wolframhydroxide

@wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Self-Care⁩ ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Waymond? Is that you?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Real⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Ooh, did you read Grágás? It’s a shockingly entertaining read for a legal code. The section on Wergild is great, and you can learn a lot about the attitudes the Icelanders held toward different behaviours. Also, it strongly implies that there were at least a few people in Iceland who were training polar bears (which they must have either imported from Greenland, or found stranded on passing ice floes), and those trainers must have lobbied pretty hard, because it was specifically illegal to import trained brown bears from Norway.

  There are a lot of greens in there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Good point⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It comes from Portuguese, it seems, meaning “big head” en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cachalot

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Room temperature IQ is a far bigger insult in Europe than America.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a shame that European room-temperature IQs are so prominently visible in the states.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨No contest⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Ah, but unfortunately, the great Lucas, in his infinite, unquestioned wisdom, managed to establish that the force is ALSO simply a sufficiently-advanced evolutionary response to a pre-existing fundamental force of the universe, mediated by whatever the fuck “midichlorians” are supposed to be. You’re missing the rest of the quote, which is telling: “sufficiently-advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. The bidirectional applies here: “magic is indistinguishable from sufficiently-advanced technology”.

  You can’t draw a line. Just because the random layperson of Tattooine has no explanation for the force, doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. Just because we’re told that there are truths humans can’t comprehend which allow the Q to break every law of reality, that doesn’t mean that their powers appear or act in any way less-miraculous. The difference is that, in Star Wars, the genre of science fantasy demands the mysticism, while the science fiction of star trek demands an explicable nature, even if we don’t get all of the answers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨No contest⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Let’s be very clear, “magic” exists in StarTrek, too: Q is literal god-level magic. There are telekinetics, empaths, and hiveminds. At least one species has the capacity to mentally create realistic illusions taken from a subject’s mind, while others will keep you trapped in your own nightmares for what feels like centuries. Hologram programs are solid and are, multiple times, shown to have the capacity to achieve sapience.

  So, saying “in a universe where magic exists” belies the real difference: “in a universe where the explanation of phenomena is not a priority”

  The giant space lasers are never explained, because their explanation would not suit the desires of the storytellers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Delicious rocks⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’d bet that the high solubility would make it taste closer to burning plastic, with how much sulfur is in it and actively dissolving on your tongue.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Delicious rocks⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  But orpiment tastes like garlic!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Delicious rocks⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  And orpiment (arsenic sulfide) tastes like garlic!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Delicious rocks⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Orpiment looks citrus-flavored, but when you lick it, it’s actually garlic-flavoured! These secrets have been hidden from us!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whats the best use for 75 dollars?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Waymond?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do I deal with the outside world when I have germaphobia and don't really like outside?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh, it’s DEFINITELY not for everyone, but as something wildly outside the norm (unless you’re in a fallout game) I think it serves to prove a point: whatever the OP needs to do to feel safe enough to engage with society, they should do, but the onus is on them. They have to set and communicate boundaries. They can’t assume that people will change how they live their lives for them. If that means that they look like a batman villain when they go to the grocery store? Well, turns out everybody else has their own problems, and nobody really cares. If they can find a solution that makes them feel like they can engage with society in a healthy way, then they should go all-in.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do I deal with the outside world when I have germaphobia and don't really like outside?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I have been wearing a P100, 3M 6000-series half-face respirator everywhere I go in public for the last 5 years (genuinely far more comfortable than any other mask I’ve ever worn). I have particularly compelling reasons why I feel this is necessary. In my experience, it’s an effective measure, and I literally teach high school 8 hours a day with it on. In my experience, the trick is this:

  • What the other people around you think of you is absolutely meaningless. Doesn’t matter. Ignore them.
  • if someone wants you somewhere badly enough to demand you go out of your comfort zone, then they want you there badly enough to be brought out of their own comfort zone by having Darth Fucking Vader show up.
  • People who look at you weird are not people you want to be around. People who ask you why you are wearing it are worth a brief explanation, and the simple fact is, nobody really gives enough of a shit for it to matter.
  • I have gotten very good at not inhaling when I don’t have my respirator up, so I’ll take it off momentarily to explain the situation to anyone who asks, and they are, 19 times out of 20, immediately understanding and we both go on with our days.
  • You have to make your own threat model. For me, I’m to the point where I’ll downgrade to an N-95 in my therapist’s office (since we’re 1-on-1 and nobody else has been in that room for 15 minutes) and when I go to a triannual game night at a friend’s house, because i know they’re all vaccinated, and I trust them to tell me if they’re sick.
  • Outside of some place like Japan, where societal pressure has led to an actual culture of hygiene, propriety, and basic consideration of others, you simply cannot assume that people give a flying fuck about their effects on the people around them. In a million ways, from cutting in line or on the highway, to playing music or a phone call on speaker on public transit, to the myriad externalities of the way they live, they inconvenience you and others around them. This is, unfortunately, normalised throughout most of the world, and bad hygiene surrounding infectious disease is just another part of that. Unlike playing music on a bus, however, poor infectious disease hygiene can lead to someone else’s death. You have to decide the precise level of risk and investment you’re willing to accept, and fuck anyone who disagrees with you. They can either deal with your non-negotiables or not. Set a clear fucking boundary. Rather than demanding that they act in accordance with your whims, judge by their past actions how they fit into your threat model and inform them of your new criteria by which you feel safe to engage with them and the world.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is gold investing a scam?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Don’t forget “skills you can use to make yourself valuable to a small community”, especially the skills to make food, locate and purify water, construct and maintain shelter, maintain and upscale off-grid power, and use ammunition and weapons.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Statistically, probably with the beetles. 🪲⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Fair enough

