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VoxelVexillologist

Multidimensional Radical Centrist

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joined 2022 September 04 18:24:54 UTC 

				
User ID: 64


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
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 August 28, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the Russians did not establish Nazi-style concentration camps for industrialized slaughter




I think it's worth noting that while the camps are the most well-publicized part of the Holocaust, a decent fraction of the deaths, especially early in the war were attributable to death squads with guns rounding up "undesirables."


There have definitely been recorded mass graves in places like Bucha that at least seem to resemble this sort of policy of wanton death.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
These statements aren't strictly contradictory, although both are probably stronger claims than I would make.  One lesson I've only recently begun to understand about WWII is that, at the scale of warfare required, seizing territory and, by extension, it's populace, gives fodder for larger armies.


This doesn't come up for discussion of American (or even Commonwealth, really) involvement in the war because the Western Allies weren't conscripting from recently-annexed territory, but the German army was much larger for having conscripted Czech and Austrian soldiers.  It's not inconceivable that the same units currently armed by the West could be, after a surrender, rearmed by the Russians and marched west.


The only reason I don't find that situation hugely likely is that I'm pretty sure that most anyone can see that, in the case of a true hot war in Europe that NATO was involved in, the result would be a pretty decisive curb stomping on the scale of Desert Storm.  Which is, to my mind, a huge argument for maintaining that technical and armament superiority, and also for Europe to step up their commitment to those alliances.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 24, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Amazon is really hard to buy decent clothing from. I've tried buying stretch knit dresses, which is the easiest thing possible to fit, and they were still off and basically unwearable, high waisted for a very short, wide person in that case.




Completely anecdotally, my experience has been the opposite.  But I'm looking at menswear, not dresses.  In particular, I found a business casual shirt that fit me well in my closet, and I was able to find the exact same brand/size on Amazon.  The first one fit, and I've since bought a few extra colors when the price is reduced (I might grump a small amount that even these change slightly over time, and that back pleats on men's shirts seem to be out-of-fashion these days).   I've also bought quite a few pairs of jeans in rather the same way, which saves rummaging through the racks at the store to find the right size: there are surprisingly few longer-than-wide pairs of pants at modern American stores, but Amazon always has them in stock.  Socks don't have much variation in sizing, either.


In terms of athletic wear, a few years back I bought a pair of running shorts for a good price on a whim from a Chinese brand I hadn't heard of, and they have honestly been some of the best I've used (not a connoisseur).  I've since bought a few more (and a couple of other items), and not been disappointed.  Sportswear in stores, especially anything sport-specific, is generally comparatively expensive in stores near me.


Admittedly, I can imagine works for me primarily because I'm trying to buy identically-cut garments, which I'd bet only works for male fashion.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 31, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
In this case it's primarily that the one I have is the wrong color.  Also, styles change.  I tried it on, and fortunately it fits well enough that I might consider tailoring it in the future (I haven't gotten bigger, most notably), but given how often I wear them I'll probably keep it stored safely until I need it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For the record, I agree with your take.  The comment is more referencing cases in which people rhetorically imply that the country is worse off than otherwise, which I think is less clear.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 14, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I can't say I have too much experience with using machine translation, so I'm probably not the right person to give you such a comparison. It's reasonably fast and produces English prose that reads pretty naturally when I've used it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 14, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've been surprisingly impressed with the Firefox Translations extension, which does the ML translation locally.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 19, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I wasn't aware of the other gun crimes.  The original article says "it would not prosecute him in connection with his purchase of a handgun in 2018 during a period when he was using drugs," which seems to dance around the details of post-purchase behavior, although I hardly expect to see charges filed for that either.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ah.  I would personally agree they're at least different enough to warrant a separate discussion.  I was just surprised (and wrong) that a sitting justice today would use that as a hypothetical.  Makes more sense now.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Possibly.  I think you might be able to track net cash outflows, rather than purchases directly, to cover most of it, but that admittedly only works for people that use banks and would have trouble with people who get paid and pay in primarily cash.  But the existing income tax system has those problems too.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It's bonkers how much you pay for plywood smaller than 4'x8'. Basically a "Hah hah, you don't have a truck" tax. It's fully double per square foot for a 2'x4' sheet versus a 4'x8' sheet.




At least my local Orange Box store has a couple of saws they will use to rough cut things like this.  There isn't always someone on hand to operate it (I've had to wait either in line or while they paged the guy in the store) but they don't charge for a simple "make it fit in my car." I will admit I have to spend more time planning my cuts on the panels as a result.


