PuddleOfKittens's recent activity
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Comment on Can we maybe have an informal agreement to avoid posting articles that require you to sell your firstborn child to the devil just to read them? in ~tildes
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Comment on Can we maybe have an informal agreement to avoid posting articles that require you to sell your firstborn child to the devil just to read them? in ~tildes
PuddleOfKittens (edited )Link ParentUm, what? If it's a paywalled article the only alternative is bypassing the paywall. An alternative article is a different article, which while possibly informative is irrelevant to a discussion...Um, what? If it's a paywalled article the only alternative is bypassing the paywall. An alternative article is a different article, which while possibly informative is irrelevant to a discussion of the original article (although obviously useful for the broader discussion).
What does your comment even mean?
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Comment on Can we maybe have an informal agreement to avoid posting articles that require you to sell your firstborn child to the devil just to read them? in ~tildes
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentOkay but here's what's going to happen: I'm going to see the bullshit cookies required, decline them, be blocked from reading the website and be prompted to pay $$$ after the website just told me...Original reporting is often only available from the original source. I believe we should support original reporting.
Okay but here's what's going to happen: I'm going to see the bullshit cookies required, decline them, be blocked from reading the website and be prompted to pay $$$ after the website just told me to go fuck myself, so I'm going to decline to pay. I'm going to either A) not read the article and just take a guess based off the title and thread comments, or B) go click an archived link that bypasses the paywall.
In either situation I'm not going to support them. So, which do you want me to do? The one where I contribute to the conversation more ignorantly, or the one where I pirate the article?
The problem here is that market systems only work when the buyer internalizes the costs/benefits in an emotionally impactful way, whereas articles are more of an "eat your veggies" sort of thing and thus their hardballing has no emotional grounding.
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Comment on New electric-powered locomotive designed for harsh winters unveiled near Edmonton Canada in ~transport
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentTo be clear, the train grid usually isn't the same as the residential grid; the downside here is less "grid outage" and more "the train can't use regen braking".To be clear, the train grid usually isn't the same as the residential grid; the downside here is less "grid outage" and more "the train can't use regen braking".
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Comment on New electric-powered locomotive designed for harsh winters unveiled near Edmonton Canada in ~transport
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentI don't know why, but one possible reason is to make regenerative braking feasible - if nobody else is using the train's power line (which is likely if the train is in the middle of nowhere) then...So my questions are, (1) why a battery if it will rely on overhead lines
I don't know why, but one possible reason is to make regenerative braking feasible - if nobody else is using the train's power line (which is likely if the train is in the middle of nowhere) then running a regen brake could overload the grid. By dumping the power into a battery instead, you essentially get free power and less brake disc wear, while simultaneously making the train slightly more resilient (as the battery can be a backup, in a pinch).
I'm being optimistic though - an alternative explanation is "overhead lines are so old-fashioned, batteries are the future!", which is just ideological idiocy that sadly does exist.
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Comment on Can I hope to defeat telematics in a new car? in ~transport
PuddleOfKittens Link Parent150miles = 240KM150miles = 240KM
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Comment on California Forever clears first hurdle in Suisun City annexation in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentThe first residents will obviously be the construction crew. The website claims to create over 12000 jobs on construction, with a total capacity of 400k people after everything is done. If we...The first residents will obviously be the construction crew. The website claims to create over 12000 jobs on construction, with a total capacity of 400k people after everything is done. If we assume that even 5000 construction workers live in the place (even temporarily), that will be enough to support some shops and bring in some e.g. LA remote-workers and get the ball rolling. The obvious solution is that if they can't get enough residents, just drop the rent to $1 until they can.
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Comment on California Forever clears first hurdle in Suisun City annexation in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentAnd there are a lot of reasons for that. For instance, Canberra is, from what I've heard, a desert (to be fair it might be because it's mountainous, or the closest thing Australia gets to...But even after a century it's population is only 500k, and the government only recently stopped being the employer of the majority of the people living there.
And there are a lot of reasons for that. For instance, Canberra is, from what I've heard, a desert (to be fair it might be because it's mountainous, or the closest thing Australia gets to mountainous) that gets literally freezing sometimes. It snows once every few years there. Australia doesn't get snow! What is this bullshit? In contrast, Sydney (and Melbourne IIRC) is quite mild year-round, and federal building insulation standards are quite weak due to that mildness in the big 2 population centres that make up 40% of the country alone. So when it snows in Canberra, it snows in a city where the walls have fuck all for insulation. It's more comfortable to live through snow in Canada than Canberra. And you'd better hope your power doesn't go out.
