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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 28th, 2023

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  • I can summarize: The equation is ambiguous, because there are two equally valid ways to interpret the relationship between the 2 and the parentheses. Pre-computer written math would have assumed that the 2(x) was a unit, as the 2 could be distributed across the parenthetical expression. With the advent of calculators and computers, equations written this way are executed left to right, and so the 8 ÷ 2 would go first, and then that result would be multiplied by the result of the parentheses.

    It’s worth noting that both interpretations follow the PEMDAS rule, so such debates are irrelevant. It is a question of grouping terms and solving the holistic equation, vs solving step by step left to right.








  • With one linear timeline, you basically have Back to the Future rules. You can go back and change things, even if it rewrites you out of existence. Of course, there are some logical paradoxes that arise from that theory of time, so most versions rely on some delayed repair mechanism, like how the photo of Marty slowly disappears, or how The Ancient One explains the Time Stone to Professor Hulk. Time Cop, Butterfly Effect, and Looper do the same, with changes going into immediate effect like old injuries becoming later scars in real time, but erasing yourself really ought to be devastating to spacetime itself. I liked the concept in Butterfly Effect where the time traveler experiences all the memories of their new life in the altered timeline with every new change, but then they abandon the hard sci-fi aspect to get cute with stigmata. Donnie Darko probably handles it the best, where time travel itself creates a universe-ending paradox that requires the destruction of the time traveler.

    Essentially, you jump from now back to another location in spacetime where you didn’t exist the first time around. If you overlap with yourself, you’re either going to gain a new retroactive memory, or there’s some magical maguffin that erased the memory (like the Tardis does for the Doctor), or some universal force reconciles the timestream and eliminates the paradox.





  • Not for nothing, but those reality shows are often staged. If they “find” something interesting and potentially valueable every episode, you can bet it was probably planted. Most people store old furniture and clothing in storage units, and people probably wouldn’t even recognize their own stuff. A box of old coats? A generic cherry armoire from the 1980s? Old documents? Even bulky sporting goods like skis and golf clubs don’t have any actual value.

    That’s not to say they never find something valuable, but they might obfuscate where exactly it came from to try to reduce lawsuits. If they find anything that could be easily identified by the original owner, especially if it is extremely valuable, they aren’t going to put that into the show at all.


  • Oh I see. And that’s a fair observation. Especially online, it’s become edgy and cool to take the side of a CEO assassin, while it’s still touchy to vocally defend the Castro regime. But you will find people, notably Cubans who fled to America, who were directly affected by Castro and the Cuban government. I don’t know any health insurance CEOs, so that might be a factor in the discourse you hear.

    But again, it’s not like these are the same people. Support for the Cuban government isn’t a cause celebre because Fidel Castro has been dead for almost a decade, and few Americans could even tell you who the current President is. Luigi is a source of engagement, the currency of social media. Some Americans only recently learned about Venezuela because we’re about to invade their country.