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Posted: **Mon May 23, 2022 7:10 pm**

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 11:30 am I just noticed that in the above post, at first I wrote "two" as "to". I'm soooo embarrassed.

Should of been more careful.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2022 2:09 am**

Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 11:00 am (Correct me if I'm wrong here.) In Europe, being a "social democrat" today is being weakly left-of-center, whereas being a "socialist" today in many cases is effecively being a left-liberal, what being a "social democrat" once was.

Yes, accounting, as Raphael said, for a lot of variations within countries.

In France, the historical mainstream left-wing party was the Parti Socialiste (and it was actually socialist at one point.) From the late 90s on they called themselves social democrats. Since the socialistes had very little in the way of ideology during these two decades, it left both 'socialist' and 'social democrat' essentially meaningless.

That said, Piketty, for instance, does call himself a socialist.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2022 3:23 am**

"Social Democrat" in the UK tends to be associated with the SDP, David Owen, and the Gang of Four, which makes it somewhat anachronistic.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2022 3:47 am**

In Germany, the main party on the Left is the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD), but their youth organisation are the Jungsozialisten. Traditionally, as is only fit for a youth organisation, their are to the left of the main party..

Posted: **Thu May 26, 2022 5:09 am**

Yet another blog post by me. This one is very long, but might be of interest to Ares Land:

https://guessishouldputthisupsomewhere. ... than-i-do/

Posted: **Mon May 30, 2022 2:17 am**

Heh. You've got a good memory

Thanks! It all sort of makes sense now.

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2022 11:07 am**

Does anyone of you know this method for growing potted plants?

: plant.jpg (204.48 KiB) Viewed 4526 times

I saw it in my ophthalmologist's waiting room today. To me, it looks a bit as if the plant gets its nutrition from something that kinda looks like a bundle of some kind of noodles.

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2022 2:01 pm**

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 11:07 amDoes anyone of you know this method for growing potted plants?
I saw it in my ophthalmologist's waiting room today. To me, it looks a bit as if the plant gets its nutrition from something that kinda looks like a bundle of some kind of noodles.

to my eyes, what it looks like, is either a pot of water or a pot of nothing (or, if not nothing, then nearly nothing - just a little dry mulch or nutrient mix)

...the noodles are their plant's roots.

(its a cool plant - can you ask what kind it is? i'm guessing its a succulent or cactus, but am not 100% sure on either)

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2022 2:06 pm**

I am also of the view that those "noodles" are the plant's roots myself.

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2022 2:08 pm**

Travis B. wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 2:06 pm I am also of the view that those "noodles" are the plant's roots myself.

A shame, really, that they aren't noodles, now that i think about it; on the other hand, if they were noodles, they're probably no longer fit for eating any more.

(sorry)

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2022 3:23 pm**

keenir wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 2:01 pm ...the noodles are their plant's roots.

In that case, I wonder - what is the plant growing in? What are the roots rooted in? Where does the plant get nutrients? There didn't seem to be any kind of soil or soil replacement.

(its a cool plant - can you ask what kind it is?

Could be difficult - my next appointment is in December, and by then, I might have forgotten about it, or they might have replaced the plant.

I think the plant looks like the head tentacles of a ktuvok.

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2022 6:59 pm**

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 3:23 pm In that case, I wonder - what is the plant growing in? What are the roots rooted in? Where does the plant get nutrients? There didn't seem to be any kind of soil or soil replacement.

Plants hardly need soil. It provides a few micronutrients that could be replaced with a tiny spoon of plant food. The vast majority of what plants need they get from the air. This is why large trees aren't in the middle of a giant hole by the time they're fully grown.

Posted: **Tue May 31, 2022 7:30 pm**

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 3:23 pm
keenir wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 2:01 pm ...the noodles are their plant's roots.
In that case, I wonder - what is the plant growing in? What are the roots rooted in? Where does the plant get nutrients? There didn't seem to be any kind of soil or soil replacement.

some of the stuff between the noodle roots may be soil or a soil substitute...or its one of those plants that don't need much in the way of dirt, provided that the owner give them nutrients with or in their waterings.

Posted: **Wed Jun 01, 2022 8:29 am**

Moose-tache wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 6:59 pm Plants hardly need soil. It provides a few micronutrients that could be replaced with a tiny spoon of plant food. The vast majority of what plants need they get from the air. This is why large trees aren't in the middle of a giant hole by the time they're fully grown.

keenir wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 7:30 pm
some of the stuff between the noodle roots may be soil or a soil substitute...or its one of those plants that don't need much in the way of dirt, provided that the owner give them nutrients with or in their waterings.

Thank you both, interesting to know!

Posted: **Wed Jun 01, 2022 8:39 am**

I'm wondering if a specific rule in economics and the social sciences has a name and known originators:

There seems to be a general rule in life that often, when two mathematically quantifiable things have, until now, usually had a specific mathematical relationship with each other, and if you, then, intentionally change one of these things in order to use the mathematical relationship between the two things to change the other thing as well, all too often, the moment you start doing this, the mathematical relationship between the two things breaks down.

Now, to some extent I worked this out on my own, but I think I heard something like it from other people, too, so I'm pretty sure that people smarter than me have done work on this principle before me. Who were these people, and what did they call the principle?

Posted: **Wed Jun 01, 2022 9:00 am**

Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 8:39 am I'm wondering if a specific rule in economics and the social sciences has a name and known originators:

There seems to be a general rule in life that often, when two mathematically quantifiable things have, until now, usually had a specific mathematical relationship with each other, and if you, then, intentionally change one of these things in order to use the mathematical relationship between the two things to change the other thing as well, all too often, the moment you start doing this, the mathematical relationship between the two things breaks down.

Now, to some extent I worked this out on my own, but I think I heard something like it from other people, too, so I'm pretty sure that people smarter than me have done work on this principle before me. Who were these people, and what did they call the principle?

Sounds similar to Goodhart’s Law to me, though I’m sure there’s other applicable laws too.

Posted: **Wed Jun 01, 2022 9:07 am**

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 9:00 am Sounds similar to Goodhart’s Law to me, though I’m sure there’s other applicable laws too.

That's it! Thank you!

Posted: **Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:22 pm**

Today I learned that there's a species of flamingo called the lesser flamingo. Which makes me think - what kind of asshole taxonomer gave that bird its English name? I mean, other species of animals have names like the great white shark, the emperor penguin, the king cobra, the giant panda, the goliath birdeater - and then there's the "lesser flamingo"? What did that poor bird do to deserve that name?

Posted: **Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:54 pm**

Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:22 pm Today I learned that there's a species of flamingo called the lesser flamingo. Which makes me think - what kind of asshole taxonomer gave that bird its English name? I mean, other species of animals have names like the great white shark, the emperor penguin, the king cobra, the giant panda, the goliath birdeater - and then there's the "lesser flamingo"? What did that poor bird do to deserve that name?

Got named after the Greater and the Common Flamingos. Flamingoes? Flamingi?

Posted: **Wed Jun 01, 2022 4:12 pm**

keenir wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:54 pm
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:22 pm Today I learned that there's a species of flamingo called the lesser flamingo. Which makes me think - what kind of asshole taxonomer gave that bird its English name? I mean, other species of animals have names like the great white shark, the emperor penguin, the king cobra, the giant panda, the goliath birdeater - and then there's the "lesser flamingo"? What did that poor bird do to deserve that name?
Got named after the Greater and the Common Flamingos. Flamingoes? Flamingi?

I checked on the Wiki and there was no mention of a "Common Flamingo", but it did list both flamingos and flamingoes as plurals of flamingo (no mention of flamingi though).

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