Halfloaf's recent activity

  1. Comment on Apollo moon landing conspiracy theories were early hints of the dangerous anti-vax, antiscience beliefs backed by politicians today in ~science

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    I’m guessing it’s because the author’s area of expertise is space. Phil Plait’s online persona is “The Bad Astronomer”.

    I’m guessing it’s because the author’s area of expertise is space.

    Phil Plait’s online persona is “The Bad Astronomer”.

    10 votes

  2. Comment on Advice on trudging through stress in ~health.mental

    Halfloaf
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    I fully suggest trying to find a therapist in your area. Therapy greatly helped me through some difficult times in the past couple of years. It was wonderful to have someone to talk through my...

    I fully suggest trying to find a therapist in your area.

    Therapy greatly helped me through some difficult times in the past couple of years. It was wonderful to have someone to talk through my feelings with, especially because I’ve felt guilty “unloading” my feelings on friends in the past.

    12 votes

  3. Comment on A proposed law to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve, led to controversy in ~news

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    I feel as if it’s best to be explicit in Lea, rather than relying on interpretation of laws that should be broad. Especially with the recent Supreme Court, which has chosen to interpret many laws...

    I feel as if it’s best to be explicit in Lea, rather than relying on interpretation of laws that should be broad.

    Especially with the recent Supreme Court, which has chosen to interpret many laws more narrowly than they’ve been interpreted in the past.

    9 votes

  4. Comment on Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Donald Trump’s vision in ~misc

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Ah! I read “this isn’t that” as “this isn’t fascism”, not “this isn’t hyperbole” - thank you for the clarification!

    Ah! I read “this isn’t that” as “this isn’t fascism”, not “this isn’t hyperbole” - thank you for the clarification!

    12 votes

  5. Comment on What are some good, non-microtransaction riddled mobile games? in ~games

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Oh! It looks like the developers also made 80 Days, which was one of my favorites from more than 5 years ago! 80 Days is basically a choose-your-own-adventure version of Jules Verne’s Around The...

    Oh! It looks like the developers also made 80 Days, which was one of my favorites from more than 5 years ago!
    80 Days is basically a choose-your-own-adventure version of Jules Verne’s Around The World In 80 Days, which is a fun bit of a travel planning / push your luck game.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Do you believe the world is controlled by competing interests, or do you think there is a "power elite" that controls the world from the background? in ~talk

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Thank you for that word. I’m going to have to incorporate it into my normal vocabulary.

    Thank you for that word. I’m going to have to incorporate it into my normal vocabulary.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Los Angeles is exploring banning cashless businesses, following the example of New York City, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Colorado, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington, DC in ~finance

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    But taking any sort of card usually incurs a fee from the card issuer, which can add up quickly. I really feel like there should be a government-issued debit card system, where the card fee is...

    But taking any sort of card usually incurs a fee from the card issuer, which can add up quickly.

    I really feel like there should be a government-issued debit card system, where the card fee is just the applicable sales tax. I don’t want to give scummy credit handlers any more money than I need to.

    15 votes

  8. Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted on four counts on Tuesday, by a grand jury in the District of Columbia, over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in ~news

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Along those lines, I feel like we’ve all gotten too acquainted with the old curse, “May you live in interesting times.” I would happily welcome some boring times now.

    Along those lines, I feel like we’ve all gotten too acquainted with the old curse, “May you live in interesting times.”

    I would happily welcome some boring times now.

    4 votes

  10. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of July 17 in ~news

  11. Comment on Brandon Sanderson is your god in ~books

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Ah! That makes sense! I guess a mis-link in the original comment. I think it’s worth reading the actual response, then - it’s certainly a better one than a general statement about the LDS.

    Ah! That makes sense! I guess a mis-link in the original comment.

    I think it’s worth reading the actual response, then - it’s certainly a better one than a general statement about the LDS.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Brandon Sanderson is your god in ~books

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    I think it’s worth citing the post that your quote comes from. I was confused at first, as I initially thought that your quoted section comes from his response article, which was an incorrect...

    I think it’s worth citing the post that your quote comes from.

    I was confused at first, as I initially thought that your quoted section comes from his response article, which was an incorrect assumption on my part.

    I do think the sentences above your quote add some useful context, so the section is posted below:

    Another big part of LDS doctrine is the concept of free will. We believe that God HAD to let us make our own decisions here, otherwise the whole thing would be for naught.
    This doesn’t excuse people who do terrible things to others. It simply means that we agreed to take the chance, and that we accepted the risk of the things that would happen here. It means that God watches in pain as we are put in pain, but has bound himself. He can’t stop people like Hitler from existing, otherwise the whole thing would be meaningless. A starving child in Africa is a terrible, terrible thing–and I believe that we are responsible for doing all we can to alleviate suffering. However, the reason they can exist is not because God is punishing them, but because the world must exist this way–and because we all made the decision that we’d RATHER end up as a starving child in Africa than miss out on the opportunity to experience life.

