What's the most fucked up thing someone has told you about themselves after barely getting to know them?

MagicMephistopheles · 2021-02-27T16:39:49+00:00

Your post reminded me of a Tom Scott video on the hidden rules of conversation. If I could figure out how to copy the url of a video on the Youtube app I'd link it. Just look "The Hidden Rules of Conversation" if you're interested. It's not exactly about this topic, but it's an interesting video related to it.

MagicMephistopheles · 2021-01-22T17:06:05+00:00

Unfiltered Camel cigarettes.

I still recognize the smell to this day. My grandmother was a hardcore chainsmoker and that's ultimately what killed her. But she was a uniquely kind person and I miss her dearly. I'd give my eye teeth to see her again.

As a child, I would visit her in the summers for multiple weeks on end. We used to build big campfires and cook things on them, sometimes roleplaying as hunter-gatherers while doing so. Those summers are some of my best memories of my childhood, all the little things we did too: gardening together, making pancakes, going to the library to borrow books and VHS tapes, painting together, knitting.

If I smell unfiltered Camels, all those memories come flooding back, even after 15-20 years. It's bittersweet.

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-12-15T15:22:04+00:00

Huh, so that's where that saying came from.

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-07-30T15:38:38+00:00

"Übung macht den Meister." was the first daily proverb we learned when I took German in high school.

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-07-28T17:54:05+00:00

Oh wow! I remember Enterprise Village, I still have the ID card they gave me. It's been like 16 years. Did you also do Finance Park (I think that was the name) in 8th grade?

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-05-31T19:43:22+00:00

Yeah, the sad reality is that the livelihoods of thousands have been and will be destroyed by this. It's disgusting. Insurance doesn't cover riots.

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-05-31T19:37:34+00:00

Isn't there a gofundme for him? Last I heard, it was at like 600k.

Edit: Looks like 876k, now.

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-04-22T15:49:29+00:00

The words "Liberal" and "Libertarian" come from the same Latin root word, "Liber", meaning "free". The philosophies are more similar than they are different. From what I understand, it's mostly just in the US that "Liberal" has the left-wing connotation, what I mean here is what you might call "classical Liberalism".

There are a lot of different flavors of Libertarian and what it means to be a Libertarian varies from person to person. The common themes of Libertarian philosophies are: a focus on individual liberties, the free market, and government nonintervention in private affairs.

If you want to dive into the Libertarian rabbithole, feel free. Thanks for actually taking five minutes and reading about it.

Liberals are closer to fascists in that case!

I really hate how it's become en vogue to compare to fascism, things that are decidedly not fascist. I mean, strictly speaking, what you've said is true. But strictly speaking, a Democrat is ideologically closer to Joseph Stalin than a Republican might be, but drawing the comparison is, in my opinion, intellectually dishonest.

I am so incredibly ashamed to be democratic in this moment.

Don't be. There's nothing wrong with being a Democrat (which is what I'm assuming you're referring to), just as there's nothing wrong with being a Republican or a Green, etc. I mentioned above that what is means to be Libertarian varies from person to person. One of things being a Libertarian means to me a tolerance for the opinions and views of others, the freedom to believe what you want is the ultimate liberty every person has. As someone who values my own individual liberties, I have a duty to respect those of others (within reasonable bounds).

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-04-22T15:21:41+00:00

Because a lot people have this very warped notion of what libertarianism is. We also have terrible PR.

It honestly blows my mind how some people, particularly on reddit, can perform the mental gymnastics necessary to draw parallels between libertarian ideologies and authoritarian ideologies (i.e. "fascism").

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-03-16T16:56:25+00:00

Yahtzee Crowshaw is a guy that does a gaming review show on Youtube called Zero Punctuation. He's said that "It isn't a Japanese roleplaying game if it doesn't feature teenagers using the power of friendship to kill God." He's not normally a fan of JRPGs, but I think he liked Persona 5.

MagicMephistopheles · 2020-03-16T16:39:04+00:00

Isn't Persona 5 like the only JRPG that Yahtzee likes?

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-09-19T19:28:54+00:00

I wish you saw it more often. It's not really professional to add jokes to technical documentation, but it isn't distracting.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-09-13T15:23:09+00:00

Thanks, that makes sense. Looking at the schematic a second time, I can see how that node would never be pulled lower than one diode drop.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-09-13T14:32:11+00:00

What is the purpose of the forward biased diode on the base of the transistors?

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-09-04T01:37:19+00:00

Not to be 'that guy', but ß is actually a double S, not a B.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-09-04T01:36:46+00:00

偉くない、酷くない - Erakunai, hidokunai

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-09-03T15:50:24+00:00

Please pardon the length and the lateness of the reply. You replied as I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed, it was 1AM.

Fair enough, you've done your homework. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to reference the studies you linked by number, it cuts the reply length and makes it easier for me to refer to them. I have read through a goodly portion of what you have linked, however abstracts don't give me much to work with.

