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SkoomaDentist

The Greater Finnish Empire

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joined 2022 September 04 19:08:00 UTC 

				
User ID: 84


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
SkoomaDentist


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
The Greater Finnish Empire

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 19:08:00 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 84


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's the "same" but from what I've gathered of US high schools, also quite different. First, there are entry requirements (based on 9th year grades). Second, they changed it to course form just before I started in the mid 90s, so you got to pick and choose which courses to take and when. There's a bunch of mandatory courses and then the rest are optional within limits (eg. I took max amount of math and physics and only the minimum required history, biology and such). The entry requirements did wonders because while my high school wasn't anything particularly "elite" back then (it would acquire such reputation some years later), only people who actually wanted to study went there. The curriculum was and is still normal high school (which in practise means somewhat higher level than US but similar to the rest of EU).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The high school I graduated from was in the state top ten for per capita overdoses, vehicle deaths, suicides, and teen pregnancies.




Gotta say, even the existence of such statistics (ie. there being more than one per decade) already sounds bizarre to me. Cultural differences and all that.




I graduated from college. It's not much, but it's a win for me.




I say that definitely counts as a win.




had six weeks of unexcused absences my senior year




Ours was a very progressive high school as far as student freedom and responsibility went. You could be absent from up to 20% of classes from one course without requiring a reason and 30% if you had a doctor's note or similar. I had some "slight" motivation problems in my last year so I ended up skipping 50% of the math classes in the last period and the teacher didn't even notice (I missed something like 15 classes, he thought I missed 5). I outright arranged my schedule for that last period such that I only went to school three days a week. Good times.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Are we talking about Christian priests or just any priests at all?


William of Baskerville from Name of the Rose comes to mind. Also Padre Benicio Del Toro from Machete. Father Paul Dure and Father Captain Federico de Soya from Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


What were the hard programs?




Industrial engineering (think fast track to management for people who know math) and industrial physics (which for obvious reasons attracts people who are really good at math and physics).






and let me tell you it's really fucking weird to keep receiving fan mail about a publication for a full decade from random people who've gone to the effort of figuring out your twice changed email address just for a single message








Were these, uh, Indians?




No. Random people in the field and the occasional amateur interested in the topic. Eg. a few years ago I got a Facebook message from a German guy working for a prominent company in the same field saying he was a huge fan of my (then over 15 years old) work.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I meet people both smarter and dumber than me all the time.




I clearly move in the wrong circles because it's fairly rare for me to meet people who are obviously smarter than me while unfortunately the other end is not nearly as rare. I've arranged my life so I can mostly deal with my peers on that level but unfortunately such selection isn't always possible at the workplace. Internet forums are of course a near complete disaster when it comes to that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
We know the common cliche of a guy (or girl) who's "the brain" at their school but has a major crisis when they find out they're merely average compared to everyone else when they start university. I'm curious how many folks here were nothing special in elementary and high school but went on to achieve something substantial academically?


I did mostly decently in school but was never anywhere close to a top tier student. Barely got into the high school I wanted, ie. the one with the shortest distance from my home (Finnish high school entrance is determined by your grades in 9th year). Had to settle for my second choice in university (EE) because I couldn't get in to study CS (and the actually hard to get in programs would have been right out). I went on to publish a couple of semi-influential papers in a subfield and AFAIK my professor still considers me one of his star students even though I never ended up doing a PhD (and let me tell you it's really fucking weird to keep receiving fan mail about a publication for a full decade from random people who've gone to the effort of figuring out your twice changed email address just for a single message).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


But this does not explain why countries that already have nukes, don't use them more often. Russia could throw nukes against Ukraine, and it seems detrimental for other powers to retaliate with nukes in this case.




Not when you consider it as iterated prisoner's dilemma. If other powers didn't retaliate in such situation, that'd essentially signal that Russia (and any power with nuclear weapons) is free to do whatever it wants to anyone without nukes. For obvious reasons the powers don't want that and Russia realizes that (or to put it bluntly, Putin would score much less on the german vs autist test than most The Motte commenters).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


There are also many examples in history of savage, unintellectual people later becoming great intellectuals without, perhaps, the genetic stock changing much.




You should look up some medieval descriptions of Vikings for fun reading on this. Or German writings about Swedes from around 1630 for that matter. That same genetic stock rather famously produced Alfred Nobel.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


they see any writing with dash-separated clauses and they presume it's AI.




