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VoxelVexillologist

Multidimensional Radical Centrist

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joined 2022 September 04 18:24:54 UTC 

				
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VoxelVexillologist


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Multidimensional Radical Centrist

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 18:24:54 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 64


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Plenty of bad behavior happens among the Silicon Valley elite.




As much as I find the statement itself reprehensible, I think there's a kernel of truth in an infamous quote from a former president:




And when you're a star, they let you do it.  You can do anything.




High status lets people (almost exclusively men, in this case) get away with a lot, in part because people are willing to put up with more to be with someone high status: Christian Grey's romance plays don't work for anyone who isn't a hot, young billionaire.  The quid pro quo is implicit, and rarely spoken about, although I seem to recall a few blow-ups in recent memory where it seemed part of the drama involved (by deceit or misreading) mistakes about how high-status one party was.


And nobody really complains because it's hard to declare that behavior with "groupies" (for lack of a better word) is categorically non-consensual.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Everyone is free to build their own GNU/Linux distribution




If anything, GNU/Linux is, itself, an example of voting with feet.  There's a reason we're not running GNU Hurd for a full GNU stack.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the Dallas-Houston route is well served by commuter flights and luxury buses which puts an upper floor on the price tag for rail tickets.




I've long been wondering whether a better application of HSR wouldn't be to urban centers directly, but to major airports.  Ideally, the airport already has transit options into the city available, are generally on the outskirts of town where routing rail travel would be easier, and, while airlines might be unhappy about losing short flights, there are lots of short connections to hubs that could probably be faster by train than an extra connecting flight.  Austin and San Antonio to Dallas or Houston, Chicago to Milwaukee, Oklahoma City to Dallas, Phoenix to Tuscon.  All these flights are about an hour, and fly more than half a dozen flights daily each way, many of which are, I assume, to take a much longer flight from the larger airport, because driving would take a similar amount of time and solve getting around at the destination.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for January 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Generally, "electromagnets" as far as I know.  So, cheaper/smaller MRIs, improved efficiency of motors and generators for everything under the sun, more viable mag-lev systems.


While there are probably some improvements for computers, I doubt it'd be a sea change, but a double digit efficiency improvement isn't terrible.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 7, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
But if I want half-monitor-width columns of text, do I size my browser to half a screen (I've done this before)?  When I want to view images, videos, or even tabular data (calendars, for example) though, I frequently want full-screen, widescreen presentation.  The "multi-media" nature of web pages makes this difficult generally.


Although, I think the web would have developed very differently if the browser were allowed to specify maximum column width like it can text sizes or accessibility features.  Not certain if that'd be better (light/dark theming is only now starting to work tolerably), but certainly different.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'd be curious to read more if you have any sources to recommend.  I'm less concerned for this particular point about proliferation while the plant is monitored and controlled from the West and more about a dictator that nationalizes it and is free to (ignoring workplace safety, as is dictatorial tradition) disassemble it and focus on a weapons program.  But I'm not really an expert here, so perhaps that's not the concern, or we just exclude countries at risk of such things, although that hasn't been the most predictable in the past.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't see it as likely, but a Georgist modification to the existing property tax system could be interesting: adjust the relative rates on land value and improvement value in a potentially revenue-neutral fashion.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for December 22, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


When we someday leave the cradle of Mother Earth forever we might switch to a kilo- and mega- second timekeeping method,




Multi-planetary timekeeping is something that doesn't really have a firm academic basis currently.  Relativistic time dilation means that clocks, even Cesium sources, run at perceptually (for an Earth-based observer) different rates due to differing gravitational potential.  I have talked with experts in the field before, and there is general agreement that the current "time is defined relative to Earth sea-level" probably doesn't work for precise applications (notably navigation) even on the Moon.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 18, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
One obvious line of attack would be for Republicans to take a straight party-line vote to impeach (as if a ham sandwich, which prosecutors can famously charge with anything) any and all accessible current office holders who might run on the other side under (Trumped up, one might say) charges of "insurrection" against the Constitution and demand that states remove them from ballots too.


