ArbitraryValue

joined 2 years ago
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US Killed Children in Iran Using New Missile That Scatters Pellets Explosively in c/news@lemmings.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 13 points 11 hours ago (5 children)

The article implies that tungsten pellets are particularly bad, but they're actually a replacement for cluster bombs that could leave behind unexploded ordnance. Technology can't save civilians from a missile targeted at where they are, but at least these missiles don't also endanger people entering the area in the future.

Digital speedometers in c/cars@lemmy.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I want a car with a manual transmission and ideally with rear wheel drive, so I'm looking at the Miata and the BRZ/GR86. Even the new Miatas still have real, physical gauges but the BRZ has an LCD display with the tachometer shown graphically but the speed only ever shown with digits, and that can't be changed unless you buy the 2020 (or older) model which still has physical gauges.

I used to drive a sedan so I'd prefer a newer BRZ (I'm looking at a 2023 one) because the Miata has so little cargo space (the BRZ at least has back seats that fold down) but I've been renting a car with a digital display for a week and I still haven't gotten used to it so I'm worried that I never will.

I don't mean that the numbers flash when I'm going over the speed limit - I just mean that the value is constantly changing, the changes are abrupt (a big part of the screen updates), and visually the difference between "55" and "75" is no bigger that the difference between "55" and "57". Actually monitoring my speed feels like having to look at my phone. This is as opposed to just seeing the speedometer needle out of the corner of my eye and knowing how fast I was going and how fast my speed was changing.

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Digital speedometers (sh.itjust.works)
 

My last car was made in 2008 and now I'm looking at the market for the first time in 15 years and it is strange and frightening to me. What's up with the digital displays on everything? The rentals I've been driving don't even have the option of showing a picture of a normal speedometer - they will only show the speed in digits. I find that while I'm driving, all I notice is "there are two digits, and the one on the right flashes often." That's true whether I'm going 15 or 75. Actually reading the speed requires conscious attention and distracts me from watching the road. I hate it. I never had to do that with a normal speedometer - my brain just subconsciously tracked where the arrow was. Is this something I'll get used to? Or should I buy an older used car without a digital display? Right now it's annoying enough that I'm thinking of doing that.

Country that put backdoors into Cisco routers to spy on world bans foreign routers in c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago

There is an element of hypocrisy in all this because American intelligence agencies were previously caught intercepting Cisco-made routers on their way to customers and updating their firmware to deploy espionage tools.

It's not hypocrisy to try to spy on others while preventing them from spying on you.

‘Let’s do it’: Trump pins push for war with Iran on Pete Hegseth in latest shift in c/news@lemmings.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

It sounds plausible to me - the part about Hegseth, not the part about negotiations going well. (Although maybe Trump's people are telling him that negotiations are going well.)

The difference is real in c/lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago

Well, criminals generally don't like law enforcement officers...

Well, That’s One Way to Sell Americans on Electric Cars. The U.S. has been wary of EVs. As the cost of gas soars, we’re now paying the price. in c/technology@lemmy.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Are we? I'm looking to buy a car and I think gas cars make the most sense even now, because the change in the price of gas seems like a relatively small part of the cost of car ownership. A one dollar increase in the cost of a gallon of gas works out to about $300 a year in extra costs for me. That's not enough to tip the balance towards an electric car.

For reference, I'm comparing a Hyundai Elantra N to a Tesla Model 3 - the Hyundai costs as much as the base Tesla at about $36.5k, but to get similar performance you'd need the $42.5k premium Tesla, and that price difference pays for enough gas to go 40,000 miles.

Israel's assassination game: Take all pragmatists off the board in c/geopol@sopuli.xyz
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

My guess is that Trump personally has neither a good understanding of the political situation in Iran nor a contingency plan for what to do if this war isn't won quickly, but Netanyahu presumably does have both and Israel can't "chicken out" and leave the region the way that many people expect the US to. Thus while I remain pessimistic about the possibility of victory through air power, I presume that Israel does have some plan that isn't clearly a bad idea.

Trump allies plan Senate floor takeover to pass SAVE America Act in c/politics@lemmy.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works -5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I didn't expect someone explicitly opposed to majority rule to call me an enemy of democracy...

As a matter of fact, I agree with you that there's a difference between maximal democracy and good government. Sometimes it's good to have a barrier between people's whims and power, whether that barrier is anti-majoritarian procedure in Congress which is preventing Republicans from passing this law or a rule that prevents someone who didn't go through the process of getting valid ID from voting.

