No Stupid Questions
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What has Critical Theory actually achieved?
I was just thinking about it after looking it up. What has it, in world affairs, actually done? What changes did it make to society that were worth making?
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How screwed would one be if their email provider shuts down?
What if protonmail, gmail or whatever email provider you are using goes belly-up? Are all your accounts doomed?
If so, what are some preventive measures? Adding backup emails to your registered accounts?
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Do the ultra-rich consume popular media?
Not sure if "ultra-rich" is the right label, since there are probably some of them who are good people, but I'm referring to the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, etc.
I'm just wondering: do people like them watch movies or TV shows, or read books? In so much of popular media, people like them (i.e. rich, powerful, unsympathetic) are usually cast as the villain.
If they have any self-awareness and do consume popular media, surely they would know they are (edit: seen as) the bad guys?
My guess is that they simply don't consume popular media and instead wind down by doing clique rich people activities (e.g. attend parties of only the rich, partake in expensive sports)
I tried doing a quick internet, but didn't find an answer that confirms my thoughts, so I gave up and turned to Lemmy.
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Is there a genre of music that's death metal without the screaming vocals?
Like, I love thrash/death/heavy metal music, but I could mostly do without the vocals. Is there a genre of music (or specific bands) I should look for?
I'm a big fan of Arcturus, Children of Bodom, etc, but I prefer the instrumentals way more than the singing.
So, is there a specific genre for that?
Edit: Imagine Silent Night, Bodom Night but without lyrics. It's not that I dislike the vocals; would just appreciate the track more without them. It's like they're just in the way of what I want to hear.
Edit 2: Thanks, everyone. I have heard of Animals as Leaders but am not super familiar with them. Will definitely check them out as well as the other recommendations.
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Are the inside parts of toilets universal?
I am from the US, and was wondering if any kit works on every home toilet.
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what can I use to cushion my knee when exercising with it on the floor so it doesn't hurt?
yes, a cushion, but every one I've found is too big and doesn't fir my backpack where I have more stuff (clothes, an umbrella...).
I like doing yoga and stretching outdoors, so the ground may also have loose dirt, broken pebbles and grass...
If I bend on my fours, raise-stretch a leg with the other leg's knee touching the ground to hold most of my weight with this leg's foot stretched to the back and still touching the ground, raise-stretching one arm and only using the other arm not to fall to the ground, the knee touching the ground hurts.
I've tried folding a small towel three times, but I'm so skinny that my knee still hurts.
Folding a yoga mat doesn't help either.
What works for you?
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Is the Robert Reich mastodon account actually run by Robert Reich?
I'm talking about @[email protected].
The account says things that seem like they would be said by Reich but I'm not sure it's actually him behind the screen.
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How far away are we from someone using AI to create an animated TV show by themselves.
One person, with their AI, can create a fully animated show with audio and different voices done with the combination of the creator and AI.
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Why is the word "expat" a thing?
Why do Brits and Americans have a special term instead of just using Immigrant?
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Is there any word of the how the tariffs or taxes that will be imposed by next USA government affect consulting from external countries?
I work from outside USA in a desultory job. I remember clearly back in 2016 the was layoffs in my job cause they put one 15% tax.
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Can someone give me atleast 5 examples of Democrats being against the working class?
Have I been out of the loop on politics?
Wasn’t it the Dems who voted to protect Union Pensions? Republicans voted against it.
Dems voted to extend the child tax credit this year. EVERY Republican voted against it.
And didn’t Kamala Harris run on helping with funding for first time home buyers?
When did the narrative of Dems being against the working class start? Was it just because Bernie said it recently?
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How would American culture change if the internet went down?
Hypothetically, let’s say the internet breaks down with no recovery in the near future. How would this affect culture in America (or the entire world)? Would monoculture return? The specific cultures I mean are…
Politics Influencers Big Tech Hollywood Work Force ???
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Imo, with no internet, Hollywood would probably be the biggest beneficiary from this. Television would probably become a juggernaut again. I think influencers would fall off the face of the earth without the internet. Big Tech would crash. Politics would probably start to shift dramatically towards the left with the lack of echo chambers online. And I think labor would stall for like a month or two.
So yeah, without internet, I think Hollywood thrives and almost every other industry or culture takes a big hit.
What do you think?
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Has Fast Food Gotten Worse, or Am I Just Getting Old?
I’m genuinely curious. Years ago, I was a chubby young pothead who lived on fast food. Taco Bell, McDonald’s, KFC, you name it—I ate it. Back in college, fast food probably made up at least 50% of my diet. And it wasn’t just because it was quick and cheap—I actually enjoyed it.
