howimportantisausernameanyway

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

During lockdown I worked on two projects: one was a ditch that needed to be cleared out of tules and cattails but turtles lived there. So I’d follow the excavator scooping out the vegetation and make sure no turtles were trapped in it, and if they were, freeing them and putting them in a safe part of the ditch. It’s extremely muddy, sticky work. Hold on, I have a photo of one of the guys:

No one is having a good time.

The OTHER project was going to destroy rare salamander habitat and so we had to buy some appropriate habitat. But every mitigation bank was sold out. I found a guy selling future mitigation bank credits through the powers of making a lot of phone calls and then, through the power of polite requests, got our Wildlife Agency rep to sign off on this plan. Except. You can’t say “I gave seven figures to a guy who promises to someday make habitat”, that guy could abscond. You also can’t be like “I supes promise to pay for mitigation AFTER the project.” because WE could not pay out. We were, for various reasons, disinclined to delay the project. The Wildlife Agency rep — bless her, she really held my hand through this whole process — was like “how about you put the money in escrow?” Great. A plan.

So I call an escrow company — which was not an organization used to being cold-called, much less by someone standing next to an excavator, covered in mud. I was trying to provide only the information needed to enable success and NOT go on a five-ten minute rant on salamander life cycles. Also I was DEEPLY out of my depth.

“Hi! I was wondering if you could hold money in an escrow account for a longer period?”

“… Well, in some circumstances we can hold it for up to 90 days — but we’d need to know the circumstances.”

“Ah! I need someone to hold it for up to two years? Do you know of any companies who’d be able to help me?”

“What. What is happening with the house that this is necessary?”

“Oh uh. It’s not a house, per se, it’s a rare salamander mitigation bank. It needs to be built.”

“The salamanders need a custom house?”

“No no no no no uh. They need a pond. We’re paying someone to make a pond. But! They need time to make the pond. Hence the escrow account. So. Who could?”

“So like a lizard house?”

“They are amphibians?”

“Let me. Transfer you to my supervisor.”

<after a pause a different person comes on the line but also unfortunately at this moment the excavator operator fishes a turtle out of the ditch.>

“Hi! Sorry one second I need to put down the phone to help a turtle.” <interlude> “Thank you so much for waiting! I’m back! Can you talk to me about escrow options?”

“What was happening with the turtle?”

“Oh it was trapped in some cattails but I got it out. Sorry for putting down the phone — you need both hands to grab them because they bite! I need an escrow account to hold funds for up to two years?”

“For a house for lizards? Are you a zoo?”

“Ah! Salamanders, actually! And a mitigation bank, not a house. I actually work for X organization.”

“What is a mitigation bank?” (The critical question!)

“Oh when you’re building something and need to impact some rare species habitat you can pay someone to make new rare species habitat.”

“Huh.”

“But this habitat is incomplete! It doesn’t have a pond. So my organization won’t pay until AAAAAAAAA excuse me sorry I fell into a ditch. My organization needs there to be a pond there before they pay for the property. So one path forward is an escrow account.”

“Are you OK?”

“Yes absolutely!”

“What’s the cost of this bank?”

“Two million dollars.”

<the tenor of the conversation became markedly warmer at this point.>

“OK if you get my your contact information then I’ll email you some options and then we can discuss — do you have time now?”

“Unfortunately I do not have email access right this second. Also I need to get out of the ditch. Could we put a pin in this conversation and circle back tomorrow?”

“Of course, I look forward to working with your organization?”

“Thank you so much!”

“Good luck with the. Ditch. And turtles?”

“Thank you! Have a great day!”

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

What the hell. One of my coworkers worked on an antimatter stellarator. Matter/antimatter plasma. That's so cool!??? wtf,,,!

You spend a day generating positrons (antielectrons) and storing them in magnetic bottles. Then when you have enough, you inject them into a stellarator with an equal number of electrons, and heat them up. Antimatter-matter plasma. Hot damn.

It's a perfectly mass-balanced "pair plasma." Instead of heavy positive ions and light electrons, your positive and negative species have exactly equal mass. No length-scale separation, no time-scale separation, zero flow, zero turbulence, zero instabilities. Primordial universe stuff. In a stellarator!!! Fuck!!!!

If you keep the plasma thin and electron temperature low – or would it be lepton temperature??? What the fuck??? – the pair plasma can last for hours. That's so cool. That's the coolest thing I've ever heard of. Hot damn.

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

Art displayed at least week’s @GenderSpectrum.

Artist credit

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

Look.

Hard-nosed businessmen whose hearts pump coin are investing hugely in solar and wind because the electricity they make is fucking free on the margin.

Car nuts who never gave a solitary shit about tailpipe emissions are buying electrics because they fucking go.

Right-leaning nation states that wouldn't mind if some of their neighbors did wind up under the sea are pursuing complete fossil fuel elimination plans because somebody else controls the supply of fossil fuel and that's bad for your sovereignty.

This isn't all "natural". It's a black-and-white economic reality but it's one that people have put a lot of R&D and policy effort into making true. I'm not claiming everything's smooth coasting from here on out. The world IS being damaged and WILL be damaged more before it's "over." But green is the future; it has, in some ways, already become the present. We've succeeded in making its logic inevitable. Keep fighting because there are still big, big stakes on the table; but take heart. We are, however slowly and painfully, winning.

