pjwestin
@pjwestin@lemmy.world
- Comment on Why aren't all rooms holodecks? 2 days ago:
- Energy. In TNG, the holodecks burn a lot of energy. Can’t imagine what would happen if you turned every room into one.
- The holodeck isn’t a Tardis. The space inside the holodeck is an illusion created by the room. The room can make the space look infinite, and the floor can function as a hard-light treadmill that let’s you explore that infinite space, but the room still needs to be large enough to accommodate all the real-world things in it. That’s why they’re so large in TNG and Voyager. Holo-quarters would still need to be roughly the size of regular quarters.
- Same problem with the bar. Sure, you could make anyone’s quarters look like Ten Forward, but if your quarters fit 3 people, that’s how many people can drink there.
- The sickbay would still be essential because the problem isn’t medical equipment, it’s staff. Unless you’re going to have the medical staff running all over the ship making house calls, having that staff in a centralized location and having the crew come to them just makes more sense, especially in an emergency. Emergencies are also why that equipment should never be holographic. If the ship is under attack, the last thing you want is sickbay disappearing because of a phaser hit or having to turn off the medical equipment to power the sheilds.
- Comment on Don’t panic, but an asteroid has a 1.9% chance of hitting Earth in 2032 3 weeks ago:
That’s 0.9% more than the last time I checked. I know those are still really low odds, but we can hope…
- Comment on Tough question 3 weeks ago:
Astrology daughter. NFT son will be bankrupt in your basement, no matter what. Astrology daughter might marry a rich guy.
- Comment on What is the origin of aliens looking like humans? Why and when did it become the norm? 1 month ago:
Yeah, that’s my thinking as well, although to be clear, I’m not saying that intelligent life would be humanoid, just that it’s the most reasonable real-world explanation I can come up with for why fictional aliens look human. I’m not an exobiologist, and I have no idea what the leading theories are on what intelligent life might look like. I’m just saying that, whenever I’m watching some sci-fi with a bunch of human-looking aliens, my go-to head cannon to explain it away is Convergent Evolution, and it at least feels like a reasonable explanation.
- Comment on What is the origin of aliens looking like humans? Why and when did it become the norm? 1 month ago:
If you’re asking why it appears in our sci-fi, you were correct in assuming it was mostly about cheap costuming and special effects. If you’re asking for a general canonical reason for it, there isn’t one, but many sci-fi shows have come up with unique ones (for example, Star Trek had the Progenitors, a species of humanoids that seeded world with their DNA). If you’re looking for a possible real-world explanation that could account for it, Convergent Evolution might explain why intelligent species wind up being bipedal tetrapods.
- Comment on Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations 3 months ago:
On this, we agree.
- Comment on Frog's Gift 3 months ago:
It also can’t be understated how much private corporations benefit from technology this research yields. We spent $25 billion ($175 billion in today’s money) on the Apollo programs alone, and NASA research has led to everything from cell phones and laptops to the rubber molding process used for sneakers. The DoD wasted a ton of money in the 80s on this new technology that involved getting computers to communicate with each other, and now we have the internet.
The government spends money in ways that could never be justified by cooperations, then the cooperations enrich themselves with that research and use the profits to lobby Congress for lower taxes and limited spending. It’s absolutely infuriating.
- Comment on If Nintendo went belly up today the retro community would have a field day 3 months ago:
Their track record on consoles is hit or miss because they don’t make the same product every generation like Sony and Microsoft. For every Wii and Switch, you get a Wii. U and Virtual Boy. They’re shitty with their IP, but hardware development is literally the best thing they do.
- Comment on Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations 3 months ago:
I’ve seen the person who posted this article, return2ozma, called a Russian troll account at least once a week since I joined Lemmy, so color me skeptical. Who knows, maybe you’re right, but if so, then you’re the instance that cried, “bot,” one too many times.
- Comment on Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations 3 months ago:
Yeah, but was it, though? Or was it full of people making legitimate criticisms of the Democratic Party only to get accused of being bots or told they thought, “both sides,” were the same? Because I know which of these two things I’ve seen more of in the last year.
- Comment on Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations 3 months ago:
“Well, what have you to say now, strawman I’ve been ranting about for the entire election cycle? Isn’t it odd that person I made up in my head to he mad at suddenly has nothing to say?”
- Comment on ... 4 months ago:
Thank you. Something about me was rubbing me the wrong way, but I couldn’t articulate it.
- Comment on 'It Has Plateaued': Should We Be Worried About Console Gaming's Future? 4 months ago:
Well, there also seem to be credible leaks that it’ll have some sort of duel screen system, potentially functioning like the DS. It’s probably going to be more than just a bigger switch.
- Comment on OpenAI Execs Mass Quit as Company Removes Control From Non-Profit Board and Hands It to Sam Altman 5 months ago:
I really don’t understand why they’re simultaneously arguing that they need access to copyrighted works in order to train their AI while also dropping their non-profit status. If they were at least ostensibly a non-profit, they could pretend that their work was for the betterment of humanity or whatever, but now they’re basically saying, “exempt us from this law so we can maximize our earnings.” …and, honestly, our corrupt legislators wouldn’t have a problem with that were it not for the fact that bigger corporations with more lobbying power will fight against it.
