stu2b50's recent activity
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Comment on Mortgage companies could intensify the next recession, US officials warn in ~news
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Comment on Mortgage companies could intensify the next recession, US officials warn in ~news
stu2b50 Link ParentIronically that’s the opposite of the issue that banks had in 2008. But either way, why exactly would that be what they hoped for? 2008 was a disaster for the banking industry. For reason a lot of...Ironically that’s the opposite of the issue that banks had in 2008. But either way, why exactly would that be what they hoped for? 2008 was a disaster for the banking industry.
For reason a lot of people think the government just gave them money, but to reiterate, it didn’t. The “bailouts” ended up costing the government negative money - that is, the federal government, and by proxy taxpayers, made a tidy profit.
Either way, I’m sure non-bank mortgage companies “hope” that they can continue to operate normally.
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Comment on Two pizzas for me - What is this article trying to say? in ~tech
stu2b50 LinkYes Common stereotype. Some people are like that, some aren't. This is a trope that became popular during the pandemic due to the prevalence of WFH (and generally tech companies being lush with...Is this some sort of dark humor, parody
Yes
while the CEO is a "face time" dude who is more interested in presentation and polish than actual client servicing
Common stereotype. Some people are like that, some aren't.
And to top it, the programmer who actually codes is not only never seen in the office (non-existent?) but is actually "multiple people" at least on paper.
This is a trope that became popular during the pandemic due to the prevalence of WFH (and generally tech companies being lush with cash due to low interest rates).
How is this firm even on board or generating revenue, I just fail to understand!
The article is satire. None of these people are real.
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Comment on Why VO2 max is the greatest predictor of lifespan | Dan's journey back to health and fitness (Pt. 2) in ~health
stu2b50 Link ParentI'll leave it at this, because we're quite literally talking in circles, but you aren't addressing anything I'm saying. Like if this is what you're getting from it, you're not reading correctly. I...I'll leave it at this, because we're quite literally talking in circles, but you aren't addressing anything I'm saying.
It really feels like you're jumping through a lot of Hoops to disprove that VO2max is a good indicator of longevity.
Like if this is what you're getting from it, you're not reading correctly. I put this sentence at the end because it is the distillation of what I'm saying
It's not like reading your vo2max is opening a pandora's box. It's fine. It just has little value over all the other metrics of your fitness which are readily available, so there's no reason to go out of your way.
Vo2max can be an indicator of your health; it's just doing so by being a proxy of a bunch of things that are really easy to measure. So why bother.
The only reason why you would want to independently record your vo2max is if it were possible that you could exercise and be of a healthy weight and still have bad vo2max and have that be detrimental. As you stated, that's not really possible.
So again, there's no point in measuring or benchmarking yourself against vo2max. You're just trying to find a number that tangentially correlated with the actual things that matter, which you can measure really easily, like the intensity of your workouts.
If you exercise frequently and vigorously (and progressively more intense), and are of a healthy weight, there is no case where measuring your vo2max will do anything at all. And the former can be found with technologies like: a stopwatch. Or a scale.
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Comment on Why VO2 max is the greatest predictor of lifespan | Dan's journey back to health and fitness (Pt. 2) in ~health
stu2b50 Link ParentThat's exactly where things go wrong; this is not science, it's conjecture. We don't have studies with that granularity of correlation, let alone causation. Is 1 ml/kg/min from weight loss better...In that way, VO2max is largely just a synthesis of the two biggest components that go into your health
That's exactly where things go wrong; this is not science, it's conjecture. We don't have studies with that granularity of correlation, let alone causation. Is 1 ml/kg/min from weight loss better or worse for your lifespan than 1 ml/kg/min from HIIT? Who knows!
There's a really easy way to see if your weight is a problem: it's a scale. Most people have them. You can get one for 10 bucks. They're as perfectly accurate as someone could want.
Here's the rub: if you're a layperson, who just wants to be fit and live a long life, there is zero reason to measure your vo2max. Exercise regularly, push yourself, eat healthily. That's what we know reliably correlates with lifespan. There's no reason to reach for magic numbers.
There is zero science that shows that someone who vigorously exercises but whose vo2max is low is at some kind of risk. The predictive value of vo2max so far has been that it is correlative with fitness.
If you are an elite athlete, as we established, it is no longer predictive of performance. So you also don't need to measure vo2max. And, either way, at that point you have personal trainers to give you personalized plans.
It's not like reading your vo2max is opening a pandora's box. It's fine. It just has little value over all the other metrics of your fitness which are readily available, so there's no reason to go out of your way.
