Markrs240b's recent activity

  1. Comment on Tim Curry says Rocky Horror was originally a 'failure' in rare interview in ~movies

  2. Comment on A Gigantic Jet caught on camera: a spritacular moment for NASA astronaut Nicole Ayers! in ~space

    Markrs240b
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    Thanks for the better image. Looking at this closely it seems like the color of the jet changes at certain altitudes. I wonder if that color change is associated with atmospheric pressure or the...

    Thanks for the better image.

    Looking at this closely it seems like the color of the jet changes at certain altitudes. I wonder if that color change is associated with atmospheric pressure or the gasses that dominate the atmosphere at that altitude?

    7 votes

  3. Comment on How many remakes have ever actually lived up to or surpassed the original? in ~movies

    Markrs240b
    Link Parent
    The original Parent Trap was interesting, but I didn't like it as much. Fun fact, Aunt Vicki in this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqT5e4JBaU4 is the same actress (and possibly the same...

    The original Parent Trap was interesting, but I didn't like it as much.

    Fun fact, Aunt Vicki in this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqT5e4JBaU4 is the same actress (and possibly the same character) from the first Parent Trap who was engaged to the dad, but got dumped in favor of remarrying the mother. That sort of makes Lindsey Lohan's Parent Trap a sequel.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on The man who ran a carnival attraction that saved thousands of premature babies wasn’t a doctor at all in ~humanities.history

    Markrs240b
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    Pretty cool. I wonder if the fact that he wasn't a real doctor was a known secret within the medical community. Certainly it seems some doctors went out of their way to credit him, and others...

    Pretty cool. I wonder if the fact that he wasn't a real doctor was a known secret within the medical community. Certainly it seems some doctors went out of their way to credit him, and others pointedly never mentioned him. If it was known at all the fact that no one blew his cover shows that there was quite a bit of respect for the work he did even if he never got a medical degree.

    7 votes

  5. Comment on The hidden engineering of floating bridges in ~engineering

    Markrs240b
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    I just want to say that I'm glad Grady is making his Practical Engineering videos. These are a tremendous public service.

    I just want to say that I'm glad Grady is making his Practical Engineering videos. These are a tremendous public service.

    6 votes

  6. Comment on Rough ride: how Uber quietly took more of driver's fare with its algorithm change in ~transport

    Markrs240b
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I've been using Lyft lately and just last week a driver was telling me that they lose money on every Uber ride they give, so switching to Lyft was their only option for turning a profit on driving...

    I've been using Lyft lately and just last week a driver was telling me that they lose money on every Uber ride they give, so switching to Lyft was their only option for turning a profit on driving at all.

    5 votes

  7. Comment on Text Formatting in Notepad begin rolling out to Windows Insiders in ~tech

    Markrs240b
    Link Parent
    This would work for me, but I can barely get my colleagues to use Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. At least one of them is only capable of accomplishing anything by clicking on everything. I mainly use notepad as...

    This would work for me, but I can barely get my colleagues to use Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. At least one of them is only capable of accomplishing anything by clicking on everything.

    I mainly use notepad as a way for those colleagues to not wreck my templates by pasting in whatever garbage they wrote somewhere else.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Space Cadet Pinball by ksylvestre in ~games

    Markrs240b
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    Dang, that brought back some memories.

    Dang, that brought back some memories.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Rust | Official trailer in ~movies

    Markrs240b
    Link
    "No animals were harmed in the making of this film." /s

    "No animals were harmed in the making of this film."

    /s

    3 votes

  10. Comment on Russia loses almost 46,000 troops, over $3 billion worth of military equipment in November, Defense Ministry says in ~news

    Markrs240b
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    The whole NATO thing is a lie to obscure the fact that Russia has been trying to bring Ukraine back under its control from the day they first broke free. The whole Euromaidan was a response to the...

    The whole NATO thing is a lie to obscure the fact that Russia has been trying to bring Ukraine back under its control from the day they first broke free. The whole Euromaidan was a response to the Ukrainian president running on a campaign of European alliance, then turning around and trying to take Ukraine back to Russia, while shutting Europe out. That then triggered Russia's first invasion in 2014 (still ongoing) because they couldn't conquer through political manipulation.

