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7 votes
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Wood construction and the risk of fire
14 votes -
What programming/technical projects have you been working on?
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
9 votes -
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s popularity at lowest point so far amid vaccine scandal
9 votes -
Gothmog - Lost In My Dreams (1998)
3 votes -
Demon's Souls: Remaking a PlayStation classic
3 votes -
In an effort to outflank the populist right, the ruling Social Democrats in Denmark have adopted one of the harshest refugee policies in the world
10 votes -
How to install Windows 3.1 on an iPad
8 votes -
TigerBeetle - a million financial transactions per second in Zig [group talk]
4 votes -
The promise and peril of turning the Salton Sea into California's "Lithium Valley"
8 votes -
Nearly 700 people believed to have died in Pacific Northwest heat wave
13 votes -
All money is fiat money
10 votes -
A copy of Super Mario 64 sold for $1.5M, raising eyebrows
10 votes -
What do you think about voting?
I don't understand why people think an individual vote changes anything. I don't mean this as an insult, I just don't understand by what mechanism my vote matters. To be clear, I am not saying you...
I don't understand why people think an individual vote changes anything. I don't mean this as an insult, I just don't understand by what mechanism my vote matters. To be clear, I am not saying you shouldn't vote, simply that one persons vote is a neutral act.
I assume that if I vote in an election my vote will literally be counted; the votes for one candidate will go from 100,000 to 100,001. In tiny elections, it is possible, not likely, for a single vote to change a result. However, arguing for a system from its top 0.1% best case scenario is a bit disingenuous. In 99.9% of elections, it does not come down to one vote.
I have also been told I should just choose the candidate that is closest to my beliefs or even put in a blank ballet. In the US, a 3rd-party candidate will not win any non-local election; in other countries, I understand that it is different, but I can't speak from personal experience. And its not like I would ever choose any of the main party candidates; some are much worse than others, but none represent my beliefs. My understanding of this idea is that what is being valued is the performance of representation, not my actual representation in the system. 'The medium is the message', or who you vote for does not matter, what matters is that you vote.
I've heard people say something to the effect of 'if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about the political system'. This idea ignores the fact that not voting is an explicitly political act. I am engaging with the system by refusing to play what I perceive to be a rigged game.
But its not like the political system changes whether I vote or not; its not like anyone can know if I voted or not, unless I tell them or wear one of those 'I voted' stickers. I've heard people argue that if everyone thought this way, then the OTHER SIDE would win. But other people's decision to vote or not isn't my responsibility.
Is there something I am missing?
EDIT:
I changed my formatting to be more clear and edited the text, as a few responses seem to have missed some of my points.
22 votes -
What are your favorite bits of more juvenile humor?
I was recently reminded of this classic 4chan greentext. Even today, it still has me in stitches. What your favorite funny bits that are not particularly sophisticated?
10 votes -
The day I almost decided to hold the press to account
8 votes -
He's Barack Obama, he's come to save the day! (2009)
2 votes -
Social constructs: An introduction
13 votes -
What did you do this weekend?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their weekend. Did you make any plans? Take a trip? Do nothing at...
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their weekend. Did you make any plans? Take a trip? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
8 votes -
UK Supreme Court told ‘X’ gender markers on passports needn’t be controversial in historic hearing
8 votes -
After the Florida building collapse, condos struggle to fund big repairs
11 votes -
User reviews are still the best tool we have
7 votes -
Please recommend analytical, industry-specific blogs and newsletters
Hey all, I'm looking to expand my stable of long-form, "crunchy" reading material. I'll recommend three. ( I think I found all these through tildes.) Casey Handmer's Blog A blog about the new...
Hey all, I'm looking to expand my stable of long-form, "crunchy" reading material. I'll recommend three. ( I think I found all these through tildes.)
Casey Handmer's Blog
A blog about the new space industry with a specific focus on SpaceX and the industrialization of Mars.Construction Physics
A newsletter that analyses trends and data in the construction industry with a focus on modular construction.ACOUP
Essays about medieval and ancient history as well as their interaction with popular culture, with a focus on methods of production and common people in history.Another type of content I've really enjoyed is detailed breakdowns of zero-day vulnerabilities and large software catastrophies.
14 votes -
Italy defeats England in Euro 2020 finals in a penalty shootout
12 votes -
In 'Stockholm Syndrome', the new documentary on rapper A$AP Rocky's 2019 assault trial in Sweden, the rapper recalls the moment things went from weird to surreal
3 votes -
Why Wildermyth's best story wasn't written by anyone
5 votes -
No Scooby-Doo or Mystery Van in Mindy Kaling's Velma adult animated comedy
7 votes -
Understanding Total Application Security, a primer
1 vote -
What do you think are some good things about the US?
Admittedly independence day was a week ago so this is kind of late. Most people in the left consider the US to be one of, if not the worst country in the (developed, unless you're a right wing...
Admittedly independence day was a week ago so this is kind of late.
