ChairmanMeow
@ChairmanMeow@programming.dev
- Comment on 34% of the US population doesn't vote. Why do polticalitcians cling to the idea that these voters can't be reached? 2 days ago:
I mean, non-voters aren’t much more progressive really. They’re more likely to be independents (in the US at least). See:
They do skew a bit more D, but not massively so. They’re also largely non-white, less well educated and poorer. It’s a bit of a toss-up whether any of those demographics skew R or D.
I don’t really see much evidence that they’re more progressive, more centrist at best really. Although I suppose if you flatten political beliefs on a 1-dimensional axis, that does mean more progressive on average.
Do note that this differs per state, and voter turnout is also correlated with general results skewing harder in a certain direction. Complexities all around!
- Comment on 34% of the US population doesn't vote. Why do polticalitcians cling to the idea that these voters can't be reached? 2 days ago:
Most non-voters don’t hold significantly different beliefs than the voting population. In non-competitive states, it means motivating them to vote is unlikely to tip the scales. Why bother tipping the results from 60% to 55% by spending millions on it? Better to allocate those funds to a 53% to 48% potential flip.
In battleground states they do try to reach these people.
- Comment on Why are popes always really old? 3 days ago:
It happened six times: …wikipedia.org/…/Category:Non-cardinals_elected_p…
Pope Urban VI was the last to have been elected without having been a cardinal, in 1378.
- Comment on Why are popes always really old? 4 days ago:
Actually any Catholic man could be Pope, but the cardinals usually pick one of their own.
- Comment on RFK JR just told us Elon Musk can't use the toilet unassisted 1 week ago:
You did the right thing. I’m not disputing that.
I’m saying it’s a very different thing from people who self-diagnose psychological issues or other diseases, without confirming with a doctor.
You didn’t go “I have a brain tumour, where’s the surgeon”, you persisted in getting a proper diagnosis from a doctor who finally did the right tests.
- Comment on RFK JR just told us Elon Musk can't use the toilet unassisted 1 week ago:
That’s not really self-diagnosis is it? Self-diagnosis would be you already claiming there was a tumour before doctors found something.
Knowing something off is not diagnosing yourself.
- Comment on Trump administration orders halt to in-progress wind farm construction 1 week ago:
Hitler had 40+ assassination attempts/plots targetting him, 16 of which were before 1940.
- Comment on Nintendo ‘warned to expect 145% tariff on Nintendo Switch 2’ 1 week ago:
If the tariff is too great the cost becomes unspreadable. Spreading cost requires other regions to still afford the new price, and with numbers like this that’s unlikely.
About one-third of Switches were sold in the US. Spreading a 145% tariff means hiking everyone’s prices by 40-50%. That will murder sales in other regions.
Better to eat a 30% temporary loss that adds pressure on Trump to reverse-course than to eat an even higher loss and face backlash worldwide for making others pay for Trumps idiocy.
- Comment on Jack Dorsey would like to ‘delete all IP law’. 1 week ago:
If you copy everyone else you’re not going to be profiting much, as your product isn’t competitive. You have to keep iterating on an idea to stay ahead of the competition.
IP law lets companies stop innovating after they’ve come up with a product, because other companies cannot directly compete using the same or a similar design.
Did Android phones stop innovating because Apple did a smartphone first?
- Comment on Jack Dorsey would like to ‘delete all IP law’. 1 week ago:
There are only 3.5 billion jobs worldwide. A good amount of those work for the government, in the army, in the public sector, etc…
I’d be surprised if it manages to get above a billion to be honest. Remember that copyright is a fairly recent invention.
- Comment on Jack Dorsey would like to ‘delete all IP law’. 1 week ago:
How about requiring IPs to belong to a specific person, with a set expiry of say 10 years? Corporations wouldn’t be able to own IP, only pay for the rights (for the first 10 years).
- Comment on Nintendo confirms $90 price for full Breath of the Wild experience on Switch 2 1 week ago:
Breath of the Wild is 8 years old at this point. Asking $70 for that is pretty egregious in my opinion. Maybe for TotK that’d be more acceptable but for BotW I think it’s a very steep price. Especially given that it’s common that rereleases usually include dlcs by default.
I’d expected $60 for the full package, not $90, given that the amount of development work was likely pretty low (the game was finished years ago after all). So 50% higher than expected.
The SM64+Sunshine+Galaxy bundle game was $30, for comparison. That’s three full games that they needed to put in effort for to run on the Switch.
- Comment on The one good thing about all this 2 weeks ago:
Yes, that’s not in dispute?
If you click through on the source on commerce sanctions (which is what would apply to possible tariffable goods) then you will find that the BIS oversees that. Not the taskforce going after Russian oligarchs, who have a different set of sanctions apply to them.
Again, there’s already a high level of tariffs on Russian trade, and they don’t have a “most favored trade nation” status anymore:
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told lawmakers there is “no effort to reinvigorate trade with Russia,” pushing back on Democrats who suspected Mr. Trump was cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin amid negotiations to reignite economic relations or end the war in Ukraine.
