redwall_hp's recent activity
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Comment on Rice has a methane problem that a startup is promising to fix in ~enviro
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Comment on Meryl Streep: it’s ‘hardest thing’ for men to see themselves in female characters in ~movies
redwall_hp (edited )Link ParentI just finished Brooklyn 99, and Holt is easily the most relatable character to me: he's an erudite man surrounded by people with little overlap in shared interests. (Rosa is a close second.) The...I remembered Brooklyn 9 9. Captain Holt, while I cannot relate to him, I empathize with him
I just finished Brooklyn 99, and Holt is easily the most relatable character to me: he's an erudite man surrounded by people with little overlap in shared interests. (Rosa is a close second.) The character being gay and black, and having faced discrimination as a large component of his career, is only one facet of the character...dare I say a superficial one; it may be often brought up as background for a fictional character, but you wouldn't reduce a real person to those traits.
Similarly, the protagonist of American Fiction also resonated with me quite a lot. He's a smart, educated person grappling with the inescapable distance that brings. You could chalk the story up to being about black experiences, stereotyping in entertainment media, whatever, but at its core the film is about a character who is angry about the gulf between him and the average person, and the sort of loneliness that creates. That other people are hard to relate to, and that their taste in entertainment is often suspect at best.
Another one I'll put out there is Bocchi from the anime Bocchi the Rock. It's rare to see social anxiety handled in a way that actually gets it, and the whole concept of wanting both anonymity and to share creations, like music, at the same time was a bit close to home. It's a comedy, and while "the main character has social anxiety" is what that revolves around, it comes off as tasteful and not mean-spirited, which I can't say for the treatment of the issue by most of western media.
Generally I don't look to or expect to "relate" to any characters: they're other people, not me. I want to see what they have to say, not pretend to be them...but the ones that feel more familiar also rarely fit my outward appearance. "White and male" doesn't count for much when you also have "ancestrally Eastern European" (yay, stereotypes), atheist, zero interest in sports, intelligent and educated (yay, anti-intellectual, obnoxious portrayals), and whatnot. I simply can't relate.
I tend to have better mileage with anime, which often leans more toward female protagonists with more developed personality, and has a literary sort of style, where voice overs often give you internal monologues so you can tell what characters are thinking. It also exists outside of the American social context, and thank fuck for that.
I also grew up reading a lot of YA fantasy, which often has female protagonists and is predominantly written by women.
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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
redwall_hp LinkCapitalists: "The free market will solve all of your problems." Also capitalists: "No, not like that. We need nationalist protectionism in the form of tariffs, so people buy our garbage instead of...Capitalists: "The free market will solve all of your problems."
Also capitalists: "No, not like that. We need nationalist protectionism in the form of tariffs, so people buy our garbage instead of what they actually want."
Capitalists: *arbitraging labor around the world*
Also capitalists: "No, you can't live and work where you want." *border control and visa policies*
I'd rather buy a $10K BYD Seagull, even with the tariff, than a $50K shitbox made by a Muskrat.
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Comment on The West doesn’t understand how much Russia has changed in ~misc
redwall_hp Link ParentIt wouldn't be the first time Coca-Cola continued operating in an embargoed market with the intention of recovering the proceeds later...Fanta was famously created by Coca-Cola's German division...It wouldn't be the first time Coca-Cola continued operating in an embargoed market with the intention of recovering the proceeds later...Fanta was famously created by Coca-Cola's German division during the WWII embargo, and the ensuing product line is squarely a part of the parent company now.
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Comment on Indiana judge rules tacos, burritos are sandwiches in ~food
redwall_hp Link ParentTechnically, tacos are more "American" than sandwiches. They are a food of a culture native to the Americas, argued to predate Spanish contact, while the modern sandwich is a British food named...Technically, tacos are more "American" than sandwiches. They are a food of a culture native to the Americas, argued to predate Spanish contact, while the modern sandwich is a British food named after the fourth Earl of Sandwich in the 1700s.
