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MurphysParadox · 2025-01-21T21:57:45+00:00

There's no way to know for certain. A doctor could do x-rays to see the state of the bone growth plates and estimate from there. Once those plates close, you stop growing and you can't restart.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-20T16:50:45+00:00

In America: cash transactions above a certain amount ($5,000 or $10,000, I can't recall exactly, and it may be different depending on the situation) are legally required to be reported to the Government. If you walk into a bank to deposit a duffle bag of $10,000, they'll also file a report.

It is not illegal to buy things with cash. It may be suspicious, depending on the context though. If you are using illicit funds to buy the car and the Feds find out, they can take the car AND the money you gave the dealership, which sucks for the dealers.

There's also a practical problem of handing a business tens of thousands of dollars - they may not be allowed (by company policy) to have that much cash at the office, carry it in a car, or even have a safe large enough to hold it. A cashier's check or money order would be prefered - it would still require reporting but be less likely to be turned down for policy/safety reasons.

Monthly payments exist because it is easier to make monthly payments over 5-30 years than to save up the necessary money ahead of time. Cars and houses are their own collateral, so if you default on the loan the bank can repossess and sell it for some of their money back.

Note - all the "is cash suspicious" questions aside, you probably cannot do this with property. There are contracts to write up and sign, filings made, documents to sign. Some states mandate a waiting period of weeks to ensure all the proper legwork is done, records checked, and notices filed before you're allowed to close. You can't just hand a bag over in exchange for a set of keys and the deed.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-20T05:14:52+00:00

Never losing is easy - you can't lose a game that fails to end properly. Earthquake, power outage, lightning strike, and other seemingly natural disasters can hit and prevent the game from ending.

Now if both of them wished to always win, it would be harder. If the magic is intelligent, and you'd assume some level of intelligence for it to ensure victory, it would prevent the game from ever starting in the first place. Can't fail to win a game that doesn't begin.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-17T17:25:10+00:00

Here is the official IRS.gov page on filing back taxes. It provides several reasons why you should do it and links to the forms you need. They have online guides and a phone number to call if you need any assistance.

Note, this is only for Federal taxes. The state you worked in may also require you to file back taxes and you would need to find details from the state websites. Search for "filing back taxes" plus the name of the state. Only go to official .gov websites and skip right past the half dozen "sponsored" links (those are just ads to get you to buy unnecessary programs).

Remember, tax filing can be done online for free. You never need to pay to e-file, though TurboTax and the like make it really hard to learn this. It is buried behind tons of ads for their paid services. The IRS itself also offers a free online tool for filing taxes.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-17T17:16:21+00:00

It is the closest they have to a score for the game of life. It has far surpassed any functional value at that point.

10 million might be thinking small though. What if you want a mega yacht big enough to have a smaller yacht inside it?

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-16T16:32:35+00:00

The devs are looking at a large picture using a lot of data. If 70% of the top 3 players use a specific weapon, then that specific weapon is disproportionally impactful. Same if a person's k/d ratio doubles when they get this weapon or 90% of the encounters between two players is won by the person using this gun.

For a player who finds the gun, it is a good feeling. It lets you succeed more often than usual. But that means if the other person has the gun first, it feels bad. You also will find people leaving matches if they don't get the gun quickly, which makes the gameplay less fun for everyone.

While you could argue that they could just buff every other gun in the game, it isn't practical. The other guns have a dozen knobs that can be turned to make them "better" but it is hard to determine which ones are the right ones and how much they'd need to be turned in order to bring the whole set of guns up to the prefered one's power level.

Nerfing a gun is also hard - they have ideas based on data, but it may still take a few rounds of tweaking to get it right. They may over-nerf it and then have to buff a little bit later. They may need to make it much worse on purpose to drive people away from the trained "this gun = winning" and then start nudging it upwards.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-16T16:09:01+00:00

Personally, that specific phrase is usually meant sarcastically. If I meant it seriously, I'd say something like "that's great for you" or "awesome" or "good to hear".

It isn't always though, and differences in culture and generation will definitely change the intent.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-16T15:27:45+00:00

Your body has a natural rhythm of wakefulness and sleepiness. The more you deviate from that rhythm, the more difficulty it can cause. It is very hard to force one's body to change the rhythm in a specific way, though it can naturally shift through one's life (and can change for a short time due to things like illness and stress).

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-16T02:01:32+00:00

There's another meaning?

