cynar @ cynar @lemmy.world

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1,088

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2 yr. ago

That's when you move on to the barcode scanner. Just stick it in the kitchen and you have to get up.

For those that struggle, the android app "alarm clock Xtreme" is excellent. You can set tasks you have to do before snoozing. Both maths questions and having to scan a barcode or tag are options.

Combined with the "sonic bomb" alarm clock, it's an extremely effective combination. (For both you and all your neighbours within a few 100m)

Quantum mechanical particles are very different things to classical ones.

A slightly better way of thinking about them is quantised fields. Particles and waves are simplifications of the underlying effect. There is no classical equivalent to work with to this, so we try and understand it as particle-wave duality etc.

In this case, a carrier particle is a (quantised) disturbance in the underlying field. If it has enough energy, it manifests as a physical particle. The higgs boson is an example of this. Below the required energy, you get virtual particles. These "borrow" energy, and so can never be seen directly, only inferred.

By example. Photons are the carrier particle of electromagnetism. Give the field energy and you get photons (light). Without that energy, the photons are virtual. Existing only between the 2 acting entities.

Different fields have different carrier particles. The photon is quite simple. It's effectiveness decays as 1/r^2 . The strong force carriers are more complex. They can emit more carrier particles, allowing the field to grow with distance rather than decay.

To add more complexity. The various fields look to be aspects of the same field. At sufficient energies, they behave identically. We have figured out how to combine the electric, magnetic and weak fields. We have a handle on the strong field. The higgs field seems to also match into this. Gravity is a pain to study. We assume it should match in, but haven't managed to work out how yet.

As for why the underlying field exists and follows the rules it does? We have no clue right now. The 'why' tends to follow the 'what', and we have yet to get a good handle on the 'what'.

I've been playing 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel it's remarkably easy to understand, all considered. It's only partially mind bending.

For most governments it's enlightened self interest. Completely screwing over their population for short term gain is akin to cutting off your feet to save money on shoes.

As an Englishman, the IRA were fairly critical to the political results. They kept the UK government from running roughshod over the Irish political parties.

The IRA proved they were willing to cross critical lines (bombs aimed at large scale civilian damage on English soil etc). They also demonstrated restraint. They often provided warnings ahead of time. They focused on disruption not casualties. The underlying threat was clear however. If you (UK government) escalate too far, it's simple to switch from a bomb aimed at destroying a high street of shops, to one aimed at killing a high street of Christmas shoppers.

The end result was that Irish politics stayed in the public eye, and the government took the safer path of negotiating in good faith. No-one was particularly happy with the results, but no-one was excessively unhappy with them either. Often the best you can hope for.

In short, the credible threat is required to keep all parties honest. Most smart governments will see an escalating trail of protests as part of that. Unfortunately, the current US leadership doesn't seem that smart.

Be careful with the taking average mindset. It's a default human one, and it's being abused. A lot of media outlets (particularly American right wing) are mouthpieces for the same few groups or people.

Instead, try and look at their biases. Do they have a reason to mislead you. What akin do they have in a particular game. E.g. the BBC is still fairly unbiased on a lot of world news. They are far less unbiased on middle eastern politics now.

It's an annoyingly complex problem to solve, on the fly.

As an aspie, we still flirt. We just (sometimes) flirt differently.

Data rot is a serious problem.

I suspect that our time period will end up as an information dark age to future historians.

I can't see it as anything but white and gold. However, other photos clearly show it is black and blue.

Interestingly, if I'm scrolling past, my brain will sometimes perceive it as black and blue for a fraction of a second. I can normally flip optical illusions at will. This one jams me in the wrong viewing mode.

I saw a talk on the subject about a year back. It was discussing tokamak reactors, from an engineer working on them. The small ones can't sustain a break even state, but they are affected by the inverse square law to a larger degree. I believe China is about to start/has started construction on a power station sized test reactor.

The pellet sort are a different type. They have different pros and cons.

They are down to 2 main problems now. The main one is (the cost of) scaling up. Fusion reactors will be more effective then bigger they are. The tiny test ones are already past break even.

The other is wall material. Apparently the radiation has an annoying ability to transmute the elements making up the wall of the reactor. They are working out a material that can maintain its bulk mechanical properties, even with random elements appearing in its internal structure.

A second vote for brother lasers.

I upgraded my old printer about 6 months ago. Laser is far superior, and no longer particularly expensive. I also discovered they have solved the photo printing quality issue at some point (laser's only real weakness). I ran off a photo and it came out near/at inkjet quality.

Think of it as a medieval army forming up. An army didn't generally march straight into battle. They took the time to organise and prepare. It also acted as an opportunity to intimidate your opponents into backing down.

The protests are the army forming up. Connections are made, wills reinforced and tied to a more focused cause. In many cases, the powers that be recognise the danger this represents and back down. When they don't, that's when things escalate.

Protests like this are a necessary part of reaching the goal. They are a link in the chain. People don't want violence. It will be accepted, if required, but not joyously.

Just remember, in a blunt head to head fight, the enemy would be the US military. You would need to either defeat them directly, or break their will. What would it take to cause large scale defections within the US army? Are people willing to pay that price?

Failing that, the slower, less drastic methods must be employed. It's a war of psychological attrition, not a fist fight.

Unfortunately, that's not the type that counts. It's the government backed/condoned that matters. The sort that even fox news would struggle to spin. The sort that should cause heads to roll within government organisations.

A few " " "lone wolves" " " can be disavowed, no matter how heinous the act they do. Unless you can tie it unambiguously to the powers that rule.

It's a fucking shitty situation, but that's the rules we are stuck working within. To change them, we have to win. To win, we need to play (mostly) within the rules.

Fyi, the same could also apply to left wing "lone wolves". Without the media, it's harder to spin, but doable. If they happen to meet up and organise at a march, that's nothing to do with the march. 😇

Well behaved as in a wild west high noon standoff. The first to flinch, and resort to serious violence will lose a LOT of public support.

Violence now doesn't gain much. It needs the over and support of a larger movement. It also needs to be focused, to not simply dissipate the anger.

Right now, America is getting back into the habit/flow of protesting. That alone should make an intelligent government nervous. Don't dip the stew over their heads, until it's good and boiling.

(And to clarify. I'm not saying to follow all rules, like good little drones. Bad behaviour just needs to be conscious and controlled)

Granted.

No wars will never end, unless you personally step in to end them. Minor skirmishes now turn into epic wars of genocidal annihilation. It's down to you to stop them.

Often it's the shadow of violence that is most effective. A peaceful protest, that is safe enough for families etc is perfect for snowballing. Focused action and the threat of counter violence keeps the government in check.

Too violent, and the support collapsed, letting the police simply overwhelm it. Too passive, and the whole thing can be ignored.

The Irish troubles are a good example. Protests and marches showed popular support. While the Sinn Fein party provided a political face. The IRA then made sure that proper attention was paid. All 3 were required to achieve their goals.

The seller thinks the value is net negative to them. The buyer thinks it still has a potential positive value. Both would agree to just hand it over.

Unfortunately, UK law does not allow that. Consideration must go both ways. The simplest way is to sell for the minimum reasonable amount. $1 is traditional in the US. In the UK it is £1. The other commenters link has a good writeup on the practice.

They broke from "everything is a pound" years ago. They also still do a really bad job making it clear what is no longer a pound.