ToaKraka
Dislikes you
User ID: 108
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
45m ago
Has authoritarian political views
I find it amusing that you'd have such criteria when two or three of your other criteria sound like something a grammar Nazi would care about.
Is religious
What's the problem with that? We all hold some beliefs we can't justify from the ground up. I've never seen Antarctica, but I have to believe that it exists if anybody talks about it.
People who make things worse for everybody else:
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Those who deny the validity of scientific investigation (including supply and demand)
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Those who don't bother to avoid ambiguity (i. e., foisting onto others the burden of reconstructing their intended meaning) in communication
And of course anybody who disagrees with you at all, even on something as minor as favorite food or preferred HVAC temperature, must be distrusted at least a little.
Distrusted in what sense?
For Alfred to assume that his random classmate/coworker/whatever Beatrice agrees with him on everything is charitable, but naive. Inevitably, if Alfred interacts with Beatrice, he will learn that she disagrees with him on minor topics—perhaps a few, perhaps a zillion.
If Beatrice disagrees with Alfred on a zillion minor topics, those minor disagreements are not in themselves sufficient cause for Alfred to dislike Beatrice. However, those minor disagreements do indicate an underlying difference between Alfred and Beatrice, and should lead Alfred to assume that Beatrice probably disagrees with Alfred on a zillion major topics as well—i. e., to distrust Beatrice. Even if those major topics are not known to Alfred, it is well-advised for him to assume that, if he bothers to learn more about Beatrice, then he eventually will come to learn her opinions on those major topics, and to dislike her. Familiarity breeds contempt.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1hr ago
Reading some of your questions, I don't really know where the conversation possibly could go from there.
Do you have a preference for the texture of facial tissues when you use them to wipe your nose?
Are we trying to find out if I have some kind of touch sensitivity?
That particular question actually was asked by the other party (Pseudo-Friend Six), not by me. (I'm referring back to the original spreadsheet in saying this, as I did not copy from the spreadsheet to the Pastebin text file the identity of who asked each question. Remember that approximately half of the questions in that text file were asked by each party.)
Why did you dislike the people you attempted friendship with?
It's been more than a decade since all my pseudo-friendships were terminated, so it's hard to remember specifics. But in general: In the long term, there always end up being far more reasons to dislike (or at least distrust) a person than to like him.
Example reasons to dislike a person:
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Is religious
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Uses "they" as a singular pronoun for a person of unknown gender
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Uses line breaks rather than paragraphs for no good reason, on a platform that differentiates between them (e. g., Markdown or raw HTML, not email or BBcode)
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Places a hyphen between a number and its associated noun for no good reason (e. g., "after 10-years of imprisonment" rather than "after 10 years of imprisonment"; note that "a 10-year term of imprisonment" is fine)
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Has authoritarian political views
And of course anybody who disagrees with you at all, even on something as minor as favorite food or preferred HVAC temperature, must be distrusted at least a little.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
2hr ago
Well, what was the issue?
I hated myself more and more for continuing to interact with them in a close, friendly manner despite disliking them. (See my flair.)
They didn't want to fill out your forms or they didn't want to send you a form to fill back?
Making them fill out a form
spreadsheet-filling game
I think you've misunderstood what I said. The participants in my pseudo-friendships didn't send forms full of questions back and forth. Rather, we sent each other questions and answers via Facebook messages, perhaps one to five at a time. The spreadsheet was only a tool to ensure that both parties participated more or less equally, rather than allowing (or forcing) one person to spam a zillion questions.
Inspiring controversy on Reddit today is an extremely long-winded comic, "I Don't Like My Boyfriend". Each of its 12 panels was posted as a separate image, so here are some consolidated renditions for your convenience.
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One image, millions of colors (11 MiB)
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One image, 256 colors (2.3 MiB)
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Text (5.8 kiB)
In this comic, a woman contemplates how she doesn't like her boyfriend (who is drawn as a short, fat Chudjak). She finds him boring and annoying. However, he is smitten with her, and she has never had any friends, let alone romantic partners, other than him. She wonders whether she is just an unlikeable person, and should be more grateful for having hooked a person with such low standards. The general opinion of commenters seems to be hatred for the woman.
