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Joined 8 months ago
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Cake day: March 16th, 2024

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  • That’s a great point. We had a local private solar project that was fenced off and used to graze sheep. The sheep kept the field tidy and had built-in shelter from the sun and rain in warmer months.

    It was also part of a farm-to-table project. Unfortunately, that aspect drew the outrage of a neighbor who had ties to PETA. The sheep are gone now and I don’t know the details aside from the local media blowup. There may have been more to the story.

    I would love it if they used it to graze goats and rented them out to local property owners. My backyard has some weird terrain that makes it a PITA to mow. Goats will even take out poison ivy with no ill effects. I’d pay for that service.

    Point being - that land doesn’t need to be dedicated to a single use.



  • I’ve spent some time editing Wikipedia, and one of the funny things is that vandals who want attention for their pranks often don’t get it. Experienced editors just shut their nonsense down quietly and without a fuss. If a mistake appears to have happened through stupidity rather than malice, no one gets banned. Just a boring warning template.

    Sounds like this guy didn’t get the attention he wanted on the wiki platform.

    That being said…

    I absolutely remember the thing about the Scots editor! I heard that he was trying in good faith, quite young, a bit weird, American, and equipped with a Scots-English dictionary. He just didn’t comprehend that grammar is different in other languages and that Groundskeeper Willie was nae actually speekin Scots.

    I ended up feeling pretty bad for the kid, but it shows how an enthusiastic person can do an impressive amount of damage. Before the news came out, I would have pointed to the scots wiki as evidence that the language wasn’t really much more than a strong regional dialect. Similar to how a really thick Boston, Philly, or eastern Kentucky accent can sound to someone from a more midwestern US location.






  • I’m not sure this is true. Current US federal food and drug law has been in effect since the 1970s (for specifics, I’m thinking 21 CFR 211, which was codified 1979-ish) and it hasn’t really been repealed so much as it was never very explicit and rarely enforced, in part because of the difficulty of enforcing something so vague.

    Example: The law clearly says, “you must have a written procedure in place to prevent contamination,” But it leaves it up to the manufacturer to determine what that procedure should be. In contrast, some of the EU legislation (EUDRALEX) is much more prescriptive: “you must do X, Y, and Z to prevent contamination in a multi-purpose facility.”

    What little legislation was in place as US law before 21 CFR 211 was worse.

    It’s also worth noting that much of the US’s regulation via agencies like the FDA is actually released as “guidance for industry.” Or to paraphrase, “don’t be a freaking idiot about things, but we can’t legally prosecute you for it if you don’t.” That’s a big loophole.

    Consider the legal fiasco that was the trial of the owners and “quality manager” of that peanut company that caused multiple salmonella deaths about 10-15 years ago. Their QA manager’s legal defense was literally: I’m not qualified to do my job and should never been hired. 21 CFR says that “employees should be qualified to perform their jobs.” What does that mean? Should she have a degree in biology or chemistry? A degree in early childhood learning and k-12 education? On the job training on the day to day of the peanut factory and what to do if you have in infestation of birds? Beyond that, who is in charge of making sure she’s qualified? The regulations are unclear, and in the system that’s been in place for 40 years, all of those questions will be hammered out in the randomness of court and in the worst way possible. Like so.

    https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2020/02/ill-fated-quality-control-officer-for-peanut-corp-of-america-freed-from-federal-custody/#google_vignette

    I’m sorry - I could write a whole freaking book about this.


  • Speaking as a new hobbyist (2 months), I went with an Creality Ender 3 V3 KE. The cost was in the $250-300 USD range and it had a decent range of features.

    I’ve used it almost every day since unpacking it. It’s pretty easy to get to know. The Creality cloud slicing tool is good enough for me (for now), and can be run via a browser or app.

    Microcenter has a variety of display models that you can check out. If I had known about it I probably would have gone prior to making my selection. I’m not sure my choice would have been different, but a little extra knowledge never hurts.


  • a very literal interpretation

    This is literally what Christian fundamentalists believe. If any aspect of the bible is not the literal truth, it all falls apart in their eyes. They are very absolutist.

    And it’s not just Genesis.

    “But translations…” Hahaha no. It varies by sect but it usually falls under either “our religious founder was guided by God to the true translation” or “The King James version was a work of revelation and it undid all the false translations introduced by the Romans and Greeks.”

    “But it contradicts itself on key points.” No it doesn’t.

    “Hey, maybe Lazarus was just in a coma” Get behind me, Satan.

    There is no argument that hasn’t been heard and rejected. Disagreement is an attack.


  • I will reply not with my own view, but of the person who is most likely the author if this tract: Jack Chick. “Catholics are not Christians.”

    Absurd, you say? Of course, and I agree that it’s absurd.

    In the US there are two broad categories of people who would disagree.

    1. Old school bigots, many of whom came from immigrant families and wanted to align with the ruling class in America: WASPs. These were generally families who came from northwestern Europe and Scandinavia. (This describes the oldest members of my own family, who are still scandalized that my uncle married a woman from an Italian family in the 1960s).
    2. Fundamentalist Protestants. There are a thousand different flavors, so it’s hard to give them a single name. They agree that the bible is the literal word of God and that Catholicism is fundamentally flawed - as is any religion that stresses the need to “do unto others” in any significant fashion. “The only way to heaven is through me,” said Jesus. In other words, if you’re a serial killer but you truly believe in Jesus Christ and have pledged your soul to him - well, Jesus must have a good reason for all that serial killing you did. (This describes my in-laws, so yes - my entire family is fucked up).

    The serial killing thing is a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly - these people are almost shockingly mean to each other.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract


  • This was extremely well said. My in-laws adhere to one of these high control (fundie) sects, so I have an enlightening and disquieting inside look at it.

    One of my nephews dreamed of becoming a marine biologist from an early age. And even as he got older he never wavered. We privately wondered what was going to happen when he got old enough to realize that he would need to attend a school that taught actual math and science for that to become a reality.

    He’s currently studying to become a nurse at a Christian College. He’s safe from forbidden ideas, but he’ll blend well into the alternate parallel economy favored by the people at his church. In addition to social isolation from non-believers, they prefer to do business with companies run by people from their own or an affiliated church.

    The parallel economy still unnerves me for some reason. Learning about Christian Health Insurance was an eye-opener.