zlatiah
@zlatiah@lemmy.world
- Comment on Who would win in a fight, a Gorilla or a Bear of equal weight? 4 days ago:
Bear, but I think it’s because gorillas are known to be peaceful and will probably run away from conflict
If it is a fight to the death… Idk I think with how physics works it might be quite even?
- Comment on Should visitors to a country (tourist / visa-holders / people staying temporarily) have the right to criticize the government? When should an immigrant have the right to criticize the government? 1 week ago:
My interpretation is that visitors don’t have specific rights to criticize a government per-se. However! In most non-authoritarian countries, everyone has the unequivocal rights to criticize a government as long as they are not intending on disobeying other harassment/discrimination laws, regardless of their status. Since visitors are also included in “everyone”, they can criticize a government too
Of course this only applies to non-authoritarian countries. Authoritarian countries don’t have that right even for their citizens, so visitors are not excluded either
(I hate where this train of thought is going but whatever…)
- Comment on Why do some say they own or have bought something that they technically haven't (e.g. domain names, expensive things, etc.)? 2 weeks ago:
I just thought it’s more of an issue of language/expression than anything… Methinks the concept of “leasing/renting” for an indefinite amount of time might be quite new in human history, so maybe we just don’t have a better word for it
Case in point… From a pure technical standpoint, I thought a game I purchased on Steam or an audiobook from Amazon is technically “leased indefinitely with no additional fees”, but doesn’t the lack of additional fees make it equivalent to owning something?
And as otherwise pointed out, under capitalist systems you can literally own a home, but would still have to pay taxes to pay for maintenance of publicly shared resources… so at what time should we call it “leased” instead
- Comment on I'm leaving the US for good, anything I should do before I leave? 2 weeks ago:
It seems that a lot of scientist jobs are advertised on EURAXESS (sometimes mandated by law). There are also research topic-specific job boards… for example Nature Jobs advertises all sorts of positions across the world, although most are in China (since they are desperate for talent). Also by “scientist” I’m referring to anything PhD student-level and above, so yeah. I think Sweden is the country I know which has both reasonable research quality while still being a bit desperate on looking for more applicants
If that’s not possible: a lot of countries have their own job board too, but most of them require knowledge of the local language… (again, scientists kind-of get a pass on this due to English being the lingua franca)
Some companies do international transfer too… like how Denmark is known for pharmaceuticals, so maybe someone working for Novo Nordisk could theoretically ask for that? Although I assume those jobs would be very competitive now…
- Comment on I'm leaving the US for good, anything I should do before I leave? 3 weeks ago:
Unironically… I’ve basically hinted at everyone I know on ways to apply for EU-based science jobs if they are interested (surprisingly… a lot of ppl are not)
I’m still being optimistic though, really hope the US can somehow pull out a miracle
- Comment on I'm leaving the US for good, anything I should do before I leave? 3 weeks ago:
I… don’t quite feel comfortable the full details, but F-1; I have submitted a green card application too but no way it’s gonna pass now. I might find an opportunity to write about it a bit more in the future
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to [deleted] | 185 comments
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to [deleted] | 0 comments
- Comment on Which game is it? 4 weeks ago:
Get ready for Autistic infodump
