@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

wesdym

@wesdym@mastodon.social

Cranky armchair wonk and word nerd.

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shoq, to random
@shoq@mastodon.social avatar

Good morning. Anyone else ready to expand the Supreme Court? How else can we fix all this grotesque corruption? There’s always rebellion, but I fear Americas are too timid for that. I guess we’re stuck with trying democracy first. I’m not optimistic.

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@shoq Congress has always the power to expand or reduce the court, but what we really need is a permanent solution, in the form of an Amendment, including number, term limits, nomination schedule, and a sane replacement system. AND an increase, to dilute individual influence. 18 has often been suggested.

NanoRaptor, to random
@NanoRaptor@bitbang.social avatar

What are some numbers in your field that anyone else in the field would identify without even thinking about it, but folk outside may have no idea. Just the numbers, no explanations. Yet.

105 148 210 297 420 594 841 1189

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@siracusa @NanoRaptor Yeah, that's pretty easy. Baud rates. Some of us remember 110.

jesusmargar, to Starwars
@jesusmargar@mastodon.social avatar

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@jesusmargar Joseph Campbell spent most of his life showing that all human stories are really the same. Dune and Star Wars ARE the same story, two of countless versions of The Hero's Journey. So are Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, the latter more proudly affirming its roots. Like Campbell, Tolkien understood all this. Lucas really didn't, but he did know that he was rehashing old human stories. Most of Star Wars is a sci-fi remake of The Hidden Fortress, which also wasn't wholly original.

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

Just a reminder to anyone thinking of travelling to Thailand: It's illegal to insult the royalty, and you can go to jail for that. And whether you broke that law is largely up to interpretation.

https://globalvoices.org/2024/05/19/thai-youth-activist-charged-with-royal-defamation-dies-in-custody/

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

For Krautrock fans: collapsing new buildings, for real.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01384-y

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

It's one of those days when I got up too early, but only realize it too late to do anything about it.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Anti-pasteurization crowd reaffirms love of raw milk despite bird flu outbreak

Raw milk fans called warnings "fear mongering," despite 52% fatality rate in humans.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/anti-pasteurization-crowd-reaffirms-love-of-raw-milk-despite-bird-flu-outbreak/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica This is how natural selection works. In the context of civilization, adaptation isn't just genetic, but also memetic. Those who make poorer choices than they could are less likely to pass on their genes.

Let them have their raw milk. We did for them what we could. It's their free choice to die stupid.

GottaLaff, to legal
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🧵starts HERE. 1/…

Bower:

Justice Merchan starts off will the prosecution motion for contempt.

He tells Trump he's about to issue his ruling, in which he will again find Trump in contempt of court.

The last thing I want to do is put you in jail, Justice Merchan says to Trump. You are the former President of the United States and possibly the next President as well.

But "going forward," he continues, "this court will have to consider jail sanctions" if necessary.

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

In any situation, always be conscious of which way resources are flowing, and their relative importance. I don't really need a bagel, but you do need the money I'm paying for it. At the same time, I'd like that bagel to be tasty and edible. And I also want to be liked. That balance of priorities is the practical undercarriage of common decency in commerce; manners are just an elaboration. But every interaction involves resources moving, usually passing each other. Don't forget that.

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

This paper is trash. We do this every few years.

The conclusion is correct (graduate degree holding white men believe the most 'taboo' conspiracy theories), but the reasons it suggests why, are sociology-babble garbage. The real reason is:

  • Racism is a lie. To believe in racism, you must believe a set of easily debunkable lies.
  • Richer, whiter, maler, more educated populations are not less racist, despite attempts to twist stats to say this. They're more racist.

https://www.salon.com/2024/05/05/believes-the-most-taboo-conspiracy-theories-it-might-not-be-you-think/

1/N

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@mekkaokereke This makes so much sense. Fundamentally, racism is ignorance. A person given to racism is ignorant by definition. Such a person is therefore also more likely to accept OTHER ideas they have trouble understanding or don't know enough to refute.

AnarchistArt, to random
@AnarchistArt@mastodon.social avatar
wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@AnarchistArt A lot of my fellow Muricans will say, "My family came here legally!" Depends when and who you ask, but the US didn't have immigration restrictions before 1875. And no one asked Natives what they thought, ever. We just pushed them out of the way, because we could. Whether that's 'legal' is a philosophical question that can't be answered definitively. I would definitely call it immoral, and not brag about it.

inquiline, to california
@inquiline@union.place avatar

"According to some of the more outlandish theories, other survivors of sunken Lemuria turned to the sea, and became whales, dolphins, and mermaids. Others have walked among humans as shamans and prophets ever since, explaining why many religions are so similar. Sadly, there is no word on whether some Lemurians actually transformed into lemurs"

(Doing some regularly-scheduled posting, for a change)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/lost-continent-lemuria

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@inquiline Sclater did also mean lemurs. In his pet taxonomy, 'lemur' just meant 'ape-like creature', which included lemurs and humans. Remember that this was before any modern kind of taxonomy existed, when beavers were still sometimes classified as a kind of fish because they spend most of their life in the water.

Originally, the idea was to try to account for a curious distribution of mammals that was later accounted for by plate tectonics.

