hydrospanner
@hydrospanner@lemmy.world
- Comment on Withdrawal is going to make people go mad 4 days ago:
“I want things to be worse for everyone who isn’t exactly like me.”
You’re the worst kind of person.
- Comment on Withdrawal is going to make people go mad 4 days ago:
I feel like most people I have heard talking about them while supporting Trump seem to know that tariffs are taxes, but have no concept of how they play out in a real economic situation. Most fall into one or both of two camps:
A) Tariffs are taxes, but they’re taxes for companies not individuals, and they’re only applied to importing, so they won’t affect me.
B) Tariffs are taxes for foreign companies, to level the playing field and keep American business competitive. Since the companies that have to pay it are foreign, it won’t affect me.
Spoiler alert, guys: no matter where the tax is levied in the system, the consumer is the only person who ever pays for it, since they’re the only ones that can’t pass that cost on to anyone else.
Also, while this can make domestic competitors more competitive, it’s important to remember two things: first, if it works, it’s only working by making things more expensive for consumers, and second, this assumes that the domestic competitors want more business, have the ability and posture to increase their production to meet the new greater demand, and will operate in good faith. Much more likely is that they simply also increase their prices in reaction to the tariffs, so they’re not producing or selling any more volume and aren’t creating any jobs… they’re just padding their profit margins at the corporate/shareholder level while doing nothing for their employees, all while having the average consumer foot the bill.
That’s exactly what happened with the steel tariffs in the first Trump term and that’s exactly what will happen now…the only difference is that this time it seems like there will be significantly fewer economic buffers between the tariff and the consumer, so more people will more directly feel the sting here…and presumably the mental gymnastics from the MAGAts will be even sadder in their attempts to somehow make it not a criticism of their orange leader’s incompetence.
- Comment on After Gorging on Stock Buybacks for Years, Boeing Announces Mass Layoffs 4 weeks ago:
And that’s how you permanently destabilize a market economy!
- Comment on Oxbowin' 4 weeks ago:
The only thing I know about vesicles is that microvesicles are gross… thanks to paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler.
- Comment on Oxbowin' 4 weeks ago:
What little blue house?
- Comment on Horrors We've Unleashed 4 weeks ago:
I get the concern, and it’s a good concern to have when you’re talking about what would be such a huge shift in so many ecosystems…
…buuuuuut…
I have to believe this change would happen slowly… mosquitoes wouldn’t just go extinct over a holiday weekend. It’d take years, if not decades, of dedication to the eradication strategy and even then, certain populations may prove immune to the best efforts of science.
That being said, even if it did execute as planned, I feel like the gradual decline of the mosquito would coincide with a gradual increase in other invertebrate species that would fill that niche. So as mosquito populations slowly declined in a local pond or creek, you’d see things like say chironomids (midges) thriving with the reduced competition for habitat, and the fish that ate mosquito larvae replacing that part of their diet with more midges.
Not saying there couldn’t be other complications, but I don’t think we’d see results fast enough that we’d end up with a broken link of the food chain leading to ecosystem collapse.
- Comment on Why don't we have cool vending machines in the US? 4 weeks ago:
Exactly.
My thought when opening the post was basically, “Can you imagine the depths that American corporations would sink to in a market where they can totally conceal the flavor, size, quality, etc. of their products until after the sale, and not have anyone from the company present, making them totally immune to any negative feedback?”
Presumably the companies behind these things in Japan are at least delivering a somewhat acceptable food item. I wouldn’t be surprised in any way to find an American version of this thing dispensing literal dead rats.
- Comment on Tasty 5 weeks ago:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Marjorie Taylor Greene looks like the second or third pic from an Animorphs cover.
- Comment on Ok boomer 5 weeks ago:
Well…fuck em, I guess!
If they’re charging so much that the local govt needs to pass that on in the form of a $5 fee on a $9 payment, they’re either gouging, or have an unsustainable business model.
Either way, fuck 'em.
- Comment on Ok boomer 5 weeks ago:
There’s no justification from a pure convenience standpoint, but I could respect the pettiness if the electric company ran their shit like one local government office in my hometown, where there was this small annual fee they charged like $9 for…but then to pay it, you could either mail in a check, hand deliver cash or check or card…or pay online…where they added a $5 “convenience fee” to a sub-$10 payment.
You bet your ass that I paid that shit in person every year, in loose change, and requested a receipt (which they had to write up manually because they didn’t have a system to process and print one).
