |
[ Voting Booth | Other Polls | Back Home ]
- Don't complain about lack of options. You've got to pick a few when you do multiple choice. Those are the breaks.
- Feel free to suggest poll ideas if you're feeling creative. I'd strongly suggest reading the past polls first.
- This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
(1)
Q: Why did the germ cross the microscope?
A: To get to the other slide.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by zocalo on Thursday February 27, @03:37PM (13 children)
While that's mostly down to the changing climate and impacts of increasing energy demands due to crypto and AI, I'd also include things like forever chemicals, antibiotic resistance, and so on in that as well; they're all just more fuel for the bonfire of civilization if we don't start making some serious inroads into solving some of the issues soon.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by acid andy on Thursday February 27, @04:41PM (12 children)
I agree with pretty much everything you said except I would replace "soon" with "now", or possibly even "twenty years ago".
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 3, Insightful) by zocalo on Thursday February 27, @05:38PM (11 children)
That the ultimate bagholders for those bills are those paying taxes and rising insurance premiums (e.g. pretty much everyone and every company) just doesn't seem to register.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Saturday March 01, @04:52PM (10 children)
Yes it is really frustrating. It seems to come from a mentality in the leaders that they can personally benefit from all the short term profits and then get out of the game before it all goes to crap. It looks like a very dangerous game.
I have similar feelings when they keep saying we need to increase the birth rate due to an ageing population. Sure, that gives more potential tax payers in the short term, but why not borrow money to cover the shortfall now, so when the population drops there are more resources serving fewer people which combined with automation can give a greater quality of life. But those in charge do not care about quality of life for the masses.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 4, Informative) by turgid on Sunday March 02, @04:06PM
but why not borrow money to cover the shortfall now
Because that would be Keynsian, in other words "Undemocratic Marxist." It's antithetical to Alt-Wrong dogma.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 10, @09:46PM (8 children)
And pay back when? My take is that if you don't borrow now, then you won't have borrow tomorrow just to pay the interest off.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday March 10, @10:35PM (7 children)
You pay it back once the population has dropped significantly enough that you can downsize everything without reducing quality of life per capita.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 11, @05:11AM (6 children)
My question here would be what are we getting for that borrowing?
I see three possibilities: borrowing for an emergency, borrowing for an investment, or borrowing for an elective purpose that neither fills an emergency or helps you pay back the loan. In car terms: if your car breaks down and you need to fix it in order to work and do your other necessary tasks - that's case one. If you buy a car with extremely good gas mileage equivalent with a reasonable expectation that you'll pay for the loan with the savings in fuel equivalent - that's case two. Case three would be buying a sports car because you want to drive something fast and red.
My view is that quality of life is solidly option three. A better quality of life isn't an emergency. Nor is it an investment. Having a great quality of life now doesn't help you have a great quality of life later. It doesn't help you in the future.
That leads to my earlier question, when are we paying that back? When a government borrows money, it borrows money against society's future. There should be something for the future in that. In a situation like the above where one is borrowing merely to cover the gap between resources provided by workers and the recipients of the entitlement, it's particularly hazardous because nothing ever improves. The demographics will be the same decades from now with that government borrowing all along, getting deeper and deeper into debt. As the saying goes, if something can't continue forever, then it won't. In this case, it will stop with government failing to pay (either directly or indirectly via inflation) and quality of life dropping for a while - possibly with a end to that government and a retrenching of that society at a lower level of quality of life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 12, @02:09PM (5 children)
"it will stop with government failing to pay"
Not when a government chooses to not pay, ehich is what is happening now instead of doing the hard work of building up society. Sadly some are blinded by greed and a simplified 'logical' approach derived from the axiom Greed Is Good.
Republicans are causing the crisis now, and I am sure they will insist that all the people harmed now is a smaller price to pay. All to allow a small group to steal public funds through corruption.
"quality of life dropping for a while - possibly with a end to that government and a retrenching of that society at a lower level of quality of life."
Guess you are not so optimistic about the MAGA plan.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 12, @09:13PM (4 children)
"Hard work of building up society" would be investment. It's not merely vague "quality of life". My view is that this is another sort of blind greed - casually squandering Other Peoples' Money for garbage all while dogmatically assuming it's going to be good.
How does that differ from before? Wrong side stealing funds?
My view is that this is better than merely holding course with the status quo. At least a different set of political merchants are milking the beast. And we now have precedent in turning over this crowd. I suggest some history [soylentnews.org] lessons are in order.
A fair number of political merchants ended up on the wrong side of the Trump administration. Similarly, the most eager participants with Trump will get their due when Trump and his supporters lose power. Remember the pillow guy still?
