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VoxelVexillologist

Multidimensional Radical Centrist

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joined 2022 September 04 18:24:54 UTC 

				
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VoxelVexillologist


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Multidimensional Radical Centrist

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 18:24:54 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I didn't see his name on those lists in the media about Top Sixteen Picks For Pope, which doesn't surprise me.




Were Francis or Benedict on those lists?  I may not be recalling well now, but I seem to recall "wait, who now?" as the response to some of the papal announcements in my lifetime despite lots of commentary on likely candidates.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Perhaps overly charitably: I wouldn't expect the DA to write "The victim recanted and we have no physical evidence", "We no longer believe the crime occurred", or even "We think the officer lied in their report" or anything like that which would disparage their case or work generally.  I could imagine "In the interest of justice" could be a euphemism for cases that aren't exclusively covering up crimes that would raise a politically-charged rabble.  But the less charitable reading seems viable as well.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I suspect Rowling is simply completely unaware of the real-world implications of Defense against Dark Arts, and would instinctively shy away from recognizing the analogy.




I think half the fun of these "misreadings" of the text is that it forces us to acknowledge the complexities of reality: even in a constructed magical world, "but what if I need to use (near) lethal force to defend myself?" is in fact a question that doesn't have a trivial answer.  Well, some partisans on both sides would have you think it has two different ones, but I'll accept some level of nuance.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I recognize this is a bit pithy, but "If only there were a genre of fiction regarding how humans interact with technology to consider the moral and ethical implications of current-year AI as applied to human civilization, specifically how it impacts creators and consumers in these sorts of cases." Sci-Fi a weird genre to have effectively adopted neo-Luddite tendencies.


I think there are probably some interesting ideas  to explore. "The dialog for the ship's computer was generated entirely by ChatGPT, which is why it uses 'delve' and em-dashes (verbally!) and won't shut up.  At some point the characters end up on a different, older vessel whose computer is hellishly inspired by Clippy: 'It looks like you're trying to land this thing!' at only peripherally appropriate times." Show how these tools are helpful -- or not helpful -- to the broader human condition.  Does viable alignment even exist?  Have a congenitally blind person talk to an AI about what color means to two different things with vastly different exposure to the concept.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If you're not careful, you'll think that everything is LARPing.  And there is an element of truth to that: "all the world's a stage" and such.  Systems in practice are less rigid and formal than they look from the outside: for all the pomp and circumstance, your local sports team is just a bunch of dudes playing a game; most of the magic there is actually imparted by the audience watching it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


to what extent does empathizing with young men just translate to validating their crippling anxiety and fear over interacting with the opposite sex?




I think there's a politically-aligned difference here in what "validate" really means.  Neutrally, it just implies "yes, there is [well-founded?] anxiety and fear."  The way it's used in left-leaning (and even in just describing left-leaning) spaces, it comes with an implication that this is justified and insurmountable.  I think there's a right-leaning take on this that can go the other way, though: "Yes, asking girls to dance is scary.  Yes, they might turn you down.  And Yes, you should do it anyway."  There are so many parenting moments that are largely about overcoming fear and inspiring confidence ("Yes, you can walk to school alone"), and this is just another example of how we've come to coddle the median child in ways that are probably detrimental.


But it certainly isn't helping that the way the modal male hero is written has swung from Bond womanizing to platonic, chaste action heroes.  Surely there's a happier medium in there somewhere.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


then reducing the staff issuing those permits




This is probably true, but many of those same sorts of staff are the ones writing regulations requiring new types of permits.  You can go to regulations.gov and see all of the new proposed rules as they're available for comment.  I'm not going to, at the moment, say that any particular rule there up for comment is "make work", but I will observe that the ensemble of all of them has definitely increased workload and doesn't seem to always actually improve things efficiently: see the Ezra Klein/Jon Stewart discussion of rural broadband spending.  I could be convinced (but don't have evidence on-hand) that pausing new regulations might be a temporary win over the exponentially expanding administrative state, despite some or even most of those regulations being reasonable and well-meaning.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Also watermelon is incredibly popular across the South.  My (white) family, especially the older generations, really enjoy it in-season.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Do you have any links to read more about that?  I'm curious.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


to other Axis powers like Germany.




Is there another Axis power you are comparing them to?  I'll accept the overall premise of "Japan hasn't satisfactorily repented of its war crimes," but Germany is pretty much the only comparison here.  Maybe Italy has some reflection, but I think the "and then we overthrew the terrible, no-good Mussolini" take is at least as common as the "we did bad things and supported even worse ones" take.


