Our thinking can be so twisted by religion. Imagine someone long ago wants to build a really tall tower. Nobody knows engineering, material science, etc. They just start stacking rocks on top of each other like they do when they made short buildings. Eventually it’s so tall and heavy that it’s no longer stable, one side sinks into the ground, and the whole thing falls over. And what’s their takeaway? Is it about learning from their mistake and trying again? No, it’s “God is punishing your hubris!” Religion just poisons the mind.

If it’s not causing any issues, don’t worry about it. If it seems to be causing a dependency or increased anxiety around sleeping alone, then maybe it’s not a good idea. There doesn’t seem to be any consensus among psychologists. Some like it, some hate it. So the best you’re going to be able to do is keep track of how it affects you both and change things up if it becomes a problem.

I don’t know if these bills would help, but there is a need for something to be done. The daughter of a friend of mine was raped by a Lyft driver a few years ago. Going home from a party, she didn’t want to drive because she had been drinking. She thought Lyft was the safer option. It wasn’t.

Good to know. Also an easy problem to fix. Just use phenol free paper.

Huy Fong Sriracha. Just don’t even bother buying any other bottle of “sriracha” sauce. It’s not worth it. Your disappointment will be immeasurable and your day will be ruined.

Ukrainian flag - not political. Russian flag - political.

Israeli flag - not political. Palestinian flag - political.

I think that’s the point of the lawsuit. You can’t claim you’re “completely apolitical and non-biased” when you actually support one side of a conflict and punish your employees who support the other side.

A fact that I hadn’t realized. TIL.

I mean, orange was right there…

Really been enjoying Fallout London. Incredible work for a group of modders. The occasional bug doesn’t bother me much. My only complaint is it’s sometimes very hard to get from point A to point B on the map, and no explanation is given for why.

If one of our billionaires decided to dress up like a bat and beat up thugs it would be an improvement. Instead we get a dozen Lex Luthors and no batman.

For real. Who would have guessed the most realistic prediction from Star Trek was talking directly to the computer. Whereas the least realistic one is that a post-scarcity society would benefit average people.

Dr Borus? Is that you?

From Old World Blues in case you’re wondering.

hmm. I see. By plugging in only one side you’re creating a 120v cattle prod. Yeah, that would be hazardous.

Explain why, please. I’m not an electrician, but as I understand it, when you install an electrical socket the same three wires in the romex cable provide power for both plugs. Effectively each of the holes in the top plug is bonded to the same hole in the bottom plug. So why would connecting them with an external wire cause a problem? Even if two outlets are right next to each other, and one has reversed polarity, you’d just be connecting neutral to neutral and hot to hot. I don’t understand why it’s a fire hazard.

edit: last two sentences are wrong. If one plug has reversed polarity and one doesn’t you’d be connecting two wires from hot to neutral, and that would probably just blow a fuse.

It’s a way to infantilize and ridicule the red team candidates that’s really hard for them to dismiss. They want to be perceived as strong, noble, divinely-appointed saviors of the morality of the country. Using ‘weird’ as an attack takes the wind out of their sails. And the only effective way to counter it is to embrace and transcend it, something the red team is incapable of doing.

From an article in WP

A central pillar of Trump’s campaign is the idea that liberals are perverted misfits who want to tear down American values. … [Trump supporters] were strong; libs were weak. They were right; libs were wrong…

“Weird” intrudes on that narrative. It doesn’t entirely upend it, but it does plant a seed of doubt. What if, instead of being admired or feared, they are instead being laughed at? What if, instead of edgelords, they are actually just the kids in the corner eating glue off their hands?

also

“He’s just a strange, weird dude,” newly-named vice presidential nominee Tim Walz (D) told an assembled group of 60,000 “White Dudes for Harris” at an online fundraiser last week. The Minnesota governor has been, if not the inventor of this tactic, its most skilled proponent.

May every shirt you wear have an itchy tag you can’t remove.

(attempting to answer the question instead of shaming the questioner)

It might have helped solve the problem if we did it 50 or 60 years ago, along with global EMP strikes to disable all the vehicles and industrial equipment, and a global commitment to return to an agrarian low-energy lifestyle. And if you prioritized the most highly industrialized cities that produce the greatest carbon per capita. But the sad truth is that, right now, it’s already too late. We have already released so much carbon into the atmosphere that we are more or less guaranteed to see 4 degrees C above pre-industrial. And if you aren’t already retired you will probably see it in your lifetime. Along the way that triggers a series of cascading feedback loops which, all-told, will likely take the planet to about 10C above pre-industrial. We continue to release something like 40 billion metric tons per year. And the best CCS facility we have, in Iceland, can sequester about 4,000 tons per year. We are racing toward the cliff with the throttle at full speed and no corrupt government scientist is going to take away my truck or make me eat bugs.

And questions about who should die, who should be killed, and such don’t even really matter now. They sound immoral, but if the projections are right it looks like all of us who aren’t already old are going to die from climate change anyways. So pontificating on things that aren’t ever going to happen is just academic onanism.

Literally? No. We’re all subject to the same laws of physics.

Perceptual reality? World view? Yes. I only know one person in real life and not online (my wife) who shares some of my views of reality. For instance, I am a doomer. I am convinced we are well into the sixth, and by all accounts the most devastating, mass extinction. Humans are clever, but we depend on a stable environment for our food. That stable environment is turning into a series of alternating droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, and other extreme weather events. TBH, I’d be surprised if our species lasts to the end of the century. Hanson figures that, after feedbacks, we are on track for 10c of warming. That’s apocalyptic. And every time scientists talk about it you hear words like ‘faster than expected’. We are doing exactly nothing to prevent it, and are, in fact, accelerating the collapse by increasing our consumption, population, pollution, and environmental destruction. COP has been talking about it for so long (almost 30 years) that we’ve missed the boat. We are well past the point where we could stop it. We’re in the ‘find out’ stage now.

Yet people keep having kids and planning for the future like everything is going to be just fine. Can you not see what’s happening? When’s the last time you scraped bugs off your car windshield? They’re all dying out. The biosphere is collapsing around us. But sure, keep contributing to your 401K. Keep talking about how the ‘fertility crisis’ is the big issue. Keep thinking that somehow windmills and recycling are going to save the planet. Tell me more about how voting is going to fix the problem. I feel like Kate Dibiasky saying we’re all going to die while everyone around me wants to talk about their PTA, the latest social issue, or which politician they like.

(deep breath)

Yes. I do feel like my perception of reality is different than most people I know. I don’t know most of humanity so I can’t really say, but it sure seems like it.

Here’s a Fajita recipe we like.
https://plantbasedcookingshow.com/2021/08/07/vegan-fajitas/

I’ve done some blacksmithing as a hobby. The two most common ways of heating the metal are a gas or a coal forge. The coal forge normally has some sort of forced air coming from the bottom to feed the fire. The coal starts burning real smoky like, but then turns to coke and burns hotter the more air you force through it. Typically you pile some coal around the sides of the fire so it converts to coke then you scoop it into the fire as needed. Also it produces a waste product called clinker that builds up at the bottom of the fire at the tuyere (the nozzle or grate the air is forced through). It’s kind of like stone or metal and it needs to be cleaned out to keep the fire going.