I think it'll be a shitshow. I just don't think the borrowing-for-"quality of life" way will be any better because it's similarly delusional. My view remains that if your quality of life depends on endless borrowing, then that's a big sign you need to cut back.
I find it remarkable how the signs are so obvious that the US spends too much (*) yet we have we have all this heavy political fighting over who gets to put more water in the boat.
(*) there's always the arugment that we're not taxing enough rather than spending too much. My view is that if you're handwaving about quality of life or hard work of building up society rather than actual stuff, then that's a strong sign that we're spending too much.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 13, @01:52PM (3 children)
You are the user that argues about quality of life going down whenever people discuss moving away from oil and gas. Now suddenly it is fine no big deal.
What a ridiculous display of propaganda rhetoric from a super cereal non trumper.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 13, @02:55PM (2 children)
No. I argue that we have plenty of real world examples where quality of life went down because we moved away from oil and gas in an incompetent manner. That's the same problem here. I support systems that naturally generate better quality of life, not systems where you have to borrow ever increasing amounts to maintain a particular standard of quality of life.
Here's the takeaway that I want you to get. Economics is called the "dismal science" in large part because it's often about how you can't always get what you want, and sometimes the straightforward-appearing path doesn't go where you think it should. What other field has to repeatedly deal with people who say "I want X", try to force the economy to give them X, and then are surprised when the economy changes in a way that X doesn't happen? Physics doesn't have to deal with the inevitable treatises on why greed is bad either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 13, @04:46PM (1 child)
You are slow on the uptake if you are just figuring out that economics is not real science. Physics sure does impact your Greed Is Good philosophy. Unless you are God, which often seems to be your position
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 13, @06:29PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27, @04:56PM (4 children)
More precisely:
The unchecked hubris of the pathologically stupid.
--
But maybe that only means "all of the above".
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @02:23AM (3 children)
"Running out of toilet paper" is a close second.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @05:17AM (2 children)
Nah. I've got plenty of leaves in the backyard I can use. This one [wikimedia.org] grows especially well and there is plenty in the shade.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday February 28, @12:54PM
In all seriousness, the ones you want if you can get them are striped maple [wikipedia.org], also known as "goosefoot" maple. The leaves are large, soft, and relatively sturdy. Not as good as actual TP, but your best option in a pinch. (And yes, been there, done that.)
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04, @07:53AM
You could also consider this one [wikipedia.org] if you're in the right area
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27, @05:11PM (23 children)
I fear death. I admit it, even if some might ridicule me for this. I don't greatly fear the future in general, just this specific aspect of it. I don't think anyone can really say with certainty what happens from a spiritual standpoint, and the thought of ceasing to exist is a bit horrifying to me.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27, @06:52PM
Don't worry... it won't last
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @05:25AM (2 children)
have you experienced dreamless sleep? that's death in the long term, except you don't wake up.
if you have a heart condition the few minutes before death can be painful (or it may be painless).
if you get cancer then the few weeks before can be painful.
but it's the people around you who experience you as dead; you will not be able to experience anything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04, @01:30AM (1 child)
But is dreamless sleep really dreamless or it's just your memory isn't working well for that phase?
After all there's evidence that lots of people dream and then soon forget their dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11, @11:46AM
I was thinking more like "general anesthetic", whatever the spelling is. the thing where the brain is reduced to low-level stuff like heart beating and breathing.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Hartree on Friday February 28, @05:41AM (15 children)
Where were you before conception?
You were not alive; thus, you were dead. And so, you've been dead an awful of a lot longer than you've been alive.
(Not original to me: I don't fear death. It's having to stay dead all that time that scares the hell out of me.)
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday February 28, @03:44PM
Yes and I notice there are hundreds of thousands of individuals leaving such a state (of being not alive, before conception) every day, all over the world. The being not alive losing its permanence seems to be rather commonplace. Hey, it even happened to you at least once already.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @09:56PM (13 children)
Time doesn't exist for the dead. An infinite amount of time goes infinitely fast. You sleep, and instantly wake up in a different universe. How long you were out, you will ever know. What scares me is that the cycle repeats indefinitely. Maybe the purpose of religion is to break the cycle by biulding a "consciousness" without the flesh
"We never really die" - Lucy
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Saturday March 01, @02:53AM (4 children)
Are photons dead?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03, @12:02AM
Would we call the ceremony a requiem or a rest mass?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 03, @03:22PM (2 children)
Life on a photon would be timeless.
Unless I am misunderestimating something (to borrow a G W Bush'ism), a photon could travel 13.7 billion light years from the edge of the universe to our position and when it arrives, from the photon's point of view, zero time has passed since it is moving at speed C.
The amount of rust code in Linux has grown.