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Comment on Why VO2 max is the greatest predictor of lifespan | Dan's journey back to health and fitness (Pt. 2) in ~health
stu2b50 Link ParentThat's kind of missing the point. The point is that Vo2max is not the "ultimate" or "greatest" metric for anything. What everything we know about health and lifespan points to is: exercise. You...That's kind of missing the point. The point is that Vo2max is not the "ultimate" or "greatest" metric for anything.
What everything we know about health and lifespan points to is: exercise. You need to exercise. There is no reason to believe vo2max is particularly important other than as a metric that for the most part correlates with fitness. We have no studies that show that someone who, say, is in the top 30th percentile for running 5ks but has comparatively poor vo2max is more likely to die.
That's what the point in bringing up those studies were; they weren't even trying to show correlation with vo2max. You can just as easily use them to show that intensity of exercise, which is what they were measuring, is the best indicator of longevity.
So why not hold yourself to vo2max? There's nothing wrong with keeping it in the mix, but there's two things. One is that vo2max is not trivial to measure. To actually have a lab accurate vo2max measurement, you need to have a real, lab grade blood oximeter and be exercising at your physical limit. No one does that; they just use what their apple watch or garmin says their vo2max is, which is really calibrating yourself against a random number generator.
Secondly, it can get people to hyper fixate when, again, what really matters is that they exercise vigorously with progressively intensity. You can just google "reddit vo2max plateau" to see this in action. No, there's no reason to do whack-a-doodle HIT exercises instead of what you were doing just because garmin says your vo2max hasn't gone up this month. There's certainly no reason to believe that you should replace strength training with "vo2max training" for the sake of longevity.
Instead, what matters is the intensity of the exercise you're doing. There's always an easier way to measure this. If you're a runner, measure how fast you're running a mile or a 3k. Make sure you keep pushing yourself. You don't have to get yourself in a lab to get a vo2max reading. It doesn't matter that much. If you keep running faster and faster, or lifting heavier and heavier, or rowing faster, you're doing good.
Just exercise!
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Comment on Is Emacs or VIM worth learning in today's day and age? in ~comp
stu2b50 LinkIt can be worthwhile, but it's not going to be lifechanging or anything. Pretty much every modern editor has vim keybindings; some even go further, e.g on VSCode there's a neovim plugin where it...It can be worthwhile, but it's not going to be lifechanging or anything. Pretty much every modern editor has vim keybindings; some even go further, e.g on VSCode there's a neovim plugin where it actually just replaces the entire editor with an actual running copy of neovim, as opposed to just being bindings.
One advantage is that text editors that aren't emacs and vim on the command line just suck. You can get by on nano or whatever, but you're going to groan every time you have to edit a textfile on the command line. An advantage particular to vim is that vi is practically a default install, whereas emacs usually isn't.
They can maybe make you faster in general at editing text. But that's not usually the bottleneck when it comes to writing code anyway. So I don't think it matters all that much.
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Comment on Why VO2 max is the greatest predictor of lifespan | Dan's journey back to health and fitness (Pt. 2) in ~health
stu2b50 LinkAs a counter-take, here's an article from The Ringer on why chasing vo2max is mostly misguided:...As a counter-take, here's an article from The Ringer on why chasing vo2max is mostly misguided: https://www.theringer.com/2024/4/19/24134772/health-fads-and-fictions-vo2-max-supplement-mania-sunlight-and-immortality#:~:text=But%20anyways%2C%20what%20is%20VO2,and%20that's%20what%20it%20is.
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Comment on Generative AI for Krita in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentFor Krita, the comparison is more with something like Clipart or Procreate. It's for digital creation (albeit still bitmap, unlike illustrator), as opposed to manipulation of bitmap images....For Krita, the comparison is more with something like Clipart or Procreate. It's for digital creation (albeit still bitmap, unlike illustrator), as opposed to manipulation of bitmap images.
Although Photoshop has enough tooling for both purposes.
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Comment on OpenAI considers allowing users to create AI-generated pornography in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentI mean, for context, the article is about easing the filters and restrictions they have on chatgpt w.r.g to erotica. I don't think you need to stare at porn all day to do that.I mean, for context, the article is about easing the filters and restrictions they have on chatgpt w.r.g to erotica. I don't think you need to stare at porn all day to do that.
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Comment on Florida man worries about his ruined reputation after pulling gun on Uber driver dropping the man's daughter off at their house in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentI don't see how that can make anything ambiguous in the title. There's only 3 people: the man, his daughter, and the uber driver. It makes no sense for it to be the Uber driver's house, and the...I don't see how that can make anything ambiguous in the title. There's only 3 people: the man, his daughter, and the uber driver. It makes no sense for it to be the Uber driver's house, and the man and his daughter presumably live in the same house.