But I don't think that is a good idea, nor are they currently well-enough aligned together to actually pull it off, probably for the better.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 18, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'd be curious if Section 5 of the 14th Amendment ("The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.") indicates that Congress, and not Colorado, is responsible for its enforcement.  But it doesn't feel like a slam dunk argument.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 10, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I only recently learned about dry-fire as a training tool;




I have always been told that dry-firing (most?) guns is bad mechanically because certain pieces aren't meant to hit together repeatedly (hardened firing pins on non-brass surfaces?).  Maybe more modern designs account for this? Or are you using dummy training rounds?


I'm definitely not an expert on this, so I'd be curious to hear more from someone who knows.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 12, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Shouldn't the Rule Against Perpetuities bar infinite mortgages?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 6, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


On the contrary, I think you're building a big assumption in here, that countries could simply provide "quality of life worth a damn" to everyone living under their umbrella and are electing not to out of spite. Instead, as that thread covered, even providing a low-quality of life for someone that can't fully care for themselves is incredibly expensive and a massive burden on nations that are dealing with inverted population pyramids.




I haven't really had a chance to rigorously think through this, but I've occasionally had an economics thought experiment involving total economic output being measured in working hours, rather than hard currency: given that the law demands specific caregiver-to-resident ratios for these communities (the reasons for which are not unreasonable, in my opinion), we can quantify what fraction of our cumulative efforts goes into providing for our elderly and infirm.  It seems reasonable that a society that spends more of its time this way isn't spending it on, say, fundamental research and technology.  Ultimately it seems like technology is, other than demographics, our only way to improve this number in the long run.


On the other hand, that presupposes that research and invention is a better use of our time, which quite possibly isn't always the case: would you trade grandma for yet another cryptocurrency startup?  So maybe this is just a derivative "increasing GDP doesn't reflect improving my societal preferences" complaint.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Israel-Gaza Megathread #2
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Israel uses conventional bombs and openly abandons any attempts at targeting.




I would observe that the easiest way to present this would be "Sorry, our budget for JDAM kits has run out.  We're switching to dumb bombs, and we have to drop them from high altitude (inaccurately, in larger numbers) because Hamas probably has MANPADs."  Comparatively few these days seem complain about Russia's use of unguided munitions.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Iraq?




I sometimes consider the hypothetical world in which the 2003 invasion was skipped.  It's obviously hard to predict such outcomes, but I think it's not implausible a continued Hussein regime might not be better for the average Iraqi.  It's not like they had a particularly good human rights record.


Sure, there was a lot of destruction from the war (which I'd generally agree was poorly-conceived), but how would Iraq have faced the Arab Spring?  It seems plausible that could have ended less like ISIS and more like the still-ongoing Syrian Civil War, likely complete with Russia intentionally bombing civilian targets and waves of refugees fleeing to Europe.


For all it's faults in the invasion, the country now could be much worse than it is today.  Which is distinctly not an endorsement of the operation, merely a pause for consideration.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 18, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


    

  • when I dieted, I maintained a small deficit (up to 500 calories) and suffered no adverse effects beyond really looking forward to the next meal
    • 

  • the guy that has tried dozens of diets (can't find the link) tried a deficit of 1000 calories and stopped after one week of feeling hungry and lethargic
    • 





At least in my experience (I'm not obese, but I've occasionally tried to lose modest amounts of weight to improve sports performance), my best results have come from trying to always be slightly hungry.  Trying to be very hungry (presumably a large deficit) quickly led to poor decisionmaking -- "oh, just a small snack" doesn't stay limited very easily, although I've had some success with snacks I don't like, which starts sounding a lot like the potato diet.


But I have observed that this takes active thought, reminders, and is harder when I'm dealing with more IRL just because I have other things to think about.




if you reduce CI to 0, CO won't get reduced to 0 until you look like a walking skeleton and die of starvation




There are at least a few recorded cases of people doing this: the linked guy lost 276 pounds by fasting for 392 days in the '60s.  Not recommending this, but not impossible.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for September 13, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


You say nothing. Marriage surprisingly turns out great.




Obviously not directly related to OP, but I'm familiar with one instance where this happened.  A close family member, single at the time, dropped "you could do better".  Still together a fairly happy decade later, notwithstanding the usual ups and downs inherent in any marriage.  Said family member is still close, and still single.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for August 23, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


However, personally, I'm not convinced stabilizer recruitment is a plus, as it just means more imprecise targeting of muscles.