The amount of rust code in Linux has groan.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday March 05, @09:01AM (1 child)
...to an external observer.
If you look at the half-life of a stationary muon, it is very short.
If you look at the half-life of cosmic-ray muons that are moving at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light, they are seen/measured/calculated as much longer*. That's relativistic time dilation. BUT the muon experiences the half-life as being the same duration in both scenarios.
Asking what the frame of reference of a photon is cannot be answered (easily) in relativity because it requires doing things like dividing by zero or adding infinite quantities to things.
Discussion here:
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/54162/how-does-a-photon-experience-space-and-time [stackexchange.com]
and here (note 'affine parameter' and 'limit of proper time'):
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/27794/is-a-photon-fixed-in-spacetime [stackexchange.com]
Note that external observers always see photons as travelling at the speed of light relative to themselves, no matter what sub-lightspeed velocity they themself have. Photons will be red- or blue- shifted according to the velocity of the observer. Anything with rest-mass cannot accelerate to light-speed as that would require infinite energy.
So yes, asking about a photon's point of view with respect to time is a bit like asking "What colour is an idea?": the question can be posed, but is difficult, if not impossible to answer.
If you want to know more about the behaviour of photons, try reading Richard Feynman's book "QED: the strange theory of light and matter", which is available from the Internet archive, here: https://archive.org/download/richard-feynman-pdf-library/Feynman%2C%20Richard%20%2837%20books%29/QED/Feynman%2C%20Richard%20-%20QED%20%28Princeton%2C%202006%29.pdf [archive.org]
It's is aimed at the interested (and committed) layman - to quote from the preface:
*It's interesting how this is done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon#Muon_sources [wikipedia.org] - it is either time dilation from the point-of-view/frame-of-reference of the observer, or length contraction according to the point-of-view/frame-of-reference of the muon. The descriptions/explanations are mutually exclusive/complementary, but equally valid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11, @09:27AM
To paraphrase Leonard Susskind; "Photons have no mass because they are massless particles". Joking aside, a Photon would have an estimated rest-mass on the order one quintillionth that of a Neutrino. We cannot hope to measure it so we correctly say "practically massless", the implication being that the momentum of Photons or hypothetical Gravity messenger particle could be slightly slower than the ultimate quantum speed of causality.
Which is to say; we're all with Lenny on this!
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday March 01, @10:44AM (7 children)
That's a good summary of what I believe, or at least want to believe. As I've said before, the problematic bit is if a universe can get stuck in an eternally lifeless state a.k.a. Heat Death. I have a hunch it can't but no hard evidence. But then, you did say an infinite amount of time goes infinitely fast, so are we to imagine reaching an end to an eternal Heat Death after instantly traversing an entire eternity? That's a wacky idea but if Achilles can catch the tortoise I suppose it might be conceivable. Any mathematicians care to weigh in?
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 01, @08:37PM (6 children)
We could be dead for an infinite number of eternities, it's still instantaneous. The chronometer is inoperative. You'll never know it happened
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday March 01, @09:29PM (5 children)
I guess it comes down to a question of how stable is reality? Will the laws of physics change if you wait enough eons? It likely depends on what layers of complexity exist outside of observable physics. If the universe was just a game running on some kid's computer, eventually it will be switched off or crash.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Vocal Minority on Sunday March 02, @06:18AM (3 children)
"That which dead may not eternal lie
For in strange eons death may die"
:)
(Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday March 02, @11:30AM (2 children)
The Thing That Should Not Be?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Vocal Minority on Monday March 03, @07:03AM (1 child)
Well...yes, but Metallica were quoting from HP Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" (or one of his stories anyway).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 13, @05:46PM
Wish I'd known earlier that Lovecraft was a massive bigot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02, @11:20PM
:-) Have no fear.. This one will last as long as you do
(Score: 3, Informative) by nostyle on Friday February 28, @05:53PM (2 children)
Material science is, as yet, unable to distinguish betwween the mortal and immortal bits of us. It is apparent that our bodies begin, develop and end within the confines of this material world, but that which is variously described as one's consciousness, soul or spirit has never been physically identified, nor operationally delineated other than to suggest that it seems intimately associated with the function of our brains. Signs of this immortal bit include the dream and the "mear-death-experience".
A notable scripture discussing this can be found here [ibiblio.org], which includes the curious assertion:
Naturally, opinions will vary, and, of course, the things of which we are uncertain will forever prove daunting.
--
-Sza, Snooze
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @09:16PM
Sorry for typos. [ s/tww/tw && s/mear/near ]. Fat fingers. Old eyes.
