• 7 Posts
  • 47 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 23rd, 2023

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  • You are being willfully obtuse. Atheists didn’t choose the definition of the word. Magic is a catch all for things that are not explained by a scientific process. Computing is not one of those things. You don’t understand computers because they are a black box. Therefore it is tempting to call the result magic. But you had better sure as hell hope that the effect of computers are reproducible, every single time, because if they are not, the world as we know it ceases to function.





  • I don’t think a generic building that is suitable for all purposes is possible though. Inevitably the needs of a housing unit and an office are fundamentally different, going all he way down to the plumbing. It wouldn’t make sense to build an office building with enough plumbing to easily become an apartment, or vice versa, because taking a down-the-middle approach could just as easily lead to a building that serves no useful purpose at all. It’s not “just” about the money. He goes into the plumbing issue in particular in great depth. I highly recommend watching the whole video









  • Unfortunately, I say this as a train lover. They require a lot more infrastructure than planes and will always be at a disadvantage because of that. You can set up an airport pretty much anywhere and make it reachable by pretty much anyone. Whereas with the train, you need a dedicated line from point to point that you will commit to maintaining through hell and high water.

    There’s also the problem that in many countries, we are deliberately neglecting our train infrastructure and not investing in high speed alternatives that could compete with an airline over shorter distances.

    All of these factors combine to make individual trips less efficient over train. I had to cross the United States this week. To do so by train would have taken me 4 days. Doing so by plane took me 6 hours. Nobody would choose a 4-day trip over a 6-hour one unless their goal is to look out the window a lot. Which is perfectly valid. But most people don’t look at traveling itself as the experience. And in this case, I had a particular event that I had to attend.


  • I live here, and seeing the way people treat housing in this state has made me realize that speculative investment on housing is a scam. I come from the generation after the major speculators, so I’m the one left holding the bag as a native.

    I’m scraping to afford an apartment, and I don’t see how my future descendants will do any better. To be fair, in my case I really don’t want anything more than a condo, but it seems like even that will be beyond my reach at the rate that I’m earning.

    To be fair, I don’t really want anything more than a condo, but even that modest dream is looking unlikely if I want to stay anywhere within a reasonable distance from where I work.




  • I’ll believe it when I see evidence that isn’t from some s***** underpowered camera held by somebody who didn’t even know how to focus the lens properly. Funny how camera technology has improved so markedly, but the quality of UFO sightings remains just as crappy as ever. Maybe that should tell you something about what to make of most of these sightings


  • To be clear on this, I AM an urban core dweller, and I LOVE it. I am never more than 15 minutes walk from a grocery store, and significant cultural events are right on my doorstep. But there are downsides, and I understand why it is not everyone’s cup of tea.

    Hate people? sucks for you, your only refuge will be your apartment. Clean freak? get used to some grunge, because there is oderous shit everywhere. Need to get to more sparsely populated areas? Expect to spend double the time on the road using transit, or pay through the nose to keep a garage with a car you barely use otherwise.