PuddleOfKittens's recent activity

  1. Comment on Did NASA just find alien life on Mars? Here's what we know. in ~space

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    It is the necessary first step on answering whether there's life on Mars though.

    It failed to prove that hypothesis. It’s a subtle but important difference: it doesn’t prove past life on mars; it failed to prove there wasn’t past life on mars.

    It is the necessary first step on answering whether there's life on Mars though.

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Charlie Kirk shooting: US President Donald Trump says suspect in custody in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    I know, but omitting the one seemed way too subtle.

    Also those are basically the same word

    I know, but omitting the one seemed way too subtle.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    Okay, starting from the top: The core premise of the 2A being a right is that it was intended to ward off tyrants. Namely, 2A would guarantee that there would be gun owners who would fight against...

    Okay, starting from the top:

    The core premise of the 2A being a right is that it was intended to ward off tyrants. Namely, 2A would guarantee that there would be gun owners who would fight against the tyrant in question. With their guns.

    In that context, if there are as many gun-owners supporting the tyrant as there are opposing them, then there's no net military advantage against the tyrant from gun owners, and therefore gun ownership does not ward off the tyrant.

    Thus, the value of the 2A is contingent on the majority of gun owners (discluding cowards) being opposed to tyrants. And thus if the majority of gun owners are inclined to support the tyrant, then the 2A is useless at its intended purpose.

    Or to put it another way: the 2A is only useful here if Leftists can shoot the Charlie Kirks of the world but the MAGA crowd doesn't shoot back. If the MAGA crowd shoots back every time the Left shoots fascists, then the Left loses and all the 2A has done is better arm Trump's support base compared to if civilian guns were banned.

    I'm assuming that the US gun owners are either roughly 1:1 Left/Right, or the Right gun-owner crowd outnumbers the Left.

    I'm conflating gun-ownership with 2A because 1) I didn't want to write the extra paragraphs on such a minor detail, and 2) anyone who owns a gun generally supports the notion of owning guns given that they own a gun. Also 3) the majority of guns are owned by major gun fans, i.e. one guy with 9324235 guns..

    2 votes

  4. Comment on Charlie Kirk shooting: US President Donald Trump says suspect in custody in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    "Cold iron" was repellent to fae because it was technology; real high-tech stuff. There's no chance a fae could be found on the internet, my silly friend.

    "Cold iron" was repellent to fae because it was technology; real high-tech stuff. There's no chance a fae could be found on the internet, my Seelie silly friend.

    3 votes

  5. Comment on Charlie Kirk shooting: US President Donald Trump says suspect in custody in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    Fae rings are great, they'll teleport you straight to the 22nd century! (Note: one-way)

    Fae rings are great, they'll teleport you straight to the 22nd century! (Note: one-way)

    4 votes

  6. Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    I don't think 2A supporter minorities can separate themselves from the 2A-supporter majority opinion. Simply because gun-wielders cancel out. If the majority of people owning guns support the...

    I don't think 2A supporter minorities can separate themselves from the 2A-supporter majority opinion. Simply because gun-wielders cancel out. If the majority of people owning guns support the regime, (BTW yes I'm swapping from "2A supporters" to "gun owners" here, but I think that's reasonable, they're the same crowd) then the minority who don't will lose any civil war due to being outgunned (yes I know civil wars are more complicated than that).

    BTW

    trump pedals.

    Pedals = those bike things, peddles = travels from place to place selling <thing>. You mean peddles.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    Isn't there a cruise missile smaller than a tank? I want to see that policing.

    Isn't there a cruise missile smaller than a tank? I want to see that policing.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on How is Linux these days? in ~comp

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    I have an axe to grind: Android is not Linux, in any way that matters. It doesn't use the Linux kernel (it uses forks of Linux, but not the mainline branch), it isn't open-source (AOSP is...

    That said, Android is Linux

    I have an axe to grind: Android is not Linux, in any way that matters. It doesn't use the Linux kernel (it uses forks of Linux, but not the mainline branch), it isn't open-source (AOSP is open-source but Android has tons of proprietary stuff, and especially the Google service APIs that half the apps depend on by default, which is only supported on Android and iOS), and writing your own app for Android is harder than writing an app on Windows.

