VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
No bio...
User ID: 64
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
13hr ago
It does not appear to be truthful reporting. American officials took the unusual step of announcing on several occasions that America is not on board with the attack. The IDF is telling reporters that they are coordinating with America.
I think the only coherent reading of both claims is something like "Israel told the US ('coordinating with') they were going to do it, and US forces didn't take part in or recommended against ('not on board with') the actual action".
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1d ago
The US Navy only knew how to shout on the internet until 2013.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1d ago
An elderly woman will be tortured to death unless you...
Can I say that for all human-constructed trolley problems, I categorically place the moral blame for all outcomes on the constructor, not the one holding the switch? I get it they're unavoidable in some cases from natural causes, but this case is really just negotiating with terrorists.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
Peachtree, GA has a rather famous network of golf cart paths, but I suppose it's not "large" per se.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
Yeah, it is a bit unfair of a comparison broadly. But sidewalks and bike lanes keep getting wider. Very old neighborhoods often have 24" sidewalks (if at all), while now they seem to be 36 or 48 inches. Bigger new roads (like your 11 lane freeway) have 6 or 8 foot sidewalks, getting closer to the width of a car lane.
I actually do like sidewalks, and I like the idea of bike lanes even if I'm unsatisfied with how they're engineered here these days: painted gutters, really? Unidirectional lanes across a road that doesn't have safe crossings? I think the ADA et al makes us avoid non-level pedestrian/bike crossings, so they just don't provide them on medium streets. Bidirectional lanes without safe crossings or ways to turn across? Do they ever sweep bike lanes?
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
I would be interested to see a ruling on whether or not trained AI models are copyrightable. IMO neither "we threw all the text we could find at this" nor "and then we did a huge best-fit gradient descent" implies much creative input.
I think finding them to not be (like phone books, or typefaces) has some interesting implications.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
And I think rolling stops should be legalized in the absence of cross traffic.
They are in some jurisdictions. The "Idaho stop" rule allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
You know most places it's illegal to ride on the sidewalk right?
In my city it's legal almost everywhere except the central business district (conveniently the densest pedestrian area). There are specific places devoted in the law and I've seen signs marking them.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
How steep are the hills around you? Some of the quieter roads in my not-flat American city are almost 20% (short) grades. I can bike up those, barely, but I suspect the median cyclist without an e-bikes will have to get off and walk. Honestly going down those by bike scares me.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
American cities are also much warmer than most of Europe. I think there might be a mismatch there, because the Sunbelt is too hot much of the year for cycling to be enjoyable. It's much easier to dress for cold than for Phoenix summers.
Are there any tropical or subtropical cities with respected bike infrastructure? Maybe Shanghai back when China was bike-dominant?
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
I've seen urban infrastructure advocates lament that the set of people on bikes is broad enough that serving all of them is difficult. Your "cyclists" want bike lanes to be wide and designed for faster speeds, and around here the equivalent group have even pushed against separate bike lanes in some places because they're often not designed or maintained for going closer to car speeds (30mph). I think there was hope that e-bikes and scooters might level that playing field, but so far they seem to get people to speeds way above their skill level and have gained a bit of a bad, although not irredeemable, reputation.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
Both bike lanes and sidewalks independently have the problem that their users have a wide range of speeds --- try running on a crowded sidewalk, even before they have sharp sudden turns. Bike lanes try to fit roadies wanting to go 20+ mph, kids and grandmas going near walking pace, and e-bikes that have been poorly regulated and go car speeds.
Roads have slow-moving vehicles, but there are special rules for the (often requiring specific placards, lights, and sometimes escorts).
I guess I could point to the analogue of data infrastructure: in the past we had separate phone and cable TV infrastructure and a variety of broadcast radio and TV, but that has been moving slowly towards common switched packet infrastructure where everything is passed through a single, big data pipe. I guess the question I have is if there is a way to develop roads like switched packet networks. Something like autonomous vehicles that consistently yield to pedestrians and cyclists on the same roads. There are (potentially) enough efficiency gains from replacing safety margins for humans in the loop with intra-vehicle communication (ignoring the security and safety issues for this thought experiment) to allow efficient dynamic allocation of the space. It works today on sparsely used suburban roads: without sidewalks or bike lanes, a few local human-driven cars at local speeds can share the space with pedestrians and cyclists.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
You know, I consider myself a modest advocate in favor of better transit infrastructure, but the "induced demand! Just add another lane bro!" partisans irk me because there really are more (diffuse) benefits to more total miles traveled --- not necessarily commuting to suburbs directly, but mobility is generally good, and I'm not convinced the measures they suggest will actually improve things.
