SoleInvictus
@SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
- Comment on Causes of death, or track list for latest black metal album? 21 hours ago:
Cancer, and Wolf, refers to the old common term for cancer: wolf. It was thought to be a parasite that ate up the afflicted, like a wolf.
- Comment on Causes of death, or track list for latest black metal album? 21 hours ago:
It’s the same as chrisomes. Infant mortality was so high, the ones who died without obvious cause just get lumped together by age group.
Chrisomes refers to those who died within the first month, during the time they’d be baptised. The baptismal cloth, the chrisome, would often be just as a burial shroud.
Teeth meant they were old enough to have one or more teeth, 6-24 months. Teething was thought to be potentially fatal because so many infants died during that period. Correlation, causation, yadda yadda yadda.
- Comment on Forbidden Fruit 5 days ago:
Just to preface, I’m a scientist: micro- and molecular biology. I’m not saying to take what I say as gospel, just giving context that I might know things. Sometimes.
Outbreeding depression has more possible implications than fertility decrease and infant mortality increase, entirely dependent on the heritable traits responsible for the depression effects. While the probability of persistent outbreeding depression as a result of one or more crossings would be lower in traits subject to higher selective pressure, such as increases in early infant mortality, the overall probability of outbreeding depression itself isn’t influenced post facto by its results, just its persistence.
Given we don’t know the original extent of neanderthal/human interbreeding, what we’re seeing now COULD be the “much lower percentage” you mention and still could come from multiple events. In fact, if these crosses resulted in stronger depression effects, I’d argue a greater number of crossings would be one factor behind the persistence of some genes today.
- Comment on Forbidden Fruit 6 days ago:
Two ways.
First, sex chromosomes. In mammals, sex is determined by the sex chromosomes - males have XY, females XX. If interbreeding was equal between the sexes of both species, this would be reflected in the frequency of neanderthal genes on each chromosome in the current human population, but it’s more heavily skewed toward the Y chromosome than we’d expect if equal pairing was true. This suggests a higher proportion of successful male neanderthal/female human offspring.
Second, mitochondrial DNA. While genomic DNA in a sexually-reproducing species is a mix between the parents, in most species the inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is purely maternal. This is because only the egg’s mitochondria typically survive, though on rare occasion paternal mitochondria are also passed on. There is no known existent neanderthal mtDNA in the human population. This suggests either female neanderthal/male human crosses didn’t happen much and/or didn’t often produce offspring capable of further reproduction.
Of course, there are many other explanations for all of these. These are just amongst the simplest possible options, and in population genetics, it’s not uncommon that the simplest answers are frequently correct.
- Comment on Forbidden Fruit 6 days ago:
Keep in mind heterosis isn’t always the result of hybridization and even then the magnitude of isolation doesn’t always positively correlate. Outbreeding depression can also be the result, increasingly so when two groups are more genetically distant or when one group is already subject to heavy inbreeding depression, as the neanderthals were thought to be.
- Comment on Ouch 1 week ago:
I can smell both this comment and the people that would seriously say something like this.
- Comment on Womp womp womp. 1 week ago:
Is that an electrophoresis gel?
- Comment on Womp womp womp. 2 weeks ago:
- Comment on The longer I'm alive, the more I feel that people make things complicated to feel important. 2 weeks ago:
I see you have met my last boss!
- Comment on The longer I'm alive, the more I feel that people make things complicated to feel important. 2 weeks ago:
Totally agree, it’s a harder to debunk way of protecting your time. Grandpa story time!
I follow something I call the rule of thirds. Of any three unverifiable improvements in workflow, two remain secret and they and their saved effort are solely mine while the smallest goes to the company. If I bust out 12 in a row, the company gets the smallest four. Maybe three if I’m feeling catty. I occasionally dole out one of the retained 2/3 when I need to look good for a review or something.
