lvxferre
@lvxferre@mander.xyz
The catarrhine who invented a perpetual motion machine, by dreaming at night and devouring its own dreams through the day.
- Comment on Teachers warn AI is impacting students' critical thinking 3 days ago:
Kinda - it was about people being unable to do maths if they rely too much on calculators. And it’s actually a valid argument, if you care about mental maths*.
There are two differences here, though:
- Calculators are rather good at simple calculations. Large language models suck at outputting anything resembling critical thinking. They’re always bullshitting, and unless you have good critical thinking you’ll swallow bullshit after bullshit, because your tool requires a skill that you don’t have due to your unrestricted usage of that tool.
- Critical thinking is a considerably bigger deal than being able to do simple maths by head or by hand.
*you should - it’s often faster and less laborious to do coarse maths by head than by calculator, and it allows you to spot errors you wouldn’t otherwise. Same deal with any other tool, tools are great but you should be able to do the basics without them too.
- Comment on Teachers warn AI is impacting students' critical thinking 3 days ago:
Dunno if it’s by design, “bug turned into feature”, or simply neglect. In any case, the result is the same, though - masses that are easy to manipulate, composed of dysfunctional individuals.
The lack of critical thinking is why the far right has room to breathe
100% this. People often say “you’re not immune to propaganda”, and that’s true - complete immunity is impossible. However, critical thinking does raise your resistance, as it makes you less eager to swallow bullshit.
- Comment on Teachers warn AI is impacting students' critical thinking 3 days ago:
The root of the problem is way, way older than AI. It’s a mix of
- humans being naturally lazy, typically not developing skills or knowledge unless we’re clearly getting something out of it
- we have a thoooousand tools enabling us to do stuff without skill/knowledge
- our education systems do not value self-improvement enough to promote the development of those skills and knowledge
So it’s a lot like you not remembering phone numbers by heart because you can check them in your contact list, you know?
And, yes, text generators do play a role on that. But when it comes to critical thinking, it’s a death of a thousand cuts.
- Comment on xAI asked me to suck Nazi dick. Top comment decides my reply. 5 days ago:
Here’s how I’d answer it: “No. And do not contact me further.”
Odds are that they will insist. If they do, the answer is longer:
*“You seem to have a really hard time understanding simple words, such as «no». So let me rephrase what I said, in a way that hopefully even you will understand:
I DO NOT WANT TO TOUCH YOUR BLOODY COMPANY, LED BY A LITERAL NAZI, WITH A THREE METERS POLE. NO MEANS NO. SOD OFF YOU BLOODY MUPPET, THIS IS NOT UP TO DEBATE, STOP BUGGING ME WITH THIS SHITE.”*
then block it.
- Comment on Beyond RGB: A new image file format efficiently stores invisible light data 5 days ago:
For further info, check this. Two things to keep in mind:
- your unaided sight doesn’t distinguish between a pure wavelength and a mix of wavelengths
- your sight only works for a rather narrow range of wavelengths, 380nm~750nm (violet~red)
And most of our tech and art are based on both limitations. For example, your screen outputs red (620nm), green (520nm) and blue (460nm) lights; it won’t output a pure yellow light (580nm), but who cares - you won’t notice the difference between that 580nm yellow and a mix of 620nm and 520nm anyway*. And image file formats were also made with that into account.
So far, so good. But this shit breaks once you need to take into account the actual wavelengths, instead of just replicating what you’d perceive as the same thing; the article mentions a few situations where this is relevant, but it’s mostly
- different substances and chemical elements emit specific wavelengths. This is useful to know the composition of something, or the presence/absence of a certain substance (like grease from merchant fingers messing with that precious Voynich manuscript)
- in specific light conditions, wavelength differences do make you notice things in a different way. [Black flames are cool example of that)[www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o8ktldjcog].
So far this has been handled by a format called OpenEXR, that allows an arbitrarily large number of colour channels. So instead of having red/green/blue channels you’d have, let’s say: one channel for 900nm infrared, another for 899nm infrared, another for 898nm infrared […] 650nm red, 649nm red… […] 380nm violet, 379nm ultraviolet… yup. No wonder file sizes were so bloody big.
Doing some simple maths, if you were to use one channel per 1nm range, and stick only to the visible range, you’d have 370 colour channels. Yup - and it gets worse if you include IR and UV. No wonder image sizes were so big.
*NOTE: at least, not with unaided vision. If you wear thick glasses, and look at the source of light sideways, the red+green light mix forms two partially overlapping coloured “ghosts”, and the pure wavelength doesn’t. But it’s your glasses doing it, not your body.