Osu (stylized as osu!) is a rhythm game… Developed by an Australian group, wiki says it first released in 2007. Probably by far the most popular rhythm game out there, and probably the only one that can rival DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) and DDR-clones/lookalikes. And unlike DDR which requires a ridiculously expensive setup (a reliable DDR pad would cost close to $1k and is extremely loud) or being a regular at your local Japanese arcade to play, osu can be played by anyone with a PC, a mouse/trackpad, and a lot of hopes & dreams Osu was inspired by the Nintendo Ouendan series on the NDS; in that game you use the little pen provided by NDS to click circles/drag sliders/etc on the bottom screen; obviously works well with the NDS form factor. The osu team decided to translate this into PC gameplay where you need to control stuff with keyboard/mouse… and somehow it worked quite well! Since osu is completely free (I believe it is still very much free-to-play, no idea how they monetize), relatively accessible (see counter-example of DDR above), and is a legitimate & very serious rhythm game, I think it quickly gained a sizable and very passionate player base. And unlike lots of other rhythm games where the charts are curated by a company, osu’s charts are created by players & “peer-reviewed” by mods, so there are a LOT of charts, basically any anime/game-related song you could think of is in the game as an approved chart, which further helps grow the popularity. Needless to say it just kept growing from there… I think even back when it was the 2010s and I was playing the game actively, there were already a bunch of community groups, and ppl literally had names for different play styles. I think my style of primarily using mouse but mashing keyboard Z/X key for combos was called the Seiiryu (blue dragon) style or something… I forgot sorry As for the gameplay itself… Osu’s gameplay is actually quite unique in terms of rhythm games especially back then. Back then the gold standard of rhythm games I believe are DDR and IIDX, both of which are vertical fixed-screen drop-down notes where you have to time the fixed buttons to the notes. Osu on the other hand has dynamic notes where circles fly all over the screen. However, this also means that at higher level gameplay, osu relies less on your “sense of rhythm” and more on… precise mouse movements, almost like an FPS. I think nowadays games like maimai/WACCA/Chrono Circle might be similar to osu’s playstyle. They did add more game modes though; they have a taiko clone, a “catch the fruit” game which is even more unique than their base game, and a djmax/iidx clone. And… yeah. In short I think osu could be seen as the gateway drug into rhythm games due to it being free, having charts for just about any song you could think of, and having a passionate community. Now that you’ve sunk yourself in the rabbit hole, grab your wallet and pay for that $1000 DDR setup you have always wanted, $2000 maimai ADX controller setup, and mortgage on the suburban single-family home to play it in so you don’t get complaints from neighbors. You know you want it. Do it. DO IT (/s obviously) ___
- Comment on How would you do this Technically? 4 weeks ago:
In response, the guidelines regulate the labeling of AI-generated online content throughout its production and dissemination processes, requiring providers to add visible marks to their content in appropriate locations.
My understanding is that this is meant more as a set of legal guidelines… I’m not a legal scholar, but since China has a history of enforcing certain information-related laws I’d assume they can “legally” enforce it
On the technical side… there is a subfield of LLM research that focuses on “watermarking” or ensuring that LLM-generated outputs can be clearly identified, so I guess in theory it might be enforceable
In practice as to whether it will actually be ensured… who knows (facepalm
- Comment on Which game is it? 4 weeks ago:
Growing up playing osu! forever scarred my taste in music. Now I have a $300 SDVX controller at home and I need help
Also honorable mention for the 500+ hrs I have in Skyrim (with additional difficulty mods), Slay the Spire, Binding of Issac, …
- Comment on Realistically, how feasible is it to 100% boycott a massive corporation (such as Amazon) for an extended period of time? 5 weeks ago:
They don’t. Let’s just say that I chose the closest vet to where I live for convenience & I just needed someone to issue them travel certificates in a few months, but they are themselves a VC-owned nightmare… I’m moving out of the US in a few months and will likely change their diets anyways. I’m trying to find better alternatives as well
- Submitted 5 weeks ago to [deleted] | 41 comments
- Comment on What are some of the things someone permanently relocating away from the US should be aware of? 1 month ago:
So I have a bit of a unique case… I’m a researcher, and academia is kind-of known for hiring people across the world & are very willing to sponsor visas as long as someone has a PhD. I genuinely wouldn’t have been able to find a regular job in EU, and that is not even considering the language barriers… I’d love to know this topic better as well.
