Posts by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AkbP2mdUpnjTsHJLPc by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-03T21:24:19Z
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@segv11 Wooster is much much later though -- that's mature Wodehouse, not juvenile boarding school stuff.
(DIR) Post #AkbZlz8KDRfRCsvJI0 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-03T23:24:30Z
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Niche complaint: Pop sci authors should never talk about conferences unless:1) Some explosive new info was revealed2) It's a remembrance of a bygone time that for some reason is poignant or charmingConferences are often boring even for the attendees! They generally don't need to be recounted unless someone got murdered. I feel like longtime profs, used to a captive audience, are especially at risk for this sort of thing. You need to assume your audience's default state is boredom.
(DIR) Post #AkbZq38NHbROm0suLw by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-03T23:25:13Z
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Like, the Konigsberg conference where Godel whispered the deepest truth in mathematics and only Von Neumann understood? Tell me that story over and over. The time you went to a conference in San Diego, and the beaches were nice and there was an open bar? No one cares.
(DIR) Post #AkbZwGL769OJT0o1A0 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-03T23:26:23Z
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@mathew @segv11 I don't know that I agree. In private writing, Wodehouse is astonishingly non-political. And in fact he seems to often talk and think like Wooster, with their main differences being that Wodehouse is more fond of animals and cricket.
(DIR) Post #AkchD2k3nhsz3SNoQ4 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-04T12:22:34Z
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@klepsydra My understanding is Waugh said Psmith was when you see Wodehouse suddenly get good, but I think in the early school stories, every now and then when he lets a boy behave just a little badly, you see it coming. I think Psmith is just when he finally went all in.
(DIR) Post #AketPo0DV4ucs7iCX2 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-05T13:48:47Z
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Today the stock market has crashed... down to the level it was at 2 months ago.
(DIR) Post #AklfXzTcgURtWXC8GG by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-08T20:16:22Z
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Stupid question, related to the successful incursion by Ukraine... how do you take over a town? I mean like... you go in, I guess you take over city hall or find the mayor? But for a big town, how does it actually work? This is a stupid way to say it, but I feel like there's a kind of awkward phase where you're just a guy driving through neighborhoods with a gun?
(DIR) Post #AlMfUrt1dZb7xl6Z3Q by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-08-26T16:38:25Z
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Bonus panel here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/blink
(DIR) Post #Am28xkAoFzuKaftx32 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-09-15T16:52:37Z
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Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/brown
(DIR) Post #Am8JKD0XtejOscD94i by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-09-18T16:16:36Z
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Anyone miss the yearly fights about pumpkin spice lattes? One casualty of genuinely terrifying political movements has been tiny asinine Internet fights. Remember pre-Trump when the whole net was mad about that couple who have a 24/7 Victorian cosplay thing going?
(DIR) Post #AmGcJr7UjCXzOCgaY4 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-09-22T16:27:20Z
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Why do you think it is that with all the available data and modern science we still can't do election prediction better than basically taking the average of a bunch of polls?
(DIR) Post #AmIic2umbLUpDyiVrk by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-09-23T16:47:01Z
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Anyone wanna link me to a thoughtful podcast or debate or whatever on Israel/Palestine.(Snarky rejoinders less appreciated than sharing the thing requested)
(DIR) Post #An06Mljvsj42hER1v6 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-10-14T14:48:21Z
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I just had a controversial opinion and absolutely stuffed it down. Feeling great about it.
(DIR) Post #AnAW8Wdbm4aYC1wdsG by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-10-19T15:18:44Z
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Working on some of my famous realistic dialog
(DIR) Post #Anm1fVcMMClx3OahCi by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-11-06T17:59:10Z
1 likes, 2 repeats
(DIR) Post #Ao8JCTXd4RKYrvnn1M by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-11-15T23:07:09Z
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I hadn't known much about de Gaulle and am finally reading a biography. Among the major non-evil leaders during WWII, he really seems like the one who is just certifiably bonkers. The right guy at the right time if you're France, but wow.
(DIR) Post #AoHAcTlnh15twTOWlE by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-11-21T18:24:29Z
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Oh god, this is the sort of thing that keeps me from wanting to try French in France!https://www.reddit.com/r/banalgens/comments/1gwf21i/kyle_24_ans_%C3%A9tudiant_am%C3%A9ricain_en_france/It's funny, being in Switzerland made me realize it's probably the best country on Earth to learn French, Italian, English, or German, because *everyone* is struggling with some language, and you never know which combination you're about to encounter.
(DIR) Post #AoKLbRbhvkO3umGLIG by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-11-23T01:51:24Z
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Kinda mindblowing:So the slowdown in productivity growth from 2007-2019 refers to a growth rate of about 1.5% a year. From 1945-1973 it was around 2.8%.But like, 1.5% a year still means that in a single generation, an hour of work produces 45% more stuff! In 50 years it's more than double the stuff.2.8% *is* much faster (double per generation) but still! By historical standards, 1.5% is zany fast.
(DIR) Post #AoKLbT4SUKymSEiokK by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-11-23T01:52:28Z
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Put another way, if a person is born today, and the "slow" rate holds for 75 years, when they are 75, a single hour of labor is triple the output of when they were born.
(DIR) Post #Aom9EmAyqVqzpUopfM by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-12-06T17:14:27Z
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Anyone else get unreasonably annoyed that literally everyone's point of reference for everything is WWII? Every authoritarian movement is 1930s fascism, bad leaders are Hitler, the use of "concentration camps" for places where nobody is being killed, etc. I find it especially irksome when I agree with the person making the argument! What was the standard reference before WWII?