Zompist Bboard Again

Travis B. wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 11:36 am I remember having a crying fit around that age when a babysitter told me that the sun would eventually expand and engulf the Earth in several billion years.

No shame in that. The future of our solar system is quite a bummer and things only get worse with heat death.

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 4:13 amSomeone named Elizabeth Nolan Brown, who's an editor at the libertarian rag Reason, posted on social media:

My 4-year/old just learned about the concept of infinity and is now throwing a tantrum over it. “It’s weird! I don’t like it. I just want numbers to stop!”

https://bsky.app/profile/enbrown.bsky.s ... euj52eb22s

It gets even worse when you consider the difference between countable and uncountable infinity.

malloc wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 3:20 pm It gets even worse when you consider the difference between countable and uncountable infinity.

And the equality of the sizes of the uncountable infinities is a world significantly lacking in truth.

Am I misunderstanding something, or do I get this right that in English-language geography, the sea between Cornwall, Devon, and Brittany is simply seen as the Western part of the English Channel? I'm asking because it looks a bit wide for a "channel" to me.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 5:48 am Am I misunderstanding something, or do I get this right that in English-language geography, the sea between Cornwall, Devon, and Brittany is simply seen as the Western part of the English Channel? I'm asking because it looks a bit wide for a "channel" to me.

I live in the relevant region and am about 80% sure it is the English Channel, but I do share your misgivings. It is obviously not very channel-like.

Does anyone else use the custom time specifier option in the user control panel, and if you do, do you know any way to make the box bigger? I've lost a character past the end of the tiny little box it provides.

Edit: Ah, it's calculated using the screen width, so it was a ‘how dare you use the internet on a phone’ thing, and fixable by turning the screen round.

Several weeks ago, the laundry machines at my apartment complex developed a computer glitch that made them unable to accept debit cards. Instead of using the specialized payment app for smartphone they also take, I have been going to another laundry mat that requires me to drive there. Today, I tried downloading the app hoping to avoid the drive and it requires another app that I don't have to fill it with money. So after all the trouble of downloading this app and creating an account, I drove out to the other laundry mat.

Compared with all the other problems facing me, this is obviously quite trivial. Nonetheless it illustrates another thing besides AI that has come to annoy me about computers: their tendency to colonize everything and displace other perfectly useful technology. It feels like everything is computers and especially smartphones these days.

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 6:19 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 5:48 am Am I misunderstanding something, or do I get this right that in English-language geography, the sea between Cornwall, Devon, and Brittany is simply seen as the Western part of the English Channel? I'm asking because it looks a bit wide for a "channel" to me.

I live in the relevant region and am about 80% sure it is the English Channel, but I do share your misgivings. It is obviously not very channel-like.

But nor need it constitute a sea. The Channel as a whole is a channel, and that justifies the name.

Richard W wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 12:56 pm

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 6:19 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 5:48 am Am I misunderstanding something, or do I get this right that in English-language geography, the sea between Cornwall, Devon, and Brittany is simply seen as the Western part of the English Channel? I'm asking because it looks a bit wide for a "channel" to me.

I live in the relevant region and am about 80% sure it is the English Channel, but I do share your misgivings. It is obviously not very channel-like.

But nor need it constitute a sea. The Channel as a whole is a channel, and that justifies the name.

Yes, the name as a whole is justified, but purely locally it isn't. Given that that local bit of the channel is local to me, it seems odd. I'm sure someone further east would think differently, and they'd be right.

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 6:19 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 5:48 am Am I misunderstanding something, or do I get this right that in English-language geography, the sea between Cornwall, Devon, and Brittany is simply seen as the Western part of the English Channel? I'm asking because it looks a bit wide for a "channel" to me.

I live in the relevant region and am about 80% sure it is the English Channel, but I do share your misgivings. It is obviously not very channel-like.

I know what you mean, but I don't think anyone would think of it as anything else.

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 12:04 pmCompared with all the other problems facing me, this is obviously quite trivial. Nonetheless it illustrates another thing besides AI that has come to annoy me about computers: their tendency to colonize everything and displace other perfectly useful technology. It feels like everything is computers and especially smartphones these days.

