sparksbet's recent activity
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Comment on Insane and crazy recipe substitutions? in ~food
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Comment on Insane and crazy recipe substitutions? in ~food
sparksbet Link ParentMy local grocery delivery service requires you to approve substitutions iirc, and it lets you select whether you want them to sub something or just remove it from the list if it can't be found....That one was egregious but there are plenty of times where I would rather not get a thing (or likely several things for the same meal) if some keystone ingredient isn't available.
My local grocery delivery service requires you to approve substitutions iirc, and it lets you select whether you want them to sub something or just remove it from the list if it can't be found. I'm honestly surprised this isn't something every such service does.
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Comment on My thoughts on Dropout streaming service in ~tv
sparksbet Link Parentiirc wasn't there a photo of Robert Reich completely nude (like full frontal) featured on an episode of Game Changer? It was blurred for the show but afaik not for the contestants.iirc wasn't there a photo of Robert Reich completely nude (like full frontal) featured on an episode of Game Changer? It was blurred for the show but afaik not for the contestants.
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Comment on XKCD 3081: PhD timeline in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentImmigration officials are already arresting US citizens without due process, so it's not clear to me how you come to the conclusion that US citizens are safe or that this is a continuation of...Immigration officials are already arresting US citizens without due process, so it's not clear to me how you come to the conclusion that US citizens are safe or that this is a continuation of long-established norms rather than the intense escalation it very much is.
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Comment on How did you learn to read? in ~humanities.languages
sparksbet Link ParentI don't think this necessarily holds -- unless the spelling systems are designed in parallel in order to work well together (and honestly even then) it's very possible for even dialects that are...In theory at least, we can understand speakers from other dialects, so we should also be able to understand writers from other dialects
I don't think this necessarily holds -- unless the spelling systems are designed in parallel in order to work well together (and honestly even then) it's very possible for even dialects that are very similar to have big differences in how they're written that make it so you essentially have to learn each system separately. Our brains are doing a lot of unconscious work when it comes to understanding spoken language that doesn't translate when it comes to a system for writing that language. English's status as a global language is a big hindrance here -- while there were plenty of dialect differences back in the era of Middle English before standardized spelling, English was much less spread out and there was far less need for written communication with someone who spoke very differently from you.
I will confess that I've tried to come up with my own new English orthography for fun, and it's surprisingly hard to sort out even just the variation within American English without making decisions that privilege how some people speak over others.
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Comment on The many reasons why Xbox is failing in ~games
sparksbet Link ParentI think it's much more of a mixed-bag when it comes to developers. Obviously it depends on how much Microsoft pays them for people trying their games on game pass. But also one of my favorite...It might be great for the consumer (in the short term), but it’s a disaster for developers.
I think it's much more of a mixed-bag when it comes to developers. Obviously it depends on how much Microsoft pays them for people trying their games on game pass. But also one of my favorite games was made by devs who explicitly said the game would never have gotten made if it weren't for game pass.
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Comment on How did you learn to read? in ~humanities.languages
sparksbet Link ParentWhile this definitely makes a sensible English spelling system harder conceptually, I don't think it's remotely the underlying issue. Other Germanic languages with similarly large phoneme...The underlying issue, I suppose, is that the Latin script is not a very good fit for modern English. 26 letters are used to represent something like 24 consonant and 20 vowel sounds. It's a bit like trying to fit a square block in a round hole.
While this definitely makes a sensible English spelling system harder conceptually, I don't think it's remotely the underlying issue. Other Germanic languages with similarly large phoneme inventories are able to have much more consistent systems.
The principal underlying reason the English spelling system is this way is that it has not changed significantly for a very long time. You mention this at the end of your comment, but I wanted to emphasize and elaborate on how big a factor it is. English spelling began to be standardized in the 1500s, which means that it generally doesn't reflect sound changes that happened after that, like the Great Vowel Shift -- this is the shift that resulted in the way we write "bit" vs "bite"! The "e" used to represent an actual short e sound at the end of the word that was eventually lost, but had the effect of causing the preceding vowel to be long. The Great Vowel Shift then involved long vowels (which were previously just longer versions of the same vowel sounds as their short counterparts) turning into various diphthongs -- such as /iː/ becoming /ɑ͡ɪ/ as in "bit" and "bite." A ton of major sound changes like this have happened in those hundreds of years, and the English orthography simply never changed to reflect them -- German went through a similar vowel shift to the English Great Vowel Shift slightly earlier, but the spelling was changed accordingly: "bīzen" became "beißen." The earliest versions of modern German and Dutch spelling were mostly standardized in the 18th century, which means they reflect something much closer in time to the modern language than is the case with English spelling.
