What is a tip, fact, or piece of information that you want to share?

PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 125 points –
155

99.9% of people have more in common with an illegal immigrant than Elon Musk. Their problems aren't caused by people arriving in small boats, but those arriving in private jets.

People who have things in common, even people who’d be best friends, even those who are best friends, can compete for resources and cause problems just by existing.

Like, extreme case, not enough food in zombie apocalypse scenario and you find more survivors, doesn’t matter how good those people are it’s a problem that they’re part of the group.

It doesn’t mean the people are enemies, just that their presence is a problem.

Now, it’s probably the case that they should be allowed to move from country to country because otherwise you don’t have competition between countries to attract people. People need to be able to choose their associations in order to be free, and people should be able to move countries.

It’s a free market in that sense, and the suffering of people whose home country’s resources are strained by immigration isn’t as powerful as the suffering these people are leaving to come here, and when those two levels equalize the immigration pressure will stop. People will be going the other direction just as much.

And I think that’s all totally fair. I think people should be able to vote with their feet and go wherever is best for them.

But then being similar or dissimilar, good or bad, none of that is necessary for it to create simple resource competition problems.

All of this would be valid if we were lacking the resources to support our current population, and if every person consumed an equal amount. Unfortunately, certain people (i.e. the mega-rich and more generally Americans) are consuming resources at an unfair and unsustainable rate. You're suggesting that scarcity is the natural result of immigration and population. In a vacuum that's reasonable, but in real life we have a small number of people sucking up exponentially more than the rest.

When you get on an airplane, take Your backpack off and carry it by hand. You’ve got luggage on your back sticking out 12, 16 inches and you’re swinging it around like a brain dead fool.

The number of people that cluelessly hit people in aisle seats, shove backpacks in the faces of aisle sitters as the wearer turns to to talk to friends or tries to remember their alphabet and how to count while looking for their seat is ridiculous.

Take your backpack off! You’re hitting people.

this applies for boarding/riding on public transit (bus, subway).

With jobs, there is no trade off between pay and atmosphere/nice environment. Bad employers pay bad and treat you badly. Good employers give you decent wage and also treat you well

I agree with you in general, but in my industry, there are still lots of companies that buck this trend. Employers that pay competitively but have shitty toxic environments, and scrappy startups where the pay sucks but the vibe is great.

Still, the advice to not think of it as a trade-off intrinsic to companies is solid. You deserve good vibes and good pay from the same job.

With jobs, maybe. With careers, especially in STEM, you get lots of exceptions like extremely rewarding but low paying positions in academia, and tech companies that think they can just spend money instead of effort to fix their culture and broken hiring process.

I can relate to that last bit. There's a reason for the phrase "golden handcuffs".

I think I get the sentiment that OP is trying to make though, a lower pay isn't likely to correlate with a better culture, it's probably likely it is the inverse.

Also drive very defensively on the road. Car ego isn’t worth it behind a 2 ton death machine.

I would like to propose a modification. Drive "actively and predictably."

Be aggressive when needed, like merging. Be defensive when needed, like in traffic. Be predictable when needed, like following right of way when turning.

Do what is needed to be safe and efficient, while also doing what other drivers would expect you to do.

As many accidents come from people stopping on entrance ramps, not taking the left turn to let someone out, or not paying attention as anything else.

Be predictable when needed

That being at any point when you are driving

Yep, I only got my license back in 2022 at 35, and only bought my first car last summer.

I don't get why people drive like dicks, but eh, I let them past since they seem to be in a hurry to get to their accident.

If there is no way to let the guy past and he is driving way to close behind me, I have to follow the law and reduce my speed to fit the traffic conditions, if the other guy won't give me margins, I have to reduce the need for them.

The only read dicks I have seen are people who has incorrectly aimed headlight, blinding me with their normal lights, and when I flash my beams quickly at them, they flash their high beams and extra lights at me to make some kind of point or punnish me, if they have turned off their highbeams and get flashed, then go to a mechanic and have them readjust their normal lights, or ignore the flash from me, flashing back only makes the traffic situation worse.

Hey there. So its probably not headlight alignment most of the time.

Brightness is regulated by wattage still not lumens. Regulations have not been updated with the switch to newer technologies that are vastly more efficient per watt

But thats not the whole story either. Even when the brightness of the bulb is not too different, how the light is shaped matters to how we percieve the brightness. Newer technologes (LED and HID) are less reflected and are more direct than older halogen technology and also the colour is whiter and even getting almost into blue, which is much harsher to you when you get hit with it. Red light has long been known to preserve night vision better than other colours.

The last part is that its more important that the headlights make it safe to drive the vehicle so the light is aligned to the drivers needs primarily at the cost of making it worse for the person driving in front of you, but thats why they invented the rear view mirror flipper so they get a much less amount of reflected light off their rear view mirror.

