Acamon
@Acamon@lemmy.world
- Comment on If an oven only has fan forced mode do i still need to set it to the fan forced temperature in recipes? Ie 160 instead of 180. 5 weeks ago:
Tbh, almost all oven thermostats are not accurate for the actual temperature of the oven. Like, they probably are measuring 170 accuretly, but the thermostat is in the very back top corner and the temperature in the middle shelf is 15 degrees off.
People who are keen on baking, roasting meat etc where temperatures are important often recommend getting an oven thermometer so you can see the real temperature.
- Comment on How much did the transition to cashless impacted inflation ? 5 weeks ago:
I guess it’d be interesting if you could measure the drop in undeclared income by seeing places that increased their turnover as electronic payments became common. Although because covid was a big driver for that in many places, and disrupted all the expectations for business, demand, costs etc it might be hard to pick apart.
- Comment on How can I create an alter ego for publishing stories? 1 month ago:
No idea why someone down voted this comment. It’s pretty much all there is to it. Where ever you’re publishing / monetising can have your real name for financial and legal aspects. But the name you put as the author of the stories / books can be whatever you like (probably not the same as someone else who publishes in your field…)
- Comment on Did the premise of an entity approaching you only when it's not being viewed originate with Doctor Who's Weeping Angels? 1 month ago:
Works fine for me on Boost
- Comment on Will I ever be seen as truly British? 1 month ago:
I thinknif you’ve lived in Britain that long most people would think of you as British, especially if you have a reasonably British accent. Where I live in Scotland, most people are happy to accept anyone who actually wants to live in Scotland as Scottish!
Hut there’s always going to be racist idiots. I’ve been told I’m “not really British” just because I’m from Scotland (by someone who obviously doesn’t understand the difference between England and Britain. And I’ve seem the whitest, pure Anglo-Saxon English people being called “not really British” because they wanted to stay in the EU. So, try to ignore the idiots!
- Comment on Why do people still eat beef when we know it's terrible for Earth? 1 month ago:
Egg and dairy allergies are among the most common food allergies, so I’d guess that something like that might be the issue?
- Comment on Why are SMS messages so expensive? 2 months ago:
Are they? I have plans in both the UK and France, and I think they’re both unlimited sms. Not expensive plans, I think the UK one is £7 for unlimited sms, unlimited calls and 20gb of data (which is more than I use).
- Comment on In movies a strong woman is manly. (big muscles, aggressive, punches people, etc.) Is that really the way it is? 2 months ago:
Sorry, genuinely trying to understand here. So are you saying “in movies, women who have strength of character are also shown as being ‘manly’ (big muscles, punches people, etc). Is that how it really is?”
If that’s what you’re asking, I don’t think it’s true. Some movies have women of very strong character, who are physically weak, pacifist, etc. And some movies have women that have strong characters and are physically strong, cabable of violence, etc. And some movies have women who are douchey, flawed characters who can be physically strong.
I’m not sure I see any correlation between strength of character and physical strength, or propensity to violence, for either men or women. It’s more of a genre thing - in action movies men and women are more likely to be physically tough, and in political dramas they’re more likely to be physically weak. And there will be a mix of people with “strong character” and people with flawed or weak characters.
- Comment on How do I stop wanting to be on a relationship? 2 months ago:
Can you explain a bit more about why you feel it is easier to learn how to enjoy being alone than learn to enjoy being in a relationship?
I defintely struggled with giving up my independence, and still find it hard to be responsible for/to another person. But I finally ended up in a relationship with someone who was also independent and we were in a very casual relationship for five years before we started to admit that we were a couple and another few years before we realised how much we now loved each other. I guess all I’m saying is relationships don’t need to be one way. I have a friend who only dates people who live in other cities / countries, because that way they only see each other occasionally and at pre-arranged times, and that works for them.
But if you really feel you are happier on your own and it’s just internalised social pressure that makes you want a relationship then you could try developing “singleton pride”. Part of the reason gay people historically got into “gay pride” was to help the overcome their own internalised homophobia, because even if you don’t agree with something you still absorb it in your upbringing and it can be hard to get past it.
So, you could try directly telling people that you’re single for life and that your happy with that choice. If you’re worried that society will think you’re a failure for not having a relationship then confront that fear immediately and get it out the way. You’ll realise that most people don’t care, some people will actually be on your side, and the people who do actually think worse of you are wrong so you don’t need to care about their opinions. But if you’re not confident enough in your decision to proudly stand behind it, then of course doubts will sink in and you’ll repeat the loop again.
