Title might be melodramatic, but read on:

I’m realizing I deal with liars constantly, both individual persons and institutions.

Where I work at the bosses decided to change the supply chain management software we work with. Fine. Employees from the new software company came to train us on it. New software is noticeable worse than old software, hangs, several functions are lost, the whole process is unintuitive, the old software combined several colors to make it easier to find what we need, new software does not. It’s not only that the whole software company lied massively, trying to make us work with something that’s mostly a beta version, but the employees as well trying to convince us how great their software is. WTF? Do they believe we are stupid?

Due to a dispute with a neighbor I hired a lawyer. I was under the assumption this lawyer would be so easy to contact as a lawyer I hired years ago… I was wrong. Turns out they only offer appointments when I’m on duty, but they only told me this AFTER I signed in. Why didn’t they tell me this beforehand? Now I’m trapped on a one year contract with this lawyer, a lawyer I cannot really contact. They have a landline, but even if I call on their working hours, nobody comes. If I write an email asking if their number changed, all I get are passive aggressive answer from said secretary. It’s like all they care about is getting me to sign.

Do I accept people are like this? Do I weed people out?

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I just looked for ai slop on the internet and some videos are very realistic, so realistic it makes me doubt my ability to discern what’s real from what’s created to play with my emotions and generate money for the creator or advance an agenda.

I’m in my 40s. Video sites are full of what I assume overconfident people younger than me with comments like how boomers would believe any of these videos. I’m not that old myself yet but this stuff is scary. It can be used to denigrate a politician, to demonize or ridicule minorities, to share misinformation, to make porn using the face of somebody who rejected a disgruntled man...

It’s also very sad society actually wants this. It shows lots of people are actually very gullible and stupid.

A better question would be, how do I avoid being gullible with images and video so realistic? Because the more technology advances the worse it’s going to get.

this is what I believe is going to happen: survival of the richest.

Sure, we are pushing for renewable energies and some countries are even pushing for net zero emissions, but stats don't lie and we are still warming the world much faster than before ww2 (see picture) and most politicians seem to enjoy burying their heads in the sand, because its what their voters want. Where I live politicians talk about carbon sequestering and hydrogen cars, for example, but its always for an interview, with no follow up whatsoever.

picture:

I'm not claiming authoritarian countries are better just for being authoritarian, they also need growth not to risk social unrest and their elites also want to get rich.

Oil dependency seems not to be anywhere near of being reduced and in some countries like the US and I'm assuming the oil producing countries there is simply no political will, because their budget depends on it. For maga gas means identity.

Some countries are heading in the right direction, more EVs are being produced and pushing for net zero, but it's a very slow transition that won't save the planet and I'm not even sure these countries represent most of the human population.

We are simply too many and too greedy: everyone wants to consume.

It is completely unrealistic to expect humans not to be greedy, or to subscribe to left leaning philosophies of human love, human rights, the right to a home or distribution of wealth. In the end we all are monkeys, more now than ever, given how the far right has become so mainstream. It is simply what people want.

So the rich ones, the one who can afford air conditioning, not to rent, an electric vehicle and to relocate to areas where global warming is mitigated will do that, whereas most of the rest will have to bear the brunt of falling social services, even hotter heatwaves, poorer air and drier parks, and surviving instead of living.

If you feel I'm wrong, kindly prove it to me.

I can understand buying shoes online if you're looking for a specific model and brand you already tried and fits.

This is not my case: I'm looking for stiletto heels online because where I live there are no sizes that match my feet or heels are too short.

Online there are several stiletto makers, most of them China based, meaning that if I don't like the shoes or they don't fit, I have to pay the return shipping costs, which are most likely higher than the purchase price.

most sellers include a sizing chart, but this means nothing: I've bought shoes according to their charts and sometimes they're off, meaning to make it make sense I'd have to buy several sizes to see which one fits and return the ones that don't.

Overall seems to be a losing proposition, but where I am I find no high heels that fit me.

