FuglyDuck

@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  First… yes, as far as it goes. That said there’s some problems with it on the whole.

  Keep in mind, this is a thought terminating cliche saying by Vulcans to explain “the logic” of self sacrifice.

  The thing about logic is it can be used to justify all sorts of horrific things. (For example, the us nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)

  It’s also important to note that, in general, I don’t really disagree with it here. That doesn’t make it any less of a cliche or problematic when applied to things like social policy.

  Consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Some needs are themselves more weighty than others.

  that guy’s need to get to work on time doesn’t outweigh my need to dress safely, even if there’s a dozen of them behind me- and never will.

  Similarly, if the needs of the many (say, to feel safe) are juxtaposed against the few, whose need is to stay alive…. The needs of the few outweigh the many. One might say “but that doesn’t happen”… but we do. All the time.

  Right now, the most extreme example are all the people that defend Israel’s right to genocide by insisting that Israel has a right to defend itself.

  That said. Billionaires don’t need to make money. And they don’t even need to exist, for that matter.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How differently would have information technology developed if most of the world were under authoritarian regimes instead of liberal democracies? Would encryption have been more restricted?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  For the record, the Arab world wasn’t always anti-science. It was religion that got them there.

  Not all authoritarian regimes are anti-science. Some would be very interested in things for domestic use, it might be slower, and such, though.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does vibe coding sort of work at all?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  On a general note: IQ means nothing. I mean a lot of IQ tests use pattern recognition tasks that can be helpful but still, having a high IQ says nothing about you ability as developer

  to put this another way… expertise is superior to intelligence. Unfortunately we have this habit of conflating the two. intelligent people some times do some incredibly stupid things because they lack the experience to understand why something is stupid.

  Being a skilled doctor or surgeon doesn’t make you skilled at governance. two different skillsets.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do people especially men care if someone forgives a cheating partner⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Studies clearly show that a person who has cheated once is 3-10 times more likely to cheat again. It depends on the study, but the most generous 3x in the next five years.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do people especially men care if someone forgives a cheating partner⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  So, as someone who’s been cheated on… I can say with certainty that I would never be able to be intimate or vulnerable with my ex. I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about actual intimacy. It takes trust, and that trust has been broken.

  I wouldn’t give an absolute “don’t do it” because everyone is different and every relationship is unique, and I certainly wouldn’t chime in without being asked, but I doubt very much the relationship you have now will ever be what you had before.

  It doesn’t really matter what you do, or how you’ve changed. The thoughts will still be there, insidiously causing doubt.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When voting for judges in elections, how are you supposed to know which are good? (Since none of them publicly express their political opinions, judges are *supposed* to be neutral)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Technically, you can give your senator some input and tell them how to vote. They can also call in witnesses and get commentary.

  The point about scotus being appointed is that it’s still a political process, they’re still doing politics.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When voting for judges in elections, how are you supposed to know which are good? (Since none of them publicly express their political opinions, judges are *supposed* to be neutral)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  So, you can see how they’ve made rulings on various topics. All of that is public record.

  What really happens is people make lists and say “we like this judge” for various interests, or like news agencies might give an overview of what they found on rulings, etc.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨To what extent has Smartphones replaced Computers? Has Smartphones replaced Computers for you or people you know? Will Phones and Computers eventually merge into one device?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Most AR systems aren’t going to be comfortable enough for, say, data entry jobs, mind. VR has come along way (anyone remember virtual boy?) but it does get taxing.

  Depending on implementation, it’s also going to potentially have problems with shitty display quality, power/battery life, heat, etc.

  You could also use a portable projector for a display. A smart phone is optimized for being a smart phone, though, and a desktop workstation is optimized for that.

  Where AR tech is going to be useful is more for things like overlaying directions or providing virtual signage, or stuff. But that’s going to require some new form of UX design that’s optimized for that.