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Sensory Biology of Plants⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This is the plot of an episode of the anime “mushishi” called “tree of eternity”, IIRC.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Statistically, probably with the beetles. 🪲⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Dragonflies are likely to be with the mantids at the “we will rip your head off if we like you, you don’t want to know what we do to our enemies” table.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Kansas attorney general site hosts illicit content in apparent national scam campaign⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This is the exact plot of the movie “The Net”, starring Sandra Bullock.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Euler's Meme⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I could me wrong, but I’m fairly sure that, while ‘f’ is a function, ‘f(x)’ is the function’s output, not the function itself. So f(x) is a meme, because function f’s output is a meme. The function itself is a mathematical operation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨spongebob big guy pants okay⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Without a nervous system, the only thing it can feel is ANGER.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Euler's Meme⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  One of your precepts is flawed. f is not a meme any more than the word “all” is in “all your base are belong to us”. f is defined by text within the overall meme, but while it is part of the meme, it is not the meme itself, as it lacks the content of the remainder of the meme. Your precept is like saying “9 is prime, because it is the prime number ‘19’”. 9 is not prime. It is part of the representation of the number 19. f is not the meme. It is part of the context which defines the meme.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Racism restaurant ⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  For those who are not aware, ^^this^^ is how you turn cheese into american cheese.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If it were possible to travel back in time and manipulate events, we could take a book back in time and publish it before the author historicallt does... as a prank...⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Was looking for this.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Just seen the latest American Opinion polls.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  There is nothing more damaging to the narcissistic dictator’s fragile ego than emasculation. Let us merely hope that the hits keep coming.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You can do anything at Zombocom⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It may get lost, but does it go to eleven?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨xkcd #3163: Repair Video⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Inb4 the next Ramanujan sidles up onto YouTube and breaks the entire concept of mathematics

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Smells Great⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  So, when you get to the scale of “a laser that can destroy objects”, it turns out that the reflectance of natural materials is just utterly insufficient. Consider the following: suppose that a mirror finish reflects 90% of the light from a laser in the range you’re looking at (a fair assumption, from what I’ve read). Now, let’s do some basic back-of-the-napkin math: we’ll use a 30 kW laser, which is apparently standard for current destructive laser weapons. Let’s further assume that the laser light is spread over a surface area of 0.04 m^2 (because a spot 20 cm on a side seems to me a fairly high estimate for the spread on a precision laser, even on a moving target, if it’s motion-tracked, I should think). Let us be generous and assume that this reflective paint coating is 0.5mm (0.0005m) thick. Given the paint’s approximate specific heat of 2.302 J/gK (polyethylene) and density of 1400000 g/m^3 (PVC), and let’s also assume the breakdown temp of the reflectance is near the boiling point of PVA (spray paint), which is 112C.

  So, the mass of paint absorbing the energy is 0.04*0.0005*1400000=28 g.

  To heat the entirety of these 28 g of this material by about 90C (from 22 to 112), completely destroying the protective layer, we would need 2.302*28*90 = 5801J

  Now we know that we have 30000*0.93= 3000J/s, so it would take about 2 seconds of lancing to completely destroy the protection. Given that it already takes 2-5 seconds to destroy things with the laser, and it doesn’t actually have to destroy the entire area for the reflectance to deteriorate and let the laser through, this would only be adding another second of work. I think that, no matter what you do, the laser’s gonna win.

  I can give sources for any of these estimates.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Smells Great⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Honestly, I memorised the band once in orgo, and never looked at them again, so you’re more likely to know than I.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Smells Great⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think that wouldn’t necessarily work once you get to the right wavelengths for it to start interacting with the organic bases of the paints. There’s only so much you can do when someone shoots an infrared laser at the resonant frequency of a C=C double bond.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨egg time⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I believe that, nowadays, it is generally accepted that dinosaurs, crocodilians and birds are all “archosaurs”.