- Comment on If Biden wanted to could he have people kill Trump since he is in office and SCOTUS said it was ok? 1 month ago:
Would the victim be officially dead?
- Comment on Why isn't apple a popular ice cream flavor? 1 month ago:
Chocolate with raisins is super common though…
- Comment on Anon explains the 2nd amendment 1 month ago:
Yep. Doesn’t even have to be a group of armed people doing “maybe illegal” things. It can be a single person doing absolutely illegal and horrific things…like Uvalde.
- Comment on Anon goes questing 3 months ago:
You said, and I quote:
if they gave me a lump sum
That’s payment. For your work.
It doesn’t change that fact whether they are paying you before the work is done or after. It’s still a transaction. You contribute time and effort to them, they contribute compensation to you for that time and effort.
And everyone needs money, it’s just that some have more than others.
If you hit the lottery tomorrow and won 500 million dollars, maybe not immediately, but you would almost definitely not continue to work at your job volunteering your time and labor to help them make money (and if you would, you shouldn’t, because that devalues the labor of your coworkers and everyone else in your field).
Mind you, I’m not at all saying this is a bad thing. If anything, it’s a good thing. I’m not sure why you seem to feel the need to make yourself an exception, but really, the only people I’ve encountered who are an exception to this rule are people who are both working in a field where the labor itself is intrinsically rewarding (teachers, caregivers, medical professionals, artists, chefs, brewers, etc.) and would be financially supported by another when the pay stopped (usually a spouse but sometimes wealthy parents, etc.).
And in those cases, it’s really not even an exception so much as it is splitting the circumstance across two people, because even then, they’re just getting a free ride to do what they want and ignore the need for money that drives the labor market.
I’m also certainly not saying “everyone hates their job”. Lots of people enjoy their work and that’s great! But for the vast majority of people, if they were no longer to receive a paycheck from their employer, they’d do something else. Either because they needed money, or because there are things they’d enjoy even more than their job that they can do with that time. It’s not a criticism, just an observation.
- Comment on Anon goes questing 3 months ago:
That’s a very creative and roundabout way of saying you do expect to be paid for your work and would quit your job if they quit paying you.
- Comment on Anon goes questing 3 months ago:
So if your job sent you an email tomorrow that said they were going to stop paying you from here on out, indefinitely, you’d quit working for them and do something you wanted to do instead, even if it was broadly similar to what you are currently doing for them?
Thanks, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
- Comment on Anon goes questing 3 months ago:
I feel like the only way to respond to that shit is with a simple, “Nobody has wanted to work ever.”
If either: people had the option to get paid at their current rate but not have to do their current job at all anymore…or the opposite, that they were expected to keep working at their current job but were told they’d no longer receive any pay for it ever again…how many do you think would still keep working at that job?
Way less than 1%.
Because (very nearly) nobody wants to work. They want money, and the most common way of getting money is… you guess it…to work.
The whole point of employment is that you’re performing a task that nobody is going to just do for free because they like it…so whomever wants that task to be done has to offer an incentive to get people to do it instead of literally anything else.
- Comment on I'm just gonna stick to slotted, thanks 4 months ago:
Philips doesn’t cam out that easily either.
I mean…that’s an inherently subjective statement.
But more objectively, regardless of how easily, it’s still the worst of the available options.
- Comment on I'm just gonna stick to slotted, thanks 4 months ago:
Well said.
And with the hex/Allen, it’s the small contact points as well as the smaller volume of material that needs to be deformed or removed before slippage can occur, as well as the angle of force on the contact point.
With a hex, the contact point and direction are such that the tool is effectively trying to scrape off material at an angle, and if/when it succeeds even a little bit, it’s now much more prone to fail.
With a Torx, the contact area might still be small, but it’s being applied to the lobe in a more perpendicular direction, so rather than a scraping failure, it’s more of a force that is pushing directly against steel instead of scraping. Not that it can’t fail, but the route to failure is significantly less likely.
- Comment on I'm just gonna stick to slotted, thanks 4 months ago:
For some reason, Ford decided to use Security Torx to hold together their hybrid battery packs. Couldn’t tell you why that was better then regular Torx.
I’d guess that was some sort of safety standard designed to protect vehicle owners from themselves.
As Torx gets more and more common, it’s presence is less and less likely to be a serious hurdle, so the security screws are a simple way for them to sort of say to the owner “don’t mess with the stuff below this”. If they want to, they still can, but it’s a specific effort at that point…so Ford can say they’ve implemented a safety measure. Might even be some sort of government standard too, where using a less common fastener style brings them into compliance without needing some sort of even less accessible design, like a sealed off system.