I wasn't aiming for funny, but thanks.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @09:45PM
"The mind is what the brain does" - Nat Geo, March 2005
The parietal cortex is where all the "spiritual" stuff is processed.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27, @10:12PM (35 children)
Working in a professional environment, I fear this one more than anything else on the list. I live in a part of the world (first-world country that's not the US) where mass shootings are virtually unheard of. My neighbourhood is pretty safe, but even if I were approached then, statistically, it would be a robbery and not a murder. I'm fine with Public Speaking and take precautions on the internet.
Despite never being subject to one, I fear false sexual harassment claims more than anything on the list because they fall squarely in the 'guilty until proven innocent' category and can effectively end one's career just because someone doesn't like you. All it takes is for one person with a vendetta and lack of morals and your working life, friendships and possibly even marriage are all over.
I'm in a people management role at work, so I need to be extra careful. I avoid any potentially risqué conversations, give out handshakes instead of hugs/kisses (actually most of the time I don't even do that - I just raise my hand a little like a hello/goodbye wave) and have HR present every time I have to have a performance related conversation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27, @11:06PM (10 children)
I understand the concern on an intellectual level, but your complaint, particularly the last paragraph, sounds rather inane. God forbid that people act professionally at the place of their profession. I hate to blame the victim but routinely having risque conversations, being physically intimate with coworkers, and having conversations in private, you are asking for all sorts of problems, the least of which is a false sexual harassment claim.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03, @02:29AM (9 children)
I worked with a Chinese woman who started suggesting, ever-so-slightly, from the moment I arrived that she was interested. I wasn't. I never suggested or indicated that I was, I never treated her as anything more than a friend and co-worker.
Three years later, at a holiday party, our company was having an outing - rent a small event hall, cram 70 people into it, and have dinner. I think drinks were available with tickets -- two per person. People stood around tables all over, talked, and there was a couch for the sitters (including me).
At some point this woman came up, and we talked (about what I don't remember), and I said I needed to shave -- that 3-4 day stubble growth. She went, "What?! Nooo!" and I responded "I have to, it's at that stage." She went "Why?!" and I thought back to when I was six years old and I asked my dad the same thing. Chinese men don't regularly have facial hair, so the reason is probably completely foreign to her (no pun intended). I moved over, halted, second-thoughts, should I? but she's asking a direct question, and concluded, moved and *scritch* her cheek with my stubble. "That's why." "Ohhh my god!! Yes, shave, shave!!" .... and that was that. I didn't move my butt. I wasn't close to her. I never touched her hand, nor her shoulder, my skin never contacted hers.
So why am I raising this scene? A few days later I was called in by the HR rep of the business. A sexual harrassment complaint had been filed against me, by her. It started out with the HR rep saying, "It's probably a cultural thing, she just doesn't understand how people interact in this country," and there were smiles and chuckles arround, and it included, "but it was filed and so we can't just ignore it. This won't be a problem with the two of you working together, will it?"
No. No problem. Working together. "Can't just ignore it."
My job was IT, I was in a supportive role at that point (from supporting the desktop computers to supporting the developers' interactions with the lower-level Linux system -- I worked pretty closely with *everyone*). The changes were: she's an employee, not a friend. I will do nothing to treat her as a friend, as that is disallowed. From that day on, I did not smile at her, I did not engage in casual conversation, and when she needed assistance with her computer or project, I asked her to leave the cubicle while I stepped in to do my work.
This sort of thing is real, and can't just be ignored. (Or rather, it can be -- but the company *won't*, and it's your fault, as a man, no matter what.)
Part of the issue may have been that she was teased obnoxiously by someone the whole time I was working there, and it really bothered her a lot. Probably she was teased about that scritch at the holiday party, and blew up ... on me. He never had anything happen to him. No problems. Keep going. He's just a "friend".
---
Another example, I was kind-of sort-of interested in a girl met from Tinder, and we did a fair number of things (hiking, concert -- "out" things). I was giving her a ride home one night, and she said she doesn't want to be in a relationship with me and doesn't want me to touch her. (Er.. what?) I sat there, thinking about that. As I was sitting there thinking about that, she threw her arms around me and was hugging me. Yet, I'm not allowed to touch her. So I didn't. I sat in my seat with my arms at my sides as she hugged me.
As a man, It Is Your Fault.
Fuck That Shit. I will not get involved with any woman from this or any similar country, at all, ever more.
---
If you watch Japanese anime, if a man walks through his front door and there's an unknown bitch changing in his home, whom he sees naked because - he's walking into his home.. "HOW DARE YOU!!!" and then they get hit and harrassed and treated coldly for the remainder of the episode. If a male is physically forced into any contact with a female, he pulls away as immediately as possible and the female regards him as a heathen. Etc etc.