I haven't visited the more minor powers like Finland, Hungary, and Thailand, but I suspect the take there is closer to "it's complicated".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Pickup trucks outsell sedans these days.




There are surprisingly few "sedan" models on the market regardless.  Everyone wants hatchbacks, crossovers, or full SUV/trucks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


while in Germany the counterparts to those are largely considered an extremely basic and plebeian pastime.




I think there are a few examples like this where "Euro" things are high-status in the US, but in actual Europe they're working-class signifiers.  US soccer fans are generally either Hispanic or upper-middle class, with the implied perception of looking down on "American" sports like football (US), baseball, and basketball.  Cycling is, or at least used to be a few decades ago, I hear, similar: fancy road bikes are expensive status symbols in America, while in Europe it's often less gear-driven and professional cyclists are often from lower-class backgrounds more like basketball in America.


I think there is probably some general pattern of status versus foreign-ness: the lower classes aren't well-traveled enough to know what goes on in foreign countries, and the tourist class doesn't always grok the cultures they visit to understand the actual class dynamics at play there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There is presumably some point, which admittedly might be beyond Mars settlement, but I suspect isn't fully, at which a fully closed system becomes viable.  For the ISS, it's easy enough to ship up food, oxygen (water) and replacement parts with a couple of months notice.  For Mars, those timelines get longer and it is at least worth considering whether you need a full set of replacement parts, or the equivalent of raw materials and a machine shop (common on larger oceangoing ships), or whether a closed-loop environmental system (CO2->oxygen + calories->CO2) makes sense.  I'll acknowledge it might not, but a Mars settlement needs to be self-sufficient for at least a few years without Earthside supplies.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I’ll be honest, I really wish space exploration was viable, but more than likely, humans will not leave earth and roam much farther than our nearest neighbors. Everything else is going to be robots and telescopes because traveling the stars is risky and expensive.




Humans were once bold enough that the first Polynesians set sail into the open Pacific with presumably no knowledge of what they'd find over the horizon several thousand years ago (Tonga, Samoa), and then, after several thousand years of a gap -- honestly, an interesting historical question -- as far as Hawaii and Easter Island.  I don't think I can even really comprehend what would drive people to set sail in wooden ships without a well-defined destination, or how many anonymous brave souls likely disappeared into deep blue waters without a trace in the process.


Space exploration is, as is often observed, immensely more difficult given the lack of breathable air and such, but I can't help but feel that it sounds more technologically comparable with sailing the open Pacific before the Latins even moved into Italy.  God-willing, maybe my descendants will look back upon us comparably while they board the equivalent of scheduled cruise ships, or even whatever analog the of air travel that fits into this.


EDIT: I'm not at all certain how I ended up responding to your comment twice.  I must be done for the day.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Are there 15% of global GDP in minerals and metals on mars in such a way that it could be extracted with low enough cost to make this work?




My own spicy take is that Mars is a cute idea for a permanent destination, but the asteroid belt has a lot more resources that are more accessible on the basis of not hiding at the bottom of a large gravity well, and makes far more sense in the short term.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


They should start by trying to build pleasant domed habitats somewhere marginally habitable like northern Minnesota first.




Biosphere 2 was a pretty notable boondoggle back in the 1990s (notably involving one Steve Bannon, later famous for other work): they failed to make their "separate biosphere" really work in practice, suffering a bunch of ecosystem imbalances and ultimately having to inject external oxygen.  Now, their project was pretty ambitious, and I'm not going to completely fault them for the outcome there, but I do think it's necessary to revisit at perhaps slightly more modest scales to prove out long-term independent habitats elsewhere in the solar system.  Other than that, there are a handful of Russian experiments I don't know many details of, the ISS (which sources water from the ground for oxygen, vents CO2, and isn't really "closed") and submarines (which have some documentation, but are "sensitive" for probably-good reasons, and aren't really intended as indefinite habitats WRT food and consumables) and at least one YouTuber trying to demonstrate viability.


