notnotmike

notnotmike, 6 days ago

But what does it mean

notnotmike, 9 days ago

Less nice, more realizing that would remove their ability to stop the Republicans when the political winds inevitability shift the other way

notnotmike, 8 days ago

I would imagine its a case of mutually assured destruction. Neither wants to repeal it because they know once they do, they open up Pandora’s box and Congress will be even more of a disaster than it currently is

notnotmike, 10 days ago

Cheap popsicles. Relatively low calories (<100 depending on the brand), take a while to eat, and are extremely cheap.

If you make your own you can drive the price and Calories even lower and drive the flavor way up.

Side note: I just learned “popsicle” is the brand name and not a term for the food. Kind of like saying Kleenex instead of tissue. I had no idea, I’ve just always called them popsicles.

notnotmike, 10 days ago

Definitely make your own, if you can stomach the time. You can buy molds online for a cheap initial investment, then just water down some fruit juice.

You can also use real fruit if you don’t mind a chunkier texture and own a food processor already.

notnotmike, 10 days ago

The US has a lot of bullshit in their labeling requirements. My wife studied food science in university and some of her biggest complaints are:

• Serving sizes aren’t always the entire package*
• "Natural" has almost no meaning on a package, it is just a hand-waving word
• They can hide a lot of things in the ingredients under umbrella terms like “spices” and “flavorings”
• “Made with real juice” does not mean it was made with the juice on the label. For example, a pineapple fruit juice may be more apple juice than actually pineapple juice
• They can round down to 0 calories if the actual amount is below 5

The most egregious example I’ve seen lately was a jar of pickles I bought where the serving size is 1/3 of a pickle (now the website says 1/2). That’s just so that the sodium doesn’t get out of control and, in all likelihood, because an entire pickle may be more than the 5 Calories allowed to say it’s “0 Calories”.

*This is changing, slowly. Manufacturers now have to put servings for the entire container if it’s small enough

notnotmike, 10 days ago

I’m really torn on news like this.

I’ll get it out of the way that I am jealous. I wish I had been able to do what she did. I also think that if more people cared about education on this level, we could really get a significantly smarter population and start to solve some of the problems in the world.

Having said that, I have concerns over what her life is like. I would need a lot more details to feel comfortable that this kind of lifestyle is healthy for someone. She missed out on most of her childhood at this point, a time most adults look back on fondly as a time when they had no responsibilities. I have so many follow-up questions that the article doesn’t address.

• Is she truly self-motivated or does she have someone like her parents urging her to do this?
• Given a choice, would she do it again?
• What was her workload like? Was she constantly studying or is she lucky enough to not need to?

Also, more for my curiosity than anyone else’s well-being:

• How do you even sign a 10 year old up for college?
• Do professors give leniency to an 11 year old in class or are they getting the same experience an 18 year old would get?

notnotmike, 10 days ago

Excellent point on the peers, I was thinking about that as well.

Humans love to talk to other humans who have shared experiences. People get excited when they find someone who went to the same school as them, even if they were years apart. Those shared experiences help us bond and connect with others.

Who in the world can she bond with? Few people have experienced anything close to what she has. I worry that it will lead to somewhat of a lonely existence, at least until she’s old enough that she has some more experiences under her belt and can begin to relate to others more. Until then, the experience that 95% of Americans share is missing.

I’m hoping it’s something that will balance out as she gets older, but I don’t see it being a fun time for the first decade at least.

notnotmike, 8 days ago

We don’t know, and that’s precisely what my comment was talking about. I want to know more.

Although we can use an educated guess that if you’re getting a doctorate you probably don’t have a ton of free time, at least not nearly as much as a normal student her age has. Even if we assume she doesn’t need to study at all, a doctorate still takes up a lot of someone’s time, and doesn’t leave a ton of time for watching cartoons.

notnotmike, 7 days ago

I feel like you’re weirdly aggro about this discussion. I don’t want my message to come off as criticism or hate, I’m trying to express that I’m concerned about another person. If she really is happier because of her path, then that’s great and more kids should attempt this lifestyle. But I just don’t have enough evidence for that fact, and I would like to hear more. Most of the positive evidence is from a short article.

Right now I have more anecdotal evidence saying this is unhealthy in this comment section than I do the contrary, so I want to be proven wrong. I don’t want to be correct that someone had a bad experience.

Your other questions are answered in the article.

