A friend gave me this book because they heard I liked sci Fi. I started it. I guess I’m glad I bounced off it.

1. Even if they are, China’s military buildup seems squarely aimed at an invasion of Taiwan. China would just need to ramp up it’s missile defenses to counter that deterrent.

2. Nation leaders often miscalculate the risk/reward of going to war. Look at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for an obvious example. Even if Taiwanese missiles would heavily impact China, that doesn’t mean they’ll understand that. They may also figure that China will be able to deal with it and still come out on top (and they might be right).

3. Almost every war game and analyst predicts the invasion starting with a huge barrage of missiles from China. The first strikes would be designed to cripple Taiwan’s ability to defend itself/retaliate. Many of the missiles aimed at China would be destroyed before being launched.

4. In war games, it’s assumed that the US will be at war with China along with a coalition of Pacific nations assisting. Even with all this support, Taiwan is defended, but only barely. The current administration is focused inward to the point of being much less likely to assist Taiwan or, at least assist much less than war games assume. China may feel pressured to strike during the current administration so Taiwan doesn’t have has much help.

Look up bone conduction headphones. I think Shox is the main brand. I bought them since I ride a bike a lot so earbuds would mess with my situational awareness. You hear everything around you which is the best and worst part about them.

Just started tunic tonight. Good timing

Disclaimer: I have no qualifications or really any business talking about this…

I think games aren’t the best kind of projects for open source. Some games are made open source after development ends which is cool because it opens up forks and modding (pixel dungeon did this). Most games require a single, unified, creative vision which is hard to get from an “anyone can help” contribution style. Most open source software are tools for doing specific things. It’s almost objective what needs to be done to improve the software while games are much more opinionated and fuzzy. So many times I’ve seen a game’s community rally behind a suggestion to address a problem and the developer ignores them and implements a better idea to more elegantly solve it. Most people aren’t game designers but they feel like they could be.

An exception to this are certain, rules-based puzzly games. Bit-Burner is an open source hacking game with relatively simple mechanics and it works well.

Collapse of civilization is right around the corner.

I wouldn’t be so sure. History is filled with examples of power grabs that endured for generations.

I used to live in Japan and I had an in-line gas water heater. Outside the bathroom and kitchen was a thermostat for the hot water. I just set the temp for a good shower and blasted the hot water. It was bliss. America really needs to catch up with Japan in bathroom tech in general.

I mostly agree with you on the morality of abortion. The only problem I have with your analysis is with the temporary nature of pregnancy. There are risks in pregnancy that can have permanent consequences. Even if the birth goes off without a hitch, the mother is often left with weight gain, stretch-marks, and a risk of post-partum depression. Incisions are often needed to widen the birth canal and sometimes a C-section is required which is major emergency abdominal surgery. These risks are entirely taken on by the mother.

If we look at morality as having things people should do, and things people must do, only the musts should be law because the shoulds can be more open to interpretation. I wouldn’t assign my morality onto others. I would classify going through with a pregnancy as a should.

Yeah that is so out of the blue, I’m not sure what to make of it. I think most people don’t even realize SpaceX/Elon want to colonize mars.

Bodily autonomy is different than “freedom to go about your life as you see fit”. Carrying a baby and giving birth come with risks and responsibilities and it changes your body. All of this risk is for the baby at the expense of the mother.

Analogy: let’s say someone needs a kidney transplant or they will die. Turns out, you’re the only match. Donating a kidney is not risk free and your body will be changed for the rest of your life. Should you donate? Yeah, probably. Should you be legally forced to? Absolutely not.

To me, this analogy completely solves the issue. I can say that life begins at conception and still say that bodily autonomy is a right. It doesn’t matter if the fetus/baby is a person yet, as long as the mother’s body is being used to sustain them, then it’s the mother’s choice.

Probably not ideal but I use Google drive for synching and it worked fine. The database is encrypted so, at worst, Google knows I have a password manager.

We asked ourselves, why couldn’t handlebars function like a car’s cockpit?

Isn’t this just a cycle computer? I have a cycle computer that clicks into place on my bars. It navigates and connects to sensors like pedal cadence sensors, power meters, heart rate monitors, it displays speed. All while being removable so I can easily charge it or just not bring it when I don’t need those functions.

Damn, you’re supposed to call a doctor after just 4 hours

Almost everyone had their phones in cases before phones had camera bumps. Phones have camera bumps because they realized they might as well use the extra thickness for more camera hardware.

Oh man. I thought you were saying that you asked her out and she said she was fine.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that some gamers absolutely love arcane bullshit. I think I’m going to give the game a whirl

What a horrible take

Swans - Bring The Sun/Toussaint L’Ouverture

It’s 34 minutes but it’s kind of 2 songs. It has lyrics but they’re more of a vibe than actual coherent thoughts. The first half is like a slowly swelling religious fervor/extacy with a great climax. If I were ever to join a doomsday cult and we all go crazy and kill ourselves, we would do it to that song. The second half is expressing feelings of disgust during moments lost in thought while plotting revolution.

I claim to own microsoft

Literally not answering the question while also coming across like an ass