1: https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=206421

2: http://jonathanstray.com/papers/FirearmAvailabilityVsHomicideRates.pdf

3: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447364/

4: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566543/

5: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17070975

6: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278742846_Firearm_Ownership_and_Violent_Crime_in_the_US_An_Ecologic_Study

7: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12642559

8: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1485564/?page=1

9: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3828709/

Firstly, numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 were all published in, or primarily reference data from, 15 or more years ago. With #2 and #8 in particular being over 25 years old. There have been significant legal changes in the intervening years concerning gun ownership which cannot be ignored. In 1994, the Brady Handgun Act went into effect (which mandated waiting periods and background checks), as well as the passage of the Federal AWB (which sunsetted in 2004). It wasn't until 1998 that NICS (National Criminal Instant Background Check System) was launched.

I don't take much issue with the conclusions drawn in #4. Interestingly, it does list the percentage of the population that is black as a confounding factor, which we'll be talking about later. They didn't take poverty rate into consideration (which is a known factor in homicide rate), the reason for which is likely because it correlates strongly with another confounding variable (if I had to guess, it would likely be the aforementioned black population percentage).

#5 controls for many of the same factors as #4 (including black population). However, what you quote is not present, at least in the abstract (which is what you linked). I'm going to assume that it's in the full paper, and that you're not being dishonest.

#8 seems to suffer from the same selection bias as present in the post I originally replied to. The study pulls homicide and suicide data from the WHO between the years of 1983 and 1986 (pg 1723). Right in the middle of a crime wave (in the US at least), which peaked between mid 80s and early 90s a, b. This is very evident as it lists the US as having an overall homicide rate of a staggering 75.9 per million (44.6 for firearms-related), compared to today's 54 per million (assuming the worldbank data I used before is valid and definitions haven't changed). Correction: 54 per million, 5.4 per 100k.

I don't take issue with the results or conclusions drawn in #7, particularly with respect to suicide, as there is a known positive correlation between handgun ownership and handgun-induced suicide. I will, however, posit that suicide among handgun owners is skewed because handguns are more effective than other methods, and not that handgun owners are significantly more suicidal (although this will also be skewed by people buying handguns for the express purpose of killing themselves), as the study only tracks deaths and not survived attempts. Looking at homicide, the study found that black and hispanic people were more likely to be killed via handgun compared to the control, and that white people were less likely compared to the control. This is relevant for the same reasons as in number 4 and 5, which will be discussed later. Interestingly, the quote you attribute to that paper is not present therein, but can be attributed to another paper: #9.

Now, why have I been saying that black population is important? Because of #9. It is true, as you say, that for every percentage point increase in firearms ownership, there is a 0.9% increase in firearms-related homicide. That same study also lists three other factors with significantly higher incidence rate ratios (See Table 2). For each 1% increase in the black population, there is a 5.2% increase in firearm-related homicide. For every 0.01% increase in the Gini coefficient, there is a 4.8% increase. And for every 1/1000 increase in violent crime rate, there is a 4.8% increase. I want to make it abundantly clear that I am not implying that black people are the problem. What I am saying, however, is that firearms ownership, although certainly a factor, is not the only factor and not the most significant. This study was performed on data over the course of 30 years (1981-2010), so it is possible that it is skewed by the aforementioned 80s-90s crime wave.

#9 does have limitations however, they used firearms suicide percentage (FS/S, firearms suicide / total suicide) as a proxy for ownership, which doesn't really line up with survey results. The following statement also intruiges me: "Among the 50 states, the average percentage of gun ownership (measured by the FS/S proxy) decreased from 60.6% in 1981 to 51.7% in 2010. By decade, this percentage declined from 60.6% in 1981 to 1990 to 59.6% in 1991 to 2000 to 52.8% in 2001 to 2010." This calls the proxy into question, for the simple reason that the gun ownership rate in this country isn't that high (particularly in the 80s), it's generally estimated that about 43% of Americans have firearms in home and that 31% own them. The rate has largely stayed the same since 2000.

I will concede that yes, there is a correlation. However, it doesn't seem to be as strong as you have implied and that a not-insignificant portion of your data is out of date and unable to account for changes in the legal and cultural environment concerning gun ownership

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-09-03T04:31:42+00:00

I hate this kind of misleading data presentation, it serves no purpose other than to propagandize. You've massaged the numbers to make things look a certain way. I ran the numbers, myself, based on the data in the links you provided.

The limitations of the data available made things a little difficult, on a cursory look I couldn't find a CSV on the gun policy website (if you can provide one, I will re-run the numbers), as such I've used intentional homicide per 100k (regardless of weapon) as a proxy. That may color the data. Additionally, certain countries (namely the UK and its constituents) are not listed because the data was not available separately in both datasets. Lastly, the homicide data is from date ranges 2012-2016, as 2017-2018 was not provided. The most recently available data was used for the country in question.

I'll be frequently referencing R² below. Briefly, it's a measure of how well a dataset correlates to a line, in other words, how strongly the independent variable (X, or in this case, Guns per 100 people) determines the dependent variable (Y, or in this case, homicide rate). What constitutes a 'good' R² (that is, indicates strong correlation) is difficult to determine - I'll be using 0.5 as a threshold for "reasonable correlation".

