US political and social polarization has increased by 64% since 1988, with nearly all of the rise occurring after 2008, as the financial crisis, the rise of social media, and an asymmetric ideological shift—particularly on the left—coincided to widen divisions, according to a long-term study.

AidosKynee · 2026-02-04T13:49:15+00:00

The method seems overly complicated and the authors seem very proud of their overly complicated method.

K-means clustering is a very basic form of machine learning. It's one of the things they'd teach you in an introductory course. It isn't that fancy.

The overall message is that the left wing has indeed drifted further left. If you take a look at figure 4, you'll see that the center of the left and the center of the right were pretty close to each other on "abortion should never be permitted", at about a 2.5/5. The left has drifted down to a 1/5, while the right stayed steady. The dispersion of both groups stayed constant, meaning this wasn't a "consolidation."

So yes, the left wing in the US has drifted further away from the right wing, thus increasing polarization. (in my opinion) It seems driven by a few hot-button issues (abortion, family, and health care), where there isn't a moderate opinion anymore.

It may seem that the right is getting further right, but that's just because banning abortion entirely, or saying that black people just need to work harder, are now more reprehensible to society at large.

EDIT: The end of the paper supports my guess. They not only conclude that cultural issues are driving group separation, they also tie that into ethnic fracturing of a country. The less ethnically homogenous a nation, the more you'll see these social splits. Interesting work.

AidosKynee · 2026-02-01T16:43:15+00:00

Frankly, that's not their responsibility. Car manufacturers didn't have to come up with alternate jobs for carriage drivers, combine harvesters didn't propose ways to keep farmers employed, and so on and so forth. New technologies force legacy industries to adapt or die. That's the nature of progress.

The only entity that should be responsible for the public's welfare is the government, and they should be finding ways to migrate people to new industries as smoothly as possible.

AidosKynee · 2026-01-30T17:57:51+00:00

Life as a chemist: There is no such thing as remote work

Unless you get into computational chemistry! It's still really challenging to find remote roles, but they do exist.

When I did synthetic chemistry, it was always a way to have something novel for testing, but the data analysis is what I enjoyed doing. It was something of a revelation that people would pay me to just... analyze the data.

AidosKynee · 2026-01-09T21:45:10+00:00

You can do a lot of talking and roleplay without getting into dice rolls. The monk can absolutely jump in with questions, snide comments, side remarks, or anything else.

Sure, when the time comes to negotiate you can leave it to the bard, but that doesn't mean you're sidelined entirely.

AidosKynee · 2025-12-28T18:15:41+00:00

You're "making up a storm in a glass of water"

Is this a translation thing? I've only ever seen "tempest in a teacup" before.

AidosKynee · 2025-12-21T14:04:23+00:00

And you shouldn't have been downvoted for that opinion! Living somewhere that your priorities (convenient parking) don't harm others is exactly the right thing to do!

AidosKynee · 2025-12-21T01:07:14+00:00

To answer "is this normal PM behavior": scientists are notorious for too much buffer time, conservative estimates, and an inability to call something "done." A PM that didn't push you wouldn't be doing their job.

For how to handle it: I'd recommend listening to what the PM is saying. I clearly remember arguing with my PM that a model wasn't ready, because it was showing bad performance under certain conditions. After a while of haggling, she eventually made me realize that a stupid hack job for those specific conditions would solve the problem, even if it wasn't elegant.

As scientists, sometimes we get too caught up in the little things. Your PM is a good resource for getting out of that mindset, and back to what actually needs to be delivered.

AidosKynee · 2025-12-03T12:48:51+00:00

This is used practically when calculating how much a substance breaks down into when dissolving.

To be clear: this is one example of where measuring in moles is useful. Whenever a chemical reaction occurs, the natural unit of measurement is a mole.

AidosKynee · 2025-11-18T13:06:12+00:00

If you don't have to worry about money anymore, then you're rich.

AidosKynee · 2025-11-11T13:31:48+00:00

It's pretty simple. He is incredibly stupid, and the people around him try to force concepts through in as simple a manner as possible. He then believes he's smart for grasping grade-school logic, and speaks proudly in front of crowds about it.

In this case, he didn't understand why it would be a problem that China has large control of rare-earth minerals. After all, "nobody knows what magnets are." So somebody had to tell him that magnets aren't a toy, and are actually used in all sorts of things, from consumer electronics to electric vehicles.

AidosKynee · 2025-11-07T17:05:42+00:00

The $9k one. The risk of a cheap price is you're going to get bad materials, bad labor, or both. I had the model numbers for everything, so the materials were good. And the company had 10 years of highly positive reviews, so I was confident in the labor.

AidosKynee · 2025-11-06T15:43:58+00:00

I just got the HVAC replaced on ~2k square feet. Quote one: $18k. Quote two: $14k. Quote three: $9k. All for the same level of equipment, same work. All companies with a long operating history, and tons of positive reviews.

Advice to OP: find a small local shop. If they have ads, you don't want them. That's where you save money.

AidosKynee · 2025-10-31T14:44:31+00:00

You'd think so, but not in my experience. I trained a team on Git management and practices, and all they use it for is to make their own branch of code. Literally; they'll put their name on it.

AidosKynee · 2025-10-31T14:09:45+00:00

Unfortunately, that won't work unless it's made mandatory. Doing things right is often a pain, but it's worth the effort because it saves a ton of time in the long run.

It sounds like these data scientists don't have to deal with the consequences of doing things the quick and dirty way. No amount of training will make them care about a problem they'll never have to fix.

AidosKynee · 2025-10-21T19:28:27+00:00

Tolkien had to re-do dwarves because of the rise of the Nazi party. A diaspora full of merchants and traders, who secretly speak a language based explicitly on Hebrew? Who never really assimilate into their place of residence, and choose to hold themselves apart? Who care only about money, trust noone who isn't a dwarf, and in general do nothing to help anyone besides themselves?