But these days, I find myself craving it less and less. Besides being more health-conscious, it just doesn’t hit the spot like it used to. It’s more expensive than ever, mostly bland, and I feel terrible after I eat it. So what’s changed? Is it just part of the enshitification of everything? Have I just gotten old, or has fast food really gone downhill?
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What should I bring to far-north Scandinavia?
I will spend around 4 weeks in far-north Scandinavia. I am wondering what I should take there. I am expecting freezing weather and little daytime. I will do some outside work, also in the snow, e.g. some builsing maintainance and cleaning snow.
I have not been that far north yet, so what kind of clotting should I bring specifically? Also, are there some general things I should consider?
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USA President term limits
im 100% canadian, I dont live in the US and wondering about your system.
so as i understand your political system, a president can only hold office 2 terms. in Trumps case, he served once already, does that mean he can only serve one more, or is the clock reset and he gets a shot at 8 years?
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When people say the AI bubble will burst, what exactly does that mean?
I see lots of talk on Lemmy about the AI bubble bursting. That AGI isn’t going to happen in the near-term, maybe it won’t ever happen. And so the the AI bubble will burst; ala the dot-com bubble.
But what exactly will burst? OpenAI and Claude? Those are private companies so maybe they will downsize or merge, but that’s not a bubble? NVIDIA & Microsoft? I don’t really see those companies imploding. They have a pretty large and diversified customer base. Besides, Apple and AWS are already moving away from NVIDIA by making their own hardware. I genuinely don’t understand where the big implosion is. Can someone help me understand this?
ETA: Is there an example analogous to pets.com for this AI bubble?
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are winter leggings worth buying?
the leggings I run in are thick enough so nobody sees my undies when I stretch or do yoga, but still summer ones, meaning not made of fleece. I like them because behind the knees they're made of mesh so my legs breathe more easily. After exercising for 2 hours outdoors my legs ain't cold. The winter ones from the same brand are made of fleece and don't have this behind-the-knees mesh window.
If you use fleece leggings, don't they get too hot?
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What would be the best Fediverse sub/community/place for questions about probability and statistics?
Basically exactly what the title says. In case there isn't a great place, or this post ends up getting more visibility than wherever I end up asking I will explain my approximate competency level and the question below.
In terms of competency I have an engineering background and degree, which means I had a single class in statistics. Technically I was one class short of a math minor (Graph Theory) when I graduated. Unlike most engineers and Six Sigma "graduates" I don't think this automatically makes me some kind of math/stats wizard. I'm aware I know just enough that I can unintentionally massage data to fit my bias (mini rant over).
My question is, when looking at a human population and trying to find the approximate subset of people with certain attributes how are correlations handled to avoid double counting?
For example let's say I am looking at a specific city and my data sets are thee most recent census, BLS.gov, and Pew Research. With the above sources I can pretty easily estimate something along the lines of
The number men in a US city that are:
- Between the ages of 22-44
- Have a STEM degree
However, if I then wanted to add another factor:
- Are/Vote liberal
I know that is going to interfere with the original criteria because higher levels of education are correlated with people being more liberal, thus if I just punched in the percentages from all three data points the resulting number is likely going to be much smaller than reality.
Is there a term or method I can read up on for how to account for overlaps/correlations between population subsets? Does this make sense or am I asking the wrong kind of question?
FWIW none of this is related to my job, an argument, a shit post, a data graphic, or anything else I will ever really make. It's just for something specific (not the actually the above example but something like it using the sources I mentioned) I am personally curious about. I have also more generally been wondering about how to account for this kind of overlap for a couple of years now.
Regardless, thanks for taking the time to at least read all this.
Cheers!
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why are fax machines still used by medical systems?
I'll admit, I'm pretty frustrated right now lol. me and my doctor have been trying to submit a referral to a specialist but for the last several weeks, when i call them, they still haven't gotten it yet. they told me it's because they only have one fax machine so it refuses any incoming faxes if it's in the middle of printing a different one.
my problem is, why haven't we come up with a more modern and secure way of sending medical files?!?! am i crazy for thinking this is a super unprofessional and unnecessary barrier to care?
luckily I'm mobile enough to drive a physical copy to their location, but not everybody who needs to see this type of doctor can do that, nor should they have to.
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do any alternative frontends for twitter still exist?
I remember seeing someone linking to something that looked like one even after nitter's demise, but I don't recall the name.
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At what point do you stop calling the years "two thousand and X" and start calling them "twenty X"?
