FlippantGod's recent activity

  1. Comment on Sweden has vast old growth forests – but they are being chopped down faster than the Amazon in ~enviro

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    I think the concern is also demonstrated well with and And this cleared land not previously clearcut is converted to non-forestry land use. This was a really well linked article, with a lot of...

    I think the concern is also demonstrated well with

    Primary forests are rare in Sweden, the mapped forests represent only 2% of Sweden’s forest land, and only a portion of this 2% are primary forests of the highest naturalness. They are, however, highly valuable for research. They inform us on how ecosystems would have looked without direct human impact, and they can therefore be seen as a part in a long-standing experiment, where they act as a control or baseline to an experiment of land use that may have been ongoing for centuries.

    and

    We show [with Swedish data] that at least 19% of all clear-cuts since 2003 have occurred in old forests that were most likely not previously cut and planted or seeded. Old forests have been cut and lost at a steady rate of ∼1.4% per year for the same period, and at this rate they will disappear by the 2070s. There is further evidence that this type of unreported forest conversion is occurring across much of the world's boreal forest.

    And this cleared land not previously clearcut is converted to non-forestry land use.

    This was a really well linked article, with a lot of interesting associated material!

    6 votes
  2. Comment on Mexico aims to compete with Panama Canal by using cargo trains in ~transport

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    Not quite what I was getting at. I am under the impression - perhaps incorrect - that the Panama Canal cannot be expanded without service interruption. If the overland route is cost effective...

    Not quite what I was getting at. I am under the impression - perhaps incorrect - that the Panama Canal cannot be expanded without service interruption.

    If the overland route is cost effective enough to implement at all, I imagine it would expand until expansion is no longer cost effective.

    1 vote
  3. Comment on Mexico aims to compete with Panama Canal by using cargo trains in ~transport

    FlippantGod
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    This is really interesting. Track length doesn't seem like a cause for concern. Ports can load and unload multiple vessels. I can't think of any hard limiters on throughput. I imagine potential...

    This is really interesting.

    Track length doesn't seem like a cause for concern. Ports can load and unload multiple vessels. I can't think of any hard limiters on throughput.

    I imagine potential for ships at either end to make more frequent and consistent routes, which iirc is a key metric in shipping.

    7 votes
  4. Comment on On Bleem v. Sony and the legality of emulators in ~games

    FlippantGod
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    If we are dredging up old cases, I'll throw my hat in the ring and present this youtube video by LowSpecGamer which suggests that Nintendo itself has at the very least skirted around chip design...

    If we are dredging up old cases, I'll throw my hat in the ring and present this youtube video by LowSpecGamer which suggests that Nintendo itself has at the very least skirted around chip design patents and copyright infringement.

    Edit: not quite topical, but fun to think about.

    3 votes
  5. Comment on Beyond the water flow rate: Water pressure and smart timers impact shower efficiency in ~enviro

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    I think this is the product mentioned later in the article. Edit: although at the "luxurious" 10 mist nozzles and a rather high price, savings might not be undeniable... Army showers are still the...

    I think this is the product mentioned later in the article.

    Edit: although at the "luxurious" 10 mist nozzles and a rather high price, savings might not be undeniable... Army showers are still the easiest way to cut shower water and heat costs, without cutting the shower.

  6. Comment on TRAPPIST-1 caught stripping atmosphere of possibly habitable exoplanet in ~space

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    ↑ Didn't read the article. It agrees with you.

    ↑ Didn't read the article. It agrees with you.

    5 votes
  7. Comment on Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo's software encryption and facilitates piracy in ~games

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    Something like anti-slapp laws, or let the plaintiff cover the defendant's legal expenses when it is so clearly asymmetrical. Oh, those emulators are really costing you, huh? Then covering the...

    Something like anti-slapp laws, or let the plaintiff cover the defendant's legal expenses when it is so clearly asymmetrical.

    Oh, those emulators are really costing you, huh? Then covering the legal fees for the defendant should pay for itself.

    I'm sure there would be problems with something like this too, but prima facie it doesn't sound so bad.

    5 votes
  8. Comment on Signal messenger releases 'usernames' so you no longer need to tell someone your phone number in order for them to message you in ~tech

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    If the barrier to entry is simply the associated cost, they could let users to opt to pay a small fee instead of using a phone number.

    If the barrier to entry is simply the associated cost, they could let users to opt to pay a small fee instead of using a phone number.

    5 votes
  9. Comment on How to center a div in ~comp

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    Thank you so much! I last checked before the issue was made, and I was seriously considering making one but I also thought it might just be me lol.

    Thank you so much! I last checked before the issue was made, and I was seriously considering making one but I also thought it might just be me lol.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on How to center a div in ~comp

    FlippantGod
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    Can anyone here explain why Firefox's CSS debug overlay misaligns when using scrollbar-gutter? It drives me insane every time but I've never seen anyone mention it.