Canberra is also the most car-centric hellscape you've ever seen - like you said, Canberra was planned, and it was planned with big wide roads for cars, and the designer had an obvious fetish for lots of green space between and on either side of the road.
Seriously, why build in mountain desert instead of a mild area near a ton of beaches? Well, it was a deliberate choice to reduce Canberra's vulnerability to naval attacks. And they were willing to sacrifice the mild climate, world-class beaches, and easy access to shipping that comes for free with a coastal city on Australia's east coast.
I wouldn't want to live in Canberra. I would want to live in California Forever (if it were built in Australia). Because Canberra is dogshit. It's no surprise that Canberra is smaller than Newcastle - everything about Canberra was a mistake. Anyone who cracks open a modern urban planning textbook can tell you why Canberra failed.
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Comment on How to brew solar powered coffee in ~food
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentThere are several other articles on basically "how to power your apartment with a solar panel or two" and assume you have a solar panel but are otherwise off-grid. I see this as an extension of...There are several other articles on basically "how to power your apartment with a solar panel or two" and assume you have a solar panel but are otherwise off-grid. I see this as an extension of those - "well, since you have that solar panel..."
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Comment on US President Donald Trump calls Democrat video to troops 'seditious behaviour, punishable by death' in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentCurrent title: Presumably, the old title was:Current title:
Trump says he was 'not threatening death' to Democrats over video to troops
Presumably, the old title was:
Trump accuses Democrats of 'seditious behavior, punishable by death,' for urging military to ignore illegal orders
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Comment on California Forever clears first hurdle in Suisun City annexation in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentHalf of the risk is the lack of big flashy examples of this sort of thing working. If it works, then by definition it'll be an example of it working, which should make future projects easier to...Half of the risk is the lack of big flashy examples of this sort of thing working. If it works, then by definition it'll be an example of it working, which should make future projects easier to gain political buy-in for and therefore be easier to kickstart.
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Comment on California Forever clears first hurdle in Suisun City annexation in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentIf the development is big enough, it isn't a far suburb. It's a city. And since California Forever's plan overview explicitly marks the majority of the development as zoned for mixed-use, there'll...I don't see how building houses on currently rural land (to make it into a far suburb) addresses the problem of more people wanting to live inside the city (or at least a close suburb) than city housing unit density supports.
If the development is big enough, it isn't a far suburb. It's a city. And since California Forever's plan overview explicitly marks the majority of the development as zoned for mixed-use, there'll be plenty of business opportunity once people start moving in.
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Comment on California Forever clears first hurdle in Suisun City annexation in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentI feel like this whole article is kind of unfair in its phrasing toward California Forever. "An urbanist's fever dream" etc. More annoyingly though, it's horribly one-sided. I can tell you why...I feel like this whole article is kind of unfair in its phrasing toward California Forever. "An urbanist's fever dream" etc.
More annoyingly though, it's horribly one-sided. I can tell you why Flannery Associates is so damned secretive: it's because the moment property owners realize that they're selling to a billion-dollar project, they'll jack up the price. It's the classic coordination problem, where the value of the land is the large contiguous section and thus the neighbors gain exponentially more bargaining power the larger the land purchase grows, because the value to the buyer becomes exponentially more than to the seller (because they've sunk so much into buying the adjacent land already).
California Forever (and similar projects) are basically an acknowledgement that incrementalism won't solve Cali's housing problem, and the only solution is to build a city-sized piece of land outside the city zoning requirements to build a city. That necessarily means that they have to pony up all the money, up front, which means there is a lot of opportunity to essentially blackmail them with obstructionism. If you can get even 0.1% of $50B then you're up $50M.
Yes, Cali Forever isn't inherently trustworthy - they're a bunch of billionaires (who tend to think they're smarter than they actually are) and they were considering some privacy-invading creepy shit, but honestly this is the best chance to smash through California's housing crisis - if they can build e.g. 100k new homes, it'll create a political shock that could smooth the way for future repeats of the same basic concept, and eventually copycats overseas.
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Comment on Volodymyr Zelenskyy ready for 'honest' work on US-backed plan as Europeans push back in ~society
PuddleOfKittens LinkDon't watch what world leaders say, watch what they do. This statement could be a sign of Ukrainian weakness, or it could be Ukraine trying to pressure Trump or project themselves as the...Don't watch what world leaders say, watch what they do. This statement could be a sign of Ukrainian weakness, or it could be Ukraine trying to pressure Trump or project themselves as the diplomatic party of the conflict..
