blindsight

Published Oct 16, 2024

(In case anyone else was confused by the timing of this.)

The ultra-wealthy are terrified of reprisal from Trump. And they control the media (Bezos/WP) and social media (Zuck).

Democracy in America may fail next week. Terrifying to watch.

I don't know the specifics, but there are a few reasons why new proof methods for known results are interesting.

First and foremost, every new proof is, in and of itself, a new mathematical discovery. This is how the field expands.

More specifically, proofs that require fewer other results can often be generalized to other systems/branches of math where other proofs don't work for some reason. Like, lots of math is based on the Riemann hypothesis, but it's yet to be proven, so everything built on top of it is, essentially, a house of cards that could come tumbling down if it's ever disproven. And, even if it's not untrue, we can't fully accept the results since they aren't fully proven yet.

I wonder about this one, though; someone else mentioned they used calculus, but many parts of trigonometric calculus use the Pythagorean Theorem somewhere in the proof chain. Which would then mean this proof is already using the existence of itself to prove itself. It passed peer review, though, so either my doubt is unfounded or someone else has previously proven the relevant results in calculus without using the Pythagorean Theorem... which is a great example of why proof using fewer assumptions being useful!

Isn't it getting harder to find custom ROMs, now? Used to be basically everything was on XDA forums, but I've heard lots of custom ROMs are moving to they're own websites/Discord servers/whatever.

Meanwhile, Steam is raking it in by continuing to offer a better product than piracy. The Steam Deck is making that even more true; it's so much more convenient to have games in the Steam library than try to keep a repack updated with new patches/content.

Right, but pirating Disney-owned IP is more moral than paying for it. Disney is the number 1 company in the world for lobbying for copyright over-reach. Every dollar that goes to Disney pays for lobbyists who will continue to push for life-of-author + 90+ years, because life-of-author plus 70 years just isn't enough time to control our shared cultural heritage.

Similarly for Nintendo and software piracy.

Paying for Disney/Nintendo media is immoral.

Putting 2S at the front is part of Truth and Reconciliation, recognizing the intersectionality of being Indigenous and two-spirit and the importance of including Indigenous Knowledge across all systems of power.

With all due respect, decrying their inclusion is racist and continues the perpetuation of colonialist systems of oppression.

I say this coming from a position of immense privilege, as a white, cis male from fairly wealthy and educated non-immigrant parents.

Absolutely. STV is the dream system. Proportional representation but with fully local representatives.

My favourite feature is that it holds politicians directly accountable to their constituents. If you don't know much about politics, you can just vote by party, like regular ranked ballot. But if you know more, you can rank individual party members against each other in the same party. There are no "safe" seats party insiders can hold to assure being elected, keeping everyone accountable.

MMP either has party lists (and its potential for corruption from seeking higher list rank from the party), or systematically over-represents areas with more fractured political views. MMP also can lead to more fracturing of parties, since you only need a very small percentage of votes to get 1 seat, instead of 20%+ (locally) to qualify for a seat in STV. We don't need single-issue fringe parties holding the deciding vote(s) to get to a majority coalition government able to force a snap election at any time!

ikr? And they re-elected him!

Should have used the title to figure out the reading order. Would have saved me a lot of wasted mental effort. Brilliant.

If you'd read the article, you'd know that the author isn't suggesting that.

"Family first" is unidirectional. Parents put their kids first. That's the job. I signed up for it, and I'm going to prioritize then as much as I can.