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

Please be respectful of the Chinese Communist Party, and don't talk about the Tiananmen Square Massacre perpetrated by them 35 years ago today.

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

One of the best and easiest ways you can reduce pollution is to BUY LOCAL. Transportation of goods is a huge component of many kinds of pollution. Reducing the net distance goods have to travel reduces that. Besides nearby farms and farm markets, look at labels, to see how far a product has travelled. If you don't care which one you buy, buy the one that travelled the least to get to you. If enough people do that, it will change how products are ordered in that market, reducing pollution.

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

Only 2.5% of the world's population is Nigerian. 🇳🇬

But 33% of the top 100 ranked Scrabble players are Nigerian.

https://www.wespa.org/aardvark/html/rankings/full_rankings.html

Only 1.3% of the US population is Indian American. 🇮🇳

But 20 of the past 23 spelling bee champs have been South Asian.

https://people.com/human-interest/national-spelling-bee-champions-words-they-won-with/

British colonizers did this to themselves. 🤷🏿‍♂️

English belongs to us now.

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@mekkaokereke I've been telling fellow anglophones that English has not 'belonged' to white Anglo-Americans since at least the early 19th century. It is a global language, owned in common by nearly two billion people across nearly 90 countries. It's ludicrous for my fellow Americans to try to define or dictate its use; ours is a minority dialect, and always will be. The prescriptive nature of your examples are comforting to me, indicating the long-term stability and utility of the language.

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

Among SCTV's charter alumni, I was very fond of Joe Flaherty. While he's probably best remembered for his Count Floyd persona, I remember him most fondly as Guy Caballero, the very odd president of the fictional network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJbb2FWB4aM

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

ProTip: Foam bricks look exactly like real ones.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bricks-vancouver-crosswalk-pedestrian-safety

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

Unusual measures of time named after people who inspired them by their example:

Truss: 50 days
Mooch: 11 days (metric: 10)
Ronna (or McD): 5 days

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

71% in poll say that government should not interfere in trans youth care. Okay, but this poll was done in the ultra-liberal bastion of.. uh, South Carolina.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/71-of-people-say-government-should

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

This. Was excellent.

“Pundits suggest replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee because they don’t understand the job of the presidency or how conventions work. Lawrence O’Donnell gives a history lesson in governing in the age of television.”

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-what-they-don-t-tell-you-about-the-dump-biden-fantasy-204684869613

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff I'm honestly astounded that anyone who's ever done anything, who's ever been good at anything, needs to have this explained to them. Everyone has had the experience of their work and how they do it being misunderstood by other people. Surely they know that presidenting is hard, tedious work -- meetings, phone calls, etc. -- not televised speeches in the Oval Office.

eniko, (edited ) to random
@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar

early in the pandemic i remember reading this comment from someone about how covid might traumatize us about their grandma who lived through the 1918 flu pandemic. they said that until her death she was always very worried about the flu and she would always make sure her house was very well ventilated by leaving windows or doors open

i fucking get it now. their grandma wasn't traumatized, their grandma knew it never went away even if people pretended it had, she knew that airborne respiratory viruses were really bad for you, and she knew ventilation helped keep them away from her

this poor woman, people treating her like she was traumatized and crazy all her life when she knew what was what better than most people

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@eniko I think that everyone goes through this, one way or another. Those who remember WW2 (fewer and fewer) are being mocked right now for the warnings they're giving us. But they remember. They know. People much younger have difficulty appreciating the wisdom of their experiences, which are alien and abstract to them. Just as one of countless examples. Those who remember market crashes are mocked by those they try to warn 20 years later who are repeating the same mistakes. And so on.

kaia, to random
@kaia@brotka.st avatar

those evil chinamen

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@kaia History is filled with examples like this. Rich arseholes love rare stuff BECAUSE it's rare. I've had caviar. The 'good' stuff, too. There's nothing special about it. It's just exotic and costly, and that's all there is to it.

Black pepper was once treasured by rich arseholes, too, until it became common. It's never been about the thing itself. It's about feeling special because you're rich. It's the most childish, primitive motive.

Impossible_PhD, to random
@Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io avatar

Presented without comment.

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@Impossible_PhD What's the appropriate etiquette when you're certain someone's on the wrong track and it's going to be bad for you?

jeffjarvis, to random
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social avatar

Well, I'll be testifying before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday the 10th about AI and journalism. If you have suggestions or data to inform my testimony, please do share....

wesdym,
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

@jeffjarvis I'll supply a quote that might be informative or useful. During the protracted internal debate at the FCC two decades ago over media consolidation, Commissioner Michael Copps (anti-consolidation) argued that the reason media merits special regulation enforcing multiplicity and diversity is that, "Unique among all industries, media manufactures democracy itself." What diminishes or cheapens journalism also diminishes and cheapens democracy.

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

Calendars from the past you can use for 2024: 1996, 1968, 1940. The reason so few is that this is a leap year. You can use unused 2023 calendars again in: 2034, 2045, 2051, 2062, 2073, 2079, and 2090. Unless we adopt a saner calendar before then.

wesdym, to random
@wesdym@mastodon.social avatar

Every year, I resolve not to make any New Year's resolutions. Every year, I fail.

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