    The only phone that runs Linux is the PinePhone (and a handful of other niche phones). The various smartphone Linux distros don't really benefit from the domination of Android in particular, with the strongest argument being basically "at least it's not as locked down as iOS", which sure, but iOS was never going to be the only OS as long as Samsung etc wanted to get into the smartphone hardware business (which was inevitable given the profit margins and size of the original iPhone's userbase).

  9. Comment on What's your go-to hot sauce? in ~food

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    I suspect that the condiments were chosen based on how well they went with the cuisine, and the cuisine was chosen based on how well it went with the condiments. So swapping condiments between...

    Every place that grows peppers has its own constellation of seasonings used in making condiments that go with the cuisine.

    I suspect that the condiments were chosen based on how well they went with the cuisine, and the cuisine was chosen based on how well it went with the condiments. So swapping condiments between cuisines would be like swapping colors between color palettes.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on I built my own phone... because innovation is sad rn in ~tech

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    I want a phone that I can securely hold one-handed and touch every point of the screen (with the one hand), ideally while keeping the 6" screen. In practice, this means changing the shape of the...

    I want a phone that I can securely hold one-handed and touch every point of the screen (with the one hand), ideally while keeping the 6" screen.

    In practice, this means changing the shape of the device - maybe adding some sort of nubbin at the back I can hold, while I maneuvre my thumb to be able to tap the opposite side of the screen.

    3 votes

  11. Comment on What's an RPG? (video game) in ~games

    PuddleOfKittens
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    Originally, an RPG was any videogame trying to simulate/copy a tabletop RPG. From there, it started meaning "any videogame similar to RPG-simulating videogames". In particular, any game that 1) is...

    Originally, an RPG was any videogame trying to simulate/copy a tabletop RPG.

    From there, it started meaning "any videogame similar to RPG-simulating videogames". In particular, any game that 1) is primarily about managing character skill growth instead of you playing as that character and your performance being measured by your own skill, and 2) tries to have a particular emphasis on story,possibly which gives the player choices on where the story goes (like in a tabletop RPG)

    And from there it sort of lost any coherent meaning - an RPG is what an RPG is. It's a fuzzy "I know it when I see it" thing.

    Mostly though, when I see it I assume someone wrote a list of 'videogame genres' 30 years ago, and simply hasn't bothered to update it since. Much like when I see "action" and "adventure" categories. You're confused because you're trying to make sense of something senseless.

    27 votes

  12. Comment on The sunscreen scandal shocking Australia in ~health

    PuddleOfKittens
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    Yeah sure mate. If by "shocking" you mean "makes us raise an eyebrow before moving on with our lives". I know you're just using the article's title as written, but fuck whoever wrote the article's...

    shocking Australia

    Yeah sure mate. If by "shocking" you mean "makes us raise an eyebrow before moving on with our lives".

    I know you're just using the article's title as written, but fuck whoever wrote the article's title.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    Fork Yeah! the Rise and Development of Illumos (It's a talk by a guy who worked at Sun (which was bought out by Oracle), and how Oracle shitcanned Solaris, and how that lead to the community fork...

    Fork Yeah! the Rise and Development of Illumos

    (It's a talk by a guy who worked at Sun (which was bought out by Oracle), and how Oracle shitcanned Solaris, and how that lead to the community fork Illumos.)

    As you know people, as you learn about things, you realize that these generalizations we have are, virtually to a generalization, false. Well, except for this one, as it turns out. What you think of Oracle, is even truer than you think it is. There has been no entity in human history with less complexity or nuance to it than Oracle. And I gotta say, as someone who has seen that complexity for my entire life, it's very hard to get used to that idea. It's like, 'surely this is more complicated!' but it's like: Wow, this is really simple! This company is very straightforward, in its defense. This company is about one man, his alter-ego, and what he wants to inflict upon humanity -- that's it! ...Ship mediocrity, inflict misery, lie our asses off, screw our customers, and make a whole shitload of money. Yeah... you talk to Oracle, it's like, 'no, we don't fucking make dreams happen -- we make money!' ...You need to think of Larry Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it'll chop it off, the end. You don't think 'oh, the lawnmower hates me' -- lawnmower doesn't give a shit about you, lawnmower can't hate you. Don't anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don't fall into that trap about Oracle.

    9 votes

  14. Comment on Why do so many people think US President Donald Trump is good? in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    There's no one single answer, but the main issue is that when Trump talks about getting rid of X, nobody thinks that X means them, just the "Bad Xes". And native-born Hispanic Americans often put...