But that means with the prevalence of SUVs headlights now sit higher because vehicles are taller which only makes everything else that much for this issue.

And its because there is pretty solid evidence that brighter headlights makes the driver a safer driver and it seems the trade off of this is still safer roads

I mainly brought up the headlight alignement issue as I saw a thread about Teslas headlight's alignment being reset after a software update, but that is just a specific car (btw, the front indicators on some Tesla models are absolutely shit here in Sweden, but that is a different topic).

As for the rearview mirror flip, I know what you mean, but I haven't seen them in moderns cars for years now, even in my 2021 Leon it is an electric system that deals with it and darken the mirror itself.

I do not argue that the benefit of extra lights improve safety, when used properly, what I am pissed about is that the other driver diliberately flash his highbeams with extra lights right into my car just as he passed me.

Sure I had flashed to tell him that I got blinded by his lights and it appeard that he had forgotten about his highbeams, feom my perspecive I just saw a car driving towards me with blinding lights on so I tried to get him to help me out, sure I made a misstake, but by absolutely and deliberately oblitarating my night vision on a dark road he could have made me have an accident.

Also there's ADB texhnology coming that is an adaptive beaming texhnology that uses sensors and cameras to turn off components when it detects a situation where the light is shinning into other peoples eyes. Not sure where this at or when it might be rolled out broadly

Have a fire extinguisher. Just in case.

additionally, have fire alarms and change the batteries when they are low. If you have gas heating, get yourself a good carbon monoxide detector as well!

I was going to buy one so I called my local fire station for advice and the advice they gave me was - make sure your fire alarms and smoke detectors are working, and if you have a fire, call 999 and evacuate.

I questioned if it wasn't better to have an extinguisher to try and get it under control, and he explained that most people have generally never used an extinguisher before (or would even know which to use for what fire), and even if they have, not in a real life panic inducing situation, and so are more likely to be wasting valuable time and putting themselves at risk, than actually put out the fire.

I'm sure this won't stop some people, but it was enough for me (he was right, I was calling for advice because I didn't have a clue, and for every person like me who asks, how many don't, and end up in situations like those I presume lead to him giving me that advice?).

And make sure it’s rated for the type(s) of fires you may get. Don’t want to use the wrong one and make it worse.

31 US states and Washington, D.C. have laws allowing forced sterilization of disabled people. It just needs a judge to sign the order.

I initially didn't recall the "fact or piece of information" in the post title and thought, "well this is a weird tip ..."

Why am I not surprised the united states of america also known as the "un-united shithole of america" legally allows eugenics

And you have those bigots in america that appoint bigoted judges if they get voted in if I recall correctly from news from america, I'm glad I don't live in america

People in red states with a disability, I suggest you leave those states and head to a blue state away from the bigots and if you have the means to do so become an expatriate and leave the united states of america and head to a more open and progressive country

Genetically disabled people I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to.

My family has a history of alcoholism, bipolar disorder, and depression, and a history of trauma spanning 3 generations.

One of the many reasons I'm not having kids.

This is one of those if you wouldn't be happy it happening to yourself you shouldn't consider it for others. In this case I feel like it would be justified but socially wrong.

A lot of problems would be solved if we were objective about our problems as human and a society.

You choosing not to have kids due to family history isn't justification for motherfucking eugenics, you ableist.

This is one of those if you wouldn’t be happy it happening to yourself you shouldn’t consider it for others.

Would undergoing a medical procedure without your consent also qualify?

Like a circumcision lol.

What makes you think that I thought circumcision was OK? And fo you understand in what ways sterilisation and circumcision are not medically equivalent procedures in terms of risk and recovery?

I didn't say it was. It's cleared you're charged up and ready to take this conversation with a clear objective approach.

1 more...
1 more...

Buy a plunger before you need one.

Make sure you buy the correct type of plunger.

Cup plungers are meant for sinks.

Flange plungers are meant for toilets.

You can always use the poop knife before you need a plunger.

And if you didn't follow this advice, soft PET plastic bottles make excellent plungers.

I posted this on Reddit back in the day. Use a plastic bag if you don't have the right plunger. Bad for the environment, good for unblocking clogs. Stick a toilet brush inside the bag, a bit of air is good. Secure the top with an elastic band or whatever, you can even use the bag handles tied. Shove it in the toilet and use it just like a plunger, the bag should form a full seal at some point, might take a bit of trying/wiggling but the bag will eventually get a seal because it is variable size/volume. If you are not getting the seal you need you can shove your hand in the bag, it's nasty to some people but in honesty there is nothing touching your hand but the inside of the bag. You can force a seal this way. Now pull. Done. No need to call anyone.

