darkstar

joined 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago (6 children)

I think your question is misguided. Democracy doesn't mean a two-party system race to the bottom. Democracy can see democratically elected politicians that better resonate with each individual voter by eliminating first past the post voting and using ranked choice voting instead. The problem isn't that "half the country disagrees". You can't please everyone. The problem is that we've been divided and weaponized against each other, so the tribalism keeps us from finding common ground we may have. I doubt anyone votes FOR a candidate anymore. They seem to just vote AGAINST another candidate. Democracy works. It's our implementation of it that's failing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I would assume that's exactly what they'd do when he's released after his sentence is served.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I lost my job six months ago and am currently struggling to find another. Even if I did find another job that paid what I was getting paid before, I would not and could not pay for your cancer medication. But that doesn't mean I would choose to turn a blind eye to it. I would continue to fight for basic human rights to water, food, a home, and healthcare, because that's what I've believed in and will continue to believe in. Maybe I wouldn't change anything in your lifetime or mine, but I'll still try. And maybe in a few generations, once we're gone, we opened the door for them to have those things that allow us to keep our dignity.

I won't pretend to know how you feel, so I won't give you any platitudes. How you choose to live your life is your own decision, and I won't insult you by pitying you. Your struggle doesn't mean it's impossible for you to make somebody else's life any better or worse, though, just through simple human interactions. Sure, people are starving, dying, and going through much worse than me, or even you. That takes nothing away from the problems we encounter, the joy or pain we feel. I'll do what I can to influence my circumstance, because nobody gets to tell me I can't do something. When possible, I'll try to do the same for others, even if nobody sees it or gives me a pat on the back. I'll hold out hope that others might do the same for me when they can, but I won't expect it because I'm not owed it.

I'm not saying any of this to prove I'm better than you in any way or to win an Internet argument. Call me whatever names you like. I promise I won't respond beyond this comment. I simply wish you well, or at least better than at present.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Buddy, I hope you have a better day than you're currently having. I'm not sure what purpose putting your opinion on the Internet served if you were going to pretend it and any responses to it are pointless. Take care of yourself, man. You're talking like nothing and nobody matters. In the cosmic sense, you're right. Humanity, is just a flash in the pan, so none of us individually matters. In a human sense, even a small act of kindness might change somebody else's life, and I think those moments DO matter. I don't want to tell you how to live your life and I genuinely hope you don't misconstrue what I'm saying. I do actually hope you can live just a small amount less cynically and can see some positivity, despite how our political system and news keep pushing the negative in our faces day after day. I don't think hope is just for fools.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (5 children)

It feels like you completely ignored my argument against outlawing fast cars and simply moved to your argument about SUVs and trucks. If you choose to hand-wave my points because you're "thinking of the children", then I see no merit in your argument. And you're saying that what I said is invalid because I believe the bill will pass? But that you can say whatever because you're fed up with the government's ineffectiveness so you're just being bombastic? That detracts from your own statements, if you're admitting your own rhetoric is just for effect because you have no faith in politicians.

I'm not talking about SUVs, trucks, politicians, or the US legal system. You made a point that cars that drive over 65 shouldn't be made, and I countered. I don't hear anything from you except "politicians won't fix it" while turning around and saying "fast cars should be illegal", which would require those very same politicians you've lost faith in to somehow be effective enough to pass that very legislation.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (7 children)

You talk as if cars are appliances. Hell, even appliances go overboard. Why does a toaster or fridge need WiFi? Why does my washer or dryer have downloadable custom cycles? Because innovation is what sets companies and products apart. It's not always done "right", but who's to judge if a feature is superfluous? You? What makes you qualified?

Cars aren't just machines to get you from A to B. They certainly can be, but they're also a fashion item, a status symbol, marvels of engineering, and a tool for testing your skill. Cars can be taken to a racetrack and driven hard. Just because something is being misused doesn't mean it should either be illegal or shouldn't be made. Your view on this is incredibly myopic. Just because you aren't into cars doesn't mean the "right" thing to do is make all cars the same. And before you suggest making fast cars track only, that would be absurd and make the hobby even less approachable. Not everyone can have two vehicles (apartment buildings that only allow one vehicle, or a city with limited parking). That would be the same as when governments require permits for a product or activity, but make the permits impossible to get.

