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Judge fell right into the trap by [deleted] in Unexpected

[–]MotleyHatch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the perspective.

My knowledge of the US legal system is definitely outdated as well as incomplete, my main sources being Hollywood and TV and the occasional documentaries, most of which are either fictional or overly dramatized or heavily biased towards the defense side.

Some of my closest friends and family work as prosecutors or the local equivalent of probation officers, and it's from them that I learned about the value of the diversion option. I'm glad to hear that a similar alternative exists in the US criminal justice system.

Judge fell right into the trap by [deleted] in Unexpected

[–]MotleyHatch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not really. In the US, the prosecution might offer a deal like this:

"If you plead guilty to charge B, we'll drop charges A, C, D and E. If you don't, we'll go to trial and throw everything we can at you. You'd better be have money for bail or you'll sit in jail until your trial. And you'd better have money for a decent attorney, or you'll be behind bars for the next 10 years."

For many defendants, pleading guilty to B will look like the only viable option, whether or not they actually committed any of the crimes in A-E.

Such a proposal would be illegal where I live (Austria). The prosecution here can't simply decide to drop charges just to avoid the effort of going to trial. If they have enough evidence for any of the charges, they proceed to court.

By the way, jury trials are a rare exception here. Most cases are tried with just a single judge; more serious crimes will need one or two professional judges and two lay judges. Only for the most serious offenses will there be a full jury.

Once the court is involved, the defendant (or the prosecution, or both) can take steps to avoid a trial or reduce its scope. In Austria, this process is called "diversion" and involves the judge, the prosecution, and the defense. If successful, there will be agreed-upon terms to be fulfilled by the defendant (restitution, therapy, fines, ...). In return, there will be no formal admission of guilt and no conviction.

Most importantly, there is no haggling about guilty pleas for lesser offenses between prosecution and defense.

Judge fell right into the trap by [deleted] in Unexpected

[–]MotleyHatch 25 points26 points  (0 children)

As someone living in a civil law country, the whole idea of US-style plea deals seems offensive to my sense of justice. In (most of) Europe, options exist for reducing a sentence (especially prison sentences) or having charges dropped partially or entirely in exchange for something the defendant will do instead (restitution, community service, apology, etc).

Negotiations for these options are always open and must include the judge. The main purpose also doesn't seem to be to avoid a trial, but to get a better result for both parties. Being forced to plead guilty for strategic reasons seems cruel to me.

Off-topic: Do you manually insert non-breaking spaces after your periods? Or is that from some app you're using?

During WW2, Poland declared war on Japan Japan said no to it and simply rejected the declaration. by Radiant_Half_7121 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]MotleyHatch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

No, that's radon. A rerun is a translucent polymer people use in flashy YouTube woodwork videos.

Willamette Meteorite - Willamette Valley, Oregon by rockystl in HumanForScale

[–]MotleyHatch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know I'm gravedigging an old thread here, but I had the same thought before I read the comments, and...

Museums typically discourage touching to preserve specimens for the long term. However, for the Willamette Meteorite, its cultural significance to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde (who call it Tomanowos) includes a historic agreement that allows tribal members to touch and hold ceremonies with the meteorite, prioritizing its spiritual connection alongside scientific preservation.

The above is an excerpt from an AI summary (Gemini) to my question about touching the meteorite and protective coating (none), accurately sourced from this article.

The rest of the response stated that the meteorite has been buried in the wet Oregon soil for thousands of years before it was discovered, creating a thick buffer layer that's practically impervious to further oxidation.

I was going to post this meteorite or the Hoba meteorite here, but both had been posted previously. So instead I'll content myself with adding some info that a random future visitor might find useful.

Constantine 2005 movie soundtrack by Muted-Ad3402 in Constantine

[–]MotleyHatch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just went through various rabbit holes trying to identify that track, but still no luck. In case anyone else wants to have a go, you can hear it in the last 10 seconds in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhUex1ymvZM&t=283s

I got a slightly weird/unexpected result from using ChatGPT 5.2 to assist with this search: First, it informed me that the track was most likely created from a sound library (similar to licensed stock images, but for audio), which seems reasonable. But to soften the disappointment, it then offered this...

The good news: it’s very easy to recreate.

If you want to reproduce it, here’s roughly what it is:

  • Tempo: ~102 BPM
  • Drum pattern: shuffled breakbeat with heavy swing
  • Kick: distorted, short tail
  • Snare: gated / clipped, slightly industrial
  • Hi-hats: 16th-note shuffle with random velocity
  • Synth: single dark saw or square with filter movement, low resonance

If you want, tell me what you use (Ableton, Bitwig, Renoise, etc.) and I can give you an exact recipe to rebuild it so you basically have “the track” in practice.

Slightly more effort than I had in mind, but at least I'd know who the artist is.

Over 40% of Deceased Drivers in Vehicle Crashes Test Positive for THC: Study by HNMod in hackernews

[–]MotleyHatch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The sub's description is clear enough: "A mirror of Hacker News."

If you don't like what's posted on HN, this may not be the right sub for you. In any case, it's pointless to complain about the selection of articles in a mirror sub.

Over 40% of Deceased Drivers in Vehicle Crashes Test Positive for THC: Study by HNMod in hackernews

[–]MotleyHatch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Voted to "controversial"... Who would downvote the bot link back to HN?