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Comment on Indiana judge rules tacos, burritos are sandwiches in ~food
redwall_hp LinkThis is ridiculous. We already have an irrefutable framework that defines all of the above as salads, in such a rigorous manner that none can hope to find edge cases. https://saladtheory.github.io/This is ridiculous. We already have an irrefutable framework that defines all of the above as salads, in such a rigorous manner that none can hope to find edge cases.
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Comment on Seattle’s law mandating higher pay for food delivery workers is a case study in backfire economics in ~finance
redwall_hp Link ParentYep...though now they're finding a way to drip price that to. DoorDash has started tacking on an additional, visible $10 fee for some restaurants that are outside of the normal delivery radius. (I...Yep...though now they're finding a way to drip price that to. DoorDash has started tacking on an additional, visible $10 fee for some restaurants that are outside of the normal delivery radius. (I assume the driver doesn't see any of that, of course.)
So you can eat the marked up menu price, delivery fee (or DashPass), a tip for the driver, and now an extra $10 for being a little further away for your fast food burger.
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Comment on Many widely used reproductive health apps fail to protect highly sensitive data, study finds in ~health
redwall_hp Link ParentThe trouble with paper books is they are easily seized and are trivially subject to subpoena. Given that we have states talking about "monitoring" pregnant women, physical tracking is major...The trouble with paper books is they are easily seized and are trivially subject to subpoena. Given that we have states talking about "monitoring" pregnant women, physical tracking is major security risk versus something with strong and trustworthy encryption.
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Comment on Florida man worries about his ruined reputation after pulling gun on Uber driver dropping the man's daughter off at their house in ~transport
redwall_hp Link ParentYes, always. I'd recommend going all-in with a vinyl wrap, though. If someone is already at that level of paranoia, it would probably make it worse, since clearly cars + Japan = drift racing...Do I need to put huge anime decals on my car
Yes, always. I'd recommend going all-in with a vinyl wrap, though.
so that people don't think I'm a gangster and start firing on me?
If someone is already at that level of paranoia, it would probably make it worse, since clearly cars + Japan = drift racing yakuza, according to a documentary they saw once.
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Comment on Chevrolet Malibu heads for the junkyard as GM shifts focus to electric vehicles in ~transport
redwall_hp Link ParentP=mv, so remember to drive n+1% faster an SUV n% heavier than your sedan, so you can still kick their ass in a collision. Any survivability comes from being able to move a lighter car (turning it...P=mv, so remember to drive n+1% faster an SUV n% heavier than your sedan, so you can still kick their ass in a collision.
Any survivability comes from being able to move a lighter car (turning it into a movable object instead of a stationary one). Two cars of equal weight and speed are effectively hitting a stationary object. If two cars of equal momentum collide, neither gives way, and the 60mph collision is more like hitting a brick wall at 120mph.
(This should be considered for entertainment purposes only and is not legal advice.)
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
redwall_hp Link ParentThis part stuck out a bit to me: It's basically a cultural meme to not like vegetables, which is pushed on children and spreads. I didn't realize how bad it was until moving to the southern...This part stuck out a bit to me:
I asked my translator: Is this a joke? Are they trolling me? A bunch of 10-year-olds, telling me how much they love broccoli and rice? But most of the Japanese people I discussed this with were puzzled to see that I was puzzled. We teach kids to enjoy healthy food, they explained. Don’t you?
It's basically a cultural meme to not like vegetables, which is pushed on children and spreads. I didn't realize how bad it was until moving to the southern midwest; people have absolute trash diets here, tastes that I'd describe as trending juvenile (if I didn't know better that children raised on healthier food don't naturally detest it), and it very definitely shows in the average weight. It was a bit of a shock going back to a coastal city for a visit and noticing that difference.
Increasingly, I think we need to treat sugar purveyors closer to how we treat cigarette companies...but there is vehement resistance to that, as one might expect from a place of addiction. We'd rather normalize obesity than fight it at an epidemiological level.
