ToaKraka
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User ID: 108
Every FAA employee
*Every FAA employee in a critical safety position (presumably including every air traffic controller)
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
IIRC, several journalists have made this error. Example
An article on Huffington Post about Justice Jackson's talisman originally included this line:
After all, Jackson is the first Black Supreme Court justice to sit on the court. "Even folks unfamiliar with its cultural significance can recognize it as a meaningful choice."
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law a bill allowing land seizures by the state without compensation—a move that has put him at odds with some members of his government.
[The law] replaces the pre-democratic Expropriation Act of 1975, which placed an obligation on the state to pay owners it wanted to take land from, under the principle of "willing seller, willing buyer".
The new law allows for expropriation without compensation only in circumstances where it is "just and equitable and in the public interest" to do so. This includes if the property is not being used and there's no intention to either develop or make money from it or when it poses a risk to people.
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
It is my understanding that major email providers now have blacklists of known spam senders, so that, if you would get an email from such a sender, the email never even shows up in your spam folder, but instead is silently deleted. (Legitimate websites, such as Questionable Questing, sometimes have trouble getting themselves removed from these blacklists.)
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
the sidebar, if we had one
This website does have a sidebar, though it's hidden if your screen is narrower than 992 pixels.
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
it's not showing up in my mainstream news feeds
"This was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization," he said. "This one really mattered. Thank you for making it happen! Thank you."
Biting his bottom lip, he thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, then extended his right arm out, emphatically, at an upward angle, palm down and fingers together. Then he turned and made the same hand gesture to the crowd behind him.
"My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured," he said as he finished the gesture.
The gestures were quickly scrutinized online.
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
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Ballotpedia page (not yet updated)
Update: Around 11:40 AM (while he was physically at the inauguration ceremony), Biden announced pardons for his three siblings and two siblings-in-law "for any nonviolent offenses against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon".
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Volokh Conspiracy (Blackman), including text of pardon
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
Are lots getting narrower in the US? It is my impression that they are getting wider.
I have seen US houses built on agglomerations of four 25′×110′ lots. Obviously, a 25-foot-wide lot would have approximately zero buildable area under most modern zoning codes (example). But such a lot was perfectly buildable back when the lot was originally laid out, one or two hundred years ago.
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
In my opinion, the goal would be to treat sex work similar to tobacco. Sure, some people might smuggle in tobacco to avoid paying taxes, and some of the smugglers might rely on slave labor to increase their margin, but the average consumer of cigarettes or vapes is not going to go to the darknet to save a few bucks.
Article: There are ten US states where more than a quarter of all cigarettes consumed are smuggled. In New York, more than half of all cigarettes are smuggled, so "the average consumer of cigarettes" does "go to the darknet to save a few bucks" (tax of 4.35 $/pack, plus another 1.5 $/pack in New York City).
I think I also read an article a while ago about how cigarette smuggling is a major business in Europe (maybe in Sweden or Poland).
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
If you feel like you could do more to be better, get a reputable therapist.
I am highly skeptical of therapy after an annoying experience as a teenager (several sessions of mandatory therapy as part of a settlement of a frivolous prosecution for terroristic threats).
Also, Big Man Siskind says:
I work in a clinic with about ten therapists. Some are better than others, but all of them are competent. I send my patients to them. In a few hundred patients I’ve worked with, zero have had the sudden, extraordinary, long-lasting change that the therapy books promise. Many have benefited a little. A few would say that, over the course of years, their lives have been turned around. But sudden complete transformations? Not that much.
Why go for therapy when medication has already brought about "sudden, extraordinary, long-lasting change"?
He also says:
Medications and psychotherapy are about equally effective in treating depression, but psychotherapy costs a lot more, takes more time, and is harder to get your insurance to cover.
it's not uncommon for successful people to be like this because they establish patterns of just puttering along and getting it done and burn themselves in the process.
You may rest assured that I have been confiding in my favorite coworkers that my days of masochistically taking on extra work without being told to by my boss are over.
the conversion of books to HTML sounds like a very cool project
Example file (must be downloaded to be viewed, since Catbox blocks HTML-file viewing in order to prevent phishing)
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
This website seems to be frequented by a lot of mentally ill people. Let's discuss the torture that is life!
