wolframhydroxide
@wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works
- Comment on Cheeto devouring his nation 2 days ago:
Just worth pointing out: three of the five children eastern were women, and the very first was Vesta.
- Comment on It is what it is 3 days ago:
You’re doing God’s work in an abandoned universe.
- Comment on Recycled Plastic is a Toxic Cocktail: Over 80 Chemicals Found in a Single Pellet 4 days ago:
So are sucrose and cellulose, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same. Also, all of the additives in the many different types of melted-together plastic would beg to differ with your assessment.
- Comment on Recycled Plastic is a Toxic Cocktail: Over 80 Chemicals Found in a Single Pellet 4 days ago:
As a chemist, but without organics specialization (my specialty is rocks), I think that what we’re seeing here is a collection of three main things, aside from polyethylene:
- decomposition byproducts: plastics break down under heat, stress and in light. It’s not surprising that some of their breakdown byproducts might be found in plastic that has been melted into a new shape.
- dyes: plastic is dyed with different additives, and there are a LOT of different colors of plastic being recycled. They usually try to keep the colors generally consistent among batches for recycling, but the dyes that make a sprite bottle green are different from the ones that make a dasani bottle teal.
- Plasticizers: the things the corporations add to their plastics just to eke out that 1 cent of savings from thinner, more durable plastic, or to get the texture just right, are insane. These are things like BPA. There are loads of them, and every plastic has different types. Some of them also have different heat tolerances, but it’s not like the recyclers are keeping track.
So, yeah, be afraid. There’s a metric fuckton of shit in there, and literally no one knows what it all is, let alone how much of it made it through the manufacturing, use, recycling and manufacturing process without becoming prone to leaching. Virtually all plastic recycling is a scam perpetrated by the corporations to get us to blithely ignore how they are destroying the planet to save money, all while convincing us to blame ourselves.
- Comment on Elon Musk wants to rewrite "the entire corpus of human knowledge" with Grok 4 days ago:
Have some more comfort
- Comment on Elon Musk wants to rewrite "the entire corpus of human knowledge" with Grok 4 days ago:
SHH!! Yes you can, Elon! recursively training your model on itself definitely has NO DOWNSIDES
- Comment on Elon Musk wants to rewrite "the entire corpus of human knowledge" with Grok 4 days ago:
Yes! We should all wholeheartedly support this GREAT INNOVATION! There is NOTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG, so this will be an excellent step to PERMANENTLY PERFECT this WONDERFUL AI.
- Comment on make fantasy great again! 5 days ago:
Silly L. Ron Hubbard, trying to convince people to follow in your footsteps again?
- Comment on YouTube’s new anti-adblock measures 6 days ago:
Nebula has some of the best educational content, especially ever since Tom Scott went on to other things. There are definitely some weird ones on there, as well as a couple which I’m convinced are right-wing shills, but by and large many of the best edutainment channels have collected over there, especially if you’re into writing/world building. HAI/Wendover, Minutephysics, legaleagle, extracredits, nilered, and hellofutureme are the big ones I’m aware of that are also popular on YouTube which publish their videos over on Nebula. It’s well worth it to know that you’re supporting them more directly, and no ads.
- Comment on Just lost internship at general electric 6 days ago:
The reason it’s still held up is because Edison was a genius at precisely one thing: marketing. He was an incredibly efficient venture capitalist. That’s it.
This, and people have a tendency to hear a story, then integrate that story into their entire worldview, until the only four scientists ever to live were Einstein, Edison, Newton, and maybe Galileo.
Thus it has always been, and thus it shall remain.
- Comment on Protip: 1 week ago:
Withdrawn!
- Comment on Protip: 1 week ago:
Daring to call linoleum “tile work” is like calling a Walmart a “home”
- Comment on That's not how any of this works. 1 week ago:
That’s impossible. I distinctly recall a news article from my childhood which reported that the moon’s spoon was stolen by a dish after a cow distracted it. Did it get the spoon back?
- Comment on If you have used this you are immune to all disease. 2 weeks ago:
I’m 30, and I’ve seen them twice in my life in-person. However, I believe that they were in very old buildings. Can’t remember exactly where, though, since they were both over ten years ago.
- Comment on It's a mysteria 3 weeks ago:
I am confused. You are not the OP?
- Comment on Plex now will SELL your personal data 4 weeks ago:
Perhaps. The issue I perceive is that, for corporations, evil deeds are only illegal if you get caught and the government actually pursues you. Then, the most the corpos face is a fine, and remember: if the penalty for doing something illegal is a flat fine, then it isn’t a punishment, it’s a price.
Thus, this corporation has indicated its clear intent to sell me to the highest bidder. I would not give them a chance to do so. A “do not agree” button is just that: a “do not agree button”.
