I always thought that Felix modeled the hologram Vic off of a friend of his named Vic Fontaine. So, in the Mirror Universe, the Vic we see is the original friend.
I’m not from the USA, neither an English native speaker, but is Peter Hegseth in any way charismatic?
Not at all. Even the military personnel I've spoken with think he's an absolute moron with no charisma or leadership ability. Officers who are ardently non-partisan have made semi-public remarks that have been critical.
I think you're 100% correct that it's used car salesman energy. His base doesn't understand what he's saying (because he makes no sense), but they can cherry-pick parts they understood and craft positions that they agree with over them. They hear what they want to in an overly confident energetic way. It's why they think he "says it like it is," even though he just vomits words.
Yes and no. Yes, we should explain actual policy stances without saying "this is single-payer healthcare" or "wealth redistribution" or whatever phrase causes conservatives to shutdown. However, there still needs to be a name for shorthand purposes. It's like a pronoun in language. It gets tiring fast to keep using a person's name rather than saying "she/he/they/etc." and that causes its own issues.
Ultimately, the outline of a solution I can see is to advocate for "common sense" reforms and explain them (first at a high level so anyone can get an idea and then at finer detail later on). Call the policy something 'Murica-esque that any truck driving, gun totin', farmer from Texas would get behind. Then stay as far away from what the rest of the universe calls the policy and deny that it's what the policy is. Those who know, will know and not care or roll their eyes, and the disengaged will go for it. For example, "This isn't socialized medicine! It's my own idea! The American Patriots Help Each Other Be Healthy policy!"
This has been my biggest takeaway of the past ten years. The electorate wants more social democratic policies, but they are afraid of the name. Fox News has made the mention of "social" anything or "liberal" anything toxic to a not-insignificant portion of the US population, and calling these policies by their generally agreed upon designations (be it from political science, philosophy, or academia), that group will just shut it down because those words just trip something in their brains.
Anecdotal as it may be, I got my MAGA mother to agree that a single payer healthcare system was better explaining in small words what "a common sense, good system" would look like. She was totally on board. Will she vote for "Medicare for All," now? No, because "that's socialism!!!!!1!1!!1," but an identical program that got explained was "just common sense."
In the end, I've found that MAGA people fall into three camps: bigots, idiots, and the selfish. Bigots will never be reasoned with; they're there to hurt people. The selfish are too rich to benefit from any good policies. Idiots, though, can be reasoned with, but you have to reason with them in the language of a 10 year old. It sounds condescending (and to a degree it is), but it's the only way to get through to them.
It seems insane from an outsider's perspective, but I think that we could get some European-esque policies passed in the US if instead of using "normal" terms, we use super mega-deluxe 'Murican cowboy names and just play into the quirks of American culture.
LLMs don't. There are tools that can fetch new information and then gets fed into the model as more tokens, but that's just a special case of what kescusay is saying about injecting text.
This is really interesting! I do have some questions if anyone know, though, since I'm very much not a biologist.
How does this affect the plants' own photosynthesis? Would it be a more "efficient" plant (for lack of a better wording) in that some of the energy that is used for bioluminescence be captured by its own cells and converted into energy for the plant. Obviously, bioluminescence itself wouldn't be enough and would still need supplemental light to function, but I'm curious on the effect.
Second, I'd imagine that bioluminescent plants would have a genetic leg-up on other plant species. Could this cause environmental issues and become a sort of invasive species? If used in society, would the plants have to be effectively sterilized?
Dr. Fauci got called to a Senate committee that Rand Paul put together to question him on COVID-19 after publishing his personal diary. The Republicans tried to do anything to make Dr. Fauci look bad and publicly insulted him over and over to his face. It was all an attempt to get him to say something they could construe as perjury. So, because he's not some idiot, he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights over and over. Now, the Republicans want to hold him in contempt for...using his constitutionally protected rights. The same constitution, by the way, they swear to support and defend.
Yeah, Newsweek is annoying with their clickbait headlines. This seems like such a nothing story. In fact, this is probably one of the few things in the military LLMs are good for.
Do they do these regularly? How far in advance was this planned?
Not as far as I know. There was language in the 2025 NDAA to revamp the SSS, and there was reporting about automatic registration earlier this year. I'd suspect it's just related to the NDAA. If you've ever worked in government, it takes forever to plan and execute anything, so I'd bet this was in planning for months (if fast) to years (if normal).
When was the last one?
The last one was probably when we actually used the SSS for Vietnam, where it didn't exactly work super well. But the US went to an all-volunteer force after that (primarily due to the inherent issues with conscription as a method of force generation), so fixing the issues weren't practical.
Since 2022, there has been renewed talk in government and military analysis circles about the specter of a new world war, especially given Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Europe is preparing the most for it. In fact, several European countries have provided guidance on how to prepare for large scale conflict. And even earlier, as GWOT was winding down in the late '10s, "Great Power Competition" was making large scale societal preparation more in vogue.