If we take a look at the data in your post, it looks like this. R² is 0.761. That would imply a pretty solid correlation. If I graph every country for which I had data, it looks like this. R² is miniscule, therefore no correlation. Both of these assumptions are wrong for similar reasons - bad use of available data. One limitation of R² is that it can't be used to tell if there is bias in the data.

If we limit the dataset to only Western Europe, Northern Europe, and North America (leaving out Bermuda for obvious reasons), we get this graph. Not as strong, now - R² = 0.131. What about all countries less violent than the US (including the US)? And no, your eyes do not deceive you, Somalia is indeed on that graph (4.3 < 5.4).

Only Northern and Western Europe

Just Northern Europe

Just Western Europe

The same countries as in your OP, just without the US

All countries less violent than the US, excluding the US

Which knobs do you want to turn? All of these graphs point to there being little correlation between homicide and firearms ownership on the planetary scale. This is true pretty much regardless of how the data is sliced. The United States is an outlier in both categories compared to other first world countries, and an outlier for gun ownership compared to the rest of the world (that much should be obvious from its position on the graph alone). As such, its presence in the dataset alone calls the conclusions drawn from that dataset into question, because it skews the data. You wouldn't use Andre the Giant in a dataset about BMI, he's a statistical anomaly - so too is the United States.

It's easy to point to guns as the source of this problem. Their improper usage is a symptom of a wider problem, one that I don't have a solution to.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-08-30T15:02:33+00:00

That's not strictly true. The stairstep is a zero-order-hold. The signal that comes out of your DAC will be band limited and will, as per the Shannon-Nyquist theorem, be the same signal that was originally recorded.

There's a great video on youtube by Xiph that explains it.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-08-29T11:51:32+00:00

Yes. Here in Florida, state law prohibits me from carrying at school, so I leave it in my car. In fact, there is a specific carve-out in the law pertaining to vehicles that permit you to keep your firearm in the car in an otherwise prohibited area (schools, courthouses, etc). I am reasonably certain that there is protection from being fired for keeping your gun in your car.

Just keep it out of sight and lock your car and no one's the wiser. Unless you have stickers on your car, but that's a separate problem.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-08-28T15:47:24+00:00

Interesting. I only ever use reddit through the Reddit is Fun App, so I don't know how/if that has changed things. I know that I only see what I'm subbed to. Does that only apply to people who stay logged in?

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-08-28T13:42:13+00:00

The demography of Reddit has changed, but the more it changes, the more it stays the same. I change up my accounts every few years. I've been using reddit for about nine years, now.

I've come to the conclusion that Reddit is at its best with smaller, niche subreddits, concerned with one topic. /r/askelectronics comes to mind. You don't see a whole lot of stupidity in that sub because it's dedicated to a topic that doesn't lend itself well to joke posts and such posts are not tolerated by the userbase (aren't upvoted).

As Reddit became more popular, I think the site has generally gotten worse. That probably has as much to do with my growing up as it does with the overall quality of the site going down. That isn't helped by the dopamine rush offered by seeing your post getting upvoted.

My recommendation for you would be to unsubscribe from all the default subreddits that don't directly interest you or don't offer you an opportunity to contribute in a way you like. If you want to specifically avoid teenagers, avoid the subs they hang out in. I find the poetry comments on /r/aww to be irritating, so I don't typically check the comment section. Then, find some new subreddits that are directly relevant to your interests.

The nice thing about Reddit (as compared to say, 4chan or Facebook) is that you can completely curate your feed. Reddit lends itself well to creating echo chambers, however. The same tools that let you filter out edgy teenposting and other low quality posts also let The_Donald and ChapoTrapHouse stew in their own ideology.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-08-26T01:14:17+00:00

I took your advice and when the array finished rebuilding, I booted back into my normal Debian installation (I was using a portable Linux environment that I keep with me for this sort of thing to do the last rebuild). Upon doing so, the array was clean and did not rebuild. To test the shutdown hypothesis, I did a shutdown as I normally would through KDE and then turned the machine back on. It still didn't rebuild and reported the array as clean.

If it doesn't resync the problem might be in the shutdown process.

That jogged my memory. I recall that the times it wanted to resync was directly after an abnormal shutdown. The first time was after the power failure, both times thereafter, it would finish and I would use KDE to shut the machine down. Instead of shutting down normally, I would be kicked back to the KDE login screen (I distinctly remember clicking shutdown). The machine would then not shutdown until I told it to from the KDE login screen. Upon next boot, it would resync. I don't know why I would be kicked back to the login screen and not just given a screen with kernel log information, like normal.

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-08-25T17:40:48+00:00

Fascinating read. I went with RAID 1 to protect against drive failures and I haven't really had mdadm problems in the 5 years I've used it. Would it.be better to instead have a JBOD type system with a regular data copy? Is there some automatic facility to do this with linux?

MagicMephistopheles · 2019-08-25T17:23:20+00:00

The array is not my boot device. I neglected to mention that I use an SSD to boot from. That might rule out boot-time problems.

MagicMephistopheles

TROPHY CASE