AA5B
@AA5B@lemmy.world
- Comment on YSK There's a campaign to replace the distorted Mercator world map with the fairer Equal-Earth projection 14 hours ago:
Yeah, but now it’s tiny compared to Antarctica
- Comment on AI experts return from China stunned: The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over 2 days ago:
Add data from this year.
From several sources, they passed peak carbon last year, and expect coal to peak this year or next and start declining.
Also consider during the time in those charts they went from a developing country to mostly developed with much higher standard of living. They achieved a century of economic progress in a couple decades while simultaneously rolling out renewable energy faster than anyone else
- Comment on Anyone else from Europe feels the same while browsing the "All" feed? 4 days ago:
Right. For example my browser did a perfectly cromulent job of translating what you just wrote into a language I can read …… unless you weren’t talking about a plot to take over the world
- Comment on Anyone else from Europe feels the same while browsing the "All" feed? 4 days ago:
Or sometimes just to have a sane conversation.
Given practically any forward looking or quality of life topic: here it’s dominated by politics, illegal program cuts, incompetent leaders selected only for personal loyalty, breaking it for the sake of breaking it. Can’t we discuss things like adults?
- Comment on Anyone else from Europe feels the same while browsing the "All" feed? 4 days ago:
Even as an American and as a supporter of the freedom of these federated model, I have to wonder if there should be a mandated taxonomy. I don’t want to restrict anyone’s freedom of expression, but I want there to be some basic organization such that I can be an informed consumer
- Comment on I resigned to my last job and now I need to talk to my former boss to get the job back. Any recommendations? 1 week ago:
Apparently a plaque of an apple with lots of gold can buy a pass
- Comment on Have you encountered this? 1 week ago:
For sure, that’s the whole reason for being willing to tip. Employees asre most likely to be scammed and at least tipping makes it right for one subset of those
- Comment on Have you encountered this? 1 week ago:
Then you’re assuming a clear pattern of fraud, not just one server cheating. That’s bigger than just not tipping
- Comment on Have you encountered this? 1 week ago:
Bullshit. Hopefully it’s one server and management should take care of it. But it’s appropriate to complain to the right authority so they can see if it’s a pattern in need of enforcement.
This is how things get done. A single instance of food poisoning can be a mistake, but a pattern of food poisoning is potentially in need of enforcement and remediation. But they can’t see a pattern if no one complains
- Comment on Have you encountered this? 1 week ago:
Not only that but that waitress at a diner is probably providing a hell of a lot better service than that bartender where I have to wave money just to get served
- Comment on What is the maximum number of potatoes you could grow in your house or on property you own before it becomes a crime? 1 week ago:
Yeah but a large electric bill seems to be enough to get a warrant
- Comment on This boomer couple would be hit with $700,000 tax bill if they sold their mansion 1 week ago:
Both of those examples are “regular maintenance” that aren’t legally capital improvements
At least as importantly , who tracks this stuff for the decades you might live in a house. I always thought this exemption was good in fairness alone: as someone just trying to live, I’m unlikely to keep the decades of paperwork needed for this, whereas a wealthy person with an accountant or business manager would
- Comment on This boomer couple would be hit with $700,000 tax bill if they sold their mansion 1 week ago:
Yeah but profit is just how long you’ve lived there
- Comment on This boomer couple would be hit with $700,000 tax bill if they sold their mansion 1 week ago:
Yeah that exemption always seemed pretty high, but as a newly single person (where the exemption is cut in half) in a high cost of living state where home prices have been rising excessively, and I’ve owned my home long enough to raise kids (and increase value a lot) …… yeah it’s easier to see the other side. I’m ok but far from wealthy, and need to downsize in order to afford retiring, but would also be hit by capital gains.
Given what home prices have been doing and this exemption never changing, it’s no longer realistic. Now it’s not just the wealthy
- Comment on YSK that Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their own voters. In many countries, it's illegal. Gerrymandering is common in the United States 1 week ago:
We can still hope the playing field will tilt back to level. Four years from now there will be no evil orange overlord to pardon all his minions and groupies. They’ll have to face justice with no way to cheat it.
That hope is what keeps me going. If the Trump kids are fine profiting off their fathers position and to the detriment of the country, I hope to see the day where it all comes crashing down when they’re no longer above the law
- Comment on YSK that Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their own voters. In many countries, it's illegal. Gerrymandering is common in the United States 1 week ago:
While I do agree, the difficulty is plausible deniability. If you want people with something in common to have a voice, perhaps a suburban ring around an urban core is a fair choice that looks like one of these.
I’m sure it’s not, but that could happen and whatever rule should allow that possibility. This is why it’s not easy to set a clear rule or a clear determination. Now it’s case by case and up to the judicial branch.
Perhaps setting a speed limit would go a long way - you can only redistrict on certain large changes such as the census every ten years and it can’t go into effect without judicial review, without all the appeals being exhausted. In this case Texas doesnt seem to have a legitimate reason to redistrict, and was it Georgia last year trying to argue that they had to use the new map for an election despite it being likely illegal
- Comment on YSK that Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their own voters. In many countries, it's illegal. Gerrymandering is common in the United States 1 week ago:
i guess in the US there’s gridlock anyway, so what the hell right?
Historically there were many compromises where representatives worked with the other party to find a solution they could all agree to. We like to think that’s how politics work.
However over the last few years it’s gotten much more divisive. Currently it seems like everything is a party line vote. It seems like one party especially elevated party loyalty above serving constituents, above doing the right thing. There is no more voice of the people, only the party and the evil orange overlord.
