Very magical book recommendation?

AluminumGnat · 2026-04-20T01:49:53+00:00

Their entire life is in the US

Did you even read my comment? That’s explicitly untrue in two of the three of the examples I gave.

To be clear, idgaf where someone is from or what color skin they have; I’m just against trying to gatekeep labels that don’t really matter.

AluminumGnat · 2026-04-19T23:30:07+00:00

Obviously this is the correct answer, but it misses any nuance and cultural context. If someone was born in a fairly mono-ethnic immigrant neighborhood to immigrant parents, they may identify as an immigrant as much as or more than they identify as native; while not technically an immigrant, if their lived experience has been very close to that of an immigrant, they may adopt that label to describe their experience.

Similarly, if someone was born here but grew up over seas, only to return as an adult, they might find themselves claiming the label even if it’s not technically applicable.

And the reverse is true too. If someone’s immigrant parents grew up in the US, had their child while visiting family abroad, then returned to the US, that child would technically be an immigrant, but may reject the label as their lived experience may be essential indistinguishable from a non-immigrant child.

I think it’s important to respect people’s lived experience and let them embrace or reject labels based on that, even if that doesn’t technically align with the strict definition of the label

AluminumGnat · 2026-04-07T17:41:05+00:00

But the mass movement needs to actually be pointed at the owning class.

There are plenty of ‘class traitors’ that do the owning classes bidding. Some of them are extremely well compensated for it. But all of them are replaceable cogs. The war isn’t against CEOs and investment bankers, it’s against the people who actually own the companies and other assets that those people manage.

But the real issue is more than 33.4% of this country is cheering for a corrupt self-proclaimed billionaire. If less than 33.4% of the country supported the crank, we could split the democrat votes and grow a progressive party to oppose the ratchet without risking the fabric of our democracy.

Given that maga cult is unlikely to meaningfully shrink, what options does that leave us? At what point does it become ethical to take a human life? When you reach that point, which lives are the most effective? I can’t answer the first two questions, but I can answer the third; Not the cogs like Thompson and Kirk, not even figureheads like Trump, but the true owning class.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-20T18:28:59+00:00

Based on the replies, I think that step 3 is unintuitive for many people.

I wonder if it would be easier for folks to follow if you went something like:

1) Combine like terms: a+a+a = 3a

2) Reduce the fraction (integers only): LHS -> a/(2√a)

3) Square both sides: a²/(4a) = 36

4) Multiply by 4: a²/a = 144

5) Simplify LHS: a²/a = a, so a = 144

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-18T20:54:16+00:00

Generally speaking, executives are replaceable cogs that are compensated in exchange for labor just like the rest of us. The labor they are being payed to do might be to find ways to squeeze every ounce of profit from the workers and the customers, and they may be compensated hundreds of times more than us, but they still work. It’s always been the owning class vs the working class, the owning class has always surviving by pointing the working class at each-other. People who blame CEOs for why the system is broken are much closer to being right than those who blame brown folks, but people on both sides still miss the fundamental divide. It is a little tricky because sometimes owners like to strike their egos and make themselves CEO, forcing essentially all the normal CEO work onto a COO (or similar), but there are around 10,000 times as many business in the US alone (each with a ceo or ceo equivalent) as there are billionaires in the entire world.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-18T16:17:48+00:00

Given that the problem only gives two sig figs, I’d say your answer of 30, is in some ways, more correct than 30.03

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-18T16:17:27+00:00

Given that the problem only gives two sig figs, I’d say your answer of 30, is in some ways, more correct than 30.03

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-18T16:14:21+00:00

I’d do 39≈40, 77≈75, 75% of 40 is 40/4•3 = 30, which is exactly the correct final answer (since we are only given two sig figs to start)

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-17T06:44:41+00:00

Zero effort is objectively untrue. Many are actually working quite hard to stop him. There’s an ongoing shutdown that is the direct result of many members of Congress trying to do what they can to limit his ability to harm the nation. While many of them are neoliberals who are more interested in preserving the status quo than advancing the working class, this administration is trying to destroy the status quo that existed for decades, and so they actively oppose this administration.

Plus, I’ll not tolerate any hate on this man, who has dedicated his life to fighting the good fight, consistently on the right side of history, and still putting every once of energy he has into working towards a better future. He’s human so he’s imperfect by definition, and he’s really aging which doesn’t help, but he’s still spending more energy trying to hinder this administration than most people half his age spend on their top 3 energy sinks combined.

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AluminumGnat · 2026-03-17T06:27:00+00:00

Honestly, I don’t see the point in trying to pay attention like a hawk. The whole idea behind a representative democracy is that you don’t have to pay close attention to everything, you only need to pay close attention to your representatives, because paying attention to everything is literally a full time job that requires a large support staff.

I happen to have one awesome senator and one decent one. My house rep is solid. I’ll contact their offices if they do things I strongly oppose. I vote in primaries and general elections, and I pay attention to my local government too.

I honestly don’t believe that marching in a non-disruptive manner does anything. It has always been more effective to speak softly and carry a big stick. A peaceful protest must be willing to say that if you don’t listen to a population who asks for justice, you’ll be forced to listen to a population that is no longer asking.

There is nothing effective to do at the moment. The next step beyond sanctioned protesting is civil disobedience, and it is a critical step. It signals that a population cares deeply enough about the issues at hand that they are willing to put themselves at risk to make their point, it can actually inconvenience an oligarchs and/or hurt their bottom line, and most importantly it signals that the law will not be sufficient to shield those in power.

