@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

CurtAdams

@CurtAdams@urbanists.social

Semi-retired biologist with interests in speciation models, urbanism, liberal/left politics, economics, quartertone music theory, boardgames, ambient music, house rabbits, and yoga.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

cra1g, to maps
@cra1g@sciences.social avatar

Saw this map posted on another network and it helped me realize some things I'd never appreciated before, which is just how whopping huge the agricultural part of California is, and, related, just how bowl-like the topography is. Really fascinating.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@cra1g Yep, the Central Valley is huge. Driving the length of the Central Valley is as grim as driving across Texas (I've done both), other than if the smog is good you at least get some scenery.

shoq, to random
@shoq@mastodon.social avatar

On a segment of Morning Joe, Anand Giridharadas just hit one out of the park. He said that the Left relying on things like SCOTUS decisions to stop Trump is like rooting for injury or rain to win a sporting event. The focus needs to be on a movement that rejects him at the ballot box, en masse. Firmly, decisively, and permanently.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@enobacon @shoq You have to change the electoral system to make third party options viable. With our first past the post system having a second nonfascist option just improves the fascists' chances like in Canada or the UK.

Alaska and Utah do have top 4 instant runoff system that allow true third party options. If another option to the Dems is truly viable, it can show it by winning there.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@enobacon @shoq First, you are way overstating the effective differences between IRV and approval voting. Would the 2022 Alaska Congressional elections have been any different under approval? Almost certainly not.

Second, approval voting is the weirdest thing for a leftie to get a bee in his bonnet about because approval voting substantially favors centrist candidates https://electionscience.org/library/the-center-squeeze-effect/ With approval voting, get ready for micro-incrementalism, because that's all you're going to get.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Today's theme is Normal!

You can take this test to see how "Normal" you are, and also how radically left wing you are! LOL Please share the results if you feel like it, or do nothing at all, because it really doesn't matter!

https://www.idrlabs.com/4-axes/test.php

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@RickiTarr I came out less left wing than most would say because I favor economic growth.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@FeralRobots @RickiTarr The questions on liking cooking, sports, fashion, etc., interpreted in a painfully stereotypical way. Makes me wonder who cooked up this test and why. "Wokeism" as a lifestyle choice also makes my Spock eyebrow go up.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

If you were a straight girl or gay boy in the 80's & 90's, and you try all tell me you didn't have at least a little crush on Rufio, I will assume you are a liar, unless, borrowing from my trans friends, you wanted to be Rufio.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@RickiTarr I was really taken aback when Rufio died; not just because I too really liked the character but also because up to that point the violence had been cartoonish - lots of threat but no real danger. And then suddenly, blam.

ncrav, (edited ) to Rabbits
@ncrav@mas.to avatar

On my spaceship to the vet for a check-up🐇

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@ncrav @Satori Not sure if it's the same medicine, but my vet gives a banana flavored Panacur, and Xavier loves it.

CurtAdams, to random
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

Xavier seems to not know his size when he hides under the coffee table.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is a word that you had read, but after hearing it spoken aloud, you realized you were pronouncing completely wrong in your head?

Mine is pretty Embarrassing, and is just one of many!

MISLED! I'm not even sure how to type this out for it to make sense, but it was something like:

Myz-ulled

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@RickiTarr In first grade during reading practice I read island as "is land".

The rest of the class thought it was hilarious.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

It would be a totally different story if the 81 year old was bad at his job because of his age. In fact, I think his age has been a PLUS in a very complicated time. He's gotten A LOT of things done. I'm not on board with all his choices, but SO FUCKING WHAT. OVERALL, he's done very well. He's a BRIDGE to the future. The future WE HAVE TO CHANGE TOGETHER. So, save the bullshit, juvenile take that someone is only good if they do EVERYTHING YOU think is right in this moment in time.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@StillIRise1963 It's not rational to expect the President to do everything you want. Nobody would, not even yourself. Biden's been the best president of my life - no disrespect to Obama, who was also great, but I think Biden has been even better.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@jay_chi @StillIRise1963 Kamala? I live in CA where she was AG. She brought down crime, incarceration rates, and truancy. She's great. Yes, there are a lot of other great Democrats, but having had her in my state government, she's my #1 choice for Veep. Don't fall for rightwing propaganda against her. (including RW propaganda pretending to be left wing).

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

HI! I'm stuck in a hotel lobby for a while! AMA

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith How much of the cost of a small moon colony would you estimate servicing moon telescopes could cover?

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith I doubt it would by itself, but I was wondering if it might be enough to play a substantial role.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@TheLastHero @Masimatutu Nah, there's not much intercontinental transport of used cars. Too expensive and complicated. If the West adopted EVs en mass there would be a lot less gasoline consumption there, and little increase elsewhere.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@Mars @wrinkletip Hello, what century are you living in? The US gets only 20% of its electricity from coal and dropping fast. In CA it's 0%.

Aside from that, EVs are so much more energy efficient that an EV using electricity from a coal plant still produces less CO2 than an ICE car.

dangoodin, to random

I so, so, so don't want to drive any new car that can do this:

A federal appeals court refused to bring back a class action lawsuit alleging four auto manufacturers had violated Washington state’s privacy laws by using vehicles’ on-board infotainment systems to record and intercept customers’ private text messages and mobile phone call logs.

