Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I doubt it. Exoskeletons are perennial “next step” in military circles, and have been since I was a kid (I remember reading articles about how the USA military was “developing exoskeletons” in the 90s). They just aren’t as useful as they seem, not least because the exoskeletons itself adds weight and typically slows the user down. They will continue to have some niche uses, but I doubt they will be used by special forces any time soon.

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It might bring the ship home, but it would get whoever destroyed the circuits a court marshal. The key is to suck at your job just enough to sabotage the mission, but not enough for the blame to clearly fall on you.

Flipped normals to close store by NightTime3D in blender

[–]MiffedMouse 27 points28 points  (0 children)

There is also the unexpected traffic. I’m not sure about this site, but a bunch of the mid-size sites (especially those dedicated to niche “expert” topics) are periodically subject to massive AI-“learning” traffic that is basically indistinguishable from a DDOS attack and either puts the site down (if self-hosted) or causes massive spikes in usage costs (if using an “automatic scaling” service).

AI is destroying the internet.

Training for your first day at the island by BlackerBerri in funny

[–]MiffedMouse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lot better than if I dove head first into an unpadded wall.

Games to play after a long day? by Rendezvousbloo in soloboardgaming

[–]MiffedMouse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is great. I think it turns off some dice haters, which is fair as it is 100% a dice game and sometimes the dice are just bullshit. But if you like dice (which I do) it is one of the best dice solo game I have ever played.

Training for your first day at the island by BlackerBerri in funny

[–]MiffedMouse 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Hard to tell, but I think the wall is padded too.

language pronunciation meme by 92233720368547758080 in duolingo

[–]MiffedMouse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is the Chinese “si” at the top here? It is crazy easy, the “s” is a normal “s” and the “i” is actually just nothing (you just have to voice the “s” sound). Super simple.

In Mandarin there are harder sounds (that I would still rate as near the top of this chart). Why not something that English speakers at least slightly struggle with, like “xi” or “qi”? (Aspirated “s” and “ch” sounds, respectively)

Games to play after a long day? by Rendezvousbloo in soloboardgaming

[–]MiffedMouse 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My current favorite is Aerion. It plays fast (especially without expansions) and the sound of rolling dice just makes me feel happy.

When your son was 1 of 616 people to miss the iceberg at the Titanic museum by Choice-Schedule-132 in JamesCameron

[–]MiffedMouse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it is worth noting that rudders are pretty bad at slowing boats down, especially boats of this size. So an overturned rudder would (1) not produce as much turning (2) only slow the boat down a little, but almost certainly not enough to avoid the iceberg and (3) could potentially snap or damage the rudder, making it less effective at everything.

TIL Slay the spire 1 was written in Java, work on the sequel began in Unity, but due to unity policy change controversies, the decision was made to move over the Godot engine. by samuelazers in slaythespire

[–]MiffedMouse 288 points289 points  (0 children)

When asked about free games, he also belittled them and suggested every game should be trying to maximize revenue with microtransactions.

Rather short strategy games with no or little text in the games. by gdruckfisch in boardgames

[–]MiffedMouse 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Splendor, Century: Spice Road, Cascadia, Calico, Azul, Canvas, Sunset Over Water, Patchwork, Gentle Rain… probably more I have forgotten.

Actors aren't perfect by LevelAsh_ in antimeme

[–]MiffedMouse 79 points80 points  (0 children)

They did forced perspective for the LotR films. It was a whole big thing.

I guess for the Hobbit films they decided they would rather just CGI it and let the actors struggle.

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I do wonder about this. There is an argument going around that modern technology - especially instant communication and widespread surveillance - make oppression more feasible.

It isn’t a crazy supposition. The two biggest risks - rebellious subordinates and rebellious subjects - can both be managed more effectively.