So, given all that, I wouldn't worry about mass conscription. It's pretty widely known to be a terrible method of force generation. The US also doesn't need to conscript, even with the war in Iran. The economy is making recruitment much easier (retainment of experienced personnel is a different story), and quotas are being met.
Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Having worked in the federal government near the DoD, this is just trying to stress test the system. The timing isn't great given everything that's going on. SSS is already a break-glass option; it's no one's first choice, even the idiots in charge.
Honestly, this feels like trying to program ourselves out of a fundamentally social/human issue. I think that the best way to design a strong-lasting platform is to not over-complicate it. I would look to successful forums, those that are still running or ran for many years. How did they maintain their community?
Ultimately, I suspect that the answer ultimately comes down to the growth curve. Slow and steady growth where new users get assimilated into the platform's culture is likely how this works.
I think your logarithmic curve is an interesting idea, and if you do implement it, I'd be interested to see the results. However, I don't know if it will be enough to "maintain" a community. In fact, you may end up with the opposite problem if the algorithm is successful. You'll have a community that doesn't change where the oldest accounts rule.
President Donald Trump plans to claim in a Thursday night speech that newly declassified intelligence reports reveal a foreign nation’s plans to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, two White House officials told MS NOW on Monday.
No shit there were plans. Russia and China plan to interfere with every election the US has. The real question is if there is proof that they were successful.
Just saying there are plans is meaningless, but Trump and his toadies will trumpet this like his election denialism is actually justified. Utter and complete clown show.
This is really great! I love these small illustrations from a common soldier's POV. It really shows common humanity regardless of ethnicity, government, etc., as well as the suffering we all inflict on each other.
My new supervisor, the day I met him, was talking about how space data centers are a great idea ("because it's so cold up there!") and will be amazing when they're online. That's the moment I realized he was breathtakingly stupid. He may not believe in thermodynamics, but thermodynamics believes in him.
I guess I shouldn't have expected much given that he has a degree in finance and has worked in consulting for 10 years.
First, the colors are on point and work super well. The only thing to tweak is the patterns. Typically the "rule" I use is that either the shirt or the tie can be patterned but not both. I break the rule sometimes depending on the patterns, so it's not something written in stone. In this case, I'd say the tie and shirt are the same "degree" of patterning, so it feels a bit off to a trained eye. Most people from my experience will just see the colors and say "Damn that's nice" and not really see anything else.
Tangentially, where'd you get that waistcoat?! It looks amazing!
I came here to say this. I first saw Walter Koenig as Chekov, but I really loved him as Bester. I've heard that he lights up when people bring up Bester at conventions and such.
Yep! Exactly!
I always thought that Felix modeled the hologram Vic off of a friend of his named Vic Fontaine. So, in the Mirror Universe, the Vic we see is the original friend.
Not at all. Even the military personnel I've spoken with think he's an absolute moron with no charisma or leadership ability. Officers who are ardently non-partisan have made semi-public remarks that have been critical.
I think you're 100% correct that it's used car salesman energy. His base doesn't understand what he's saying (because he makes no sense), but they can cherry-pick parts they understood and craft positions that they agree with over them. They hear what they want to in an overly confident energetic way. It's why they think he "says it like it is," even though he just vomits words.
Yes and no. Yes, we should explain actual policy stances without saying "this is single-payer healthcare" or "wealth redistribution" or whatever phrase causes conservatives to shutdown. However, there still needs to be a name for shorthand purposes. It's like a pronoun in language. It gets tiring fast to keep using a person's name rather than saying "she/he/they/etc." and that causes its own issues.
Ultimately, the outline of a solution I can see is to advocate for "common sense" reforms and explain them (first at a high level so anyone can get an idea and then at finer detail later on). Call the policy something 'Murica-esque that any truck driving, gun totin', farmer from Texas would get behind. Then stay as far away from what the rest of the universe calls the policy and deny that it's what the policy is. Those who know, will know and not care or roll their eyes, and the disengaged will go for it. For example, "This isn't socialized medicine! It's my own idea! The American Patriots Help Each Other Be Healthy policy!"
Because they legitimately don't know what they're saying. They're just saying "them big college-soundin' words" without any clue to their meaning.
This has been my biggest takeaway of the past ten years. The electorate wants more social democratic policies, but they are afraid of the name. Fox News has made the mention of "social" anything or "liberal" anything toxic to a not-insignificant portion of the US population, and calling these policies by their generally agreed upon designations (be it from political science, philosophy, or academia), that group will just shut it down because those words just trip something in their brains.
Anecdotal as it may be, I got my MAGA mother to agree that a single payer healthcare system was better explaining in small words what "a common sense, good system" would look like. She was totally on board. Will she vote for "Medicare for All," now? No, because "that's socialism!!!!!1!1!!1," but an identical program that got explained was "just common sense."
In the end, I've found that MAGA people fall into three camps: bigots, idiots, and the selfish. Bigots will never be reasoned with; they're there to hurt people. The selfish are too rich to benefit from any good policies. Idiots, though, can be reasoned with, but you have to reason with them in the language of a 10 year old. It sounds condescending (and to a degree it is), but it's the only way to get through to them.
