[wkoucwrm] French numbers base 20

numbers in French currently use a ugly mix of base 10 and base 20.  here, we consistently use base 20.  (we don't fix 11 through 19 to consistently use base 10 as done previously.)  future post: English in base 20.

1 un
2 deux
3 trois
4 quatre
5 cinq
6 six
7 sept
8 huit
9 neuf
10 dix
11 onze
12 douze
13 treize
14 quatorze
15 quinze
16 seize
17 dix-sept
18 dix-huit
19 dix-neuf
20 vingt
21 vingt-un
22 vingt-deux
23 vingt-trois
24 vingt-quatre
25 vingt-cinq
26 vingt-six
27 vingt-sept
28 vingt-huit
29 vingt-neuf
30 vingt-dix
31 vingt-onze
32 vingt-douze
33 vingt-treize
34 vingt-quatorze
35 vingt-quinze
36 vingt-seize
37 vingt-dix-sept
38 vingt-dix-huit
39 vingt-dix-neuf
40 deux-vingt
41 deux-vingt-un
42 deux-vingt-deux
43 deux-vingt-trois
44 deux-vingt-quatre
45 deux-vingt-cinq
46 deux-vingt-six
47 deux-vingt-sept
48 deux-vingt-huit
49 deux-vingt-neuf
50 deux-vingt-dix
51 deux-vingt-onze
52 deux-vingt-douze
53 deux-vingt-treize
54 deux-vingt-quatorze
55 deux-vingt-quinze
56 deux-vingt-seize
57 deux-vingt-dix-sept
58 deux-vingt-dix-huit
59 deux-vingt-dix-neuf
60 trois-vingt
61 trois-vingt-un
62 trois-vingt-deux
63 trois-vingt-trois
64 trois-vingt-quatre
65 trois-vingt-cinq
66 trois-vingt-six
67 trois-vingt-sept
68 trois-vingt-huit
69 trois-vingt-neuf
70 trois-vingt-dix
71 trois-vingt-onze
72 trois-vingt-douze
73 trois-vingt-treize
74 trois-vingt-quatorze
75 trois-vingt-quinze
76 trois-vingt-seize
77 trois-vingt-dix-sept
78 trois-vingt-dix-huit
79 trois-vingt-dix-neuf
80 quatre-vingt
81 quatre-vingt-un
82 quatre-vingt-deux
83 quatre-vingt-trois
84 quatre-vingt-quatre
85 quatre-vingt-cinq
86 quatre-vingt-six
87 quatre-vingt-sept
88 quatre-vingt-huit
89 quatre-vingt-neuf
90 quatre-vingt-dix
91 quatre-vingt-onze
92 quatre-vingt-douze
93 quatre-vingt-treize
94 quatre-vingt-quatorze
95 quatre-vingt-quinze
96 quatre-vingt-seize
97 quatre-vingt-dix-sept
98 quatre-vingt-dix-huit
99 quatre-vingt-dix-neuf
100 cinq-vingt
101 cinq-vingt-un
102 cinq-vingt-deux
103 cinq-vingt-trois
104 cinq-vingt-quatre
105 cinq-vingt-cinq
106 cinq-vingt-six
107 cinq-vingt-sept
108 cinq-vingt-huit
109 cinq-vingt-neuf
110 cinq-vingt-dix
111 cinq-vingt-onze
112 cinq-vingt-douze
113 cinq-vingt-treize
114 cinq-vingt-quatorze
115 cinq-vingt-quinze
116 cinq-vingt-seize
117 cinq-vingt-dix-sept
118 cinq-vingt-dix-huit
119 cinq-vingt-dix-neuf
120 six-vingt
121 six-vingt-un
122 six-vingt-deux
123 six-vingt-trois
124 six-vingt-quatre
125 six-vingt-cinq
126 six-vingt-six
127 six-vingt-sept
128 six-vingt-huit
129 six-vingt-neuf
130 six-vingt-dix
131 six-vingt-onze
132 six-vingt-douze
133 six-vingt-treize