    Immediately after the 2022 invasion Ukraine offered a peace deal that included swearing off NATO and EU forever, but they were rejected, proving that neither alliance was what Russia was really concerned about. Russia just wants to conquer back its territory.

    8 votes

  11. Comment on Ukraine war latest: Moscow claims clashes with Ukrainian troops on Russian soil in ~news

    Markrs240b
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    The NYT analysis overlooks why the conscripts aren't being used in Ukraine. Early on in the invasion the Kremlin found out that use of conscripts in battle was extremely unpopular and even had to...

    The NYT analysis overlooks why the conscripts aren't being used in Ukraine. Early on in the invasion the Kremlin found out that use of conscripts in battle was extremely unpopular and even had to make statements about some conscripts who died early on to place blame on others for how they got into combat. Now Russia must choose between sending conscripts to die (or be captured en masse as the case as often been) or redirect 'volunteer' troops from other offensives to try to stop the Ukrainian advance.

    It also misses the fact that now that Russia's territorial integrity has been directly challenged, there will be enormous pressure to retake that land. Ukraine has already made extensive preparations to defend the territory captured, and while they're probably willing to give that land back, the Ukrainians intend to make the Russians pay an extremely heavy price for it. That price might seem even higher since Russia was about to switch to defense for a tactical pause. Now they must either continue attacking without a chance to rebuild forces, or essentially give that territory away for the foreseeable future.

    17 votes

  12. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~transport

    Markrs240b
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    As the article points out, Chinese EV's are also cheap in large part because they are heavily subsidized by the Chinese government. That's why they're applying tariffs. It's not because they can't...

    As the article points out, Chinese EV's are also cheap in large part because they are heavily subsidized by the Chinese government. That's why they're applying tariffs. It's not because they can't compete in a free market, it's because China doesn't represent free market competition.

    The government subsidies mean that the Chinese companies aren't taking on risk like their European and American competitors, nor are they as dependent on profit from sales. A Chinese EV could be sold at a loss and the company still be getting net profit thanks to the subsidies from China. Tariffs in cases like this are intended to restore the balance and protect free market competition.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~society

    Markrs240b
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    The article only hints at the decades of history behind this sort of thing while talking mostly about relatively recent events. This 'white fortress' thing they're talking about is exactly what...

    The article only hints at the decades of history behind this sort of thing while talking mostly about relatively recent events. This 'white fortress' thing they're talking about is exactly what happened to Jackson, MS in the late 60's and early 70's.

    12 votes

  14. Comment on The five futures of Russia in ~society

    Markrs240b
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    Although not necessarily a likely scenario, it is imaginable that Russia may end up fragmenting further, shedding some territories into more independent nations. There are some territories that...

    Although not necessarily a likely scenario, it is imaginable that Russia may end up fragmenting further, shedding some territories into more independent nations.

    There are some territories that tried to gain independence in the early 90's but were unable to break away for a variety of reasons. Tatarstan is one such region. If Moscow becomes sufficiently unstable then independence for these regions might be feasible.

    Another source of independent nations could be resource-rich areas further from Moscow. If Russia ends up in either the "Chaos" or "North Korea" scenario as described above, investment to get those resources might be difficult. Russia has shown that rule of law isn't a high priority, and recently foreign investments have been seized with little pretense. Instead, there may be some instigation to break away some resource-rich area to form a stable government that could provide legal protection and/or consistency for investments in resource extraction.

    Lastly, some of the more rural parts of Russia are quite impoverished compared to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Some impoverished region might be the ideal place for some would-be dictator to try to make an empire for themselves by instigating an independence movement on the basis of improving the standard of living. Blame for current standard of living could be put on Moscow, and independence plus alignment towards Ukraine, Uzbekistan, or some other neighboring former soviet country may offer the promise of better lives.

    None of these scenarios are especially likely, but they are theoretically possible. If even one such movement was able to gain any noticeable traction in an unstable Russia it would invite all kinds of foreign influence that could make independence possible. And if one region was able to break away, who knows what would happen after that?