- Comment on On trees... 4 weeks ago:
AH, I see. So, it already existed, but until trees evolved, it wasn’t used to such an extreme extent.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
Right, and they need to know what the process is, because the ACTUAL interview is at the BEGINNING, without the machine, like I SAID. That is the part that they need to focus on.
- Comment on respect dandelions! 4 weeks ago:
No, they are saying that they would be interested to see the archeological evidence that backs up the oral tradition, because oral tradition is a great way to start your research, but is insufficient as evidence for a scientific claim. Just like how I can say that there’s oral tradition that St. Brendan landed in america in the 6th century. However, since there’s fuck all to support it, that’s not a very convincing claim, but it sure would be interesting if someone discovered archeological evidence for it. The Icelanders claimed to have landed in america for hundreds of years with oral tradition, and few believed them because there was fuck all to support the claim. Then, all of a sudden, they find remnants of viking settlements in Canada, and now its very interesting.
You specifically cited DNA evidence. Then, when someone asked about it, you immediately accused them of European exceptionalism in a ridiculous strawman. So, either your claim can be very interesting, or I can treat it with the same amount of credibility as St. Brendan over there in his leather raft.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
Did you actually read my comment? Again, I am not saying that it works, but that it doesn’t MATTER whether it works, because they are going to do the polygraph anyway, and this person needs to know the actual procedure, not useless navel-gazing about how, surprising nobody, the US government uses ridiculous tests, spends obscene amounts of time and money, and all of it amounts to a fucking vibe check.
YES, it’s WORTHLESS, but that isn’t going stop the fucking fascist across the table from you from judging you by it, and arguing over it is PRECISELY as worthless as the test itself.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
Okay, literally none of these are the ACTUAL answer to the question, and if you’re in the US in a position to take a polygraph, I want you to succeed. These people saying that it doesn’t work DO NOT MATTER, because you’re going to be taking it either way. So, as someone who has actually TAKEN a polygraph with the CIA for a TS Clearance, allow me to tell you the actual answer:
Before the polygraph is hooked up, you will spend as much time as you need going through every question you will be asked. You have the opportunity to bring up concerns with question ambiguity then. They will work with you to make sure that you feel comfortable answering any question they ask with a straight “yes” or “no”. I don’t remember what the specific wording was when they asked me that question, and it would technically be illegal for me to tell you anyway. I hope that this is more helpful to you than “hurr-durr, it doesn’t work”.
- Comment on science never ends 4 weeks ago:
I mean, how technical do you want to get, because gravity isn’t a real force, assuming Einstein is to be believed.
- Comment on science never ends 4 weeks ago:
To be fair, Newton was suggesting the feasibility of using chemical propellants to create stable orbits in space as far back as the 1600s with his cannonball example.
- Comment on science never ends 4 weeks ago:
An honest and sincere question deserves an honest and sincere answer:
Gatekeeping: Simply suggesting that others need to read more, or that they need to “look into” one of the largest and most controversial philosophical topics in history is a haughty and disdainful way of saying “I’m right, I’m not going to cite my sources, and anyone who disagrees with me must carry the burden of proof”. Don’t leave the justification for your argument as an “exercise for the reader” involving the entire canon of published thought, since that insinuates that they are simply too uneducated to understand how correct you are. THAT is gatekeeping knowledge.
I didn’t say maths was from Europe: Not directly, but you supported your argument for the statement “[The scientific] method is predicated on European Enlightenment avowals of what constitutes an acceptable boundary of truth… [etc.]” with nothing but the statements “2+2 does equal 4. That doesn’t mean valuing 4 as an answer or valuing the act of valuing of the certainty of 2+2=4 is an objective position.” As exemplary evidence. You are, quite literally, stating that the “valuing” of 4 as an answer to 2+2 is a question of science (otherwise it’s a non-sequitur), and that this is an example of how the scientific method privileges European Enlightenment ideals over others. That is saying that the precepts of mathematics are based on European enlightenment ideals, Q.E.D.
“Where’s the disdain”: I believe that a reasonable person would read this argument and conclude that the disdain is implied, given that you clearly seem to be complaining that the European enlightenment ideals have somehow “privileged” certain perspectives. Now, I happen to agree with that statement, but clearly in a very different way than you do:
It seems to me that, until the likes of Karl Popper’s contribution of the principle of falsifiability as the chief hallmark of scientific practice, the entrenched belief in strict empiricism was being privileged as a hallmark of European Enlightenment traditionalism. Perhaps another will come along soon who similarly unseats Popper. To claim, however, that the scientific method itself is somehow predicated on enlightenment ideals appears, to me, to miss the entire point of this original post: that science changes, just as much as how we do science. Most of the principles of the scientific method have been around for more than a thousand years. The idea of a strict “scientific method” is as much an illusion as the entirety of reality may be, but that’s just because we are always developing new ways of knowing.
