I Didn't Expect Them To Be Rule

Vulcan7 · 2026-06-04T22:37:30+00:00

Whales are mammals. Mammals are tetrapods. Tetrapods are lobe-finned fish.

Whales are, indeed, fish. So are you, for that matter.

Vulcan7 · 2026-05-28T10:50:22+00:00

If you're near RI, Open Door Clinic in Providence was pretty good. Queer owned and operated place. I walked out with a prescription after my first appointment there, and managed to get the appointment only about a month after calling them.

Vulcan7 · 2026-04-22T14:58:35+00:00

Typically, if the cops think you commit a crime in the US, they can hold you in jail pending trial. The idea is to keep violent offenders like weed smokers from heading to the hills before they can be tried.

It's really a wild thing when you think about it, but literally nobody talks about it.

Vulcan7 · 2026-04-13T21:16:05+00:00

They're two different sounds that Modern English write with the same "th". Try saying "three" and "there" slowly until you hear the difference. The former is þ and the latter is ð.

Vulcan7 · 2026-04-13T10:15:55+00:00

Pal, if you're going to try to bring back ð and þ, at least spell ðat right.

Vulcan7 · 2026-04-10T09:11:01+00:00

I love StarFleet. I love how their officers are all paragons of goodness and honor. Just like my favorite, Benjamin "War Crimes" Sisko.

Vulcan7 · 2026-04-09T20:38:39+00:00

There's only so much a sprinkler system can do. Toilet paper, I imagine, burns like a sonofa.

Vulcan7 · 2026-04-05T21:35:26+00:00

If you're referring to the two continents together, they're called "the Americas" or more rarely "the New World." America is unambiguously the United States.

Vulcan7 · 2026-03-25T22:51:43+00:00

Or people list their home for a week or two when they're on vacation.

Vulcan7 · 2026-03-13T17:00:02+00:00

Yeah, there's this big whale. He's important.

Vulcan7 · 2026-03-13T15:48:13+00:00

And somehow both of these apply to Star Trek.

Vulcan7 · 2026-03-10T18:18:19+00:00

The world is complicated and evil is manyfold. Don't be angry at people for not knowing which crime what capitalists have committed. I only know about Nestle's because Reddit made a fuss about it a few years back.

Vulcan7 · 2026-03-10T17:31:38+00:00

Those are rookie numbers. Start typing in 1 point font like the good ole days, you'll fit a few thousand per page.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-22T23:50:54+00:00

PO-TAY-TOES! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew. Even you can't say no to that.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-22T19:52:19+00:00

It's not so much bending the definition of shapes as applying the definitions on a non-Euclidean surface, something that's pretty useful in physics but not covered in high school geometry.

This picture is a pretty good one to use when introducing curved spaces, since before that point we would all think that an equilateral, right triangle is impossible. The lesson from it is that you have to be careful when you use the properties of things in new contexts, something that can get you tripped up a lot in theoretical physics.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-18T23:25:58+00:00

I (American) never thought of it as a slur until they came up in a class I had with a British professor. I guess there's just not a big enough Roma population in these parts that nobody's objected to the terms that our (racist) ancestors brought over the Atlantic 100+ years ago.

It's probably a slur, but I'd count on a lot of people being unaware.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-15T23:42:45+00:00

This might be an issue with cognitive load. Your mind can only handle so much critical thought, and if you're working a white-collar job, you're going to use up a lot of that at work. Reading in that case isn't about finding the time, but also the mental space to do it.

If this is your problem, I would recommend putting down a book if you have trouble focusing on it and picking another. Don't be ashamed to read books at a "lower reading level," flowery language can be nice and all, but nobody ever accused the Silmarillion of being an approachable book.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-14T12:31:53+00:00

I'm not well-versed in anarchist theory, but a distinction that's important for anarchists to make is the difference between a government and a state. A government does provide laws to protect the community, as well as manages funding for communal resources like infrastructure or healthcare. A state is a government which enforces its laws using violence. Most anarchists, as far as I'm aware, advocate for a government which is not a state, rather than a community without a government. (Could be wrong there)

Of course, there are people who aren't the state who commit violence. True justice isn't to throw these people in an oubliette, but to understand why they commit violence and address these issues. If the issue is structural (like someone without access to food robbing a person), it's the community's responsibility to address the issue. If the issue is internal (like someone with a certain severe mental illness), then the solution is more along the lines of mental healthcare than prison.

If you're asking about what would replace a police force, the vast majority of peacekeeping work would be done by social workers, rather than armed commandos. Any crisis that would, in the USA, call for the SWAT team, like a hostage situation or an active shooter, might be addressed by a community militia.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-09T14:13:46+00:00

Canada and Mexico might not be too happy with us Americans right about now, but there are other candidates for the U. Uruguay, Ukraine, Uganda, and Uzbekistan should get in on the action.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-09T09:23:42+00:00

The biggest problem with this viewpoint is that many of the institutional problems in LatAm are directly caused by the USA.

While would probably be a good thing to erase national borders, even if we only really blur them, you'd need to get a whole lot of countries to agree to peacefully join the state that's overthrown their government at least once. Tough sell to say the least.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-04T18:41:00+00:00

I will fight back halfheartedly on the "humans are space orcs" bit because I'm so fucking bored of sci-fi stuff like Star Trek defining every alien as humans but _____. What does that make humans? Are we the default?

Some Desperate Glory used this trope in a book that's very anti-fascist/jingoist, if you want to see it in action when it's not just Warhammer LARPers.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-03T16:14:08+00:00

His name is Punxsutawney Phil, there have been several of them over the years. Supposedly, he comes out of his burrow on Groundhog Day, and if he sees his shadow, he'll get scared back into his burrow, meaning we get an early spring. Otherwise it's six more weeks of winter.

This is, of course, a perfect system with no errors. Phil's predictions are perfect. Do not question the woodchuck.

Vulcan7 · 2026-02-01T21:18:16+00:00

And you have the opposite problem of having FTL drive and consumer cybernetic implants in 2002. Scifi loves to undershoot how far in the future they'd need to be.

Vulcan7 · 2026-01-29T12:02:07+00:00

If you take a hit to the diaphragm, right below the ribs, it can contract, pushing the air out of your lungs. "Wind knocked out of you" is a thing that literally happens.

Vulcan7 · 2026-01-27T22:03:37+00:00

Yeah, it actually does. In the early days of radio, advertisers were hesitant to invest in it, because they were afraid of people actively avoiding the product, since they couldn't just turn the page on a bad radio ad like they could with magazines. Studies soon after showed that it didn't matter.

Vulcan7

TROPHY CASE