jadero

jadero, 8 months ago

I try to figure out what it means from a combination of context and etymological guesswork, then check it a dictionary. If it’s a person or region or concept I’m unfamiliar with that isn’t covered directly or in notes, I hit the encyclopedia or atlas (well, Wikipedia and mapping software, these days.)

That’s how my father taught me to deal with stuff I didn’t understand when I was a kid and I’ve been doing that ever since. It interrupts the flow far less than having to set it aside for other demands on my time, so it’s not that big a deal.

We always had good dictionaries and encyclopedias on hand. Now, of course, it’s all online or downloadable.

One of the reasons I love eReaders is direct access to dictionary, translations, and Wikipedia.

jadero, 10 months ago

This sounds like the experience I was having in 1978. We ultimately had to switch back to more traditional roles because she just couldn’t earn enough money to support us, while it was trivial for me to do so, despite neither of us having postsecondary education.

I know social change is slow, but this is pathetic.

jadero, 9 months ago

I like the idea of slrpnk, but not lemmy.world.

My lemmy “philosophy” is that generic centralization should be discouraged. I prefer more “category-like” centralization. This is not just to support my preferred usage pattern (browse and participate “local” on multiple instances), but to ensure that lemmy doesn’t evolve toward major centralized instances that end up just being just another clone of the various commercial platforms.

Centralization means less diversity in rules, less diversity in enforcement, and higher instance costs. I think the loss of diversity is just a bad idea, because it leaves less room for widespread experimentation. Higher instance costs could be a problem if instance owners find themselves needing to monetize the instance in order to remain solvent. The outcome is a generally less resilient system.