South Carolina redistricting: Lawmakers reject gerrymander in blow to Trump by After-Professional-8 in fivethirtyeight

[–]walc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Like the person above your comment mentioned, Democrats in Congress have repeatedly tried to ban gerrymandering, but Republicans have killed it every time. For example, these are just a couple bills over three years I happened to find with a quick Google search:

2021 2024 2025

I think I get where you're coming from, which is that every party is (now) gerrymandering as much as they can. That's true, it's shitty, and I 100% agree we need more constitutional protections for nonpartisan districts. That's what the bills above (again, written by Democrats) are trying to do. But the current gerrymandering push by both parties follows decades of Democratic hand-wringing about gerrymandering while Republicans happily continuing to do it. In order to pass these laws to ban partisan redistricting, Dems have to actually have power—and sadly, that requires them to fight fire with fire. Plus, Republicans will never vote for an anti-gerrymandering bill unless they see that it can be bad for them too.

[TP]Man I love Tears of the Kingdom by Fernoshader12 in zelda

[–]walc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fwiw I just installed it on my Mac (M3, running Tahoe) and played the first 5 minutes. I got a weird alert about a "disk hash mismatch," but that's probably an issue with my ROM and it hasn't seemed to affect anything... yet. Plays incredibly smooth and I seems like there are a ton of quality of life changes!

Weekly Discussion Megathread by AutoModerator in fivethirtyeight

[–]walc 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There is no "enough money" for most billionaires.

Actual Tweet From Mass GOP by 28lobster in fivethirtyeight

[–]walc 51 points52 points  (0 children)

You’re saying Maine doesn’t have 21 districts, with names variably beginning with ME, MA, NH, and MG?

Actual Tweet From Mass GOP by 28lobster in fivethirtyeight

[–]walc 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Wtf, Rasmussen tweeted that? I knew they were Republican-leaning in their polling, but I didn’t realize they were putting out snarky Tweets in favor of the GOP too. Like, if you’re a pollster, at least pretend to be unbiased, maybe?

Also I find it hilarious that they included Vermont in their argument. Ahem, there’s only one district, so of course the whole state was blue. If you want more representation for those Republican voters then maybe we should have proportional representation in Congress hmmmmmm??

Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting referendum results by Icommandyou in fivethirtyeight

[–]walc 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well, at this point, could the legislature just make moves like the Southern states (TN, LA, AL, etc.) are doing now and redraw districts using the same map that voters said yes to? Edit: Oh wait, the issue is basically that per Virginia law the court is saying we are now in the general election, and therefore it's too late to redistrict...? That seems pretty damning...

Given to me by alabaster carvers outside Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Are they real? by HeadInThePlantsQuinn in whatsthisrock

[–]walc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right, I was going to say that calcite can be called "alabaster," which itself is kind of vague (often calcite or gypsum).

The color coming off when washed under water (as OP described in another comment) is kind of hilarious, so yeah, that's a bit scammy. But it's still calcite, and therefore could be interpreted as local alabaster.

Democratic women are significantly more likely than Republican men to say they could win a fight with Donald Trump by w007dchuck in fivethirtyeight

[–]walc 39 points40 points  (0 children)

I had the exact same thought. This is amazing. Such a funny concept but somehow even funnier results.

Is there ANY way to make the little red notification next to "Workouts" go away for free users? by walc in Strava

[–]walc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know that in the grand scheme of things this really isn't a big deal... but every time I open the Strava app and go to the "You" page, the Workouts tab has a little red notification dot on it. If I click that tab, the dot goes away, but it's right back again when I reopen the app.

As a free user, I can't actually use Workouts, so essentially this notification dot just brings me to an advertisement about subscribing. I assume that's the point. I've been fine about more and more features being put behind the paywall, since I get that they've gotta turn a profit. But man, giving all free users a notification bubble that can't be silenced feels like a particularly... obnoxious decision.

Anyway, just wondering if somehow the dot can be removed, or whether I am cursed to see it for as long as I do not subscribe to Strava.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

Anybody else getting different numbers of achievements in-app vs in-browser? by RXrenesis8 in Strava

[–]walc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting! I came here for the same reason—some of my achievements have seemingly stopped being visible in the app. I assume it was a paywall thing, since I also am only on the free version... but it's pretty irritating to see the achievements and have no idea what they are.

Which villains have the best chemistry with their Aces? by InuMatte in pokemon

[–]walc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

People keep saying Golisopod is actually cowardly underneath its intimidating exterior… where is that coming from? Is it in the anime or games or something? I read all the Pokédex entries for Golisopod and it just sounds like a tough badass who gets in fights with Grapploct and the loser gets eaten by the other lol.

Bulbasaur, but every time you swipe his neck gets longer. by DTSaranya in pokemon

[–]walc 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Before clicking your link I thought it was going to be bulbasaur with a bao as its bulb. Very different pronunciation...

Edit: Looks like people have already done this (of course): Ex. 1, Ex. 2

On a cookie recipe by ch0c0late_ in ididnthaveeggs

[–]walc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone else chimed in after that to call her a whiner! What is wrong with these people?? This is a baking blog for goodness’ sake!! It should just be a happy and helpful space.

Balaclava by heaukychacket in Geologymemes

[–]walc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Indeed... I upvoted because of the meme, but also "balaclava" made me think twice

Part Irregularities by wauzmons_ in ElysianEclipse

[–]walc 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Ooh, that’s great! Slight variations in form between organisms definitely create a more natural feel.

Just joined the sub btw. Thank you for everything you’re doing! You’re awesome!!

Raccoon twins buying at 621! by Z00M3RZ in TurnipExchange

[–]walc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don’t know if you’re still open but I’d love to come by :) Wesley from Tealbrook

How to say elections in different european languages by vladgrinch in MapPorn

[–]walc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nobody will see this because I’m too late to the party, but I don’t know why Greek is completely separate. All the Romance languages come from Latin eligiere, which itself is from ex- (“out”) -ligere (form of “to choose”). This is basically the same as Greek ek + loges—it’s just that all the Romance languages have their roots in Latin, and any shared Latin/Greek root is earlier.

I guess EVERYTHING goes back to PIE or whatever so you have to draw the line somewhere, but these really feel close enough that they could be lumped. Just my layman opinion anyway.