soymariposa's recent activity
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Comment on Claremont Institute publicizes excerpt from a book openly calling for right wing revolution/coup in ~misc
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Comment on The National Association of Theatre Owners is projecting that more than 200,000 moviegoers will attend same-day viewings of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” at theaters across North America in ~movies
soymariposa LinkFwiw, I bought my Barbie tickets for tomorrow’s first showing a few weeks ago. I would have bought Oppenheimer for the evening showing but alas, other plans, so instead bought IMAX Oppenheimer...Fwiw, I bought my Barbie tickets for tomorrow’s first showing a few weeks ago. I would have bought Oppenheimer for the evening showing but alas, other plans, so instead bought IMAX Oppenheimer tickets for Saturday.
I am not normally a “gotta see it on the first day” kind of person. Really, I’m not even a “gotta see it in the theaters” kind of person. So either these two flicks are something special or I’m just a chump susceptible to marketing. Probably I’m a little bit of both.
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Comment on How America fell out of love with ice cream in ~food
soymariposa Link ParentI had shipped to me some Graeter’s ice cream from Cincinnati for my dad’s birthday. I knew what I’d been buying in the grocery store - even many of the so-called premium brands - weren’t great,...I had shipped to me some Graeter’s ice cream from Cincinnati for my dad’s birthday. I knew what I’d been buying in the grocery store - even many of the so-called premium brands - weren’t great, but holy cow, the difference was incredible.
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Comment on Why can't we stop homelessness in the US? Four reasons why there's no end in sight in ~life
soymariposa Link ParentI’m just going to circle back on this and say, my comments are directed toward why there are barriers to housing starts specifically constructed for the homeless/low income population and how...I’m just going to circle back on this and say, my comments are directed toward why there are barriers to housing starts specifically constructed for the homeless/low income population and how other factors make it economically unfeasible to do so.
If we built enough new housing, REITS could not monopolize it
It’s not that simple and the economic and political landscape matters. Who is going to build new housing if they can’t make a profit renting/selling it? If they can’t recoup the cost of materials by renting/selling it? If they can’t afford the salaries of the construction crew? No one but the government. So why doesn’t the government do more of it? See my first comment about the barriers that are real whether any of us like the fact of them or not.
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Comment on Why has Enlightenment, the Scientific and later the Industrial Revolution started out in the "Western" world? in ~humanities.history
soymariposa Link ParentI just read Stalin’s War by Sean McMeekin and he covers in depth the aspect of how American engineers were integral to building the industrial infrastructure that the USSR relied on. It’s a big...I just read Stalin’s War by Sean McMeekin and he covers in depth the aspect of how American engineers were integral to building the industrial infrastructure that the USSR relied on. It’s a big chonker of a book, but really worth reading if anyone is interested in a non-Brit/American POV of World War II era actions of the Axis powers.
One thing this dynamic highlights when it comes to world history is that people have been moving around and “exploring” for the entirety of human history, influencing one another, serving as catalysts for change. It’s never so simple as this culture developed this thing and if they hadn’t, no one else would have figured it out.
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Comment on Why can't we stop homelessness in the US? Four reasons why there's no end in sight in ~life
soymariposa Link ParentI disagree. I see it as helping cause the housing shortage. In my area, REITS are scooping up all the entry level homes so first time buyers are priced out of the market and remain renters. This...I disagree. I see it as helping cause the housing shortage. In my area, REITS are scooping up all the entry level homes so first time buyers are priced out of the market and remain renters. This keeps an upward pressure on prices making it difficult to find properties to be low income housing. It keeps property taxes high, it keeps the tax base high, which incentivizes only building high end single family homes, NIMBYism by both homeowners and city managers, etc. From my perspective, it isn’t just a simple homelessness is due to “there’s a housing shortage” because “housing starts are down”.
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Comment on BMI 'vastly underestimates' true obesity in ~health
soymariposa Link ParentYes, I’m agreeing with you. BMI is a useful metric, especially in the aggregate. It’s just that it can fail the individual on occasion.Yes, I’m agreeing with you. BMI is a useful metric, especially in the aggregate. It’s just that it can fail the individual on occasion.
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Comment on BMI 'vastly underestimates' true obesity in ~health
soymariposa Link ParentHah, sure. Measurements like BMI are great for aggregating large groups and saying something about trends. Probably it was developed with that in mind? So I wouldn’t argue it’s a bad or worthless...Hah, sure. Measurements like BMI are great for aggregating large groups and saying something about trends. Probably it was developed with that in mind? So I wouldn’t argue it’s a bad or worthless measurement. But I would argue that this BMI score = obese without considering all of the other factors of that person’s physical situation is unhelpful to that individual.
