ackables's recent activity
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Comment on US President Joe Biden raises tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese imports: EVs, solar panels, batteries and more in ~finance
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Comment on US President Joe Biden raises tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese imports: EVs, solar panels, batteries and more in ~finance
ackables Link ParentSo Trump's past and future strategy is to put tariffs on all goods from China. Biden didn't lower the Trump tariffs, but the tariffs Biden is adding specifically targets key "Green Economy" goods...So Trump's past and future strategy is to put tariffs on all goods from China. Biden didn't lower the Trump tariffs, but the tariffs Biden is adding specifically targets key "Green Economy" goods that he wants the US to develop. This can help US green industries have time to develop tech and manufacturing capacity to eventually become naturally competitive with Chinese industries.
At the moment, Chinese solar and EV companies could easily outcompete US solar and EV companies if they competed on a level playing field. While this may result in higher prices for US consumers in the short term, it will protect the manufacturing jobs that Americans always complain about losing and prevent China from withholding certain goods in any potential conflict.
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Comment on Fifth American tourist arrested at Turks and Caicos airport after ammo allegedly found in luggage in ~travel
ackables Link ParentThe bullet itself isn't that dangerous, but if you want redundancy in your gun safety strategy, loose ammo is another point of failure. What if you are cleaning your gun and leave it unattended...The bullet itself isn't that dangerous, but if you want redundancy in your gun safety strategy, loose ammo is another point of failure. What if you are cleaning your gun and leave it unattended for a while because you know it's unloaded, and the magazine is locked away. 99.9% of the time that may not end in disaster, but what if a child happened to find a loose round in the car that they kept to themselves. Now there's a good chance for something to go wrong.
If you aren't strict about locking up ammo, you can only rely on properly securing your gun to prevent tragedy. If a mistake is made there it's potentially an unsecured loaded gun. If both ammo and firearms are locked up and accounted for, two mistakes need to be made for someone to get their hands on a loaded gun.
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Comment on Weekly Israel-Hamas war megathread - week of May 13 in ~news
ackables Link ParentThere's no downvoting and less people, so if people disagree, they can at least get to yell at each other directly. Downvotes can just end up silencing the minority opinion in the community.There's no downvoting and less people, so if people disagree, they can at least get to yell at each other directly. Downvotes can just end up silencing the minority opinion in the community.
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Comment on Fifth American tourist arrested at Turks and Caicos airport after ammo allegedly found in luggage in ~travel
ackables Link ParentI don’t own a gun and have never had a concealed carry permit, but I don’t know when you would ever need more than a full magazine for a self defense weapon. It seems like any real world self...I don’t own a gun and have never had a concealed carry permit, but I don’t know when you would ever need more than a full magazine for a self defense weapon. It seems like any real world self defense scenario would be decided in a few rounds, so needing to reload wouldn’t be necessary.
If you load your gun before you leave your house, why would you need to have any spare ammo floating around your bag?
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Comment on Fifth American tourist arrested at Turks and Caicos airport after ammo allegedly found in luggage in ~travel
ackables Link ParentIt just seems like an irresponsible habit to not know where your ammo is. Aren’t you supposed to keep your ammo locked up separately from your guns? A few loose rounds may seem innocuous, but it’s...It just seems like an irresponsible habit to not know where your ammo is. Aren’t you supposed to keep your ammo locked up separately from your guns? A few loose rounds may seem innocuous, but it’s just one less thing someone needs to collect to hurt someone.
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Comment on Recommendations for leakproof, TSA-approved (100ml / 3.4oz) toiletry bottles in ~travel
ackables (edited )LinkSorry if I am explaining something that you already know, but you can make any container leakproof with one step: Squeeze as much air as possible out of the container before packing it away. Any...Sorry if I am explaining something that you already know, but you can make any container leakproof with one step: Squeeze as much air as possible out of the container before packing it away.
Any air trapped in a container at ground level will be the same density as the surrounding air. When that air is taken up to 30,000ft, it is a higher density than the surrounding air and wants to expand. You may have noticed this in reverse if you have ever taken a drink from a disposable water bottle mid-flight and noticed it collapsed a bit after you land. If your shampoo is between the air and the cap of the bottle, it will get pushed out to make room.