They really aren’t. Of course she’ll say she’s thankful, most people would when talking to a reporter. I don’t imagine many 17 year olds would immediately start bad-mouthing their parents right away, especially considering I’d expect the parents to be present in the interview process since she’s a minor by U.S. standards.

And of course the instructors are complimentary, you’d hear the same compliments about any student who asked questions and went to office hours. They aren’t particularly unique for her experience, frankly. I wouldn’t put too much weight on them being evidence of her happiness.

Perhaps down the road she’ll give an interview and talk about her experience more, once she’s more independent and had more time to process and reflect. Then perhaps my questions will be properly answered. I can only hope so, and I can only hope she reflects positively.

A kid who blew it all on Minecraft missed out on a lot as well if we’re going to be honest.

I never said anything to the contrary. Both can be true, they aren’t mutually exclusive. I would agree spending too much time glued to a screen is also not a healthy lifestyle for a child

notnotmike, 10 days ago

Well yes, but also no. You can’t reproduce a book because that violates copyrights.

Open source in this context just means that nobody owns the book, you can reproduce it however many times you want, and distribute it where you want as long as you include the original license in the reproduction (MIT license).

Also, there’s a bit of a colloquial understanding that others are able to contribute or fork the original source material.

notnotmike, 11 days ago

This is definitely the issue. For most of modern history, humans haven’t had to care about anything outside of their city/town/village from day to day. Then social media and 24/7 news came along and suddenly we know everything going on, and most of it is bad because that’s what drives viewership.

We shouldn’t expect every person to be worried about every issue all the time. It’s just not good for you.

I’m personally trying not to focus on things outside of my sphere of influence. I’ll vote in elections, donate if I can spare the money, volunteer if I can spare the time, and buy products I know are more ethical than alternatives. That’s realistically the most anyone should ask of one (frankly unremarkable) person.

notnotmike, 11 days ago

The sting ray article reminds me of the “Large boulder the size of a small boulder” post

notnotmike, 11 days ago

Because they are word roots. “trans-” means on the other side of something like “transatlantic” while “cis-” means on the same side like cisatlantic.

notnotmike, 13 days ago

Banned for being a separatist shill

notnotmike, 13 days ago

If I had to come up with a reason for it out of my ass, I’d say it’s because being rejected from a tribe would be a death sentence for most, so those that remembered their mistakes were less likely to repeat them and be expelled.

notnotmike, 14 days ago

“Do you think fighting can be part of a healthy relationship?”

My wife and I rarely fight, we’ve maybe had two or three in our entire relationship, and they weren’t yelling matches We just got upset and patched things up relatively quickly. I don’t think I could be with someone who thinks raising their voice at another person is okay, and surely not if they think it can be healthy. And hard “hell no” to any violence.

So, this is a weedout question

notnotmike, 16 days ago (edited 8 days ago)

I see a lot of posts that are spam that get a shipload of down votes. Usually advertising some pills or something

Fortunately, they are removed pretty quickly

Edit: Hey look one showed up

notnotmike, 18 days ago

Kind of torn my niece is starting to like video games.

On the one hand, they’re amazing and I still play them all the time. They’re integral to my life and are a medium above others in quality, accessibility, and affordability.

On the other hand, they’re a double-edged sword. It’s hard to be healthy while playing video games without good discipline. And I think back to times I chose video games over homework and I regret it. I don’t necessarily want her to follow an unhealthy hobby, even if I love it

notnotmike, 18 days ago

This is a really toxic way to look at animals. You should enjoy them not because they are cute and loving but because they are incredible beings that help craft the ecosystems in which we thrive. If not like them, then hopefully you can at least respect and accept them for what they are.

As to your original question, raccoons are incredible animals. One of the few species who are so adaptable that they can manage to survive in our concrete world, despite our efforts to stop them. They’re very intelligent and dexterous and it’s incredible they continue to survive and borderline thrive at times.

notnotmike, 18 days ago

Welcome back! I was wondering why the community has been so quiet with all that’s been going on.

Obviously, my wife is head over heels for the album. She listens to it on loop constantly. Especially Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me and is obsessed with the witch metaphor

For me, I think it’s actually astounding how good the songs are. On first listen I was unimpressed but upon re-listen I find them to be absolutely some of her best work. I love the songs that have unexpected messages that you wouldn’t normally find in a song, like But Daddy I Love Him and I Can Do it With a Broken Heart. I also love the creativity of songs like I’m Gonna Get You Back.

My only gripe is her sudden obsession with Florida! I’m still trying to process why it is in multiple songs!