    3 votes

  15. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Markrs240b
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    This is so true. It's an incredibly fun game if I'm diving with friends, and it's sometimes cool with randos, but soloing is almost painful, and crappy randos just ruin the game.

    This is so true. It's an incredibly fun game if I'm diving with friends, and it's sometimes cool with randos, but soloing is almost painful, and crappy randos just ruin the game.

  16. Comment on "Dune: Part Three" in the works, in addition to Denis Villeneuve adapation of "Nuclear War: A Scenario" in ~movies

    Markrs240b
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    Imagine if a movie adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet ended with a surprise twist in which not only does Hamlet not die, but also Rosencranz and Guildenstern also survive to start a war between...

    Imagine if a movie adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet ended with a surprise twist in which not only does Hamlet not die, but also Rosencranz and Guildenstern also survive to start a war between Hamlet's kingdom and Denmark. As "Hamlet the Movie" ends a new war is kicked off. That might be an exciting movie, and it might easily lend itself to an exciting sequel, but that is not Hamlet.

    That's basically what's happened to Dune. Dune part 2 was a good movie, but it's simply not Dune. I'm sure part 3 or whatever will also be a good movie, but it really is just a guarantee that Dune will never get a faithful movie adaptation.

    7 votes

  17. Comment on VHEMT: the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement in ~life

    Markrs240b
    Link Parent
    The sad fact is that we are not experiencing a shortage of resources to support the current population, or even the much expanded future populations. We are experiencing a shortage of distribution...

    The sad fact is that we are not experiencing a shortage of resources to support the current population, or even the much expanded future populations. We are experiencing a shortage of distribution of resources.

    Working out major interstellar-scale megastructures would be easier if everyone is educated, well fed, etc., but that doesn't require there be less of us.

    Last point: if you have two groups, one is pro-growth and the other is anti-growth, eventually no matter how small a minority the pro-growth group start out as, eventually it will be the majority. Even if you could convince 99.9% of all humans to reduce the population by not having kids, the remaining .1% would eventually become a pro-growth majority again. For that reason alone voluntary extinction will never amount to more than a drop in the ocean. Add to that the fact that you'll never convince a notable minority of people, let alone a majority, to reduce the population. And then add to that the fact that the people most likely to cooperate in a population reduction effort are also the people most likely to cooperate for the good of humankind in some other, more productive way. Instead of ridding the Earth of humans willing to cooperate, I recommend trying to influence the world by making as many cooperators as possible in the hopes of vastly outnumbering the people who selfishly cause artificial shortages.

    8 votes

  18. Comment on VHEMT: the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement in ~life

    Markrs240b
    Link Parent
    In about a billion years or so the Sun will have gotten hot enough to bake all life off Earth, and then it will swallow Earth within about 5 billion years. Without intelligent intervention those...

    There hasn't been any mass extinction event previously which has ended 100% of life on earth. Certainly there have been times that it's come close; I think the Permian extinction did something mad like 80% - 90% of known life, but there have always been survivors to cling on, adapt and fill the niches.

    In about a billion years or so the Sun will have gotten hot enough to bake all life off Earth, and then it will swallow Earth within about 5 billion years. Without intelligent intervention those are the hard limits for life on Earth.

    However, intelligent life is capable of preserving nature beyond that point not only by colonizing other star systems, bringing life with them wherever they go, but also by extending the Sun's life far beyond its natural limits.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Sci-fi author Vernor Vinge dead at 79 in ~books

    Markrs240b
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    Aw, what the hell. He was supposed to write another book for the Tines world. What happens after Children of the Sky now?

    Aw, what the hell. He was supposed to write another book for the Tines world. What happens after Children of the Sky now?

    6 votes

  20. Comment on Canadian pet DNA company sends back dog breed results from human sample a second time in ~life.pets

    Markrs240b
    Link Parent
    FYI - Rich people don't get DNA tests to brag about their purebreed dog. Real "certified purebreed" dogs will come with paperwork verifying parentage. Dog DNA tests are for commoners with mutts,...

    FYI - Rich people don't get DNA tests to brag about their purebreed dog. Real "certified purebreed" dogs will come with paperwork verifying parentage.

    Dog DNA tests are for commoners with mutts, like me.

    37 votes