134 six-vingt-quatorze
135 six-vingt-quinze
136 six-vingt-seize
137 six-vingt-dix-sept
138 six-vingt-dix-huit
139 six-vingt-dix-neuf
140 sept-vingt
141 sept-vingt-un
142 sept-vingt-deux
143 sept-vingt-trois
144 sept-vingt-quatre
145 sept-vingt-cinq
146 sept-vingt-six
147 sept-vingt-sept
148 sept-vingt-huit
149 sept-vingt-neuf
150 sept-vingt-dix
151 sept-vingt-onze
152 sept-vingt-douze
153 sept-vingt-treize
154 sept-vingt-quatorze
155 sept-vingt-quinze
156 sept-vingt-seize
157 sept-vingt-dix-sept
158 sept-vingt-dix-huit
159 sept-vingt-dix-neuf
160 huit-vingt
161 huit-vingt-un
162 huit-vingt-deux
163 huit-vingt-trois
164 huit-vingt-quatre
165 huit-vingt-cinq
166 huit-vingt-six
167 huit-vingt-sept
168 huit-vingt-huit
169 huit-vingt-neuf
170 huit-vingt-dix
171 huit-vingt-onze
172 huit-vingt-douze
173 huit-vingt-treize
174 huit-vingt-quatorze
175 huit-vingt-quinze
176 huit-vingt-seize
177 huit-vingt-dix-sept
178 huit-vingt-dix-huit
179 huit-vingt-dix-neuf
180 neuf-vingt
181 neuf-vingt-un
182 neuf-vingt-deux
183 neuf-vingt-trois
184 neuf-vingt-quatre
185 neuf-vingt-cinq
186 neuf-vingt-six
187 neuf-vingt-sept
188 neuf-vingt-huit
189 neuf-vingt-neuf
190 neuf-vingt-dix
191 neuf-vingt-onze
192 neuf-vingt-douze
193 neuf-vingt-treize
194 neuf-vingt-quatorze
195 neuf-vingt-quinze
196 neuf-vingt-seize
197 neuf-vingt-dix-sept
198 neuf-vingt-dix-huit
199 neuf-vingt-dix-neuf
200 dix-vingt
201 dix-vingt-un
202 dix-vingt-deux
203 dix-vingt-trois
204 dix-vingt-quatre
205 dix-vingt-cinq
206 dix-vingt-six
207 dix-vingt-sept
208 dix-vingt-huit
209 dix-vingt-neuf
210 dix-vingt-dix
211 dix-vingt-onze
212 dix-vingt-douze
213 dix-vingt-treize
214 dix-vingt-quatorze
215 dix-vingt-quinze
216 dix-vingt-seize
217 dix-vingt-dix-sept
218 dix-vingt-dix-huit
219 dix-vingt-dix-neuf
220 onze-vingt
221 onze-vingt-un
222 onze-vingt-deux
223 onze-vingt-trois
224 onze-vingt-quatre
225 onze-vingt-cinq
226 onze-vingt-six
227 onze-vingt-sept
228 onze-vingt-huit
229 onze-vingt-neuf
230 onze-vingt-dix
231 onze-vingt-onze
232 onze-vingt-douze
233 onze-vingt-treize
234 onze-vingt-quatorze
235 onze-vingt-quinze
236 onze-vingt-seize
237 onze-vingt-dix-sept
238 onze-vingt-dix-huit
239 onze-vingt-dix-neuf
240 douze-vingt
241 douze-vingt-un
242 douze-vingt-deux
243 douze-vingt-trois
244 douze-vingt-quatre
245 douze-vingt-cinq
246 douze-vingt-six
247 douze-vingt-sept
248 douze-vingt-huit
249 douze-vingt-neuf
250 douze-vingt-dix
251 douze-vingt-onze
252 douze-vingt-douze
253 douze-vingt-treize
254 douze-vingt-quatorze
255 douze-vingt-quinze
256 douze-vingt-seize
257 douze-vingt-dix-sept
258 douze-vingt-dix-huit
259 douze-vingt-dix-neuf