Wastewater based epidemiology is really freaking cool, and we have covid to thank for moving it from academia to industry/government testing, where the results are actionable.

We are now tracking covid, mpox, the flu, RSV and many other diseases in wastewater. It's very cost-effective community monitoring and can be applied anywhere from the influent of treatment plants to the manhole cover in front of your gym.

Always anchor heavy, tall or easy to climb furniture to a wall. Use either a stud or a drywall anchor. Even if you rent.

The holes are tiny and easy to spackle fill and could save your child, pet or elderly persons life.

Don't be fucking lazy, anchor that dresser.

What if im trying to murder someone via a rube goldberg style contraption and easy-to-tip-over furniture is my coup de grace? edit: golberg -> goldberg

Drywall isn't load bearing, though. Heavy also implies that it's stable, although that really depends on if it's top-heavy or bottom-heavy.

IOW, if my dresser is going to tip over, drywall anchors are not going to be doing much to stop it. Same for the couch, and the bed goes without saying.

It doesn't need to be load-bearing because the actual forces aren't that high. Fifty pound drywall anchors exist, after about fifty pounds the child will likely be old enough to not climb, and a fifty pound child's angular force pulling out on the wall is going to be less than fifty pounds since most of the weight is going into the floor.

Certainly anchoring to the stud would be better, but drywall anchors are better than nothing and should probably be sufficient in most cases.

Never had a problem in my life and don't plan on having kids so nah.

Gotta be the dumbest take I've read on Lemmy so far.

Why though? An ablebodied, childless adult without pets will very rarely ever have a random child or elderly people in their apartment.

The odds that you'd have someone at risk in your apartment, that you'd leave them unattended, and that they'd knock over an item of furniture is very long odds.

Unless that person is a little kid who loves to climb.

But the sooner he learns that lesson the better. So as long as it’s not your bowling ball collection on the top shelf, he’ll probably be alright even if the bookcase falls on him.

Say that again to a kid that gets crushed under a heavy piece of furniture

A child getting crushed is not a good way to teach them about the world

I hope you are not a parent and if not I hope you don't have plans of becoming one

Because accidents happen?

Why do we need any form of safety precaution?

I don't intend to crash my car. I still wear a seat belt.

I don't intent to burn my house down. I still have a fire extinguisher.

I don't intent to chainsaw my leg off. I still wear safety trousers.

I don't intent my furniture to fall on me. I still secure it to the wall.

Lol you got a poltergeist like why is your furniture attacking you.

The dumbest on lemmy is not mounting every piece of furniture to the wall. Whew that's wild.

Luxury is cheap if you are clever. You can buy a premium 500$ office chair from 10-100$ if you can find one locally used one.

Buying the best value refurbished laptops and computer parts can save so much money. You can buy a refurbished laptop with 512gb SSD storage and 32gb of ram for 250$, the newest MacBook has 128gb SSD storage and 8gb of ram for 1000$. You can literally buy 4x the ram and storage for 1/4 of the price.

I have like 20,000$ worth of furniture but payed like 2,000$ for it. Use Google lens on cheap furniture you see and you'll find some extraordinary value. I once found a 4,500 brass chandelier for 45$ at a habitat for humanity. Make sure to buy it from a store that checks for bed bugs etc.

Knowing how to repair stuff. The value of expensive items are very delicate, a single broken part can make the price plummet. This way you can get an expensive device, or anything, and replace a small or simple part. Did this on a cheap laptop with a broken power button and it works great.

Knowing how to "tune" your tools and stuff. A lot of cheap tools and items can be made much better with some fine tuning. On a saw, re-set and sharpen the teeth, on a knife thin and sharpen the edge, run Linux on old hardware etc. For everything you have, squeeze every last bit of performance out of it.

On the note of fixing things: if it's already broke you might as well try to fix it. If it doesn't work then at least you tried, if it does work then you saved yourself some money and gained some useful skills.

In the last 5 years of living in my apartment I've fixed and sold about a dozen TV's. All of them were found by the dumpster or on the side of the road.

I even fixed my 75in 4k OLED TV after Best Buy cut me a check for it saying it was unfixable. So basically a free $1500 TV because I figured out how to fix it.

I'm against used furniture that you sit on like chairs and couches because you don't know what the previous owner did on them and indont want to be in a seat that has had contact with bodily fluids

That's not the worst, just remember bed bugs and you'll never want to buy used furniture

I forgot to mention to only buy from thrift stores and such. Places that make sure to check for bugs

Carnivorous plants are not as hard to take care of as most people think. Sundews are literally an invasive species in New Zealand, and Venus flytraps are from South Carolina. The reason they seem hard to take care of is because many companies that sell carnivorous plants provide incorrect care instructions or pot them in the wrong type of soil. Most likely as a planned obsolescence scheme to get people to buy more. Learn the proper care instructions, and they're extremely hardy.