For long boards, I've usually just waited, but I have considered bringing a handsaw to make it work for small jobs.  If I ever need a lot, they do rent trucks by the hour, but I've never tried that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Don't cancer rates vary quite a bit geographically even without nuclear fallout?  IIRC Australia has absurd skin cancer rates, but hasn't seen widespread panic and fleeing from this danger.  "Twice as likely to die of skin cancer" is concerning and unfortunate, but still not a huge absolute risk.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for January 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Do you have a particular recipe to recommend? I have an Instant Pot and do appreciate a good biryani.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


hasn't even vented the dryer to the outside of the house




While what you're describing is probably a cheap, incorrect (and probably both damaging and against code) way to install a dryer, there are "condensing" dryer models out there that don't require vents.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Price deflation is still pretty bad because it shifts gains towards capital and away from workers.




While economists seem pretty convinced that modest inflation is preferable to modest deflation, I'm personally unconvinced that for modest, predictable rates (which plausibly excludes Gold or Bitcoin) it matters much either direction.  There are examples of specific commodities deflating (specifically, "for the same price in dollars next year I can get more/better product": computers, flat-panel TVs, cell phones, even cars) and none of the promised miserly spending habits have really appeared that I can tell.  Apple didn't become a trillion dollar company because everyone is patiently waiting to get a better iPhone next year rather than this year.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 11, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
On one hand, yes it does seem important in the heat of the moment, even to me!  Lives really are at stake, but at a societal level a few lives lost here or there are, while absolutely tragic, the sort of thing that, while we'll say we don't like bargaining with and deem priceless, in practice we'll gamble as if they don't really matter much to us.  Witness, for example, fights over making streets safer for pedestrians, which many are happy to argue against (myself included sometimes) because it'll add a minute or two to a given car trip.


The Culture War also has no shortage of examples of catastrophizing on all  it's extremes: witness that time that our current president told Black voters that milquetoast Republican Mitt Romney would "put [them] in chains," or how using undesired pronouns is akin to genocide, or how an admittedly-neglected immigration policy is a deliberate choice by certain figures to drive "demographic replacement."  I'm not going to claim there isn't a kernel of truth to those claims, but finding common ground probably requires ceding that the bigger picture being painted is pretty biased.  Of course, that position does embrace mistake theory, but I personally think we're still at a point where it's viable and nobody needs to be actively coordinating meanness.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 4, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, the school district was probably a similar situation, but I don't remember any similar dates of convenience for, say, Eid, Diwali, or Lunar New Year even though those probably had at least as many practitioners as there were Jews in the district.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for September 27, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I've slowly developed a shooting pain that begins in my right lower back and extends to my outer right thigh.




I'm not a doctor, but this sounds like sciatica.  The internet can suggest some specific stretches that might help.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 14, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is one of the places where I find the current left/right divide to be incongruous: the left here sees a strong need to protect people from themselves, but only in certain instances.  Your argument is a general one for banning the sale of potentially dangerous objects to prevent self-harm.   But at the same time we're told that the addicts shooting up heroin on the streets are Living Their Best Lives and we couldn't possibly try to take away substances that demonstrably cause harm to individuals and society as a whole, because Individual Freedoms, although we can try to ban large soft drinks.  This largely holds in reverse for the right.


Fundamentally, society is a coordination problem, and those are hard and seem to lack generalized solutions.  Different scales have different optima: I unironically run my household as a socialist collective (from each, to each...) but wouldn't vote for such policies in even small town government.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 5, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If so, I want to ask the DoD why they're giving people clearance to say untrue things.




For some categories of folks, I wouldn't be surprised if pre-publication review is mandatory.  The DOD probably has to at least proofread any book by certain folks, even if they decide to write historical fiction.  A memoir or anything close to their specialty could actually inadvertently disclose something classified.  It's quite possible the folks here charged with "giving clearance" only care about a very narrow set of facts (names, places, dates) appearing.


Although I suppose claiming any degree of official statement or backing might be its own concern.  But it's unclear to me this is actually claimed here: "the censors didn't censor my ramblings" isn't alone an endorsement.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Interesting!  Any good papers or summary articles you'd recommend?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There is a long history of fighting with questionably-motivated conscripts.  I'm not convinced individual interest really matters: they seem to either get thrown to the worst fighting on the front, or to quiet rear defensive positions.  On the other hand, as far as I'm aware, Vichy French and Norwegian troops didn't see much combat action on behalf of the Axis during WWII.


I think you're right that after two years of brutal fighting, there is too much animosity for that to work today, but early in the current invasion Russia was fielding all the troops they could conscript from separatist regions, so it's not completely out of the question, I think.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The volume and scale of ammunition required to keep the guns firing with an overmatch to make very slow gains over relatively basic trench systems created a tension of how much is needed versus how vulnerable you are moving that much ammo forward.




I think this statement also vindicates decades and billions of dollars of American research and deployment of precision guided weapons: the logistical tail is greatly reduced when you can just, not fire the huge fraction of dumb rounds that would miss anyway.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
To be clear, it didn't really upset me much: I still liked the show quite a bit overall.  But now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I've seen a WWII movie written from a British perspective.  The war has a very prominent place in American (and Russian) culture, but I'm not sure if I've seen a purely British take on it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				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.