sparksbet's recent activity
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Comment on Why America is so much better than Europe at immigration in ~society
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Comment on Why America is so much better than Europe at immigration in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentUS democrat politicians have definitely tried to crack down on their immigration policy in an attempt to appeal to conservative voters, though, even if it's not universal consensus among US...US democrat politicians have definitely tried to crack down on their immigration policy in an attempt to appeal to conservative voters, though, even if it's not universal consensus among US liberals as a voting bloc, though. I'm not really in the liberal political space enough to know whether they're explicitly calling for us to emulate countries like Denmark when it comes to immigration policy, but I think if that's ever the case, we should certainly pay attention to their failures. There's often an "everything is better in Western European social democracies and we should do exactly what they do" sentiment among US liberals, and while this is sometimes true, it's important to point out when this is not the case, be it about immigration or something else (I wouldn't want the US to emulate any of these countries when it comes to trans healthcare, for example).
Granted, I'm biased because I've experienced immigration in an EU country as an immigrant and watched the government make it worse in real time, so I think it's valuable to criticize their failings even without the comparison to the US. But ofc comparison to the US is kinda the center of this article.
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Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life
sparksbet (edited )Link ParentDorms at my university in Germany were all singles, and the other benefits of co-living you cite were all still pretty applicable. But dorms at universities there are also not mandatory and much...Dorms at my university in Germany were all singles, and the other benefits of co-living you cite were all still pretty applicable. But dorms at universities there are also not mandatory and much cheaper than local non-dorm housing, with the tradeoff that there's a waiting period to get in because they're pretty much always full. You were also allowed to use the communal kitchen to make your meals if you wanted, or to buy your meals at the university cafeterias, where you paid quite low prices per-meal rather than having an expensive pre-paid meal plan. Even before you factor in the differences in how tuition works, it served as a much more sensible budget option for students compared to dorms at the university I attended in the US, which required you to get an expensive meal plan if you lived there and cost enough more than local apartments that the university had to artificially force second-year students to live on campus by forbidding them from doing otherwise (my year at my US uni was the last one to only be required to live on campus for your first year, so it's fresh in my mind).
I also haven't spoken to my college roommate in the US since we lived together freshman year, because just being forced to share the same tiny room for a year doesn't automatically make you friends, and we had no other social connections. My social life in college was still great and my friends lived in other dorms. I think sharing apartments or dorm buildings does make sense at that stage in life, but I don't think being forced to share a bedroom actually improves things socially or culturally on the whole, it just lets the university house more people in the same amount of space.
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Comment on Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentThe Tolkien estate is sufficiently litigious that one can safely assume they would have sued if it were advisable, and thus that there isn't a case there. As someone else mentioned, you can't...The Tolkien estate is sufficiently litigious that one can safely assume they would have sued if it were advisable, and thus that there isn't a case there.
As someone else mentioned, you can't copyright a name, and even if the Tolkien estate has trademarked those terms, it isn't using them in the same domain as Thiel's companies.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
sparksbet Link ParentYour line is the one next to my place right? I've been getting my fair share of use out of it lately lol.Your line is the one next to my place right? I've been getting my fair share of use out of it lately lol.
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Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport
sparksbet Link ParentYeah I don't think North American passenger rail is a particularly good point of comparison for European passenger rail. There are a lot of problems that are uniquely due to the current...Yeah I don't think North American passenger rail is a particularly good point of comparison for European passenger rail. There are a lot of problems that are uniquely due to the current dysfunctional state of North American passenger rail that don't apply outside that context.
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Comment on The US Chief Justice and his wife took $20 million from firms he rules on. I'm filing for his disbarment today. in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentI mean, tactically there's no way any of this actually ends up with Roberts getting removed anyway.I mean, tactically there's no way any of this actually ends up with Roberts getting removed anyway.
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Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport
sparksbet Link ParentSitting on a train for many hours is loads more comfortable than even a much shorter amount of time on a plane in economy, and for particularly long routes sleeper cars can be pretty comfortable....Sitting on a train for many hours is loads more comfortable than even a much shorter amount of time on a plane in economy, and for particularly long routes sleeper cars can be pretty comfortable. The increased comfort is definitely worth not needing to go through airport security even if the actual flight is shorter than the train ride for most routes where trains make sense.