Filibusters have always been a thing, where you can hold the floor as long as you can talk about something, delaying everything. That was both a challenge for someone to do and had a huge impact when Congress had the motivation to do what they saw as right for their constituents. Now it’s automatic. You simply need to declare it. A majority vote is no longer enough for most choices because you always need the supermajority sufficient to overcome the filibuster, to “silence the representative “. Now you can’t get anything done.
For most of our history, Congress understood their highest priority was to pass a budget, and they did. Now that is no longer important. Brinksmanship means there is no longer a downside to hold the whole country hostage over whatever issue so they do. “Shutting down the government” by not passing a budget has become the new norm. Meaning we not only can’t get anything done but disrupt everything else.
- Comment on YSK that Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their own voters. In many countries, it's illegal. Gerrymandering is common in the United States 1 week ago:
The last one might be the most fair, if it were based on criteria other than voting tendencies. Complex districts are meant to let different voices be heard, but what those voices are makes it challenging.
Let me make a hypothetical scenario. Consider a state where half the people are urban and half are rural, and has two representatives. Those groups has different priorities so districts drawn only for simple shapes means that someone’s voice is not being heard. It would be better to have one representative elected by urban voters and one by rural voters. Now picture those urban areas following a winding river because that follows historical settlement patterns. The most fair choice might be a complex shape following population density to result in one representative speaking for rural voters and one speaking for urban voters, but indistinguishable from gerrymandering.
Of course that same exact result might just be a proxy for political affiliation, which is unfair. This is why preventing gerrymandering is impossible: whether it’s good or bad depends on what you’re trying to do not how you do it
- Comment on YSK that Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their own voters. In many countries, it's illegal. Gerrymandering is common in the United States 1 week ago:
They focussed more on term length
- House: two years for frequent turnover, voice of the people
- Senate: 6 years for stability, maturity
- judges: lifetime, for independence from who appointed them and from politics of the day
While these don’t seem to be working right, anyone proposing changes needs to understand what they were trying to do and not make it worse trying to fix another aspect
- Comment on YSK that Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their own voters. In many countries, it's illegal. Gerrymandering is common in the United States 1 week ago:
You need districts because not every race is national. Sure it allocates electoral votes but also Congress-critters. When a state has multiple Representatives, who elects each?
Districts are good so that people with something in common are better represented. We do NOT want a “tyranny of the majority” where minorities have no voice.
Some amount of gerrymandering is good to create districts where people have something in common. But that’s the real problem: how to allow “good” complex shapes while prohibiting “bad” gerrymandering? How do you even define that?
Personally I thought there was some law connecting it to the census so that any changes are based on data, not political whims. However clearly not
- Comment on Help making a table more movable 1 week ago:
Your local home center sells a variety of more permanently attached feet.
Given that you described it as a tank, here’s my first thought
- Comment on Need a keyboard with a dedicated "slop" button 1 week ago:
Thanks
- Comment on Need a keyboard with a dedicated "slop" button 1 week ago:
I might consider that for myself, next time I need one, but the kid is not a techie. He needs something that just works, with anything he may encounter , for at least 4 years. Most damning of all he probably needs to be able to game, and is not interested in having to figure out extra steps
- Comment on Need a keyboard with a dedicated "slop" button 1 week ago:
Went with an Acer. Best keyboard, tiny screen borders for a fairly compact 16” screen, 32G, 2TB …. I forget which CPU, we looked at so many.
The big question is battery life, and we decided to risk it. For a claimed 9.5 hours battery life when new, will it still get through a realistic full day of classes for the next four years. Hopefully
- Comment on Imagine not being able to shower, because AI slop generator machines need that water! 1 week ago:
In theory we have elected representatives looking out for their constituents. Surely they would limit water use so this wouldn’t happen, and prevent the datacenters from relying on generators while waiting for power hookup, right? Oh, a red state. Never mind
- Comment on Need a keyboard with a dedicated "slop" button 1 week ago:
I have no idea what point you’re trying to get across but I just got back from shopping for a laptop for my college kid and pretty much all of them had a slop button
- Comment on Why are there no universities/colleges that start in the afternoons? 1 week ago:
My older son managed to set his schedule last semester so the earliest class started at 11am
He’s a bit insane though - the previous semester I think he had only one afternoon class, so was done at lunch
- Comment on How do you reconcile staying sane while keeping yourself up-to-date with the news? 2 weeks ago:
This too shall pass. I take comfort that the pendulum of politics has always swung back and forth. This moment of insanity should swing back to rebuilding, and progressive changes.
When I was in college, we had “the midnight scream”. During finals, entire dorms would open their windows at midnight and just scream. It was very effective at venting frustration, allowing us all to refocus on studying. Perhaps that’s what’s happening now: we’re all just screaming in frustration.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 weeks ago:
When someone is using the bathroom I expect them to close the door. If they’re letting it all out in public, yes I might walk in
- Comment on [deleted] 2 weeks ago:
BS, we had the same argument on Reddit
- TwoX was militant about no guys
- whatever men’s subreddit was welcoming to women’s reply but wanted them to be honest what gender they were
So as a guy on some men only subreddit, I also welcomed the opinion of women while expecting them to clarify.
As a nerd in many “year of Linux on the desktop” debates, I welcomed constructive opinions from the benighted fools
As a PC gamer I want to game with my buddies so yes I want the opinion of those on consoles