“Antisemitism” a.k.a “Recognising anyone other than an Israeli settler as human and deserving empathy.”

Honestly, not having to work to survive, food, clothes, shelter all taken care of and given my level of education I could actually help some fellow inmates learn.

Even with the possibility of being killed in there, at least then it’s a way out other than suicide.

I’m getting real close to wishing for that.

Since I’m also in a country that hasn’t got the death penalty, I could take out one of these cunts who horde riches as well.

What does Lemmy think? Should I set my quietly miserable future on fire to do some good in the world?

Yes, correct I do. Engineer brain working in dBs constantly.

I agree with this 100%.

Capitalism is exceptional at finding ways to provide value when there is a new market. The issue comes when capital gets accumulated and concentrated in the hands of a few.

We’ve seen it dozens of times throughout history where a healthy merchant class with lots of opportunity for upwards mobility ends up in an oligarchy as the market becomes saturated then monopolies, duopolies, and cabals (guilds) form.

The state needs to use the “P” and “L” in PESTEL forces (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) that businesses (from single to large multinational) to identify new markets that need investment.

An examples would be new clean renewable electricity and one way of giving preferrence to this green energy by minimally taxing profts on this energy sold in the national market or international market via grid-interconnect networks (“Gridternets” if you will) with a clear plan to increase the tax to a normalised amount slowly overtime as the green share of the market approaches 100%.

It also has to be used to more aggressively dissuade markets that are more harmful than good now. An example of this is dirty power.

Coal, Oil, and Gas have done wonders for increasing people’s quality of life because they unlocked a new energy density previously unattainable. Now we have alternatives that are by every metric better; more efficient and less polluting.

Therefore, these industries need to be taxed out of existence by using a logarithmic energy carbon tax that keeps increasing year on year. Corruption needs to be rooted out like a weed as much as possible using a politically independent organ of the state to keep it healthy.

Then there’s markets that are stagnant in some state of capture: crumbling infrastructure, food retailer hypermarkets, etc. Windfall suprise taxes on incumbents and grants / zero interest loans for new competitors would reignight competition in those markets and the additional tax revenue can be used to fix the crumbling infrastructure these markets rely on.

And finally, I’d like to see a strong preference for co-operatives where ownership in a free market is much more evenly distributed by making them the least taxed commercial entities with businesses that have a higher concentration of ownership are taxed more through some sort of profit tax multiplier.

It’s much harder for a business to act in a pure profit motive to the detriment of society if the employees have more ownership as it allows morality to be expressed through political power within this business. These employees also then benefit from the profit share as well which gives stability and upward mobility in exchange for their labour.

There, that’s three proposals that could help towards decarbonisation, investing in underfunded infrastructure, and reducing inequality.

I am not a policy expert and there’s bound to be problems with each of those proposals that I haven’t thought of, but we have so much more to gain by working cooperatively together to build a system that aims to better humanity as a whole by using the best tools correctly and safety.

Until we reach an energy density which unlocks technology that enables things like a resourceless economy (a la Star Trek luxury space communism), we’re stuck with the tools of money and capital as the ways to transfer value.

I personally can’t wait for the day where “reputation” rather than money becomes the currency of society, I am willing to work with the tools we have right now to build that future, and I have faith that others are willing to build it with me.

Honestly at this point I’d fully believe that the plague is controlling the worm which is controlling RFK’s brain.

I would kill myself because I’m so sick of suffering this poorly written reality but then my mum would be upset and I’d rather her pass on from this world thinking I’ll be ok. Then I’ll kill myself.

Here is a LaserPig video with a timestamp for the section on Paul.

May I present, The Smiler

Source: Transmetropolitan

In my unqualified opinion having gone through academia to get a master’s degree in engineering, graded homework or assignments are way too simple for quantifying understanding of a subject.

For what it’s worth I think, at least from my perspective having gone through a STEM education, it should be broken down into the following categories:

Exams

Open book, reference-sheet, or closed book depending on the subject and the desired objective.

Closed book

Closed book exams work well for simple questions where it is more about memorising a method or theory that will be required to be memorised when the subject is applied for quick thinking. For example V = I / R for calculating voltage, current, and resistance and Kirchoff’s law: the sum of all currents into and out of a node must equal zero.

Then lots of these little questions and problems can be presented and it can be marked via a weighted measure of both how many you got correct and how many you did with no expectation that you would finish all of the questions exam paper.

There should only be a one of these types of exams in a given academic year and it should make up the smallest percentage of the grade for the year.

Reference Sheet

Reference sheet exams work well as an in-between for when you want to test memorised knowledge of how to apply a method or theory but not memorising of what that theory is. For example, the quadratic formula for finding the roots of a quadratic equation.

I’d say that a max of two exams of this type is suitable making up the next largest percentage of the grade and with the expectation that students can finish all the questions on the exam.