Has any of you ever done something like this?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39972861

compare these 2 high heeled sandals:

the ankle strap on the white model seems like a good choice: it's low enough for the feet to slide in and wont touch the leg, meaning nothing constrains the ankle's rotation.

the red model seems like an odd choice: won't it make it ankle rotation more cumbersome? It would be more logical to attach the ankle strap to the foot and not the leg. Or am I missing something?

It also looks strange, having an ankle strap so high. Why would the designer attach the strap right at the end of the slingback and not in the middle, like in the white model?

compare these 2 high heeled sandals:

the ankle strap on the white model seems like a good choice: it's low enough for the feet to slide in and wont touch the leg, meaning nothing constrains the ankle's rotation.

the red model seems like an odd choice: won't it make it ankle rotation more cumbersome? It would be more logical to attach the ankle strap to the foot and not the leg. Or am I missing something?

It also looks strange, having an ankle strap so high. Why would the designer attach the strap right at the end of the slingback and not in the middle, like in the white model?

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/38799262

Let me explain what I mean:

radical acceptance: ever think about how your coworkers are morons, your elderly parents have declined beyond recognition and actively work against you and seem to live to ruin every single one of your days, your boss is an insufferable, exploitative ass, your uncle has lung cancer but keeps smoking a pack a day, your teenager daughter is doing drugs because is trendy, just like you did when you were her age? You cannot change how any of those actors in your life behave, people are free to do whatever they want, even to do stupid crap like that. Trying to change any of those actors is futile and guarantees your mental health decreases overtime and they resent you for caring about them. The better but not ideal solution? Radical acceptance. They are what they are, don’t try to change them, accept them how they are. Let them fail.

This was suggested to me while talking about relatives with dementia and other mental illnesses, but I don’t know if I’m stretching the definition too much.

Spineless conformist: if there are things I cannot control nor change, like climate change, lack of a public healthcare system in America, fptp, maga… why even try? I’d be both radical accepting reality while being a spineless conformist.

Where’s do you draw the line?

Let me explain what I mean:

radical acceptance: ever think about how your coworkers are morons, your elderly parents have declined beyond recognition and actively work against you and seem to live to ruin every single one of your days, your boss is an insufferable, exploitative ass, your uncle has lung cancer but keeps smoking a pack a day, your teenager daughter is doing drugs because is trendy, just like you did when you were her age? You cannot change how any of those actors in your life behave, people are free to do whatever they want, even to do stupid crap like that. Trying to change any of those actors is futile and guarantees your mental health decreases overtime and they resent you for caring about them. The better but not ideal solution? Radical acceptance. They are what they are, don’t try to change them, accept them how they are. Let them fail.

This was suggested to me while talking about relatives with dementia and other mental illnesses, but I don’t know if I’m stretching the definition too much.

Spineless conformist: if there are things I cannot control nor change, like climate change, lack of a public healthcare system in America, fptp, maga… why even try? I’d be both radical accepting reality while being a spineless conformist.

Where’s do you draw the line?

I remember my childhood mostly as a happy, oblivious one, affordable food, the usual disagreements between liberals and republicans, but nothing unhinged (say taxes, migrants or abortion). At least it looks reasonable today.

Now it's like everything is unhinged: politics seem to be based on purely emotional reactions and the other side is hell bent on destroying the country: texas starts heavily gerrymandering to secure 5 extra republican seats at the next midterms? california starts lobbying for doing exactly the same and dismantling an independent redistricting commission texas never had.

When I was younger it seemed politics were more rational and cruelty never seemed to be the point of doing nothing. Now we execute people with nitrogen gas, meaning a conscious person has to breathe something he knows its going to kill him during 4 minutes. This is somehow not cruel and unusual. And nobody bats an eye.

I still don't get how populists can be so popular now, they simplify complex issues most people without a degree in the matter, cannot grasp. This includes me.

I'm now 35 and wonder if I'm already talking like an old person who misses his young days so hard. I see that in people in their 60s and hoped never to become one of them, but here I am. To a younger person I may look like one of those old guys who lives to rant.

Am I going to feel even more detached and depressed with each passing day?