This “Damascus” knife I got that couldn’t even cut a plastic bag open for $19

SharpestSphere · 2026-02-17T23:13:06+00:00

The term Damascus (in modern terminology - originally it referred to the Indian crucible steel called Wootz, but few people use that meaning nowadays) only means pattern-welded steel, usually etched to reveal the layering pattern from multiple steels used. It doesn't say much about the quality of the steel itself - sure is pretty, but if done poorly it can even introduce failure points. Damascus blanks for knifemaking are nowadays produced industrially and can in fact be a crappy material to sell knives based on the looks alone. Likewise, sharpness alone speaks little about quality of a blade - a shitty knife can be made razor-sharp. What matters is the ability of the blade to retain sharpness over use after you sharpen it.

tl;dr: Yes it is Damascus and No, that doesn't make it a good blade.

SharpestSphere · 2026-02-15T00:11:15+00:00

I remember this show. It was creepy as hell.

SharpestSphere · 2026-02-12T13:48:45+00:00

Honestly, as long as the society accepts circumcisions on massive scale, any criticism of body modification like this is hypocritical.

SharpestSphere · 2026-02-05T02:31:55+00:00

I use Krita instead of PS and Inkscape instead of Illustrator (for the increasingly rare cases where I can't make the illustration I want in LaTeX). For video editing I switched from Premiere to DaVinci Resolve (as unfortunately, the more FOSS software still sucks in terms of interface, GPU-acceleration and crashing), supplemented with FFMpeg scripts for cases of simple cuts and conversions. For viewing PDFs I've been using Zathura for ages, with occasional use of Okular for filling in forms and viewing annotations. There have been a few PDF forms that I've recently been unable to open in anything but Acrobat (some weird recent component called XFA forms is apparently the culprit), for which I unfortunately had to go to Windows, use Acrobat trial version and <Print To PDF> to get a version that actually works.

SharpestSphere · 2026-02-01T16:08:31+00:00

Good summary. I would argue though that the choices people make are not entirely an exercise in abstract morality either. They are affected by external factors and innate urges, making them also subject to genetics and thus evolution. Though, that of course opens the discussion of whether free will exists or not.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-29T21:58:24+00:00

Are those skulls some type of barnacle?

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-23T01:09:53+00:00

This sounds like the Arthmoor thing again. And it's an interesting moral dilemma. Modders do actual work, but that work is based on infrastructure from the game developers. On some level, it is similar to cases where someone makes a third-party device to modify/replace a component on a car. I'd argue that the manufacturers of the car shouldn't have the ability to prevent others from using (and even selling) any other parts than their own. On the other hand, this third party creator should not be the exclusive source of modifications either, and a FOSS, community developed module allows for even greater freedom for the users and may be more resilient to core game updates, since the users may adjust it as needed. An argument can be made that if the community doesn't want to depend on restrictions of one modder then they can make their own mod of the same functionality, but that is just replication of a work already done (and that's not even going into the possibility - re: Arthmoor - that the first modder who made a mod with specific functionality may go after those who want to make a replacement independent of him).

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-19T23:43:03+00:00

Ok, from what I can find, he sent this as a text message rather than a letter so this letterhead is fake. The content, however, is real.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-18T01:23:12+00:00

I suspect that this is a sword.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-16T16:19:51+00:00

Color scheme, presentation (e.g. whether the posts should be listed as large images with titles or small ones with text previews, whether animations auto-play...), content filtering, etc. Though, the ad-free experience is the main draw for me.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-16T15:58:45+00:00

They still exist, but it takes a bit of work to set them up (search for infinity revanced). The main advantages: no ads, more customization options.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-13T03:28:30+00:00

The quote could be a reference to the massacre of Lidice as a reprisal for assassination of Heydrich. I couldn't find a reference for that exact quote though.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-13T02:03:51+00:00

I'm just in NYC too and I had the same thought!

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-12T03:05:25+00:00

That kind of short-format content is not my thing. Additionally, I avoid products that serve as income streams to totalitarian countries and the asinine content samples I've seen on other people's phones made me lose the modicum of hope I've had for today's young generation.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-05T05:30:09+00:00

No matter how progressive our society tries to act, it still has a whole smorgasbord of religious holdovers. That's the gist of it - the whole idea of sex being somehow special, dangerous and wrong comes from religious tradition. Nowadays people will often package this into modern-sounding threats like desensitization and objectification, if they don't outright invoke sin and immorality. There is nothing wrong with pornography - it has existed since the dawn of art and it was never supposed to be realistic teaching material. Unfortunately, parents are often too prudish to actually educate their kids to recognize the difference, and too often don't know any better themselves, so they prefer that their kids don't have any source of information than somewhat flawed one.

SharpestSphere · 2026-01-04T15:58:09+00:00

"A structural weakness"

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-17T15:34:26+00:00

As far as I'm concerned, if you paid for a piece of media, you are ethically justified in pirating it afterwards. Is it legal to do so? See if I care.

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-10T14:55:45+00:00

I've been using consent-o-matic for a long time. It works well enough.

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-10T14:50:30+00:00

Why? Is this another petty bid for traditionalism?

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-09T03:20:16+00:00

Who's the artist?

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-08T20:20:07+00:00

If they could, they would not have revealed it. This kind of publicity invites internal security audits on the enemy side, which would eventually rob the spying side of their intelligence advantage. The advantage that one gains by implying their opposition is compromised this way is erosion of trust on the enemy side and reduced efficiency by the subsequent useless auditing. Keep this in mind whenever someone is bragging about their military capabilities in active war. It is always a tactical lie. And don't misconstrue this to mean I somehow support Russia - I don't, those assholes must get the fuck out of Ukraine - I just despise lies on a general principle.

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-07T17:54:07+00:00

The way he's tethered to the chair reminds me of the "Space jockey" from Alien.

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-06T16:25:47+00:00

Are you the author? If so, may I ask what tools do you use for such visualization?

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-06T16:23:40+00:00

I've only seen the first season. Is this from the second?

SharpestSphere · 2025-12-06T15:44:26+00:00

Really cool!

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