And broccoli and rice are superior to burgers.
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Comment on Warner Bros. to release new ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ in 2026, Peter Jackson to produce and Andy Serkis to direct in ~movies
redwall_hp LinkAll you need to know: it says Middle Earth Enterprises, the holding company started by Saul Zaentz after he bought the film and merchandising rights from Tolkien, not the Tolkien Estate. They have...The projects will be developed through WB label New Line Cinema. Freemode, a division of Embracer Group, made the adaptive rights deal for books including “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” under a venture named Middle-earth Enterprises.
All you need to know: it says Middle Earth Enterprises, the holding company started by Saul Zaentz after he bought the film and merchandising rights from Tolkien, not the Tolkien Estate. They have no rights to Tolkien materials outside of the text of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, so it's just Hollywood fan fiction.
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Comment on Nintendo pre-announces a Switch 2 announcement is coming… eventually in ~games
redwall_hp Link ParentApple does an announcement for an announcement twice a year: I had an email in my inbox at least a month ago about today's product announcement, which they live-streamed. The only difference is...Apple does an announcement for an announcement twice a year: I had an email in my inbox at least a month ago about today's product announcement, which they live-streamed.
The only difference is Nintendo isn't being cagey about what's being announced; the actual details are still forthcoming, and now buyers and investors know to expect it.
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Comment on Heat death of the internet in ~tech
redwall_hp (edited )Link ParentIf is the operative word. From what we've been hearing out of the antitrust investigations lately, Google has very shady internal communications policies that avoid paper trails, and setting...If is the operative word. From what we've been hearing out of the antitrust investigations lately, Google has very shady internal communications policies that avoid paper trails, and setting expectations for things to implement without putting them in written requirements.
I'm sure there isn't an explicit function that parses the page and checks for the AdSense URI, but I wouldn't be surprised if some machine learning element in the ranking system was trained in such a way that "desirable" pages in the training set mostly had AdSense placements and undesirable ones mostly did not. "Coincidentally," of course.
Finding metrics that correlate with other metrics you can't legally use is an unfortunately common thing.
Google also controls both sides of the search and ads equation. It's a commonly held notion that SEO is the reason why recipe sites are full of expository text instead of just a simple recipe...but that's also a product of the AdSense content policies. To be approved to host ads, your site has to meet certain criteria, which incentivize the same sort of behavior as the search optimization side.
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Comment on Heat death of the internet in ~tech
redwall_hp Link ParentI put forward that it may well be intentional. The search leadership was been replaced by people who live in the ad world, after building a near monopoly on ad networks for web sites. The...inability to rein in malicious SEO
I put forward that it may well be intentional. The search leadership was been replaced by people who live in the ad world, after building a near monopoly on ad networks for web sites.
The optimization path is simple: Google no longer wants you to quickly find what you're looking for. Google wants to maximize the number of AdSense impressions they can force you to see. They want you to see the ads on the search results page, and they want to to click many links out to pages that are also AdSense partners. Spammy sites with SEO fluff and AdSense placements make Google more money, so they're optimizing for what is now the status quo. I wouldn't be surprised if the presence of the JavaScript tag for AdSense banners was even a factor in ranking.
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Comment on The biggest box office bombs of 2023; Disney leads with four entries in ~movies
redwall_hp (edited )Link ParentThe film was definitely okay. Not great, but entertaining enough. My biggest annoyance was their lexical abuse of the antikythera mechanism. Ascribing mystical properties to it is all well and...The film was definitely okay. Not great, but entertaining enough. My biggest annoyance was their lexical abuse of the antikythera mechanism. Ascribing mystical properties to it is all well and good for a turn of the century pulp adventure, but it's called "the antikythera mechanism" because it's a mechanism found off of Antikythera. Which is an island off of Kythira, hence the name.
And yes, I've read the entire "Gears from the Greeks" academic paper (De Solla Price, 1974).