How would it be less ambiguous than another other pronoun? If it said "his house" or "her house", well, the uber driver could be male too, or female, we don't know anything about them at all.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
stu2b50 (edited )Link ParentYes, at least east asia. It varies by country, though. That being said, if you're any kind of AB(C,T,J,K), you'll probably be made fun of for your weight if you ever visit family, simply due to...Yes, at least east asia. It varies by country, though. That being said, if you're any kind of AB(C,T,J,K), you'll probably be made fun of for your weight if you ever visit family, simply due to different norms.
Men have more leeway than women. But only like, up to a BMI of ~24. It's basically like being a smoker - having a 24 BMI, yeah, it's a little indulgent, but men will be men - kind of attitude.
Another thing is that there isn't really a gym culture, so in order to have the same body "shape", you need to be a LOT thinner than if you had more muscle. That's for men - women aren't allowed to be muscular really, so it doesn't matter.
Obviously for all of that there are exceptions.
One last thing is that as you get older, the less any of that matters, because you're no longer expected to be beautiful.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
stu2b50 Link ParentEh, again, I feel like this is a only half the reality. Rice is one thing - at this point it's probably genetic that asians like rice, although white rice is really probably one of the...Eh, again, I feel like this is a only half the reality. Rice is one thing - at this point it's probably genetic that asians like rice, although white rice is really probably one of the unhealthiest forms of starch - but it's not like everyone likes all vegetables as a kid. A stereotype is that kids don't like bell peppers - on the other hand, I think a lot of western kids like bell peppers, they're crunchy and slightly sweet. That example feels like cherry-picking somewhat.
But one real difference is that American households imo are much more likely to "give up". If your kid only wants to eat chicken nuggets, then get some chicken nuggets. When I was raised, it was much more of a "deal with it" attitude, which I think is typical of asian households. If I didn't want to eat what was on the dinner table? Then have fun being hungry tonight. You'll live. Asian kids in asia aren't some perfect angels that only love healthy food. McDonalds exists. Kids love it. They just aren't allowed to eat it.
I think that's a difference. There's a real culture of "you have to eat". I see this especially with breakfast - oh no, how can you send jimmy to school without breakfast? Why not? Do you think the hunter-gatherer ancestors just keeled over and died if they didn't eat 3 square meals a day? A kid will be more than fine if they don't eat a single meal.
Oh, and I also think american households are more likely to suck at cooking. I really doubt those Japanese kids were eating rice, with unseasoned steamed broccoli. At worse it was poached in water and flavored with soy sauce and sesame oil.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
stu2b50 Link ParentI don't disagree that they value health much more, but it's not in this "supportive" way. I'm not Japanese, but I spent a lot of my childhood in Taiwan, which is about as close to Japan as you can...I don't disagree that they value health much more, but it's not in this "supportive" way. I'm not Japanese, but I spent a lot of my childhood in Taiwan, which is about as close to Japan as you can get in East Asia due to both the colonial period and how close the countries got after Hokkien/Hakla political influence began to outstrip the KMT.
The main difference is that fatness being associated with deprave hedonism is just accepted. There's no recognition of anything else. That's why things like your workplace being concerned about your weight is OK - being overweight is just bad, so there is nothing wrong with being shamed anywhere anytime about it until you get better.
To some extent healthier options are more available, but equally as many people consume half of their diet from 7-11. It's just about portion sizes. You will be made fun of if you eat like a quarter of an American's average portion.
Undoubtedly the culture around weight, namely that being fat is the polar opposite of being a healthy, attractive person, contributes much to their statistics, but from a western perspective, it may not be something that you'd want to import wholesale.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
stu2b50 Link ParentIf you think that’s the worst part of our food culture, you’d hate Japan. It’s that times 100. Not only the level of derision much higher, but it’s way more open. People will openly ask if you’ve...Probably the biggest social problem is our relationship to fat. Even with nearly half of the population overweight, we deride fat people.
If you think that’s the worst part of our food culture, you’d hate Japan. It’s that times 100. Not only the level of derision much higher, but it’s way more open. People will openly ask if you’ve been gaining weight if your BMI is above a 19. The first thing your family will say if you have even a hint of pudge is that you’ve been letting yourself go. People will brag about the bizarre contorted diets they’re on to lose 5 lbs when they were 120 lbs to begin with.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
stu2b50 LinkThis article felt weird to me, it just has oriental mysticism vibes. I'd note that Japan, despite it's very low obesity, has one of the highest rates of type 2 diabetes in the developed world....This article felt weird to me, it just has oriental mysticism vibes. I'd note that Japan, despite it's very low obesity, has one of the highest rates of type 2 diabetes in the developed world.
Traditional Japanese food is healthy - and really, that's true of almost everywhere. Food the common people ate were low in processed foods, rich in protein, and full of whole grains; that's because the opposite is, y'know, expensive.