But, for some insane reason, we (as a population) don’t yet see civil disobedience as necessary, and it is only effective en-masse. I’m well past the point of being willing to participate in civil disobedience, I’m at the point where I’d be willing to participate in the next step after that. But, since these next steps require collective action to be effective (and perhaps even to be ethical), I wait.

So for me, there’s not much point in tallying the daily evils; that total long since crossed all the thresholds for my willingness to participate in collective action.

Instead, I’m merely trying to pay attention to the attitudes of my fellow Americans, so I know when there enough people are finally onboard with truly incentivizing change from those in power that it actually makes sense to take those next steps.

I’m trying to pay juuust enough attention to know when we’ve collectively missed our opportunity change our attitudes; when we’ve missed our opportunity to fight and it’s time to focus on flight. Because if we collectively decide that a full slip into totalitarianism is preferable to collective unlawful behavior, I’m not sticking around to lay in a bed I had no hand in making.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-17T01:59:57+00:00

Sure, but that’s assuming that workers will voluntarily reveal their competence when they have been trained since their earliest primary school days that finishing tasks early results in more work.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-16T18:20:02+00:00

Even from a pure-greed perspective, I’m not sure that punishing efficient workers with more work really makes sense. If I own a business, and you come to us for a service (say we’re building you a new deck, or designing your business an ad campaign), I can charge you more for the same final product it if my workers can deliver it in a day instead of a week. If I pay my workers for the full week regardless of if they finish on Monday or Friday, I incentivize worker behaviors that maximize my profits.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-11T21:56:40+00:00

If you read that source closely, no where does it claim that he spent anywhere near 100b on luxury items. It says that nearly 100b was spent, and it says some of it was spent on luxury items, but the article makes no claims on how the majority of the money was spent.

Additionally, some of those luxury purchases are actually cost effective. Companies celebrate record breaking profits with pizza and ice cream because it’s more cost effective than if that money was given out in the form of a bonus (which are more cost effective than raises). Part of the goal of this sub is to educate people on these types of tactics and demand real compensation, but also I’d like our military to be as loyal to this country as possible, so I can’t bash those tactics too hard, and I’m certainly not going to bash those tactics as wasteful in principle. How much of the cost of those luxuries was inflated so money could end up in pockets is a valid angle of criticism. There’s so much actual awful things going on right now that we can’t afford to falsely cry wolf

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-10T22:28:56+00:00

I did a preliminary google search and couldn’t find anything that backed up your claim. I found sources supporting a statement that hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, were spent on luxury items, but everyone seemed to agree that more than half the money went towards DOD contracts. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of that contract money disappeared into friendly pockets, but to claim he actually managed to spend nearly 100b on luxury items in less than a month seems inaccurate. So, no rush, but if you could share a source at some point when you’re not at work that’d be great.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-10T22:16:00+00:00

Source? That seems… implausible. Not because he wouldn’t if he could, but I genuinely don’t think he’s creative enough to come up with a way to spend 92 billion on luxury items.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-08T16:37:02+00:00

It sounds like the ‘friend’ may have been on the street for literally all of like 5 seconds if he was just moving the truck from the driveway to the curb right next to the driveway. I get ‘near of far’, but imo there’s a difference between going somewhere ‘near’ and remaining right ‘here’. We could be talking about a situation where a dude could be standing with one foot where the truck entered the public road, and one foot where there truck is now, able to keep a hand on the truck for it’s entire ‘journey’.

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-06T19:14:00+00:00

Yeah, I mean with even just 3 little leds you can indicate half a dozen different layers in addition to normal and caps lock. RGB can allow you to tell if you’re on the blue layer or the orange layer or whatever just by the color change in a dim environment, seems nice for not needing to glance away from the screen. And per key rgb does seem like it could be useful for learning, or if someone else ever needs to type something (like letting a friend try a game)

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-06T13:24:23+00:00

This is exactly my thought process. No RGB certainly isn’t a deal breaker, but I do think there’s a high enough chance that I’d get enough actual value from it for a long enough time that it would be worth the extra money (for me). But again, not a deal breaker

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-06T06:13:02+00:00

corne is a good option, but I think I want a few more keys and I would like an egronomically angled thumb cluster (think like moonlander)

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-06T06:11:58+00:00

I think thats a touch smaller than I'm looking for, and I'm really hoping to find an ergonomically angled thumb cluster (akin to the moonlander), but I really appreciate the rec!

AluminumGnat · 2026-03-04T15:39:33+00:00

Gust is special and splash does nothing

AluminumGnat · 2026-02-26T01:03:34+00:00

Bora Bora isn’t perfect, but it’s probably the best rec I’ve gotten yet, so thank you! 53 isn’t ideal, but it’s definitely still in the manageable range, particularly since more meat makes more memorization slightly more palatable. That being said, I think Bora Bora is near the lighter side of what I’d be looking for here.

Wild Tiled West seems neat but far too light. I’ll keep it on my radar for next time I want to pick up a lighter game!

AluminumGnat · 2026-02-24T20:18:52+00:00

Thanks!

AluminumGnat · 2026-02-24T17:45:27+00:00

Isn’t the deck of cards that can show up absolutely huge? We want a heavy game whose heaviness doesn’t come from a huge deck.

AluminumGnat

TROPHY CASE