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Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport
sparksbet Link ParentI'm not really an expert on it, so I can't really answer. I think most countries have different rates for different types of flights or different destinations, but afaik it varies a lot between...I'm not really an expert on it, so I can't really answer. I think most countries have different rates for different types of flights or different destinations, but afaik it varies a lot between countries in Europe, especially in the details.
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Comment on Apple names insider John Ternus as CEO, Tim Cook to become executive chairman in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentYou say this but then describe the exact opposite -- that the internet on phones existed prior to the advent of smartphones, it just sucked and wasn't very usable.A lot of the features we think of as being transformative about smartphones didn’t actually exist when the smartphone first came out, they were invented after it came out.
You say this but then describe the exact opposite -- that the internet on phones existed prior to the advent of smartphones, it just sucked and wasn't very usable.
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Comment on The powerhouse of American citrus is suffering a brutal, unrelenting decline in ~food
sparksbet Link ParentLook, I vastly prefer California's politics to Florida's for all the obvious reasons, but Florida makes (or, well, at least made) delicious eating oranges too. I'm from Ohio, so my access to fresh...As a Californian I hope the US realizes that California is the true citrus king; we make the eating oranges that people love. Nothing is better than a fresh local mandarin in my book.
Look, I vastly prefer California's politics to Florida's for all the obvious reasons, but Florida makes (or, well, at least made) delicious eating oranges too. I'm from Ohio, so my access to fresh local citrus is naturally pretty limited, but this seems like unnecessary dick-measuring. I type this while enjoying a delicious Sumo orange, which afaik is grown in California, so I'm not knocking California citrus by any stretch, but come on. Your state's better politics don't make their oranges taste worse.
Also, while politics absolutely can affect the impacts of disease on agriculture, it's pretty callous to dismiss anything bad that happens in a red state as "the people there voted for it, so they deserve it". Do you think people throughout the US, including queer people and people of color, deserve "every single bad thing that happens to them" because Trump got elected? Because I certainly don't. Do I suddenly deserve to suffer more now that I live in Ohio compared to when I lived in Germany? And heck, it's not like you can pick up and move your orange grove because other Floridians voted in a horrible state government.
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Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport
sparksbet Link ParentMost European countries already have pretty significant taxes on air travel, though. Raising them isn't necessarily a bad idea to encourage train travel, but I think you're underrating how much...Most European countries already have pretty significant taxes on air travel, though. Raising them isn't necessarily a bad idea to encourage train travel, but I think you're underrating how much the inconvenience factor is at play here. I think a single ticketing package is absolutely going to address a real barrier towards taking trains more often in Europe.
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Comment on What is watts, volts and amps? in ~science
sparksbet Link ParentThe existence of the unit "Watt hour", which includes a time word in the name but counterintuitively measures energy rather than energy over time (it's equal to 3600 Joules), probably doesn't help...I assume this is what you got confused with with “per time”.
The existence of the unit "Watt hour", which includes a time word in the name but counterintuitively measures energy rather than energy over time (it's equal to 3600 Joules), probably doesn't help either. It makes sense that it exists irl for practical purposes but probably doesn't help with understanding how the units work.
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Comment on What is watts, volts and amps? in ~science
sparksbet Link ParentI'm fairly certain it's the latter. You already probably own several dual voltage appliances yourself -- most laptops and similar electronics are dual voltage. The chonky part of the charger...I'm fairly certain it's the latter. You already probably own several dual voltage appliances yourself -- most laptops and similar electronics are dual voltage. The chonky part of the charger (whether it's separate from or part of the actual bit you plug in to the wall) does the work of converting the voltage (and presumably other attributes of the electricity) to whatever the device expects.
This is why, when you're an American traveling to Europe, you can bring your laptop and charge it with only a plug adapter, whereas if you do this with an appliance that isn't dual voltage, especially one that uses heat or has a motor, you will have a very bad time unless you get a voltage converter.
