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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • NABDad@lemmy.worldtoNo Stupid Questions@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    4 days ago

    In the years before the US existed, when the land was colonized by European powers, Europe had a lot of really annoying, prudish types who were a major downer.

    Someone had the bright idea to encourage them to move to the colonies where they could live their prudish existence free from the naked bodies of Europe.

    We ended up with all of Europe’s biggest prudes. Europe’s prudes have been trying to reestablish themselves, but they are at a serious disadvantage. Meanwhile, we in America have to deal with an overwhelming population of prudes that we’ve struggled for centuries to extinguish​.

    While we’re on the subject, Europe also found it convenient to dump their criminals here. So we end up with a culture in which full frontal nudity is unacceptable, but gun violence is just fun entertainment.

    I say that as someone who loves some good violence. Nothing quite so enjoyable as living vicariously through some bad ass beating the snot out of the bad guys in a movie.

    I never would have thought of myself as a prude, but recently stopped watching the series Banshee because the amount of gratuitous sex in the show was exceeding the amount of gratuitous violence to such a degree that I began to feel uncomfortable.



  • Your concern seems strange to me.

    Looking at “British” for example, you’re taking about four culturally diverse groups (English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish). “Ethnically British” doesn’t really make sense.

    That doesn’t even consider the multitude of people from everywhere around the world who are British and perfectly comfortable identifying as such.







  • You are correct. It relates to the torque (rotational force) that can be produced at different RPM.

    Diesel engines have a narrow range of RPM where the torque is highest. At low RPM, the torque of a diesel engine is low. That’s why trucks have to shift into a low gear to start moving and shift multiple times to get up to speed. The driver uses the different gears to keep the engine running within the optimal range of RPM.

    Electric motors have high torque at low RPM, so they can start a heavy load moving without having to have any complicated gearbox between the motors and drive wheels.

    In a diesel-electric locomotive, the diesel generator can be designed to run at an efficient speed without being affected by the mass of the train. The electricity it generates powers the electric motors which have the necessary torque to handle moving the train.


  • You now have to lug around a LOT of both fuel and water, instead of just water and dry coal. Water and oil are both heavy by comparison to coal when lugging a train car of it around.

    I think you’re making an assumption there. You would need to consider energy density of the fuel. Diesel fuel has almost twice the energy density of coal. For the same trip, the weight of the diesel fuel you would need for an oil-fired steam engine would be just a little more than half the weight of coal needed for a coal-fired steam engine.

    Also, delivering the diesel fuel to the boiler would require a less complex mechanism and/or less workers than coal.


  • I wasn’t saying it was a solution, I was just offering a possible explanation. I understand why someone wouldn’t bother telling the user what’s happening. For my code, I log everything that happens, and tell the user to call me. When I get the call, I check the log and use that to figure out what went wrong.

    Distressingly typical user communication:

    User: There was an error message.

    Me: What did the error say?

    User: I don’t know. Something about the problem.


  • Users ignore error messages.

    I have seen my users request support, proceed to demonstrate the issue they’re having, and click through error messages so fast there isn’t even enough time for me to say “WAIT!” Forget about being able to actually read even one word of the message before it’s dismissed from the screen.

    They treat the error messages like they are just an annoying mosquito to be swatted away as quickly as possible. This despite the fact that the whole reason I’m standing behind them is so I can see what it’s going wrong and, you know, read the error messages.




  • I’ve never worked for a for-profit company since I graduated college. There is variation in non-profit employers, but there are some that are great places to work.

    I got a job at a university after graduation (different university than where I got my degree), and I worked there in different departments until I took a job in the university hospital. I’ve worked here for more than 25 years.

    The pay tends to be a bit lower than what you’d get at a for-profit company, but not as bad as some would lead you to believe. I’ve been able to buy a home, raise a family, and live fairly comfortably.

    The benefits are very good. There’s a strong focus on education and growth, and work-life balance isn’t just a lie they tell people in the interview.



  • We have two guinea pigs.

    Very often, guinea pigs are named after food. Our two rescues came with food names. However, everything eats guinea pigs and I feel it’s wrong to name them after food. We changed their names.

    We named them after two characters from Downton Abbey: Daisy and Rose. Plants are the only living things that fear guinea pigs, so they are nice, powerful names for them.

    Daisy in the background, Rose in front.