- Comment on Fake Pokémon Cartridge Spotted At GameStop Raises Concerns Among Retro Gamers 5 months ago:
For sure, but that second layer of confirmation when you get home is good to have. The fake in this picture is very obvious, but the GBA games can be a lot more subtle.
- Comment on Fake Pokémon Cartridge Spotted At GameStop Raises Concerns Among Retro Gamers 5 months ago:
It can actually rip entire cartridges, so if there’s a game out their that you can’t find a rom hack of, you can make your own ROM, or make your own home brew version on GB studios.
- Comment on Fake Pokémon Cartridge Spotted At GameStop Raises Concerns Among Retro Gamers 5 months ago:
For any GB, GBC, and GBA fans, I highly recommend the GB Operator from Epilogue. It’s a super simple USB device that will not play your games and back up your saves, but will also authenticate your cartridges. It’s great for something like Pokémon Ruby and Saphire, which has a lot of bootlegs floating around.
- Comment on Parents outraged at Snoo after smart bassinet company charges fee to rock crib for crying babies 6 months ago:
Unrelated to the fuckery of this, the only advice I give to expecting parents is, “don’t spend a lot of money solving problems you don’t know you’ll have.” Everyone wants to tell you about some product that was super important to their infant, but babies are all different, and your kid might not need what they used. We nearly spent $300 on a fancy bottle warmer, and it turned out our baby liked cold milk. You don’t want to spend $1,7000 on a bassinet only to find out your kid is an easy sleeper.
- Comment on What's the oldest game anyone here has played in 2024? 6 months ago:
Either Outlaw or Superman or the Atari 2600. Both came out in 1978, but I’m not sure which was first.
- Comment on Colorblindness check! 6 months ago:
How would I know if I can see all the…? Oh. Well played.
- Comment on W Earth 6 months ago:
I’m so happy I wasn’t the only one who saw this.
- Comment on ID Scanners Can Change How Your Local Bar Treats You—and Whether It Lets You In. 6 months ago:
Yeah, I meant people generally give away this data, not you specifically, and again, I can see the potential for abuse, but alcohol isn’t like other goods and services. When a bartender serves you alcohol, they become legally liable for your actions if you overconsume, in civil and (in some states) criminal court, and for good reason; irresponsible alcohol sales can kill people. Regulating how this data can be used is one thing, but sharing data on what customers are liabilities is objectively good, not just bars, but public safety.
- Comment on ID Scanners Can Change How Your Local Bar Treats You—and Whether It Lets You In. 6 months ago:
Your email app will give your messages to other companies, your navigation app will share your exact location with marketers, and your dating app will sell your sexual preferences to the highest bidder, but sure, bars having a way to warn each other which costumers tried to assault a waitress is a bridge to far.
- Comment on ID Scanners Can Change How Your Local Bar Treats You—and Whether It Lets You In. 6 months ago:
Yeah, and a lot of this will depend on how it’s used. If I were still in the service industry and I saw that a guy had been to 20 bars in the last year, and I saw he got flagged at one for violence, I would think, “Well, this doesn’t seem to be a pattern of behavior, maybe he wasn’t thr instigator, I’ll keep an eye on him but I’m not too worried.” But I could see a lot of larger places, like clubs, who aren’t hurting for business just rejecting people who are flagged out of hand. The information seems objectively good to have, but the application could be really problematic.
- Comment on ID Scanners Can Change How Your Local Bar Treats You—and Whether It Lets You In. 6 months ago:
That’s very true, although I think it’ll be unlikely that an individual bartender will get blamed for overserving in a large venue. I worked at a relatively small venue (280 at capacity) and on a busy night it would be difficult to tell you who served an individual customer, much less who gave him the drink that, “overserved,” them.
- Comment on ID Scanners Can Change How Your Local Bar Treats You—and Whether It Lets You In. 7 months ago:
Possibly controversial opinion, but this sounds reasonable. The flags they can put on customers are, “violence, assault, destruction of property, sexual assault, fraud, and theft.” Those aren’t petty gripes like, “rude,” or, “poor tipper.” I was bar staff for a while, and I’d have wanted to know if the guy I was serving got violent the last time he went out.
That being said, I could see how this system could be abused. If one power-tripping bouncer claims you sexually assaulted someone, and no one will serve you anymore, that’s bullshit. Some regulations around how businesses use these databases would be good.
- Comment on ID Scanners Can Change How Your Local Bar Treats You—and Whether It Lets You In. 7 months ago:
Honestly, I spent a lot of years tending bar, and most of the time, if someone was too drunk, it was my fault. Sure, there were times when someone was pre-gaming too hard or snuck in alcohol, but 9 times out of 10, if someone overconsumed, it was because I overserved.
- Comment on I thought he sounded fine. 7 months ago:
It’s easier to tell them apart visually:
- Comment on I thought he sounded fine. 7 months ago:
I know it’s not a fair comparison; Bruce actually stepped down and gave his title to someone younger.
- Comment on I thought he sounded fine. 7 months ago:
My parents are in this condition; one is actually doing considerably worse.