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Comment on Why can't we stop homelessness in the US? Four reasons why there's no end in sight in ~life
soymariposa Link ParentRe NIMBY-ism, it’s worth pointing out just why property owners defend property values to the extent that they do. In the U.S. housing is used as a savings vehicle, anything that damages the value...Re NIMBY-ism, it’s worth pointing out just why property owners defend property values to the extent that they do. In the U.S. housing is used as a savings vehicle, anything that damages the value of a home means owners take a direct hit to their savings. Property taxes are set at that value, so not only are cities incentivized to keep property values high but those values/taxes also direct education dollars to the schools in the area, so anything that damages property values hits city coffers and school budgets.
And changing those factors might not have the desired result. For example, want to delink property taxes as a significant portion of a city’s budget? Then they’ll turn to sales taxes and business taxes to get it, so now your neighborhood will adjust and you might wind up living across the street from a car dealership or a Best Buy. (Funny how cities can suddenly find a way to rezone land when it’s a high tax revenue car dealership, isn’t it?)
So I agree with you about the vested interest in not solving for the need for low income housing, but I don’t think it’s out of selfishness/wanting more money or a lack of caring, it’s that asking people to throw away their life savings is a big ask; telling cities where the demand for government services only grows that their income stream will tank in value is a big ask and so on.
The fact of REITS and house-flipping as a hobby has done more to skew the market in the last decade and create real barriers than NIMBYs and tax structures imho. REITS buy up the cheap land/structures to turn into rentals, same with people making a living house flipping. So even as housing starts ebb and flow, housing stock tightens, the rental market expands, rents rise, then house prices rise, and then I’m back looking at the NIMBYs and property tax that’s paying for everything and well … any solution that really makes a big dent in the problem no matter how partial will have to take all of this into account and to date I’ve never seen that happen. If anyone here knows of some, I’d love to hear about it (and I’ll happily make sure my city council hears about too).
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Comment on AMC Theatres says more than 20,000 moviegoers have already booked ‘Barbie’-‘Oppenheimer’ double features in ~movies
soymariposa LinkI never have been someone buying movie tickets in advance, and also have never cared about seeing a movie on opening day - and I’m in the demographic that Hollywood assumes would be this way - so...I never have been someone buying movie tickets in advance, and also have never cared about seeing a movie on opening day - and I’m in the demographic that Hollywood assumes would be this way - so it is shocking even to me that I bought tickets in advance for Mission Impossible (opening day, IMAX), Barbie (opening day), Oppenheimer (two days after opening day because I’m on deck for something I can’t cancel Thursday eve/IMAX).
Idk if I’d want to see Barbie and Oppenheimer back to back … going to Oppenheimer after being all happy after Barbie? Going to Barbie after the grimness of Oppenheimer? Emotionally that’s a lot!
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Comment on BMI 'vastly underestimates' true obesity in ~health
soymariposa LinkHaven’t we always known that BMI alone doesn’t say much at the individual level? I’m thinking of how a super fit person will have a high BMI even as they have a low body fat percentage, but the...His findings highlight that "BMI should be supplemented with other measures of obesity" for the management of individual patients
Haven’t we always known that BMI alone doesn’t say much at the individual level? I’m thinking of how a super fit person will have a high BMI even as they have a low body fat percentage, but the reverse would be true too. Waist circumference, height, gender, age, if extra weight is carried in the mid-section all affect a person’s BMI, muscle mass all affect BMI, and there are probably other things that do too.
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Comment on Hollywood CEOs and industry insiders seek Federal mediation to help avert SAG-AFTRA strike in ~movies
soymariposa LinkImho, this proposal is a big reach and is a sign that execs know their goose is cooked if they don’t find a way to restructure how everyone gets paid and what they get paid. And it’s a hopeless...Imho, this proposal is a big reach and is a sign that execs know their goose is cooked if they don’t find a way to restructure how everyone gets paid and what they get paid. And it’s a hopeless effort to think the federal government is going step in because there is no public safety or national security interest in preventing a labor strike in Hollywood. Besides, regardless of what any of us think about the fact of unions, given that they exist and how the terms they’ve all been working under are no longer relevant because of how much the business has changed in the last decade (streaming but no residuals, no set pilot season, mini-writing rooms versus a writing staff, shorter seasons, the breakdown of the start as a writer become a show runner pipeline, etc.), and the result is that everyone is just exhausted. The execs are going to have to compromise more than they’d like.