- Comment on I'm just gonna stick to slotted, thanks 4 months ago:
Because a hex key can fit (albeit imperfectly) into a Torx opening and loosen or tighten the fastener as needed.
It’s more likely to slip or strip, but it’s better than nothing.
- Comment on Absolutely deranged 4 months ago:
I’m just imagining a port the size of a VCR
- Comment on Absolutely deranged 4 months ago:
USB is people!
- Comment on Anon questions the magic box 4 months ago:
Some of the sudden.*
- Comment on why isn't anyone calling for Trump to drop out. 4 months ago:
Lemmy doesn’t want to hear it, but you’re correct.
- Comment on why isn't anyone calling for Trump to drop out. 4 months ago:
Democrats want Biden to drop out because they don’t believe he can beat Trump.
To this point: for those who think that, do they think anyone else realistically could, at this point, other than Biden?
While I’m not thrilled with his chances, I will say that if he wasn’t to be the nominee, that decision needed to happen in 2021. At this point, I do believe that statistically, he’s got better odds than anyone else, so regardless of his debate or mental state, he’s our guy.
- Comment on Mythbusters 4 months ago:
More great points, I agree.
Also…it might just be me, but I find that I subconsciously have more respect for a person, both as a person and as a reliable source of information, if they present things with qualification, as you suggest. To me, it’s a sign of humility and an indication of an appreciation for the complexity of any given subject if someone is knowledgeable enough to both field questions and demonstrate proficiency while also being careful to qualify and delineate between what’s fact, what’s generally accepted, what’s their understanding, and what’s their opinion or guess.
I listened to a podcast last year about TOP GUN instructors and the grueling process they go through to become subject matter experts in their specific subject, and one of the things that stuck out to me was that they’re less worried about being right all the time and more worried about three qualities: being knowledgeable, approachable, and humble…with the understanding that with those three qualities, you’re going to eventually get to the point where you’re almost always right, with the added benefit that you’ve trained yourself to remove ego from the equation, so you’re less likely to fall prey to the trap of clinging to bad information/belief/assumption just because you want to look correct.
- Comment on Mythbusters 4 months ago:
I’m glad you addressed the aversion to being wrong because I think that’s part of the core of what’s causing so many problems in America today (and maybe other places, but I can only speak to my own familiarity).
I feel like as a society we have created an environment where we demonstrate and reinforce to children from like kindergarten onward that the worst thing you can possibly do is be wrong. Someone who is always right is seen as smart, capable…in short, a winner.
Conversely, if you’re ever wrong, that completely and permanently undoes your entire argument/position and not only that, but you’re branded as unreliable/untrustworthy, uninformed, stupid, dishonest, or naive.
We expect perfection in correctness, and while being right is the expectation, being wrong is a permanent black mark that is treated as a more serious negative than being right is considered as a positive. Nobody just assumes that if you’re right about one thing that you’ll be right about all things, but if you get something wrong, there’s a very real shift toward double-checking or verifying anything else that comes after.
We even tease friends, family, and children for mispronouncing words or singing incorrect lyrics. Basically, being incorrect is so stigmatized that we reinforce to everyone, children and adults alike, that it’s better to not even try…not even make an attempt or join into a conversation…than to risk being wrong. When someone is wrong we use words like “admit” like it’s a crime, or admit defeat…and that just creates an environment where nobody is ever encouraged to speak up about anything for fear of (gasp!) being wrong.
And now we’re coming full circle on this at the highest levels, with our leaders being blatantly and objectively wrong…and absolutely dead set on avoiding having to admit that at all costs, setting a precedent that has oozed into even casual discourse among regular people. It seems like it used to be that being wrong was bad enough, but to dig in and refuse to admit it was even worse…lately it seems that admitting you were wrong is now even worse than doubling down on it…so now we have a situation where we can’t even agree on basic facts because one or more sides will be wrong but would rather insist on their position than just acknowledge they were incorrect.
- Comment on Missing cold pizza 5 months ago:
You do you, but if I’m up early enough to have breakfast, I’m unhappy about that, so I’m not gonna get hung up on levels of processing or grams of carbs.
Give me fried pig and chicken ova. And lots of coffee.
- Comment on Missing cold pizza 5 months ago:
Sausage gravy over biscuits is one of the very few things that make me appreciate the South.
Y’all have something special there.