Do you have a favorite site for plant soil/care guidance?

I'm not particularly interested in carnivorous plants, but plants in general, and I often see sites with conflicting info.

Unfortunately, I don't have much that I can share with you on that front.

But it reminds me of searching for protocols when doing a science experiment - everyone says something different. What I learned is to look at multiple sites and then take the "average" of all of them. Tends to work pretty well

Hi! I feel strangely well-placed to respond here - my horticulturalist wife used to tend a garden of carnivorous plants professionally.

I asked her advice and she said,

"Avoid blogger sites. Some are good, but most have no clue and just regurgitate what they read on some other blog. If you want the super in-depth info, use Google scholar and search for the plant name plus whatever you need to know. Soil ph, propagation technique, etc. For more approachable info though, search normally for ' university extension'. University extension work is when a university is doing public outreach stuff - publishing information in easy to read and apply ways. "

So... Searching for "Venus flytrap university extension", I found this page which gives a very straightforward breakdown on how to care for your own personal Audrey-jr.

The Carolinas are an amazing place for carnivorous plants. Over 30 species of them including Venus fly traps are native to the area.

The sperm cell of the drysophila fruit fly is 6 times longer than its own body

Is it wrong to want to see an image of that out of morbid curiosity

I mean, how does that even work

But also I'm going to need a source for that just incase its bullshit

https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/2023/05/06/the-longest-sperm-on-earth/

Apparently the female seminal receptacle is also very long. In fact, the increasing length of this receptacle is one of the explanations for the extreme sperm length.

Drosophila females have evolved to fertilize their eggs with particularly long sperm. Only large, healthy males are able to produce large quantities of gigantic sperm, and if a female reproduces with healthy males, her offspring will have genes that make them healthy, too.

Every time you pass through a door that locks, do this:

  • hold the door open, not allowing it to close
  • locate the key that opens that lock and hold it
  • now let the door close
  • let go of the key

The more you do this, the more it becomes a habit: you never let a locked door close unless you’re holding the key that opens it.

The fact that it’s physical touch and not just mental confirmation makes it stronger, and easier to program as a habit since you sort of build it into your body.

It’s just a mental trigger: PASSING THROUGH DOOR -> TOUCH KEY

Then sometimes you’ll be unconsciously reaching for that key to touch it, and you can’t find it, and you’re still holding the door open, and it just saved you from a major hassle of being locked out.

Understad the things you use every day.

Using a phone? understand how computers and operating systems work and how networking works, at least at a basic level.

Brushing your teeth? Learn how to do it correctly. Understand the logic behind it. Do some basic research.

Own a car? learn how to maintain it, understand how it works, understand its limitations.

live in a house? understand how to maintain it, how to repair it, how it works, where your electric box is.

Etc. You don't have to be an expert on everything, but you should have a basic understanding of the things you use every day.

If you have recurrent anxiety-related chest pain and shortness of breath that has already been evaluated by a professional and conclusively determined to be non-cardiac in origin, here's how differentiate the two for yourself going forward:

  1. Think about what your panic attacks usually feel like. I'm going to describe some common presentations, but ultimately you need to learn YOUR body and what YOUR panic attacks feel like. If something feels wildly different than usual, go get checked out again.

  2. Anxiety pain is usually stabbing, heart attack pain is usually heavy/crushing. (In women, however, heart attack pain is often jaw pain and indigestion).

  3. Anxiety pain and shortness of breath usually gets better with physical activity and getting your mind off the pain. Heart attack pain gets worse regardless, and extra worse with physical activity. So when in doubt, call or find a trusted friend, and tell them your location and that you're pretty sure your chest pain is a panic attack, so you're going to go on a walk or fold laundry or some other light physical activity and want them to shoot the shit with you. They will hopefully help take your mind off things, and if it turns out it is a heart attack, they can call 911.

  4. Make sure you don't have GERD/indigestion/heartburn, and if you do, get it treated. Turns out that can actually feel exactly like a heart attack even to people who have had both, and it can actually be caused by stress/anxiety. I can't tell you how many of my psych patients get passed off as simply anxious when their EKG is clear, and it turns out its GERD! Bonus protip: skim milk is the best drink (aside from water) for GERD because the calcium neutralizes the acid, but there's no fat to be metabolized into more acid.

When traveling or going to a convention in the USA bring a surge protector for extra power outlets.

Put trash bags at the bottom of your trash can for efficient replacement.

The worst job I've ever heard of was back in Tenochtitlan where someone would go around in a canoe collecting human dung.

I wouldn’t mind a job going around in a canoe though

Depends on the weather.