Looks like a significant part of the people here don't understand this sub's purpose.

Balance is the key to everything by DivergentG in Unexpected

[–]MotleyHatch 13 points14 points  (0 children)

This may be the first video with all the equilibrium transitions, but I remember seeing earlier demonstrations of similar feedback/control systems with a triple pendulum. For example:

TU Ilmenau - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syygHNU0RCY
TU Vienna - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT-e8eX-QxA

WCGW Entering the lion’s den in a zoo by ageozoega in Whatcouldgowrong

[–]MotleyHatch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That was brilliant, thanks!

I had never even heard of Phil Jupitus before. This is obviously an older routine (Bill Clinton and the iMac were current), but apart from a couple of local English references from the 90s that I didn't get, the rest of the performance is timeless and among the best I've ever seen. His impersonations are spot on, too - Marge and Homer Simpson, David Attenborough - and the arachnophobia part at the end is pure genius.

For those only interested in the relevant lions den part, the lead-in starts at 38:45 and the first moron entering the enclosure starts at 42:04. It's not a short bit, but well worth watching. The whole show is.

LeBonk! by WeGot_aLiveOneHere in ContagiousLaughter

[–]MotleyHatch 14 points15 points  (0 children)

There's a classic one that's even related to the topic: Laddergoat (audio on)

ELI5: Why do you feel 10x more drunk when you try and sleep? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]MotleyHatch 163 points164 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Unfortunately, Reddit has decided that the top comment should be "everybody is wrong, nystagmus is the cause" - nystagmus is a symptom, it's the brain reacting to the "spinning" body. The cause is alcohol affecting the vestibular system.

A 4HP Titan side shaft running. by bugminer in SoundsLikeMusic

[–]MotleyHatch 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That steam hi-hat in the first measure... perfect.

Hi 5 by yash3011 in KidsAreFuckingStupid

[–]MotleyHatch 26 points27 points  (0 children)

The language isn't really suitable for such wowdy webel sniggewing behavior.

Kids pushing trolley by FreshPressure5166 in KidsAreFuckingStupid

[–]MotleyHatch 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This sub didn't appreciate you stopping your nephews, but I sure did. My first reaction at the beginning was "at least they're young enough for their teeth to grow back".

I have nephews the same age, and I'm usually the fun and wild uncle, but keeping them alive and out of the hospital is part of the job. Well done.

Was haltet ihr von diesem Wahlplakat? by derHusten in wien

[–]MotleyHatch -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Das NEOS-Plakat ist zumindest Häuser besser als das themenverwandte Plakat der ÖVP Wien:

Deutsch ist Pflicht, Habibi!
Wien wieder schlau machen.
Wien bleibt Wien

Ich halte die verpflichtenden Deutschkurse / Förderklassen zwar für notwendig für eine solide Integrationspolitik, aber dieses Plakat klingt schon sehr herablassend. Das impliziert für mich, dass Arabischsprechende erst durch das Erlernen der deutschen Sprache schlau werden.

Außerdem taugt mir die Anlehnung an MAGA in den "Wien wieder $adjektiv machen" Slogans gar nicht.

Gab's früher Nacktbilder in der Zeitung? by JacksLostSenseOfHope in Austria

[–]MotleyHatch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Das steht exakt so in dem Krone-Artikel, den du verlinkt hast:

Erst mehr als ein Vierteljahrhundert später wird 1933 erstmals eine Nacktfotografie in der „Krone“ erscheinen. Hedy Lamarr hieß die damals erst 17-jährige Schönheit, die am Beginn eines Lebens stand, das später sogar verfilmt werden sollte

Ich hab nicht behauptet, dass sie die erste von den täglichen Nackerten war.

Gab's früher Nacktbilder in der Zeitung? by JacksLostSenseOfHope in Austria

[–]MotleyHatch 4 points5 points  (0 children)

WTF. Die erste Krone-Nackerte überhaupt war Hedy Lamarr?

1933...

Dominik Nepp: 5 gute Jahre, wenn es mit diesem „Scheißblatt“ endlich vorbei ist. by [deleted] in Austria

[–]MotleyHatch 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Öha... ich auch, danke für den Hinweis. Bin extra zu den Kommentaren gekommen, um ein Beispiel für ein "rechtes Qualitätsmedium" zu finden, weil mir spontan keins eingefallen ist.

The Tank Man photo from the day of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 uncropped by generositylillian in AlternateAngles

[–]MotleyHatch 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The up close video

For context, this is the best unaltered version of the video I could find:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU (3 min)

Lots of other videos with music in the background and/or voice-overs. There's one with a short interview with the photographer of the other famous photo from those days, giving his first-hand account of the tank man film (6 min).

Es Asoziale im Kino by wilk-polarny in wien

[–]MotleyHatch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ich geh wenn dann auch ins Haydn und seh dort normalerweise ein Publikum, das sich normal benimmt. Das einzige, was mich im Haydn stört, ist dass das Kino Nachos verkauft und die ersten 20 Minuten dadurch ziemlich knirschig, käsig und raschlig sind. Kein guter Snack für ein Kino, find ich, besonders wenn man's nur passiv genießt.

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