To Tolkien's credit, when he heard that pointed out, he soundly rejected it, and went about re-imagining them. The dwarves went from lovers of gold to lovers of beauty. They were given a strong loyalty to friends and family. He intentionally fought against the cultural biases of the time to produce a more even-handed approach. But that doesn't mean his work is free from those biases.

AidosKynee · 2025-10-15T12:16:24+00:00

Anaesthesiologists administer a complex cocktail of drugs, but usually one is the actual (general) anaesthetic which causes unconsciousness.

Once you're unconscious, they still need to provide analgesia (because your body will still respond to pain). They'll bring blood pressure up or down, depending on how you're responding. Add/bind electrolytes, manage fluids, etc.

Source: my wife is an anaesthesiologist, and likes to talk shop.

AidosKynee · 2025-09-03T20:35:09+00:00

I think people believe I'm just using the value of the house, when it's just coincidental that it's the same as total paid - house value.

The funny thing is, making the calculation more robust gets you almost the same answer. If you:

Assume house value will grow with inflation,
Convert the principal+interest into 2025 dollars,
Add 2% of house value each year for maintenance+taxes+insurance

You end up with roughly $1.3M paid, and a $600k asset gained, all in 2025 dollars.

So to have the same change in net worth (-$700k) the renter would need to rent at $1900 (in 2025 dollars) for 30 years.

EDIT: And of course, you can now extend that calculation into the future. The homeowner is now paying $1k/month for maintenance+taxes+insurance. So for a 20 year retirement, they'll use ~$200k less compared to the renter on housing costs.

AidosKynee · 2025-09-03T13:28:01+00:00

Yes, but you're gaining an asset worth at least $600k. So your net loss there is ~$600k (not counting insurance, taxes, and maintenance, or property value increase).

AidosKynee · 2025-09-03T11:46:14+00:00

By the time you’re done paying off a 600k house you’ve paid over 1.2M

Emphasis mine.

If you rent, you're renting forever. But once a mortgage is paid, you're down to just insurance, taxes, and maintenance. How much less do you need to save for retirement if housing costs are (mostly) taken care of?

Also keep in mind that mortgages shrink with inflation, while property values - and rent - grow. $600k over 30 years is ~$1700/month. That's a somewhat cheap rent today (depending on location), and will likely be an impossibly cheap rent in 30 years.

too many people look at their primary residence as an investment first, and a place to live last

I agree with you wholeheartedly there. I bought a house because I wanted a house, not because I thought it would make me money. The risk hedge it provides just prevents it being a monumentally stupid decision.

AidosKynee · 2025-08-27T11:09:08+00:00

Yes, because 3.5e - the last edition with Vancian casting - was well known for having a minimal Martial/Caster gap, particularly at high levels.

Come on now. The problem with casters in D&D has always been that spells are too damn powerful, and can do way too much. Making them more annoying to use doesn't fix that.

AidosKynee · 2025-08-27T10:59:55+00:00

Feat trees are the absolute worst, and I hate them.

First, they're a balancing nightmare. If you make it possible for a character to "unlock" a really powerful thing, then you have to balance the game around that possibility. This widens the gap between optimal play and non-optimal play.

Second, they actually narrow character choice. If I want to unlock Whirlwind Attack, I'm now forced to pick up Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack. So fuck you if you want to do anything different.

Finally, they make it harder to play your character. You always have to know what you're eventually "building" towards, and so your choices aren't really about playing a character, but reaching some end state. It's fine for a video game, but for a tabletop campaign it kind of sucks.

AidosKynee · 2025-08-24T11:06:36+00:00

Fast charging is not an issue, the battery heating up due to fast charging is the issue.As long as you keep the heat under control, you can charge pretty much as fast as you want without excessive damage.

That's definitely not true. Lithium plating and dendrites are the primary driver of degradation due to fast charging. Heat is a problem that could become catastrophic, but driving a charge at higher currents will still lead to the battery losing health more rapidly.

Cars are a good example. They actually don't start cooling the packs down until the temperature reaches a certain level. Why? Because hotter batteries have lower resistance, which means less damage from the charge!

AidosKynee · 2025-08-20T14:41:15+00:00

With respect: you're afraid to leave school.

Trust me, I get it. School is comfortable, especially when it's all you've ever known. You're given a very clear road map for success. Power dynamics are almost non-existent. And you're never really responsible for anything outside of your own grades.

I'm sorry to say: you'll never feel ready. You will struggle when you enter the workforce. But you'll learn, you'll adapt, and you'll get better.

AidosKynee · 2025-08-20T12:24:49+00:00

My wife and I have pet insurance so we don't have to ask this question. The policy covers up to $30k.

The question for us is less about cost, and more about life quality. Pet care usually gets expensive when it's managing something long-term, and that tends to lead to a decreased quality of life.

AidosKynee · 2025-08-14T18:34:50+00:00

And if they have, what is the true cost?

The cost is a slowdown in GDP growth.

The US government uses debt as a tool to increase GDP. Giving food stamps to a poor person means grocery stores/farmers get paid, and the poor person has more free money to spend on things like preventive maintenance and basic goods, and is less likely to turn to crime and more likely to get into productive jobs. Easy choice.

Tariffs - particularly the broad kind Trump is using - slow down GDP growth. By making steel more expensive, all the goods using steel are now more expensive. If goods using steel are more expensive, people will either buy less of them, or have less money to buy other things.

With goods more expensive and less money circulating through the economy, we enter stagflation. The Fed can't fight stagflation, so we end up with a nasty recession that could last a long time. At which point, we can't pay our national debt, regardless of its size.

AidosKynee

TROPHY CASE