This actually matches my personal experience with attempts at friendship (1 2) somewhat well! I eventually couldn't tolerate my pseudo-friends any longer and kicked them all to the curb, and the commenters seem to think that the woman depicted in the comic should do the same with her romantic partner.
Do you have any thoughts on this topic?
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
9hr ago
I don't recall whether you are/were a Civil PE
I technically am eligible to take the exam and obtain a professional engineer's license, but while I was employed I saw no reason to go through the process, since my employer offered no incentive for it. Previous discussion
(It was hilarious to see all the best employees constantly leaving for private employment in part due to this reason. Compare this recent announcement of special bonuses, and even special positions, for licensed employees at NYSDOT.)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
11hr ago
I don't have a college certificate on the topic. But, as I understand it, the business of single-family-residential real-estate development consists of several different paths.
(1) Buy a medium-sized lot; subdivide it into a few small lots; and (a) sell the small lots to people who want to build custom houses, or (b) collaborate with a homebuilder to build on the small lots "speculative" houses that you'll sell to people who want to buy new houses.
(2) Buy a large lot; subdivide it into many small lots, plus drainage features and new roads; give the new roads to the municipality; give the drainage features to a homeowners' association; and (a) sell the small lots to people who want to build custom houses, or (b) collaborate with a homebuilder to build on the small lots "speculative" houses that you'll sell to people who want to buy new houses (getting a bulk discount with the homebuilder either way).
Regarding options 1b and 2b, people tend to dislike my house designs. Regarding all four options, I do not have access to a small loan of one million dollars.
Why does it matter if a disused tunnel is in disrepair?
The opinion indicates that the tunnel's failure is causing subsidence in a roadway above it.
How much do you think the land is worth?
As I said above, each of the two lots is assessed by the county govt. at 30 k$. Zillow does not have Zestimates for them, but does show that many comparable lots within a few hundred feet have recently sold for 30–40 k$.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
14hr ago
According to the federal and state GIS maps, the nearest flood zone is 900 feet away, and the nearest wetland is 1000 feet away.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
15hr ago
I assume since gramps hasn't been getting constant notices about the lawn being overgrown, they are not in an incorporated area?
They are in a municipality. They're filled with trees, not just bushes, so I guess they've been promoted from "unkempt lawn" to "random patch of forest".
Like based off of minimum size and setbacks, or did you also check the hydrology?
They are surrounded by houses, and do not appear to be in a federally-designated flood zone or a state-designated wetland.
Since you are retired and associated with New J⁎rsey, aren't you constitutionally required to snowbird, even if you hardly go outside of your climate-controlled shack?
(1) If I had known about these properties prior to buying land in Pennsylvania, I might have considered purchasing one (though I'm not a big fan of living in Hurricane Land). But I definitely am not rich enough to own two houses.
(2) Infuriatingly, my climate-controlled shack STILL is not complete, as the electric company needs to upgrade the transformer on the nearest utility pole before it can provide service. It's now two months past the "tentative completion date" in the contract.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
16hr ago
To clarify, the /sdg/ thread provides links to uncensored non-local services.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
17hr ago
Guidance for generating images with uncensored/decensored AI models is available in the "Local Diffusion General" and "Stable Diffusion General" threads on 4chan's technology board. (I haven't personally tried it.)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
19hr ago
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A person has been convicted of "sexual battery". He is on the sex-offender list, and is required to register his "place of employment" with the county sheriff's office. His employer is a janitorial service: every day he shows up at a central location and is transported by the company to an assigned jobsite. He registers the central location as his place of employment.
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The service assigns him to work at a children's camp in a different county. After several weeks of being transported to that location every day, he is charged with the felony of failing to update his registered workplace. He argues that (1) the law is unconstitutionally vague, and (2) it defies common sense for the law to require him to update his registered place of employment every time his employer changes his jobsite. But the trial judge rejects his arguments, and he pleads no contest and is sentenced to three years of probation. The appeals panel and the state supreme court affirm.
