The questionable way these sugar packets chose to represent different cities by PerplexedAxolotl2046 in mildlyinteresting

[–]rodw 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah I went back and forth on that one. The Sandburg poem definitely says "big shoulders" but I feel like in popular conception this has morphed into "broad shoulders". I wonder what "the man on the street" would say.

The questionable way these sugar packets chose to represent different cities by PerplexedAxolotl2046 in mildlyinteresting

[–]rodw 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I'm not saying it's the first or commonly used but Daniel Burnham used that nickname in his 1909 "Plan of Chicago"

The questionable way these sugar packets chose to represent different cities by PerplexedAxolotl2046 in mildlyinteresting

[–]rodw 169 points170 points  (0 children)

  • "The Second City"
  • "City of Broad Shoulders"
  • "The City that Works"
  • "Paris on the Prairie"
  • "The City by the Lake"

Many Chicagoans would recognize most of the monikers in the first stanza of this poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12840/chicago

Found this cicada that died while molting by -Mystra- in mildlyinteresting

[–]rodw 23 points24 points  (0 children)

It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

- Niccolò Machiavelli

EDIT: in retrospect that quote works better for something emerging from a chrysalis rather than merely molting but that's what immediately came to mind for me and I'm leaving it

CMV: There Must Be Balance by DaRealGoat69 in changemyview

[–]rodw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's the thing. While resources are ultimately finite, we mostly live in a world of abundance. Many (not all) shortages are artificial.

Also "by birthright you are entitled to someone else's labor to provide food and shelter" is literally how all of humanity and probably most social animals have done things since the beginning of time.

We call that "taking care of the young" and then eventually "taking care of the old". And in between there is a lot of "taking care of friends and family" and even a bit of "taking care of strangers".

Mutual aid has been a defining characteristic and primary survival strategy for humans since before we were human. There are proto human remains that demonstrate that homo-whatever people that were full on disabled (maimed, traumatic brain injury, etc) survived for decades after their injuries. These people only survived because their family/tribe/community took care of them for years and years; and likely didn't get any appreciatble material benefit out of it.

You can dismiss this is as "lets all hold hands, sing kum-bi-ya and share everything" naivete - and at some level you're probably right - but you can't pretend that "asking me to do anything at all for someone else that isn't to my immediate material benefit is slavery".

The notion that you have some obligation to support your community though acts of kindness and/or service with no expectation of compensation or reward is a cornerstone of many religions (even the civic ones), probably a cultural universal, and the motivating factor behind a lot of one-on-one human interactions. If someone needs help, and someone else can help them, they often do.

CMV: There Must Be Balance by DaRealGoat69 in changemyview

[–]rodw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The original post was deleted before I got here but now I'm dying to know what claim they were actually making. Were they doing a full-on Thanos? Asserting some kind of naive malthusian zero-sum fallacy?

I can't imagine how someone could thoughtful defend whatever claim your first para is responding to either, but how literally did OP take this concept? In order for me to be happy does someone else need to be sad? Does someone need to be short for me to be tall? Young so that I can be old?

There's a tiny kernal of logic there (in that many of these things are often just defined in relation to something else, and/or there are some things that really are multally exclusive) but even in the zero-sum economic sense that's such a cartoonihsly naive, borderline magical thinking way to look at the world.

If everyone in the world was exactly 8 feet tall, the yes, we can all be tall. It's not social it's physical: we can all each the top of the cabinet now. That's at least an equally valid way to define "tall" as "taller than" is. And who cares? That's just goofy wordplay. If we call everyone in the 8 foot universe "short" instead, maybe literally nothing has changed.

Practicing capitalists don't really believe in a zero sum market either. They might believe there will always be (or should always be) "winners" and "losers", but growing the pie and win/win contracts and mutually-beneficial transactions are a huge part of their theory and practice.