In late 2022, I started to feel a confusing lack of happiness and willpower. There was no apparent reason for me to feel bad. I was making zillions of dollars at work, was acclaimed as the most diligent and most innovative employee in my office, and was on track to retire at age 33. But the enjoyment that I was able to extract from my hobbies (primarily, playing video games and converting PDF and print books to HTML) and my tolerance of work gradually dwindled. I tried going to bed an hour earlier than usual, drinking more water (even though it tasted disgusting) rather than my usual drink of grape juice mixed with seltzer water, and taking relaxing walks of three to seven miles (five to eleven kilometers) on weekends. But those efforts had no effect. By late 2023, I was experiencing intermittent testicle aches and literally 24/7 headaches (both of varying intensity, from mild to severe), and semi-frequently couldn't even force myself to work after sitting down in my cubicle. After searching for possible headache causes online and getting a testicle ultrasound that revealed nothing suspicious, I was forced to conclude that I must be suffering from depression.
My doctor prescribed 5 mg/d of escitalopram to me. After a month, no effect was apparent, so the dosage was increased to 10 mg/d. And the clouds parted! My headaches and testicle aches receded to the background, and sometimes even disappeared entirely. I regained the ability to feel happy and to tolerate the taste of plain water. The only side effect was perhaps a month of intermittent severe stomachaches before those too receded. I genuinely felt like the Zoloft blob.
My willpower still is trash. I would say it has recovered from one-third of normal to two-thirds of normal. (I just upgraded today to the maximum escitalopram dosage of 20 mg/d, since the headaches have been returning a bit. I didn't do so previously because I was leery of having the severe stomachaches return.) But I just have to hold out for two more years so that I can retire, embark on fifty years of undiluted relaxation in my custom-built house, and finally recover enough willpower to convert the entirety of For Want of a Nail (including all the footnotes and bibliography entries) to HTML!
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
What are you emulating it on and which emulator are you using?
I'm just using BSNES on my computer.
Please remember that "50 percent plus 1" is an incorrect description of a simple majority. Robert's Rules of Order edition 10 § 44:1:
The word majority means "more than half". For example (assuming that there are no voters having fractions of a vote, as may occur in some conventions):
- If 19 votes are cast, a majority (more than 9.5) is 10.
- If 20 votes are cast, a majority (more than 10) is 11.
- If 21 votes are cast, a majority (more than 10.5) is 11.
"More than half" is not the same as "at least 50 percent plus 1". Assuming integer votes, if 19 votes are cast, "more than half" = "more than 9.5" = "at least 10", while "at least 50 percent plus 1" = "at least 9.5 + 1" = "at least 10.5" = "at least 11" = wrong.
What is your favorite puzzle game? Tetris? Puzzle League? Klondike? Minesweeper?
I recently started playing Puzzle League (specifically, emulated Tetris Attack), and I have to say that it's the most fun I've had with a video game in a while.
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Tired: Camping out at the electronics store to buy the latest underpriced graphics card
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Wired: Camping out at the govt.-owned liquor store to buy the latest underpriced bourbon whiskey
"It's really crazy. People are climbing into delivery trucks to look around, stalking clerks, sneaking into storerooms. Sometimes they will line up before opening just to be the first to ask whether there's anything new," said the press secretary for the PLCB [Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board]. "We want to give the average Pennsylvanian the opportunity to buy a once-in-a-lifetime bottle. We don't jack up the price, and we don't make it hard to find."
Through the Attestations, the PLCB showed that Pennsylvania's bourbon-whiskey enthusiasts have a strong desire to lawfully purchase bourbon whiskey at the PLCB's [govt.-owned liquor] stores, causing annoyance and inconvenience. With regard to a "risk of physical harm to or the personal security of an individual" [sic], as required by [the law], the Attestations provided mere speculation. Therefore, we conclude that the PLCB failed to meet its burden of establishing that the requested records are exempt from disclosure under the personal-safety exemption.
When will people learn that high prices are better than shortages?
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
Dungeon Crawler Carl is probably the "best" example of LitRPG/Systems.
*Worth the Candle enters the chat*
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
Congratulations! Our near-omnipotent alien/demon/wizard/AI society has decided to impose an all-encompassing system of RPG elements upon your primitive world. Please do not resist.
Or, alternatively, the all-encompassing system of RPG elements has merely existed since time immemorial, rather than being suddenly imposed from outside.
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
I think there was also a recent thread about homeschooling experiences on here.
The thread in question (including my contribution)
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
all the surrounding media seems too juvenile
Again, it depends very heavily on the series. I don't think anyone would call Armored Core juvenile.
ToaKraka
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11mo ago
one in the same
*Request for TRO
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