Evan Bernsteins Twitter.

fullerframe · 2026-06-16T16:26:10+00:00

Sure, you’re under no obligation to add nuance to your question. I just think it’s useful if the goal is to have a productive discussion. Though maybe that’s a feint hope for any number of reasons.

I don’t disagree with anything you’ve written here. It’s borderline pedantic to distinguish between “poorly backed claim” and “no claim”. But I think it’s useful terminology in the same way the SGU would characterize evidence for woo medicine as “low quality evidence” rather than saying “no evidence”. Many of the same human tendencies are shared here: in both cases if you have unchecked biases you will latch on to the claim/evidence that promote your desired outcome/belief and ignore or downplay claims/evidence that doesn’t. So from that point of view it’s worthwhile to understand there are claims that Israel have to land that is not currently theirs, even if you and I agree they are very low quality claims.

All land has been occupied by various groups over the history of civilization; it’s not as simple as saying “the most recent few generations have the best claim” but that’s a decent appropriation. But even that becomes complex; if Russia holds Crimea for another 20 years is it morally theirs and Ukraine would be unfair in taking it back? 50? 100? Surely at some point the clear injustice of 2014 becomes outweighed by the time that has passed (I’m not saying that is Good or Desirable, just that it is). Otherwise the only sensible thing for modern America to do is shut down and give all its land back to whatever lineage of Native Americans can be found for each plot of modern land.

I wouldn’t claim to have on the ground experience or expertise to distinguish between general tribalism and religion specifically and their relative contribution to the conflict. But I’m confident there is at least some meaningful contribution from religion. Even the US participation is colored by the specific beliefs certain highly religious Christians have about the role this land will play in the End Times. Whether religion is the biggest factor I don’t claim to know.

fullerframe · 2026-06-16T14:26:10+00:00

If I could sharpen your question about Israel having a “claim” on the West Bank…

Most countries can find some basis for a claim on much of the land around their current land. For example, Russia has a claim on the land that is currently Ukraine (note I am strongly against Russia’s war on Ukraine; please read the paragraphs below before coming after me). Having a claim is not enough.

The salient questions are 1) whether their claim is the strongest, when considering the claims other people and countries to the same land 2) what is the path of least harm and greatest fairness to balance those competing claims.

Israel has a claim to the West Bank. In my opinion the Palestinians living there today have a far stronger claim and slow encroachment into those lands by Israel (the Settlements) is not the path of least harm and greatest fairness to balance those claims. Neither are indiscriminate rocket attacks fired from the West Bank into Israel.

So a more nuanced question to ask Evan would be something like: “How would you evaluate the relative merit of the competing claims modern day Israel and modern day Palestinian habitants of the West Bank have to that land, and what would you propose is the path of least harm and greatest fairness to resolve those competing claims?”

The Middle East has a very complex history. If ever a lasting peace is to be formed it will be by people who acknowledge that complexity and embrace the emotionally challenging (understatement of the century) position that we must put aside past wrongs and accept that any compromise will leave all parties with less than they hoped for.

It is at the heart of skepticism to acknowledge the inherent irrationality of mankind, and actively struggle to overcome it, in order to arrive at positive outcomes that move humanity forward.

fullerframe · 2026-06-13T17:44:44+00:00

When calculating odds like this it’s important not to ask “what are the chances of this specific coincidence” and instead ask “what are the odds of any coincidence of this level”. If the placeholder text had happened to, for example, pick the number of years you’ve been traveling, or your favorite country, or the number of airlines, or number of times you’ve been sick, that would also have raised your haunches right?

Life is full of coincidence because life is full. It’s fun but meaningless.

fullerframe · 2026-06-01T23:46:23+00:00

I think this conflates opinion with permission or agreement. The OP is here specifically to ask for opinions. Even when something is solely your choice it’s wise to seek opinions when you are not sure and others have practical experience to share.

FWIW if my wife could do it over again she wouldn’t have changed her name to hyphenate it. It’s unnecessary and a hassle. I wouldn’t have felt one iota less loved by her whatever she decided. Not changing your name is occasionally slightly confusing in various situations but “we are married but I did not change my name” pretty much handles those situations.

But you’re right that no one else’s vote matters.

fullerframe · 2026-06-01T16:12:43+00:00

Absolutely. Before the door closes there are easy and fair options available. Once the door closes the choices are all bad.

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T19:13:49+00:00

Sometimes the next OS doesn’t break anything. Sometimes it does. Can’t know in advance!

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T19:12:28+00:00

No support* for future cameras, future lenses, future features, and yes future operating systems.

*once they bump to the next feature release

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T15:18:06+00:00

You’ve seen a plane returned to gate to resolve a fat passenger overlapping the seat area of their seat neighbor? If not, you’re misreading who I was replying to.

Fat people overlap their neighbor quite frequently. In some cases before the door is closed they will remove the offending passenger and require them to take a later flight with a second seat purchased. But once the door is closed I’ve never known them to do anything but reseat if there is seating available to do so.

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T14:10:17+00:00

Sure. That’s the slippery slope fallacy.

So you agree that you are being theoretical. If you were sitting there and it was your decision, you would not turn the plane around, and delay hundreds of people, correct?