Trump Stuns With Bombshell Admission About His Iran War in c/politics@lemmy.world
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

There's a difference between reinterpreting and simply considering a quote in context. "There" is the Strait of Hormuz and "it" is oil shipped through the strait.

Nvidia Announces DLSS 5, and it adds... An AI slop filter over your game in c/games@sh.itjust.works
[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (15 children)

Would you say the same thing if you didn't know that it was AI? I think it actually looks pretty good overall, although some of the changes (like deciding that this character dyes her hair had has undyed roots) are odd.

Edit: It seems to do a better job with the soccer player.

Edit 2: I wonder if it works better with male faces than with female ones. It's making the woman's eyes and lips bigger but not the man's.

Trump Stuns With Bombshell Admission About His Iran War in c/politics@lemmy.world
Trump allies plan Senate floor takeover to pass SAVE America Act in c/politics@lemmy.world
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Who shops at small businesses? (sh.itjust.works)
 

I was reading about some local policy changes intended to make running a small business easier and that got me thinking. I go to restaurants and ethnic food stores which are usually small businesses, and maybe some of the gas stations I use are small businesses too. However, everything else I buy comes from big-box stores or the internet. These have replaced a lot of small businesses, but how is it that there are any little shops left at all? Sometimes I walk into a corner store because I don't want to go all the way to the big box store or wait for delivery but the prices are so much higher (often by over a hundred percent) that I walk right out again unless I need something very urgently.

I'm not making a moral judgement here. I just don't know how the economics work out.

71
Do you ever feel full and hungry simultaneously? (sh.itjust.works)
 

I recently ate a big lunch and I feel full (even too full) but I also feel hungry somehow. There's a lot of saliva in my mouth and I have the urge to go to the fridge, but if I do and look inside then the thought of eating any of the foods that I'm looking at feels unappealing. I leave without eating anything but then I feel the urge to go right back again.

This isn't unusual for me but I don't know why it happens. Maybe it's because I'm feeling anxious and the anxious part of me wants to eat to feel better even though my stomach is full? Or maybe I don't feel satisfied because I didn't eat the right nutrients?

155
I'm getting better at making pancakes (sh.itjust.works)
 

Apparently the main problem was that the batter I made according to the instructions on the bag of pancake mix was way too viscous. A friend told me to add more water and showed me the consistency it's supposed to have. Now my pancakes are round and thin instead of being two-inch thick lumps. I still need to work on finding the right temperature. I used to burn the outsides without cooking the inside and I've gotten better but I think I still had the heat up just a little too high today.

153
A dog hit me with a stick (sh.itjust.works)
 

He picked up a big stick in his mouth, spun around, and whacked my hand hard enough to leave a small bruise. I thought it was funny, but not so funny that it would make sense to share the story anywhere but here.

378
Federal judge orders return of man Trump administration accidentally sent to notorious El Salvador jail (www.nbcnews.com)
 

The fascinating thing here is that the government's lawyer, the one supposed to argue against this guy's return, appears to have sided against the government.

"Give us 24 hours to get him back, Reuveni said. "That was my recommendation to my client but that hasn't happened"

78
Are old people usually attracted to other old people? (sh.itjust.works)
 

When I was a teenager, I thought people in their 20's were the most attractive. Now that I'm about 40, I still think people in their 20's are the most attractive. It's hard for me to believe that I might ever be attracted to someone past retirement age, even when I'm past retirement age myself, unless the person is like one of those celebrities who look way younger than they are.

This isn't something I can comfortably ask most older people I know, but there's one man who admits that he isn't and one woman who is. Which is more normal?

237
"Deleted by creator" sounds like the poster was destroyed by God. (sh.itjust.works)
 

"Deleted" sounds so casual too, like God did it as part of some routine cleanup.

46
Saw a mouse in my apartment. (sh.itjust.works)
 

I live a bachelor lifestyle, so I have no food in here. Just alcohol. I hope the mouse figures that out and goes away. I should get some traps in case it doesn't. I hate killing animals but there's no practical alternative.

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Share if you agree! (sh.itjust.works)
 
60
I got a parking ticket. (sh.itjust.works)
 

I was supposed to move my car last night but I forgot. The ticket is for $65 but I found a dollar on the ground near my car so I'm actually only out $64.

I set an alarm in my calendar so I won't forget next time.

-76
There's a new toll I'll have to pay to drive anywhere. (sh.itjust.works)
 

It'll cost $9 each time. They're raising money for the mass transit system by charging specifically those people who don't use the mass transit system and that feels really unfair to me.

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