Sometimes it's been tempting to take the "just add a lane, bro" meme featuring an American freeway (often I10 in Houston) and re-render it showing an equally wide road with all these subdivided sections for things they would otherwise like:
- Bidirectional 8 ft wide, ADA friendly sidewalk
- 8 ft wide cycle lane on each side
- lane width space for urban trees
- dedicated bus lane
- light rail/tram
- inter-city rail
- one actual car/truck lane in each direction
"Just add another dedicated lane, bro. This time it'll make them take mass transit or bikes." Although I personally would like more people to do that.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
Given the other answers, I just want you to know that you're not alone.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
Maybe this depends on your local demographics? Around here (historically known as a cycling-friendly locale), the average roadie is mid-20s to middle-aged, out for some exercise, and seems pretty interested in making it home safely. I've been one in the past, and the most dangerous stuff I've seen them do was (actual sanctioned and mock practice) races on open roads, where the biggest risks were clearly to each other, and the serious folks were pretty loudly insistent about actually yielding at yield signs where legally required and watching for cross traffic.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
The bad cyclists are the ones who are committed to cycling as a lifestyle- either for fitness or for environmental reasons. Like, rules apply to you.
At least in my neck of the woods, the spandex-clad roadies and messenger-bag-toting commuters generally follow the rules of the road. Maybe they don't come to a complete stop at 4 way stops (frequently cars don't either!), but I rarely see them run red lights or disregard pedestrians (although there are relatively few of those here too). Large groups of roadies do sometimes run lights a bit (but so do cars), I suppose, but there aren't that many of those and they're pretty predictable altogether. Maybe it's different in more urban areas, but around here the biggest group of cyclists I'd complain about is when the local homeless decide to ride in the dark in dark clothes without lights and without a clear sense of self-preservation (the street one block over has a lower speed limit, less traffic, and a marked bike lane, maybe avoid the busy frontage road?).
In the same way that 90s CGI now sticks out like a sore thumb, I'll bet that current day LLM output is going to be glaring in the future.
Interesting idea! Although there is definitely CG from the '90s that still looks downright good. Jurassic Park comes to mind as a masterpiece, which largely worked because the artists understood what worked well with the technology of the time: night shots (few light sources, little global illumination) of shiny-but-not-reflective surfaces (wet dinosaurs), used sparingly and mated with lots of practical effects.
CG only became a negative buzzword when it got over hyped and stretched to applications that it just wasn't very good for at the time. In some ways it's improved since (we can render photoreal humans!), but it still does get stretched in shots that are IMO just bad movie making ideas ("photorealistic, yet physics-defying").
I could see AI slop going the same way: certain "tasteful" uses still look good, but the current flood of AI art (somehow all the girls have the same face, and I've definitely spotted plenty of online ads that felt cheap from obvious AI use) will be "tacky" and age poorly.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
relatively strong visuospatial skills (in the mental shape rotating sense)
I've put some effort into getting better at art within the last few years, and sometimes I think my inner shape rotator is actively hindering attempts to draw from life well. Proper shading is IMHO hard when you have strong sense of what the object colors should be: as a simple example the checker shadow illusion requires conscious effort to color properly.
I haven't ruled out that mental shape rotating might be useful at some future point, though. It seems like maybe it'd be helpful drawing without reference.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
Is January 6th the only time that's worked?
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
that people who disguise themselves as other races are not really an issue
It is maybe less of an issue, but it does come up from time to time. There have been several prominent fake Native Americans within the last few decades. There are fewer examples, but not zero, for other races.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
people breaking into the country's main legislative building
I could point to the 1954 Capitol shooting, in which Puerto Rican separatists (Americans) fired 30 rounds in the House of Representatives chamber, hitting five representatives. Their sentences were commuted by Jimmy Carter in 1978 and 1979.
Or the 1983 bombing of the Senate, done by a self-described "Armed Resistance Unit" protesting US involvement in Lebanon and Grenada. Their sentences were commuted by Bill Clinton in 2001.
Or the 1971 bombing of the capitol done by Weather Underground, whose leadership largely escaped any criminal charges and went on to be professors in universities throughout the country.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
Didn't Obama have some very distant claim to descent from ADOS through his white mother? His father was African-(not-American).
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
Whether or not those conservatives should be required to pay taxes towards your seen-as-elective medical treatments is probably also a sticking point. That one comes up with abortion too, and has with birth control in the past --- I'm not sure if anyone beyond Hobby Lobby really cares quite as strongly there these days.
I just want to state the obvious here, that bicycle sheds should be blue.
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