- Comment on Have you ever seen coal in real life? 2 months ago:
Don’t think so! Defintely much heavier and more solid than bbq charcoal. I don’t remember it being very smoky, weird less so than wood fires (which have a distinctive and pleasant smell) or peat fires, which were also common in my region but would trigger my asthma. But possibly it was just that I was used to coal? Maybe someone else would have found it gross?
- Comment on Have you ever seen coal in real life? 2 months ago:
Use to have an open coal fire in my childhood home. Made many a coal fire. It’s very sooty on the hands!
- Comment on degree in bamf 2 months ago:
Oh god, yes. I worked in a call centre for six months and it was dreadful. The combination of dealing with sometimes frustrating situations + the anonymity of a voice only call… People were regularly dreadful. Definitely at least 10% very rude people.
I also took it to be a sign of the ‘banality of evil’, that people having a nice time with their friends, eating some nice food, are generally pleasant. But put them in the privacy of their own home, speaking to a faceless stranger, and suddenly they can be awful. But I tried not to judge them to harshly. The design of call centres, with long hold times and staff with no real power to do anything helpful, is pretty much guaranteed to frustrate the most saintly of people.
- Comment on degree in bamf 3 months ago:
Totally agree that eating at a restaurant doesn’t mean you see all the subtle ways people are douches. But the comment above was about people shouting, so I assumed that the “10% of people are rude” was meaning obviously and noticeably rude. If it’s just 10% of people are impatient / distracted / not very friendly / kinda annoying. Then sure, but I don’t think anyone would be surprised with such a mild claim.
And as I said, I was a waiter in a busy restaurant for over two years. And the staff spent a lot of time complaining about the job to each other (as you do) and while many customers were annoying, kept changing their orders, or were a bit drunk and laughing loudly the whole time, blah blah, I don’t remember anyone ever complaining about a customer being as rude as I regularly read / see on the Internet. I never encounter a “Karen”.
I’ve always assumed it is just that Internet focusses on the tiny number of extreme behaviours and makes it sound more normal. But then I hear people say things like 10% of people are awful to staff and it makes me think that maybe there’s a real cultural difference.
- Comment on degree in bamf 3 months ago:
Maybe in some places. But when I go out to a restaurant, I’m often surrounded by a few dozen other diners, and no one is acting up or shouting at waiting staff. I have seen customers be obviously rude to staff but it’s very rare compared to the number of “normal” interactions. Sure not everyone is friendly and totally polite, but entitled, shouting or just being an ass is an absolute exception, like less than 0.1%. I also worked as a waiter in a couple of different restaurants over a two year period, and don’t remember any incidents either to me or my colleagues.
When I read comments like this it makes me wonder if I’ve been lucky enough to live and work in decent places, and the USA is just an nightmare hellscape, or if the reality there is much more normal and we just hear an unrepresentative sample of it.
- Comment on do you use cotton leggings? would you recommend them? 3 months ago:
I’m not sure if the science of it, but I find cotton to be much more comfortable. Synthetic fibres get really sweaty while cotton feels comfortable in all weather. And I use to have skin issues (eczema and psoriasis) and cotton was defitnely less irritating than synthetic fibres.
My fave is merino wool leggings, very soft and good at regulating body temperature. Doesn’t get too hot but also protects from the cold.
- Comment on A post may receive a hundred replies and host a fat and exciting conversation tree, but if one moderator doesn't like it then it may be locked or deleted. Is that immoral? 3 months ago:
I understand the frustration, and I think we’ve all seen locked posts we would like to have participated in. But can I check what you’re actually arguing, are you saying that if there’s ever significant interest in a post (hundreds of comments etc) then it’s not appropriate for one person to close it?
If I make a “Trump just did something crazy!” post in a Android community, and I get lots of responses and spirited debate, is it wrong for the mod to close it because it’s completely unrelated to the community?
If I post some super hot NSFW “does my ass look good in this thong?” post in NoStupidQuestions community, is it wrong for the mod to remove it for breaking community rules? Even if it’s a question and it’s getting lots of up votes and comments?
- Comment on How does a SO feel different from a very good friend? 5 months ago:
Yeah, I’d say SO generally are like great friends (with benefits), but often, over time you end up doing so much stuff with them that they eclipse any other individual friend. And eventually (especially if you end up living together) they become such a part of your day to day life they can begin to feel like an extension of yourself (or rather, that you’re both part of one being) and it’s hard to live with out them. I remember laughing at my dad for wanting to phone my mum everyday when he was away on business. I’d be like “what do you even have to talk about? You see each other all the time” But now, if I had a day where I didn’t at least message with my partner I’d feel so isolated.