  Also, for the record, the google glass headset sucked. Its display was like staring at whatever people did for power point slides in the 80’s. (I’m not that old, someone else is gonna have to chime in.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[US] How do I find and vote for primaries and local positions in my state?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It really is, yes.

  We should protect them at all costs.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[US] How do I find and vote for primaries and local positions in my state?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Check with your states Secretary of State. There’s usually a list of elections there.

  Might also have to check with your city/county.

  Local libraries also typically provide information like that as a service.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why was file search much faster in Windows XP than in subsequent versions?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  (and they won’t even talk about 9. they act like it doesn’t exist!)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨To what extent has Smartphones replaced Computers? Has Smartphones replaced Computers for you or people you know? Will Phones and Computers eventually merge into one device?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Phones… are computers.

  They just have a different set of input and output. Phones will never fully replace desktops and no, they won’t merge into one thing. (Microsoft tried this to some extent with windows 8. The thing is, for some things kbm is the best method and for others, cell phones tap and swipe are.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  If there’s comparable oceans, tides would get a bit chaotic. Unless they’re pretty much balancing themselves out- their orbits would basically have to be circular and their mass balanced with their barycenters all in the same place. If the orbits are different (which is almost certainly true), then the tides get whining fast. Also the moons would muck about with things like satellites orbiting.

  2 suns would depend on a few things- how far and what stellar type? Is it a relatively stable binary or is one ingesting the other?

  If they’re fairly stable and not spitting out angry stellar winds, and your planet is in the Goldilocks zone, your seasons would get whonky, especially if you orbit both stars or you mostly orbit one star and get pulled around in whonky ways by the second.

  You can have some really weird shaped (and stable!) orbits that would change seasons and day night cycles in some ways. (You could even have an orbit that’s just in a line, bouncing between them, or bean-shaped orbits, etc. random loops added in when your planet gets too close.)

  The chaotic orbits might strip moons off (and maybe they come back.)

  You might have weird religions.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why are living beings not being cooked alive constantly at the tekpersatures we are?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sous vide doesn’t happen at 98 f, 37c.

  You don’t start killing off bacteria until 130f, 54c, which is the ‘real’ point of cooking. (oh there’s also texture reasons, making it more palatable. but generally we cook foods so it’s safe to eat.)

  Generally, the only things you’d prepare at lower than 130f, are things that don’t have a problem with bacteria- whole plants and vegetables. Which is why cut up fruits and veggies are meant to be refrigerated- this stalls off the bacterial growth that the plant can’t stop because it’s barrier to do that has been removed.

  but no. Chopping off a bicep or something won’t cook at your core body temperature- and in point of fact, your surface temp is actually much lower.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I hear a lot of "ACAB", why don't I hear "APAB"? (P as in Politician)⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  School boards are an elected, political position.

  Militias are an illegal organization.

  There’s a gulf of difference between the two.

  There are also plenty of elected politicians that aren’t awful people. Especially at the state legislative level.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's up with all the moth memes?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I had one fly into the hinge of my laptop last night. What a weirdo.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is flirting redundant?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I can’t flirt to save my life.

  So it’s hardly necessary. That said, I’ve had more than a few conversations with clients about our employees “flirting” only to find out they all the guard said was literally “hello,” without getting up from the desk or otherwise taking it any further.

  (I’m a manager contract security. My employees are guards at our client’s facilities or wherever.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨All kinds⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  naw. that’s just a reallllly tiny finger.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah. they’re horrible. Find your local library, they have tons of things going on, usually. Probably have something you might find interesting involving others.

  Otherwise, there’s plenty of other 3rd spaces, like community centers, or things more directly dedicated to your interests.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How to get rid of swollen batteries?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I have a hazmat disposal center, as well as a recycling center ran by my county a couple miles from me.

  Most people here don’t even know it exists, or that it takes most thins at no cost.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m getting some vibes like some things were left unsaid by the OP.

