alden's recent activity

  1. Comment on Moana (2026) | Official teaser in ~movies

  2. Comment on Moana (2026) | Official teaser in ~movies

    alden
    Link Parent
    One answer I have heard before, which I didn't see here yet: animators are unionized, vfx artists are mostly not. By replacing their animated films with special effects "live action" films, they...

    One answer I have heard before, which I didn't see here yet: animators are unionized, vfx artists are mostly not. By replacing their animated films with special effects "live action" films, they can avoid paying residuals to animators.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers in ~science

    alden
    Link Parent
    I wouldn't say 100% consistent. The first time I saw the word "guion" I did not know the stress is on the o. Some people write it "guión", but as I understand it, that is a nonstandard spelling. I...

    I wouldn't say 100% consistent. The first time I saw the word "guion" I did not know the stress is on the o. Some people write it "guión", but as I understand it, that is a nonstandard spelling. I will accede to 99.9% consistent orthography.

    The downside, of course, is that it's harder for modern readers to tackle Cervantes because the spellings have changed. Even if Shakespeare uses words which are weird to modern ears, the spelling is generally the same we use today, though the pronunciation has changed.

    8 votes

  4. Comment on NATO alphabet in ~talk

    alden
    Link
    I propose the alphabet from Crazy ABC's by the Barenaked Ladies. A is for aisle, B is for bdellium, c is for czar...

    I propose the alphabet from Crazy ABC's by the Barenaked Ladies. A is for aisle, B is for bdellium, c is for czar...

    8 votes

  5. Comment on Designing a slide-out phone case with a keyboard in ~tech

    alden
    Link
    I think you are on the right track using one of those pre-existing bluetooth keyboards to start from. I suggest you take one apart, see how the internal parts mount together. It can sometimes be...

    I think you are on the right track using one of those pre-existing bluetooth keyboards to start from. I suggest you take one apart, see how the internal parts mount together. It can sometimes be much easier to screw someone else's circuit board into a custom case, rather than trying to find a way to mount onto their case which was never made to be added on to.

    You have a lot of freedom in how you make the sliding mechanism. It might be fun to try lots of different approaches and see what has the best feel. You can see in this video that some old slide phones use an over-center spring mechanism to make it snap into place at both extremes. If you just want something that works for a prototype, you could look for a product which already has a nice slide mechanism, and raid it for parts.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on Death to nickels in ~finance

    alden
    Link Parent
    It would be strange to try and mandate that money already in circulation be more valuable. Much more straightforward to introduce new coins in larger denominations, like they have in the European...

    It would be strange to try and mandate that money already in circulation be more valuable. Much more straightforward to introduce new coins in larger denominations, like they have in the European Union. We tried this previously with dollar coins, which were unpopular for various reasons. I do think it is still an achievable goal.

    In the long term, I would be happy if 50 years from now we phased out everything less than a dollar and had a currency system based on whole numbers, like the Yen is now. For now, quarters are definitely still useful.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on US Postal Service chief Louis DeJoy steps down in ~society

    alden
    Link
    It is strange to me that Reuters says that the postal service "has lost more than $100 billion since 2007." According to the Treasury department, the defense department "lost" $399 billion in 2025...

    It is strange to me that Reuters says that the postal service "has lost more than $100 billion since 2007." According to the Treasury department, the defense department "lost" $399 billion in 2025 alone. Of course, nobody reports it as a loss -- that's just how much it costs to run. It seems like Reuters is begging the argument that the post office should be a business, by already assuming it is meant to turn a profit.

    45 votes

  8. Comment on What are some good stories told from non-human perspectives? in ~books

    alden
    Link
    Dogsbody by Diana Wynn Jones is a sweet little book. It really tries to imagine the experience of being a dog, not just a dog-shaped person.

    Dogsbody by Diana Wynn Jones is a sweet little book. It really tries to imagine the experience of being a dog, not just a dog-shaped person.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on POSSE versus native text posts in ~tech

    alden
    Link
    I notice that the version of POSSE described here is different from, e g., the version promoted by Cory Doctorow. He not only shares a link to his own blog, but also repeats the entire text of his...

    I notice that the version of POSSE described here is different from, e g., the version promoted by Cory Doctorow. He not only shares a link to his own blog, but also repeats the entire text of his post on the sites he syndicates to. In my mind, that's what makes it syndication, rather than just self promotion.

    5 votes

  10. Comment on If eyes emitted light, could they still see? in ~science

    alden
    Link
    Your eyes already do emit light! Quite a lot of light, in fact. Your whole body is constantly glowing with infrared light. It's just at too low a frequency for you to see.

    Your eyes already do emit light! Quite a lot of light, in fact. Your whole body is constantly glowing with infrared light. It's just at too low a frequency for you to see.

  11. Comment on Square root of 0<x<2 in ~science

    alden
    Link
    Others have mostly addressed the x<2 side of things, so I will tackle the other bit: why do we also need x>0? A student, approaching inequalities for the first time, will take x²<2x and divide by...

    Others have mostly addressed the x<2 side of things, so I will tackle the other bit: why do we also need x>0? A student, approaching inequalities for the first time, will take x²<2x and divide by x, suggesting that x²<2x whenever x<2. Of course, we know better: if it happens that x=-1, dividing by x should also reverse the direction of the inequality. We don't like dealing with special cases, so a better approach is not to divide at all.

    Instead, we can solve by factoring. Subtract 2x from both sides of x²<2x, we find x²-2x<0. Factor, and we find x(x-2)<0. The solution is the interval where the polynomial x(x-2) dips below the x-axis, which is precisely 0<x<2.