- Submitted 1 month ago to [deleted] | 71 comments
- Comment on what if another country staged a coup in the US and deposed trump? 2 months ago:
Considering how powerful the US has in terms of geographical advantage and military prowess, I’d be horrified if any entity is capable of staging a coup in the US… Maaaybe if a few countries somehow convince Canada/Mexico. But all-things considered it certainly seems like a self-coup is much more likely for the US
- Comment on What's something that you find unintentionally scary/creepy but isn't? 2 months ago:
I was somewhat scared of driving after dark because it always felt like there’s a ghost watching me from the backseats…
(Used to live at a place where you have to drive to even get groceries)
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
I… kinda fit the bill. Most proud moment was getting the highest grade in my class for Organic Chemistry (believe it was 107/100 or something… we had extra credits since the course was too damn hard) while barely studying, because the chemical structures/concepts made natural sense to me and I kinda liked the class
Used to think I’m really smart. Later on I realize I probably have hyperlexia from my ASD diagnosis so… I still studied, just that it seemed to have taken much less time for me than most others
- Comment on What do you think of anarchism? 2 months ago:
- What led to the Haymarket Massacre, which might have been the main catalyst behind the 8-hour workday… So I cannot hate it out of principle
- Seems reasonable but I don’t know how to actually implement it
- For some reason is more associated with Anarcho-Capitalism rather than the other variants, which I thought was… Interesting
- Comment on Why is deportation done instead of imprisonment or making people become documented? In other words, why does deportation exist? 2 months ago:
This is more related to why there’s no legal pathways rather than “why deport”, but I could think of a few reasons that make it difficult to improve legal immigration:
- Bureaucracy in some countries (notable example being the US) makes it slow/difficult to pass new laws
- Since immigrants (legal or not) can’t vote, laws regarding improving immigration pathways aren’t usually popular among the voter base
- There isn’t a country in the world that has figured out how to “solve” the immigration problem, so there isn’t even a good reference point
- There is a global rise in right-wing and sometimes far-right sentiment, which are often targeted at reducing immigration, which makes improving immigration pathways even less politically appealing
I guess if legal immigration isn’t really an option then deporting someone might just seem like the “natural”, lawfully correct thing to do. I don’t exactly agree with this but I think that might be what’s happening
- Comment on Why did Nvidia stock drop with R1 hype? 2 months ago:
Disclaimer: not a professional investor, trader, or finance researcher. I literally just have a mix of US and international index funds and bonds.
These are just my personal opinions and I probably don’t know more than OP… My view of the stock market, especially with short-term changes is… I don’t assume anything to make rational sense, or that the market could really be quite stupid.
Maybe my view was influenced by A Random Walk Down Wall Street… but my main consideration was below:
- So-called “meme stocks” and hype cycles have existed for hundreds of years, much longer before the current LLM hype and the previous crypto hype
- There is a somewhat “successful” strategy of buying a stock to sell it to the next sucker, which would be very prone to the entire thing collapsing
Especially considering that LLM is the current hype (and the hype cycle might be ending), I… imagine just about anything could happen.
More specifically regarding Nvidia though, I mean they’ve already made their fair share of money because their technology was used for both crypto and LLMs so… They already won anyway, so who’s really hurt from their stock dropping a bit?
- Comment on Is anyone planning on doing anything about trump creating a concentration camp at guantanamo bay? 2 months ago:
Yes, I already did, even before this particular news broke out…
I tried to individually tell every one I know (which is not too many ppl sadly), basically told every single one of them to consider back-up career options… There are a couple of 1-year exchange students from Europe in my floor and I have not-subtly hinted at them to make contingency plans for PhD training back home. I’ve been following the news very carefully recently so I can share relevant items as soon as possible… The people need to know. I’ve even considered making know-your-rights printouts before they claimed they’re doing an ICE raid in Chicago, but realized how little resources I have for that… I absolutely will do something. Not sure what it is but I can’t see society go this way.
I just feel bad that as a non-US citizen there is only so little I can do… I don’t even know if I could join a protest without being considered for deportation at this rate. Am planning my leave as well so there’s that.
Funny incident, I blurted out to my family 2-months ago that Trump will probably build a concentration camp and was told to shut the F up… Murphy’s law I suppose
- Comment on How are you actually doing today? 2 months ago:
I currently work as a postdoc in biomedical research, so my line of work was directly in the line of fire of recent Trump administration nonsense… Not great.
