ToaKraka
Dislikes you
No bio...
User ID: 108
Some people argue that, in areas where public transportation is poor or nonexistent (i. e., much of the USA), the suspension of drivers' licenses is an excessively harsh penalty, because it makes keeping a job difficult or impossible. The issue is compounded when a driver's license is suspended as penalty for an offense that has nothing to do with driving. For example (these people argue), revoking the driver's license of a person who has failed to fulfill his child-support obligations only makes it less likely that he will pay in the future. See the "findings" section of this Senate bill (which died after passing the committee) for some more information (e. g., "In the United States, 40 percent of all driver’s license suspensions are issued for conduct that was unrelated to driving").
Obviously, however, complaints on this topic should be directed toward the legislature, not toward the police department.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
I think there have been many acrimonious debates on hentai forums regarding this topic.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
you just never saw that on the Reddit version of the Motte because then you'd have to click on his name, go to his profile, and lose your spot 300 comments down in the thread
Or you could just open the profile in a new tab.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
The new layout happens to be very similar to one that I came up with myself in writing HTML files for fun.
Text of bill:
It does not apply if:
-
"in reasonable medical judgment, the abortion is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman";
-
"the pregnancy is the result of rape against an adult woman, and[,] at least 48 hours prior to the abortion[,] she has obtained counseling… or… medical treatment for the rape"; or
-
"the pregnancy is a result of rape… or incest against a minor, and the rape or incest has been reported… to either a government agency… or a law enforcement agency".
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
The favicon is the little icon that shows up in your browser's list of tabs or list of favorites/bookmarks.
The fake quotations could be italicized.
In HTML, you could differentiate between <q>inline quotation</q> and <span class="fake-q">fake inline quotation</span>, and between <blockquote><p>block</p><p>quotation</p></blockquote> and <div class="fake-bq"><p>fake</p><p>block</p><p>quotation</p></div>. Accompanying CSS could include .fake-q,.fake-bq{font-style:italic;}:is(.fake-q,.fake-bq) :is(em,cite){font-weight:bold;}, .fake-q::before{content:open-quote;}.fake-q::after{content:open-quote;}, .fake-bq{margin-block:1em;margin-inline:2.5em;}, etc.
Calling it a "non-issue" is a bit strong. Like OP, I am slightly annoyed by the ambiguity of quotation marks in English. In my own casual HTML scribbling, I have bothered to differentiate between <q>quote</q>, <span class="scare">scare quote</span>, and <span class="literal">literal</span> for quite a while. Similarly, the Text Encoding Initiative's XML specification has <said> (in-work dialog), <quote> (quoted from other person), <cit> (quoted from other work, with citation), <mentioned> (literal), and <soCalled> (scare quotes) in addition to the generic <q>.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
What is "price gouging"?
You could try looking at the definitions that legislatures have chosen to implement. For example, here's New Jersey (Statutes title 56 §§ 8-107, 108, and 109):
The Legislature finds and declares that during emergencies and major disasters, including, but not limited to, earthquakes, fires, floods or civil disturbances, some merchants have taken unfair advantage of consumers by greatly increasing prices for certain merchandise. While the pricing of merchandise is generally best left to the marketplace under ordinary conditions, when a declared state of emergency results in abnormal disruptions of the market, the public interest requires that excessive and unjustified price increases in the sale of certain merchandise be prohibited. It is the intention of the Legislature to prohibit excessive and unjustified price increases in the sale of certain merchandise during declared states of emergency in New Jersey.
"Excessive price increase" means a price that is excessive as compared to the price at which the consumer good or service was sold or offered for sale by the seller in the usual course of business immediately prior to the state of emergency. A price shall be deemed excessive if:
(1) The price exceeds by more than 10 percent the price at which the good or service was sold or offered for sale by the seller in the usual course of business immediately prior to the state of emergency, unless the price charged by the seller is attributable to additional costs imposed by the seller's supplier or other costs of providing the good or service during the state of emergency;
(2) In those situations where the increase in price is attributable to additional costs imposed by the seller's supplier or additional costs of providing the good or service during the state of emergency, the price represents an increase of more than 10 percent in the amount of markup from cost, compared to the markup customarily applied by the seller in the usual course of business immediately prior to the state of emergency.
"State of emergency" means a natural or man-made disaster or emergency for which a state of emergency has been declared by the President of the United States or the Governor, or for which a state of emergency has been declared by a municipal emergency management coordinator.
It shall be an unlawful practice for any person to sell or offer to sell within 30 days after the declaration of a state of emergency, or for such other period of time as the Governor may specify in the declaration of a state of emergency, in the area for which the state of emergency has been declared, any merchandise which is consumed or used as a direct result of an emergency or which is consumed or used to preserve, protect, or sustain the life, health, safety or comfort of persons or their property for a price that constitutes an excessive price increase. The Governor may by executive order extend the period during which this prohibition remains in force.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
ESG is a pretty niche topic.
Is it? Some conservative states have explicitly banned pension funds from focusing on "sustainability" to the detriment of profit.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
In a space that has more than two dimensions, skew lines never meet but also are not parallel.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
Example from the University of Pittsburgh:
Students who have lived in PA for at least 12 consecutive months immediately prior to enrollment at any institution of higher education in PA meet the 12 Month Requirement. For U.S. Citizens, this is all that is required for classification as a PA Resident. Students who are Non-U.S. Citizens must also meet the immigration requirements described in Subsection B below in order to be eligible for reclassification to PA Resident. Students under the age of 22 are considered minors for purposes of residency determination and are classified based on the residency information of their parent(s) or legal guardian(s).