Just squeeze any excess air out of your toiletries and you will never suffer another leak.
EDIT: Oops just noticed that my reading comprehension is bad, and your issue is the travel bottles breaking in your bag on the ground. I would just recommend a hard-shell toiletry case. That would be the best way to prevent any bottles from breaking in your bag no matter how cheap they are.
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Comment on Some observations about some of the conversations here in ~tildes
ackables Link ParentI don't think writing a counter to someone takes that long if they are writing a comment that is malice or noise. You can just reply and say that what they said was out of line just like you would...I don't think writing a counter to someone takes that long if they are writing a comment that is malice or noise. You can just reply and say that what they said was out of line just like you would in a real-life discussion.
I actually think that countering someone based on the merits of their argument should be a completely different comment than calling someone out for their commenting behavior. When you combine the two it lowers the credibility of both statements.
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How did people correct for inaccurate time pieces in the past?
I bought a Timex Expedition North Titanium Automatic a few months ago and have been enjoying it, but it gains about 10s a day that I have to correct. Nowadays we have incredibly accurate and...
I bought a Timex Expedition North Titanium Automatic a few months ago and have been enjoying it, but it gains about 10s a day that I have to correct. Nowadays we have incredibly accurate and precise clocks that can tell us exactly what time it is, but all mechanical clocks and watches have some amount of inaccuracy.
How did people account for inaccurate clocks in the past? Even if time didn't need to be standardized outside of a community until the railroads and a central clock in town could act as a reference for the entire community, wouldn't the central community clock drift? Eventually the central clock could say it was midnight at sunset. While people can tell that is incorrect, how could they say to what extent it was incorrect?
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Comment on GPT-4o in ~tech
ackables LinkDoes anyone know if the AI is transcribing your speech and inputting the text into the LLM, or if it is directly listening to your speech?Does anyone know if the AI is transcribing your speech and inputting the text into the LLM, or if it is directly listening to your speech?
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Comment on EA is looking at putting in-game ads in AAA games — 'We'll be very thoughtful as we move into that,' says CEO in ~games
ackables Link ParentI don't mind a billboard or in game product placement if it fits with the world of the game. Loading screen ads, pop-ups, and banner ads would be unacceptable to me though.I don't mind a billboard or in game product placement if it fits with the world of the game. Loading screen ads, pop-ups, and banner ads would be unacceptable to me though.
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Comment on Macklemore - Hind's Hall (2024) in ~music
ackables LinkNot to sound cavalier, but does anyone understand that Palestinian genocide is not on the ballot this fall? Abortion access is on the ballot this fall. Climate change mitigation and reversal is on...Not to sound cavalier, but does anyone understand that Palestinian genocide is not on the ballot this fall?
Abortion access is on the ballot this fall. Climate change mitigation and reversal is on the ballot this fall. The fate of Ukraine is on the ballot this fall. Student debt relief is on the ballot this fall.
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Comment on Weekly Israel-Hamas war megathread - week of May 6 in ~news
ackables Link‘If they go into Rafah, I’m not going to be supplying the weapons,’ Biden says.‘If they go into Rafah, I’m not going to be supplying the weapons,’ Biden says.
“If they go into Rafah, I’m not going to be supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem,” Mr. Biden said in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday.
In the interview, Mr. Biden also acknowledged in a way that he has rarely done that American bombs have killed innocent Palestinians. “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Mr. Biden said.
In the CNN interview, Mr. Biden said that he had warned Mr. Netanyahu against sending the Israeli military into civilian areas of Rafah. “It’s just wrong,” Mr. Biden said. “We’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells. I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet that they’re not going to get our support if in fact they go into these population centers.”
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Comment on Fear the Mad Catz - The worst video game controllers ever in ~games
ackables LinkI loved their computer mouse. The R.A.T. 3 was an awesome mouse when I had one 10 years ago.I loved their computer mouse. The R.A.T. 3 was an awesome mouse when I had one 10 years ago.