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Comment on What is watts, volts and amps? in ~science
sparksbet (edited )Link ParentWhile it's true that there are very few (albeit not zero) countries on 240V, a sizeable chunk of the world is on 220V, however, including the world's most populous country and large portions of...While it's true that there are very few (albeit not zero) countries on 240V, a sizeable chunk of the world is on 220V, however, including the world's most populous country and large portions of South America and Africa. Especially given the history of Europe failing to acknowledge that it isn't the center of the world, it's preferable to spend the trivial energy of putting the range to more accurately describe most of the globe rather than expecting parts of the world where you don't live to fall into the "acceptable tolerance." Particularly since the comment contained another inaccuracy to edit for anyway, it's probably worth the 4-5 keystrokes to be more accurate and inclusive.
And anyway the person I replied to already edited their comment, and we all got to learn a little bit about mains voltage around the world. That map certainly made me wanna figure out wtf Brazil has going on with its mains voltage, for instance.
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Comment on What is watts, volts and amps? in ~science
sparksbet Link ParentI appreciate not being strictly US-centric here, but given that this site is based in Canada, it would probably be better to say "North America (and a couple other exceptions)". It would also be...The wall outlet is generally 230V (or 110V if you're in the US)
I appreciate not being strictly US-centric here, but given that this site is based in Canada, it would probably be better to say "North America (and a couple other exceptions)". It would also be more accurate (and less Eurocentric) to say 220-240V rather than 230V, since you do cover most of the world with that range but not necessarily with 230V specifically.
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Comment on What I learned about billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s private retreat in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentA billionaire using their money and influence to help people and solve the world's problems is not the same as "being a normal human" and absolutely would be newsworthy enough to have coverage....A billionaire using their money and influence to help people and solve the world's problems is not the same as "being a normal human" and absolutely would be newsworthy enough to have coverage. Probably not as much coverage as evil things, news does have a negativity bias, but the limited good that some billionaires do contribute to is well-documented (at least enough for the AI-generated comment above to scrape them for examples). If there were a billionaire truly leveraging their resources to have much greater impacts, at least someone here absolutely would have heard of them and would post about it.
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Comment on What I learned about billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s private retreat in ~society
sparksbet Link ParentI'm reminded of an exchange from Fiddler on the Roof in which Perchik, the ardent young communist, says "Money is the world's curse." Tevye's response is "May the Lord smite me with it. And may I...I'm reminded of an exchange from Fiddler on the Roof in which Perchik, the ardent young communist, says "Money is the world's curse." Tevye's response is "May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover!"
God every day I feel like I relate to Tevye a little bit more.
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Comment on Apple names insider John Ternus as CEO, Tim Cook to become executive chairman in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentI never had any particular issues with damage to the USB-C port from using my MX Master wired -- I stopped using mine due to the texture of that rubber-y material on the outside degrading first --...I never had any particular issues with damage to the USB-C port from using my MX Master wired -- I stopped using mine due to the texture of that rubber-y material on the outside degrading first -- but that might be down to personal usage habits. I don't tend to make big mouse movements, after all, and I didn't keep mine constantly plugged in. I can see someone who does both having issues for sure.
I can see the logic behind the choice as you describe it, though. I'm not sure it's a tradeoff that really makes sense to me, but I can at least see the argument for deliberately introducing that inconvenience.
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Comment on Apple names insider John Ternus as CEO, Tim Cook to become executive chairman in ~tech
sparksbet Link Parenthm okay I can see that being interesting and I can definitely see the appeal for certain users, especially if you've gotten used to the gestures and stuff from using a Macbook. I'm curious how...hm okay I can see that being interesting and I can definitely see the appeal for certain users, especially if you've gotten used to the gestures and stuff from using a Macbook. I'm curious how directly that relates to the charging port location thing though -- they seem pretty unrelated from the outside, but I guess there could be something with the hardware that requires that position.
Germany recently defunded its integration courses, so I'm not particularly convinced the government cares whatsoever about actually integrating refugees rather than just punishing people for not being born in Germany.