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Comment on By administratively redefining 'who is a foreigner,' the Lai government is turning the constitutional 'One China' framework into a dead letter in ~society
PuddleOfKittens LinkI wonder what China will do in response? Retaliation towards specific politicians won't matter, ultimately, in geopolitics.I wonder what China will do in response? Retaliation towards specific politicians won't matter, ultimately, in geopolitics.
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Comment on How to brew solar powered coffee in ~food
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentThat's basically Low Tech Magazine in a nutshell. Like how all the photos in the article are dithered monochrome to save data.An… interesting? idea. I do feel like it would produce coffee that does not taste very good.
That's basically Low Tech Magazine in a nutshell. Like how all the photos in the article are dithered monochrome to save data.
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Comment on How to brew solar powered coffee in ~food
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentYou will be hanged at dawn.You will be hanged at dawn.
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Comment on How to brew solar powered coffee in ~food
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentIt's not 'solar powered magazine', it's Low Tech Magazine. The "solar" in the URL is the link to the server that's exclusively solar powered (although nowadays it's solar+battery). If the link...Seems like an unusual article for solar powered magazine.
It's not 'solar powered magazine', it's Low Tech Magazine. The "solar" in the URL is the link to the server that's exclusively solar powered (although nowadays it's solar+battery). If the link 404s, wait a couple of hours until it's Spanish daytime, or remove the
solar.from the URL. -
Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
PuddleOfKittens LinkRecently finished Origins Of Efficiency, which is basically the www.construction-physics.com guy trying to figure out the core reason why the billion-dollar modular housing startup he worked at...Recently finished Origins Of Efficiency, which is basically the www.construction-physics.com guy trying to figure out the core reason why the billion-dollar modular housing startup he worked at flopped so spectacularly (basically, why isn't modular housing "more efficient" than traditional craft-built housing, and what does "efficiency" even mean?). It goes through all sorts of stuff, like manufacture of incandescent light-bulbs.
...I've forgotten half of it already. It was pretty interesting though.
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Comment on Pennies are being canceled and the US Mint won't make any more. What does that mean? in ~finance
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentIMO, we should introduce a $5 coin, a $10 coin and a $20 coin, and scrap the 5c, 10c, 20c, and maybe 50c coin. You can't even buy a cup of coffee with less than 3 coins right now, when you should...IMO, we should introduce a $5 coin, a $10 coin and a $20 coin, and scrap the 5c, 10c, 20c, and maybe 50c coin. You can't even buy a cup of coffee with less than 3 coins right now, when you should be able to buy lunch with a single coin. It's so stupid.
Obviously one of the new coins should get the 20c platypus, I'm fairly ambivalent on the echidna though.
Bleh, I've made a mess. I don't think anyone is personally fighting me, but I do think lots of people are missing my point (which is at least partially my fault TBF) and that's really frustrating.
Let me throw out some of what I've previously said and try again:
There's this problem in communities like Tildes, where if people don't engage in comments then the community dies, because a community is just a self-sustaining series of comments that attracts more people to read and post comments. Take a look at half of Lemmy; articles but no comments, or maybe 1-3 comments but nothing that ignites ongoing discussion. People need to post, and if a hypothetical person's ideology frequently concludes with "well then don't comment" then they're going to end up with a dead community.
Any functional ideology within these discussion boards ought to result in people commenting. If the ideology of your community basically stops people from commenting, then people won't comment and the ideology is moot, because people will go elsewhere with a more functional ideology.
And so, if one's conclusion on paywalled articles is "well then you should pay money and/or accept invasive ads from companies that have a history of permitting malware in their ads, before you comment" then again, people just won't, and you end up with a dead community. In the worst case scenario, everyone just switches to Reddit.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that any ideology that fails to grapple with real-world behavior is a dead ideology, "nice idea, wrong species" style. And I'm trying to challenge the ideology presented.
So there are four options here:
You can imagine how I'd ignore #1, as per above.
#2 is a workaround for #4 but avoiding the explicitly demanded payment - it's literally piracy, I don't see how anyone could seriously argue choosing option #2 is anything but piracy. I don't know why you have quotes around the word "pirate".
The "more ignorantly" comment refers to #3 - commenting without directly reading the original article (even if you read all alternative sources of information) will always be more ignorant than commenting with directly reading the original article. It's not commenting ignorantly, but it is commenting more ignorantly, no matter how you slice it.
Maybe some people consider #4 a serious option - the sort of people who doesn't even have an ad blocker - but I basically didn't think about them because of how ubiquitous and easy
archive.isis.Ironically, since we're (I'm?) concerned about commenting in general, nacho's choices and my own are both (almost) irrelevant; what matters is how the majority choose.