Right there with you, malloc. You remind me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7L3iSZsNpY

A bit of a Bluesky roundup, for no particular reason other than "I like the things said in these posts (though often not the things described)":

New Jersey actually does not let you pump your own gas? That’s a real thing? I thought that was like a stereotype NY people made up to be insulting based on some shit from like the 80s or something. That’s real?

https://bsky.app/profile/opinionhaver.b ... m77ljn5c2z

One thing that is very telling about the demographics of us in the general chattering class is that one of the main political drivers of data center buildout is many unions love them, and this is almost never discussed.

https://bsky.app/profile/opinionhaver.b ... lw2z5e3k2z

I’m on a small-ship Alaska cruise with my son; our boat rescued a stranded vessel last night and apparently we did that after the Coast Guard radioed Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht - which was closer - and they repeatedly refused to respond. (There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this)

https://bsky.app/profile/elkmovie.bsky. ... cqsxfulk26

watching my wife try to hire someone to work under her this week has been wild- like 98% of all resumes aren't even real candidates and come from fraud farms trying to use AI to scam a paycheque to a fake candidate, we have officially hit a point where the biggest global growth industry is fraud

https://bsky.app/profile/nameshiv.bsky. ... l5dw3b522b

Could an LLM extend a meaningful invitation to vampire for purposes of threshold crossing?

https://bsky.app/profile/opinionhaver.b ... m2xpvelc2z

From the replies to that:

if I own a 3 story mixed use building and operate a business out of the ground floor, would the vampire be able to access the upper floors from there unimpeded? Is a door at the top of a staircase a sufficient barrier? Should we consider the zoning and building code implications of vampires

https://bsky.app/profile/astrapaios.bsk ... m4xux4pc2l

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 3:45 am

Could an LLM extend a meaningful invitation to vampire for purposes of threshold crossing?

Can a tape recorder? If not, then no.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 3:45 am

if I own a 3 story mixed use building and operate a business out of the ground floor, would the vampire be able to access the upper floors from there unimpeded? Is a door at the top of a staircase a sufficient barrier? Should we consider the zoning and building code implications of vampires

I think vampires can only enter an area you think of as your domicile after getting an invitation.

If that's true, it means tricking yourself into thinking one of your rooms isn't yours would have no effect. Vampires have no restrictions on entering places that aren't your domicile. The real question is: Would it have an effect if you could trick yourself into thinking your house is two different domiciles split down the middle?

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 3:45 am

if I own a 3 story mixed use building and operate a business out of the ground floor, would the vampire be able to access the upper floors from there unimpeded? Is a door at the top of a staircase a sufficient barrier? Should we consider the zoning and building code implications of vampires

https://bsky.app/profile/astrapaios.bsk ... m4xux4pc2l

Reminds me of this wonderful story (though possibly incomprehensible if you’re not Jewish): https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/13/chametz/

My brain feels like it's unspooling. I think I need a break.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 9:56 pm My brain feels like it's unspooling. I think I need a break.

Good luck.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 11:12 pm

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 9:56 pm My brain feels like it's unspooling. I think I need a break.

Good luck.

Thanks.

The recent discussion in the "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread makes me curious: how often do Anglophones have a need to pronounce the word "currywurst", anyway?

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2026 9:26 am The recent discussion in the "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread makes me curious: how often do Anglophones have a need to pronounce the word "currywurst", anyway?

I'd never heard of currywurst before the discussion, but my pronunciation is naturally English curry plus the local English loan-pronunciation of German Wurst.

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2026 9:26 am The recent discussion in the "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread makes me curious: how often do Anglophones have a need to pronounce the word "currywurst", anyway?

I guess it depends on how often they eat it. For me, not often, but not never.

linguistcat wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2026 11:22 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2026 9:26 am The recent discussion in the "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread makes me curious: how often do Anglophones have a need to pronounce the word "currywurst", anyway?

I guess it depends on how often they eat it. For me, not often, but not never.

Oh, Utah has currywurst these days? Interesting to know.