  The concern over a power dynamic suggests it’s going beyond simple camaraderie or friendship into something that will not end well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you were to launch a rocketship parallel to the earth, on wheels, how big would the ramp have to be to get it into space?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  KSP players would be unable to watch the movie Gravity (2013) for example without screaming at the screen: “THIS IS NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS”.

  can confirm. which incentally lead me to playing KSP with my nephew while everyone else watched the very boring movie.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you were to launch a rocketship parallel to the earth, on wheels, how big would the ramp have to be to get it into space?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  the longer you spend at sub orbital speeds, the longer you’re spending energy to counter gravity. Building a ramp and lifting it up slowly would only be feasible if you had cheap power to do it. but over all, you’re still using most the same amount of energy to get there anyways.

  also… if you’re going to slow, you’ll just fall back down…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you were to launch a rocketship parallel to the earth, on wheels, how big would the ramp have to be to get it into space?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So… define you’re gonna have to define what 'into space" means. 160km is the bare minimum for LEO (its still low enough it’ll degrade, but not so low that you can’t make a full orbit.) the ISS is still in LEO, and still requires some occasional burns to lift it back into orbit at 400km. To get above the atomosphere so you can (mostly) float endlessly inspace, you’d need to go to 1,000km

  Pick one. that’s how high you need to be.

  If you want to just technically reach orbital speeds… you could do that at sea level by going about 7.9 km/s. there’s a small problem of air resistance causing you to burn up and, if you somehow survive that, well, here’s mountains to go splat into.

  If yo wanted to orbit at 160km’s amid musk’s space junk… that’s about 7.8km/s, 400 is about 7.67, and 1000 is about 7.35.

  There are some systems that may or may not be viable in the future that don’t rely on rockets at all, for example, the launch loop which is basically a cable held up by making it rotate really fast. (yeah. talk about whacky.) This thing, as propose, is 60km high and several thousand km long. The idea is that you lift up a mag train and then that mag train accelerates at a comfy 3g. You then use relatively inexpensive kicker motors to circularize your orbit as you reach apoapsis (aka, the point of an orbit that is furthest away from the body you’re orbiting.) This raises (or lowers, depending on which way you’re pointed,) periapsis, which is the closest point.

  The thing about ramps, though, is that if your rocket car is already accelerating at 3 or whatever g (most modern launches push 3-4g, mostly limited by the squishy payload.)… you don’t really need a ramp, and trying to use one anyhow just introduces more inefficiency into the system.

  The point of the launch loop is that it gets us off dumping shit loads of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses- it can be powered by nearly any kind of power (though nuclear is the proposed plant,) and the train is accelerated by riding eddy currents off the loop itself.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Make dinosaurs weirder⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Wake up babe, they just renamed the Platapudactilisaurus

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's the best way to respond to a family member who says the COVID vaccines are being used to depopulate?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Maybe not the answer you’re looking for, but I have an uncle like that.

  I suggest going no contact if you can.

  Reason being, they don’t care about facts, nothing you say will convince them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does seeing daylight create an illusion of being a little more warm?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  And I’m saying “probably not”. If you step out into direct sunlight, you feel warmer because you’re absorbing heat from said sunlight.

  You don’t generally feel warmer because you’re in a well lit room. (Though you do feel warmer if the colors in that room are warmer reds and oranges compared to cooler colors like blues and greens.)

  If there’s enough light on you to feel warmer, it’s likely because the lights are warming you up (like stage lighting for news anchors.) rather than an illusion or placebo or whatever you want to call it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why is there such a negative connotation with the poos of horses, bulls, and bats?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Why we don’t go on about pigeon and seagull guano though? I have no idea.

  Mammallist birdshit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does seeing daylight create an illusion of being a little more warm?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Not an illusion, no. The sun does impart some warmth (or a lot of warmth in some cases), Even when it’s bitter cold out, being in direct sunlight will be a bit warmer.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Order of magnitude is a hell of a drug⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  out of curiosity… does that first fact account for the continued expansion of the universe?