Nowadays it's likely too late to actually change English spelling to reflect all these sound changes. The biggest factor there is simply the sheer amount of printed English-language material that you would need to re-print, since any spelling reform would have to make some pretty drastic changes to come close to its goal. But another is that English is not just spoken by people on one island as it was in the 1500s. Even attempting to come up with a spelling reform that could be consistently used by both Brits and Americans would be difficult, as even major dialects within those countries have different numbers of vowels, and the differences in phonology between them are not trivial. A replacement system that worked for both would either have to merge a ton of distinct vowels into one written form for many speakers, making it ambiguous in many cases, or other speakers would have to learn when to write different forms for vowel distinctions they themselves do not make, which just brings us back to the same memorization issues the current orthography has. And that's without taking into account a larger variety of world Englishes, of which there are many with a huge diversity in their vowel inventories!
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Comment on Finland is home to some of the most prolific caffeine drinkers in the world, and now Helsinki is positioning itself as a new brew capital in ~food
sparksbet Link ParentI could certainly brew pour-over by the pot (or at least I could if I had bought a larger one) and one of the most popular brewing methods in the rest of Europe is the mokka pot, which would be...I could certainly brew pour-over by the pot (or at least I could if I had bought a larger one) and one of the most popular brewing methods in the rest of Europe is the mokka pot, which would be brewing by the pot no matter how much you make!
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Comment on Finland is home to some of the most prolific caffeine drinkers in the world, and now Helsinki is positioning itself as a new brew capital in ~food
sparksbet Link Parent"Brewed by the pot" just means you brew a pot at a time, it doesn't say much of anything about brew method (other than that it's not espresso, I guess, but pretty much any other brew method can be..."Brewed by the pot" just means you brew a pot at a time, it doesn't say much of anything about brew method (other than that it's not espresso, I guess, but pretty much any other brew method can be done by the pot). That said, I do think the Nordics tend more towards drip coffee than the more espresso-centric cultures further south. I don't think many coffee aficionados in any country are using the classic drip coffee machines these days, though, for the same reasons that they aren't using Keurig or Nespresso pods. People who just casually drink coffee and have no strong opinions about it aren't the types that tend to post in coffee-related forums!
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Comment on Elon Musk’s X sues to overturn Minnesota political deepfakes ban in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentIt's worth noting that not only is defamation extremely rarely prosecuted criminally, even in the states where there are criminal defamation laws on the books, and that there are huge limits on...We explicitly have laws about slander and libel.
It's worth noting that not only is defamation extremely rarely prosecuted criminally, even in the states where there are criminal defamation laws on the books, and that there are huge limits on what can be considered defamation specifically because of the First Amendment. Public figures (which would absolutely include any politician) in particular have a very high burden to prove that a statement about them counts as defamation -- they need to prove that the state was made with knowledge of its falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. The attempt to "neuter" slander/libel laws is unnecessary, because this is already how they work under the US constitution.
Moreover, I don't even think weakening existing defamation laws would be a bad thing. Defamation lawsuits are constantly abused by rich plaintiffs to bully people who criticize them or say things they disagree with, because the cost of defending against even a baseless defamation claim can be too onerous when the plaintiff is much richer than you. Trump has talked about wanting to strengthen defamation laws for this reason. This is the principle issue with defamation law in the US, not that it's too weak, and improving US defamation law would be best accomplished by passing federal anti-SLAPP that would cover costs for defendants and sanction plaintiffs for particularly baseless claims that are clearly made to suppress speech.
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Comment on Slate Auto to offer modular EV pickup for $20k with EV Tax Credit in ~transport
sparksbet Link ParentMany places are already doing this.Are you going to install or incentivize them to be installed? Nope.
Many places are already doing this.
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Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentFair enough -- whether these things disrupt your life enough to be something that needs treatment is really something only you can decide, since it's your experience!Fair enough -- whether these things disrupt your life enough to be something that needs treatment is really something only you can decide, since it's your experience!
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Comment on The pronatalist movement: They say they want Americans to have more babies. What's beneath the surface? in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentYeah, I absolutely agree. I think that the companies offering screening for these things are being pretty fundamentally dishonest, which would be a concern regardless, but I'm especially concerned...Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think that the companies offering screening for these things are being pretty fundamentally dishonest, which would be a concern regardless, but I'm especially concerned with how they contribute to a wider casual acceptance of eugenicist values in wider society. I can understand screening for genetic disorders and believe that parents who do that aren't doing so bc they buy into eugenics necessarily, but simply because they want what's best for their kid. But screening for IQ is very connected to a bunch of really vile ideology, and it doesn't leave me with a positive impression of people who do it, even if they aren't explicit about doing it because they buy into eugenics like this couple is.
