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8 votes
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SkyCity hotels to add climate change 'bible' to rooms
7 votes -
Oh Hiroshima - In Solar (2019)
6 votes -
Ottawa city hall has been targeted by cyber attacks more than 8,000 times in the past year
8 votes -
Where Manhattan’s grid plan came from
5 votes -
What are some activities that put you in a state of 'flow'?
For those of you who may be unaware of 'flow', here is how it is described in Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow: Fortunately, cognitive work is not always aversive, and people sometimes...
For those of you who may be unaware of 'flow', here is how it is described in Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow:
Fortunately, cognitive work is not always aversive, and people sometimes expend considerable effort for long periods of time without having to exert willpower. The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has done more than anyone else to study this state of effortless attending, and the name he proposed for it, flow, has become part of the language. People who experience flow describe it as "a state of effortless concentration so deep that they lose their sense of time, of themselves, of their problems," and their descriptions of the job of that state are so compelling that Csikszentmihalyi has called it an "optimal experience." Many activities can induce a sense of flow, from painting to racing motorcycles - and for some fortunate authors I know, even writing a book is often an optimal experience. Flow neatly separates the two forms of effort: concentration on the task and the deliverate control of attention. Riding a motorcycle at 150 miles an hour and playing a competitive game of chess are certainly very effortful. In a state of flow, however, maintaining focused attention on these absorbing activities requires no exertion of self-control, thereby freeing resources to be directed to the task at hand.
For me, I would say getting into a just difficult enough programming problem or working on a data analysis can put me in this state where hours can slip away in the blink of an eye. The same thing for a game of Civilization V can do the same thing for me.
22 votes -
The endless, invisible persuasion tactics of the internet
8 votes -
The JRPG Startup Cost, Part II - An analysis of how long it takes to reach various gameplay milestones in classic JRPGs
9 votes -
30 Weird Chess Algorithms: Elo World
10 votes -
What does an "optimal" democratic system look like to you?
this is kind of an offshoot of this thread which is still going, because i'm noticing an interesting pattern in that thread of reform to the system going beyond just the voting age, and i think...
this is kind of an offshoot of this thread which is still going, because i'm noticing an interesting pattern in that thread of reform to the system going beyond just the voting age, and i think it's worth examining that in much broader, larger details than just being centered around how people respond to the idea of voting age because democracy is very multi-dimensional. here are a few questions to jump off of; feel free to utilize them or not utilize them as you wish.
(let's also assume that there are no constraints whatsoever, for maximum possibility here. essentially, you get to invent a system that is utilized by people on the spot regardless of how things are currently for them.):
- Is this democratic system liberal, like most are (or perhaps illiberal in the service of some greater aim like climate change)?
- What variety of democracy is utilized by the system? (there are a lot of these ranging from classic representative democracy to direct democracy to soviet-style council democracy to sortition to more esoteric things like cellular, grassroots, and liquid democracy. see wikipedia for more)
- What voting method (FPTP, IRV, preferential voting, etc. again see wikipedia), is used by the system, if any? Or are things done mostly or largely without voting where possible, as is true in participatory, deliberative and consensus democracies and similar systems?
- Are formal political parties allowed in this system?
- Is voting in this system compulsory?
- Are certain people in this system (criminals, older people, younger people, certain groups or professions of people perhaps even) disenfranchised?
- Does the government have a hand in educating people on voting in this system, or is it the civic duty of people instead, or is there some in between, or even neither? What does that education look like?
and, if you'd like to get particularly esoteric or wonky, you might also choose to answer or consider some of these:
- Are voters allowed to do things like recall their representatives, or is the will of the people binding for a term?
- Does democracy in this system extend to even things like cabinet positions, which in most systems are determined by the head of state?
- Does democracy in this system include things like amendments to constitutions?
16 votes -
No Man's Sky: Beyond update including major multiplayer updates and VR support will release on August 14
15 votes -
The birth of the semicolon
16 votes -
The life and death of an Instagram fish - What one funny-looking fish taught us about evolution, the internet, and the monsters we create
7 votes -
At Drag Queen Story Hour, ‘a difference between getting upset online and showing up in person'
7 votes -
It’s not just for first responders anymore. Health experts want regular Coloradans to have Naloxone on hand.
7 votes -
Finland's green scheme to invest €40m in cycling and walking – 450 million new journeys on foot or two wheels
5 votes -
Should board gamers play the roles of racists, slavers and nazis?