    This strategy is more powerful than considering special cases. When I teach inequalities, I advise my students to never multiply or divide by anything which could possibly by negative -- there is always a better way using addition, subtraction, and factoring.

    We can easily reverse this method to make up inequalities with whatever solutions we wish. For example, if I want an inequality which is true when 2<x<5, I can start at (x-2)(x-5)<0, multiply it out to get x²-7x+10<0, and rearrange to write x²+10<7x. Put into words, we could ask: for what numbers is ten plus the square less than seven times the number?

    I hope that makes it a bit clearer why there is a special relationship between x²<2x and 0<x<2. It is the same as the relationship between x²+10<7x and 2<x<5. One expresses the interval directly, the other as a polynomial.

    4 votes

  12. Comment on Oatly loses right to call its drinks ‘milk’ in landmark UK ruling – lexical dispute with trade body Dairy UK argued slogan ‘Post Milk Generation’ was misleading to consumers in ~food

    alden
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    All this hullabaloo of "milk has to come from animals" is so bizarre to me. The word "milk" has referred to various white cloudy liquids for hundreds of years now. I'm thinking of examples like...

    All this hullabaloo of "milk has to come from animals" is so bizarre to me. The word "milk" has referred to various white cloudy liquids for hundreds of years now. I'm thinking of examples like coconut milk, or milk of magnesia. I don't see why the dairy industry should get exclusive use of a common English word.

    79 votes

  13. Comment on Is the current war in Palestine the first time the victim wound up being seen as the aggressor? in ~humanities.history

    alden
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    I think some of what is shaping this perception is that a lot of people only started paying attention after October 2023, but the conflict was already well underway by that point. Certainly the...

    I think some of what is shaping this perception is that a lot of people only started paying attention after October 2023, but the conflict was already well underway by that point.
    Certainly the October attacks accelerated it, but the data shows a picture of extreme escalation leading up to it. Just poking around some data from the UN, starting at the earliest point they have data for, we can see there were around 305 Israeli casualties between January 2008 and October 2023. Meanwhile, there were 302 Palestinian casualties just between October 2022 and October 2023, stopping the count at October 1st. Compare that to 144 Palestinian casualties the year before. The October attacks were brutal, and I would argue unjustified. It still doesn't make sense to view the attacks as unprovoked or out-of-the blue. Rather, they were a predictable response to Israeli escalation and expansion.

    41 votes

  14. Comment on Valve is possibly making a Steam Controller 2 and a ‘Roy’ for its Deckard in ~games

    alden
    Link Parent
    It seems to me that the author of that IGN article did not understand the patent. It's not a patent for Hall effect joysticks, lots of people already make Hall effect joysticks. It's a patent for...

    It seems to me that the author of that IGN article did not understand the patent. It's not a patent for Hall effect joysticks, lots of people already make Hall effect joysticks. It's a patent for a joystick which includes magnetorheological fluid for haptic feedback. If you want a controller which uses Hall effect joysticks, you can buy one today.

    10 votes

  15. Comment on You're running for office on a somewhat petty, yet univerally-understood single issue. What is it? in ~society

    alden
    Link Parent
    For the same reason people pay to use patents before they expire. For that decade, if you paid for it, you are the one making money. If it is successful, you could make a lot of money, and your...

    Why pay a writer for their book to make a video version out of it when you can just wait that decade out and get it for free?

    For the same reason people pay to use patents before they expire. For that decade, if you paid for it, you are the one making money. If it is successful, you could make a lot of money, and your competitors could not touch you.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on I walked away from my job as a queer educator in ~lgbt

    alden
    Link Parent
    Just chiming in to say this meshes beautifully with the Sisyphus myth. Sisyphus was sent to Tartarus because he pissed off Zeus, but the rolling-the-ball punishment didn't come until later when he...

    The alternative is to be in misery until you die.

    Just chiming in to say this meshes beautifully with the Sisyphus myth. Sisyphus was sent to Tartarus because he pissed off Zeus, but the rolling-the-ball punishment didn't come until later when he cheated death, seeking to live forever. Pushing the ball up the hill is, literally within the story, the consequence of eternal life.

    2 votes

  17. Comment on Which magazines do you read? in ~talk

    alden
    Link
    I mostly go to magazines for current events/news. Here are my subscriptions: Harper's Current Affairs Jacobin Jewish Currents

    I mostly go to magazines for current events/news. Here are my subscriptions:

    • Harper's
    • Current Affairs
    • Jacobin
    • Jewish Currents
    3 votes

  18. Comment on Pricing updates — Nebula in ~tech

    alden
    Link Parent
    The web interface is better, yes. Just off the top of my head for example, in the web interface you can filter your library to show only unwatched videos. That feature is missing on mobile.

    The web interface is better, yes. Just off the top of my head for example, in the web interface you can filter your library to show only unwatched videos. That feature is missing on mobile.

    12 votes

  19. Comment on DuckDuckGo seems like a significantly worse search engine than Google despite SEO bloat, and I think community discussions mislead people by omitting that in ~tech

  20. Comment on Riven (2024) | Launch trailer in ~games

    alden
    Link Parent
    This might be a tough genre line to draw, I am sure there's are games which straddle it, but I would classify Myst and Riven as puzzle games, while most of that...

    This might be a tough genre line to draw, I am sure there's are games which straddle it, but I would classify Myst and Riven as puzzle games, while most of that kleptomaniacal-inventory-combination comes from adventure games. In Myst (and Riven, if I remember correctly) you don't have an inventory. You don't need to bring things from one place to another to solve puzzles. Instead, if you need to get something, it will be a piece of information, a diagram, the code for a combination lock. You are encouraged to keep a paper and pencil nearby while you play.

    9 votes