The court ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to automakers Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, which are defendants in five related class action suits focused on the issue.

The plaintiffs had appealed a prior judge’s dismissal. But the appeals court ruled Tuesday that the interception and recording of mobile phone activity did not meet the Washington Privacy Act’s standard that a plaintiff must prove that “his or her business, his or her person, or his or her reputation” has been threatened.

A suit filed against Honda in 2021, argu[ed] that beginning in at least 2014 infotainment systems in the company’s vehicles began downloading and storing a copy of all text messages on smartphones when they were connected to the system.

An Annapolis, Maryland-based company, Berla Corporation, provides the technology to some car manufacturers but does not offer it to the general public, the lawsuit said. Once messages are downloaded, Berla’s software makes it impossible for vehicle owners to access their communications and call logs but does provide law enforcement with access, the lawsuit said.

Many car manufacturers are selling car owners’ data to advertisers as a revenue boosting tactic, according to earlier reporting by Recorded Future News. Automakers are exponentially increasing the number of sensors they place in their cars every year with little regulation of the practice.

https://therecord.media/class-action-lawsuit-cars-text-messages-privacy

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@dangoodin An ebike won't spy on you like a car.

Teri_Kanefield, to random

The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin just said (on Threads) that last night's results show that 90% of political reporting is garbage.

That's because 90% of "coverage" is speculation and opinion. An email from the NYT "The Tilt" assured me that it was a good night for Democrats but that doesn't mean anything for 2024.

Rubbish.

Elections tell us how voters feel. Polls do not and pundits do not.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@Teri_Kanefield If the MSM were basically honest, they'd be publishing lots of articles asking how the polling they published got it so wrong. Two years in a row, even. But in reality...

pleaseclap, to random
@pleaseclap@urbanists.social avatar

I was today years old when I learned "parking" literally used to refer to civic green space lining the roads

So every time you say parking you're directly referencing a thing that was lost during the automobile's aggressive and costly takeover of public spaces

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@pleaseclap To be technical, the Gros Michel banana whose flavor banana candy mimics is still grown on a few places that have managed to keep out the fungal plague. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gros-michel-bananas

I want to taste one someday.

mondoweiss, to Palestine
@mondoweiss@social.mondoweiss.net avatar

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over comments she made advocating for Palestinians to be free.

https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/house-censures-only-palestinian-member-for-calling-for-palestinian-freedom/?utm_content=buffer3396b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=buffer

Cartoon by Carlos Latuff

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@mondoweiss Very misleading. 90% of Democratic Congresspeople supported Tlaib's right to free speech. The Democratic party was opposed to this, and if it controlled the house it wouldn't have happened.

msquebanh, to philosophy
@msquebanh@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

I need help with that I can use with trying to educate a few friends who I can't be around physically because they are referring to covid as seasonal. I know it's not. Please help me with finding some easy to understand links or graphics that I can send to them so they can learn why it is not like seasonal cold/flu. Search results had too many disinformation links; need help on links & graphics without disinfo.

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@msquebanh You can find a regularly updated graph showing COVID and flu deaths here: https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/mortality.html It shows that in the best weeks, even today, COVID kills more than flu dies in its worst, and that COVID deaths don't have much of a seasonal pattern.

MaggieCi, to random

Golden Gate Bridge socked in like pea soup this morning

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@MaggieCi I love the Bay Area fog. Makes everything beautifully mysterious.

rebeccawatson, to random
@rebeccawatson@mstdn.social avatar

Completely bonkers that when I voice support for the rights of Palestinians, dudes say "But you're a woman, they don't want you to have rights." Neither do Republicans but I'm not going to call for Orange County to be nuked, what the fuck?

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@rebeccawatson Also, Palestinians vary in their opinions on women's rights, like any other large group of people. Not that they'd deserve being mass murdered even if they didn't.

ps Orange County has been purplish for over a decade and isn't a great examplar of a super-Republican area anymore.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

Is there a book on the history of video games being made addictive? Video games from my childhood in the 80s don't come back to me as addictive - enjoyable certainly, but no more a compulsion than watching a favorite movie. The first game I remember having compulsion over was probably Civ 2, somewhat, and full-on with Everquest. Now, it seems to be a default quality of video games that they should induce compulsive play, and it's just sort of accepted, but it's kind of weird?

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith I don't think Civ was designed to be addictive; it came out that way and probably tipped off the companies to what is possible.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

CVS ditches useless cold meds—but not bogus homeopathic products

Bogus homeopathic products based on pseudoscience will remain on shelves.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/10/cvs-ditches-useless-cold-meds-but-not-bogus-homeopathic-products/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@arstechnica I looked at the studies and "useless" is overselling the problem. Improvement in airflow is dubious, with some studies finding it and some not, and the most positive study done by the manufacturer. But, subjective relief is much better supported, and in blinded studies so placebo is not an issue. There's also a possibility the dosage is just too low.

What we really need with Phenylephrine is large, independent studies, not just throwing it out of the drugstores.

ned, to random
@ned@mstdn.ca avatar

CurtAdams,
@CurtAdams@urbanists.social avatar

@leighms @ned Pink is traditionally a boy's color. It got switched early in the 20th century. That switch was the reference of the "pink-blue" magic fight at the end of Sleeping Beauty.

IMO gendering colors is absurd. Like pink, wear pink, why should anybody care? Same for burgundy.

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