adespoton
@adespoton@lemmy.ca
- Comment on (i feel really stupid asking, but what the hell!) could i be of french descent? 7 hours ago:
Most likely you have ancestors who lived in what is now France. Either that, or you have ancestors whose descendants moved around, and some of them settled in what is now France.
This could have happened before or after France became a nation.
Then again, it’s pretty likely that you have ancestors who lived in Africa.
- Comment on Propublica: US looks to revoke visas of Mexican politicians with alleged cartel ties 7 hours ago:
“I’m sorry, you can’t come here. We have evidence that proves you have links to Donald Trump.”
- Comment on How are roundabouts made? 16 hours ago:
Where I live, it’s all planned out in CAD, and then the inner concrete curb is calculated and broken up into sections, according to the plan.
Then the intersection being replaced (because that’s almost always the case) is dug up in the center and the concrete forms put in place and the center backfilled with gravel and dirt.
After the concrete has set, the asphalt machines re-level and pave the surrounding area. After this, brick is often added inside the concrete to provide an extra driving surface for large vehicles. Then plants or statues are added to the centre.
After all this, the lines and markings go on, and they’re just offset from the concrete curb, so nothing fancy needs to be done; the paint truck just has a little arm that stays over the concrete.
- Comment on Microsoft Teams will soon block screen capture during meetings 5 days ago:
The important bit:
Those joining from unsupported platforms will be automatically placed in audio-only mode to protect shared content.
And I presume everything except Windows 11 Teams will be considered “unsupported”.
- Comment on China has introduced a drone that flies like a bird. The new invention could turn the drone industry upside down 6 days ago:
Imagine a camera on the bottom of the body instead of where the eyes would be. Now have it circle like an eagle, flapping as needed. Telephoto lens.
- Comment on China has introduced a drone that flies like a bird. The new invention could turn the drone industry upside down 6 days ago:
The one thing it has going for it is covert surveillance.
- Comment on Should You Cover Your Laptop Camera When It’s Not in Use? 6 days ago:
Unfortunately, tape can’t mute the microphones.
- Comment on Trump would cut CISA budget by $491M amid ‘censorship’ claim 1 week ago:
Well, DOGE already fired a significant amount of the staff that wasn’t focused on private sector interaction. There’s nobody left who could take time to police online speech. So a large portion of that cut just means that there will be a hiring freeze for positions focused on government security and investigations.
- Comment on Why do we tolerate it that Luigi Mangione is being held in prison. We know its absolutely the least safe place he can be? 1 week ago:
The guards and administration want him alive.
People like Epstein die in prison because showing up in court runs the risk of taking down powerful people. People like Luigi always have their day to be dragged through the mud in court before they rot away forever in jail, with random reminders that they’re still alive and suffering.
- Comment on Why do we tolerate it that Luigi Mangione is being held in prison. We know its absolutely the least safe place he can be? 1 week ago:
Why are people generally in prison? Usually because they’re violent, drug addicted or at odds with the status quo.
Luigi is in prison accused of killing a man responsible for getting people hooked on drugs, marginalizing the already marginalized and poor, and ruining the lives of millions.
I think the inmates would be more likely to treat him like a hero.
- Comment on Hungary Rejects US Pressure to Reduce Its Chinese Economic Ties 1 week ago:
Well that’s an interesting stopped clock….
- Comment on Cuba stages May Day rallies as tensions mount with US 1 week ago:
Canada and Cuba need to have some shared celebrations. Maybe invite Mexico too.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 week ago:
Disqualifying? No. However, he’d run up against similar prejudices that make it difficult for a woman to win the presidency.
Remember that Pete Buttigieg was in the running at one point.
- Comment on “The masters of the universe are Jews,” former US Senator declares in Israel 2 weeks ago:
The reason for that is the behaviour of the state of Israel and has nothing to do with being Jewish or not.
- Comment on Kremlin says Russia ready for mass mobilization like in WWII 'at any moment' 2 weeks ago:
The US may overshoot when attempting to invade Canada.
- Comment on Why is my community modding everyone who comments? 2 weeks ago:
Just so you know, I’m a fellow Voyager user on lemmy.ca and I don’t see that anywhere I’m not a mod.