- Comment on science never ends 4 weeks ago:
Um, actually, the scientific method as it is currently formulated is best traced back to Ibn Al-Haytham, with elements dating back throughout thousands of years, from the rationalism of Thales to the experimentalism of 墨子. Babylonians were using mathematical prediction algorithms to accurately state the date of the next solar eclipse in 600 BCE. It seems like YOU need to read up on the history of the philosophy of science, and of you claim that 2+2=4 is an “enlightenment” idea, I cannot hope to respond with a level of disdain sufficient to encapsulate your willfully-pompous idiocy.
You say that 2+2 DOES equal 4, and then make claims which suggest that it doesn’t. Certainly, 2+2 can only be said to equal 4 because of the axioms of mathematics, which are, of course, purely postulates, since Cartesian solipsism demonstrates that we cannot truly know anything to be true except that we ourselves exist (oh, but wait, your disdain for enlightenment philosophy clearly removes this, the best refuge for your argument!)
However, to accept as a matter of course that 2+2=4 and then suggest that it is only through subjective perception that we privilege 4 over any other number in that equality is not only a clear argument in bad faith, meant only to make others feel stupid, but is also patently ridiculous, since you are reneging on your own given precept.
So, if you’re planning on gatekeeping knowledge,
- Do better than "2+2=4, but also 2+2=5 because eurocentrism bad"
- Fuck. Right. Off.
- Comment on On trees... 4 weeks ago:
I was under the impression that lignin was what really made trees possible, and that seems like an odd chemical for a bunch of unrelated plants to all evolve. Is there something I’m missing?
- Comment on I'd choose 4 tbh 4 weeks ago:
1 is the monkey’s paw answer and a trap. Fat is necessary for survival. Fats literally make up the outside of every cell in your body.
2 is still dangerous, because it might just be tapeworm eggs.
Is 3 just a servant who shops for you? Or is it just that you are no longer addicted to compulsive shopping?
4 Will cause you the most agonizing pain of your life as virtually every body and muscle gets ripped apart and re-knit, and as someone who’s 6’4, it has its upsides, but having literally everything made for people shorter than you REALLY sucks, from doorways and light fixtures, even to rollercoasters which nearly remove your legs because of awful design (or just won’t close over your shoulders)
5 is nice. Go with 5. It’ll be painful, but potentially worth it in a pinch, as long as it also grants you control of that strength.
6 is another trap, since small amounts of stress are actually really important, and in order to be constantly happy, your brain would lose the ability to feel it unless it continually increased the dopamine drip. Eventually, you would kill for the ability to stop.
7 I mean, sure, if that’s what you want. Would be nice to know what kind of followers? Are they going to be religious and try to pull a Life of Brian on you?
8 is the worst, because you have no control over the extent of the memory wipe. This is existentially terrifying
9 is the safest, but then you go and read that post about why winning the lottery means you’re fucked.
- Comment on Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year 4 weeks ago:
That’s… Not a very promising roadmap…
- Comment on Unholy curses 4 weeks ago:
Well, ethanol was, literally, called the “Water of Life”
- Comment on Catchiest video game song? 5 weeks ago:
My time has come. As someone who almost exclusively listens to instrumental soundtrack from movies and games, including from games I have never played, these are the ones that most often get stuck in my head (in no particular order). A plus “+” indicates a song that got stuck in my head regularly before I ever played the game, while an asterisk “*” indicates a song that still gets stuck in my head, despite being from a game I have never played at all.
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Baba Yetu - Civ IV (+)
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Hyrule Castle - Breath Of The Wild (+)
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Lorule Castle - Link Between Worlds (*)
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One Final Effort - Halo 3 (*)
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Golem King - Moonlighter
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Song of the Ancients - Nier Series (*)
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Dragonborn - Skyrim
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Far Horizons - Skyrim (+)
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Dragon Roost Island - Wind Waker (*)
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Nate’s Theme - Uncharted (*)
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Gusty Garden Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy (*)
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Korobeiniki - Tetris (+)
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Gerudo Valley - Ocarina of Time (+)
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Colgera Battle - Tears of the Kingdom
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This Song - The Witcher 3 (It’s the song Aen Seidhe, but without vocals)
But finally, the song that I credit with making me obsessed with instrumental soundtrack, because I fell asleep with it playing on repeat for a whole night at the age of 5, and then lost the game cartridge, so I forgot what it was from, and which I would get stuck in my head roughly once a month throughout my entire childhood until I finally found it THIRTEEN YEARS LATER, :
Ω) Town Theme - Final Fantasy II
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