Contramuffin

@Contramuffin@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is thinly-veiled political whinging really a question just because you used a question mark?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Thanks for calling this out. I keep seeing political posts where the intent is clearly not to obtain answers but to obtain agreement. It makes me think that these people are attempting to karma farm.

  Back on reddit, wasn’t there a rule that questions had to be genuine? ie, rhetorical posts (like we see now) are not allowed? Perhaps it would make sense to start enforcing such a rule

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Entropy? Never heard of it.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I think the intention is that the switch is not going to be immediate, and so there will be a stretch of time where some places use renewable sources of energy and some places still use non-renewables. There’s nothing you can do if your neighbor doesn’t switch, other than to try to capture their carbon output

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨brain blowing orgasms⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s a specific life history strategy called semelparity, which is what you’re describing (breeding once then dying). To my understanding, this is incentivized if the chances of getting a second attempt to breed are too low, and so it becomes more evolutionarily advantageous to simply go all out on the first attempt

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What determines whether something is small enough to regrow on a mammal?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  That depends on what you’re referring to. Quick caveat, I’m not an expert in regenerative biology, but I have studied it somewhat.

  The trick is that the healing that you’re referring to, it’s not really healing in the way that you’re imagining it. The skin doesn’t really quite grow back in the same way. Instead, there’s more collagen than there normally would be (we would then call that scar tissue). In essence, we’re not really healing, our bodies are just doing a patchwork fix. The presumed reason is that our bodies figure that it’s not going to cause any problems before we die from other causes. This is really quite true of other tissues as well. The liver is known to be able to grow back, but if you look at the microstructures, the regrown stuff is missing a lot of the nuances that the original had. Our bodies expect us to live 70-ish years, and so they don’t care about anything that could happen after that.

  In order to truly, really regenerate, you’ll need stem cells. Some animals are remarkably good at keeping around stem cells and regenerating, but somewhere along the evolutionary line, mammals lost the ability to use stem cells. It’s still an ongoing area of research about why this happened and whether we can generate stem cells in the lab and whether we can manipulate stem cells to our benefit. It should also be pointed out though that, by its intrinsic nature, stem cells divide and don’t specialize into any roles, so it’s very easy for them to go cancerous. In the few spots where mammals do keep stem cells around, their division is very tightly controlled, and even then they are the source of the most common cancers in humans

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Simple creatures⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  More of an antimeme than a BHJ imo

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨moove on⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh, that’s what those were for? Never knew

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It's a good group!⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Science here - a lot of my fellow scientists like the humanities and definitely are not missing the point. At least in the pure sciences, we tend to encourage all education, regardless of field.

  Just be aware that STEM encompasses way more people than you’re specifically referring to

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Megaladon't⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  My favorite is spinosaurus! The fact that it is fully aquatic is so interesting!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨yes girl⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Chubbyemu was talking about how the mushroom is just the fruiting body of the fungus, similar to flowers in a plant. The only purpose of the mushroom is to reproduce and spread spores.

  Also, the video was about poisoning by eating too many toxic mushrooms

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Any Roguelike/Roguelite suggestions?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sounds like you might be into top-down roguelites. Enter the Gungeon, Binding of Isaac, and Nuclear Throne come to mind.

  As for games that I would recommend because I just like them, I would recommend checking out Noita, which is a physics simulation/falling sands roguelite. It’s pretty hit-or-miss, but if you like tinkering, you might like it. I’m also pretty partial towards Crypt of the Necrodancer, which is a rhythm/full roguelike genre mash. The full roguelike nature of the game makes it harder to get into initially but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty fun

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you're not attracted to anyone "in your league", but you cannot choose who you are attracted to, then what are you supposed to do?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  A lot of people here are pointing out the fact that leagues don’t exist, and that is true. But there’s a bigger issue here that’s not being brought up, which is that you’re viewing relationships as mutual infatuation. That’s not what relationships are.

  Love is a conscious choice. You love with your mind, not with your heart. You don’t need to be infatuated with someone to love them. And frankly, I would argue that infatuation is a huge negative in a relationship, because it causes you to make irrational choices that will put strain on the relationship. If you aren’t attracted to your date, the proper thought process should be:

  “That sucks, but it’s not a dealbreaker. Do I feel like I will still be friends with this person after years of living together? After learning all of this person’s bad habits? After being annoyed to hell and back by this person, do I see myself still choosing to value this person?”

  If the answer is yes, then you’ve got yourself a potential partner that you might love.