7 votes -
'The sport is at a tipping point': Inside US horse racing’s deadly crisis
5 votes -
Stopping climate change will never be “good business”
5 votes -
Copenhagen's new City Ring metro line is likely to face delays, breakdowns and other operating issues when it finally opens at the end of next month
5 votes -
Detailed maps of the donors powering the 2020 Democratic campaigns
11 votes -
Once again authorities are looking at the feasibility of a railway to Tromsø in the north of Norway
6 votes -
Solar brings in the big bucks for local governments
4 votes -
Soviet living: a gallery of 272 photos of ordinary life in the Soviet Union
28 votes -
The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look
4 votes -
Is it time for asleep divorce?
11 votes -
Heavy rain triggers series of landslides in Norway – at least one person is presumed dead and many others unaccounted for
6 votes -
I've visited the largest manufacturer of guitars in Spain: Alhambra Guitars
6 votes -
Ugress - Static Troopers (2019)
3 votes -
Apple globally suspends program in which humans review users' Siri queries
11 votes -
The math of Emil Konopinski
7 votes -
Should the US voting age be lowered to sixteen?
19 votes -
Could renewable natural gas be the next big thing in green energy?
2 votes -
He’d been kept alive with tubes for nearly seventeen years. Who is he, and is it possible he’s conscious?
8 votes -
What old game would you most want to see remastered/remade?
It can be a remaster (like Resident Evil HD), a faithful recreation (like Spyro Reignited Trilogy), or a complete reboot (like the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake). Which old game do you choose,...
It can be a remaster (like Resident Evil HD), a faithful recreation (like Spyro Reignited Trilogy), or a complete reboot (like the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake).
- Which old game do you choose, and why?
- What should they change to make the game more palatable for modern audiences?
- What shouldn't they change so that they can remain true to the original?
27 votes -
San Fermin - Sonsick (2013)
3 votes -
Eight signs that you're a good parent - even if you think you're not
5 votes -
Summer 2019 anime three-episode check-in
4 votes -
Onivim 2 pre-alpha is out!
9 votes -
One day, one city, no relief - twenty-four hours inside San Francisco’s homelessness crisis
7 votes -
HBO Max acquires exclusive streaming rights to Doctor Who, and has licensed 700 episodes of other BBC series
9 votes -
And I Deal With It
A free form poem. You sing the devotion song and your people drink from your font of well-meant falsehoods. They sway in the breeze, roses ripe for cutting, so you reap. And I deal with it. Brain...
A free form poem.
You sing the devotion song and
your people drink from your font
of well-meant falsehoods.
They sway in the breeze,
roses ripe for cutting,
so you reap. And I deal with it.Brain revolting, hands shaking, heart beating
Sweating, aching, freezing, creeping thoughts
that I'm not enough.
I'm a failure. I don't deserve it. What if this goes wrong?
"Sometimes it can take awhile to find the right combination of medications."
And I deal with it.The blood in the streets is cleaned, pristine,
likewise the crimes of an otherwise good man.
Heads shake and hands pray,
repeating robotic platitudes, but I do
nothing.
And I deal with it.The sun shines high and the wind blows cool.
Our future dances and plays in the light.
We watch and her skin is soft, her hair yet softer, and I hold her
against me.
This too shall pass, my gut twists in knots.
And I deal with it.Dark nights, dark thoughts
in front of a washroom mirror.
Lightning thunders, they come and go.
Drinking my hopes to keep them gone,
I tell myself, "This isn't you," but it hurts and it's true and I can't stop the dreaming of passing this down
And I deal with it.7 votes -
Destiny 2's switch to free-to-play and new Shadowkeep expansion have been delayed to October 1 (previously September 17)
5 votes -
Private space race targets greenhouse gas emitters
6 votes -
Tuvalu's fight to stay above the waves
7 votes -
Announcing PartiQL: an SQL-compatible, open source query language intended to work with many different types of data stores
5 votes -
Shade: It’s a civic resource, an index of inequality, and a requirement for public health. Shade should be a mandate for urban designers
11 votes -
Woodstock 50 was called off two weeks before it was due to start
8 votes -
Anglerfish are increasingly being captured on video, revealing an array of surprising behaviors
8 votes -
Harley Race has passed away
@wwe: WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race passed away today at age 76. WWE extends its condolences to Race's family, friends and fans. https://t.co/lO4OimLsSd
4 votes