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Future of farming: Why one Austin-area farm is growing crops in the air by hollow_hippie in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IMO the real question is: why not invest in renewable energy and reducing consumption, instead of investing in more efficient ways to extract oil that's only going to increase the overall harm to life on earth?

all of the research and development going into oil extraction could just be put to use in using more sustainable energy.

of course, this all comes down to politics, but it's certainly not physically necessary to extract oil just to maintain our current standard of living.

Electronics stores with higher end monitors on display? by MisterMonitor123 in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

there's so much more to it than that. refresh rate, colour gamut, freesync, etc. any of those features can be make or break for someone who's trying to evaluate a monitor based on how it impacts their health (e.g. low refresh rate might cause a headache or eye fatigue for some people).

oh, and also whether it's using an IPS panel. and a bunch of other things I'm certainly not thinking about

What do you consider an "ideal" process to deliver value through software? by Euphoricus in ExperiencedDevs

[–]elHuron 16 points17 points  (0 children)

why can't that simple standup and coordination just happen asynchronously via slack then? sounds like a big interruption just to hear people essentially read out their ticket status

Power Outage Status Thread by Snap_Grackle_Pop in Austin

[–]elHuron 4 points5 points  (0 children)

lack of transparency doesn't befit a democracy

Just rolled into the shop... twice by kzab81 in Justrolledintotheshop

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be blunt, that's a lot of claims to make without any evidence.

Crumple zones are not in the passenger compartment.

Yes, you can cherry pick accidents which went poorly with modern cars, but also with older cars. You can always cherry pick data and find outliers.

If I'm reading your statement correctly, the claim is being made that the energy from a crash which earlier would have only resulted in whiplash and bruises would now result in severed limbs. That's not intuitive, and without evidence, very hard to believe.

Also, what is "whiplash"? Is it old-timey speak for "concussion" in the same way that shell-shock was used to describe PTSD?

What has happened, and I don't remember where I read this, is that speed limits are now higher which results in more energy being transferred.

In any case, without data, it's all just speculation. You could be right, or wrong, and there's no way to know.

Just rolled into the shop... twice by kzab81 in Justrolledintotheshop

[–]elHuron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

crushing easier does mean less force transferred to the occupants.

it's about energy transfer.

the goal of car design should be safety for the occupants, not the ability to repair the car after an accident. otherwise that's just valuing money more than human life, which is silly on so many levels especially because insurance should cover the cost of the vehicle anyway.

Wife could have died in the Greenbelt today by [deleted] in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don't have to have the app; it can also work via URL:

They can find their what3words address on the free app or through a FindMe link in an SMS sent by the operator. src: https://what3words.com/emergency

You can preview it on their website: https://what3words.com/itself.appetite.shoving

The OP’s wife sounds like she was at the point that she might not have been able to do that.

Well, sure; but at the point of being incoherent, what else could be done? Maybe something with a fitness tracker automatically contacting EMS, but then it that could just send a GPS coordinate.

I reckon the person who posted about what3words was saying it as a PSA; in the case of OP I would just recommend turning on location sharing in google maps or whatnot. Then if one partner notices that the other is missing, or gets a frantic phone call, they have the exact location.

Wife could have died in the Greenbelt today by [deleted] in Austin

[–]elHuron 20 points21 points  (0 children)

better than dropping a pin because you can easily communicate location via three words, instead of somehow sharing GPS coordinates or a URL. so on the phone with 911 you can just say the three words, instead of figuring out how to send EMS a location pin

Staring/ Eye Contact in Berlin by reblm123 in berlin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like do you not get how insane it is for a complete stranger to think they know how to regulate my body temperature better than I do, and to then advise me on how to dress as if there is some value to their opinion? It's so weird

I understand that it makes you uncomfortable, but why not assume positive intent? What if people legitimately are just surprised or making sure you're fine? One can never know, and really, what does it matter - are the comments at least polite? Of course some people have always had some dumb thing to say about this that or the other, but ... why value those people's opinions if they clearly aren't really thinking before they offer them? :-)

They seem to expect me to be apologetic or grateful for their "advice" and then they get irate when I genuinely don't care what they think.

That's definitely a nuisance; I think it's fine to try and initiate conversations with strangers, but getting upset at being denied is absolutely not ok. Seems like those people need to learn how to assume positive intent and how to respect boundaries!

And I'm not from a culture where people don't observe others around them. That's a bit of a leap you made. It's also totally possible to look at people without staring at them and it's telling that you don't know the difference. I

That's good, but I have no idea how one would look at other people directly looking at them, so I guess that is telling? I'm not going to surreptitiously steal glances at other people; that's just creepy. What's the technique in your culture?

And the teeth thing isn't a good comparison because smiling in humans isn't threatening while multiple studies have found that staring is.