Originally published in year 1727, recently uploaded to Project Gutenberg:
The BENEFIT of FARTING EXPLAIN'D:
OR, THE FUNDAMENT-all CAUSE of the Distempers incident to the Fair Sex Inquir'd into:
Proving à Posteriori most of the Disordures in-tail'd on them are owing to Flatulencies not seasonably vented.
Wrote in Spanish, by Don Fart-in hando Puff-indorst Professor of Bumbast in the University of Craccow.
AND Translated into English at the Request and for the Use of the Lady Damp-Fart, of Her-fart-shire.
The Thirteenth Edition, with Additions, revis'd by a College of Phyzz-icians, and approved by several Ladies of Quality.
To which is added, a Certificate of its Virtues, from the Court of the Princess ARSEMINI.
Together with some Verses on a Lady's Fart, in the Philippic strain.
ALSO a Meditation on T——d, wrote in a Place of EASE.
(It appears that "T——d" stands for "Turd".)
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1967: A railroad company acquires a railroad line, including a tunnel. (I can't figure out the tunnel's exact location, but it's somewhere in this rectangle.)
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2000–2001: The company asks the federal STB (Surface Transportation Board) for permission to abandon service on the line. The STB grants permission.
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2001–2002: The company asks the state PUC (Public Utility Commission) for permission to "abolish" 29 rail crossings, including the tunnel. However, the PUC grants permission to abolish only 27 crossings. The two remaining crossings, including the tunnel, cannot be abolished because negotiations between the company and the state DOT (Dept. of Transportation) for "final disposition" are ongoing.
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2002, later: Despite lacking the PUC's permission, the company sells to a third party a large property that contains the tunnel.
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2012: The PUC erroneously assumes that all 29 crossings have been abolished by now, and closes the case.
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2019–2025: The PUC opens a new investigation of the tunnel, which has fallen into disrepair. It finds that the company cannot weasel out of responsibility just because it sold the tunnel (without govt. permission) back in 2002. It assigns to the company 2.8 M$ of repair costs, as well as future maintenance costs.
Weird anecdote:
>Be me
>Visit 85-year-old grandfather
>He complains that he hasn't been feeling very motivated to do stuff lately
>Ramble at him regarding how designing code-compliant houses and subdivisions is a fun retirement hobby
>He mentions that his uncle gave him two vacant lots in Florida a while ago (he lives in New J⁎rsey), but he doesn't want to give them to anybody else because the property tax would be a burden
>Look up the county property records later
>Somebody (presumably grandfather's uncle) bought the lots for 4 k$ in 1977, and gave them to grandfather for free in 1984
>For each lot, assessed value is 30 k$, and "burdensome" property tax is 300 dollars per year
>This fogey has been letting perfectly good land sit overgrown, 900 miles away from him, for literally 40 years without either building something on it or selling it
>MFW
>Send him an email explaining that the lots are buildable under the municipality's zoning code (minimum house size 1200 ft2—example design is attached), but I would just sell them since they're so far away
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1d ago
I do not have the technical knowledge that would qualify me to answer that question.
Denizens of this website who are more knowledgeable than I am have pointed out that NearlyFreeSpeech.net's increasingly-authleft political views have started to throw the validity of its name into some doubt (1 2 3), but they have not leveled any technical criticisms at it.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1d ago
I haven't seen any, so I made one just for you.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1d ago
It doesn't make sense to me why area should be the key ontological factor for deciding which map is best.
The General Assembly says:
Emphasizing that cartographic representations constitute an essential component of geospatial information and have a lasting influence on the perception and understanding of territorial realities on a global scale,
Considering that maps constitute a fundamental educational, scientific and cultural tool that shapes the perception of the world and the collective imagination of peoples,
Recalling the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance, in particular article 3 relating to the rehabilitation and enhancement of African heritage,
Recognizing that certain cartographic distortions of sizes of continents, inherited from history, have contributed to their incorrect perceptions, leading in particular to a symbolic minimization of Africa in collective imaginations and knowledge systems,
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1d ago
The technical term is "cartogram".
Front-page news on Reddit: The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution recommending the Equal Earth projection (pseudocylindrical, equal-area) over the Mercator projection (cylindrical, conformal). This is the culmination of a campaign that has been backed by the African Union for the past year.