Other countries have figured out how to handle this situation in different ways. Germany has a harder test for getting your license. Not every idiot can pass. Some countries in Europe make fines a percentage of your income instead of a flat fee. That means breaking the law hurts everyone to a similar degree, rather than rich people paying the fine without a second thought as just the cost of doing business. If you really have a problem with cars then at least get creative with your solution. Trying to stamp them out is genuinely worse than this proposed bill.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I would love to do multicolor or multimaterial printing, but there's no alternative to the AMS right now. I also feel like the "right way" to do this is how the Prusa XL does it, which is multiple extruders. This cuts down significantly on the amount of waste, though the quality of the AMS approach still seems to be better for now. Granted, I haven't actually needed to print multiple colors or materials yet, so it's not really a big deal.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago

Exactly. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. You get what you (didn't) pay for. If you try to cut employees by using AI then you deserve this. You also deserve this if you don't pay your employees a decent wage. But they won't learn anything from this.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Not OP, but I chose not to go Bambu because of the closed ecosystem. I like that they're enabling custom firmware now, but they presented as very closed and proprietary, including network printing going through their cloud. While I'm not printing anything sensitive, I could see that being a concern for some, especially if you're designing your own prints. I get that they're the turnkey solution that "just works" out of the box, but so do my Qidi X-Plus 3 printers, and I can SSH into them if I want.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Depending on what you meant by this question, I'd say Perplexity. It's got access to a number of different LLMs, and cited its sources. The biggest concern I've had when it comes to LLMs is that they eventually make shit up. If you can verify its answers by checking its sources, you have a much higher confidence level in the answer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I'd say the major stuff is:

  • miles driven per charge and the average speed (mph/kph) per charge (preferably getting as low as you're comfortable before recharging)
  • control for variables like always keeping regenerative braking on or off
  • average outside temperature between charges
  • how many chargers or charging stations were out of commission? What number and what percent?
  • how far out of your way did you need to go, on average, to get to a charging station?
  • how much time did you spend charging, on average?
  • what charging speeds were you able to charge at? If your car can fast charge, how many of the fast chargers were unavailable (occupied or out of order), and how often did you need to charge slower as a result?

And not related to data: how is the drive feel? How are the driving dynamics? EVs are heavy. How did it feel in inclement weather vs dry?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

I agree. I chose not to go with the P1S because of Bambu's proprietary nature. I don't NEED to SSH into my printer or mess around in the internals, but it's nice to have that option, especially once a manufacturer moves on from an old model. It would be ideal to have community support once that happens. I went with the Qidi X-Plus 3 because of build volume and price too, not just openness, but aside from Bambu's wireless printing for some reason requiring data to go through their cloud I've only heard good things. I think this move to allow third party firmware is very smart and will draw more of the maker market, not just the average consumer.

 

Hi, Personal Finance. I'm a relative novice to investing, but have thrown some money into the market pretty regularly since last year. Before that, I had really only put money in on a handful of occasions, whenever I had money I felt would be better invested than spent. My portfolio is just around $30k, and I'm investing money every month in order to ensure I'm dollar cost averaging whatever isn't doing so well but has promise, and throwing more into the things that are doing well. In addition, I'm also reinvesting my dividends and not selling anything I hold.

That said, I got pretty lucky over the last few years and found a few ETFs and stocks that have since taken off because I happened to invest at a few key points when the market was at its lowest (boy do I wish I had put more in). I wish I could say it's because I know what I'm doing, but I just see it as really good, accidental timing. I've got some stocks and ETFs that I bought because of good dividends, and others that I bought because of a potential upside in the future.

I've found myself continually adjusting the dividend side of my portfolio, but doing nothing with the growth stocks and ETFs that took off. I feel like I should continue to invest in those, beyond dividend reinvestment, but seem to have a mental block because the price per share is so drastically different than when I first bought. Do any of you struggle with this? How do you get over it? What's a good way to keep investing without just chasing success like a drug? Four items in my portfolio account for 74% of my growth portfolio value, despite only making up 39% of my total growth portfolio shares. I'm torn on whether to invest more in what's working, or leaving those alone and continuing to diversify.

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