Profile pic is from Jason Box, depicting a projection of Arctic warming to the year 2100 based on current trends.

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Joined 1 年前
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Cake day: 2024年3月3日

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  • Real, totally heavily simplified answer. All atoms could be magnets, but most don’t have a force because the electron orbitals aren’t out enough. In fact just about everything can be explained by what the electron orbitals are doing. Even why the chair you’re sitting in feels solid. It’s the orbitals. See Richard Feynman's bit on magnets and the deeper lesson on knowing the right questions to ask.




  • It’s what the people want. There’s been several times where high speed rail in Florida was put on a public ballot, and overwhelmingly got voted for. And then the government came back and said, “wha…we didn’t think you’d want this? We don’t have the money.” The last I was involved in explored high speed from Miami through Orlando and the I-4 corridor to Tampa. Huge potential. “We’re a poor state, can’t do it.” FU FL














  • I think the biggest problem is when one partner believes that the other is condemned for eternity in some way (not just a hell, but also other forms like reincarnation to a lower state or anything else deemed bad)…and either they spend the relationship trying to change the other person and probably ruining it, or worse, they accept that fate for someone they claim to love.

    As an atheist, I don’t have that concern that my loved one is doomed to torment somehow, I just have the here and now to try and make their life with me as pleasant as I can. There is the issue of whether or not an atheist could live with someone whose rational is governed by beliefs that affect their judgement, either like mentioned above trying to convert them for their sake, or in other ways where religion steers them vs. having their own thoughts. But for what I think is a large majority, religious people mostly go through the motions if any just to fill some subconscious uncertainty and it’s not enough to threaten a relationship with a differing viewpoint.

    The human brain is very good at compartmentalizing things to help us get through the day.



  • Think of federation as potential redundancy for data and discussion. Individually an instance of whatever platform you’re using can be great, bad, or start off nice and get worse, but as long as there is federation of the good parts of communication among the people, there’s going to be somewhere else you can go if your first source goes downhill. It’s not perfect, but it’s far better than a single location where users are at the mercy of whoever runs and controls it.