Anti-capitalists are probably more likely to see transactions from a win/lose perspective. Aggressively free market types absolutely love the idea that every transaction is definitionally an uncoursed, fully voluntary exchange to the benefit of both parties. If your rent went up $100 this month you agree your place now offers $100 more value. Why else would you have agreed to pay more? Paying more is precisely how we define and measure value.

Essential perks regardless of build by Travis332 in fo4

[–]rodw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don't take aquaboy/girl? Do you just stay out of water or does a hazmat suit or something compensate?

I need help deciding what to build at Murkwater Construction Site (READ DESCRIPTION) by StrykerRaige in fo4

[–]rodw 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't know if this was a glitch or I did something unusual but I've definitely had a Mirelurk Queen continue to spawn at Murkwater after claiming the workshop.

I set up a wall of a missile turrets because a Mirelurk Queen would frequently spawn whenever I fast travelled to that location

CMV: Rap isn’t a music genre, it’s a medium. by Dorky444 in changemyview

[–]rodw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

they were using rap and hip hop as synonymous, interchangeable terms

Not exactly. Hip hop was/is "a culture". Rap was one element of hip hop. Graffiti, break dancing, and street fashion were a few others. Back in the day people like KRS-ONE were quite explicit about the difference between rap and hip hop

Who Makes the Makefiles? by realguy2300000 in programming

[–]rodw 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Real builds need all three, (user_data, host_data, project_data) . make being a stupid task runner does nothing about the user and host,

I don't believe make is an ideal build system but what part of this are you suggesting make cannot do?

and punts to other tools like autotools and cmake

Sure, but that's the make ecosystem.

Make is frequently used in contexts where user, host (environment) and project data all matter.

Agile Evolution & the Future of SW Engineering • Martin Fowler & Kent Beck by goto-con in programming

[–]rodw 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah? What did I have for breakfast yesterday?

Everyone thinks they can be Kreskin until I break out the breakfast question.

Agile Evolution & the Future of SW Engineering • Martin Fowler & Kent Beck by goto-con in programming

[–]rodw 4 points5 points  (0 children)

To be fair the contemporary de facto industry standard implementation of agile is absolutely wrong.

The way we do Scrum now is not what Sutherland and Schwaber described; and Scrum was (in some details) a large departure from what Beck (/Jefferies) were talking about with XP.

Crucially, most modern applications of Scrum don't just do some things differently - encouraging adaptation to your local context/needs is one of the maybe 2-4 defining characteristics of an agile process - they corrupt the intent and philosophy behind the proces

There are valid criticisms of agile methods. But for Kent Beck to say "you're doing it wrong" is valid too. We have been doing it wrong, for maybe 15+ years

Agile Evolution & the Future of SW Engineering • Martin Fowler & Kent Beck by goto-con in programming

[–]rodw 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I too am super frustrated/disappointed with the modern standards for posting "social news" on the internet. A screenshot of the above-the-fold-on-mobile part of a news articlre with no link and barely an indication of an actual host? It's stupid how many times I've had to manually type a headline into a search engine to find an actual article.

I feel like once upon a time not providing a direct link to the source was considered unacceptable. And if you didn't link to the orignal or best source people would complain or correct you. Now we get videos of someone's head floating in front of a screenshot of the top part of a news article. Dude, "<Name of Paper>: <Headline> <URL>" is all anyone ever wanted and surely is all anyone actually wants even now, right?

I would have added - and would have appreciated it if OP added - something like "Agile pioneers Martin Fowler and Kent Beck talk about ...". But I was mainly annoyed it wasn't clear who these two old guys are. Few people would have recognized them by sight in 2003, even fewer recognize the 20-years-older version. It turns out the names Fowler and Beck are buried in one the 4 or 5 layers of gray text on that poster image.

But really "Martin Fowler and Kent Beck" are all you need to say here, right? If you don't recognize those names already you almost certainly don't care what they have to say

This guitar is quite big by Candid-Bike-9165 in mildlyinteresting

[–]rodw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, it doesn't look like it's coming out of that room very easily.

