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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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				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I went to a smaller school that often had take-home essays and even exams (up to the professors, more common in smaller honors classes).  While cheating might have happened somewhat, it is possible IMO to instill a culture that expects people to follow the rules even when they aren't being watched closely.  But it was occasionally enforced by expelling violators.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


"what is a woman?"




I will (weakly) defend her non-response on the basis that SCOTUS are the constitutional Platonic philosopher kings, to whom this sort of seems-trivial-but-actually-has-subtlety question like "is the ACA fine for not having insurance a tax?" (whether or not you agree on the depth of this particular question I think the category still stands), and that generally justices are discouraged from discussing potential cases during confirmation hearings.


That said, I quite likely disagree with her answer to the question regardless.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 23, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You could do far worse than Terry Pratchett, IMO.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 30, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The term antisemitism came into existence from Germans trying to justify that This Time it wasn't just dumb, bigoted Judenhass (literally "Jew-hatred"), and they had good (pseudo)scientific reasons to dislike them.  Bringing other semitic peoples into it implicitly validates Nazi race science like talking about related Aryans in India.


Although some seem to be trying the This Time approach again, using "anti-Zionist" as the new label.  Maybe in a century someone will claim it applies to Zionist Mormons in Utah.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 15, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I actually use it and am pretty happy with it, but it is really heavy.  That said, I'm not really trying to run other heavy applications at the same time other than compile jobs, so it's not really inconveniencing on any reasonably-modern hardware ("I have 1-2GB of RAM available for this").


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 23, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Under a very loose definition of "ethnic cleansing", the IDF forcing Jews out of Gaza in the 2005 withdrawal (in some cases unwillingly) fits the definition, but is hardly the central example you're looking for.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


So, the Bike discussion down below generated a lot of angst and heat




I just want to state the obvious here, that bicycle sheds should be blue.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
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?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 2, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


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.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 30, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Conceptually, I think the choice of "grifting" has a fairly limited cap on median outcomes.  Limited cases might exist, but it's hard to sell indefinite affirmative action or reparations for a minority doing better than the median.  I can't see democratic will supporting that for long, and it's unpopular even when isolated exceptions come up: Elizabeth Warren, or affirmative action for Obama's kids applying to college.


Chinese-Americans seem to have taken the "work hard and naturally do better than the median" option, which I think sounds better if it's available.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 30, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think smartphones/TikTok/AI are making us lose our attention, our ability to analyze and to think, and they don't offer anything in return




I would posit that the smartphone has observably reduced the need to store specific data because it's much easier than it used to be to load it (I'm old enough to "search the Internet", the kids these days "ask AI") on the fly when necessary.  Lots of encyclopedia facts are useful to know on rare day-to-day occasions ("Which rivers empty into the Aral Sea?"), but I think in practice things are "better" (for some definition of "better") where I can pull up that fact at hand, which maybe a generation ago sometimes required referencing my shelf of encyclopedias or a trip to the library.  And maybe I can use that mental space that was previously holding the population of Iran or the specifics of red-black trees for something that is more useful to me today [1].


I recall hearing from a historian a while back that the most numerous book on US Navy ships in the 1980s was a dictionary: has ubiquitous spell checking (and sometimes-wrong autocorrect) lost us something of value other than the "character" built by having to thumb through the dictionary to spell right?  That one feels similar as a technology question, but I'd bet you have fewer takers for "the good ol' days" before spell check.


    

  1. I think whether that space has been efficiently re-purposed is a valid question, and I'm not convinced capacity hasn't declined somewhat.  But I think that's best addressed as a separate question.
    2. 



				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 30, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the theory hides behind ... the science in order to try to gain legitimacy as a "grand-theory of why the world is the way it is"




Many such cases: this is a generic problem, IMO, with several branches of science, maybe even every branch with immediate political impact (also economics, epidemiology, climate science, [group] studies).  I don't think you're wrong that this even happens to HBD folks who are probably diametrically opposed to plenty of those other examples.


I don't know of a generic strategy to counteract this human failing: my first recommendation would be to reject claims that "the science is settled": the scientific process is never truly settled.  But if you go too far in the un-trusting direction, you'll start questioning the concept of childhood vaccinations or jet fuel melting steel beams.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 30, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think your idea here is plausible, but I have trouble seeing how you'd isolate nature from nurture here for these axes without some industrial-scale twin studies that seem implausible.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for June 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's weird that "National" refers to the US and Canada together here (the NBA has one, previously two Canadian teams).  The last guy to call them one country got a lot of grief for it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 15, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
VSCode is just the spiritual successor to emacs: it's an operating system in search of a good text editor.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
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?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
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.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


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.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for June 6, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


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.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


My advice for rulers, especially ones on the outs with major geopolitical powers...




It seems like "on the outs with major geopolitical powers" is doing a lot here.  It's not even "be a democracy": nobody is threatening to invade Eritrea (not far from Yemen, also a dictatorship).  It's not exclusively Muslim nations either (Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea are in the club).


As best as I can tell, the only consistent rule seems to be "don't be jerks to your neighbors beyond your borders," but I'll accept there's some level of Realpolitik at play.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 2, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Is January 6th the only time that's worked?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I find it somewhat amusing that the US has state-run education, and we regularly talk about how the $17k spent annually on the median K-12 student is too low (but is still higher than peer nations).  But healthcare is (mostly) privately run, and we spend more than peer countries and in this case it's obvious that we should save by switching to a more centrally-run model.  I'm not sure those positions really square with each other.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It would be 2000 cruise missiles a day for three weeks before there was any kind of landing attempt.




And the presumed response looks like 2000 anti-ship missiles (or pre-placed torpedos) denying navigation to the entire strait, plus long-range anti-ship missiles used to declare a blockade of Chinese ports (see the Black Sea, but with potentially less regard for continued commercial traffic).  Which isn't to say that would work out either, but the idea that Taiwan's defenses would crumble immediately like Iran's have isn't a guarantee either.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 23, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


public high schools in the US average around $19k in per student spending, no correlation between spending and outcomes.




Is that true across public schools?  I've often wondered if the extra funding thrown at Title 1 schools that typically underperform actually makes the correlation negative, but I've never found an actual dataset.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 22, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The Federalists were absolutely right




The Federalists were against adding an explicit Bill of Rights, and only chose to do so as a compromise.  The Anti-Federalists wanted to enumerate the rights, and I think have ultimately been proven right.