I once read that "Movies reflect the concern of the population." (Japan - radioactivity vs Godzilla; United States westerns vs the concerns of the Indians, late 90's/early 2000's fears of kidnapping / mysterious killer on the loose (Scream, Taken, so so many more); etc.) In Anime there's so, so much of it -- showing what it's like to live there as an average male. Constant fear that a woman will accuse you of "whatever," whether you did such a thing or not, or *completely* taken out of context. Yes, compared to Japan 40 years ago, completely the opposite. Now most males in Japan are utterly fearful for their freedom, should a woman decide to accuse them of *anything*.
Once accused, Guilty until (and usually even-if) proven innocent.
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Monday March 03, @02:34AM (7 children)
Each time I tell the story to someone,
- decently close friends,
- didn't touch them,
- scritch of stubble,
- middle of a room of 70 people,
I seem to always got the reaction, "YOU CAN"T DO THAT TO SOMEONE!!!!"
Your disbelief? I can't believe you can't see this. What OP is doing **IS NOT ENOUGH**.
I won't go into a meeting room with a woman if it doesn't have transparent windows. Blinds cannot be closed. Luckily, my teams and coworkers have been male, the *twice* that I've had a meeting with a female has had clear glass windows, and a short meeting. Now it's all across-the-internet - but I still don't do meetings with women, as it's simply too easy to claim "He said ..."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 03, @03:41PM (4 children)
Thanks goodfulness that it is simply impossible that a male could ever accuse another male of sexual harassment. Or a female could be accused of harassing a male, or OMG, another female!
It is equally or even less (or more?)[1] impossible that male harassing a male could actually happen in real life.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[1] the equal or less or more operator might be: <=> and always returns true if and only if the left expression is less, equal or greater than the right expression.
The amount of rust code in Linux has grown.
The amount of rust code in Linux has groan.
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Monday March 03, @09:19PM
> Thanks goodfulness that it is simply impossible that a male could ever accuse another male of sexual harassment. Or a female could be accused of harassing a male, or OMG, another female!
Indeed.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by DrkShadow on Monday March 03, @09:23PM (2 children)
> It is equally or even less (or more?)[1] impossible that male harassing a male could actually happen in real life.
What you seem to not get is: men don't bitch about it. It's how men interact. Women do it to women, too. Women *DO* do it to men. Yet only women bitch about it, and only when men do it to them.
The problem is so profound that even when men *don't* do it to women, women report it regardless. And regardless whatever the man did, the woman must be cared for, must be protected - and so the man failed, no matter what.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04, @02:24AM (1 child)
Also, any M --> M, F --> M or F --> F sexual harassment will be investigated carefully before any assumptions are made. Any claim of M --> F sexual harassment is automatically assumed to be true - guilty until proven innocent.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04, @08:45AM
The problem is with M --> F sexual harassment historically is that it was not taken seriously. It was often just dismissed or brushed under the carpet. Things changed from essentially victim blaming or accusing the female of hysteria to believing the victim. In many cases this is a useful way of approaching the situation. The problem is that there are people who will make malicious and vexatious claims of harassment against others. Mounting a robust legal defence is expensive and beyond the means of many people.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by pTamok on Tuesday March 04, @02:39PM
You broke the cardinal rule of never touching someone without being explicitly invited to do so.
Where I am, it is reasonably OK to touch people's hands (handshaking on greeting strangers you are bieng introduced to is normal), elbows, and (briefly) the centre of a persons back in the area from between the shoulder-blades to the small of the back. Allowable parts of the body vary by culture.
Scratching stubble against another persons face wouldn't be usual. You'd need to give adequate warning, and be invited to do so. It would still be regarded as odd.
Your boundaries were not her boundaries, and you made the mistake of not checking first. Easily done.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday February 28, @01:39AM (5 children)
Since you're in a people management role, could you have security cameras set up in your office / conference rooms to eliminate any doubt about what is happening in them?
As for your behavior: Yes, you're doing all the right things by avoiding risque conversations and limiting your physical contact with your employees. Although I'm unclear why you would have ever thought that kisses were in-bounds at work, unless your country's culture has everyone routinely doing that to each other. As in, if you're straight, and wouldn't do that to some big muscular dude at the bar, you probably shouldn't be doing it to your subordinates.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @05:15AM (4 children)
different person here: when I did my exchange year in Belgium, all students kissed hello (including straight bearded boys with straight bearded boys) --- each cheek. while it didn't happen with the teachers, I'd say that's a fairly professional environment.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday February 28, @06:08AM (3 children)
It is the same in many places in France, but the GP did say "unless your country's culture has everyone routinely doing that to each other" so he has acknowledged that it can occur quite innocently.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28, @06:18AM (2 children)
OP here.