Honestly, it's a good place to start.  And I'm not sure you need a dome either: in theory your long-term space habitat should probably survive with just electrical power.  It's really not clear what the smallest "functional" biosphere is, especially once you start leveraging technology ("why yes, we do pump all the CO2 out of the habitat and into the greenhouse to improve plant growth").  There is some fuzziness about "fully closed-loop" too, but let's assume you don't need to maintain the tools themselves indefinitely to start with.  I can't imagine $BILLIONAIRE (or NASA, even) couldn't fund a serious project with some graduate students, equipment, and sealed space the size of maybe a studio apartment.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure! The universal requirement for ramp and elevator accessibility in most places is probably the biggest culprit.  It sounds great on paper, but in practice makes it really hard build new things outside of greenfield construction.


    

  • NYC is still trying to bring subway stations into compliance a generation later, and only plans to have 95% compliance by 2055.  It's also clearly hampering expansion: of 472 stations, none were built between 1989 (the ADA passed in 1990) and 2009.  Only five have been built post-ADA.  New York is perhaps the most obvious example, but I think any older places will have the same sorts of issues.
    • 

  • As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, it requires scope creep for modifications to non-compliant (often historic) structures that can make landlords put off nontrivial renovations.  ADA-compliant spaces are larger (wider bathroom stalls, wider hallways for wheelchairs to pass and turn, wider doorways, ramps) in ways that clearly add to the cost of a building -- this may be worth it, but it shouldn't be swept under the rug.
    • 

  • It limits architectural freedom in subtle ways: split-level designs and walk-up apartments are hard to build.  There is a certain "planar-ness" to ADA designs that, while I suppose functional, feels a bit grating after you see it everywhere ("the bar area is two steps higher than the dance floor, letting you see out over it to the stage").
    • 



				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The state of Texas is going to get its cut no matter which goods Amazon sells to Texans.




I'm old enough to remember a time before online retailers regularly collected sales taxes (apparently nationwide starting in 2017 after a SCOTUS decision).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Russia is sitting on the world's second most largest stockpile of nuclear weapons,




I'm pretty sure the (published) warhead counts actually have Russia with slightly more than the US, largely because of odd treaty wordings on specific delivery mechanisms.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


how many Americans and even Mottizens display an astonishing capacity to rationalize bad foreign actors. China wants Taiwan primarily out of essentially hurt feelings;




I am curious how you feel about the War of Northern Imperialism Civil War: the American founding documents talk a lot about "just consent of the governed" but when some of the (state governments as proxies for) regions decided they no longer consented, Lincoln sent in troops.  My own thoughts are complicated: I think the US is, for a variety of reasons (ending slavery, combined economic power) better off for the Union winning, but it does seem against the general principle of self-governance.  It's not even hard to find takes today justifying curtailing the rights of the region on the basis of the actions of their forefathers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I hope that hill isn't too poorly graded or sandy, then. :)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have come across some interesting "The ADA is one (of several) well-meaning laws that keep us from building cool stuff" takes that, while I still endorse the broad principle, have made me question some of its aspects.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the Dem response to immigration afterwards sure made it seem like they knew they fucked up and had dropped a grenade at their feet that they never intended.




When did you start seeing this response?  I don't remember any biting policy changes up until election season began in earnest.  I think there were some local actions in NY and Chicago (and memorably, Martha's Vineyard) to the migrant busing policies, but I will admit I don't follow politics that closely and I might have missed something.


The vibe I remember felt more like "all in on open borders and accepting any and all asylum claims, up until they saw how that polled with prospective voters 24 months later."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


So of the parents can not agree on what should happen with the child, the child will be deprived of the right of an US custody court deciding its fate. That would be irreparable harm -- unless Trump is willing to send SEAL team to repatriate the child.




I think that this sort of irreparable harm is somewhat unavoidable in such circumstances.  Janet Reno was willing to send tactical border patrol agents to return a toddler from extended family in the US to his father in Cuba -- there is an iconic photo of a federal agent pointing an MP-5 at a screaming toddler in his family's arms.  Or that time the Carter administration allowed a Ukrainian teenager living in Chicago to claim asylum when his parents decided to move back to the Soviet Union.  All of those cases are, in some ways "irreparable harm".  But so is the reverse, and I'm not really sure how you'd consistently manage to avoid all such classes.  I'm open to suggestions.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Ordering a batch of prototype pcbs (something no US manufacturer has capacity / interest in providing)? That’ll be $200 extra.




My man, are you not familiar with OSHPark and DigiKey Red?  The bare PCB options there are fairly cheap as long as you can use their standard stackups.


If you need something more complicated and/or populated, there are choices like Advanced Circuits, too.  At least in my area, if you look, there are commercial shops that can populate SMT/TH boards.  Admittedly, these might be more than $200 above the Shenzen costs today.