Nice weather would be nice. Maybe inspecting irrigation ditches in a desert. Always sunny, paddling around those ditches all the time. And there’s dogs that need rides to various places via the canoe.

A friend of mine is a river rafting guide. On the trips, everyone poops in a big metal box. At the end of the week, she has to clean out the box. Sort of same deal. Raft instead of canoe and a different reason for carrying poop around, but don't let your dreams be dreams.

Don't ever, for any reason, do anything, to anyone, for any reason, ever, no matter what, no matter where, or who or who you are with, or where you are going, or, or where you've been. Ever. For any reason. Whatsoever.

Idk why you're getting downvoted. That was a solid reference

When cleaning your glasses, wipe from the temples towards the nose. That way you're not spreading any nose grease you missed across your lenses.

If you have a recurring problem with your computer that has no obvious cause, test your memory.

That includes NVMe.... Just spent two weeks troubleshooting a constant random reboot on my newly built pc.... It ended up being the m.2 port on the motherboard that was faulty, not even the drive itself. I've been building computers personally and professionally for over 20 years and that was a first for me. Everyone I talked to and every support forum insisted RAM or power supply were the problem but nope! Not this time!

But the lesson here is, if you have a recurring problem that has no obvious cause... Test EVERYTHING. Start with the common stuff that fails and work your way down: Power Supply -> RAM -> CPU -> GPU -> HDDs -> SSDs -> USBs

Tips for RAM: It's usually best to first boot into a ram testing tool like memtest86 and just let that do its thing. That alone is usually all you need to know if you have a memory issue. Sometimes though, results may not make sense, I've seen situations where a new stick of RAM fails at almost every block and it turned out to be the slots on the motherboard that were faulty. In that case if results seem a little fishy you can remove all but one stick of RAM in the first slot, run another test, then move that stick of RAM down to the next slot. Repeat until all slots have been tested, you can also be extra thorough if needed and repeat the same test with the other sticks of RAM. That usually helps rule out if it's a motherboard issue or an issue on the stick of RAM.

CPU/GPU: usually any old stress test will make any hardware issues apparent with these two.

SSDs: these can be a little tricky to test especially if you are booting from them but in my case I found that completely removing the NVMe drive solved all my problems (well a mobo rma was the real fix). I couldn't even boot into a live Linux USB without crashing and rebooting when my NVMe was plugged in. One not so obvious clue that the SSD was acting up was that event logs related to the crash were never written to the drive... Because I/O was outright failing.

USBs: yes, USBs are on that list. One of my first significant computer issues that I had ever encountered occurred from a faulty USB hub that stopped my PC from even booting up. I took it to two different repair shops they all told me nothing was wrong with my computer, but every time I brought it back home and plugged everything back in... I couldn't boot. It was a lucky chance that I figured out it was the USB hub, that was not a fun one.

Now I didn't even add motherboards to the list because quite frankly I'm not sure how they rank but they are the absolute worst piece of hardware to troubleshoot but luckily it's usually pretty rare that they fail. There are so many connections and settings built into motherboards that it quickly gets overwhelming trying to troubleshoot anything related to it. From my experience, if you have individually tested every bit of hardware and everything passes its test, most often it's the motherboard that's failing, especially if you have already ruled out software/firmware issues for sure. Motherboard issues aren't always obvious and can often fail in very bizarre ways.

And as a final bit of advice I'd like to throw out there from my years of experience in PC building.... NEVER CHEAP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY. It affects every single component in your PC and when they fail it can get ugly. I bought a super cheap off-brand power supply one time and pushed that thing to the absolute limits and when it failed it took down more than half of my PC with it, fried my motherboard, CPU, and RAM. Additionally, the risk of fire is not zero when these things fail. Always use ONLY the cables provided for that power supply and nothing else. Those cables are rated specifically for the wattage that can be supplied by that power supply. Also, it's good to get a power supply that's roughly 100+ watts more than what your PC needs. This helps in maximizing the efficiency of the power supply as well as increasing longevity due to less thermal wear.

Just to add to this. If its a removable part. If it works in a different machine then its either a compatibility issue with the part or the problem is with what its plugged into

It's horny season again for cats. Protect your pussies, people!

Or even better, have you cat neutered before she get´s into heat. Provided your cat is not suffering from liver problems and can tolerate anaesthesia of course. Being in heat regularly without breeding is not only unnecessary stress for your cat and yourself but also promotes cancer of her reproductive organs.

Is it? Don't female cats have irregular periods throughout the year?

I think they're triggered by environmental conditions. In my area, they used to run about around April. But now that it's way too warm for the time period, it started early.

