Stack Exchange
log in

jamesqf

 Discussion on answer by gerrit: Any r…

Imported from a comment discussion on outdoors.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Jan 26, 2023 17:52
@gerrit: I guess I missed that, though I admit I wasn't looking. (Not much of a drinker, especially when out on the trail.) Unless of course you count the restaurants at the upper end of the cog railways.
jamesqf
Jan 26, 2023 17:52
@RedSonja: I have hiked in the Alps, though perhaps things are different in Switzerland :-)
jamesqf
Jan 26, 2023 17:52
@RedSonja: But how does carnival season relate to "The Great Outdoors". In all my days of hiking, I've never come upon a source of gluhwein :-(
 

 Discussion on question by flyb: What …

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
jamesqf
Dec 9, 2021 14:36
@Kaddath: In American English, at least, either works. Ask on the English Language site if you want to know more.
 

 Discussion on answer by Grade 'Eh' Ba…

Imported from a comment discussion on money.stackexchange.com/...
jamesqf
Dec 1, 2021 12:51
@Ben Voigt: But I AM using those pie ingredients. They are not money, they represent control of a company I founded. So I had a brilliant idea (or in the case of Facebook, Twitter, and the like, a really dumb idea that appealed to a lot of people, but who's judging?), implemented it, and want to go on controlling it. Why should I be forced to give up that control - which arguably might well increase the company's future value - just to give the government a cut?
 

 Discussion on question by Shaun Lutti…

Imported from a comment discussion on money.stackexchange.com/...
jamesqf
Nov 30, 2021 22:41
@quarague: Your example is wrong, at least for a US person. Take me for instance: started with $0 (actually quite a bit less, with student loans), have accumulated over $1 million. But about half of that has been completely untaxed (so far), since it went into 401k/IRA plans. About another quarter represents the increased value of my house, which (since property tax increases are limited) will not be taxed unless I sell it (and I can exclude $250K of the gain). As I said earlier, I could take out a loan against it and live off that. Not so differnent than those rich guys :-)
jamesqf
Nov 30, 2021 22:41
@shoover: "In my taxing jurisdiction, we are taxed 2-3% of the actual full value of the home..." Do you think that if Bezos or Gates lived in your jurisdiction, they wouldn't likewise be paying property taxes on their multi-million dollar mansion? Pre Google, Gates is paying about $2.3 million per year on just one of his houses:
jamesqf
Nov 30, 2021 22:41
@quid: Yes, the rich can use loans to avoid taxes until they die, but (unless they leave everything to charity) their heirs will be paying the taxes. The not-rich can use the same strategy. Say you own your home, or have a largish equity in it. Real estate prices have risen considerably since you bought it, so you do a cash-out refinance at the new value, giving you a large chunk of cash to spend. Or if you're over 65 or so, you can do a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, allowing you to spend your home's equity: benefits.gov/benefit/709
 

 Discussion on question by Roger Vadim…

Imported from a comment discussion on biology.stackexchange.co...
jamesqf
Nov 30, 2021 05:23
@Roger Vadim: Either you have not expressed your question clearly, or my examples do fit. What you don't seem to see is that every one of them (and many others I didn't list) disproves your claim: "...even a warm-blooded animal needs constant exposure to the Sun...". Since that is disproved by observation, I suggest you go back to that physics question and figure out were your error lies. (Hint: your human is not doing black body radiation into a space at absolute zero. Calculate radiatiave losses for the difference between body temp and environment.)
jamesqf
Nov 30, 2021 05:23
@Roger Vadim: Ever spend time north of the Arctic Circle? (Or south of the Antarctic?) If so, you will have noticed that creatures living there, including humans, are not exposed to sunlight for periods of several months each year, yet they indisputably maintain body temperature. Similarly for marine mammals, which spend only a small fraction of their time at the surface. Or indeed, human submarine crews, miners working underground during the day, or indeed, any creature active during periods of darkness.
jamesqf
Nov 30, 2021 05:23
Re "no warm-blooded animals can exist in places...": Whales, polar bears, penguins, seals...
 

