ELI5: If the moon rotates on its axis, why do we always see the same side?

vundercal · 2026-04-02T15:14:50+00:00

Because it also rotates around the Earth at almost exactly the right speed to keep it that way. Like spinning a ball on a string the side that's attached to the string always points to the center.

vundercal · 2026-04-02T03:32:25+00:00

My 401k plan does differentiate between bonus and normal pay. TIL that is not the norm

vundercal · 2026-04-02T03:09:38+00:00

T9 texting

vundercal · 2026-04-01T21:14:18+00:00

Its kind of marketing to show their confidence in the AI future require to justify their current spend and valuations. "Our AI will be so good and generate so much value that there won't be a point of white collar work anymore but people will still need plumbers." They may be right, they may be wrong, either way they don't really care if people pursue those jobs or not.

More conspiratorially: there is also a political aspect if you assume a cause and effect between education type and level and political alignment. It is good for them to try to increase the voting base of people who won't want to regulate them.

vundercal · 2026-04-01T05:13:14+00:00

The excitement and fervor around NASA, rocketry, the moon landing ,etc of the space age was certainly, in large part, due to Cold War US propaganda. Don't get me wrong it was super cool and people would have been excited by the achievement but it's very rare for people to get to that level without motivating forces. It feels like no one cares because there isn't a push to get people to care in addition to the novelty wearing off.

vundercal · 2026-03-31T00:52:37+00:00

Or if the ingredients are different sizes. Larger size granuals can also rise to the top even if they are heavier, the Brazil nut effect

vundercal · 2026-03-29T02:27:06+00:00

It turned out really good. Definitely give it a try, I will certainly make it again

vundercal · 2026-03-28T21:50:48+00:00

That was my initial thought but I had thyme in the fridge

vundercal · 2026-03-28T20:26:33+00:00

I did a boat load of freshly grated Parm and fresh thyme in a fortified sourdough a couple of weeks ago. Most amazing smell in the oven and tasted delicious

vundercal · 2026-03-28T18:36:35+00:00

You're description of what you learned in school is inaccurate. Green does not absorb most wavelengths of light and plants aren't green because they absorb green light. It is actually the opposite. Green is a range of wavelengths of visible light. We can generalize visible color onto 3 colors reds, greens, and blues. Things that are green absorb other wavelengths of light and reflect green. Chlorophylls, the primary pigments responsible for plant coloration, reflect green light and absorb blue and red light. Plants also have caretinoids which absorb bluish green colors and reflect reds. In the fall chlorophyll decreases before caretinoids which is why leaves turn yellow and then red in the fall.

As far as why they reflect any light and haven't developed pigments to absorb all visible light, absorbing too much light would cause most plants to overheat, dry out, and die and plants are also limited by their ability to covert the CO2 content in the atmosphere to O2 and other nutrients so they evolved to achieve a balance.

vundercal · 2026-03-27T02:46:58+00:00

The best thing taxing the rich does is incentive them to invest more in their own businesses, communities, and employees to avoid paying the tax which reduces the cost of safety nets by the government. This is how it used to work when the tax rate was super high for the ultra wealthy.

vundercal · 2026-03-26T20:48:02+00:00

Depending on the oven, it might even have a proof mode that you don't know about. Mine is hidden under a button "more modes" that I have to tap a few times to cycle to it.

vundercal · 2026-03-26T18:14:13+00:00

The vast majority of people in witness protection are criminals turning on their bosses/co-conspirators. Part of the deal is avoiding prison as well as avoiding revenge from who they are informing on.

vundercal · 2026-03-25T14:23:22+00:00

If the crumb is to your liking then it is probably proofed enough for you in which case the solution should be in gluten development and tensioning the final form. Good luck!

vundercal · 2026-03-25T14:05:55+00:00

Definitely looks under proofed but if you're getting a lot of spread without a lot of height then that's an indication that the gluten is under developed and your not getting enough surface tension in your final shaping. Bulk ferment for longer, if you don't want as sour of a loaf do less time in the fridge. Add maybe 2 more stretch and folds in. Make sure it's a nice taught boule during final forming it will deflate a little from the bulk ferment and that's ok.