Beyond this though, I’m just impressed at how almost delusional my boss and some of my lab members has been. Lab PI/group leaders are responsible for bringing in grants, yet they don’t seem to even care about the fact that almost all grant reviews are paused (and some of their grants are due early Feb!)… Not to mention they seem almost happy about RFK and Bhattacharya; I do not approve of such behavior as a researcher… Especially since another student in the lab is fucking suffering from long COVID-induced chronic fatigue. I don’t understand how could some other ppl in the lab be so insensitive
To be fair, I’ve been essentially “fired” from the lab anyway. Not actually fired, but was on an 1-year contract and PI refused to renew (and it’s more difficult to fire someone than not renewing contract in Illinois law anyway). Pretty shitty behavior but I guess I should have expected a newer PI to not know how to properly lead a lab… Partly due to that, I’ve started applying for jobs in Europe two months ago and have just recently started getting interviews. All of them are scheduled early morning for me, I’m not a morning person, and at least one or two have been somewhat disrespectful so… At least I’m hoping to get at least one offer I hope?
Also am worried about selling some large possessions (furniture, hobbyist items) since I’m probably leaving the US soon. So a bit stressed recently between work and personal matters
All in all, I’m… surprisingly calm for the amount of bullshit I need to deal with. No ideal why. Maybe it’s just the power of video games lol
- Comment on The words "diversity", "equity" and "inclusion" seem to be blocked from NIH website's search function 2 months ago:
Yeah no joke. The biomedical community is probably in collective ourage now, since NIH straight up cancelled most grant reviews and all types of outreach… which is unprecedented
The official NIH website banning specific words is just… cherry on the cake, I suppose. Hence only mildly infuriating
spoiler
I swear goodness this gives me way too much of the great China firewall vibe…
- The words "diversity", "equity" and "inclusion" seem to be blocked from NIH website's search functionwww.nih.gov ↗Submitted 2 months ago to mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world | 15 comments
- Comment on Is there any non-zero possibility Musk was not doing a Hitler Salute? 2 months ago:
I guess if I am nit-picking, it’s very hard for a statistician to claim anything as having a zero possibility… of course a statement like that helps no one. These are my actual thoughts:
non-zero possibility
It is technically possible that Musk’s gesture was not a Nazi salute but rather something that looks similar. Fun fact, this is something that happened with S. Korea’s Megalian hand gesture issue (for example see this case: www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2621gzvkdo), where ppl found the gesture in a lot of unexpected places. However, the Megalian gesture is a pretty common hand movement, whereas the Nazi salute… I mean I guess it could happen due to a really bad out-of-context dance choreography?? But that clearly wasn’t Musk’s case
“But I am just wondering if everyone else sees this that way with no room for it being a result of autism and definitely that.”
… I mean maybe?? I have weird Autistic intrusive thoughts sometimes but even then this is a bit… Honestly though, I don’t know if I should put any respect to someone who willingly know what a Nazi salute is, and then choose to do it in front of one of the most important political events in the world, twice in a row nontheless. I find it hard to believe such an act to be a faux pass and non-intentional. Heck even if it is completely unintentional, this would be ground for job termination and put on a blacklist for life for most job positions I know
“Is this where we are? I feel more scared to be in America now.”
Yeah I know… I seriously wonder why I am still in the US as well.
- Submitted 2 months ago to science_memes@mander.xyz | 36 comments
- Comment on Would you do Onlyfans if needed the money? 2 months ago:
Well the bigger question is, would you buy it? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Jokes aside… Not attractive enough. Even if I’m attractive, OF creators are quite competitive as it’s kind of a “winner takes all” market. So probably not worth it… Besides, for conventionally attractive people shouldn’t there be easier ways to make money off looks? For example landing a modeling gig that has a more steady pay or something like that
- Submitted 4 months ago to [deleted] | 18 comments
- Submitted 4 months ago to science_memes@mander.xyz | 0 comments
