mantra's recent activity
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Comment on Can a solution to massive carbon emissions include nuclear energy? in ~talk
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Comment on Can a solution to massive carbon emissions include nuclear energy? in ~talk
mantra Link ParentPhenomenal! Engineering truth! Thanks. Absolutely agree on all points. (I'm an engineer so I'm biased by facts and logic)Phenomenal! Engineering truth! Thanks. Absolutely agree on all points. (I'm an engineer so I'm biased by facts and logic)
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Comment on Any language learners/enthusiasts around here? in ~talk
mantra LinkI studied Spanish in elementary school. I took 4 years of German (had AP credit and I'm still not bad). In university I studied Russian and my first major job also had me learning more Russian...I studied Spanish in elementary school. I took 4 years of German (had AP credit and I'm still not bad). In university I studied Russian and my first major job also had me learning more Russian (military related to the Cold War).
I was married to a Filipina so I learned a fair amount of Tagalog/Pilipino. My 2nd wife is Mexican and she's also fluent in English and Mandarin (long story).
I started learning Mandarin when I moved to Taiwan - it's damn hard but it's also very fascinating and keeps my interest pretty well. It also helps I work for a Taiwanese company and travel there often enough to use my Mandarin.
I guess I love languages and learning them, though I have a full time career unrelated to any of that. Sort of my spice of life.
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Comment on Abortion: Sanctity of Human Life and the Rights of (wo)Man in ~talk
mantra Link ParentHonestly ANY lawyer will tell you that the law has NOTHING to do with morality. Don't be deceived into conflating the two because there are distinct. The Christian religious angle on that is...Honestly ANY lawyer will tell you that the law has NOTHING to do with morality. Don't be deceived into conflating the two because there are distinct. The Christian religious angle on that is "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's..." which clearly defines a separation of Church and State and of Morality and of Law.
You literally have to renounce being a Christian and embrace either Judaism or Islam to conflate the two. The latter two are basically "legal religions" in that they primarily dictate rules for life of all types, moral and secular. That's not what Christianity is about.
The standard medical definition is fetus viability outside of the womb on its own - generally that's NOT the 1st trimester (which is why Roe v. Wade picked up on that definition). Only the 3rd trimester really has much chance of premature survival, and that still runs from 10%-99%.
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Comment on Winnipeg girl, three, forbidden from wearing 'inappropriate' sundress to preschool in ~life
mantra Link ParentHonestly any "sexualization" of the situation is being done by the preschool!! This outfit looks just like the stuff my sisters wore and which my mother made from a sewing pattern.Honestly any "sexualization" of the situation is being done by the preschool!!
This outfit looks just like the stuff my sisters wore and which my mother made from a sewing pattern.
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Comment on Ability to create new ~'s on the site in ~tildes
mantra Link ParentI can imagine some topics I do on Reddit needing this. E.g. ~engineering.electrical.semiconductor.ic-design or some such so I'd like this. It would be very "usenet/uucp" like which I'm down with...I can imagine some topics I do on Reddit needing this. E.g. ~engineering.electrical.semiconductor.ic-design or some such so I'd like this. It would be very "usenet/uucp" like which I'm down with completely.
I'm a mod for /r/chipdesign btw
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Comment on Alts? in ~tildes
mantra LinkI honestly don't see any need for alt accounts - either on tildes or even other sites like Reddit. Most cases get used for evil such as brigading and trolling. The cases when it's not that are...I honestly don't see any need for alt accounts - either on tildes or even other sites like Reddit.
Most cases get used for evil such as brigading and trolling. The cases when it's not that are vanishing small. You should be able to talk about anything with one account.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~misc
mantra Link ParentCalifornia is not as lily white as much of the US. Roughly 1/3 white, 1/3 hispanic, 1/3 asian. It's pretty diverse and relatively close if you are American. As a white person you will be a...California is not as lily white as much of the US. Roughly 1/3 white, 1/3 hispanic, 1/3 asian. It's pretty diverse and relatively close if you are American. As a white person you will be a minority but so is everyone else.
Asia and Latin America are also options. More language issues, of course; some Americans learn Spanish in high school so that helps in the latter but pretty much nothing can prepare you for Asia. You will (initially) feel very much like a foreigner and a "fish out of water" but it will not kill you. It's educational, liberating and growing!
I travel quite a bit for work - mostly to Asia but also EU and around the US; my wife is Mexican. Nearly 30 years of traveling. So I'm "already traveling" to new places regularly and most parts of the world feel no different than next door in terms of comfort zone now. They do have radically different cultures than the US in many cases but you learn from them and they become familiar friends.
One trick if you travel for work: add an extra day or weekend to the beginning and/or end of the trick for "personal time" while on-travel. Then do all the touristy things on those days. Generally it costs your employer little or nothing to change the travel day - sometimes you can even make it cheaper for them. Especially with Asia travel where you have major jet lag to deal with, demanding extra days is pretty common and accepted.
On occasion I've taken my wife on business travel as well - the hotel is paid so it's just the plane ticket, and if you travel a lot that can often be free via frequent-flyer programs.
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Comment on The future of moderation on Tildes in ~tildes
mantra Link ParentBanning probably needs to be more democratic or group oriented. The details TBD. The problem with this is brigading and mob factions forming. I keep wondering if the entire idea isn't backwards...Banning probably needs to be more democratic or group oriented. The details TBD. The problem with this is brigading and mob factions forming. I keep wondering if the entire idea isn't backwards though - central banning seems the problem when instead perhaps it needs to be on the reader's side (banning a person per forum). Then it becomes a question of if a one-dimensional vote/reputation score is too narrow - perhaps reputation needs more axes/degrees of orthogonal scoring. For example: flaws in logic, vs. political orientation vs. relevance/trolling/seriousness. Just a crazy idea.
Perhaps handicapping trolls or rudeness is another way - not a ban but posts start negative in score. Then if legitimately good content or ideas are presented they will eventually get voted up to visibility. Again, perhaps a one-dimensional scoring system is too simple and causing the problem.
The other issue is that leaked hydrogen zips up to the upper atmosphere where it's a catalyst for destroying ozone. That's not good.
Also when you are playing with hydrogen, it leaks right through of seals that normally keep nearly every other chemical in. So pretty much every infrastructure technology used for gasoline or natural gas is not usable - you have to use special (i.e. expensive, complex and failure prone) technologies to move it around. The space program dealt with this problem but none of their solutions are cheap or easy.
And finally there's the corrosive effects of hydrogen on pretty much every metal allow. Stainless has to typically be used but even then it's only certain alloys which are very high in chromite (chromium oxide) which doesn't react as much as carbide or iron reacts with hydrogen. Hydrogen embrittlement of metals is a major problem with handling hydrogen gas.
Most plastics are hydrogen porous so even that's not a real option.
Part of the reason for finding alternatives to hydrocarbons is to make better use of the finite supplies we have left and to minimize the environment damage they cause. Having to abandon cheap brass for expensive stainless steel valves, piping and containers translates into a massive energy and economic cost increase over the status quo of hydrocarbon fuels and energy storage. You aren't solving that problem if it costs 10x-100x more in either economic or energy costs to simply do the same thing with a new material.