Posts

On the Beating of Children

· Misc

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The story illustrates the level of violence we accept amongst children in otherwise non-violent societies, but it gets even worse: differing speeds of development lead to huge differences in size and strength, meaning bullying is often like getting picked on by a Shaq-like giant.

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Yes, in the developed world “corporal punishment” (literally “bodily punishment”, an eloquently Latinized euphemism for “beatings”) is on the decline, but if a 19th-century person told you that though wife-beating was still legal, it was on the decline, you’d look at them at least a little bit askance.

The Big [CENSORED] Theory

· Misc

Really, really good analysis by The Pudding.

When these shows resurfaced, they were full of these weird jumps, signaling that scenes were removed during censorship because someone somewhere thought it would be inappropriate or illegal to stream such content.

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77 of the first 100 episodes had at least one edit, amounting to 206 removed scenes.

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I categorized these scenes, among which sex, LGBTQ+ (and atypical heterosexual relationships), as well as disrespect toward China or the country’s allies are the most common ones. The four other topics account for a rather small portion but are still worth mentioning: illegal actions, religion, unhealthy addictions, and miscellaneous.

Hong Kong’s Facebook pages disappear following arrests

· Misc

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Those pages are now gone, along with thousands of anonymous posts sharing gossip, seeking advice, and protesting against government policies. In August, police in Hong Kong arrested two administrators of the Facebook page Civil Servant Secrets on suspicion of sedition, without specifying what content they found problematic. Shortly after the arrests, many other popular pages each with tens of thousands of followers shut down, as people feared becoming the next targets of Hong Kong’s crackdown on dissent.

Xiaomi purifier hack with NFC tags

· Hardware

It's been over two years since my last rant.

I can now happily say this NFC tag hack works. No need to hack your purifier like with their previous kit (I almost purchased the kit -- but eventually decided against it; was it worth the trouble?).

But these NFC tags are significantly easier to use. After ignoring the "your filter is at 0%" for the past ~6 months, it's back at 100% with this. Remember to dust off and clean it once in a while (but even if you don't, the air coming out is still cleaner).

The Rush of Feeling Stressed

· Misc

When Kevin lost his job at a tech startup during a round of mass layoffs two months ago, he suddenly felt way less stressed. He had spent countless hours as a customer service agent for a health app that rarely worked, fielding angry call after angry call. Now that he was unemployed, the stress disappeared, which, for him, was a problem. He desperately missed the high of the anxiety he experienced from work. “I thought I was depressed, but I think I was just relaxed for the first time and didn’t like it,” the 29-year-old tells me. “All that stress sucked, but it honestly kept me going.”