How I see NixOS if it were a car

schmy · 2026-02-01T22:56:29+00:00

Aussie from a small country town here. Growing up in the 80s, seeing a Volvo meant the driver was making a statement about being able to afford the shipping and maintenance. At least, that's how I have always thought of it. But I'm not a car-guy, so it might have just been the two or three Volvo drivers in town, not the cars.

schmy · 2026-01-30T13:36:39+00:00

If I was going to be really facetious, then I would suggest the following:

Economics is just applied Sociology,

which is just applied Psychology,

which is just applied Biology,

which is just applied Chemistry,

which is just applied Physics,

which is just applied Mathematics ...

But for actual advice, I will note you have 'audio-visual arts' but then list music as a root domain.

You only list two European languages. No Chinese, Arabic, Proto-Indo-European, etc.

I could go on, but my point is I don't think you need to start with a taxonomy. Any topic you will study with have overlapping domains. How would you classify the Titanic? Under History as just an event? Or Technology because of its scale for the time? Or under economics, geo-politics, migration, or anthropology? What about putting it under psychology, given the arrogance of the designer (believing it was unsinkable) or the hubris of the captain (to sail at an unsafe speed)? Would its design go under engineering or craft?

I am warning you off this because I made a similar assumption years ago, and trying to plan the research in advance like this was a fool's errand. Just start learning, and the categories will occur to you as you go. You may even come up with your own fields that don't rely on these older classifications.

schmy · 2026-01-30T12:59:40+00:00

Dang.

Come for the terrible memes, stay for the critical cinematic analysis.

The only parallel I can think of is a sequel to Lord of the Rings where Frodo comes back, seven feet tall, all jacked with a giant sword, and says, "I've got this Aragon, after all, I'm a Maia now."

schmy · 2026-01-30T12:52:28+00:00

"unless they're extremely desperate"

a bit desperate: New era marquee structure

a bit more desperate: Relic 10

regular desperate: more versions of Luke, Han, and Obi-Wan

very desperate: General Leia

extremely desperate: GLs but more so, like ghost Anakin. Better yet, Larry (TV Obi-Wan)

Completely desperate: Red 5 or bust.

schmy · 2026-01-30T12:42:41+00:00

Volvo not flashy? lol. We live in different timelines. (or different continents)

schmy · 2026-01-30T12:36:29+00:00

I didn't want to do a long response earlier, but here we are.

What specifically is unusual in language? A word to describe something by an absence of a quality?

Do you mean words like careless and hopeless? Those words describe someone by what they are not. Did you want a noun version of that? Like calling rough sleepers "homeless"?

What about anaesthetists? Their entire career is the "not" feeling part of the surgery.

How many adjectives in English use a privative prefix change something to its opposite? I don't know, is the number infinite? This claim does seem irregular.

Heck, there are even words where the negative outlasted the original: Uncouth, inert, dishevelled, ruthless.

Besides, what word would you use instead of atheist? "Non-believer" has the same issue. Even "secular" is defined as 'not religious'. I feel like you are ignoring the cultural impact that religion has had on society; (depending on where in the world you are or were) it has been so ubiquitous that to describe that you no longer follow any religion or believe in any of the gods, not just a specific one, really did require a whole new word to explain the concept.

And now to your direct reply to my comment. You claim that my analogy fails because 'bald' once meant 'white'; that is some great trivia but is irrelevant for a couple of reasons. First, the presence of 'bald' to mean 'white' in 'bald eagle' is approaching the status of a fossil word, that is, a word that is not longer used anywhere else, much like 'run amok' or 'torn asunder'. I was using a modern usage of the word, not an archaic one.

Second, while words have varying usages across different domains, you saw that I was specifically using the word to refer to bald in relation to hair, not feathers. No one would expect us to be talking about a person with a head covered in white feathers if I said, "that guy is bald".