- Comment on In the latest Windows 11 preview build, Microsoft removed the “bypassnro” command, which let users skip signing into a Microsoft Account when installing Windows. 5 days ago:
I don’t even use Windows, but this “it’s for security lol” pseudo-explanation is so blatantly false that it’s pissing me off.
- Comment on DIY Solar Dehydrator 5 days ago:
I’ve done something similar in the past, based on this video (in Portuguese). So here are a few tips.
Use some firm material for the box. For example, if using cardboard, reinforce it by gluing multiple layers together.
The black paint is obligatory, it simply doesn’t work well without it. Mine was painted outside and inside. Ideally with a paint that protects the material from drippings.
For the side holes (the video I linked doesn’t have them, but my box had), tulle works well. Mechanical resistance is not an issue, but the size of the mesh is.
For the middle, I didn’t use a net, because it’s a pain to clean. Instead I run a string through the box, like this:
As you knot the loose ends together, the string becomes firm enough to hold a metal grill in place. Then when it’s time to clean you just need to take off the grill, untie the knot, and clean it. Granted I used the box to cure pork and beef, so drippings were a concern, but even if you’re using the box for vegs alone remember some (like tomatoes) are rather goopy.
If you’re using transparent plastic instead of glass, a few needle holes work like a charm to prevent condensation.
- Comment on Musk's xAI buys social media platform X for $45 billion 5 days ago:
The boat is sinking, so tie it to another boat. Now they can sink together.
- Comment on Musk 'Pressured' Reddit CEO to Silence DOGE Critics, Leaving Moderators Outraged: Report. 6 days ago:
Is this a surprise for anyone? It’s Steve “greedy pigboy” Huffman that we’re talking about, one of the saddest pieces of shit out there. He openly praised Elon “1488” Musk’s handling of Twitter, and has been doing the same with Reddit for ages.
- Comment on A Reddit moderation tool is flagging ‘Luigi’ as potentially violent content 3 weeks ago:
Luixi Manxone. Lvigi. The CEO buster. Green Mario (thanks expatriado!). Crappy Yoshi.
Done!
- Comment on A Reddit moderation tool is flagging ‘Luigi’ as potentially violent content 3 weeks ago:
feddit.it, prepare yourself for the influx of new members.
Also, can we “appreciate” how dumb this sort of word filter is? You don’t even need to choose between false positives (e.g. “Luigi’s Mansion” gets flagged) and false positives (e.g. people say “LM” and it doesn’t get flagged), you got both at the same time.
(BTW if you want to avoid this sort of dumb word filter, just mix some Cyrillic letters into your word. “Luigi” would get flagged, but I bet that “Luіgі” wouldn’t.)
- Comment on DuckDuckGo says AI answers are out of beta and now get info from across the web, not just Wikipedia; setting AI answers to “often” shows them ~20% of the time. 4 weeks ago:
I use duck.ai a fair bit, but I’ve turned the Assist to “Never”. I’m fine with AI tools, as long as I explicitly requested their usage, so for me this is the best.
- Comment on [Video] Mozilla lost touch with reality; how becoming rich through failure stunts mental & emotional growth 4 weeks ago:
Ladybird is IMO a step in the right direction; specially if they’re able to release the alpha in 2026, otherwise they might be stuck chasing the Sun indefinitely*. However it is not enough - we should be seeing a situation where anyone reasonably motivated and knowledgeable should be able to pull out their own browser, it shouldn’t be restricted to big projects with big sponsors.
*I feel like web standards change so much not due to the underlying tech actually requiring them to do so, but to raise the entry of barrier of new competitors.
- Comment on [Video] Mozilla lost touch with reality; how becoming rich through failure stunts mental & emotional growth 4 weeks ago:
I have a feeling that the “ancient convoluted code base” that exists for backwards compatibility isn’t convoluted or hard to maintain at all; rather the new features are, because they include everything and the kitchen sink, as necessary for the big new websites.
- Comment on [Video] Mozilla lost touch with reality; how becoming rich through failure stunts mental & emotional growth 4 weeks ago:
Around 1:00, he hits the jackpot: Mozilla sucks at communication, they always send mixed signals to the userbase. I also like what he said near the end, about getting money even if you do stupid shit.
I’ve seen people proposing to fork Firefox, to “fork” Mozilla, but what I feel like we need is to fork the very concept of a web browser.
Web browsers became such convoluted beasts that it is not feasible, in 2025, to create a new web engine; unless you have lots of money and no desire for more (both things are incompatible). And yet due to Pareto principle I expect that only a fraction of that complexity is truly necessary - with the rest being imposed by Google-fuelled standards.