Students who do not meet the 12 Month Requirement are classified as Non-Residents. Those who wish to challenge their classification can file a petition with their campus PA Residency Coordinator. Instructions are provided below in Section VI. Petitioning to Overcome the 12 Month Requirement.
Students whose initial residency classification is Non-Resident because they do not meet the 12 Month Requirement may complete the University’s petition form and file it, together with supporting documentation, to the PA Residency Coordinator at their campus. Through the Petition Process and supporting documentation, the student must demonstrate that they:
1. Came to PA for reasons other than enrollment in an institution of higher education; and/or
2. Intend and are able to live in PA permanently or indefinitely upon completion of their academic studies.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
I'm not quite sure what you mean—but, if you're trying to copy a link from somebody else's comment and put it into your own comment, then you can (1) right-click and copy the link address, or (2) click the "View source" button and copy the Markdown whole-cloth.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
How many different instruments/parts do you prefer to hear in a piece of music?
I am inclined to feel that anything in excess of three, or maybe four, is overkill/bloat. But maybe I just listen to too much chiptune/MIDI stuff.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
Is https://youtube.com/watch?v=BtyWhHwCXIU too much or close to right?
Well, that's three or four different parts, right? Guitar, percussion, and one or two synthesized parts (I guess—I'm not an expert at decomposing music). The tune sounds a little generic to me (I have no knowledge of the Scott Pilgrim franchise, so I have no feelings associated with this video game), but I don't find the instruments objectionable.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
Three or four instruments in one entire piece or three or four instruments going at the same time?
The latter—though, on the other hand, the former can be considered bloat (as opposed to overkill) if they're real physical instruments with human players who are just sitting around doing nothing when the score doesn't call for them, rather than a single computer player swapping between instruments instantly.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
Maybe I should differentiate more clearly between overkill and bloat. When I listen to a piece of music that has overkill, I wonder why there are so many different sounds playing at once, when it would sound less confusing/overwhelming/bad to have just three or four sounds. When I listen to a piece of music that is bloated, I wonder why there are so many different sounds playing (whether simultaneously or in sequence), when it would have been so much simpler/cheaper for the composer to use just three or four sounds.
What is a part? Is a chord on a guitar six or one parts?
I guess that's one spot where the synthesized instrument and the physical instrument can diverge significantly in bloat, even though both compositions have exactly the same position on the overkill meter. Many physical instruments, of course, can create a chord standing alone—but an electronic tracker may require one synthesized "instrument" for each note in a chord.
Is a choir one part, 4–8, or ~8–48?
Similarly, a choir would (I assume) be around four instruments in terms of overkill regardless of its physical or electronic implementation, but a physical implementation could be horribly bloated, with dozens of members beyond the minimum.
If I have an orchestra using a bunch of different instruments to produce a single chord is that one or multiple parts?
I would say that, if an entire physical orchestra is being used to generate a single chord, it's horrendous bloat, but not necessarily overkill. MIDI, of course, has the "Orchestra Hit" instrument that can be used to eliminate the bloat.
Is the guitar and bass guitar different or the same part?
I don't know much about musical composition, but if they're playing the same note then I imagine I probably wouldn't be able to tell that there were two instruments. However, if they're playing the "same" note at different octaves, then I might be able to tell, and to wonder what the point is.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
Safety standards are fascism, we should be able to sell cheap tricycles or a modern MGB to consenting adults.
I also think additional licensing should be required for any vehicle with more than 300 horsepower, regardless of size.
These statements seem to fall on opposite sides of the debate.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
Oh, you just want smaller cars by any means necessary, even if those means are government-enforced. I thought your "safety standards are fascism" remark was meant to indicate anti-government sentiment.
But are rigid setbacks (as the lawyers say) the least restrictive means of preventing your land from draining to somebody else's land? Instead, the code could say something like:
Your site plan should include a hydrologic study showing that your proposed building will not shed additional water onto any adjacent property. If your site plan does not include such a hydrologic study, then it must adhere to this table of default setbacks, which will produce a presumption (rebuttable by a hydrologic study) that your proposed building will not shed additional water onto any adjacent property.
For more information on this style of taxation (called a "Harberger tax"), see the paper Property Is Only Another Name for Monopoly.
The existing system of private property interferes with allocative efficiency by giving owners the power to hold out for excessive prices. We propose a remedy in the form of a tax on property, based on the value self-assessed by its owner at intervals, along with a requirement that the owner sell the property to any third party willing to pay a price equal to the self-assessed value. The tax rate would reflect a tradeoff between gains from allocative efficiency and losses to investment efficiency, likely in the range of 5–10% annually for most assets. We discuss the detailed design of this system from an economic and legal perspective.
The authors expand on the history of the idea in chapter 1 of the book Radical Markets.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1yr ago
Right now, legalizing slavery would do nothing, nobody would enforce it.
That's a bold claim. Isn't human trafficking widespread (though condemned) globally? Aren't income-sharing agreements and non-dischargeable debts (arguably on the slippery slope of slavery) commonly accepted financial tools?
Don't give it too much credit. It doesn't seem to be particularly standardized—though at least one effort has been made in that direction.
More options
Context Copy link