- Comment on How would you run a society? 2 weeks ago:
I wouldn’t. I’d set up at least four groups and let them run autonomously from each other. I might not even let them know that there’s other groups on the planet.
More chance of survival if there’s different groups trying different things. Strength in diversity.
- Comment on Does anyone else hate knowing stuff and looking "smart"? 2 weeks ago:
You missed “make my computer work” and “get me movies for free”.
- Comment on Does anyone else hate knowing stuff and looking "smart"? 2 weeks ago:
Knowing stuff can be a curse, especially when you’re 10 steps ahead of everyone else in the room and you know they’re just going to need the time to figure it out on their own.
But being smart means you know how and when to apply your knowledge. So you can provide the information when it’s actually useful and not when it just gets blank stares.
And knowing stuff but NOT talking about it all the time, and not using “told you so” means that when you DO speak, anyone who matters will listen and take you seriously.
I find that slipping useful knowledge into self-deprecating jokes is a useful way to get people to listen to it.
- Comment on Why does it seem like everyone is so good looking and beautiful nowadays? 2 weeks ago:
Of course not. That would be wasteful.
- Comment on Why does it seem like everyone is so good looking and beautiful nowadays? 2 weeks ago:
Germans don’t smile with their mouths; they generally do smile with their eyes. People who only look at mouths generally miss that.
- Comment on Why does it seem like everyone is so good looking and beautiful nowadays? 2 weeks ago:
Part of what it points to is what you’re currently paying attention to. You don’t notice all the people who aren’t what you consider “good looking”.
Later in life, you’ll notice how many people have children in strollers, or drive fancy cars, or can afford houses. You may start noticing how many people own dogs, run regularly outside, or never look up from their phones.
It’s a form of selection bias; you tend to see the people that are most likely to catch your attention, and ignore the rest.
Try an exercise: start checking to see how many people you see in public smile with their eyes.
- Comment on how do I avoid becoming conformist, lazy and completely incapable of learning something new? 3 weeks ago:
This is important. Learning involves change based on a balance of positive and negative feedback. Be comfortable making mistakes and learning not to repeat them in other contexts. Also learn how to use mistakes to improve on methods that didn’t seem like mistakes at the time.
- Comment on [deleted] 3 weeks ago:
“Oh yes, officer! This is my washer and dryer from home… I just felt like they needed a bit of fresh air!”
- Comment on What would the world look like if every worker got together and Unionized for a universale wage that helps everyone? Instead of one country trying to screw over another? 3 weeks ago:
Well, you could argue that China already has the structure being described here. How does it work out there?
I was assuming a union system similar to what is currently used in the US. If it’s not democratic, you’re going to have other issues.
Of course, ranked choice could mitigate some of the issues, but you can’t get away from the power imbalance problem.
- Comment on What would the world look like if every worker got together and Unionized for a universale wage that helps everyone? Instead of one country trying to screw over another? 3 weeks ago:
Yup.
- Comment on What would the world look like if every worker got together and Unionized for a universale wage that helps everyone? Instead of one country trying to screw over another? 3 weeks ago:
Those unions would have elected union reps. They’d gain an immense amount of power, and anyone on the edge of society not in a union would lose their voice — stay at home parents, small business owners, etc.
Eventually the unions would gravitate to a party system, those parties would become bipolar, and world governments would become figureheads. Unions would begin to clash, eventually forming new political bodies along union lines. Union members would question why non-union members don’t have to pay dues, and a requirement would come about that when old enough to work, it would be mandatory for everyone to pick a union.
You can see where this is going.
The only reason unions work is that they pit the power of production against the power of military strength and control. Give the unions too much power, and their leadership becomes the thing they’ve fought to resist.
- Comment on Hong Kong’s oldest pro-democracy party is shutting down as Beijing leaves no room for dissent 3 weeks ago:
10 years ahead of schedule.
- Comment on A Reddit Bot Drove Me Insane 3 weeks ago:
On Reddit I have thousands of comments, over 240,000 karma, and I haven’t logged in in around two years.
But then, like with Lemmy, I picked my subreddits carefully and left when it seemed like they were being overrun with bots.
- Comment on Travel warning for journalists entering US 3 weeks ago:
Weird; I thought the warning would be for Canada, Denmark, China and the EU….