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Comment on Wonka | Official trailer in ~movies
soymariposa LinkIn the beginning of the trailer, there’s that bit of dialogue “no scratch that, reverse it” which is from the original, so of course I want to hear it in Gene Wilder’s voice/cadence and instead it...In the beginning of the trailer, there’s that bit of dialogue “no scratch that, reverse it” which is from the original, so of course I want to hear it in Gene Wilder’s voice/cadence and instead it sounds affected … I can’t figure out who the little girl is and why she’s there … I’m unclear why the town is afraid of someone making chocolate … I guess what I’m saying is I can’t figure out what the hero’s journey is here. And I miss the highly saturated colors of the original, too.
Hugh Grant as an oompa loompa though, I’ll have to see it for that alone.
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Comment on Andrew Ridgeley on George Michael and life after Wham! in ~music
soymariposa Link ParentWhelp, now I’m going to have to re-up my Netflix account to watch this! The comments on that article are an interesting read down memory lane too.Whelp, now I’m going to have to re-up my Netflix account to watch this! The comments on that article are an interesting read down memory lane too.
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Comment on Is there another reliable site to ask questions about consumer items? in ~talk
soymariposa LinkFor forum/consumer perspectives, there’s also tapatalk, there are a lot of hobbyist forums on it that will have threaded discussions similar to Reddit.For forum/consumer perspectives, there’s also tapatalk, there are a lot of hobbyist forums on it that will have threaded discussions similar to Reddit.
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Comment on Google updates its privacy policy to clarify it can use public data for training AI models in ~tech
soymariposa Link ParentExactly and this is the key point. What Google is doing isn’t new at all, instead they are just putting out the legalese to avoid lawsuits etc. Between 2017-2019, I worked for Lionbridge doing...Exactly and this is the key point. What Google is doing isn’t new at all, instead they are just putting out the legalese to avoid lawsuits etc.
Between 2017-2019, I worked for Lionbridge doing content analysis of sites and Google home recordings. For the site analysis, it was grading the alignment between the query and the result/the quality of the result, and for the recordings it was grading how well the speech was recognized into something useful (and boy howdy are there a lot of folks out there with some crazy and sloppy diction). At no point was I told what company Lionbridge was contracted by (although it was obvious if you thought about it) nor what the purpose of the work was. It’s only in retrospect that I realize the work was about much more than improving search algorithms. I sort of feel like a chump actually that I didn’t see the point.
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Comment on Should retail businesses be required to accept cash? in ~finance
soymariposa LinkI see this debate often, and usually most comments are from the buyer side. I’m a small retailer and I accept both cash and credit. One thing about credit (and debit since it uses the same...I see this debate often, and usually most comments are from the buyer side. I’m a small retailer and I accept both cash and credit. One thing about credit (and debit since it uses the same exchange) is that I’m charged a fee for every transaction and because I am a true small business, I can’t negotiate a great fee (mine is good, but not as good as what say Walmart pays). So I add that fee to my prices. All businesses do this, but small businesses can’t eat any cost. Large stores can get the better fees and not be as price sensitive to them because of the volume they do. But I’m also in a business where consumers are very price sensitive too, a $10 price difference can make or break a sale, so my habit is to charge a cash price, and then a credit price that is say 3% higher to cover the transaction fee. All small retailers face this conundrum and usually you’ll find that “mom & pops” with low volume/low margin products will prefer cash because as bad as you think cash controls may be to deal with, nothing is worse than seeing that processor fee fly out of your account at the end of the month or losing a sale over a very small amount.
There’s a sweet spot with cash deposits at the bank though. All banks charge for cash deposits over a certain monthly amount, so my business has checking accounts at two different banks so that if needed, I have a place to deposit cash without incurring a fee for doing so.
I get why large businesses that are high volume prefer credit, it likely works out cheaper for them (and less employee theft), but I bristle at all these random laws that really just hurt small businesses, especially when it something that is purely about legislating convenience.
As a buyer, I want cash to remain for privacy reasons. I remember the days after 9/11 when the US government started chasing after people for buying certain books and it just seems like that at some point, if I want the privacy, I don’t see why the government should legislate it away.
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Comment on What is the oldest TV show you actually enjoy? in ~tv
soymariposa Link ParentI didn’t realize that the Jetson’s only ran for one year … and now I have the theme song stuck in my head. Hogan’s Heroes started in 1965 just missing your cutoff, but I feel compelled to mention...I didn’t realize that the Jetson’s only ran for one year … and now I have the theme song stuck in my head.