    Can anyone here explain why Firefox's CSS debug overlay misaligns when using scrollbar-gutter? It drives me insane every time but I've never seen anyone mention it.

  11. Comment on Which characters have the best bows? in ~anime

  12. Comment on Pew Research data on how many countries people have travelled to in ~travel

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    I think it is actually that there are just more people who traveled internationally, so there is a larger pool of international travelers who can become world travelers.

    I think it is actually that there are just more people who traveled internationally, so there is a larger pool of international travelers who can become world travelers.

    2 votes
  13. Comment on Pew Research data on how many countries people have travelled to in ~travel

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    I'm confident more of Canada's population lives closer to an international border, so I'd guess only Australia is comparable enough to mean anything. Neat that it's higher even without a land...

    I'm confident more of Canada's population lives closer to an international border, so I'd guess only Australia is comparable enough to mean anything. Neat that it's higher even without a land border though.

    A breakdown for countries traveled to could be neat.

    4 votes
  14. Comment on The tyranny of the algorithm: why every coffee shop looks the same in ~design

    FlippantGod
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    Not a new phenomenon, although I'll allow that social media has a more pervasive reach. Especially in large swathes of central Europe, Adolf Loos' influence is a good example of what I would...

    Not a new phenomenon, although I'll allow that social media has a more pervasive reach.

    Especially in large swathes of central Europe, Adolf Loos' influence is a good example of what I would consider the same depressing phenomenon.

    15 votes
  15. Comment on Billionaire backers of new California city seek voter approval after stealthily snapping up farmland in ~design

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    I think the land also includes pasture. Ironically, if they build the city and attract certain demographics, the land outside the development (or even interleaved within it) would probably see...

    Everyone in the state aside from the property owner loses when farmland is turned into housing. Needing to have higher transportation costs for food is bad.

    I think the land also includes pasture. Ironically, if they build the city and attract certain demographics, the land outside the development (or even interleaved within it) would probably see more intensive market gardening for fresh produce, which the area can definitely support as it previously had (continues to have?) canal irrigated farmland for just such purposes.

    As I expect the target demographic is tech workers from the bay and anyone considering moving to Sacramento, the net transportation costs for food may very will decrease.

    3 votes
  16. Comment on Your organic, eco-friendly lifestyle isn't as green as you think in ~enviro

  17. Comment on Velocipedia: Renderings of strangers' drawings of bikes in ~arts

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    Are they actually different? Your link is from the original author, and I can't tell them apart.

    Are they actually different? Your link is from the original author, and I can't tell them apart.

    2 votes
  18. Comment on Velocipedia: Renderings of strangers' drawings of bikes in ~arts

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    Figured you'd be here again. Kind of weird what things hang around in my head.

    Figured you'd be here again. Kind of weird what things hang around in my head.

    1 vote
  19. Comment on Is there a programming language that brings you joy? in ~comp

    FlippantGod
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    Syntax changes from version bumps have been considerably less of a headscratcher than I expected. And I do largely love the syntax with only a few gripes. Some stuff I had adapted from translated...

    Syntax changes from version bumps have been considerably less of a headscratcher than I expected. And I do largely love the syntax with only a few gripes.

    Some stuff I had adapted from translated C broke going 0.10.1 to 0.11. The compiler told me right away where to look. I'll give you a brief on the most complicated to follow along. @intToPtr had changed to @ptrFromInt, which was easy to see in the release notes. The release notes also explained what work I needed to do after zig fmt'ing which was polite. I was wrapping some windows C types inside those ptr casts, so those builtins changed too. Curiously trying to auto translate the source C for comparison no longer compiled, but it did give me an idea of how to do it and I fixed everything in about five minutes, when just looking at it I expected to sleep on it angrily.

    The docs that exist, and reading the zig source itself are both great, but I'm overall dissatisfied with the only other reliable source being discord, and the gradual fragmentation of documentation through peoples' projects on github on disparate versions of zig.

    However, Zig remains exceedingly pleasant for me to use and the official package manager was much less disagreeable than I anticipated. The build system seems to change very frequently, which I dislike, but it remains Zig and I haven't done any project big enough to give me problems, I can use the autogenerated build.zig just fine or look at one of the updated big projects.

    I think that covers my version bump experience, weird place to end it but oh well.

    1 vote
  20. Comment on If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing in ~tech

    FlippantGod
    Link Parent
    I'm definitely mixing urban legends and two specific user-reported issues. In one case a user claimed their network connected smart TV was constantly acting as an unsecured hotspot their neighbors...

    I'm definitely mixing urban legends and two specific user-reported issues. In one case a user claimed their network connected smart TV was constantly acting as an unsecured hotspot their neighbors were using.

    The other was someone claiming their samsung smart tv connected to an unsecured network autonomously. I saw a link to it on this Hacker News thread a few years ago, and now the original post on reddit is locked behind a private subreddit. The post to samsung's forums is also a missing page. In any case with just one self reported event I think we can safely put this in the "doesn't happen, but technically feasible" bin.

    13 votes