Throughout my life, I've always heard people refer to the early 21st century years as "two thousand and X". For example, they pronounced 2001 as "two thousand and one". In my experience, during the mid-2010s there seemed to be a shift in the way people said it, and the first time I heard someone say it differently was in 2016, where they pronounced it as "twenty sixteen".
Most people I've heard pronounced the late-2010s years as "two thousand and X", although the pronunciation "twenty X" had started to catch on fast. By the year 2020, almost nobody used the "two thousand and X" pronunciation, except for very old people I knew. For example, most people would pronounce 2024 as "twenty twenty-four" and not "two thousand and twenty-four".
My question is: what year is the cutoff date for pronouncing the early 21st century years as "two thousand and X?" I've always heard people say it that way prior to 2016, I've never heard someone pronounce, say, 2007 as "twenty oh seven".
I hope I was able to properly articulate what I'm trying to say.
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How do I get over fear of cooking?
I don't know if anyone here has been through this.. but I eat a lot of fast food because I have a fear of using anything to cook, if it's for me to make something like bread and butter, that's fine, it's just a fork that I need, but when it comes to using a furnace or those kind of things, I just have a fear I might mess up somehow and start a fire or something.. I know it sounds stupid but it's a nightmare I have in my head for some reason =/, I thought I'd try getting over it so I could cook my own meals and get more healthy but thar's a barrier stopping me.. can anyone who has been through this give me any advice on it?
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Why is the word "defense" avoided in reporting and rhetorics around Ukraine?
I think that would be not only appropriate but also helpful to frame Ukraine as "defending their land" instead of "being at war". So why dont politicians and journalists primarily use this word?
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what should I consider before buying winter running gloves?
to run, work out, stretch, jump... up to 2 to 3 hours outdoors with and without wind.
Any brands you'd recommend? I have long, thin fingers.
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Is there a 'ama' sub?
Is there a sub for ama's aka 'ask me anythings'? If not where do people post them?
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In the US, what is stopping people from bribing members of the electoral college?
Let's say you're a mega wealthy billionaire who has suddenly realized that if he cozies up close to a presidential candidate, he could have more power and wealth than ever before. What's stopping you from figuring out who the electorates are and offering them whatever they want if they vote for your guy? What's stopping them from taking the deal?
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Can you scale down a firearm to make an identical looking firearm that fires a different round?
Like, could you make a smaller version of a 1911 that fires 22lr instead of .45 by just scaling all the parts to the 22lr?
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why is mexico not treated the same way as canada??
first of all, i don't identify as latino, sorry!!! but anyway when i talk about mexico being treated the same way as canada, i mean,, for example when it comes to prices,, canada and usa have both of their dollars on the back of stuff, like if you bought a book in canada in the back it would say "10 usd/10 cad", but no mexican currency? isn't mexico also the neighbor and both nations have good ties?? it should be treated with the same level of important stuff
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is "oh boy" considered a gendered term?
I've been back and forth with this just because of my habit to use "oh man", or "oh dude" in the past. I've done pretty well with changing the terminology just to keep to the discussion at hand and being respectful for anyone I'm talking to (just feels like basic public respect, like back in the day they would say "Dear Reader," not really a PC problem to me).
So anyways, I found myself typing "oh boy" the other day and I paused to wonder about it. I don't think I've ever seen it brought up in discussions like man or dude. I never even thought of that phrase as it signifying the recipient is a "boy". The more I think on it I don't even know what the actual meaning is besides the way in which it is used (like, "shit" or "you wouldn't believe").
tldr: Is "oh boy" an acceptable gender-neutral response loop hole so I can be lazier when typing or has this been discussed a lot and I've just missed out on it?
I would love to hear the perspectives of everyone and encourage you to voice your opinion (just message if you don't want other's chiming in if you prefer)
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Is it expected to tip for furniture deliveries?
As the title says, bought some nicer furniture which is being delivered and curious if I should tip the delivery driver.
Edit: I’m in the USA.
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Is "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy considered a good book? Because I read it, and I'm not sure it should be.
OK, so I finished this a while back, and despite it appealing to a lot of my interests, I honestly found it pretty meh.
I really enjoyed the realistic military/tactical aspect of it all, as that part is right up my alley, but... I did not care about the characters, the plot seemed hollow, and it seems like some things that could have been explored further were simply ignored.
For example, in the beginning these guys blow up a refinery. There are vague descriptions as to why, but after this it is practically not mentioned again. Whatever movement they were part of apparently disappears, and there are no repercussions for their home oblast.
The only thing this book has going for it, in my opinion, is that military nerds like me enjoy the detailed writing about the different types of hardware involved in the book.
So, since I am by no means a literary connoseur, I'm curious about what others think of this one.