this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 295 points 3 months ago (2 children)

et. al

I wouldn't mess with her, she contains multitudes!

[–] geogle 62 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] Skullgrid 34 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

We are Borg et al. Resistance is futile.

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[–] [email protected] 139 points 3 months ago (8 children)

What does “human drivers of fire” mean?

[–] TropicalDingdong 131 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Well I'm here so I guess I'll answer.

There are many human drivers of fire, the first and foremost being, well you know, lighting a fire. And boy, do humans light a lot of fires.

Take for example, here is a map of active fires around the globe, right now:

First order human drivers of fire are things we actively or accidentally do to light a fire. Ignition is a fundamental for fire to happen, and humans cause WAY more ignition events than nature does. Things like a cook fire, burning brush or downed debris for management purposes, infrastructure like power lines or fueling stations, car accidents, lit cigarettes being thrown out etc.. etc.. The timing and frequency of these events directly influence the frequency of fires.

Second order drivers are things like vegetation management, home placing and construction, and other biophysical drivers. For example, introduction of invasive species like bromus tectorum, which burns very readily, represents more fine fuels in the environment. Yadayadayada more fires. Other things around vegetation management would fall into this category, such as the suppression of fire, or the psychical thinning of fuels in forests, or prescribed burns.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Well I'm here so I guess I'll answer.

Are... are you McCarty et al., TropicalDingdong?

edit: [email protected]

[–] TropicalDingdong 74 points 3 months ago (8 children)

No no no, I'm an et al, just no any of those particular et al. I focus on wildfire risk and have read much on the topic. I've read McCarty and many more when it comes to understanding wildfire and wildfire risk. Some of my research focuses on wildfire risk, and spatial features as they relate to wildfire risk, so drivers becomes pretty important when it comes to wildfire risk modeling. I have taken several courses through NASA on the matter even though I don't focus on drivers directly.

This is the kind of thing I'm working on:

The nodes are features, the edges are weights. In this case I'm just looking at structure:structure risk.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I'm sorry, but you obviously don't understand wildfires. You should really try reading Tropical Dingdongs, Esq.

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[–] Hobbes_Dent 72 points 3 months ago

I use geospatial science and data to document, analyze, and predict complexities of wildland and human-caused fire, from individual to global scales. I have a particular interest in fire emissions and modeling, regional food security, land-cover/land-use change, and the Arctic. As a mom, I am concerned with helping children and future generations have better lives.

https://jmccartygeo.org/

[–] BallShapedMan 49 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This is my best guess without googling it or her.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The only acceptable use of generative AI is to get the shit posts out faster

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It means she’s a trouble starter, punkin' instigator, fear addicted, a danger illustrated.

[–] Jerkface 21 points 3 months ago (2 children)

So, you're saying she's a firestarter? Twisted firestarter?

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 months ago

Probably just the totality of human influences on wildfires. This can include a wide range of activities and factors including climate change, forest preservation or cutting, changes in wild or domestic mammal herbivory, accidental ignition events, controlled burns, irrigation or diversion of streams, damming rivers, invasive species introductions, etc.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago

Those who are deemed "Lit" in academic language.

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[–] Nacktmull 126 points 3 months ago (8 children)

She is McCarty for sure but I doubt that she is et al too ...

[–] thechadwick 17 points 3 months ago (6 children)

We're all et al on this glorious day!

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago

Maybe et al was their last name.

[–] JimVanDeventer 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Taking credit for the work of people who are barely even credited in the first place is… a way of responding. If only she had disappeared behind the curtain for a moment, re-emerging with everyone there with big hair and guitars and eye shadow and screamed “we are McCarty and the Et Als!!!”

Oh well; next time.

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[–] HollowNaught 111 points 3 months ago (10 children)

I always roll my eyes whenever I see a "you can't do that because you're a woman" character in a show, and then I'm always reminded that these people actually exist

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (13 children)

these people actually exist

The way it's been explained to me is that so much of the negative interactions in life come from a tiny, tiny number of offenders who manage to be shitty to dozens and dozens of people. So anyone who has to interact with many different people will inevitably encounter that shitty interaction, while most of us normies would never actually behave in that way.

Of the literally thousands of times I've interacted with a server or cashier, I've never yelled at one. But talk to any server or cashier, and they'll all have stories of the customer who yelled at them. In other words, it can be simultaneously true that:

  • Almost all servers and cashiers get yelled at by customers.
  • Very, very, few customers actually yell at servers or cashiers.

In other words, our lived experiences are very different, depending on which side of that interaction we might possibly be on.

When I talk to women in male dominated fields, basically every single one of them has shitty stories about sexist mistreatment. It's basically inevitable, because they are a woman who interacts with literally hundreds or thousands in their field. And even if I interact with hundreds or thousands of women in that same field, just because I don't mistreat any of them doesn't mean that my experienced sample is representative.

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And then everyone applauded..

But seriously if I witnessed this, I might actually applaud because that is a pretty badass bit of trivia to get to whip out.

[–] cmbabul 30 points 3 months ago

I think I would rather this happen to me than just about anything professionally, the withdrawal from that high might actually kill me

[–] [email protected] 71 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Hilarious. I actually witnessed this online when someone tried to “well actually” another user and it turned out that user was the author of the paper they cited.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I see it happen a lot online with people "looking for help with", but really just looking to vent about, open source software.