Culturally, a single kiss on the cheek between a female worker and another worker (male or female) is pretty common but is rarely used when first meeting someone. It's not ubiquitous though, so I avoid it.
Another poster noted that my safeguards are just standard professional behaviour. Yes, though people are humans too and will often have colleagues that they feel more comfortable around. Ideally the workplace should be enjoyable, so I see no problem with sharing the odd bit of news or a joke. I am just more careful than others when it comes to where the line is.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday February 28, @03:08PM (1 child)
I was very intentionally trying to differentiate between countries where cheek kisses are normal greetings, and kisses that correctly get people into real trouble [bbc.com].
Part of being a leader, both in the workplace and other contexts, is knowing when not to say or do something you really would like to because you know it could be misconstrued or otherwise cause significant problems.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07, @06:01PM
> Part of being a leader, both in the workplace and other contexts,
Ah, the no-true-Scottsman fallacy. If they're not doing what you feel they should be doing, they're not a leader.
Part of the problem: things change. When you're older and your brain is less plastique and you're "set in your ways" -- it becomes a real problem when things suddenly change. (Suddenly: 20 years.)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 01, @08:00AM (17 children)
This oft-repeated canard fo "you'll be guilty until proven innocent is boring. Boring, boring, boring. Same old lies coming from the same old liars. The only people claiming worry about "false sexual harassment claims" are people who sexually harass. If you don't harass your co-workers, and just do your job instead, you'll be fine. Really.
Here's the thing: victims of sexual harassment who truthfully try to expose it have their lives turned to shit. Absolute shit. The perpetrator's employer, friends, and family routinely work together to discredit the claimant and back up the perpetrator. The victim's friends and family will not even think of believing them except under a very narrow, unlikely set of circumstances that perpetrators go out of their way to prevent. Their employment is, at best, likely to end if they are in any way public about what happened.
If the police get involved, things get much, much worse [ojp.gov] for accusers. The majority of victims know this in advance.
No WAY they're going to subject themselves to that kind of shit unless it actually happened.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 01, @01:34PM (7 children)
I know someone who was framed by his ex-wife, one of her friends and the friend's teenage daughter. He got 18 months and 10 years on the Sex Offenders Register.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Mykl on Tuesday March 04, @02:30AM (7 children)
Nice display of empathy there. Someone shares their biggest fear and you indirectly accuse them of that very thing because of that sharing. Classy.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04, @10:40AM
Actually, it was a confession, and a confession of more than the fear, an admission of a fear of being caught. Fucking perv.
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Thursday February 27, @11:11PM (5 children)
Raw chicken. If you saw the procedure I use when I make wings you'd understand.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 03, @03:49PM (2 children)
Far more terrifying to me is the atrocity and crime against humanity of putting pineapple on pizza. And allowing this to happen! Very little has been done to bring this unthinkable practice to an end.
The amount of rust code in Linux has grown.
The amount of rust code in Linux has groan.
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Tuesday March 04, @01:23PM
Davie504, is that you [youtube.com]?
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday March 13, @08:05PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday February 28, @04:08PM (2 children)
Why? Because there is a lot of blithe ignorance out there about the known problems that we really should be facing but aren't because there's no money in facing them, and also a lot of ignoring of routine maintenance of systems that could very easily go catastrophically wrong.
So for nuclear launch doomsday scenarios, I'm not worried about a madman leader pressing the proverbial button, although that could happen. I'm worried about a nuclear launch because of a short in the wiring because management forced a maintenance crew to skip over inspection 105492.583.24(c) to save time for the last 5 years, or a software glitch leading to a War Games or 99 Red Balloons situation.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Samantha Wright on Friday February 28, @08:31PM (1 child)
In general, weapon systems are defined to fail safely—it is better to not fire at all. Moreover it seems Team Oligarchy has decided to avoid military reform (accidentally firing DoE people notwithstanding) so there's minimal chance of a real shake-up.
You must remember that all of these mechanisms are designed by people with the same fears as everyone else. In a situation of extreme neglect, the warheads may very well fail first.
Worry instead about critical civilian infrastructure: bridges, dams, water treatment facilities, chemical plants... more localized problems with far fewer eyeballs watching them.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Tuesday March 04, @02:44PM
Removing Chiefs of Staff, and the Judge Advocates General 'the conscience of the military', who advise on the legality of military things [military.com] is reform. Not of the good kind.
(Score: 2) by Ingar on Friday February 28, @09:13PM
that the sky may fall on their heads.
Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
(Score: 2) by HeadlineEditor on Friday February 28, @10:25PM (2 children)
I can handle anything else.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 03, @03:51PM
I fear not being able to remember if I have been diagnosed with Alzheimers.
The amount of rust code in Linux has grown.