    8 votes

  13. Comment on US Supreme Court says First Amendment entitles web designer to refuse to do gay weddings in ~lgbt

    Halfloaf
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    How in the world does this person have legal standing when she hasn’t even created her business yet?

    How in the world does this person have legal standing when she hasn’t even created her business yet?

    A Colorado law forbids discrimination against gay people by businesses open to the public as well as statements announcing such discrimination. Ms. Smith, who has not begun the wedding business or posted the proposed statement for fear of running afoul of the law, sued to challenge it, saying it violated her rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion.

    40 votes

  14. Comment on Why I left Amazon… (PIP?) in ~comp

    Halfloaf
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    Is it common for a software engineering role to pay $150k straight out of college? That seems huge, even for an expensive city like Seattle.

    Is it common for a software engineering role to pay $150k straight out of college? That seems huge, even for an expensive city like Seattle.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on America is running on fumes | In film, science, and the economy, the US has fallen out of love with the hard work of ushering new ideas into the world in ~humanities

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Okay! Apologies for the quite significant delay! In my eyes, the combination of capital investment and product branding makes the evaluation of a proper price really difficult. For instance, it...

    Okay! Apologies for the quite significant delay!

    When a person buys a good, it’s difficult to understand exactly what the exchanged money is going towards, and that leads to a few different problems.

    In my eyes, the combination of capital investment and product branding makes the evaluation of a proper price really difficult. For instance, it can take around $1 billion USD to develop a new car model. That’s hundreds of engineers and millions of dollars in prototyping and fixed costs. I’m not specifically in vehicle development, but in similar fields you have two to four full prototype revisions, with anywhere between twenty-five and a few hundred units at each revision. A new model line will often be really expensive, and part of that is offsetting the huge capital investment.

    Now, once you have something stable that you like, you can then shift the majority of the engineers to other tasks, making future iterations of the brand a little cheaper to develop. Manufacturers may not sell quite as many of the future iterations, but the cost saved in development will allow for higher profit margins. Also, to try to squeeze out as many iterations on this as possible, you push a much higher percentage of your budget to marketing and brand presence.

    For these later iterations, the new models will feature lower-cost brand buzzwords - things that often don’t have much physical cost, but can be a note-worthy selling point. Something like advanced cruise control, or heated seats - comfortable additions that have a tiny cost compared to the development of an entirely new chassis. These can be flashy selling points, but they’re rarely going to be large improvements over the base model. However, people are willing to pay for flashy things. The inflation of a price due to good branding can be successful, because price isn’t a good indicator of cost. At times, it’s even a poor indicator of value, and that can be hard to gauge in the year or so immediately following the release of a product.

    Ultimately, I think it’s really tough to spend money in a way that directly supports scientific discovery and product development, because to a company, a branding spend is usually the safer choice. That, and as a consumer, it can be difficult to tell the difference between innovation and good brand management.

    8 votes

  16. Comment on America is running on fumes | In film, science, and the economy, the US has fallen out of love with the hard work of ushering new ideas into the world in ~humanities

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    As someone that worked for a long time in consumer goods, I agree. I do think the problem is a bit more complicated than that. When a person buys a good, it’s difficult to understand exactly what...

    As someone that worked for a long time in consumer goods, I agree. I do think the problem is a bit more complicated than that.

    When a person buys a good, it’s difficult to understand exactly what the exchanged money is going towards, and that leads to a few different problems.

    That, paired with the complexity and difficulty of scientific discovery and product development, leads companies to often pick the easier route of putting money into marketing and promotional material, rather than said development.

    I’m saying a lot of vague stuff because I’m on mobile over my lunch break. However, I would be happy to go into more detail in my thoughts if there’s interest!

    6 votes

  17. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I'd hope that a better option would be to agree to a property tax cut only after the facility had been up and running for 5 or 10 years, with a stipulated level of employment for the area.

    Yeah, I'd hope that a better option would be to agree to a property tax cut only after the facility had been up and running for 5 or 10 years, with a stipulated level of employment for the area.

    5 votes

  18. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~news

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    If somehow the conviction occurs on the 19th, would that then make Pence the shortest-serving President of the United States?

    If somehow the conviction occurs on the 19th, would that then make Pence the shortest-serving President of the United States?

    4 votes

  19. Comment on Donald Trump response to yesterday violent roitious insurrection at the Capitol in ~news

    Halfloaf
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    I normally like to be civil in these comments, but what a fucking hypocrite.

    I normally like to be civil in these comments, but what a fucking hypocrite.

    11 votes

  20. Comment on RIP Google Play Music, 2011–2020 - A look back at the nine-year life of Google's music service in ~music

    Halfloaf
    Link Parent
    Thanks! I'm now in the process of downloading all my music from Google play, and setting up my first plex server!

    Thanks! I'm now in the process of downloading all my music from Google play, and setting up my first plex server!

    1 vote