It seems insane from an outsider's perspective, but I think that we could get some European-esque policies passed in the US if instead of using "normal" terms, we use super mega-deluxe 'Murican cowboy names and just play into the quirks of American culture.
LLMs don't. There are tools that can fetch new information and then gets fed into the model as more tokens, but that's just a special case of what kescusay is saying about injecting text.
This is really interesting! I do have some questions if anyone know, though, since I'm very much not a biologist.
How does this affect the plants' own photosynthesis? Would it be a more "efficient" plant (for lack of a better wording) in that some of the energy that is used for bioluminescence be captured by its own cells and converted into energy for the plant. Obviously, bioluminescence itself wouldn't be enough and would still need supplemental light to function, but I'm curious on the effect.
Second, I'd imagine that bioluminescent plants would have a genetic leg-up on other plant species. Could this cause environmental issues and become a sort of invasive species? If used in society, would the plants have to be effectively sterilized?
Thanks!
Dr. Fauci got called to a Senate committee that Rand Paul put together to question him on COVID-19 after publishing his personal diary. The Republicans tried to do anything to make Dr. Fauci look bad and publicly insulted him over and over to his face. It was all an attempt to get him to say something they could construe as perjury. So, because he's not some idiot, he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights over and over. Now, the Republicans want to hold him in contempt for...using his constitutionally protected rights. The same constitution, by the way, they swear to support and defend.
Yeah, Newsweek is annoying with their clickbait headlines. This seems like such a nothing story. In fact, this is probably one of the few things in the military LLMs are good for.
Oh God I feel this in my bones.
Not as far as I know. There was language in the 2025 NDAA to revamp the SSS, and there was reporting about automatic registration earlier this year. I'd suspect it's just related to the NDAA. If you've ever worked in government, it takes forever to plan and execute anything, so I'd bet this was in planning for months (if fast) to years (if normal).
The last one was probably when we actually used the SSS for Vietnam, where it didn't exactly work super well. But the US went to an all-volunteer force after that (primarily due to the inherent issues with conscription as a method of force generation), so fixing the issues weren't practical.
Since 2022, there has been renewed talk in government and military analysis circles about the specter of a new world war, especially given Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Europe is preparing the most for it. In fact, several European countries have provided guidance on how to prepare for large scale conflict. And even earlier, as GWOT was winding down in the late '10s, "Great Power Competition" was making large scale societal preparation more in vogue.
So, given all that, I wouldn't worry about mass conscription. It's pretty widely known to be a terrible method of force generation. The US also doesn't need to conscript, even with the war in Iran. The economy is making recruitment much easier (retainment of experienced personnel is a different story), and quotas are being met.
Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Having worked in the federal government near the DoD, this is just trying to stress test the system. The timing isn't great given everything that's going on. SSS is already a break-glass option; it's no one's first choice, even the idiots in charge.
Honestly, this feels like trying to program ourselves out of a fundamentally social/human issue. I think that the best way to design a strong-lasting platform is to not over-complicate it. I would look to successful forums, those that are still running or ran for many years. How did they maintain their community?
Ultimately, I suspect that the answer ultimately comes down to the growth curve. Slow and steady growth where new users get assimilated into the platform's culture is likely how this works.
I think your logarithmic curve is an interesting idea, and if you do implement it, I'd be interested to see the results. However, I don't know if it will be enough to "maintain" a community. In fact, you may end up with the opposite problem if the algorithm is successful. You'll have a community that doesn't change where the oldest accounts rule.
No shit there were plans. Russia and China plan to interfere with every election the US has. The real question is if there is proof that they were successful.
Just saying there are plans is meaningless, but Trump and his toadies will trumpet this like his election denialism is actually justified. Utter and complete clown show.
This is really great! I love these small illustrations from a common soldier's POV. It really shows common humanity regardless of ethnicity, government, etc., as well as the suffering we all inflict on each other.
My new supervisor, the day I met him, was talking about how space data centers are a great idea ("because it's so cold up there!") and will be amazing when they're online. That's the moment I realized he was breathtakingly stupid. He may not believe in thermodynamics, but thermodynamics believes in him.
I guess I shouldn't have expected much given that he has a degree in finance and has worked in consulting for 10 years.
First, the colors are on point and work super well. The only thing to tweak is the patterns. Typically the "rule" I use is that either the shirt or the tie can be patterned but not both. I break the rule sometimes depending on the patterns, so it's not something written in stone. In this case, I'd say the tie and shirt are the same "degree" of patterning, so it feels a bit off to a trained eye. Most people from my experience will just see the colors and say "Damn that's nice" and not really see anything else.
Tangentially, where'd you get that waistcoat?! It looks amazing!
I came here to say this. I first saw Walter Koenig as Chekov, but I really loved him as Bester. I've heard that he lights up when people bring up Bester at conventions and such.