  Another thing to point out is that physical attraction is very tightly related to the people you’ve been around. It’s not uncommon for someone to find their partner increasingly attractive over time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Back to the grind.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  PI = principal investigator, or the leader of the lab. Also known as the professor. The closest comparison to regular jobs would be that the PI is the manager. They typically no longer do actual lab work and typically fulfill a role that is entirely managerial, so they’re often removed from and therefore entirely oblivious to goings-on of the lab. It’s a somewhat common occurrence for lab members to have a concern that the PI dismisses because they’re unaware of the severity of the concern, or for the PI to have a concern that lab members have already addressed

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon's lacking pissing habits⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The main reason to aim for the water is as contingency for split streams. Aim for center so that split streams have less chance of breaching the toilet bowl perimeter

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Longtime buddy of mine just got a gaming PC. What games would make up a good "welcome to PC" care package?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Might consider getting something that only plays well on keyboard/mouse. Factorio comes up off the top of my head. Shooters also generally translate poorly to controllers, so perhaps that?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duh⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  My belief is that emotional immaturity is the natural state of humanity. Without guidance, some wise people will reach maturity, but that’s really a small subset of the population, and the vast majority of people will not make this growth.

  The vast majority of people do things because that’s what they’ve always known; it takes special effort to question why you do what you do. Saying that these people are emotionally immature may be true, but I don’t think that the cause is that people have emotionally immature parents. People have to be specifically taught to value rationality and wisdom over vibes and feelings, and without this concerted effort, most people will simply be emotionally immature.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Black Myth: Wukong producer on The Game Awards top prize snub: "I came all the way here for nothing!"⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Translation appears accurate, but misses the cultural element. In my admittedly limited experience, this is pretty par for the course for Chinese humor. Compared to Western humor, Chinese humor is more brash and abrasive, and almost boastful when viewed from an outside perspective. I can definitely envision someone receiving that sort of response as a joke (“What, you didn’t receive game of the year? Why did you even go?”). And it would certainly agree with my impression that he makes a lot of crude jokes on his social media that don’t translate well into English (see: the IGN article on how the developers are sexist). It can really be quite difficult for inexperienced people to determine what statements are humorous and what statements are earnest, since the difference is often really subtle, even when read in the original language.

  I’m not necessarily defending him, since these sorts of jokes do have a nugget of honesty to them, but my read is that he plays them up for humor.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm having second thoughts about quitting my current position, I'm scared and I don't understand myself. What's happening to me?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  People crave routine, and experiencing a lifestyle change can be really difficult for a lot of people. It’s the same reason why domestic abuse victims don’t leave their abusers, or why people stay in loveless marriages - in their minds, it’s easier to bear with the abuse than to adapt to an unknown lifestyle.

  But human emotion is short-sighted. It can only see imminent uncertainty and change. It’s the role of your conscious mind to think further ahead and determine if you stand to benefit from the change. If you’ve got a job lined up that you think will suit you better, then trust your judgement

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is steeped tea sterile?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s actually a misunderstanding. Sure, regular bacteria can’t thrive at boiling temperatures, but some of then can at least survive boiling temperatures for brief periods of time. In the same way that tardigrades can survive the vacuum of space - they’re not really doing anything in space, but they can enter a state of hibernation that’ll allow them to survive

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is steeped tea sterile?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  No, but it may as well be considered sterile for normal purposes. Boiling doesn’t actually kill everything - endospores and also fungal spores are ridiculously hardy, and you’d need to autoclave (steam at high pressure) in order to really kill everything. And microbes are everywhere, so the tea is going to get colonized again really quickly unless you pay special attention to making sure that that doesn’t happen. Don’t attempt to can or store the tea, if that’s what you’re trying to do. Also, if you’re attempting to use unsanitary water to make tea, be aware that some bacteria and fungi make toxins that can’t be destroyed by boiling, so even if you manage to kill off the microbes, you can still get sick.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do you want the murderer of the UnitHealthcare CEO prosecuted?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes - I think it is fair that all murders be prosecuted. As for the gray area of morality, sentencing is variable and somewhat lax for this exact reason. I don’t believe that a judge will be lax with sentencing, but this would be a case in which I would like the shooter to receive a slap on the wrist punishment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FIGHT⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Researchers spend $X to find out if microbes kill poison

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FIGHT⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  No, that would imply that pollution happens, which would never occur on Fox. Better version might be “see if dirt absorbs poison”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FIGHT⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Here’s a fun game: describe your research/interest in a similar way that Fox/Republicans use to describe research. The more misleading it is from the actual research, the better.