Also keep your cats inside unless you want to be complicit with the destruction of fauna

https://invasives.org.au/blog/meet-the-27-native-animals-cats-have-helped-send-extinct-since-colonisation/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.6

https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.21181 (this one is paid but you can often email the authors of papers to get them for free, if that fails you can also use library genesis libgen.is and see if someone has uploaded the paper there )

Gender and sex are not the same thing. Gender is an emotion experience, sex is a biological categorization based on an individual's role in reproduction. Gender and sex needn't match. Gender can change (mine often does), sex cannot. Just like sex people do not have control over their gender, if someone's gender changes or doesn't match their sex it is not because of a decision they made, it is merely an emotion. So be nice to trans people, they're just people trying to not be uncomfortable living in their own skin.

It's nice to be nice

  • Mister Rogers

words I've always lived by

Mr Rogers is the truest Christian I've ever heard of, let alone met. A lot of people are failing to be the people Mr Rogers knew that they could be and that is sad.

Gender can change (...), sex cannot.

That statement got me a lifetime ban on reddit, justification: transphobia

That's so dumb, that of gender being different from sex with the former being changeable and the latter unchanging is the entire premise the transgender philosophy is built on

Thank you for backing me up, I appreciate it. I also thought how dumb that ban was, since their gender not matching their sex seems to be the main struggle of trans people, at least as far as I can understand it as a cis dude. I argued that trans women are women by gender and by identity but not physically/biologically. Obviously someone did not like that and reported me. Worst part is I contacted reddit dozens of times, asked to remove the ban, or at least tell my how my statement was wrong but they simply would not talk to me. Despite using a different account on a different computer with a different browser and also a VPN, they somehow detected me anyway and kept banning my new accounts too. Well ... fuck reddit, lemmy is better anyway.

Yeah, that was a dumb ban. I love trans people, have trans friends, and have been "close" with trans people. They are all begrudgingly aware that their biological "sex" parts can't be changed on a whim, and that even with a sex change surgery, it is still medically impossible to fulfill the opposite roll in reproduction.

I have thought about this at length and it does get messy, though. If we define "male" as someone who can deliver sperm and impregnate a "female", then what about people who can't reproduce? Does someone who can no longer produce sperm cease being male? And if not, aside from our "preconceptions", what then is the actual difference between a biological male that can't reproduce and a transgender male that has had all of the operations and looks male? I don't have the answers, hah

Gender can change sex cannot

I'm sorry, what do you think medical transitioning is? People literally changing their sex.

if someone’s gender changes or doesn’t match their sex it is not because of a decision they made, it is merely an emotion.

wut?

be nice to trans people, they’re just people trying to not be uncomfortable living in their own skin.

that's enough

Point one: that's a fair point, but some may argue that due to genetics, current biological transition technology cannot truly change someone's sex, I'm not smart enough to have an opinion on this

Point 2: i guess what i was trying to say, is people don't wake up and choose to be a different gender (though they may feel and therefore be one), this is kind of more based on my experience than anything else, so maybe some people do

Point 3: yeah

some may argue that due to genetics, current biological transition technology cannot truly change someone’s sex, I’m not smart enough to have an opinion on this

those people will be transphobes. Maybe if you're not "smart enough" (in your words) to understand something, you shouldn't be giving your opinion on it, especially so authoritatively, and instead go educate yourself on it (you can start here)?

is people don’t wake up and choose to be a different gender (though they may feel and therefore be one), this is kind of more based on my experience than anything else, so maybe some people do

it's nothing to do with "waking up and choosing to be a different gender", just like transitioning isn't based on "merely emotions", both are extremely dismissive.

It seems like you mean well, but I highly recommend listening to people actually living these experiences (in the numerous trans communities on the fediverese would be a good place to start), instead of getting your information from what sounds like terrible and biased sources..

Not that I have any problem referring to trans people as whatever sex or gender that they would like to be referred to, and others shouldn't either, but I think the distinction between biological sex and gender identity is important at least when speaking from a medical and scientific standpoint.

Oh, you think that, do you??

Are you a medical professional or a scientist?

Are you involved in the care of an individual trans person, or are they participating in your research?

Since you've answered no to all of those, and even if you had answered yes, then still no, in almost all cases, the distinction isn't relevant, and more importantly, is none of your fucking business.

And since I doubt you've had your own chromosomal make up tested, or even your hormone levels, you probably couldn't commit 100% to your own (or anyone else's) fucking "biological sex" so questioning that of others (or worse, demanding proof) only because they're trans isn't only intrusive, perverted, and outright transphobic, it's also entirely unscientific (the term as well as the concept/construct), and as mentioned above - none of your motherfucking business.

So you can take your generic "I'm not a transphobe but...bIoLoGiCaL sEx" excuse and shove it, and if being called a transphobe bothers you more than being one, perhaps try educating yourself instead of continuing to regurgitate the most commonly used transphobic talking points in existence..