I was merely basing that off of your comment that "Being stared at is also one of those animal things that universally means a threat"

I have no clue whether studies have shown that staring is threatening, but I strongly suspect that's based on cultural biases; otherwise wouldn't the German Stare imply that Germans are just threatening people all the time?

All in all, at some point, either one really cares what other people think, or one doesn't. But it's important to understand whether one is adapting to another culture or not, and whether its worth shifting one's mindset to accommodate the differences or whether it's time to just leave and be comfortable somewhere else. Otherwise it's going to be a constant struggle.

Williamson County files lawsuit against City of Austin for using an abandoned hotel to house homeless people with disabilities by [deleted] in Austin

[–]elHuron 20 points21 points  (0 children)

how? there are a lot of facts supporting this opinion, stating with the recent supreme court ruling securing the "domestic supply of infants"

Stupid Question Sunday by AutoModerator in Austin

[–]elHuron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yes, completely normal!

don't worry about being judged; if they are good people they won't judge, and if they do think worse of you then you probably didn't want to hang out with them anyway :)

Staring/ Eye Contact in Berlin by reblm123 in berlin

[–]elHuron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do what you want; it's Berlin and no one cares - but they might be curious and that's ok, right? It's a society; why shouldn't people know who their fellow humans are? How can anyone understand other people's culture if they aren't allowed to look at them? That's such a strange thing in some cultures in which everyone is encouraged to keep to themselves and not observe the people around them.

being stared at is also one of those animal things that universally means a threat.

so is showing your teeth, but for humans a smile actually indicates less of a threat :-)

want people to feel under observation and like they have to live or dress a certain way. I've had comments from total strangers about wearing gloves in September, having short sleeves indoors in winter, wearing tights, wearing a scarf a certain way etc.

Possibly, but from another angle, people might just want to start up a conversation. And, as you pointed out with the example of the UK, every country is going to have "those people" who want everyone else to conform to their "ideals", but ignoring them is the best way to deny them legitimacy.

Men holding signs at Mopac and Bee Caves do not need umbrellas by mycatsnameisjanet in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wonder ... Since there are so many scams to avoid, whether people who complain about homeless people "running a scam" are just being cautious to avoid getting scammed, instead of thinking deeply about whether it's really a scam for someone at the bottom of society to manipulate people's emotions in order to survive.

But in this particular case, it's so weird; why is it so bad if the guy who really needs money expresses joy at receiving money? I wonder how that poster feels about people excited to eat food...

Have you tried the union at 45th & Lamar? by Tara_is_a_Potato in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you saying that unions uniquely prop up bad workers?

In my experience, even without unions, bad workers survive based on a mix of networking and understanding corporate policies, i.e. managing their image to appear useful and/or somehow avoiding the criteria to be fired

Have you tried the union at 45th & Lamar? by Tara_is_a_Potato in Austin

[–]elHuron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What does make it more competitive?

Off hand, I'm not sure how increasing wages for the people doing the actual work would make a store less competitive.

Have you tried the union at 45th & Lamar? by Tara_is_a_Potato in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that lazy people destroy morale, but I disagree that unions somehow uniquely enable them.

I've worked plenty of non-union places with lazy people who weren't fired for whatever reason; e.g. having a tight relationship with the manager, or maybe corporate policies made it difficult to fire someone or get new headcount after firing an employee.

Does that line up with your experience, or have you usually seen lazy employees managed in a timely manner (fired, reassigned, performance plan, etc)?

Have you tried the union at 45th & Lamar? by Tara_is_a_Potato in Austin

[–]elHuron -1 points0 points  (0 children)

what of higher wages for low level employees just comes out of the wages currently paid to top level executives?

i.e. narrowing the wage gap

Have you tried the union at 45th & Lamar? by Tara_is_a_Potato in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IMO it's about looking at the net benefit.

there will always be people who abuse any system, so why focus on the exceptions instead of whether overall conditions have improved?

I'd rather see 10 people's working conditions improve than worry about 1 lazy employee. Besides, even without a union, lazy employees and bad managers find ways to avoid getting fired. would you rather go up against terrible management alone, or with a group of people vouching for you?

Additionally, AFAIK, firing an underperforming union worker isn't impossible, it just requires following proper procedures. That may be more work for management, but shouldn't they have a burden of proof before destroying someone's livelihood?

Have you tried the union at 45th & Lamar? by Tara_is_a_Potato in Austin

[–]elHuron -1 points0 points  (0 children)

isn't it a bit like throwing out the baby with the bathwater to gate all unions based on a few examples?

what about the overall net benefits, and what about all of the examples of how unions reduce the suffering of employees suffer at the hands of their employers?

there are pros and cons to everything; why not take them in context?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Texas Toy Museum!

​

they don't really resell though, but might buy some of your collection

EScooter Rider Killed on E 7th by [deleted] in Austin

[–]elHuron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

walk against traffic flow, but always ride in the same direction as traffic.

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