    There's no one single answer, but the main issue is that when Trump talks about getting rid of X, nobody thinks that X means them, just the "Bad Xes".

    And native-born Hispanic Americans often put themselves in a different category to recent Mexican immigrants. They naturally assume that Trump will only go after the latter category, because obviously the former is a perfectly respectable category, in their minds, and Trump has no reason to go after members of it.

    While not literally true, saying " Hispanics think they're white and Trump won't come after them" is a 99% correct answer - just, not literally white.

    11 votes

  15. Comment on Duty-free no more: Parcels worth under $800 no longer qualify for a US tariff exemption in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    To misquote John Carmack, the justification for the "emergency" is like the story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but its not that important.

    To misquote John Carmack, the justification for the "emergency" is like the story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but its not that important.

    3 votes

  16. Comment on US Food and Drug Administration limits approval for new coronavirus vaccines to high-risk people in ~health

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    The base thinks vaccines are unsafe. Govt echoing the base's beliefs is amazingly vindicating for them. After all, the main argument against fringe nutjobs has always been "you're a fringe nutjob;...

    I just don’t understand why. Is there literally any benefit to limiting it?

    1. The base thinks vaccines are unsafe. Govt echoing the base's beliefs is amazingly vindicating for them. After all, the main argument against fringe nutjobs has always been "you're a fringe nutjob; the establishment disagrees with you", so now they can flip that on it's head against pro-vaxxers.
    2. RFK Jr literally doesn't believe in germ theory. The why is perfectly understandable here: the people in charge want to kill vaccines.
    15 votes

  17. Comment on The Alaska Summit and the war in Ukraine - the meeting, battlefield and what comes next? in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    If Ukrainian pipelines stop flowing, then Hungary et al can start being obstructionist on EU aid. IIRC earlier someone in the Hungary club did start acting obstructionist (Slovenia?) and Ukraine...

    If Ukrainian pipelines stop flowing, then Hungary et al can start being obstructionist on EU aid. IIRC earlier someone in the Hungary club did start acting obstructionist (Slovenia?) and Ukraine did indeed cut pipeline shipments in response, until they dropped the obstructionism.

    5 votes

  18. Comment on No comply: private equity and skateboarding, or how private equity is gutting skateboard culture in ~finance

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    I think the biggest reason is 'gravity' ("why'd the bridge fall down?"). By that I mean that instead of having a positive cause, it has a cessation of an anti-cause. Or realistically, multiple of...

    I think the biggest reason is 'gravity' ("why'd the bridge fall down?"). By that I mean that instead of having a positive cause, it has a cessation of an anti-cause. Or realistically, multiple of them.

    I suspect that finance and a change in business norms (and corporate raiding, if that's not included in the category already) has made it easier to buy out a real brand and enshittify it on a large enough scale that the value of brand loyalty itself has reduced, which has triggered a market for lemons on the consumer market.

    I think it's become increasingly easy to rip off a brand online and then cannibalise the original market on Amazon, to the point where investing in quality brand is less worthwhile in the first place.

    I think the flood of billionaire capital has run out of progress-generating assets to buy and has to sate itself with increasingly skeevy options, which materializes as buying perfectly functioning low-profit stores and forcing them to pretend they're high-profit by killing their gooses that lay their golden eggs.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Donald Trump shock spurs Japan to think about the unthinkable: nuclear arms in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    AIUI the bigger ones are only months away - Germany and South Korea being the big two. Nukes have two hard parts - the nuclear part and the missile part. The missile part can be completed as a...

    AIUI the bigger ones are only months away - Germany and South Korea being the big two. Nukes have two hard parts - the nuclear part and the missile part. The missile part can be completed as a non-nuclear power, and its difficulty depends on your target (if SK only needs to reach NK then they could potentially fire the nuke with artillery if they wanted to, whereas if Iran wanted to threaten the US then it would have to make a very a specialised intercontinental missile), whereas the nuclear part mostly takes some time, access to the right fissile material (having civilian nuclear industries really helps, since they have people trained in very similar fields), and a ton of centrifuges.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on The crisis of the US university started long before Donald Trump in ~finance

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    If only 10% of nuclear engineering majors got jobs, then they wouldn't have much bargaining power and nobody would want to offer them millions when they could offer the unemployed 90% pennies instead.

    If only 10% of nuclear engineering majors got jobs, then they wouldn't have much bargaining power and nobody would want to offer them millions when they could offer the unemployed 90% pennies instead.