I learned this from an employer a few years back. I maxed out the first year and made a ton of improvements, so my first review was stellar. My second year’s review, though, noted that I hadn’t kept up with the previous year, so it was just a “meets expectations”. I was outperforming most of my peers, but not previous year me, so they thought I was starting to slack off. That’s when I realized many managers are idiots so you have to game the system if you want to succeed.
- Comment on Two sides to every story 2 weeks ago:
If you haven’t seen Vice Principals, I can’t decide if I should recommend it or warn you to avoid it. Both. Let’s go with both.
- Comment on deez nutz save lives 2 weeks ago:
I’m allergic to coconut, so I would.
- Comment on Proton's width measured to unparalleled precision, narrowing the path to new physics 3 weeks ago:
Typo. Good catch.
- Comment on Proton's width measured to unparalleled precision, narrowing the path to new physics 3 weeks ago:
If the average human hair is about 50 billion femtometers wide, it means it takes about 58 billion photons lined up side to side to equal that width. So really fucking small.
- Comment on In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud 3 weeks ago:
You’re saying you can tell the difference between 320 kbps and FLAC?
- Comment on In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud 3 weeks ago:
Anecdotal, but… I’ve been a musician for 36 years and have fantastic hearing not just for my age but for any age. I know, I have to get it quantitatively tested twice a year!
I can’t tell the difference at all between FLAC and 320 kbps from the same source. I can tell a difference between FLAC and 128 kbps, but it’s not huge. It sounds a bit dull, but I have to be looking for the difference and comparing the two. If you just gave me one or the other with no reference, I might suspect the 128 if it was a simple recording of a single instrument or a song I’m intimately familiar with, and even then I wouldn’t be sure of it. It just sometimes “feels” weird.
So I converted over 4 terabytes of my music stash to 320 kbps and cut the total space into less than 2. Feels good.
- Comment on Dr. Oz pushes AI avatars as a fix for rural health care. Not so fast, critics say 3 weeks ago:
I’ll give AI this much credit. I have a rare disease that took me nearly two decades to get diagnosed. I saw over 20 doctors during that time, most of which had no idea while the rest misdiagnosed me.
I had a little intro script I wrote that explained my symptoms to keep it consistent. My roommate is a big AI proponent while I’m AI critical. At his suggestion, I signed up for a free trial for his favorite and gave it my little intro script. It processed for a few seconds, then spit out the correct diagnosis and subtype, then started asking if I had symptoms for a related comorbidity, which I do. That would have saved me 22 years of pain and confusion. WTF.
I’ve had a related chronic injury for this entire time that even my condition-aware doctors have been baffled by. I explained it in detail and AI barfed out its best guess. I worked with it until I had a possible rehab program, which is actually working.
So now I’m AI ambivalent. I strongly believe humans are at best passable doctors, but that the breadth of information for even one discipline is already more than most humans can properly understand and utilize. That’s how you end up with orthopedists that just specialize in one joint or dermatologists who concentrate on just a few conditions - there’s just too much knowledge for one person to handle all of it and that knowledge continues to grow. As medical science becomes even more advanced, I think practitioners will have to lean on technology in some form as the practice of medicine further outstrips human capabilities.
- Comment on In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud 3 weeks ago:
I couldn’t agree more. I got interest in higher-end audio equipment when I was younger, so I went to a local audio shop to test out some Grado headphones. They had a display of different headphones all hooked up to the “same” audio source.
60x vs 80x sounded identical. 60x to 125x, the latter had a bit more bass. 125x to 325x, the latter had a lot more bass and the clarity was a bit better. Then I plugged the 60x into the same connection they had the 325x in. Suddenly the 60x sounded damn similar. Not quite as good, but the 60x was 1/3 the cost and the 325x sure as hell didn’t sound 3x better. They just had the EQ set better for it.
- Comment on 'What a great way to kill your community': Discord users are furious about its new age verification checks — and are now hunting for alternatives 4 weeks ago:
I can’t help but see their comment as a joke. One can only hope
- Comment on The radical woke subliminal message in Bad Bunny's halftime performance 4 weeks ago:
Emotional ambivalence isn’t only normal, it’s healthy. I love my partner for being my friend and supporter, but have also felt genuine hatred due to them not doing the work necessary to be a good spouse, leading to us separating.