 Discussion on answer by William Walke…

Imported from a comment discussion on politics.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Nov 26, 2021 09:42
@William Walker III: But in many cases, the "hands-off" state is simply reflecting the desires of the majority. E.g. when Islamic mobs stone people for heresy or adultery, they are just doing what the state would do, but with more formalities.
jamesqf
Nov 26, 2021 09:42
@William Walker III: Why does it challenge the legitimacy of a nation/state? It's perfectly possible to have limited governments that don't try to regulate certain things, or even refuse to regulate them as a matter of principle and/or practicality.
jamesqf
Nov 26, 2021 09:42
But we can certainly find a great many examples of this happening: for instance the Inquisition in Europe, early Puritan colonies in New England, certain Islamic countries today. To a lesser degree, you probably find some of it everywhere: grow up as a nerd in small town America, be a Wiccan in the Bible Belt, "act white" in a urban black neighborhood...
 

 Discussion on question by Ramy: Why a…

Imported from a comment discussion on physics.stackexchange.co...
jamesqf
Nov 26, 2021 07:16
@John Hunter: Too powerful and too expensive? Small jet engines are readily available these days. From a quick search, you can get them for less that the battery pack of a Tesla.
 

 Discussion on answer by Keith Morriso…

Imported from a comment discussion on history.stackexchange.co...
jamesqf
Nov 24, 2021 23:18
@Chris H: True, but in relation to the development of agriculture, the Romans are pretty close to modern. They even had mechanical reapers - see "gallic reaper", for example.
jamesqf
Nov 24, 2021 23:18
@Chris H: The point is that nuts as a staple food (acorns in many places, or pine nuts here in the Great Basin), aren't really planted or cultivated, at least as a short-term crop. They're foraged.
jamesqf
Nov 24, 2021 23:18
@TheHonRose: Nuts fall off the tree when they're ripe, and you can just pick them up. (Or place a cloth under the tree to save effort.) Grains have to be threshed, and then the outer husk separated from the grain.
 

 Discussion on answer by divibisan: Wh…

Imported from a comment discussion on politics.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Nov 24, 2021 04:25
To a good many people, the self-defense standard in the Wisconsin law might seem pretty restrictive.
 

 Discussion on answer by William Walke…

Imported from a comment discussion on politics.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Nov 23, 2021 23:19
@windblade: It's perhaps more accurate to say that POOR people commit more crimes, and that black people are disproportionately poor. As a (formerly) poor white guy, I recieved the same sort of treatment from police that the BLM protestors are complaining about. Now that I'm moderately rich, they don't bother me, and I don't have to commit many crimes 'cause I make a lot more money doing software :-)
jamesqf
Nov 23, 2021 23:19
@William Walker III: Yes, and so am I looking at the motivations. I'm just trying to look at both sides, and the probably uncrossable gulf between.
jamesqf
Nov 23, 2021 23:19
@William Walker III: I am not discussing legalites (which I'm poorly equipped to do, not being a lawyer), but people's attitudes. You have people on the left who think riots are legitimate protests; people on the right who think they're vandalism (even when they might largely agree on the underlying issues, as I do), and a legal system in the middle, which pleases no one.
jamesqf
Nov 23, 2021 23:19
As to the "willing combatant", why should people not be able to defend their property, or help others to defend it, against looting & vandalism? How about the recent cases from the SF Bay area, where a large mob of armed looters attacks stores? newsweek.com/… Should those people be considered as innocent victims if they're foiled in the act?
 

 Discussion on answer by T.E.D.: Why d…

Imported from a comment discussion on history.stackexchange.co...
jamesqf
Nov 10, 2021 09:39
@Erdel von Mises: What portion of the trench lines - the primary location of British-German fighting - were on German territory? Zero, I believe: they were on Belgian and French territory. Ergo, Germany invaded those countries.
 

