ylph

@ylph@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm looking for a no frills, physical key EV. Am I looking for something that no longer exists?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  The last Bolt model year was 2023 - you can’t really find new ones at dealer lots anymore. There is supposed to be a new version coming at some point, but no official details or timeframe yet.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm leaving the US for good, anything I should do before I leave?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Plenty of countries have national parks btw. Many of them had them before America.

  Well not really though ? Yellowstone established in 1872 is generally considered the first national park, in the modern sense of the term*, and inspired others to follow in the next couple of decades in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. It wasn’t until the 1900s that the first national park was established in Europe.

  • there are a couple of other places that also claim this distinction, depending on how exactly you define what a national park is, but not many

  Calling national parks “America’s best idea” is a quote from historian and environmentalist Wallace Stegner - I think the point of it is not to toot some US exceptionalism horn - in context it’s more of an acknowledgment that America deserves a lot of criticism - saying that national parks are America’s best idea is actually putting a bit of shade on other American exceptionalism claims, especially during the Reagan “shining city upon a hill” era.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm leaving the US for good, anything I should do before I leave?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  According to CBP’s own stats they conducted 42725 basic and 4322 advanced searches of electronic devices at US ports of entry last year (so before any new policies of the current administration took effect)

  “Under a basic search, a border agent physically inspects your phone and reviews what they can, while an advanced search means the agent can potentially download all of your files using an external device.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm leaving the US for good, anything I should do before I leave?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  This is true, however you can still be targeted for extra checks by both customs (CBP) and immigration (ICE) if they have a reason to suspect you, even when departing the US. Both CBP and ICE have access to departing passenger lists.

  For example you are required to declare larger sums of cash being carried out of the country (over $10k). You are supposed to go to customs and fill out a form, but many people do not know this, often legal immigrant workers taking cash back to their home countries. CBP uses dogs trained to smell cash and patrols departure lounges in airports, and if they pick you out, you can be searched, and any undeclared cash will simply be seized if found.

  It’s easy to imagine with the current administration they could start targeting people based on social media posts or some kind of previously compiled political profile or “enemies” list or whatever, if they aren’t already.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨TSA now offers you a choice⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Didn’t the original full body scanners used at airports use backscatter X-rays, which are ionizing radiation ?

  I believe these were mostly replaced by millimeter-wave scanners, and are not used anymore (even banned in some countries) but a lot of the initial pushback and debate surrounding the scanners when they were first introduced was about potential health risks of repeated X-ray exposure from those scanners, and so the idea of ionizing radiation exposure persists to this day in many people’s minds.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's the greatest joy you have gotten from a video game?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Meeting [redacted] on the [redacted] was such an unexpected and powerful moment for me as well. I don’t even usually get into lore that much in games, but Outer Wilds is so well done I nearly cried in that moment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why is the word "expat" a thing?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Expat is short for expatriate, not ex-patriot. Both expatriate and patriot do come from the same Latin root (patria, fatherland) via French.

  But yes, expatriate means someone who lives outside (ex) of their fatherland (patria) - can be used for both immigrant or emigrant, depending on context.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Magic Mineral⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They wore masks, had negative pressure ventilation suits on

  I hope those were positive pressure suits, positive pressure helps to keep dust out of the suit. Negative pressure ventilation is used to help sick people breathe easier, like the iron lung for example.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Today's featured article on Wikipedia: Outer Wilds⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Once you finish it, it’s actually really fun watching other people’s playthroughs as well - getting to relive some of the moments vicariously through other people’s eyes is almost as much fun as experiencing them yourself the first time.

  It’s also quite amazing just how different each playthrough can be, since the game is so non-linear, people take some crazy paths to get to the end ! It can be frustrating as well when someone just can’t see what is in front of their face though :)

  There are also so many subtle elements scattered around that most people miss on their first playthrough, and watching someone else play it really made me appreciate many of the details I missed on my own playthrough and even make connections I didn’t before, and understand aspects of the story that I didn’t fully get the first time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Clay content⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Mozzarella/loam is 20-50 sand, 30-50 silt and 10-30 clay - pay attention to the angle of the numbers and follow the diagonal lines. The center of the triangle has to be 33/33/33

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do any languages have words for left & right that start with the same letter?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Chinese is also not right - 正确的 (zhèngquè de) means “proper”

  Left and Right as the sides are 左 (zuǒ) and 右 (yòu) - you can also add 邊 (biān) to each which means “side” to be more explicit, but they are also used separately in many contexts where the left/right meaning is needed.

  The Chinese characters for 左 and 右 actually originated as pictograms of the left and right hand in the early forms of Chinese writing, but later forms both contain general “hand” component (𠂇) with components 工 and 口 added for differentiation