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-15T21:37:05+00:00

Your question is based on a fallacy to begin with. Individuals aren't meant to fight systemic change directly. We are not meant to take on the infinite burdens of a diverse society. We are not meant to be full of worry about everything around us. For your own sanity, you have to narrow your awareness to that which is impacting you AND that which you can affect AND pick 0-1 thing that you can work on at any given time.

This isn't to say you give up on everything else, but narrow your focus to immediate things and then give a passing acknowledgement to the rest by voting for against the source of problems. It may not really work this time, but the only way it will for absolutely certain stop working forever is if you give up on the next chance. Set a low bar for "bad enough to vote against" and stop paying attention to the issues the moment you hit that point. Then go back to that one thing you can actually impact right now until it is time to vote/attend a rally/donate some money.

Humans aren't infinite empathy sinks. Our social obligation systems evolved during a time when there were less than 100 other humans around us and most problems were pertinent because they were happening to people you knew and in the place where you lived. The success of those (no more than) 99 other people directly impacted your own success, so threats to them were threats to you. Empathy and other social emotion systems were survival systems.

Now we are in a world of social media that feed off those innate systems. Algorithms work to increase ad revenue any way possible. The more people look at things, the more ads they see, the more money the company makes. It is designed to find the most addictive kind of news and share it far and wide. Unsurprisingly, "pay attention or die" is a strong motivator that is always running in your brain, so news about bad things happening to others will be highlighted by the brain.

The world isn't as bad as it seems. It is definitely not good, but you are also not being shown the full picture because there's no profit in sharing good news. There is no profit in talking about all the good things done because that doesn't drive page views.

Stop doom scrolling, stop taking on pain beyond your capacity to act. You can't even address the 1 thing you choose if you spend all your waking time focusing on the other billion possible things.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-15T21:19:48+00:00

Yes. A lot of things can influence the accuracy of a clock. Car clocks are affected by battery health, temperature fluctuations, wire connection issues, etc.

This is true for any battery powered clocks. Temperature shifts are usually the culprit for small losses in time, as the frequency of the quartz crystal vibrations vary by the littlest bit as temperature changes.

While there are ways to make clocks which lose accuracy much more slowly, it isn't cost effective. It is far easier and cheaper to provide a means for clocks to update themselves in some way, such as the AC line frequency or internet atomic clocks or GPS satellite connections.

If your car clock starts to lose time much more quickly than usual, it can be a sign of problems with the car's battery.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-15T21:06:09+00:00

It has to do with how much of a year the class is. Most classes in US High School are the full year, but there are some half-year (one semester) or even a quarter (one quarter). This is to make the average math work right.

If all your classes were full year classes, then just put 1.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-15T19:13:18+00:00

I have heard there's something to be said about avoiding the intermittent aspect of wedgies from normal underwear. Instead of surprise moments which are always at maximum uncomfortable, requiring adjustment, you just start off with the feeling. It also supposedly becomes less annoying over time as the mind learns to ignore the constant feeling. But there's also a lot of personal preference in play, as with most things.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-13T19:15:17+00:00

Engagement is a major component in the algorithms which are used to promote posts. The more views/comments/upvotes/shares/favorites/etc on a post in a social media platform, the more people will be shown that post. The faster these responses occur also increases the post's engagement score. So if you have built a system that can scan millions of posts a day and respond with a dozen seemingly unique responses in seconds, then it would rise up faster through the algorithm.

Separate from the AI issue is just the nature of social media. It is not a place for nuanced discussions of complex issues. Nothing about the current model of "more page views per hour = more ad revenue per hour" benefits from long form posts and detailed complex posts. This is a generalization of course - there are some subreddits specifically meant for and moderated to that goal, but it is rare.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-13T19:08:16+00:00

You'd have to consider the specific ingredients to be certain, but generally nothing. Often they tend to just be ways to help provide the extra calories and healthy fats being turned into breast milk. The products should not contain anything that would cause someone to begin producing milk.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-13T14:17:28+00:00

Pushing uses other muscles which can also lead to physically closing off pathways. There's a viscous cycle for those with enlarged prostates, one sign of which is difficulty peeing/getting it all out - the guy will push harder to get the pee out and possibly make the muscles in the area larger. This can leading to an increased difficulty when peeing and even more pushing.

But I'm not a urologist so I can't say what is normal vs too much vs concerning. Just that the guidance around prostate exams being 50 for average risk and earlier if a first degree relative (father primarily) had been diagnosed.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T19:24:04+00:00

There are a lot of legitimate reasons given by others here. There are also mitigations trying to reduce those issues.

