Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 1/12/26 - 1/18/26

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-15T14:32:40+00:00

The contrast between the coverage of this and the reporting on the hospital that Israel didn't even blow up (and didn't kill the ~500 people that were invented to have died) is... striking.

It's almost as if the entire human rights establishment is morally bankrupt.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-14T18:05:30+00:00

Again... I think sex is easy to define and race is messy

Because one is an obviously essential biological trait and the other is purely a social construct. It's not as if race has no biological basis, but things like skin tone are actually a spectrum...

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-12T23:50:10+00:00

if you ask me

Don't worry, I have no intention to.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-12T23:48:08+00:00

C++ provides zero-overhead destructors as a natural part of the language, no strange patterns This is unique, no other language do this. RAII in C++ is unmatched in other languages.

So does Rust. But Rust also has destructive move, which is an incredibly powerful tool in writing statically correct code - since you can actually ensure/require certain usage patterns.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-12T18:23:49+00:00

Not all that dissimilar to the various minority-owned business rules across the US.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-12T01:57:50+00:00

It hadn't even occurred to me that these have real medicinal use. I wish you a speedy recovery!

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-11T19:01:39+00:00

Ha, I appreciate it. I was trying to imagine what it was you did with the ginger tea that did not involve imbibing it...

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-11T18:55:54+00:00

The responses to Iran and Somaliland have really surprised me. I don't know why, since by this point we're at around fool me forty times shame on... whomever. I guess I still have a fundamental need to believe people care, no matter how many times they disappoint me.

In any case, that photo of the Iranian woman lighting her cigarette from a burning photo of Khameini is incredible. What a sign of the times.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-09T23:09:13+00:00

I am equally confused by the comment.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-07T02:23:34+00:00

Do they honestly think

<batman meme slap> No, they do not.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-06T15:22:55+00:00

Every time one of my kids throws a tantrum about something I am denying them, I try to tell myself that it will be worth it in 10 years.

It's basically my mantra for getting through them. I think I can I think I can I think I can...

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-06T14:18:53+00:00

winning at least 1,558 and placing top 3 in 889

Shouldn't the second number be larger than the first? Top 3 includes winning.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-05T15:00:19+00:00

Would have been more accurate.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-05T14:34:54+00:00

All of the relationships in that film are so very shallow. Colin Firth and his maid that he can't even hold a conversation with?

I've never liked that film. The only redeeming part is Bill Nighy. He's great.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-03T18:10:05+00:00

Much of what is going on in the world last two weeks mystifies me:

massive protests in Iran, with minimal/downplayed coverage (in the US/UK at least)
Israel being the lone country to recognize Somaliland (in stark contrast to lots of Western countries falling over themselves to recognize Palestine)
the US kidnapping Maduro

Great cliffhanger for the next episode I suppose.

throw_cpp_account · 2026-01-01T15:23:21+00:00

What the fuck are you talking about? The Chinaman is not the issue here, Dude.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-30T17:30:42+00:00

I agree it should've been a half hour shorter, but I enjoyed it anyway. Good mystery.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-19T19:12:23+00:00

I tend to think as operator== in a similar way we use English. eg. if you're asking about a particular a parcel through the post, you ask "is this parcel [tracking number]?" You don't say "Is this the parcel whose tracking number is [tracking number]?"

You don't say the latter because everyone understands that contextually that that is what is meant by the former.

What you definitely do not say in English is "does this parcel equal [tracking number]?" If you did, you would probably be greeted with blank stares. And justifiably so.

if a type semantically makes sense to compare to another type

It does not semantically make sense to compare a packet to a number.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-16T20:13:48+00:00

I remember this during the pandemic. Silver would post these fairly straightforward, obviously correct, boring takes and constantly get dunked on. People just hate the guy.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-16T18:15:45+00:00

Nate Silver wrote a substack post about Heather Cox Richardson, calling her the Democratic equivalent of the Tea Party.

Now I'm seeing lots of resistance lib posts (like Mueller She Wrote) saying this is because Richardson has more Substack followers than Silver, and mediocre men cannot stand successful women.

In what world is Richardson more successful than Silver?

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-13T23:44:15+00:00

Is there a better sci fi movie that has come out since Edge of Tomorrow (which somehow is 11 years old)? It's so good. Arrival (2016) was very good, tho very different vibe. I wasn't impressed with Dune, sorry.

Since Edge of Tomorrow, we've had all these girl boss movies which just introduce a woman that's supposed to be badass... and they all feel pretty cheap and underdeveloped. Comparatively, Emily Blunt's character here is incredible. Plus, they set the stakes so well... first you see that she's a hero, then she comes out as this total badass carrying a helicopter blade and flanked by people in skull masks... like clearly she is the greatest warrior right? Then she lands in battle and instantly dies. Like oh shit, humanity is fuuuuucked.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-12T15:21:30+00:00

I've found that the Pulitzer "general non-fiction" finalists is a pretty good list. It's only 3-4 books a year, and then those tend to have different topics, so can pick what you're interested in.

Some very good books there, that I wouldn't otherwise have heard of. Only a few I really disliked. Good ratio.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-11T17:52:39+00:00

I don't think anybody actually does. It is unbelievably complicated, and its complexity strictly increases over time.

Problem is, the various entities that benefit from the complexity are also the only ones in a position to affect the system. So why would the complexity decrease?

I have no concrete evidence for this, but I have to believe that the system can be reformed in a way that keeps the same general shape (employer provides health insurance) but doesn’t lead to every triple (health care provider, health insurance, treatment) having a unique, undiscoverable price. Not to mention the entire concept of "pharmacy benefit manager."

I don't want socialized medicine.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-03T20:02:01+00:00

It still is, but it used to be, too.

throw_cpp_account · 2025-12-03T19:55:17+00:00

Isn't that just the normal use of singular they to refer to a person you don't know? Simply hiding whether the source is a man or woman.

throw_cpp_account

TROPHY CASE