And I encounter it a lot at work with policies, reference docs, and little PowerShell scripts I've written.


"Hello I am tech support. Sysadmin, please help with strange situation A"

Sure thing, you'll need to do X.

"But that doesn't match our documentation, it says to do Y and that's not working"

My man, look at the changelog on the first page. I wrote it and made most of the updates for the first year we had it. This is an exception, and adding it to the doc would have bloated it outrageously for how infrequently this comes up. Especially to explain the why. I'd also need to try to cover all the other rare exceptions, which would turn the doc into an absolutely useless shitshow. Anyway, I should have a PowerShell script to handle it, give me a bit to find it.

"Ahckstually, Numpty #3 says our team has a PowerShell script to handle it already, no worries! Thanks!"

Motherfu- My brother in christ who do you think wrote that? You know I used to be on your team, and I just said- My name is in the first line of the scri- I mean cool, glad I could help you get it sorted.


Similar story, talking with a vendor. Again, I'm the one not in quotes.

I need you to connect me with a technical resource on your side for assistance with attempting an alternate solution Y for the issue we are facing, which Important Muckety Muck #7 in my company said you were able to do for them. I understand that I previously suggested that we could do X on our side as a solution for our problem. As we've moved forward in other places on this project, we have found that X will not work for us as a solution for reasons A, B, and C.

(He's breathing loudly through his mouth, hanging agape between words like some great panting missing-link-between-man-and-ape who has somehow found his way into a sales position. Somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind, the sounds of the wind through jungle trees, the calls of ancient and exotic birds and animals, the quiet noises of strange insects alien to this modern time and place, all combine into a beautiful primal music lost to the modern world. It flits through his subconcious, never quite fully able to be grasped.)

"I am the technical resource. According to my notes, X was identified as a solution to your problem."

(This was not some poor third world guy stuck in a call center having to follow a basic help desk script. Same first language, a few states away, he'd been involved with this project the whole way)

AS STATED IN MY PREVIOUS EMAIL

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (7 children)

ITT people baww at the mere mention of race and gender, and proceed to behave as if the problem is other people being too sensitive about race and gender.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm very sorry, but what is ITT and baww?

[–] mysteryname101 27 points 3 months ago (2 children)

ITT. In this thread.

Bawww in this context means “cry”

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Thanks for the clarification. This is how I find out that I'm old.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Any kind of interruption seems rude AF, and that’s without even considering the sexism and insinuation that she’s incompetent.

What’s the norm for the audience in situations like this? Raising your hand? Holding any questions/comments until the end?

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Even then you don't go "you don't understand x!". You make an actual point about something in the presentation, usually with enough self-doubt to state it as a question.

If the whole presentation is trash in your opinion, just leave.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Depends on the size of the meeting and the length of the meeting.

For an hour-long lecture/seminar with less than 20 people, probably raising your question directly is fine.

For a 25 mins talk at a conference with 200 people, you will probably need to save your question to the end.

But it is always safer to ask beforehand.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 3 months ago (20 children)

Funny, but what does the skin color have to do with the situation?

[–] [email protected] 64 points 3 months ago (24 children)

When a given demographic is a dominant presence in a given area (not necessarily work, it can be anything), there is a tendency for they demographic to start making assumptions about other demographics.

In most places, men are the dominant presence, and in most of the "western" world, they will also be white.

In this case, the individual who a white male was doing what's called colloquially, "mansplaining". He was correcting a woman when not only was the woman right, but was the very source he was using to correct her.

This is a consistent and very unpleasant fact of the world that white men will treat anyone of any other demographic as less than equals.

In this specific case, I suspect that the person making that post was pointing to the prejudice and stupidity of the person indirectly insulting her being a systemic issue arising from both gender and sexual entrenchment along with the privilege that allows the dominance of the white male demographic despite their being no quantifiable factor for that group to be dominant other than that privilege.

She, in other words, was pointing out a systemic issue by using an anecdote. Which can be a bit difficult to accept as evidence. Or would be if there wasn't a good century or so of giant piles of anecdotes from real people pointing to that systemic issue not only existing, but being something that holds everyone back.

Truth? Yes, women and people of color are going to assume they're right and whoever they're talking to is wrong just like any humans will. But white dudes have been pulling that crap for multiple generations, and anyone that isn't both white and male get sick of the bad behavior.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's a reminder than people that have always been in a privileged position often don't realize they do.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

It's an American obsession.

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[–] xkforce 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

To emphasize the privilege this guy has.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 months ago

That et al is the best scientist, they’re in all the papers.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 months ago (2 children)

That man's name? Albert Einstein

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[–] niktemadur 18 points 3 months ago

...later that evening, that's when this poor wounded white male post doc subscribed to the Ben Shapiro podcast.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago

at the table, after his question was asked, and her eyes squinted in delight, it was at that moment he knew he had fucked up, he just didn't know how yet

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (6 children)

As a white dude, I would be horribly embarrassed to do something like that. I hope the guy in the story learned a lesson from it.

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