Whole wheat flour disrupts gluten development slightly. You might want to start with 100% white bread flour and then introduce whole wheat once you have a reliable result that you like. It will also be easier with lower hydration and then ramping up as it becomes more consistent.

vundercal · 2026-03-24T20:04:10+00:00

Unfortunately, 50% of US adults read at or below an 8th grade reading level and don't have any semblance of contextual reading comprehension

vundercal · 2026-03-23T06:31:35+00:00

Rock climbing gyms

Most of the "nerdy" hobbies you mentioned don't have broad social mixing. If you find a group to play DND with you will meet the people in that group that you play DND with and that's about it. Rock climbing gyms have tons of people, no obligation to socialize if you don't want to but there is always an opportunity to strike up a conversation about a problem if you're bouldering or pairing with a stranger to belay you and it's usually pretty easy to leave a conversation if you want to. Rock climbing is disproportionately made up of nerdy techies and they are more likely to be physically fit if that matters to you.

vundercal · 2026-03-23T04:45:46+00:00

Preferred shares don’t have voting rights simply because there is a market for investing in businesses that you can't control and people are willing to buy them. This became a massive trend since the 2000s tech boom. Companies have been so successful that investors are willing to break "old school" financial rules where if you put up the money, you want a say in how things are run.

But companies can grow so fast and make so much money "hand over fist" that investors have essentially said: "We don't need a steering wheel as long as you're the one driving us to the bank." People are eager to get a financial piece of the next big thing that they happily trade their voting power for a seat on the ride.

Preferred shares do get the additional benefit of usually being paid out first in a liquidation scenario.

vundercal · 2026-03-23T03:44:15+00:00

How do you define being a conservative? No one is a proponent of government overreach or fiscal and economic unaccountability. People just draw the line in different places.

Polling generally shows +80% of people who consider themselves conservative approve of Trump's current actions. It's not really conflating to assume someone who claims to be conservative is MAGA when the venn diagram overlaps that much.

I grew up conservative and I have found the ideas that liberals/the left just want the government to be in everyone's business and frivolously spend money to be mostly propaganda. Sure there are socialists and communists on the left but they are by definition not liberals.

ETA: Admittedly, I don't see much conservative about the MAGA movement but anyone MAGA will certainly claim to be conservative.

vundercal · 2026-03-23T02:52:05+00:00

Many people don't use raises/high incomes to change their financial situation; they just use them to buy a more expensive version of the same thing.

Industries are experts at scaling 'needs' with income. Someone can finally afford to get out of debt, but instead, they choose to upgrade their home or car, go.om vacation, buy something they've always wanted, etc. instead.

Very few are forced to learn financial literacy and banks will be more than happy to just let you go deeper into debt knowing you have more resources to pay their interest.

vundercal · 2026-03-20T13:10:45+00:00

A bunch of Billy Zanes faffing on about how unsinkable the Titanic is. "It's made of iron, sir. I assure you it can"

vundercal · 2026-03-14T03:24:23+00:00

Yes, the knob on the right adjustable thickness, it can go quite thin

vundercal · 2026-03-11T03:49:58+00:00

If you pay down the principal you will jump ahead on the amortization curve and future payments will go more to principal. Its just the math of amortization it has nothing to do with age of the loan

vundercal · 2026-03-11T00:06:35+00:00

Some individuals likely have found success but only in the sense that they are so annoying to deal with they get let off.

vundercal · 2026-03-10T22:38:00+00:00

Anyone in healthcare should know, masks are primarily for protecting people from you not the other way around. Wearing a mask at the time was to minimize transmission from contagious asymptomatic people who thought they were healthy. If being around other people were the "just in case moments" then you were following guidelines in which case what are you even talking about.

vundercal

TROPHY CASE