Zompist Bboard Again

Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 1:59 pm Random, classic-horror-movie related thought:

Do I understand this correctly that in the various "The Fly"-movies, a scientist turns into a giant fly because, during his teleportation experiments, he doesn't notice there's a fly in the teleportation chamber with him?

OK, I can accept a person slowly turning into an insectoid monster, but a conscious, able-bodied human being with no serious medical conditions sharing a small enclosed space with a fly without noticing it - that goes too far for my willing suspension of disbelief.

Starbeam wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:25 pm Got a new part-time job at the local airport. Wheelchair handler, about a 1-2 hour commute by train. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch and say i finally have stable employment, but this does pay well for what it is and hopefully i can finally leave home actually live my life with the money made from it.

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 5:29 am Does anyone else find it weird how the English word "bruise" can mean anything from something that just changes your skin's color a bit in one specific spot to something that effectively leaves you unable to walk for a while?

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:11 pm xxx, WeepingElf, MacAnDail: This is discourse from an alternate reality. We're dying out here. You might not realize this because of the bubbles you're in, but to people working harder than anyone else while going hungry from poverty, you sound no different from: "If we all just lie down and stop eating, we'll never have to move again! Yay!" Most humans would happily wipe out all life on the planet before adopting this line.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 9:04 pm

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 2:55 pm

MacAnDàil wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 10:50 am In this discussion, the most important subject missing is the greenest form of energy: none at all. Sobriety is too often forgotten (but less so since the Putin invasion). It obviously is not possible in every circumstance, but in many circumstances we could accomplish tasks without any form of energy but kinetic and be healthier for it. Or realise that the task is superfluous and opt for a less energy-consuming task instead.

Right - energy saving is the cheapest and safest energy source of all!

I'd argue that in an energy-starved world, this is effectively saying, "Let them eat cake!" Let me know if this is not obvious.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 1:20 am

keenir wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 1:10 am I read it as, we can accomplish tasks without any form of energy but kinetic and be healthier for it, does not mean "doing more work" causes "power could be saved"...I read it as meaning that we can use healthier forms of energy (some of which are powered by the human body - these devices exist right now and can be purchased), and thus our health can improve - an outcome difficult for those who are stuck breathing in car fumes.

I think the original post was saying that you can be healthier by working a little harder. E.g. This point makes sense for people who ought to walk instead of driving to the next block. But it becomes "Let them eat cake!" when generalized to how the world economy works.

(Personally, I have never owned a car and can't afford one. Not even a beat up, used car. My father died when I was in school. I was raised by a single mother.)

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 9:29 pm

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 11:35 am OK, on my count, that's four people in this mini-debate so far raising a nuclear vs. coal binary. For someone from a part of the world where the pro-coal people are usually pro-nuclear, too, and the anti-nuclear people are usually anti-coal, too, that looks and sounds pretty surreal.

I'm told the Greens in Germany were forced to rely on coal once they had neither nuclear nor gas.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 9:04 pm Self-criticism: I could be mistaken if they're talking about increasing energy efficiency by, say, creating public transportation in America. My interpretation was was colored by the fact that I've heard MacAnDàil inveigh against technology and modernity generally. Hunting and gathering can no longer support the current human population.

xxx wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 10:33 am most of our exorbitant energy use (airplanes, internet, over-consumption) is for pleasure,
but it's a shame that it jeopardizes our vital uses...
but contemporary individualism cannot tolerate frustration of any kind...

Torco wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 12:21 pm

most of our exorbitant energy use (airplanes, internet, over-consumption) is for pleasure

no, that is incorrect. i'm afraid you might have swallowed the billionaire-developped global-warming-is-caused-by-lifestyle pill. they developped it so that people like you make this exact case: that there's nothing to fundamentally change about the system that's destroying the planet, it's just a matter of us using fewer plastic straws and buying a tesla. for example, the neoliberal world free trade blabla system entails that the can of peaches I've recently bought was produced thusly: peaches were grown by some dude in San Felipe, a peach-producing region near my city. then those peaches were shipped to the philipines to be canned, and then returned to my city so I eat them. this, economically, makes sense cause the per-peach-canned price in the philiphines is somewhat lower than here in a sufficient magnitude to justify the shipping, so bazillions of tons of fuel are burned shipping shit around for no good reason (other than it makes megacorpos 0.02% more in revenue). same with shirts, same with socks, same with tables, same with varnish, same with practically every product you buy. this is not a conscious choice for pleasure on the part of the consumer, but a consequence of the political-economic system the world uses to produce and distribute the results of human labour.

MacAnDàil wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:23 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 9:04 pm

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 2:55 pm

Right - energy saving is the cheapest and safest energy source of all!

I'd argue that in an energy-starved world, this is effectively saying, "Let them eat cake!" Let me know if this is not obvious.

Which world is energy-starved? Maybe that might apply to India, but certainly not to anywhere else I've been.

bradrn wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:33 am

MacAnDàil wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:23 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 9:04 pm
I'd argue that in an energy-starved world, this is effectively saying, "Let them eat cake!" Let me know if this is not obvious.

Which world is energy-starved? Maybe that might apply to India, but certainly not to anywhere else I've been.

When I visited family in South Africa earlier this year, we went half the day without power. Most of Africa is similar. Back in Australia I feel very, very lucky to have reliable energy.

linguistcat wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:03 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 5:29 am Does anyone else find it weird how the English word "bruise" can mean anything from something that just changes your skin's color a bit in one specific spot to something that effectively leaves you unable to walk for a while?

I'd argue that the bruise that keeps you from walking is pretty much always accompanied or caused by other damage to the body like muscle damage or bone fractures. I don't know that someone would be unable to walk if, somehow, they had a very large bruise and no other damage. Unless maybe the bruise was so extreme that it negatively affected the person's blood pressure and caused them to pass out.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2023 7:40 pm Is this what Germans think Americans eat?

Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2023 7:40 pm Is this what Germans think Americans eat?

Man in Space wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2023 8:04 pm They don’t offer a complimentary firearm with qualifying purchases of €250+ during America Week? Philistines! How are you supposed to eat a completely imbalanced breakfast the American Way if you can’t display poor trigger discipline while you enjoy your honey mustard pastry balls?

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Aug 17, 2023 5:16 am

Man in Space wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2023 8:04 pm They don’t offer a complimentary firearm with qualifying purchases of €250+ during America Week? Philistines! How are you supposed to eat a completely imbalanced breakfast the American Way if you can’t display poor trigger discipline while you enjoy your honey mustard pastry balls?

Well, they have to, you know, follow the laws and stuff...

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Aug 17, 2023 5:16 am

Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2023 7:40 pm Is this what Germans think Americans eat?

To some extent, yes. But keep in mind that an "American week" of that kind will focus mainly on things less common in Germany, so the stuff that's already shared between the cultures will be left out. Germans have been slow to pick up that a lot of individual Americans are more into health food than McDonald's, though.