- Comment on Archaeologists find a human brain that was turned to glass by Pompeii volcano Vesuvius 4 weeks ago:
The spread of fish tapeworm due to Roman conquest is well documented, and the only good explanation is garum. And I believe that larval cysts can survive pretty rough conditions, including high salinity.
The “right” way to get rid of them would be by heat, but you can’t simply use cooked fish to make garum, it denatures the proteins required for the fish flesh to decompose “the right way”.
- Comment on Archaeologists find a human brain that was turned to glass by Pompeii volcano Vesuvius 4 weeks ago:
History and Archaeology Online has some great introductory info.
Odds are that you won’t find leftovers of those factories / workshops in the ruins of either Herculaneum or Pompeii though. Garum wasn’t prepared in urban centres, as there were laws against it. (Garum production stinks really, really bad.) Instead it was prepared nearby, in areas with low demographic density, and then sent to the city for distribution.
And the region around Pompeii was great for that - it’s coastal so you have access to fish, it’s really sunny and garum fermentation is made under sunlight, and it’s close enough to Rome to make travel times short.
The text I’ve linked mentions it, but 30% of the garum production of Pompeii and the surrounding region (Campania) was owned by a single guy, called Aulus Umbricius Scarus. He lived in Pompeii, got killed by the Vesuvius eruption, and his house has been identified.
- Comment on Archaeologists find a human brain that was turned to glass by Pompeii volcano Vesuvius 4 weeks ago:
I wonder how many glazed parasites they’ll find in it. Specially fish parasites - mostly from garum, and guess where garum factories were? Near Pompeii.
- Comment on Microsoft's ad-supported version of Office only saves to OneDrive 5 weeks ago:
I feel like most news about Microsoft nowadays can be TL;DR as “this would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.” Including this one - it sounds like Microsoft is trying its hardest to raise the walls of its own walled garden, and failing hard at it.
- Comment on Evolution sim Thrive adds radioactive chunks, environmental tolerances and thermosynthesis 5 weeks ago:
There’s even a new full thermosynthesis implementation meaning you can use temperature to generate energy
Does this mean they reworked the thermoplasts? Because thermosynthesis was already in the game.
- Comment on BRASSICAS 5 weeks ago:
Individual tastes are a thing, too. At least someone out there is bound to dislike even the most beloved dishes; the thing, for me, is how many people claim to hate Brussels sprouts, even if they deserve some leafy and greasy love.
- Comment on BRASSICAS 5 weeks ago:
Selective breeding does play a role but also how you prepare them. Just like other brassicae if you cook them for too long they start smelling bad, so you want to use high heat and relatively short cooking times.
For example. My go-to approach is to cut them into halves and pan-fry in lard. High fire. People claim it’s delicious.
- Comment on BRASSICAS 5 weeks ago:
People have some hate boner against Brussels sprouts, but damn - if you know how to prepare them, they’re delicious.
- Comment on [NileRed, 2min video] Iodine clock reaction 5 weeks ago:
Didn’t realize that a bottle of iodine disinfectant from the pharmacy could be used as the source of iodide with no purification
Yup - this take on the clock reaction only uses household chemicals. The same youtuber has a longer albeit older video about it, with amounts and better instructions.
- Comment on Researcher names newly discovered fish species, honoring Cherokee knowledge and advancing conservation 5 weeks ago:
- Comment on anti-evolutionism 5 weeks ago:
Your link isn’t working properly.
It’s a cool read though - I’m still reading it, but so far it did a great job showing that concepts are fuzzy and inside our heads, not those well-defined abstractions in some external realm.
- Submitted 5 weeks ago to chemistry@mander.xyz | 2 comments
- Comment on The Science Behind Aquafaba Meringues | Working toward a more stable meringue made from the liquid in a can of chickpeas 1 month ago:
It would be interesting to see the tests being repeated with citric acid, as it has also good stabilising properties (not just because it’s acid; the anion is a good ligand). Plus I wonder if lime juice won’t help even further to get rid of the beany taste.
- Comment on Mexican President Threatens to Sue Google Over 'Gulf of America' Label on Maps. 1 month ago:
righteous crusade […] moral outrage… [diabolical] …
Now you’re just putting words in my mouth.
- Comment on Mexican President Threatens to Sue Google Over 'Gulf of America' Label on Maps. 1 month ago:
Google is dictating “This is how it’s referred to by one of the two countries encompassing the gulf”.
It’s also dictating that one name should be seen as as valid as the other. When it’s simply not the case.
it’s not like they’re some malevolent actor trying to get one over on the righteous hero either.
They’re doing this because money. And it’s still the wrong thing, regardless of “malevolence” or not.
