PuddleOfKittens's recent activity

  1. Comment on Is the Cybertruck really that bad? in ~transport

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

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    On the contrary, NATO membership is a requirement for any potential diplomatic solution - Russia just invaded Ukraine unprovoked and despite Russia's own recognition of Ukrainian sovereignty,...

    On the contrary, NATO membership is a requirement for any potential diplomatic solution - Russia just invaded Ukraine unprovoked and despite Russia's own recognition of Ukrainian sovereignty, Ukraine needs a guarantee that has teeth against Russia. That means Ukraine needs to gain either NATO membership or nukes.

    If the 'diplomatic solution' doesn't involve one of those, then here's what will happen: Russia will gain relief from sanctions, immediately stock up on all the electronics it needs to produce the materiel it's been short of of for the last 3 years, and reform its army with the lessons it's been learning too. Then, at the time of his choosing, he'll restart the war with both a manpower advantage and a materiel advantage, and the element of surprise, and Ukraine will lose that war.

    Everyone knows this, which is exactly why Ukraine wants NATO membership at basically any cost (including fighting the war in hopes Russia will fold first). And of course, if Russia and Ukraine didn't have bargaining frictions such as these then they would have ended the war with a peace deal already.

    And FWIW, "we don't want people joining defensive pacts against us, so we invaded them" is an insanely stupid rationale (see: Finland's accession to NATO, in response to the Ukraine war). Ukraine was right to fear that Russia would invade them.

    17 votes

  3. Comment on Pine64 November update: Something borrowed something new in ~tech

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    I also want physical buttons, but IMO the best solution for that is a custom case and wiring in custom batteries. The existing PineNote shipped without an SD card slot specifically because they...

    I mostly want to see something slightly smaller, about 8", potentially with hardware page turning buttons. And maybe a physical keyboard, or a keyboard case. Toss in a fingerprint reader to make it convenient to lock and unlock, and an SD card slot, and I'd probably pay $800!

    I also want physical buttons, but IMO the best solution for that is a custom case and wiring in custom batteries. The existing PineNote shipped without an SD card slot specifically because they bought an existing shell design, and redesigning it to include an SD card slot would cost money. The first batch sold extremely slowly, so frankly we're lucky we even got a second batch.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on City Sizes: City size comparison tool in ~misc

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    Look at Sydney: nobody thinks Katoomba (to the west) is part of Sydney. I wouldn't even count Penrith, although that's at least defensible.

    One thing that immediately jumps out is that this is highly vulnerable to differences in how municipalities are defined and subdivided depending on the country.

    Look at Sydney: nobody thinks Katoomba (to the west) is part of Sydney. I wouldn't even count Penrith, although that's at least defensible.

    3 votes

  5. Comment on In Northeast D.C., a rancorous post-election fight erupts — over bike lanes in ~transport

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    It's kind of funny that people hate their property values going down, but also hate their property values going upup.

    It's kind of funny that people hate their property values going down, but also hate their property values going upup.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Why battery powered cargo ships are compelling in ~transport

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link
    This article goes through the economics, and why iron-air batteries in particular would be the best choice.

    A problem for ships with marine diesel engines is that engine efficiency drops precipitously at lower RPMs, resulting in diminishing returns for slow steaming. Electric motors don't share this issue, so they get the full benefits of slower travel. An electric ship will use ~1/8th of the power and ~1/4th of the energy to complete a trip if it halves its speed.

    This article goes through the economics, and why iron-air batteries in particular would be the best choice.

    21 votes

  8. Comment on Supreme Court wants US input on whether ISPs should be liable for users’ piracy, in $1 billion Sony v. Cox case in ~tech

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link
    Absolutely fucking not. Barring people from internet access is flat-out not viable, and people will have an ISP regardless of whether they're pirating or not. Also, what the fuck. For a parallel:...

    Supreme Court wants US input on whether ISPs should be liable for users’ piracy

    Absolutely fucking not. Barring people from internet access is flat-out not viable, and people will have an ISP regardless of whether they're pirating or not. Also, what the fuck.

    For a parallel: Suppose someone was smuggling drugs interstate. Should they be banned from using public roads, and banned from travelling interstate? After all, that would reduce their future capacity to smuggle drugs. The answer is obviously not, you absolute fucking lunatic.

    67 votes

  9. Comment on A Traditional City primer in ~design

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link
    I've had this bookmarked for years, 10/10 read, tl;dr what cities need is narrow streets.

    I've had this bookmarked for years, 10/10 read, tl;dr what cities need is narrow streets.

    9 votes

  11. Comment on An antitrust advocate reflects on the Democratic Party's cult of powerlessness in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link
    This is yet another article that says "the democrats are useless, because...", and I want to throe my hat into the ring: The Dems are useless because they live in a 1-party state. Trump isn't a...