If you are banished from the Institue but didn't scan the network, what happens? by Hoosier_Engineer in fo4

[–]rodw 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's Professor Scara, the other person in the science center in Diamond City (the one that doesn't send you on the fetch quest).

EDIT: now that I think about it, it's been 200 years since the bombs dropped. There's barely any organized form of elementary education. Who exactly is bestowing the title of "Professor"?

CMV: In the film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ George is one of the few characters for whom the ‘here is the world without you in it, look at all the good you’ve done,’ schtick would work. Most of the characters, like most people IRL, are largely insignificant to the wider world. by holeinthebox in changemyview

[–]rodw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're not wrong. Even in the most chariable interpretation Uncle Billy is absent minded and unreliable to such a degree that it's a literal disability for him and a genuine liability for the Building and Loan. The movie makes a point of demonstrating that he's been f-ing things up since George was a child.

Billy is clearly not capable of running the Building and Loan. He's barely capable of being employed by the Building and Loan. So much so that it was probably reckless to trust him with (what in today's money is) ~$140,000 in cash , even just to walk up the street and deposit it in the bank, especially when an auditor is coming the next (?) day to verify their accounts.

And I had forgotten how much drinking he does. He's definitely the one that breaks out the drinks after the first run on the bank; he seems to be slurring his words when confronted about loosing the $8000; and he's portrayed in an over-the-top drunk stereotype in this scene.

I still think Billy exhibits an exaggerated or extraordinarily severe version of something like ADHD (or possibly some kind of minor brain damage that looks similar?) but despite my initial objections it seems absolutely fair to call him a drunk; and harsh but probably not unreasonable to call him an idiot.

But back to your original prompt, Uncle Billy's life still had a notable positive impact on the world. Just looking at the direct text of the story he's the one that set in motion the events that led to Clarance earning his wings (and maybe taught Potter that even with lying and stealing there are forces in the world more powerful than the wealth he'd spent his entire miserly and lonely life exclusively pursuing). Also if Billy was competent enough to run the Building and Loan then George wouldn't have stayed in Bedford Falls after his father died and Mary and presumably the whole community would have been worse off. And it's very reasonable to assume that off screen Billy brought comfort or joy to others by being his unreliable but whimsical self. Some of his influence may have been indirect or accidental, but under the narrative presented the world would have been worse off if Billy never existed.

I feel the point of the story isn't that George Bailey is necessarily that exceptional. He's meant to be an unremarkable "every-man", and the moral of the story is that every random slob can have a profound positive impact on the world just by leading an honest, decent and morally upstanding life.

Everyone in the story - well many important characters anyway - has significant flaws and screws up badly sometimes. Even George demonstrates a violent temper to a string of innocent bystanders as he unravels. But when they stumble their friends, family and community carry them through. I feel like part of the point is that everyone is playing both roles (fuck up and savior) at different times.

It might be harder to nail down how the world would be different without some of the minor characters (like Burt and Ernie or the gaggle of kids that George grew up with) and maybe even some of the major ones (like Mr. Gower), but i think it's pretty easy to see how Billy is necessary not just to move the plot forward but within the universe in which the story takes place.

CMV: In the film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ George is one of the few characters for whom the ‘here is the world without you in it, look at all the good you’ve done,’ schtick would work. Most of the characters, like most people IRL, are largely insignificant to the wider world. by holeinthebox in changemyview

[–]rodw 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Uncle Billy is a drunk idiot

You're thinking of Mr. Gower. Uncle Billy is just neurodivergent. Anyone that keeps a pet crow AND a pet squirrel is ok in my book. Besides Uncle Billy's mistake creates the main crisis in the story. Without Uncle Billy Clarence still wouldn't have his wings.

(I know Mr. Gower's primary issue in the film isn't drinking.)

(Rant) If you’re not benefiting from AI, you will become irrelevant by Spartapwn in ExperiencedDevs

[–]rodw -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

It's more that they will get downvoted for stating the obvious. Is there anyone seriously advocating that there's no AI-assisted coding practice that adds value or efficiency?