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Comment on Jack Dorsey quits Bluesky board and urges users to stay on Elon Musk's X in ~tech
ackables Link ParentYes, but then they can't make money off selling you a subscription to an RSS feed.Yes, but then they can't make money off selling you a subscription to an RSS feed.
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Comment on I'm at a loss on what to do about my backyard grass situation in ~life.home_improvement
ackables Link ParentMy local dog park will fence off part of the park occasionally to give the grass time to recover. Maybe OP can just rotate which part of his lawn is open to his dogs.My local dog park will fence off part of the park occasionally to give the grass time to recover. Maybe OP can just rotate which part of his lawn is open to his dogs.
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Comment on The FAA investigates after Boeing says workers in South Carolina falsified 787 inspection records in ~transport
ackables Link ParentAlso people don’t just break the rules for no reason. If they were being lazy, then a supervisor should have caught this and it’s management’s fault. If the workers were pressured to send more...Also people don’t just break the rules for no reason. If they were being lazy, then a supervisor should have caught this and it’s management’s fault. If the workers were pressured to send more planes off the line and they cut corners with inspections that’s also management’s fault.
For all those leadership classes that MBA students and managers take, they sure don’t seem to exhibit much of it.
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Comment on California junk fee ban could upend restaurant industry in ~food
ackables Link ParentI understand that sales tax is regressive, so replacing it with a progressive tax would be better. The issue is that politicians have an easier time repealing taxes than they do creating new ones....I understand that sales tax is regressive, so replacing it with a progressive tax would be better. The issue is that politicians have an easier time repealing taxes than they do creating new ones. If sales tax is included in the advertised price and sales taxes are lowered to attract more people to local businesses, it hurts the locals. If you save a few percent off your grocery bill that’s nice today, but people will suffer when the roads deteriorate, the firefighters take too long to arrive, and the library shuts down.
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Comment on California junk fee ban could upend restaurant industry in ~food
ackables Link ParentI responded in another reply to my original comment, but the gist of it is that we have extreme examples of this on cities that are on the border of two states in the US. Even though sales tax is...I responded in another reply to my original comment, but the gist of it is that we have extreme examples of this on cities that are on the border of two states in the US. Even though sales tax is not currently included in final prices, extreme differences in sales tax across state borders are noticeable to consumers. This has caused a $100 million dollar sales tax revenue shortfall for Vancouver, WA because they neighbor Portland, OR where there is no sales tax.
In areas where multiple cities blend into each other and sales tax differences are lower, including sales tax in the advertised price would make it easier for consumers to choose to shop in a place with lower sales tax. This could cause a race to the bottom where cities cut sales tax to try to compete for businesses.
This would not be an issue if there was a national sales tax like many European countries do, but the wide range of sales tax rates across metropolitan areas in the US could cause budgetary problems for some cities.
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Comment on California junk fee ban could upend restaurant industry in ~food
ackables (edited )Link ParentI don’t necessarily cross shop prices at the grocery store, but larger purchases like electronics, appliances, and furniture are cross shopped at multiple stores. If someone could see that they...I don’t necessarily cross shop prices at the grocery store, but larger purchases like electronics, appliances, and furniture are cross shopped at multiple stores. If someone could see that they would get $50 off their new iPhone if they drove to a store 10 miles away, it could actually upend local economies. Stores could have a competitive advantage by having storefronts in lower tax zones and cities could see drops in sales tax revenue.
An extreme example is Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, WA. Vancouver, WA has a 8.4% sales tax and Portland, OR has no sales tax. Vancouver, WA brings in $100 million a year less in sales tax than they would expect for their population. This causes issues for providing the services people expect from their local government.
If sales taxes are included in advertised prices, this could happen in more areas on a smaller scale, or cities could start a race to the bottom for sales taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to move in. Eventually consumers may have lower prices, but they come at the expense of budget shortfalls to run city services.
Maybe not you directly, but if Chinese EV makers put US automakers out of business, those manufacturing jobs everyone yells about disappear. The US being a dominant power in the world 100% benefits US citizens even if you aren't on the board of a company the tariffs directly help.