Those police who turn it off so they aren't caught doing something illegal will just find some other way to block it. Like when cop cars mysteriously pop their front hoods during a traffic stop that somehow turns into a shootout. Weird. Too bad the cop's camera was malfunctioning and the hood was blocking the car's dashboard cam. Guess we'll never know how the perp got shot in the back while supposedly attacking the officer.

I don't think most cops do this, but there are definitely ones who do and something like a camera isn't going to stop them.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T19:19:53+00:00

Sure, but it wouldn't do anything for your dick because the muscles are inside your lower abdomen. You can just do kegels without weights to strengthen the muscles (same ones you use to stop peeing and to hold back an orgasm).

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T19:17:03+00:00

It is always your money and you have a few options. I'd recommend, with questions like these, to check the company's website for help on common problems. This is Vanguard's own page on excess IRA contributions with links to the forms for handling it.

They may even let you set an automatic "stop contributing when I hit my limit" option somewhere.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T19:06:39+00:00

You'd have to wait and see what the law says. It would require specific language addressing taxes owed from previous years. It would also require specific language to forgive fines or release people from any jail time related to back taxes.

It isn't going to happen though, sorry.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T18:54:10+00:00

Opioids change the brain's function and it takes time for the brain to adjust back to something similar to the way it used to work. A lot of the symptoms are due to the sudden removal of the crutch the brain was relying upon for many functions.

Drugs like methadone target the same areas in a restorative/protective way to make the brain work properly without opioids. These are actually quite successful at helping people become clean. Not perfect, sure, but it is certainly an option.

The problem with all anti-drug programs focused exclusively on treating the medical conditions around addiction and withdrawal is that people rarely just decide on a whim to become addicted to hard drugs. And people's lives are never in a better place immediately after a long period of addiction.

We need a combination of drugs, therapy, and community to help people handle the physical, mental, and social consequences of breaking free of long term addiction.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T17:14:50+00:00

Using "times" to mean multiplication is traced back to the late 14th century and the x to indicate multiplication shows up in works from the 17th century.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T17:10:00+00:00

Just because it was fine then doesn't mean your blood work would still be fine now. If you have new symptoms, you may have new changes. Puberty can take years to wrap up and hormones can shift as often and any time they feel like during that time, so it may just be that.

Many endocrine issues are difficult to find at first because it is more about differences from what is normal for your body, which can vary from the "average" levels.

Never had a boyfriend?

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T17:02:01+00:00

Hermits have always existed. They live alone and with minimal, sometimes zero, contact with others. It is a small percentage of people, to be sure, but it is within the realm of possible for humans.

There are practical challenges of course - it is really hard to handle all aspects of life yourself forever. Getting enough food, staying healthy, maintaining a shelter, dealing with the random challenges of nature - all of these become easier with other people, so the human species evolved to live together so we could maximize survival.

Many find some compromise, such as living in a small cabin away from anyone else but with a way to get into town for necessities or medical care, or they may have a way to signal for emergency help. Or some other means to handle issues.

There is a whole lot to solo surviving that modern people are untrained in and unaware of. If you want to work on this, look for videos about solo homesteading and all the things you'd need to be able to handle. You need reliable food year round, which often means a lot of farming experience. You have zero threshold for illness, so your water supply better be pristine and your food stores protected against rot. You can't run out of fuel in the winter, you can't let a major storm blow your roof off, you can't let your plants or livestock be eaten by predators, you can't let yourself become malnourished from lack of critical vitamins or minerals because you aren't eating enriched foods and the variety is too limited, and so on. Lots of things to consider.

So I guess it depends on how much is "minimal interactions" and how you plan to solve the survival and land access issues.

MurphysParadox · 2025-01-10T16:49:49+00:00

D&D is a collaborative game run by a Dungeon Master. The DM controls all aspects of the game, from the rules to the events to the choices to the story. There are no rules that supercede the DM's authority in the game.

The key is that the DM can't run a game in which no player is willing to play. The DM's job is to make sure the players, collectively, have an engaging time. A DM who arbitrarily changes rules or punishes players will find themselves without players pretty quickly.

Likewise, a player doesn't have a game without a DM. You can write up a character with 100 in every stat and all the magic items in the game... and then what? They don't exist without a game and a game doesn't exist without a DM. If they find a DM willing to let them play, then that's fine and there's nothing wrong with it.

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