The different ways in which numbers slide up, down, sideways, diagonally.
Is the example in the post part of the fifth type of arithmetic?
Addition +
Subtraction -
Multiplication x
Division /
Modulo %
The first time I learned about modulo as its' own branch of arithmetic was long out of school already, I had only hazily heard of it, on a PBS Nova documentary in the 1990s about Fermat's famous theorem and when it was proven after centuries of failed tries.
I always get the uneasy sensation that whoever leans this way in the way they view politics and the world, if they get their way there would be even worse misery for the majority of humanity, that whatever plan they have in place to replace the current system is full of holes and unicorns, political magic wands and groovy vibes all around, man.
As flawed and incomplete as so many hippies who were "Down with The Man!" with one hand, while also "A woman's place is in the kitchen and making babies" with the other one.
Like the old republican woman snarling "Keep your dirty government hands off my Medicare", half-baked ideas of how things work, once you get down from the armchair platitudes and into the real work that needs to be done.
Rediscovering well-established shit from first principles and a science-illiterate, history-ignorant stance.
I'm betting the raw milk thing re-entered society via the crystals and essential oils crowd?
The same type of people that said back in the 70s - or maybe even before - that television screens emitted cancer-causing radiation.
In the 90s they were saying that about the magnetic fields in digital alarm clock radios, too. Completely oblivious to the night lamps by the bed, those also conduct electricity. But noooo... it was the tiny LED screen that suddenly made the difference... I guess?
Also completely oblivious to the Earth's titanic magnetic field dwarfing and drowning whatever they had with their little gizmos in their normal-sized bedrooms in the 90s.
People who pee in their brother's sneakers in the closet because brother locked himself in the bathroom taking a shower, told you to go fuck yourself when you banged on the door and yelled at him to open up.
Probably the hope, not completely unfounded, that the migration from one "legacy" (from the 00s) platform to a more recent alternative service - twitter to Bluesky - will help inspire people in other legacy platforms to also realize that alternatives do exist now, they are part of a broader conversation that they weren't a part of even two years ago.
Even a year and a half ago, this place felt like it hadn't yet installed the drywall, the wiring and tubing was incomplete. Now it feels more seamless, ready for a spurt of growth.
"Hey... Bluesky isn't all that bad, I'm glad to be out of the clutches of a billionaire asshole, and not feel utterly lost here", now cue what OP believes a number of people will also think: "Hmm... maybe I'll check out Lemmy, too. See what the alternative to reddit is like."
Some of them could have tried it, didn't like it, might come back and be like: "Hey, Lemmy's not too bad since last I last looked a year ago", and here's a clincher that definitely wasn't here a year and a half ago: "The app works pretty good", and there are a lot of new apps, having a choice gives a sense and weight of legitimacy.
Sounds like physics in a way, a chaotic and random energy and focusing itself into positive work, creating something with order.