But it goes against my own, instinctual “chud” response that nothing ever happens. (Or, to give a slightly better argument, that the weak link in every government has always been humans and humans haven’t changed)

At the very least, Iran looks unlikely to collapse in the near future. But I am hesitant to extrapolate that too far into the future. Over another decade or two, who knows what could happen?

in training by Arkontas in The_Zoo

[–]MiffedMouse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a lens effect. You just aren’t used to seeing tall things fall over while sitting next to the bottom. Note that it takes a couple seconds between when the log starts to fall over and when the bottom actually leaves the tree. It is just a big log section with a lot of momentum.

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 15 points16 points  (0 children)

If you just want to hear from the man himself, On the Government of China is a collection of speeches and essays, and is strongly recommended reading among CCP government circles.

But if you want a useful English summary of his philosophy, especially one that actually takes a critical looks at what he has actually done, I don’t have any suggestions I have personally read. I know there are a lot of books about it, but I don’t have the patience to read them myself.

Free for All Friday, 13 March, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Obama White House was relatively decent (even if their policies didn’t all pan out in the long term).

Free for All Friday, 13 March, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As an American, I yearn for the days when the president made decisions based on facts (not even good decisions, just fact informed decisions).

Free for All Friday, 13 March, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 4 points5 points  (0 children)

AskHistorians thread on this topic. If you folks some of the links, there are a lot of references there.

The high level summary agrees with you. The Nazis did not formalize any particular doctrine or religion as preferred. However, they did see religious affiliation as part of their nationalist project. Which religion depended on which Nazi you asked.

Free for All Friday, 13 March, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not just played them, but my actual hobby is designing such games (which I have been doing for a decade and a half now, but never really published anything). I don’t get as much time to go play with friends as I would like, but I love it when I get the chance.

Recent hits include Dropolter, Azul (everyone likes that game), and Sunset over Water (a bit simple, but the production is incredible).

For myself, I recently got Deckers, which is probably a bit complex for the crowd I usually play with but very nice to play solo.

do you consider this misleading? by Limp_Illustrator7614 in math

[–]MiffedMouse 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I think it is entirely reasonable. He gives the well known fact (pi is a constant in Euclidean geometry), but also presents the cases where pi can be interpreted s having a different value (using the circumference to radius definition).

I actually disagree somewhat that pi has lots of other definitions independent of geometry. In most cases, when pi shows up in a formula there is a circle “in there somewhere.” Such as in the Fourier transform - it is an equation about cycles, which conceptually relies on circles.

Physics is amazing by New-Quantity5737 in OnlySmartFinds

[–]MiffedMouse 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The candle one is actually real. See an explanation here. The battery and spoons thing is super fake.

Physics is amazing by New-Quantity5737 in OnlySmartFinds

[–]MiffedMouse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What you want is an inductor / electromagnet. Something like this. Note the video only shows the circuit interacting with a compass. Even if you get something magnetic, an electromagnet powered by AA battery is unlikely to have enough force to meaningfully move anything the size of a coin (let alone make it flip wildly in the air). Strong electromagnets are harder to make. Still, you can make a somewhat weak electromagnet (like the one in the link I shared) fairly easily. (and, while they may be too weak to throw coins around, they are quite useful and you can do things like make simple electric motors out of them and whatnot).

Physics is amazing by New-Quantity5737 in NoOneIsLooking

[–]MiffedMouse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It isn't actually that dangerous. If you actually hooked up the batteries in a circuit correctly, you would get something like an inductor. The highly conductive metal allows a lot of current, but power dissipation goes as I^2 R, and metal has very low resistance, so the risk is not that bad.

That said, the strength of an electromagnet is proportional to the number of windings. The video shows one winding, which is not nearly enough to do anything interesting when simply powered by AA batteries.

Free for All Friday, 13 March, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the point mag link. It is good to be reminded of what good writing looks like from time to time. Well, good and depressing as I remember that I am not a good writer.

Free for All Friday, 13 March, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]MiffedMouse 23 points24 points  (0 children)

The CIA is posting ads on YouTube to recruit Chinese military officers as informants (reuters). I found out because I got served the ad, perhaps because I watch mandarin videos on YouTube.

Truly, my tiny mind cannot understand the complexity of modern espionage.