President Biden signed bills and issued decrees in 2022 that sanctioned Russia and Belarus and increased tariffs on things such as steel and aluminum, minerals and chemicals.
“They already have these high tariffs, they don’t have permanent normal trade relations,” Mr. Greer told the House Ways and Means Committee.
- Comment on The one good thing about all this 2 weeks ago:
Sanctioned oligarchs have completely different sanctions than trade sanctions that apply to countries. Apples and oranges.
- Comment on The one good thing about all this 2 weeks ago:
One is a sanction lifting on a fairly unimportant woman, true. Two are about “plans” a month ago (nothing was put in practice). Last one is tangentially related. But none are really about lifting sanctions.
- Comment on The one good thing about all this 2 weeks ago:
Trump hasn’t lifted any sanctions on Russia yet. He prolonged them for a year in February, and has been trying to offer the perspective of lifting them in exchange for peace negotiations. But since Putin hasn’t started negotiating in earnest yet, no sanctions have been lifted as far as I know.
- Comment on The one good thing about all this 2 weeks ago:
They’re on a different list that allows limited trade afaik.
- Comment on The one good thing about all this 2 weeks ago:
Yeah but that’s out of incompetence, not malice. You’re in most cases not allowed to trade with Russia due to sanctions, so what is there to tariff?
- Comment on The one good thing about all this 2 weeks ago:
Russia is already on its own “special list” of countries that have very heavy trade restrictions. Like North Korea.
I don’t think tariffs would’ve made a difference there.
- Comment on I was a British tourist trying to leave America. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre 2 weeks ago:
Normally if someone enters on a wrong visa, they get informed and sent back (often at their own expense). She was willing to do so once she figured out her mistake, but instead she was thrown in prison for weeks for no real identifiable purpose. She was treated like a criminal who tried to purposefully illegally enter, whereas she just made a mistake on her visa. Her devices were confiscated too so she couldn’t really make contact with friends or family for help.
And if this happens to someone making a mistake, it can happen to someone where border patrol makes a mistake. Fuck that, if that’s how y’all want to treat your guests, I ain’t visiting.
- Comment on AI crawlers cause Wikimedia Commons bandwidth demands to surge 50%. 3 weeks ago:
AI bros aren’t that smart.
- Comment on I'm leaving the US for good, anything I should do before I leave? 4 weeks ago:
Don’t think they can vote if they’re not a citizen, no?
- Comment on What exercises should i do at the gym to correct winged scapula and rounded shoulders? 4 weeks ago:
The form required for deadlifts basically requires you to stand up straight. It’s actually helped me personally to get a better standing form.
Definitely have someone explain and help you with your form though. It can be hard to tell for an inexperienced person if their form is good, and bad form is risky when deadlifting.
The weight doesn’t even have to be that high, it’s all about learning the proper form, which helps you realize a better posture.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
There’s no evidence afaik for extensive Russian meddling in the Dutch elections. Our electoral system makes it difficult for foreign meddling to have any extensive impact. The far-right hasn’t really grown much here, it consolidated into a single party. They’re also not explicitly pro-Russia either.
They’re stuck in a coalition government with three other parties and really haven’t made much of an impact at all.
- Comment on At the request of the Turkish government, X blocks access to student and opposition accounts amid nationwide protests. 4 weeks ago:
Yup. When a right-wing government asks, he complies. When a left-wing government does, he sues.
- Comment on Undocumented 'Backdoor' Found In Chinese Bluetooth Chip Used By a Billion Devices. 1 month ago:
I think it’s sarcasm mate.
- Comment on Harry and Ron were always bored in class because Rowling's magic system is boring as hell 1 month ago:
But isn’t that part of making the reader explore and experience the world of magic, just like Harry is? There’s no narrator here who already knows everything, you’re experiencing the stories through the eyes of Harry, and only really know what he knows. In that context, it doesn’t really make sense to have these early clues. The reader can’t anticipate everything because Harry can’t either.
Magic in general is just a plot device that can do whatever the author needs it to do.
- Comment on Harry and Ron were always bored in class because Rowling's magic system is boring as hell 1 month ago:
I’m pretty sure Olivander already mentions when Harry chooses his wand that it’s basically a twin of Voldemort’s, and in the subsequent books it’s explained that that + Lily’s magic is causing plenty of weird things to happen, including what happens in book 4. Sure, the exact reason why it happens is still “magic” but that goes for most magic systems if you delve deep enough.
- Comment on Reddit tracking upvotes for mod actions 1 month ago:
Mods can take subs private temporarily if they notice brigading. They can also contact admins who could use other tools at their disposal. Not fun, but effective.
- Comment on Reddit tracking upvotes for mod actions 1 month ago:
Admins and mods have other tools to deal with those issues. But given that Reddit is a corporation it will likely also remove content that are in a murky area rules-wise, or given the current political climate selectively apply the rules. That creates a risk for redditors who try to use the site legitimately as well.