    This is yet another article that says "the democrats are useless, because...", and I want to throe my hat into the ring:

    The Dems are useless because they live in a 1-party state. Trump isn't a real political party and the main argument of " he will destroy the country" precludes any discussion with him.

    Meanwhile, leftists are dismissed because "we can't afford to piss off centrists or Trump will win and destroy the country".

    Notice how none of this has any actual policy goals as its basis? The Dems heard the comment that a baked potato would be a better president than Trump, and so they're actually trying to elect the baked potato. Because they're the only game in town.

    Meanwhile, the people who the Dems are trying to acquire with "we need to save democracy!", well, they want an actual democracy. The Dems' policy on e.g. Gaza stinks, they think, so they vote against the Dems.

    "Vote blue no matter who" was always just a temporary solution - it got Trump out, but the actual solution needed to be implementing a third-party voting system, so that people could vote any "fuck you" candidate without spoiler-effecting Trump into office.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on Should I stop using Kagi because they do business with Yandex? in ~tech

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link
    In a vacuum, this would be bad, but ultimately Kagi is trying to compete with Google and they need all the sources they can get. If they're too picky, then Kagi fails to be a good search engine,...

    In a vacuum, this would be bad, but ultimately Kagi is trying to compete with Google and they need all the sources they can get. If they're too picky, then Kagi fails to be a good search engine, goes bankrupt, and everyone is stuck with Google et al. It's a balancing act, although some people boycotting Kagi over this wouldn't be bad.

    At the end of the day, Kagi is a US business and I doubt they're doing any illegal sanction-busting. And I have more confidence in Kagi's moral compass than I do in Google's moral compass.

    22 votes

  13. Comment on James Webb Space Telescope finds stunning evidence for alternate theory of gravity in ~space

  14. Comment on Luxury cheese is being targeted by black market criminals in ~food

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    Cash, I'd imagine. Trade rubles for e.g. Indian Rupees, trade rupees for euros, trade euros for cheese, trade cheese for rubles.

    What do Russians pay with?

    Cash, I'd imagine. Trade rubles for e.g. Indian Rupees, trade rupees for euros, trade euros for cheese, trade cheese for rubles.

    7 votes

  15. Comment on I was brusque with my family today in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    "I like that he's crazy", charitably interpreted means "I like how he doesn't have a clear line which enemies can tiptoe right up to without repercussion, and I'm hopeful that enemies will...

    "I like that he's crazy", charitably interpreted means "I like how he doesn't have a clear line which enemies can tiptoe right up to without repercussion, and I'm hopeful that enemies will therefore be more broadly respectful of our rights as a result."

    Think like Putin and his " crazy" threats to drop nukes - it's slowed down aid tremendously.

    5 votes

  16. Comment on James Webb Space Telescope finds stunning evidence for alternate theory of gravity in ~space

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link
    Can we edit the title to add "(MOND)" at the end? "alternate theory of gravity" feels clickbaity to me, the obvious question is "which theory?" and we can answer that question with six characters...

    Can we edit the title to add "(MOND)" at the end? "alternate theory of gravity" feels clickbaity to me, the obvious question is "which theory?" and we can answer that question with six characters and a space.

    16 votes

  17. Comment on John Thune elected as US Senate Republican leader to succeed Mitch McConnell in ~society

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    In the short term, I don't think impeachment actually achieves that - MAGAs just baselessly claim it's a baseless witch hunt, anyone who says "no the democrats are correct here" is declared biased...

    It is still important to bring awareness of his crimes

    In the short term, I don't think impeachment actually achieves that - MAGAs just baselessly claim it's a baseless witch hunt, anyone who says "no the democrats are correct here" is declared biased towards democrats, and low-information voters assume that where there's smoke there's fire.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Sorry for the mess (post mortem for a Topic that went sideways?) in ~tildes

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link Parent
    Ooh, this must be one of those "blue MAGA" that @gpl was talking about.

    IMO she's still the same right-wing grifter she always was, but simply realized she could get a bigger audience if she concern trolls as left wing instead.

    Ooh, this must be one of those "blue MAGA" that @gpl was talking about.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Looking for eclectic and little-known websites that bring joy in ~health.mental

  20. Comment on I've added ~society for topics related to politics, law, policies, and similar societal-level subjects in ~tildes.official

    PuddleOfKittens
    Link
    Ooh, what's #3 and #4?

    "politics" is by far the most common tag that people filter out, with about four times as many users putting it in their filter list as the second most common one (to nobody's surprise, "elon musk").

    Ooh, what's #3 and #4?

    2 votes