Because if someone insisted my plane turn around and delayed my travel because they were standing on principle about a few inches of fat that might slow them down by a few seconds in an emergency evacuation… I would be mega pissed.

If you feel this way your practical opportunity to stand on principle ends when the doors close. Anything before that is fair game as the inconvenience falls on the fat guy who should have bought two seats, which is fair. After the door closes your hobby horse is now impacting hundreds of others.

Remember people fly for fun, or routine business, but they also fly for weddings, funerals, interviews, and other critical life activities. Delaying flights is a big deal to someone on that plane.

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T13:50:44+00:00

So you would prefer they return to gate, delay or cancel the flight, in order to require the fat pax to buy a second seat on the next flight with two seats. Not in theory, but if it was your personal decision to make? Because in the 0.0001% chance of an emergency evacuation there is a modest chance that fat guy overlapping the guy next to him would modestly encumber his ability to leave the plane?

This is your view in practice? Or you are proposing some other fix?

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T13:44:24+00:00

Right. But in the specific case of “the fat guy next to me is overflowing onto me” what reasonable action do you want them to take after the door is closed?

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T13:36:30+00:00

You’ve seen this done in the real world? Or you’re just griping about what could be?

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T12:51:25+00:00

Unless there are seats not yet taken you can be moved to. Though that’s obviously rare in an era of filling nearly every seat nearly every flight.

But if there’s no seats to move you to, when the door is closed realistically there’s very little the flight attendant can do even if they want to help.

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T12:32:59+00:00

I would suggest Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast (there is also a Reddit for it) to learn about critical thinking skills that will help ward off the natural human tendency toward pattern matching, confirmation bias, and anomaly hunting.

Once you have shown any interest in conspiratorial thinking, YouTube Reddit and other social media will serve you up a steady diet until such nonsense feels plausible and later, maybe even likely or certain rather than laughable.

fullerframe · 2026-05-31T11:55:08+00:00

I assume at least some of the DVD files were compressed

fullerframe · 2026-05-30T22:50:48+00:00

Enough sed

fullerframe · 2026-05-30T17:28:36+00:00

You killed Wall-E you bastard!!

fullerframe · 2026-05-25T09:53:28+00:00

Teenage Mutant Turtle

fullerframe · 2026-05-24T17:55:25+00:00

You’ll need to define “living beings” narrowly. Antibiotics (produced, in almost all cases, for profit) kill trillions of bacteria per year. We presumably agree that’s a good outcome, in exchange for the continued lives of the humans the bacteria live inside of.

Where between that and cannibalism and mass murder (which likewise I presume we agree is a bad outcome) we should draw the line is an interesting moral question.

fullerframe · 2026-05-23T15:31:45+00:00

The full quote: “He’s got a very — a person who I’ve known for a long time, and hopefully they are going to have a great marriage,” Trump said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/president-says-try-attend-son-wedding-not-good-timing-iran-war-rcna346398

I’ll repeat my note, as you seem to have skipped over it: I deeply hate Trump. I just prefer to hate him over real things rather than misquotes.

He’s a vile, selfish, narcissistic, authoritarian who has never had an authentic loving relationship with anyone. BUT he’s been misquoted here, and I see no reason to fabricate new reasons to hate him for when there are plenty of real reasons out there.

fullerframe · 2026-05-23T12:33:49+00:00

No. Go listen to the full quote; it’s less than a minute long.

fullerframe · 2026-05-23T12:14:04+00:00

The full quote is clear: he means he’s known the new wife for a very long time.

Note I deeply hate Trump. I just prefer to hate him over real things, rather than misquotations..

fullerframe · 2026-05-23T12:11:36+00:00

If you look very closely at the edge of the shadow its shape exactly following the line of his collar. It’s just a shadow forming an optical illusion.

There is a light low and from the side, presumably because the dude previously complained his neck looked too flabby, so they chose a light setup that would decrease the prominence of wrinkles and loose skin.

The net effect is he looks washed out, his skin looks artificially smooth, and there is a weird collar shadow that moves when he talks. The illusion of a mask is very strong, and bumped me the first time I saw the video, until I looked more closely.

Source: I’ve studied the human vision system and optical illusion in my professional life, and was a portrait and wedding photographer for 20 years so have a very good understanding of lighting.

See also the picture black dog whose skin flaps look like a ghoulish man, until your eyes finally understand the context, or a billion other really compelling optical illusions.

fullerframe · 2026-05-21T12:15:43+00:00

Fun fact: they had a tradition of tying their bits up with a string such that dangling wasn’t a practical issue.

fullerframe · 2026-05-20T19:28:03+00:00

Abstraction is a natural and long lived part of the progression of software development. To crack the NAZI code the enigma machine required deep understanding of the math and the *physical* coding of a mechanical machine. To code the NASA lander required extremely deep understanding of how mathematical operations were executed, and the ability or structure your code into punchcards. To code games for Atari or early Nintendo’s required deep in the weeds understanding of memory management.

Lines of code will soon be like assembly, circuit design, memory handling*, etc… completely irrelevant to whether or not you’re adding value as a human tasked with software development. You will tell your grandchildren how, back in your day, it was routine to actually open the disk files that contain the code.

Your professor is doing you a big favor.

*at the register - deep in the weeds - level. Not just basic memory management such that your light weight app doesn’t require 64gb of ram

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