 Discussion on question by Aqualone: W…

Imported from a comment discussion on outdoors.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Nov 7, 2021 08:25
@Azor Ahai -him-: Don't know what you mean by "real" music. Better to say that I would not be greatly bothered by natural music, by which I mean produced by a person blowing into the pipe, strumming the strings, &c, rather than what you might find in an urban dance club or redneck bar.
jamesqf
Nov 7, 2021 08:25
@Azor Ahai -him-: What makes bagpipes better (for me) is simply personal taste. I like bagpipes, but loath most popular "music" of the sort that would be played through speakers.
jamesqf
Nov 7, 2021 08:25
I think you need to be more specific about what you mean by "playing music". I probably wouldn't object much to someone playing a flute, recorder, or even bagpipes (if they were reasonably skilled). I'd strenuously object to recorded music being played through speakers.
 

 Discussion on answer by T.E.D.: How s…

Imported from a comment discussion on history.stackexchange.co...
jamesqf
Nov 5, 2021 13:10
@T.E.D.: The question doesn't say anything about "open sea" (however you define that) or of sailing out of sight of land.
 

 Discussion on answer by Join JBH on C…

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
jamesqf
Nov 5, 2021 03:27
@Join JBH on Codidact: Sure, people have many different reasons for doing things. For instance, in some circumstances I might help people because that demonstrates that I'm stronger than they are - a boost to the ego, if you like. As for internet porn (or porn of any sort), that's really like reading an illustrated cookbook. May be interesting if that's your thing, but it's no substitute for an actual meal :-)
jamesqf
Nov 5, 2021 03:27
@Join JBH on Codidact: But people do get rewards & compensation for helping others, it's just not an immediate monetary reward. E.g. I help my neighbor fix his car, because I know that I can depend on him to help me when I need to move heavy stuff.
 

 Discussion on answer by o.m.: Everyda…

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
jamesqf
Nov 4, 2021 20:28
@Mermaker: But all those seem to be nothing more than imposing alternate forms of pricing. As for "fair", remember that it's a variable, not a constant. Some people think it's unfair that they don't get to have the goods that wealth would buy; other people - who've worked hard and/or smart to attain wealth - would doubtless think it unfair if the first set obtained those goods without effort.
jamesqf
Nov 4, 2021 20:28
@Mermaker: Re "by arriving early, woodstock style", so how do you get an uncrowded seat at a popular concert? And how do you prevent late arrivals from crowding out the early birds by sheer force of numbers?
 

 Discussion on question by Sabrine Cry…

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
jamesqf
Nov 4, 2021 17:06
@mkinson: But the question really should be what we did right :-) I can't help but note that people questioning capitalism are rarely successful, so I wonder how much of their complaint is simply sour grapes. (Other than demogogic politicians, and one really has to question their sincerity, since they generally seem to be personally quite affluent.)
 

 Discussion on answer by AlexP: Everyd…

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
jamesqf
Nov 4, 2021 16:54
@Mary: Tastes differ. I find working, even at things like field labor (and I have done a good bit of that), much preferrable to waiting in lines.
jamesqf
Nov 4, 2021 16:54
@Justin Thyme the Second: You really think the astronauts on the ISS aren't getting paid? NASA salaries range from around $66K-$144K/year, plus when you're on the ISS you get room & board thrown in :-) That's not even counting the fair market value of the trip to space and back - currently about $52 million, per Google.
jamesqf
Nov 4, 2021 16:54
The problem of local knowledge is hardly unique to communist societies. See for instance the current collapse of Zillow's house-buying unit, which tried to use central planning to out-compete the local knowledge of real estate agents.
 

 Discussion on answer by notovny: If y…

Imported from a comment discussion on space.stackexchange.com/...
jamesqf
Nov 3, 2021 15:05
@notovny: So you're saying that at the two objects go around their orbit, the distance between them will change? I can agree to that. But if you placed them perfectly (which of course is not possible), then at the end of the orbit, they should be in the same relative position. (Of course ignoring all the other perturbations that will eventually cause their orbits to diverge.)
jamesqf
Nov 3, 2021 15:05
@notovny: In an elliptical orbit, objects (or the same object) at different point will have different speeds, but they will have the same total energy, no? As it goes around the orbit, an object continually trades kinetic and potential energy.
jamesqf
Nov 3, 2021 15:05
I disagree with your second point. If you put it exactly ahead or behind, then it should be following the same orbit, no? Of course even then you don't win: the ISS and the tool will have a mutual gravitational attraction. Since the ISS is rotating (slowly), and is far from being a perfect sphere, that should result in small peturbations, which will grow over time.
 