I think this depends on your objectives: if your goal is to maximize something very specific like bicep size or a very specific motion for a sport (I've heard of swimmers doing some particularly funky lifts to recreate specific stroke mechanics), you are probably right.  But for a random person looking for "fitness", those stabilizer muscles kick in for plenty of real-life scenarios: when you have to awkwardly lift something, or stumble on uneven terrain.  When I lift I want stability because I'm really training for other sports, but your mileage may vary.


For anyone either unfit or inexperienced, really any (non-injuring, gradually ramped up) work is good.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I believe the basic CPR training hasn't included rescue breaths in a while. Specifically they are nice to have, but continuing compressions is more useful in non-professional (read: watched training a year ago, no hands on experience) contexts.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 19, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
As a non-lawyer, it's fairly well known that lying on the ATF Form 4473 basically never results in charges (as of the 2018 GAO report, at least -- they claim they're trying to increase those numbers).  In FY 2017, 8.6M reported transactions led to 112k denials, 12.7k investigations, and 12 prosecutions.  Presumably every one of those denials lied about eligibility on that form, barring questionable corner cases like "I forgot I have a felony conviction."


Note that Form 4473 here is the one that asks "Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?" and notes in bold that lying on the form is itself a felony.  I most often see this referenced by people in gun circles complaining that the law as-written is not enforced.


As much as I wish we'd actually, like, enforce laws in this country, starting to enforce previously-mostly-ignored laws specifically with people close to politicians is a bit of a bad look.  OTOH, I'd really like to see us hold those in positions of power to a higher standard, rather than a lower one.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I know this is a hobby horse, but once AI is trained on gait recognition and body language of labelled examples of millions of hours of countless criminals’ movements recorded by CCTV, tiny little telltale patterns might well allow for effective pre-crime in the case of almost all premeditated criminal activity. People show their nerves, everyone has a tell, etc.




I have trouble believing there's enough information content present in CCTV streams to uniquely identify individuals confidently.  I see how it maybe could work, but it's not something I'd focus on directly.  Are human gaits really that different as to be identifiable from distant security cameras?  Are they even consistent for a single person day-to-day?


The longer I think about it, I've also started thinking that AI likely scales sub-linearly (logarithmic?) with the size of the training dataset.  "But the AI can viably consider a larger dataset than human experts" may be true, but may not generate hugely better results.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 13, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
In theory, would the classic federal "deprivation of rights under color of law" rules not apply to judges, especially state-level ones?  I don't see that as a hugely likely possibility: it's not a hill much of the high-status right, especially the DOJ, wants to die on, and would be a pretty big culture war escalation. But it seems a theoretical option.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


And then gets hits by sales taxes anyway when he spends his money in the future.




I have occasionally mused that a truly-progressive sales tax could be interesting: tax total expenditures up to, say, the median cost of living at one rate, and marginal expenditures above at a higher rate.  This would probably need some allowance for amortization on bigger purchases.  The idea being to tax the wealth when it's spent, and intentionally incentivising capital investments rather than conspicuous expenditures.


But it's a very wonkish policy proposal that would be hard to sell to the broader public, I think.  And probably has quite a few details that would need ironing out.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 7, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Unless I'm missing something, it seems like there is no good business reason for an email queue to be 3-4 days steady state.




Your question is reasonable.  I've always assumed (without evidence) that "steady state" isn't perfectly steady, and overprovisioning to get to zero backlog constantly would be expensive.  Both short-term day-to-day noise and seasonal effects (few warranty claims on snowblowers in July) could make volumes unpredictable, and a couple of days slack would let you schedule shifts based on volume.


Although as Oracle pointed out, it could be a contractual obligation.  I've certainly had interactions with, say, insurance where I've been quoted 60 days to evaluate a claim, but gotten a response within a week.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I find it deeply ironic that the criminal justice system, which spends a lot of time interdicting illegal shipments of vast quantities of opiates, would have trouble getting its hands on some.


You're not wrong, though, I don't think they could get legitimate suppliers to do so over the table, while at the same time "leave a lethal dose of fentanyl and clean needles, and pretend not to notice the OD" is probably more effective than we'd like to admit, but also wouldn't work in all cases.