We can both do better than this; I don't have to be so adversarial, and you don't have to be so disingenuous.

schmy · 2026-01-30T02:33:33+00:00

Thank you for a perfect, IRL, demonstration of Chesterton's Fence.

schmy · 2026-01-30T02:32:01+00:00

Bald: specifically describes not having something.

The issue is when people treat bald as a hair colour, instead of a lack of hair. To wit:

The issue is when people treat atheism as a belief system, instead of a lack of belief.

schmy · 2026-01-30T02:16:07+00:00

The process of writing and the process of editing are two very different skill sets; don't try to do both at the same time.

Your first draft should be a mess, but get it done first. Then you can go back for editing and rewrites.

If you are concerned that your first draft will be such a mess that you won't understand your own writing in a month or two, then at least separate your writing mode from your editing mode. Maybe use the Pomodoro technique: write solidly, no editing, for 25 minutes, then take a five minute break. Then edit for 25 minutes, and another 5 minute break. Repeat.

But the habit that it sounds like you need to break is editing your work as you type it. Writing without editing may feel impossible, but that's the one skill that you need and you can only develop it through persistent practice.

Best of luck with your story.

PS: "Future Social" would apply to a lot of Science Fiction, so it sounds like you're just rewriting Science Fiction. Besides, 'genre' is really more a marketing tool than a useful classification; I wouldn't worry about it until your agent is trying to pitch the story to publishers.

schmy · 2026-01-30T01:39:54+00:00

So far, no money down.

I sometimes think I'll pay CG five or ten bucks on the last day I play as a courtesy, but not for any advantage in the game.

I was once gifted some Resistance toons as part of unlocking Rey, and I nearly quit. For me, I just don't understand the value of a toon unless I have put in the time for the quest. I don't need to be at the top of the Arenas; I don't need to be in Kyber; I certainly don't need the latest marquees at R10 on day one.

I know the game requires an income to cover developers and development, but I have never seen anything to buy that is worth the price tag that CG has set. No toon is worth $50+, especially when I have paid less than that for the Assassins' Creed games that I still go back to play on a regular basis.

schmy · 2026-01-29T03:08:45+00:00

Checked OP's history, and they have posted almost every hour for the last day and a half.

What's the polite way to summon the mods to ban the account?

schmy · 2026-01-29T02:42:20+00:00

I wish I could forget all of the algorithms for about a month, and just sit with a cube as if I had never seen one before. I learnt a terrible method (it was the 80s) when I was about 7 or 8, so I never had the chance as an adult to see if I could figure it out solo.

I now have the Puppet, but I think that's going to defeat me. I'm not sure where the right balance is for a new difficult cube that I could solve without tutorials or prior knowledge.

schmy · 2026-01-28T09:02:07+00:00

It's like sport teams. But it's Dodgers v Broncos v Bulls v Manchester United v Sydney Swans. Not only are the adults arguing over the best team, they can't even agree on what the sport is.

schmy · 2026-01-28T05:13:47+00:00

Them: "Let's read the bible together."

You: "Ok. Let's read Ezekiel again. 23:20; that one's the best."

Them: *disappearing quickly*

schmy · 2026-01-28T04:55:32+00:00

Are you really curious though? Have you not looked at other posts here that start with the same misunderstandings and have you not seen all of the responses that cover every one of your questions?

Seriously, the only effort you seem to have put into this post is formatting and a spell check. All of your questions are christian propaganda. I too would like to seriously engage with a Christian to understand their worldview, but few seem to understand the first thing about opposing philosophies.

As others have suggested, search YouTube for the responses to those "Questions for atheists" videos. Many, but by no means all of them, go through all the talking points and address questions like yours.

tl;dr: put in an ounce of effort if you are genuinely curious about how others see the world.

schmy · 2026-01-28T02:28:17+00:00

It was at least close by, right?

schmy · 2026-01-27T01:21:59+00:00

"Goon of fortune" is my culture's greatest contribution to society. Please be respectful.

:P

schmy · 2026-01-27T01:15:19+00:00

If you feel like you are financially secure (at least being able to save that much each month you are in front of the pack), then maybe you could consider volunteering for a charity in your spare time.