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

This may be the worst use of LLMs anyone has attempted, ever. Up there with recognizing mushrooms.

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

by @beetlemoses

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

Listening to Hotel California on the store radio and they muted the word "kill" when he says "but they just can't kill the beast" like what are we doing here has humanity not suffered enough

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

much less alarmed by the 'cognitive impact' of LLM use than I am by the fact that so many people apparently believe your brain can atrophy or permanently lose function in the space of four months because you used fancy sparknotes to write a couple of essays

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

I love when people on Fox News or whatever conservative outlet have a moment of reason bc it's always momentary and they go right back into whatever batshit thing they were talking about. There was some clip during the Obama era where a panel paused to call out someone for saying something racist, and when they were done they went "okay, back to the subject: why we need to destroy the Post Office"

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

>Join a union

>Hear people constantly complaining that the current union leadership is super corrupt, it's all just the same ten guys making all the decisions in secret and nobody else in the union ever gets to know what's going on

>Go to the monthly union meetings that are completely open to all 1200 union members

>The only attendees are the same ten guys every month, giving detailed reports about everything that's going on

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

This house, that was featured on HGTV's "Extreme Homes," was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's work and features Tahitian finishes. The 1992 build in Enid, OK has 3bds, 4ba, 3,008sqft, and is $459,900.

As soon as you walk thru the carved front door, there's a large zebra mural lining the wall.

The mural remains visible from the living room. Look at the high ceiling with metal beams.

Love the trees on the back wall.

And, check out the bar in the living room. Sit at the bar and watch the game, just like a real tavern, but classier. However, there's no dining room so, I guess you either sit at the bar...

Or at this cocktail table in the corner. If this isn't a party house, I don't know what is. A larger table would fit along the tree wall, no problem.

Behind the bar is the way to the kitchen.

What an interesting kitchen. The sink is round. I really don't see anywhere else in here for a kitchen table.

There's so much room in here for a table and even more furniture.

A light filled hallway.

They put some chairs and a coffee table in here, but it looks like maybe a family room, b/c it's open.

The primary bedroom has this entertainment unit and a built-in bed headboard.

Walk-in closet.

And, a very large ensuite.

Another large suite with a shower room. Interesting tile.

There's a very large terrace that wraps around the house.

Look at how huge it is.

Plus the walled area in front of the house is very large.

0.47 acre lot.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/25-Woodlands-Dr-Enid-OK-73703/218196698_zpid/

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

Interesting home built in 1983 in Dover, OH. 3bds, 3ba, 4,196sqft, $449,900. The angular roof lines are reflected in the shapes of the interior. This is such a geometric house, and the price isn't that bad (you couldn't buy it for that much where I live.)

Very different fireplace- round, with a mantel, plus another addition on top, and glass block wings.

Black and white tile floors, glossy red walls, and look at the black & gold ceiling.

The kitchen is very angular. I see a cook top, but I don't see an oven. Maybe it's in the island. The gold & white ceiling- I wonder if the ceilings are new or original.

I can't tell which is the primary bedroom. This one is in the dome. Look at the triangles.

The ensuite has angles every which way, and the sunken tub has a triangular window. Even the sink is angular.

The bedroom with angled walls is nice enough to also be the primary.

And, this one has a loft.

Matching ensuite.

The family room also has gold strips in the ceiling.

Bonus room is used as an office.

And, this one is used as a home gym.

Nice rec room with a full kitchen.

Look at those stairs coming down.

Small sitting area here by the sliders to the deck.

Isn't this nice? The plants give it a tropical feel.

All around the perimeter of the house there are covered decks and walks connecting them. There's also a covered patio under one deck.

Nice yard surrounded by trees.

And, look at the beautiful garden.

There's a garage under the house.

But, there's also a very large garage/barn.

Look at that roof.

1.63 acre lot.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/265-Schneiders-Crossing-Rd-NW-Dover-OH-44622/35562028_zpid/?

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

"gambling addiction" is kind of like if people regularly opened pits with spikes at the bottom in public areas and made lots of money from people falling into the pit and so they started greasing the edges and putting these pits in every public space and lobbying to be allowed to install them in people's homes and when someone fell into the greased spike pit in their house they said "oh thats so tragic, they had an addiction to deadly spikes, we obviously support everyone having a safe and healthy responsible relationship with the greased spike pits we're building"

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

Just some out of context Patrick Stewart wearing t-shirts on Trek sets.

[howimportantisausernameanyway]

So like, it's obvious to me reading the comments on my post that anti-porn people are largely like, afraid of porn. Like the concept of a sex video is really spooky to them. They're not making thoughtful critiques of the porn industry, which is genuinely a really fucked up industry, they're mostly just spooked by the concept of a sex video and what it could Do To You If You See It.

I said this in another post, but it's like, the difference between "a ton of coffee is produced using slave labor" (valid, important criticism of the coffee industry) and "coffee turns people into raving coffee addicts who forget how to interact with anyone because they're so obsessed with their coffee" (objectively not true, insane viewpoint).

It's literally just sex videos. They really cannot hurt you.