 Discussion on question by Rebecca J. …

Imported from a comment discussion on skeptics.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Nov 3, 2021 13:13
I think the problem here is that "right now" is a very imprecise term. It could be the second Musk recieves a reply (obviously impossible), or it could be as long as millenia: e.g. "The Earth is in an interglacial period right now" :-)
jamesqf
Nov 3, 2021 13:13
@henning: Why? If you'd invented PayPal (or whatever it was), and then went on to start a successful electric car company, you'd have a lot of money too. So why didn't you?
 

 Discussion on question by user148619:…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Oct 28, 2021 18:29
How sure are you that it actually is "crankery", and not just some alternative that might be unpopular. For instance, the idea of using mRNA for vaccines was sort of crankish for decades, but it eventually worked. Or the "cranks" who spend decades trying to make blue LEDs...
 

 Discussion on question by Eddy96: Rea…

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
jamesqf
Oct 28, 2021 16:18
@Matthew: There's a difference between having a few research bases in a place, such as Antarctica, and actually colonizing it. It costs a lot of money and effort to maintain Antarctic bases, in a place where you have breathable air, can melt ice for water, and food & medical care are only a airplane flight away. They're nowhere near colonies.
 

 Discussion on question by Red bel: Ca…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Oct 28, 2021 03:29
@Heinzi: Same here. But sometimes I run into software, like web browsers, that drive me crazy trying to autocorrect things (and drawing squiggly red lines under them) until I figure out how to turn off their spell check.
jamesqf
Oct 28, 2021 03:29
@Heinzi: Unfortunately, spell-checkers, particularly the real-time sort, probably introduce as many errors as they fix. Particularly when you do scientific writing, where many technical terms are seen as misspellings of more common words, and "corrected". I'd suggest a spell checker that works as a separate post-processing step.
 

 Discussion on answer by niels nielsen…

Imported from a comment discussion on physics.stackexchange.co...
jamesqf
Oct 28, 2021 01:37
@Dmitry Grigoryev: Flats (apartments to US English speakers) are not houses. They will often have a shared heating system, so 1) you might not know what kind of system it is; 2) the builder probably put in whatever was cheapest when the building was built, not being concerned with ongoing costs; and 3) Many apartment buildings, especially in Europe, were built long before heat pumps were available.
 

 Discussion on answer by StephenG: Wha…

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
jamesqf
Oct 27, 2021 03:27
@Erdel von Mises: If the US had been interested in world domination, why didn't it just go ahead and do it? Much of Europe could have been taken by US forces after WWI, instead the US demobilized as quickly as possible. Likewise, after WWII the US could have kept Japan and much of the rest of the Pacific rim. And of course Canada could have been taken at any time...
jamesqf
Oct 27, 2021 03:27
@Erdel von Mises: World domination ambitions? What fantasy world are you posting from? The US has historically been isolationist, and would be still if other groups - Nazis, Communists, Islamic jihadists, &c - would just give up THEIR attempts at world domination.
jamesqf
Oct 27, 2021 03:27
@Erdel von Mises:: America was never a military threat to Europe. In WWI, there was initially a good bit of pro-German sentiment, and a large majority favored neutrality. It took a lot of IMHO really stupid German actions to bring in the US into the war - sinking the Lusitania and US ships, German sabotage such as the Black Tom explosion, the Zimmerman telegram, &c.
 

 Discussion on question by Thomas Padr…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...
jamesqf
Oct 25, 2021 12:25
@Bakuriu: In the US, I've never heard of an oral exam, other than MS & PhD defenses. I don't see how it would even be practical in many subjects, such those that involve math.