- Comment on What's the best way to read a book in a dark room? 5 months ago:
Ereaders like kobo / kindle have gentle backlight, just make sure you get one with adjustable warm /cool white backlight, so you can make it warm and not blue. I also use a little clip on booklight with adjustable brightness and color. If it’s dim and red/orange you’re not disturbing anyone but it illuminates the page perfectly.
- Comment on I keep salt and sugar in identical bottles. A mistake was bound to happen, and it just did. 5 months ago:
Yeah, I was confused about this… A little sugar won’t ruin your French toast, and you can always salt it afterwards… I genuinely forget that people eat it sweet, I’m a cheddar and bacon boy myself.
- Comment on How do I breathe quietly through my nose? 5 months ago:
Like everyone else’s comments, if it’s actually noisy you should speak to a doctor. But I do deep breathing sometimes when I’m angry/anxious to help me relax, and now my partner is conditioned to spot the very quiet sound of me doing it. I’ve had a chest cold for the last few weeks and he kept asking if I was okay because I was taking deep breaths.
My point is, even if their breathing is quiet, the sound of someone taking slow breaths can be noticeable. Only tip I can think of is to practice breathing smoothly and regularly. When I’m actively trying to take a slow, long breath I notice it can be quite uneven. I breathe in, that breath tails off and I breathe in some more. That leads to an uneven sound that is more noticeable. If I really focus I can breath steadily and smoothly and it’s much less noticeable.
- Comment on Let's remember some Star Trek games 6 months ago:
How do you think it would hold up for someone who didn’t play back in the day?
- Comment on Star Trek Resurgence Giveaway 6 months ago:
I got my Trekkie mom the Star Trek 25th Anniversary game for christmas, but I defitnely ended up playing it more myself!
- Comment on [deleted] 6 months ago:
Any particular thing will change, and if you look more specifically at the factors and data predeciting that, then you can make a more accurate guess about that change. But that’s pretty difficult for big, unpredictable things that we don’t have a lot of examples of (like “massive world religions”).
Current data is that Christianity has been on massive exponential growth since the 1800s. There were 2.4 billion in 2020 and that is estimated to go up to 3.3 billion by 2050. So if you’re looking at growth rates, forecasts etc, Christianity is only going to get bigger.
But obviously, a lot of that growth is due to general population growth. And make some pretty big assumptions about world development, ‘progress’ and waning religious belief you could believe that Christianity will boom and then shrink. But there’s not a lot of evidence for that currently. And that’s why I brought up that general guideline, we don’t have any reason to believe that Christianity is going to disappear anytime soon, and we don’t have any evidence that it’ll be here in 10,000 years. So, if I was an immortal onlooker, and I had to make a bet, I’d guess it’d be around for another few thousand years.
Maybe it would help if you explained more about why you think it’s surprising these religions are still around after thousands of years? Religions and cultural items like that don’t generally get ‘superceded’ by new inventions (as happens with technology), instead they general adapt and change to the needs of the culture that uses them. Christianity is the 2000s is massively different from even 500 years ago, let alone 1500 years ago. And in the 3000s it’s more likely that Christianity will be around, but significantly changed, than that it has faded away.
- Comment on [deleted] 6 months ago:
I can’t remember the theories name, but I came across a suggestion from a historian (or sociologist? Or something…) that if you have to estimate how long a cultural feature will last, your best guess is “roughly as long as its existed for”.
So the pyramids at Giza are over 4000 years old. If we lack any specific knowledge of reasons ( predicting the stone erosion, or knowing that bombing is likely in the area soon) then all we can know is that they have lasted a long time, so probably could last a good bit longer. And if we guess random ages, they will average out to a middling number (just like if you roll a lot of d6s you’ll average out 3.5). The could be destroyed next year, but that’s an extreme outlier, and they could last 40,000 years but that’s also an extreme. So something around the 2000 - 6000 mark would probably be a good bet.
Similarly, Facebook has been around for 20 years. If the company collapsed next year, that’d be possible but unlikely. They could last into the next century, but again, most companies don’t. So guessing in the 10-30 years would be safe.
Obviously, it’s just a huge “rule of thumb” but I found it interesting. So instead of being surprised that Christianity is still here, twenty years past its second millenium, it’s more realistic to assume that you’re seeing it somewhere near its midpoint, rather than at an extreme. So we’re likely to have Christians for another few thousand years!
Tl:Dr if something has lasted a thousand years, it’s likely to last a good time longer.