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Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentI can agree to disagree with you on whether caffeine is dangerous, but it's just factually untrue that it's a narcotic. "Narcotic" has a definition beyond just "addictive drug." Medically it...I can agree to disagree with you on whether caffeine is dangerous, but it's just factually untrue that it's a narcotic. "Narcotic" has a definition beyond just "addictive drug." Medically it refers specifically to opiates afaik (or at least to other drugs that behave similarly, which stimulants like caffeine do not). While the way "narcotic" is used in a legal context is broader, it's not that broad -- even amphetamines aren't classified as narcotics (as opposed to cocaine, which is).
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Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentI think for it to actually be OCD, it would need to be causing you distress. For something to count as a compulsion in the OCD sense, it generally needs to be disruptive to your life and...I think for it to actually be OCD, it would need to be causing you distress. For something to count as a compulsion in the OCD sense, it generally needs to be disruptive to your life and precipitated by an obsession of some kind -- the way compulsions work in OCD is that they relieve the distress and anxiety caused by the obsessions. Without these things, it's at most a tic, and if it's not hurting you, there's nothing wrong with having it as a quirk. We're all allowed our fair share of idiosyncrasies.
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Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentI'm often the same way, but I moved to Europe where it's normal to have a quilt cover that's zipped or snapped closed over a separate quilt that contains the filling, rather than a blanket where...I'm often the same way, but I moved to Europe where it's normal to have a quilt cover that's zipped or snapped closed over a separate quilt that contains the filling, rather than a blanket where the filling is sewn in as is common in the States. This more or less gets rid of the issue with washing a blanket -- with the caveat that I'm apparently quite good at getting the quilt bunched up within the cover or partially pulling it out of the cover in my sleep!
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Comment on Spiraling in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentYeah, this is how it's been for me too. I think it's normal to bounce back and forth through a lot of feelings in a time like this. Over time things will hopefully stabilize (they already have for...I find myself going through a cycle of stages of grief, from regret, to anger, to feeling motivated to change, back to sorrow, etc.
Yeah, this is how it's been for me too. I think it's normal to bounce back and forth through a lot of feelings in a time like this. Over time things will hopefully stabilize (they already have for me quite a bit).
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Comment on The pronatalist movement: They say they want Americans to have more babies. What's beneath the surface? in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentIt wouldn't be possible for a couple selecting among their own embryos like they are afaik, but since autism is known to be highly heritable it's absolutely something that a eugenics movement on a...I was incorrect that they're selecting for Autism, which may not be possible, but they're actively not selecting against it.
It wouldn't be possible for a couple selecting among their own embryos like they are afaik, but since autism is known to be highly heritable it's absolutely something that a eugenics movement on a larger, society-wide level could select for (or against), which remains concerning.
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Comment on Slate Auto to offer modular EV pickup for $20k with EV Tax Credit in ~transport
sparksbet Link ParentAs an attestation that this is indeed doable, my apartment complex has EV chargers in our parking garage. You probably have to pay extra on top of the cost of renting a parking space without one,...Just because they aren't there right now doesn't mean that it's not something that can be done relatively cheaply if it's an amenity that more people start demanding.
As an attestation that this is indeed doable, my apartment complex has EV chargers in our parking garage. You probably have to pay extra on top of the cost of renting a parking space without one, but they're consistently in use so I assume the value for money is fine. There's also a public EV charger alongside the street parking down our street (which I've seen getting its fair share of use as I walk past) and a newly opened set of EV charging stations attached to a parking lot a few blocks away.
Granted, I'm living in Berlin, where owning a car is an unnecessary luxury and the average person probably skews more environmentalist than in many places, but this is at least a demonstration of how EV charging can totally be made convenient for renters if there's sufficient motivation for it.
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Comment on Abundance meets resistance: Are US Democrats finally ready to go all in on building housing? in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentI'm not sure it's the case that this isn't commonly done. In the US I think most passenger train lines are owned by freight companies anyway, and in Europe rail networks are usually mixed networks...I’m wondering what other reasons there are why mixing freight with passenger rail isn’t commonly done?
I'm not sure it's the case that this isn't commonly done. In the US I think most passenger train lines are owned by freight companies anyway, and in Europe rail networks are usually mixed networks for both freight and passenger transport (source). I've definitely personally seen freight trains pass by me while I was waiting at a train station here in Germany.
Ah, fair enough. I'm rarely making anything with more than one very specific ingredient, so typically if that one thing is missing I can repurpose the other stuff for a different meal.