  I’ll start: watch how tired mice get when they get sick

  (determine the mechanism of how microbial contact affects host circadian rhythms)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why are $70 AAA games slashing prices so drastically?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  On the contrary, IME they significantly slowed down the early game, but they removed the early-mid-game dip right after you unlock fluids and oil processing

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If a word can have as many meanings as we assign to it. Can was assign every meaning to one word?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Let me introduce you to Goptjaam, probably the closest “language” that fits what you mean: youtu.be/ze5i_e_ryTk

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon creates a business plan⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You misunderstand. I’m willing - excited, even - to have restaurants that charge more upfront. I’m not willing to pay double the expected tip just because the restaurant hoped to hide additional costs in the bill and hoped that the payer wouldn’t see it. In case my original comment was not clear enough, that was what they tried doing. 15% gratuity tacked on in small letters at the end of the bill, and this charge was never mentioned at any point, and there was additional space to add tip (of course, with the recommended option being 15%). The sum of the pre-included tip and the tip that I gave is equivalent to tip that I would have given had restaurant not tried this kind of shady bullshit. So I fail to see how I’ve done the workers of the restaurant any wrong.

  I choose not to revisit that restaurant for their shady business practices, not because I was unwilling to pay a mandatory tip. Given the original post, I figured that that was clear that that was what I had meant. Clearly I was mistaken.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon creates a business plan⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  OOP jokes, but I’ve went to one or two restaurants that tried to do that in the past. I deducted the pre-included tip from the optional tip, and then never went to those restaurants again

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Petrichor⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Wording is funky. To clarify:

  The rain smell is due to a compound called geosmin. The bacteria that produces it is Streptomyces.

  When I taught microbiology lab, I would grow a petri dish of Streptomyces during one particular class and have the students smell it

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Can someone give me atleast 5 examples of Democrats being against the working class?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Democrats in the past 10 ish years have been absolutely horrendous at marketing, allowing Republicans to take up all of the media talking space, traditional or otherwise. TV, news, podcasts, social media influencers, YouTube, etc. are all generally Republican leaning.

  Republicans control the talking points and co-opt anything that the Democrats say. Meanwhile, Democrats are either unable or unwilling to do the same.

  Republicans’ control of the media allows them to get away with way more things than the Democrats. It allows them to essentially claim that they’re for the working class while simultaneously working against working class interests, especially when heard by people who don’t generally follow political news. Meanwhile, Democrats get called out for relatively smaller issues, and that makes them seem elitist and uncaring of working class issues.

  One major facet of the Democrats being unable to control their marketing is their unwillingness to use populist rhetoric, even though by policy stances they should be (comparatively) more closely associated with populism than the Republicans. I’ve heard several takes on why Harris lost the election and the one that I most agree with is that she failed to use populist rhetoric and was unable to differentiate herself from Biden. People wanted change, and Harris offered the status quo.

  Remember that the vast majority of Americans don’t pay attention to politics, and so voter impressions are decided by tone and messaging rather than specific policies

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When people say the AI bubble will burst, what exactly does that mean?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A bubble means that investors are putting in more money into a particular field than the field is really worth. How does that happen? Well, investors make money by investing money into small companies and hoping that they get bigger over time. And they need to make guesses in which company they think will actually get big. While investors generally try to make these guesses logically, there’s inherently a bit of “trust me bro” involved in making these decisions.

  A bubble happens when investors increasingly rely on “trust me bro” to make their investment decisions. And so they put in more and more money into a field that might not really need or deserve that much money. Not to say that the field is intrinsically useless - just that the hype has overtaken the actual usefulness of that field. So when you see something that’s being hyped up, you should generally view it with caution.

  AI as a field is currently very hyped up right now, and so there’s concern that AI might be a bubble.

  How does a bubble pop? Randomly and without warning. The problem with bubbles is that they’re driven primarily by hype and “trust me bro,” and so if anything blows the hype, it will cause all the investors to snap back to reality and pull all their money. That’s a lot of money being pulled from a single field at the same time, and that’ll absolutely crash the field. A company going under might trigger a pop, or it could be a random news article that went viral saying that AI is a fraud, or it could be a lackluster product launch. Hype is inherently unstable, and so it can be difficult to predict when and why a bubble pops.

  The implosion that happens during a pop isn’t referring to any particular company, it’s referring to the entire field as a whole. It could very well happen (though unlikely) that not a single company goes bankrupt during a pop. It’s merely that those companies would lose a lot of the investor funding that they have previously been relying on