The amount of rust code in Linux has groan.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Saturday March 01, @03:03AM
Falling.
Heights.
My children dying.
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Saturday March 01, @03:45AM (16 children)
Of all persuasions...
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 01, @08:12AM (1 child)
Does that include the ones you voted for?
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Saturday March 15, @07:58AM
I only vote for your mama
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 01, @02:41PM (1 child)
Tell us how shitty Musk, Trump, Putin, Xi and Netanyahu are then. Each one, in detail please.
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Saturday March 15, @08:10AM
I don't need to do what you tell me to do, man. What are you, some kind of authoritarian?
(Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Sunday March 02, @03:01PM (11 children)
You might like this site [theauthoritarians.org]. There's a free PDF of a book.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Vocal Minority on Monday March 03, @07:09AM (10 children)
I read "The Authoritarians" a number of years ago now but interesting to see there has been some updates. Of course Altemeyer is concerned about what he calls "right wing authoritarians" which is certainly only part of the story...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 13, @04:41PM
Not the whole story, just the bulk of it.
It can be confusing since authoritarians lie all the time and co-opt populist ideas to gain power, but of course you get authoritarian shithole instead. Just look at Trump and the price of eggs lol!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 13, @08:08PM (8 children)
To be fair, he's referring to "psychological right wing" rather than just "right wing". That's pretty much all the authoritarians in one swoop.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday March 14, @07:15AM (7 children)
One wonders what happened to the "political compass", the with one axis for "economic left(social)/right(individualistic)" and the other for "civil liberties autocratic/libertarian"?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 14, @01:09PM
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 14, @01:17PM (5 children)
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Saturday March 15, @08:05AM (4 children)
I don't think the various Marxist influenced totalitarian regimes of the past 100 or so years could in any way be classified as "conservative", unless you broaden the definition so that it applies to just about everything!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 15, @02:39PM
I strongly disagree. These regimes all started as advocates for change and progress when they were seeking power. Then they did a hard steer right once they actually achieved power. They still retain the ideology, but their outlook is more about structuring society and people to keep that ideology in control indefinitely.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 15, @10:32PM (2 children)
Let me put it this way. Totalitarian groups have the same basic behavior. They seize control by being agents of change (for issues in the society that are often overlooked or untouchable by the powers that be). But once, they achieve power, there is no further use for that change. Change gets shut down. They swing radically from being extreme advocates for change in society to fossilizing society with themselves in charge.
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Sunday March 16, @06:14AM (1 child)
Yes, I did understand what you were saying, I just don't have a lot of time to shitpost. You make a good point, authoritarian governments need to maintain themselves if they are to exist in the longer term (as the Marxists say, the system works to reproduce itself). A good example of this is the current version of the CCP. But a few counterpoints:
- You are conflating Authoritarian personality with totalitarian political regimes (but to be fair it was my post that started that) - not that the two are unrelated.
- You could somewhat legitimately split authoritarian impulses into two different types (I see this done a lot by Marxists to defend their brand of totalitarianism) - ones that want to maintain, or go back to, some sort of "golden age" in the past, and ones that have a utopian vision of the future. These could be called "conservative" and "progressive". Altemeyer definitely focuses on the former.
- Talking about Authoritarian leaders of totalitarian governments, the ones that are more "progressive", using the categories defined above, very often will be implementing their utopian visions over may years (i.e. the great leap forward, the cultural revolution, dekulakisation, forced collectivisation). Some (most?) even espouse continuous revolution as the only way to reach the utopian state.
- The process of remaking society provides justification for the totalitarian government to maintain control - and the chaos generated by this activity can, with the appropriate agitprop, make the population look to a strong leader to save them. You could argue this is some sort of meta-conservatism but I think that would fall into a trap of infinite regress. They can also use this to justify murdering any potential political threats (see Pol Pot).
Society and Culture is complex, so processed that maintain power can be distant from, or complementary to, processes that maintain authoritarian control.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 16, @04:10PM
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday March 01, @05:04AM (2 children)
Of the Great White Handkerchief.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday March 02, @02:58PM
It's stained orange with fake tan.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 03, @03:57PM
A great white handkerchief could be a way to prevent the Great Green Arkleseizure [fandom.com] from sneezing another universe into existence.
The amount of rust code in Linux has grown.
The amount of rust code in Linux has groan.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday March 01, @01:39PM (2 children)
My greatest fear is that the Human Race fails to reach its full potential, that it wipes itself out or sends itself back to the stone age, over some petty nonsense fuelled by ignorance and greed.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Touché) by pTamok on Tuesday March 04, @02:53PM (1 child)
If humans manage to wipe themselves out, together with a large part of the ecosystem, then as a group they are not intelligent enough. Darwin Award [wikipedia.org] on steroids. I hope something better replaces them. Ants as a group have been extraordinarily successful, which demonstrate that you don't need big brains to be successful in evolutionary terms.