- Comment on [deleted] 7 months ago:
As many other people have said humans do not have same physical reactions to emotions. There’s some similarity for certain emotions (disgust seems to be the one that gets the most evidence) but there’s a lot of variety of how very basic emotions are expressed across the world. This study is a good example showing how Western subjects look to how the muscles and movements of the face show emotions, but East Asian subjects looked small movements of the eyes to identify emotions and their intensity.
- Comment on Assuming a button that, every time you push it, your intelligence goes up. The obvious and sane thing to do is to push the button all day. Yes? No? Maybe? Is there something that I'm missing here? 7 months ago:
Its not that being smart is bad necessarily, but neither is it automatically good. I would never wish myself dumber, and maybe being smarter would be helpful… But most of my problems on life aren’t linked to a limited intelligence.
Obviously, it depends on your definition of intelligence (itself a complicated issue) but if the button would just give me better IQ score type intelligence I don’t think it’d help much. I’m plenty smart for my day to day life, job, relationships etc. The internal problems that prevent me achieving things are to do with focus and discipline / time management. And the main actual barriers are social or economic.
So sure, if the button made me so smart that I could somehow just see some novel solution that I could then market for money, so I could afford the life coach who would help me actually achieve the goals I want, then yeah smart me up! But being given a bunch of money would be a more direct solution. And a button that that improved my ability to actualise the plans I’m already smart enough to create would be muchore appealing!
Tldr: lemmy is full of people who are smart enough that not being smarter isn’t the main barrier I’m their life.
- Comment on Military Time vs 24hr? 8 months ago:
That’s interesting. How do they say it out loud? If 6am / 6:00 / 0600 is said “oh six hundred”, is 0000 “oh oh hundred”? “oh zero hundred”? “zero thousand”? “quadruple oh”?
- Comment on "Hosts" indeed, at least pick one... 8 months ago:
No idea why you’re getting downvoted. Most of the time I’ve rented an Airbnb is because I’m looking for a homelike environment, kitchen, lounge, etc. Depending on what country I’m in sometimes it’s cheaper to stay in a hotel, sometimes it’s cheaper to stay in an airbnb. But they’re very different experiences, so it depends what you’re looking for.
- Comment on [What if scenario] What if all commercial institutions suddenly decided they no longer intend to acknowledge religious events such as Christmas? 8 months ago:
We’d get non religious holidays developing / being promoted to sell a bunch of shit. Some people classify halloween as a “religious holiday” because of its roots as All Saints Day eve, but it’s pretty clearly a nonreligious “dress-up / horror” holiday nowadays.
If there was no Christmas there would be some generic winter cosiness holiday (as xmas/ December actually is for most Western countries). I live in France and there’s loads of “Christmas” junk but it’s 99% non religious. Even compared to the UK, where some people complain about “Christmas loosing its roots”, it’s noticeable to me how few of the decorations or cards have any religious imagery (even pretty neutral things like stars or angels). There loads of snow and winter animals, no wise men/shepherds, let alone ‘baby jesus’. France is officially opposed to religious holidays because they’re a “secular state” but they keep a winter and spring public holdiays that are at the same time as Christmas and around Easter. But other public days off are just other non religious events (national holidays like Bastille day, workers rights on may day, etc.)
And in seasons like summer that didn’t have big religious holidays (or not popular ones anyway), there’s loads of secular sources of themes / merchandising. The Olympics and World Cup (or whatever sports your country is into) always end up filling the supermarkets with loads of cheap junk and create a shared topic to “being people together”.
Another French holiday is the midsummer “fête de musique” which was created by the government decades ago to replace the dangerous (notionally Christian but clearly pagan) “fête de Saint Jean” where people built big bonfires and young men tried to jump over them (leading to lots of injuries!). Now all cities and towns and even small villages will organise some concerts or live music evenings.
Tldr : if companies weren’t promoting religious holidays, they’d just find other holidays to sell stuff.
- Comment on Star Trek: DS9 Was "Never Going To Go Into A Movie" Says Kira Actor 8 months ago:
I would have misgivings of using the character with René, but it wouldn’t be hard. He’s changeling, god dammit. It was one of the weird conceits of DS9 that odo kept the same humanoid form, and so the changeling who interacted with him did too (along with implausible excuses about “not being able to master the humanoid face”, or the changing virus).
Having spent time with the founders, you could easily recast “Odo” as a dozen different characters of different species and genders. Perhaps he has transcended the attachment to a single form that he developed from living among solids? I feel like watching some good actors do Odoesque performances could be quite interesting!