Good. Maybe we'll finally get rid of that stupid looking em-dash. Let the hate flow through you.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's what six centuries of post-Mongol ruling culture does to you.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It's infuriating, because there are so many sentences that are punchier with a dash thrown in.




My man, just put in the minus sign :trollface:


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Begone, foul beast of Chaos!


This calls for Ordo Malleus. We may need a full exterminatus here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 24, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm in the fun spot of some old friends claiming I'm the most engineery person they have ever met (and they know quite a few engineers) while also scoring quite low on tests (12% in the one that was posted), and having been tested (for my ADHD diagnosis) without showing any signs of autism beyond typical "yeah, the guy's an engineer"-level things.


Like yes, some Stuff Matters, but only in the right context. Yes, if you fuck up basic engineering principles in a job or when building something important you're a fucking idiot but also I couldn't give a damn about which order the cutlery is in or changes in daily routine.


I generally get on well with other engineers but much less so with people who are clearly on the autism spectrum.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'd like to point to UK companies being able to access the European manufacturing base except, oh wait, brexit...


It may have been common knowledge in US but as a EU resident I hadn't actually heard of such issues until I ran into them many times on electronics forums.


I'm working on a side project and if things go well and we get it finished, we'll probably have a small batch manufactured in the Baltics given that we know of a couple of reputable companies there. Several friends' companies and my own previous workplaces have had good experiences when it comes to quality, responsiveness and pricing and if there are issues, it's only a one or two day trip to go there in person to sort things out. Plus the lack of language barrier (ie. everyone in the loop speaks English) is a huge plus compared to China (or even Southern Europe).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I’ve become much more judicious in my use of the em-dash




The Chad solution to this is to accept that there is only one dash and that it is also hyphen and the minus sign. Aka the ascii character 0x2D.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Just out of idle curiosity: are we talking bare PCBs or complete assemblies? There is a big difference between "I can not find a company to produce a bare six layer board" and "I can't find a company to produce electronics assemblies full of phone-density chips on a 20 layer board with buried and plated vias".






FWIW, here in Europe we certainly have companies which have both the capabilities to manufacture PCBs (like MultiCB, which will produce a bare ten-layer board in six work days in the UK, with initial costs of about 600 Euros). I had a colleague organize the component placement of some six-layer board with a large-pitch BGA with some company in Germany, and that basically worked fine.




I've gotten the impression that the situation is somewhat better in Europe than in US when it comes to low volume orders. If you need eg. 100 - 10000 assembled PCBs made, there are many reputable (mostly Eastern European) companies that will happily deliver that with much higher reliability than Chinese suppliers and without a ridiculous markup. China is difficult if you don't have someone on the site making sure the suppliers actually provide what they promised and just won't suddenly replace components with more "convenient" ones (that have worse specs). Based on several electronics forums in the US it's something of a crapshoot whether you can find a supplier that wants to deliver such orders as many seem to want only high value clients. Maybe you get lucky, maybe you don't.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If there is an obligation to "maximise shareholder value"




As far as I'm aware, there are few countries where this is actually true. Yes, it's the default but if the charter of the company says otherwise, the obligation can be something else (as long as it's legal).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Right. Which is exactly what I've been saying the whole time and why the earlier Jane Street comment was so confusing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ah, right. So Jane Street is one of the places where the electrical engineers are academically qualified, just as I meant to originally write.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And what does that sentence mean in English?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Australia is close to Vietnam / Taiwan / China, ie. where you can get shit made.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And you’re saying the people who design their hardware are self taught and didn’t go to university at all?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's just the Guardian being the Guardian.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


how much of this 1980s nostalgia is a top-down consensus campaign by writers who just don't want to deal with how cell phones negate 90% of the easy ways to create danger and tension in a narrative?




If it means the shows have 80s music I really couldn't give a damn :)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The key is that you knew to leave out the "chill" and "do nothing" parts.


I worked nearly full time throughout my studies, did decently in university (my professor gave me glowing praise over a decade after graduation when asked about me for one job) and still went to a whole bunch of parties and was active in student clubs. The trick was really to learn how to optimize and not waste effort on things that didn't matter beyond getting the required passing grade while saving the effort for those courses that actually mattered.