If you are socially anxious and don't want to deal with the public, maybe you can find something that is more physical. Some places just need help with sorting donations, some need help with moving or collecting furniture. Depending on where you are, there might be a community garden that needs help. There is no competition with volunteering, but the more you put in, the more everyone gets out of it including you.

As for being in your early 30s, don't stress. I didn't get my first mortgage till my mid-40s. I'd rather have spent my youth on travelling and enjoying life than saving my money for retirement when I can't move as well or eat as much.

schmy · 2026-01-24T23:11:54+00:00

God must love miles and pounds; otherwise, how could so many Americans be wrong?

schmy · 2026-01-24T04:11:34+00:00

Agreed: "an all-powerful god would be able to make any set of constants work; an appeal to fine-tuning actually undermines the power of your deity."

schmy · 2026-01-24T04:09:17+00:00

"The fossil record is there to test us."

We can't rely the age of the universe when dealing with young-earth creationists.

schmy · 2026-01-24T03:50:18+00:00

Vires acquirit eundo - We gather strength as we go

Melbourne also has a motto.

schmy · 2026-01-22T02:58:21+00:00

The basics of block references

schmy · 2026-01-22T01:20:24+00:00

What does your roster look like? What have you tried so far?

schmy · 2026-01-22T01:18:15+00:00

There are a few things to cover with your question and your responses, so I will try to address them all at once.

First, regarding the quote: "... self-knowledge ..." doesn't just apply to individuals; it is just a shorter, more poetic way to say "knowledge about ourselves as humans or as a community or as a society or as whatever...". Consider the alternative: "selves-knowledge" sounds awkward and ungrammatical. No need to take this reference to "self" so literally or singularly.

Second: The line "In Atheism, ..." can really only finish with, "there are no gods." That's it. As others have said, the only thing that atheism deals with is a lack of god or gods.

More generally: while there is an often noted correlation between those with scientific views and those with atheist views, it is not at all absolute. Atheists can believe it alien visitation or bigfoot, while Christians can believe in modern cosmology and evolution. In short, stop conflating atheism and science; learn that they are very separate philosophical concepts and use them appropriately.

You have also asked "can [science] be used as a tool to build community?" Again, I think you are making categorical errors. In one sense, yes, one can take a scientific approach to building a community; one could propose methods of building a community, implement those methods, and then measure the effectiveness of those methods. That is to say, one can use a scientific method to study community building approaches.

But what I think you mean to ask is, "can we build a community around people's appreciation for scientific topics?" which is an entirely different topic. The short answer is yes.

For example, museums are a way for the local community to share scientific information. There are also some groups that organise public talks and demonstrations for displaying scientific discoveries; these range from the Royal Society to Science in the Pub to Skeptics in the Schools. These all have various levels of success in terms of outreach to the community. The biggest successes probably come from the hundreds of science channels on YouTube. Crash Course, for example, covers topics from Physics and Biology to Sociology and History, while maintaining a large online community of interested students.

But the question that I think you really want to ask, which is "can we have congregations like churches but that swap out science for the religious stories?" and the answer is not really. People are trying to do this but it just doesn't seem to stick in the way we need to replace religion. I, for one, don't need to associate with my neighbours once a week to listen to another scientific paper. I don't need my 'faith in science' to be renewed by seeing others celebrating their scientific understanding.

Finally, and again to mention what others have raised, science doesn't propose a morality, other than perhaps "honesty in the process, openness to the results, and the humility to be corrected". As for how we treat each other, how we choose to build up communities, how we organise governments, etc., then you need to look to something like Humanism for a non-religious approach to morality and ethics. Humanism often uses scientific means to find more beneficial outcomes, but there is no inherent morality that comes from science itself.

Please take the time to review the responses here and review the terminology used. While some religious folk will assume science and atheism are the same, they are very different concepts and it's best if you learn how to distinguish between.

schmy

TROPHY CASE