You seem like you want to be mad at something. I have no problem referring to you as whatever pronouns, names, sex, gender, etc. It's just that we need words to describe chromosomal differences in biology and sex is what we chose to do that. Just in scientific fields. I am not saying that anyone's personal sex identity is my business, but it is relevant in scientific and medical studies. Those are everybody's business.

Though I would say that sex is as much of a social construct as gender is.

How so? My understanding is sex is measured by if this individual is going to have a kid will they being the impregnator (male) or the impregnatee (female), though i suppose this offers a space for someone who can't do either, and maybe a hypothetical someone who can do both

My understanding is sex is measured by if this individual is going to have a kid will they being the impregnator (male) or the impregnatee (female),

Before we even go in to how this false dichotomy excludes trans people - you've completely erased intersex people.

The bottom line is humans are assigned a sex and gender at birth based almost exclusively on the visible external genitalia, which simply isn't enough to indicate anything other than what external visible genitalia a person has. Beyond that, 95%+ of people are completely unaware of their chromosomes, hormones, or even internal organs, and whether those "match" the sex and gender they were assigned at birth (like cis men with extremely low testosterone, or cis women with XY chromosomes).
When a trans person takes HRT, they are literally changing their biological chemistry, when they have surgery, they are literally changing their physical characteristics, and having XY or XX chromosomes doesn't definitively define anything. If a trans man still has a uterus they can and plenty have gotten pregnant, as men, because being pregnant doesn't invalidate their gender, nor any physical or hormonal changes they might have undergone. Just like not having a uterus doesn't suddenly revoke womanhood (see cis women having hysterectomies).

Both sex and gender are spectrums, and neither are distributed as neatly and bimodally as cis-heteronormative society (and your fourth grade biology teacher) would have you believe.

Trans people are whatever gender they tell you they are, and just like you wouldn't ask cis people for their chromosomal make up to confirm their gender, there is no rational reason to do so to trans people before you accept this (outside of transphobia).

Both sex and gender are spectrums, and neither are distributed as neatly and bimodally as cis-heteronormative society (and your fourth grade biology teacher) would have you believe.

No one here is arguing this. The commenter you replied to even acknowledged that his definition wasn't all-inclusive. The point people are making is that even just knowing whether you were born with a penis, a vagina, or somewhere in-between has its uses, esspecially in a medical context.

Trans people are whatever gender they tell you they are, and just like you wouldn't ask cis people for their chromosomal make up to confirm their gender, there is no rational reason to do so to trans people before you accept this (outside of transphobia).

Again, you're arguing against a strawman. Everyone here has agreed with this sentiment. The disagreement is in the specifics of defining, sex not that of gender, and esspecially not the validity of anyone's gender.

Never cross anyone who has access to your toothbrush

2 Guys I know went on holiday, back in the day, disposable cameras etc. Had a great time with two ladies, all sorts happened. Came home, developed pictures, found one with the girls and their toothbrushes up their asses. They say it was a sick prank, knowing one of them well to I'm not so sure....

Life gets a lot easier if you make an effort to be kind and understanding. You have to deal with mean people either way. Sometimes the person you least expect is really cool and will open doors for you. Don’t bother yourself with the little things. Don’t feel like every situation requires action, especially if you’re feeling emotional.

I lost my kitty a couple weeks ago and I'm really sad and miss him so much, but I got 2 new kitties from the shelter and I'm so happy to have them.

The cucumber is a fruit, so a cucumber + tomato salad is a fruit salad.

Well, to be honest, not that I can think of at the moment.

If you think someone is a piece of shit just because you perceive their life to be better than yours, and they relate to your friends more than you do, you’re the actual piece of shit.

SCOTT

If you score the two "veins" at the base of the tip, of a banana, with your thumbnail and pinch as you open it will peel open every time and you don't have to do the upside down thing and don't get that hard black bit.

I've tried and tried to figure out what this comment is talking about but absolutely can't.

What upside down thing with a banana?? What back bit? Do people really struggle to open bananas???

Also...veins?

What upside down thing with a banana??

There was a viral video/meme maybe a decade ago about how monkeys peel bananas (might have actually been an orangutan or gorilla in the one I saw; been too long since I've seen it) where they peel it from the end opposite of how people are usually shown doing it. I'm guessing they mean that? Basically, instead of bending the stem bit (from where the bananas bunch up), you can pinch the tip at the other end and the peel splits open very easily -- it's easier to do, especially if the banana is still a bit on the greener side of ripeness and the stem part is flexible. (I tried it after seeing it and switched to peeling them from the "bottom" myself.)

What back bit?