The trauma bond is a bit different, though. It’s unhealthy ambivalence, where even the positive feelings are ultimately rooted in strongly negative behavior. I had one with my father, so I get it.
- Comment on Nvidia might not have any new gaming GPUs in 2026 — and could be 'slashing production' of existing GeForce models 4 weeks ago:
“Remain in your cube - The Freedom Force is en route to administer freedom reeducation. Please be sure to provide proof of medical insurance.”
- Comment on YSK that radishes are fucking amazing. They improve heart health and are full of Sulforaphene, a powerful anti-cancer substance. They contain almost no calories 4 weeks ago:
You’re fine! I had to ask myself why I cared so much, and it’s because I love radishes but they also wreck my guts. I have no problem eating them cooked, though the spicy/snappy flavor goes away because that’s the sulforaphane/phene.
It’s yet another vegetable humans love because of the thing it makes to keep animals from eating it. We’re culinary masochists.
- Comment on YSK that radishes are fucking amazing. They improve heart health and are full of Sulforaphene, a powerful anti-cancer substance. They contain almost no calories 4 weeks ago:
Sulforaphane is heat labile, so cooking breaks some of it down. Broccoli and cabbage are fairly low in it, while Brussels sprouts and radishes are quite high. Radishes also have high amounts of sulforaphene, a related compound with similar properties. So it might be cooked vs raw, quantity consumed, -phane vs -phane/-phene, or something else entirely.
Only the R-isomer is found in any appreciable amount in nature, so it’s probably not that unless you’re eating research radishes.
- Comment on Nvidia might not have any new gaming GPUs in 2026 — and could be 'slashing production' of existing GeForce models 4 weeks ago:
Fuck, you almost sold me on GeForce Now. Owning is still a better value proposition for me because I get my games at… steep discounts.
- Comment on YSK that radishes are fucking amazing. They improve heart health and are full of Sulforaphene, a powerful anti-cancer substance. They contain almost no calories 4 weeks ago:
It’s likely the sulforaphane, the compound that doesn’t actually fight cancer at all. Similar to the sulfur containing compounds in onions, it’s an irritant created when radish tissue is damaged to repel pests. In mammals, it irritates the lining of the digestive tract and causes the lower esophageal sphincter, which normally keeps stomach acid from refluxing, to relax.
- Comment on Nvidia might not have any new gaming GPUs in 2026 — and could be 'slashing production' of existing GeForce models 4 weeks ago:
But wait! They can pay for remote computing time for a fraction of the cost! Each month. Forever.
I fully expect personal computers to be phased out in favor of a remote-access, subscription model. AI popping would leave these big data centers with massive computational power available for use, plus it’s the easiest way to track literally everything you do on your system.
- Comment on Consumer hardware is no longer a priority for manufacturers 4 weeks ago:
I had no idea! I worked IT in the early 2000s and I absolutely hated Dell computers. Nothing broke faster and more often than the Dell desktops.
- Comment on Consumer hardware is no longer a priority for manufacturers 4 weeks ago:
Maybe we need a small, private company to come along and start making good consumer hardware.
I’ve always wanted to start a business like this. “Generic Brand” household goods. Not fancy, just solidly functional base models but with modular upgradability. Wish you bought the WiFi capable washer? Buy the module for $30. Everything would be fully user serviceable and upgradable (within reason), so parts sales ensure sustained income once market saturation is reached.
- Comment on Rent is theft 4 weeks ago:
You make a really good point, thank you.
Honest question because I just don’t know - would those same financial and temporal costs (mentioned in another comment) still be as high in a functional, fair system?
- Comment on Rent is theft 4 weeks ago:
Easy - do it 1970s style. You own a home but pay less than half of what you do now. The extra savings go toward home maintenance and lifestyle improvement.