Anyway, the film made me realize we need an Indiana Jones animated series. Hitching it to Harrison Ford forever obviously isn't going to happen, so we might as well have something in a medium that can fully lean into the pulp adventure style and not worry about being compared too closely to the originals. That way we can perpetually stay in the proper time frame instead of continuously pushing forward out of the era the films were intended for.
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Comment on ‘The Fall Guy’ box office disappointment hurts more than opening weekend in ~movies
redwall_hp Link ParentI have the Alamo pass and go approximately weekly, as long as there are things that seem at least interesting. If I'm going to eat dinner out, I might as well see a movie too. I've seen plenty of...I have the Alamo pass and go approximately weekly, as long as there are things that seem at least interesting. If I'm going to eat dinner out, I might as well see a movie too. I've seen plenty of films that didn't perform well or are hardly talked about, but were great. (I'd actually be tempted to rank Killers of the Flower Moon over Oppenheimer.) American Fiction, Gran Turismo, Dungeons and Dragons and A Haunting in Venice were a handful that were entertaining and underrated.
I just saw The Fall Guy last night. It was a fun action comedy and I definitely recommend it. A couple of nights prior, I saw The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which was also good.
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Comment on The biggest box office bombs of 2023; Disney leads with four entries in ~movies
redwall_hp Link ParentI'd buy quantum camp for Batman and Robin (the best Batman movie ever made) but I still had trouble finishing Hocus Pocus 2. Maybe I'll have to revisit it with alcohol some day...I'd buy quantum camp for Batman and Robin (the best Batman movie ever made) but I still had trouble finishing Hocus Pocus 2. Maybe I'll have to revisit it with alcohol some day...
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Comment on The world owes Spider-Man 3 an apology in ~movies
redwall_hp Link ParentIt has a massive amount of world building, a nice Star Trek style plot that gives it some political depth necessary to set up the fall of a civilization, and some of the best music and fights in...It has a massive amount of world building, a nice Star Trek style plot that gives it some political depth necessary to set up the fall of a civilization, and some of the best music and fights in the series. The weak points are excessive attempts at comic relief and some of the VFX could have used a little bit more time for CGI quality to improve.
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Comment on The world owes Spider-Man 3 an apology in ~movies
redwall_hp Link ParentThe prequels were always as good as the original trilogy. Feel free to read that as the prequels being underrated or the original trilogy has never been quality beyond fun entertainment in the...The prequels were always as good as the original trilogy. Feel free to read that as the prequels being underrated or the original trilogy has never been quality beyond fun entertainment in the first place.
My first experience with Star Wars was the Special Edition VHS release, and the prequels as they came out (and the Expanded Universe books). The prequel era was peak Star Wars, with its extensive world building and emphasis on the Jedi as galactic peacekeepers.
Is that methane release part of a closed cycle though? Sure, the farming accelerated it, but humans didn't invent the process of animals existing, depositing refuse that ends up in the soil, land being saturated with water and then it being released into the atmosphere. That's been going on as long as mammalian life has existed...and rice farming has been happening for millennia.
According to NASA, methane has a half life of 7-12 years in the atmosphere and it eventually leaves. (40% of it also comes from natural wetlands.) The quantity in the atmosphere has doubled since the Industrial Revolution though, so there is definitely need to curtail some of it, though I am skeptical that rice farming practices (which have remained relatively unchanged since antiquity) represent a major part of the change, other than the volume increasing with population growth.
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/methane/
It's good that a way to reduce the emissions from rice farming has been found, and with a relatively simple practice, but cutting the quoted 10% in half is fairly minor in the scheme of things.
One thing that bothers me a lot in climate coverage, and the popular understanding of it, is that there's a general panic about all CO2 and methane sources, when the root issue is fossil carbon and trapped methane being extracted and released into the atmosphere. There exist natural cycles of CO2 and methane emission and removal in the overall ecosystem. We desperately need to stop introducing those gasses from outside the system as inputs, and we need capture methods to bring us to net zero or negative emissions...but the existence of life on this planet precludes the possibility of gross zero methane and carbon emissions.