Hogan’s Heroes started in 1965 just missing your cutoff, but I feel compelled to mention it because it’s such a hoot and is still just as funny to watch today. And I have to give a hat tip to this video of Werner Klemperer & John Banner singing Silent Night too.
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Comment on What is your most used piece of kitchen equipment / what surprised you in its usefulness? in ~food
soymariposa Link ParentI’ve not had any issues with coffee beans that are oily in terms of grinding/filtration etc. It’s a constant battle to keep that film build out up out of the drip tray though and I do clean off...I’ve not had any issues with coffee beans that are oily in terms of grinding/filtration etc. It’s a constant battle to keep that film build out up out of the drip tray though and I do clean off the diffuser from time to time, but idk if that’d be much different with drier beans.
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Comment on What is your most used piece of kitchen equipment / what surprised you in its usefulness? in ~food
soymariposa Link ParentI have a DeLonghi espresso maker. It was a crazy amount to pay for a coffee machine but I've more than gotten my money's worth out of it. Even though I only make Americanos with it, it can froth...I have a DeLonghi espresso maker. It was a crazy amount to pay for a coffee machine but I've more than gotten my money's worth out of it. Even though I only make Americanos with it, it can froth milk etc., but it is so nice in the morning to just turn it on, press a button, out comes a great cup of coffee from freshly ground beans ... I've had it 10 years now and last year was the first time I had to send it away for service to replace the diffuser that had cracked (possibly because I've had one international move, and three within the U.S. moves since I've had it).
Because political speech is the purest form of speech and it’s protected under the First Amendment. Basically if you let government state what can and can’t be said, it will make sure that the only things that can be said further its aims. And why are you so sure that those aims are in your best interests?
This has been a concern since the founding of the United States. The reason Congress has no role in selecting the president, the reason the election is run state by state instead of nationwide, the reason for electors in the Electoral College, restrictions on who could vote (property owners), the reason political parties are not mentioned in the Constitution, separation of powers, etc etc … these were all things to prevent demagoguery and the public from being hoodwinked into electing a charlatan.
A key reason for the federal structure of the United States is to keep government local and closer to the people. If a majority of people in a city elected those officials then that’s their prerogative even if you do not like the policies they choose.
I’m unclear what this means. Safeguard it from what? Majority tyranny? Minority tyranny? An electoral outcome that you don’t like? Returning to a situation where voting is restricted to only certain groups? What groups? Only those with college degrees from specific universities? Or by income level? By race?
From my perspective, the statements you’re making here while understandable from an emotional standpoint are betraying the same thing you are alarmed about. You are worried about a person/group having the edge in power and the way to stop them is to alarm yourself and others and ask for actions from the government that are both unconstitutional (the government doesn’t have the power to do it) or amount to majority tyranny (so screw the minority in size opinion, they just shouldn’t exist) or amount to minority tyranny (so only certain types of people with certain backgrounds and certain ideologies can have power, own the means of production, set the rules and screw the plebs who should just be grateful for what they are given).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m depressed too by the rancor and bullshittery I see from elected officials and those with bullhorns. I’m flummoxed at how poorly the political parties have managed their benches such that none of them have several quality presidential candidates able to draw attention away from a sitting president whose ability to serve is questionable and a spoiler candidate that sees politics as a TV reality show that exists solely for his own benefit and ego. I’m dismayed by this displayed preference I see in most of the hot button political issue arguments that the federal government should have so much power without realizing we’re paying an incredibly high cost for allowing that.
Not that it matters, I have lots of thoughts about how well the federal government follows the limits in the Constitution and has used its power to get bigger, more powerful, and override some of the original protections that were meant for all of our benefit - but it’s a pipe dream that this can be changed. After all, that’s why so many go balls to the wall to do and say anything to get that seat - it is so much influence and power! It is a cash cow for any one who serves! (And both of those aspects are part of the problem too).
Idk, I don’t want to mess with our free speech protections just because there are people advocating things I find highly questionable. I don’t want to bar felons from running for political office just like I think they should be able to vote. I don’t think Trump is going to be convicted of anything that matters anyway. If he were to get elected again, then it’s up to Congress and the Supreme Court to do their job. Congress especially. And that will require the two main parties deciding to work together and to give up on getting their way 100% of the time. The only route I see at the moment to get Congress to do that is for all of us to stop demanding that they erase the other side for being “crazy” or whatever (which as it happens would also severely blunt Trump’s appeal). Hence this post and me tilting at windmills.