RunawayFixer

@RunawayFixer@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fox News sharing billionaire propaganda⁩ ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Thanks for the correction, it’s a good thing that not everyone is afraid of correcting others.

  English education tends to have it easy because of circumstances rather than the schooling system: Dutch is a relatively small language and we mostly don’t dub foreign media. Lots of exposure to English makes it easier to teach English to a higher standard than would otherwise be the case. When I was in school, French was started 2 years earlier, got more hours, and still got worse results :D

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fox News sharing billionaire propaganda⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  If Amazon can’t operate a delivery business without blatantly exploiting workers and “subcontractors” (between brackets because the subcontractors don’t operate independent at all), then they shouldn’t operate a delivery business. Leave it to the companies that do respect worker’s rights.

  The exploitative system that Amazon wants to maintain:
  *As the mayor’s office said Monday, at least 11 last-mile facilities have opened across New York City since 2020, with subcontractors running the warehouses as Amazon directs the hiring of delivery drivers, the routes they use, and requires them to use Amazon-branded vehicles and uniforms.

  But while exerting control over the deliveries, Amazon pushes responsibility for the vehicles used onto the subcontractors, as delivery workers explained in a video released on social media by Mamdani on Monday.

  “When injuries and worker accidents skyrocket, Amazon says they have nothing to do with it. They can’t have it both ways,” said the workers. * commondreams.org/…/delivery-protection-act-nyc

  We had a similar situation in my country (Belgium) a few years back, where the most exploitative delivery company was PostNL. The government raided and seized their warehouses for a good while, locked up a few executives for a shorter while, and then unfortunately failed to get convictions, so only administrative fines were handed out. Even though there were no significant fines, it did scare the sector and working conditions have improved since then, which anecdotally had the following consequences: shops offer choices when it comes to delivery (fake next day delivery is no longer standard, but requires a premium), cost per order went up a tiny bit (no more free delivery for small orders + next day delivery is more expensive), and deliveries became more reliable again (delivery time tables are easier to accomplish for the workers if they’re not mathematically impossible).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You know my passion for manga.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The plan is to build 3 theme parks with Saudi investment, with at least one park based on a popular manga. It’s going to be “inspired by Dragonball Z” according to the bbc. www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r6xy3ryndo

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why don't smaller countries get together with other smaller countries and form a "bloc" that could go in the game of the big "Superpowers"? Instead of the US, RUS, and China all the time?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s generally not attractive for leaders of the countries because it means giving up some of their powers + getting extra external oversight would curtail their remaining powers. People have a really hard time giving up power and/or control, and for the big egos that become head of state, it’s especially hard.

  That unwillingness to give up power is why every EU member state has veto rights and EU decision making can be paralyzed by a single rogue member. EU oversight against corruption is also limited to corruption with EU funds, national politicians their grifts are not directly hindered by the EU.

  The way that the EU gets most improvements done, is by creating a directive (which could be blocked beforehand by a single member) and then members have x years to implement the directive into their own laws/governance in their own way. Failing to do so will result in fines for that member. It’s a slow process, but it’s been very good for gradual improvement. Crises however can only be tackled by the members having a meeting and searching a consensus amongst their selfish interests.

  This slow hands-off approach also means that there is a lot less political whiplash as one party loses and another comes into power, which makes the EU directives easier to digest for the varied members and their diverse circumstances. With a fully federal Europe, it would rip itself apart sooner or later by politicians who put their nation’s short term self interest above the collective (see Serbia in Yugoslavia for an example). I’m personally in favor of a more federalist Europe (in particular for foreign policy + external borders + military, and less veto power), but it should still leave most powers with the member states, directives good, dictates bad.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bring it back⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRVkB2daFjM It’s promising to be cozy, we’ll all be snuggled up again.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bring it back⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The following site has a similar setup: earth at different times with modern borders marked at their approximate locations. dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#400

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mmm yes.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I can see the origin of the world in that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨This bookstore wraps all books in plastic.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The summary or press endorsements are totally inadequate imo. I always read a page or two somewhere in the middle to check if I enjoy reading it. Fortunately books tend to be sold unwrapped where I live. And no, they’re not grimy or anything like that, people do respect them.

  Graphic novels do tend to be sold wrapped where I live (at least in my usual store), so those I look up online to read a few sample pages. Imo never judge a book by it’s cover.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is this a rope hanging under a helicopter?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Both. The first c when the heli is flying at a constant speed. The 2nd one when it’s accelerating.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ez gg⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There are native reeds in NA: " three separate lineages occur in North America – one endemic and widespread (the native), one from Europe (the introduced invasive), and one whose nativity is currently unclear which occurs across the southern U.S. from California to Florida and into Mexico and Central America (the ‘Gulf Coast’ type)." bugwoodcloud.org/…/Phragmites Field Guide.pdf

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nvidia CEO: Society has no choice but to change. I used to play in the streets. When cars came along, you obviously can’t play in the streets now⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  People have reclaimed some of the public space that we lost to cars. Losing rights and privileges to new technology is not as inevitable as Jensen Huang wants to present it.

  Car-free streets, streets with restricted access, streets where cars have the lowest priority, temporarily closed streets, … I don’t know a single commune that doesn’t have some of these, it’s not the 1970s anymore.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lawyer here: I concur!⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Another case where vans are the superior utility vehicle: strap your long stuff onto your roof rack.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Gog Promotional E-Mail Containing Nazi Symbols Goes Out to Subscribers⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This explanation falls apart when it comes to the SS symbol.

  Gog claims that they were using the sowilo rune, but as you found they were using the lower case koppa letter. The sowilo rune is included in unicode, there was no reason to use the greek letter koppa for it … unless they wanted to hint at something else. And the elephant in the room: why did they put 2 of the things next to eachother? Gog hasn’t found a suitable excuse for that so far.