Open Book

Open book exams are perfect for essay style exams or exams with a few big problem questions which require the application of two or more theories / methods to get a (correct) answer.

These exams should be the largest percentage of exam grades from the year as these are about the students demonstrating their ability to find the knowledge they need in their reference sources (text books, literary works, etc.) and apply it in a long form answer with lots of working out or justification shown. Finding and thinking critically about information is a more pertinent skill in the modern day than just memorisation.

Coursework / Labwork

This should be ongoing throughout the academic year with the workload co-ordinated between subject teachers to ensure the students aren’t overwhelmed perhaps split into half-year and quarter-year sections, with one solo piece and one group piece.

It will allow the students to demonstrate group work and independent learning, with assistance from the teachers if the students require guidance. Ideally it should be a mixture of theoretical and practical with a written report of the outcomes or essay to reflect how the knowledge is applied in the world outside of academia.

To combat an over-reliance on Wikipedia, ChatGPT, etc. a portfolio of marked up reference materials should also be submitted. This isn’t just citing a source in the correct format you found on Wikipedia, a copy of the page(s) with the relevant text highlighted or a website print out or photographs or videos, anything to show that you have gone and done the work.

Depending on the subject, this should ideally be the largest contribution to your overall grade as it is the method that best demonstrates an understanding of a subject.

Presentations

This category encompasses everything from presenting and defending a thesis, demonstrating physical skill by showing something the student made, to delivering training of learnt knowledge.

This is key because no matter the subject, a student should have some ability to pass on the knowledge they have learnt to other students.

This assesment format has the most freedom in how the assessment should be performed and marked and will differ the most between subjects.

Finding a balance between these is key but if this framework was applied throughout the whole of a student’s time in academia from primary school to university and give the students some agency in how they approach the learning then the education system would produce better students who are able to find how to engage with the subjects and therefore produce work to the best of their ability.

Counter point: KiCAD

Yes I know it’s schematic capture and PCB layout, but I’m giving it as an example for two reasons:

1. The UX is genuinely really good and easy to use even for a novice following YouTube tutorials because it follows the norms of a schematic/PCB software package you’d expect to pay for (OrCAD, Altium, etc.)

2. It’s open source and used in industry so GIMP and Inkscape have ZERO excuses for their horrific UX which is the prime reason industry professionals don’t want to spend an age re-learning all of their workflows.

There I said it, I’ll get down off this soapbox now.

cough Inkscape cough …

Why are y’all looking at me like that?

Cry some more Tim Apple.

Literally the plot of every sci-fi show with an “overseer”.

[Dr. Who meme format]

Is AI bad?

It Depends. Large corporate AI hosted at a data centre that consumes a nuclear reactor’s worth of power and a lake’s worth of water for cooling for the purpose of generating slop stolen from Artists and Writers? Yes.

Locally run embedded AI designed for a specific task to automate small processes or enhance the UI experience with little cost to local computing resources because it’s been properly optimised? No.

There you go, just send out a couple of corporals with a dog and a spanner, yank the sod out the ground.

Very interesting project, I’ve been looking for alternative QR code scanners and notes/Todo apps. I’ll try them out.

Let me guess: Palantir

Just saying that in the unfortunate event of a write-off accident the insurance providers for Tesla owners might replace their car with a non-Tesla if they request it.

Sword Art Online Abridged.

I thank you for the sentiment, but save your words and don’t spare the ammunition.

No it won’t. The FPTP will propel Reform into government if two things happen:

1. Badenoch (or whomever replaces her) fails to drum up support at the next election.

2. Reform manages to not implode into infighting and avoid a scandal that causes a collapse in support.

It’s not unheard of for one of the two major parties to cease to be a thing (See the Whigs, Radicals, and the Liberals).

Will Reform win a majority outright? I would say it’s unlikely. But I would bet they will receive stronger support at the next election as Labour fails to dramatically improve the wellbeing and wallets of the working class.

The same people who, after decades of collapse under Thatcherism, then neglect by Blairism, and finally being squeezed by Austerity, through their support behind Brexit and Brexitiers like Boris and Farage because they peddled xenophobic-flavoured Hopium.

They’ll do it again, because with the weight of the rightwing media serving up easy to understand slogans when these people barely have enough energy left for analysing political discourse and policies after worrying about the roof over their head and having enough food in their bellies.

For the Tories to cease to be a party they’d have to lose MPs and financial backers, that is unlikely to happen within a single election unless the Tories sustain huge losses.

What I bet will happen is that they get enough votes in this election to become the official opposition IF they form a coalition with the Conservative Party. Farage will use the opportunity to mold the Tory party in his image with a potential merger when they see their approval numbers increase under his guidance and then the next election will lead them to victory.

He’s betting that the conditions of the working class will continue to worsen due to growing inequality, that the refugee crisis will worsen due to climate change, and that his media friends will be able to manage the narrative long enough to get him into No. 10.