The General Assembly
[Two pages of preamble]
(1) Affirms that cartographic distortions of continental sizes inherited from history have cognitive, educational, cultural, geopolitical and socioeconomic impacts and constitute historical biases, the correction of which will promote recognition, justice and development, particularly with regard to the African continent;
(2) Recognizes that the Mercator projection, widely used around the world, particularly distorts, from the perspective of area representation, continental masses located far from the equator, resulting in a proportional shrinkage of Africa and other regions;
(3) Declares that the Equal Earth cartographic projection offers a more accurate representation of the sizes of continental landmasses and to this end is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world;
[Two pages of "emphasizing", "encouraging", "inviting", and "urging"]
The resolution does not actually require the Equal Earth Projection to be used, even internally at the UN.
| Vote | Count |
|---|---|
| Yes | 164 |
| No | 1 (USA) |
| Abstain | 6 |
| (Not present) | 22 |
Comparison between cylindrical equal-area projection (Behrmann variant) and Equal Earth projection:
| Output | Cylindrical equal-area | Equal Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Notes | — | θ = asin(√(3)/2⋅sin(φ)) A1 = 1.340264 A2 = −0.081106 A3 = 0.000893 A4 = 0.003796 |
| x | √(3)/2⋅λ | 2√(3)λcos(θ)/(27A4θ8 + 21A3θ6 + 9A2θ2 + 3A1) |
| y | 2/√(3)⋅sin(φ) | A4θ9 + A3θ7 + A2θ3 + A1θ |
| Shape | Familiar rectangle | Weird dirigible |
| Verdict | ♥️ | 🤮 |
Previous discussion of map projections
(If you hate all map projections and want to pretend that you're looking at a physical globe, use the orthographic projection—or, if you're really deviant, the general perspective projection.)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
2d ago
The other commenter said:
People keep saying this but never share the prompts.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
2d ago
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Architecture is an art degree, while civil engineering is a STEM degree
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But the govt. requires you to be an architect, not a civil engineer, in order to design a utilitarian apartment building, office building, school, or prison
Make it make sense. (Though, to be fair, not all states have this requirement.)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
3d ago
This article (originally written in year 2014, but revised since then) lists a zillion possible reasons for the death of fan magazines ("zines").
One active magazine pays five cents per word to authors. I don't know whether that's low or high.
A Reuters article indicates otherwise.
The AfD surged into first place in Sunday's state election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt but fell just short of an absolute majority, with 39 of 83 seats in the regional legislature.
While mainstream parties, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU conservatives, have long refused to work with the AfD, in a policy known as the "firewall", the far-left BSW reaffirmed its readiness to play kingmaker after it cleared the 5% threshold to enter Saxony-Anhalt's state parliament [with five seats, which is enough to form a majority with AfD].
"We've made no secret from the beginning that we'll talk with all parties. The AfD is part of that," Thomas Schulze, the BSW party's lead candidate in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, told Reuters on Monday.
Schulze said the mainstream parties' refusal to work with the AfD was "undemocratic". Germany's domestic intelligence agency has branded the AfD as "extremist".
As well as their hostility to Germany's political establishment and their social conservatism, the two parties share a number of priorities, including a hostility to mass migration (which the BSW says harms local workers' rights), suspicion of the mainstream media, and a desire to end financial and military support for Ukraine and restore ties with Russia.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
5d ago
five years
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
5d ago
Rational fiction at its finest. Are you sure Eliezer didn’t write this?
I have added to my page of fun LLM prompts a section called "autistic woman". (To be clear, the story that I linked above is not AI-generated.)
This doesn't make sense to me, though.
I can see why a consumer would want to take advantage of the economies of scale inherent in buying a speculative house in a large subdivision.
And I can see why a consumer would want to avoid the hassle of buying a medium-sized lot, subdividing out just the small piece that he wants to build on, and selling the rest of the lot back into the market.
But why would a consumer buy a developer's random spec house with no economies of scale and no subdivision, when he can just get a construction loan that converts into a mortgage all by himself? My own experience shows that getting a custom house built involves some hassle, but it isn't that much hassle (so far, at least), and it must be far outweighed by the comfort of having designed precisely to your preferences the home that you will inhabit for the next several decades.
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