There is a little black fibrous part of most Cavendish bananas near the tip I was describing; many people do not like eating it and avoid it.

Also…veins?

I'm not sure what they mean either.

When you look at the stem bit pointing out, as it goes down to the body of the banana there are two tougher lines going down either side. I suppose I should post a picture when I'm home... Or if I see a banana.

I kind of wish more people realized how much of everyday computer usage can be simplified with keyboard shortcuts. Take a look around your favorite apps/programs and/or Google for “keyboard shortcuts”, and try to build a habit of using shortcuts for some of the most frequently used commands. It's very liberating as it gives you a feeling of greater control.

For example, in Windows, did you know that if you pin your most used apps on the taskbar, you can access them using Win+1, Win+2, etc.?

In browsers, you can press Ctrl+L for the location bar (URL) and Ctrl+K for the search box. Ctrl+Shift+T will restore your last closed tab if you closed it accidentally.

Menus can be accessed with Alt plus the underlined letter. The File menu is pretty much always Alt+F. Many dialogs have elements with underlined letters too. We should demand this on the Web as well, as it's kind of becoming a lost art with fewer and fewer people knowing about it. It only takes an accesskey attribute!

At any point in time the entire internet is one finger slip away from breaking or being hijacked.

How do we know it hasn't already been hijacked

No one would publically disclose that if they did

And its easier to hijack the Internet than you think

You just need to poison the information that is avalible to manipulate the right audience to your end goal and people already do that

Just look into the "kochtopus" for example

https://dividednolonger.com/kochtopus/

https://prezi.com/5xzibopikc3a/ifgs-kochtopus-mapping-the-influence-of-koch-cash/

Now find similar groups to the kochtopus and see if they are interconnected with other groups

Find those and you'll find the people who secretly hijack the Internet

What you need to dismantle are those groups

Help bring them into public knowledge so more people are aware of them

The more people are aware of them the more they will share

And the more people are aware of them the more these groups power will waver as people begin to become aware of their manipulation

I am talking more about finger slips than actual malicious intent. Like when Facebook broke themselves or when Turkey broke YouTube for the whole world for a couple hours.

There are ways of detecting it like using rpki to reject poisoned prefixes or BGPmon to track the origin of prefixes or as an after action use Ripe BGPlay to see how a prefix was rerouted.

At any point, someone could be thrown through a wall and crush the internet box (I am talking about that IT Crowd sketch - so good!:-P).

Most countries have at least a few dozen countries they can travel to without a visa and visas are easy to obtain anyway, so if you ever want to take a break from the rat race, all you need is a plane ticket to a destination with a favorable exchange rate, and with a thousand dollars of savings you can take a hiatus from working or work on a creative project you're interested in for months or years, depending on your lifestyle.

The problem with the rat race is that even if you win you’re still a rat.

Get out of that maze!

Sorry, I don't get the relevance of the reference?

As far as I understand, it's from 1984?

I never saw the movie so I might be missing some context here.

Spoilers for 1984 - so if you didn't get assigned that book in high school, look away I guess.

The villainous government in 1984 has a special "re-education" room they torture dissidents in. Famously no one knows what's inside - but everyone knows. It's simply "the worst thing in the world". The surveillance state - knowing everyone's worst fear - then puts people in contact with their worst fears in order to break their mind and coerce them to obey.

The protagonist of 1984 is pathological terrified of rats. So when the government breaks him, they lock his head in a cage with a rat in front and threaten to open the door keeping the rat away from his face...

Which is the scene above.

Okay. I've read the book, but it's been a while. And I've never seen the movie.

Thanks

The rat is about to get out...

Its true that in life you need some luck. But luck can be made. You can carve the path and work hard for luck to come.

Use zip not tar.gz. I just lost 2GBs of data because the archive was corrupted out of nowhere :')

Only then do I find out that if a zip file id corrupted the damage is only done to one compressed file unlike tar where the damage affects everything after it.

Tar is just concatenated data so that an entire file structure can be written to tape. This means that your archive is recoverable provided that it gunzips fine.

I've used tar.gz for decades, and never had any dataloss because of it. Honestly, I think your issue is down to operator error, I'm afraid.

In case it isn’t obvious to readers, “tar” is literally shortened from “Tape ARchive”.

I don't know. Maybe. I don't know much about how either works. I got my info from this answer

This seems to be correct.

But a downside of this is that zip archives will be larger, possibly much larger, since there is no compression across files.

The actual lesson you should have learned was to use backups. If data isn't backed up then you might as well pretend you don't have it.

This archive was a backup :/ I was trying to restore the original after making some bad changes.

The actual actual lesson I should have learned is wait for the full archive backup to extract successfully before deleting the original and declaring the restoration done.

Still I will always have a (maybe irrational) fear of tar.gz now.