Many Japanese people do not sit down to eat full Japanese meals every day, they grab ultra processed, sugar filled pre-packaged food from a cobini and eat it at their desk. The main difference is the portion size; they're just going to eat one tuna mayo sandwich. Again, high rates of type II diabetes.
Equally to do with their low obesity is that you will be ruthlessly mocked if you are fat. And by fat, I mean if you weight over 130 lbs as a girl and over 160 lbs as a guy. Forget your peers, the government will make fun of you. If you eat a lot, people will comment on it. Nothing like social anxiety to control portion sizes.
Diet culture is HUGE in all of east asia. Everyone is always on this or that fad diet, to go from 120 lbs to 115 lbs. Being hyper-conscious of weight, combined with a brutal work schedule that makes it easy to skip meals, helps. Even then, the average weight in Japan has been increasing over the years.
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Comment on A big new facility built to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere opened up in Iceland. It's a stepping stone to bigger plans in the US. in ~enviro
stu2b50 Link ParentI think that's hyperfixating on first order effects, again, namely the raw temperature increase. Yes, people can deal with 3c higher daily temperatures. But that can knock the yield rate for wheat...I think that's hyperfixating on first order effects, again, namely the raw temperature increase. Yes, people can deal with 3c higher daily temperatures. But that can knock the yield rate for wheat farming in a region down by 30-40%. It's much harder to deal with having 30-40% less food.
We can already see that from Russia's invasion in Ukraine, where much of the global south depended on cheap grain exports from Ukraine. It can be hard to imagine in calorie dense Canada or US, but food insecurity is still a thing.
And yes, people can adapt. But adaption has a price. Emitting less carbon has a price (partially reflected in those carbon-based taxes you were talking about). Based on our calculations, emitting less carbon cost less than the adaptions we'll have to make. It only makes sense, then, no?
I honestly believe the constant drumbeat of a dystopian climate disaster around the corner is doing far more to damage the mental health and future of young people than any actual change in climate.
I think that overly hysterical climate discourse isn't a positive, but it's hard to compare the two in magnitude, let alone say that the former is doing "more damage".
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Comment on A big new facility built to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere opened up in Iceland. It's a stepping stone to bigger plans in the US. in ~enviro
stu2b50 Link ParentThat’s a very social media view of it, though. It’s not really about the direct effects of degrees of warming - and yes, its silly that “pro-global-warming-is-real” people post about it every time...- Exemplary
That’s a very social media view of it, though. It’s not really about the direct effects of degrees of warming - and yes, its silly that “pro-global-warming-is-real” people post about it every time summer is hot - but the 2nd and third order effects.
There are numerous papers on how those degrees of warming will have huge, and mostly negative, effects on agriculture and animal husbandry. Even more so for ocean ecosystems. There’ll be more extreme weather patterns.
Do you not believe that this will happen, or that even after it happens it won’t matter all that much?
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Comment on A big new facility built to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere opened up in Iceland. It's a stepping stone to bigger plans in the US. in ~enviro
stu2b50 Link ParentI don’t really follow why you “don’t buy into it”, then. It causes the greenhouse effect, and that causes warming. You don’t need to go further than that. There’s lots of gases that cause the...And even then, yes, Im one of those people who does not fully buy into the "its killing our planet" narrative. Is it harmful in larger quantities in our atmosphere. Probably somewhat, yes. Is the harm caused by man made causes? Probably some of it, yes. Can we reverse it? Probably also yes, although I think the timeline is going to be a lot longer than the politicians like to pretend it will be.
I don’t really follow why you “don’t buy into it”, then. It causes the greenhouse effect, and that causes warming. You don’t need to go further than that. There’s lots of gases that cause the greenhouse effect, it’s just that CO2 happens to be a common byproduct of both living creatures and reactions like burning.
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Comment on A big new facility built to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere opened up in Iceland. It's a stepping stone to bigger plans in the US. in ~enviro
stu2b50 Link ParentThat feels like mysticizing chemicals too much, in the did you know everyone who drinks dihydrogen monoxide dies way. It’s not some crazy chemical, it’s just carbon dioxide. We know how it works....big facility to suck an invisible gas out of the air that's 'harming our environment' and labelled as "pollution" and then bottle some of it to feed it back to humans is already feeling disingenuous
That feels like mysticizing chemicals too much, in the did you know everyone who drinks dihydrogen monoxide dies way. It’s not some crazy chemical, it’s just carbon dioxide. We know how it works. You exhale copious amounts of it everyday. It harms the environment because of the greenhouse effect, which is not going to do anything in your stomach.
This was actually one of the first big ProPublica projects. https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/
-$109B is not a bad price for economic stability!