Each generation reaches its potential by passing on genes to the next. Really good genes manipulate their environment in sustainable ways to ensure future survival of future progeny. So far, fecundity seems to be a better strategy than intelligence. I would love to be proven wrong, but I won't live to see it.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday March 05, @09:51PM
As background reading:
Primer Volume 16, Issue 5 pR152-R155 March 07, 2006 Open Archive, Cell Press: Ants [cell.com]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Sunday March 02, @12:23PM (12 children)
Nice one. That's your best comment in a few years. Classic Ari.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday March 02, @12:33PM (10 children)
Maybe, but even you can recognise who it is - and he is banned. In accordance with that ban it states that ALL of his posts will be treated as Spam.
You may have enjoyed this post - but you didn't make the same comment to the other spam that he left on the site at the same time. Some of which has been repeated over 50 times over the last few weeks.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Sunday March 02, @12:48PM (9 children)
Yes I understand. It's your responsibility to uphold the rules.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday March 03, @07:16PM (6 children)
It is the person who has been calling himself aristarchus for the last few years. He has posted thousands of spam comments. He is banned because of his spamming and the ban currently stands at 4 months. I pointed this out a few weeks ago. If he stops posting for 4 months he can continue to post as AC. If not, he will be deleted.
Some people just do not read the rules....
However, it IS aristarchus. Changing his username doesn't change the ban.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday March 04, @11:45AM (3 children)
I wrote "it is the person who has been calling himself aristarchus". Those who claim to be aristarchus will be treated as aristarchus.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 14, @02:26PM (1 child)
And the people who make no claim as you mistakenly identify them as aristarchus? Maybe at least an apology would be appropriate
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday March 14, @04:00PM
They, like yourself, are spamming the site. They do not have to be aristarchus. They can all be removed if they continue to spam.
What has your comment got to do with this Poll?
Last warning. Submit a formal complaint please.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02, @05:17PM (2 children)
Use of Anonymous here for the obvious reason
(Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday March 02, @08:42PM (1 child)
Not now, Kato.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Tuesday March 04, @03:10PM (1 child)
Walking alone at night
- I don't mind that: it's walking accompanied by something or someone not of my choosing that is dodgy.
Becoming the victim of identity theft
- I probably don't fear this enough. I take some precautions, more than most.
Safety on the internet
- The Internet is safe, it is what people connected to it may do that is the problem. It is just a data transmission medium.
Becoming the victim in a mass/random shooting
- Rare in my area
Public speaking
- Trained in it. Still get very slightly anxious, but sufficient preparation and years of doing it mean I have no problems with it.
The future
- Being worried about things that you have little to no influence over is a waste of energy.
I'm not afraid of anything
- I don't like aggressive dogs, irresponsible drivers, and have an irrational reaction to spiders. I am rationally afraid of many things, but I don't experience them often, if at all.
Other
- it's a very human reaction to be afraid of 'other'. We don't like strangers, different cultures, different ways of doing things. What you grow up with is normal, everything else is foreign and wrong. It takes a lot to overcome that bias. Fear is a useful reaction in that it gets the adrenaline going, ready for fight or flight, but it also takes away some of our rationality.
I fear being physically maimed. I've had enough of that in my life, and every injury has left its permanent scar, both physical and mental.
Eternal life is also a dreadful prospect.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ese002 on Thursday March 06, @09:45PM
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Thursday March 06, @10:08PM (3 children)
I thought for sure "Becoming the victim of identity theft" would win because given lax enough cybersecurity its essentially inevitable for everyone, for small enough values of theft.
I must have gotten at least a dozen notifications of stolen passwords over the last quarter century and roughly similar number of database thefts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07, @10:25AM (1 child)
I'm not to the degree that outweighs the rest because I have my information frozen at all the places the various government agents recommend. In the past ten years, I've gotten exactly three alerts from them. The first was my bank checking my credit despite telling me they wouldn't when I did a transaction with them. The second turned out to be an "error" by an apartment complex checking my credit despite the fact I hadn't cosigned my child's lease. The third was my employer checking my information while we were negotiating a promotion that included a raise.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 08, @03:20AM (1 child)
First there's the face paint.
Then there's the fake hair.
Then there's the zany antics.
Don't ever let a clown run your country.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday March 14, @12:19AM
Goes hand in hand with Dunning-Kruger.
See also Chesterton's Fence
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ingar on Saturday March 15, @08:33AM
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me,
and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
-- Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 15, @02:28PM
When the last stars have long died out, way past the heat death of the universe. You're still alive.