  It’s an obvious dog whistle and it’s rightfully being called out.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Marriage⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That looks like 2 grey haired men. The nearest guy is looking slightly to the left, head bent forward a bit, the clothes are his. In front of him there’s a shorter guy who is looking slightly to the right and it’s his ear and side of the face that we can see.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨history repeats itself once again⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My favorite ship of Theseus example is the Roman Empire. They started out as a Latin speaking polytheistic + republican empire with Rome as capital; and hundreds of years later they had become a greek speaking monotheistic + monarchistic empire with Constantinople as capital. When did they stop being Romans? According to themselves, never.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New York real estate titan likens the phrase ‘tax the rich’ to racial slurs⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Image Source: www.moralambition.org/…/tax-fairness-explainer

  Also, the above graph compares averages vs averages. The average of the top bracket is made up of some very rich people who accept that paying taxes is a fair thing to do, and some who try to contribute as little as possible by evading as much as possible. Because he’d prefer us to not talk about this, I have the suspicion that Mr Steve Roth falls into the 2nd category.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Welp straight to the bin⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The surface of the salt grains reacts with what is in the air (moisture, smells), slowly changing the surface over time, and since it’s that surface that touches our taste buts most, the taste of the salt will be different.

  Salts are also often not pure sodium, but have added elements that give it a distinct taste and aroma. That original taste/aroma will be lost over time, because aroma = smell = particles flying away in the air. Long exposure to a strong smell will also cause the salt to acquire that different smell as part of it’s new aroma.

  Starting from larger grains and grinding them shortly before usage, would thus give salt that smells and tastes more like it’s fresh from the salt factory. But I do wonder how many people would be able to tell the difference in a blind test.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal Exclusionary Radical Astronomy⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I wondered if the graph would look entirely different when looking at mass instead of atom count, and not really: Image

  Hydrogen and helium make up 99% of all atoms and 98% of all mass.

  sciencenotes.org/composition-of-the-universe-elem…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I need to vent about plastic milk jugs⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s going to depend on your country and the stores you visit. If I wanted to, I could buy milk in a plastic bottle in most stores in Belgium. Tetra pak also exist in various sizes, 200 ml is the smallest I’ve seen and 2l the largest.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨earth, fire, water, wind - it's not hard⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I had a similar experience. The first 2 years where chemistry was a subject, there was always a giant Mendeleev table against a side wall. And in later years it was mostly bring your own, but if you forget, then we’ll give you a copy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Iirc, they knew that it was stupid, their publisher forced it on them. They weren’t happy about it either.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bread mold⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If there is visible mold on a part of a surface, then it’s reasonable to assume that a much larger part of that surface already has mold, it’s just not visible yet. Bread is basically a sponge, the surface of a sponge is the entire sponge, so that mold can have spread everywhere in the bread.

  I found this overview which looks right to me: eatingwell.com/…/4-moldy-foods-you-can-eat-plus-w…

  Should you be dead from eating mold? I suspect that it’s a lottery with many factors: which types of molds that you have eaten, the quantities, your immune system, … But keep at it and eventually you might win a price.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Last Epoch players turn on the action RPG for announcing a paid DLC class, tanking its Steam reviews: 'go play Path of Exile instead'⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Personally I’d call it buy to play with an unlimited demo and optional mtx. Back when I played it, the default stash tab wasn’t remotely enough, but after spending 20 euros I had enough tabs for all my needs and I then played several seasons without spending anything more. It’s still the best freemium model that I’ve ever encountered imo.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Had to look this up⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  As a child I read Groosham Grange from Anthony Horowitz, and when I first heard a description of Harry Potter, I thought that they were describing that book from Horowitz. I can’t believe no one else noticed. But I also think that most people active in children’s literature will have an attitude of “anything that gets a child reading, is a good thing”, so they’re not that upset about poor quality being popular and they’d rather keep the positive vibe going.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Not to get all religiony but why in the old testament God was all fire and brimstone and fatal consequences? But the new testament God is all about forgiveness and such??⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yep, undisputed. Except by religious zealots who resort to bad faith arguments when some of their cultist beliefs are not accepted as fact by non believers, but on those subjects, those people aren’t taken seriously by anyone except others from their cult, so yes, pretty much undisputed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Not to get all religiony but why in the old testament God was all fire and brimstone and fatal consequences? But the new testament God is all about forgiveness and such??⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Then check the sources listed under that wiki article.

  If you couldn’t be bothered to look up something as simple and undisputed as this, then it’s really silly to make a stand with “Wikipedia isn’t a source”, it just makes you look like a bad troll.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Not to get all religiony but why in the old testament God was all fire and brimstone and fatal consequences? But the new testament God is all about forgiveness and such??⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh

  You should have just looked this up yourself. It’s going to be the first result in most search engines.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨EuLeR iS nOT a PHySicIST⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Euler thought up or improved way too many things for them all to be named after him, it would get too confusing.

  From his wiki: “Euler’s work averages 800 pages a year from 1725 to 1783. He also wrote over 4500 letters and hundreds of manuscripts. It has been estimated that Leonhard Euler was the author of a quarter of the combined output in mathematics, physics, mechanics, astronomy, and navigation in the 18th century.” en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler

  And a relevant xkcd: Image

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨True art is polarizing⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  The setup of this movie reminds me of Locke with Tom Hardy. That’s also basically a movie where you watch 1 person in a static situation (in a car in Locke) conducting remote project management. I’d have never expected a full movie to work with that setup, but Locke pulls it off imo.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A Belgian joke⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  You could still send an email or fill in their contact form. It’s quickly done and the worst that could happen, is nothing.