Most people in the left consider the US to be one of, if not the worst country in the (developed, unless you're a right wing strawman) world and, we have listed the bad things about the US many, many times, so I think a thread about the good things about the US would be neat.
The 3 main things I think are good are:
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Honestly, I think party primaries where most people vote for president are good. While I do think they would be much more beneficial in a multiparty system as opposed to the US's 2 party system, I think it's better than having your presidential candidates be chosen by usually politicking with the party. I don't mean this to say the way party primaries are conducted in the US is the way because it isn't, but I think it's better than not having a primary.
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I also think midterm elections are good, because it means that if people dislike the course of the current government, they can vote for that in a midterm. In the US, this means they only had 2 years of a Republican trifecta led by Trump as opposed to 4 like here in Brazil and I suspect a lot of other places. I don't mean this to say elections every 2 years is unequivocally good, and for such elections you would definitely need shorter primaries so elected politicians don't need to spend most of their time campaigning which I've heard is often what they do.
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Lastly, I think the US is by far the country most concerned with things like electoral systems and methods, campaign finance, whether there should be an upper house or not (not that senate abolition is popular even among leftists, but it is much more popular than a place like, say, Brazil, where I live), and this is the third good thing about the US.
Of course, all of these originate from the worst parts of the US political system, but I think the fact that there's any public conscience of them existing is still a good thing.
One can argue the fact that the largest amount of influential companies being under US regulations means that if any positive changes to said regulation are implemented the entire world benefits (most obviously concerning the Internet), but the opposite is equally true and far more common.
There's also probably many good things about US culture, by virtue of that being true for most most cultures, but I don't know what US culture specifically is enough to list them.
12 votes -
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The story behind the iconic Vietnam episode of 'Hey Arnold!'
8 votes -
Magnus Carlsen celebrates ten years unbroken as world number one – only seven players have topped the FIDE rating lists since 1971
12 votes -
SGDQ (Summer Games Done Quick) 2021 starts today
15 votes -
Thai Cave Rescue: "One day longer and those thirteen boys would be dead"
6 votes -
Mia Hansen-Løve pays tribute to Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman with Cannes film 'Bergman Island'
5 votes -
How does a carburetor work? | Transparent carburetor at 28,546 fps slow mo
12 votes -
Why have web pages dropped the www?
I don't know where to put this question, if here or in ~tech, but I chose here due to I want a response for someone who doesn't know all about internet. So my question is: why there is a trend of...
I don't know where to put this question, if here or in ~tech, but I chose here due to I want a response for someone who doesn't know all about internet.
So my question is: why there is a trend of removing the www of every web address? why it was standard in the first place and not now?
There are a handful of popular web pages that don't use a triple w in their link and they have replaced it or removed it. Tildes, for example, doesn't need triple w. Why?
17 votes -
How to download photos from Facebook?
So my spouse is getting fed up with Facebook and would like to download all of her photos and ideally any photos others have taken that she’s tagged in. She’d like to do a single bulk download,...
So my spouse is getting fed up with Facebook and would like to download all of her photos and ideally any photos others have taken that she’s tagged in. She’d like to do a single bulk download, but is having trouble navigating Facebook’s intentionally confusing settings to do this. I don’t have an account and have never used Facebook beyond reading the occasional post a friend has sent me, so I don’t really know how to help in this case.
This guide claims to be from 2021. Following the steps in section 3 we see something that looks very similar but not exactly the same under her settings. Where they have a list containing items like “Posts”, “Photos and videos”, “Comments”, etc. We see a different list and it doesn’t have any option for “Photos and Videos.” There is one section titled, “Short videos”, but nothing about photos at all. Has Facebook changed this recently, or does she have some weird setting that’s causing it not to show up? Or is the guide just wrong? (Or maybe they’re A/B testing something and that’s why she isn’t seeing it?)
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
EDIT: I think we figured it out. It looks like Posts and Photos have been combined into just "Posts" with no mention of photos whatsoever. When you get the resulting .zip file, it contains the photos, though. It's typically shitty of Facebook.
12 votes -
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of July 5
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate...
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
6 votes -
Common Ground, Part I: How organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies
7 votes -
Interview with Jonathan Rauch on epistemic disruption
4 votes -
The Witcher | Season 2 teaser trailer
9 votes -
Google's 'hypocritical' remote work policies anger employees, after a senior executive announced he's moving to New Zealand in what some workers consider special treatment
13 votes -
Compartment No 6 review – meet-uncute train romance is a Finnish 'Before Sunrise'
3 votes -
You really need to quit Twitter
21 votes -
You are not a visual learner: The biggest myth in education
15 votes -
Metabolomics Lab’s analysis finds near-meat and meat not nutritionally equivalent
10 votes -
Kaspersky Password Manager had multiple problems in its password-generator, resulting in its passwords being predictable and easily brute-forced
21 votes -
Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started...
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
9 votes -
Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of July 5
This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the...
This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!
13 votes -
Trust in software, an all time low
26 votes