260 treize-vingt
261 treize-vingt-un
262 treize-vingt-deux
263 treize-vingt-trois
264 treize-vingt-quatre
265 treize-vingt-cinq
266 treize-vingt-six
267 treize-vingt-sept
268 treize-vingt-huit
269 treize-vingt-neuf
270 treize-vingt-dix
271 treize-vingt-onze
272 treize-vingt-douze
273 treize-vingt-treize
274 treize-vingt-quatorze
275 treize-vingt-quinze
276 treize-vingt-seize
277 treize-vingt-dix-sept
278 treize-vingt-dix-huit
279 treize-vingt-dix-neuf
280 quatorze-vingt
281 quatorze-vingt-un
282 quatorze-vingt-deux
283 quatorze-vingt-trois
284 quatorze-vingt-quatre
285 quatorze-vingt-cinq
286 quatorze-vingt-six
287 quatorze-vingt-sept
288 quatorze-vingt-huit
289 quatorze-vingt-neuf
290 quatorze-vingt-dix
291 quatorze-vingt-onze
292 quatorze-vingt-douze
293 quatorze-vingt-treize
294 quatorze-vingt-quatorze
295 quatorze-vingt-quinze
296 quatorze-vingt-seize
297 quatorze-vingt-dix-sept
298 quatorze-vingt-dix-huit
299 quatorze-vingt-dix-neuf
300 quinze-vingt
301 quinze-vingt-un
302 quinze-vingt-deux
303 quinze-vingt-trois
304 quinze-vingt-quatre
305 quinze-vingt-cinq
306 quinze-vingt-six
307 quinze-vingt-sept
308 quinze-vingt-huit
309 quinze-vingt-neuf
310 quinze-vingt-dix
311 quinze-vingt-onze
312 quinze-vingt-douze
313 quinze-vingt-treize
314 quinze-vingt-quatorze
315 quinze-vingt-quinze
316 quinze-vingt-seize
317 quinze-vingt-dix-sept
318 quinze-vingt-dix-huit
319 quinze-vingt-dix-neuf
320 seize-vingt
321 seize-vingt-un
322 seize-vingt-deux
323 seize-vingt-trois
324 seize-vingt-quatre
325 seize-vingt-cinq
326 seize-vingt-six
327 seize-vingt-sept
328 seize-vingt-huit
329 seize-vingt-neuf
330 seize-vingt-dix
331 seize-vingt-onze
332 seize-vingt-douze
333 seize-vingt-treize
334 seize-vingt-quatorze
335 seize-vingt-quinze
336 seize-vingt-seize
337 seize-vingt-dix-sept
338 seize-vingt-dix-huit
339 seize-vingt-dix-neuf
340 dix-sept-vingt
341 dix-sept-vingt-un
342 dix-sept-vingt-deux
343 dix-sept-vingt-trois
344 dix-sept-vingt-quatre
345 dix-sept-vingt-cinq
346 dix-sept-vingt-six
347 dix-sept-vingt-sept
348 dix-sept-vingt-huit
349 dix-sept-vingt-neuf
350 dix-sept-vingt-dix
351 dix-sept-vingt-onze
352 dix-sept-vingt-douze
353 dix-sept-vingt-treize
354 dix-sept-vingt-quatorze
355 dix-sept-vingt-quinze
356 dix-sept-vingt-seize
357 dix-sept-vingt-dix-sept
358 dix-sept-vingt-dix-huit
359 dix-sept-vingt-dix-neuf
360 dix-huit-vingt
361 dix-huit-vingt-un
362 dix-huit-vingt-deux
363 dix-huit-vingt-trois
364 dix-huit-vingt-quatre
365 dix-huit-vingt-cinq
366 dix-huit-vingt-six
367 dix-huit-vingt-sept
368 dix-huit-vingt-huit
369 dix-huit-vingt-neuf
370 dix-huit-vingt-dix
371 dix-huit-vingt-onze
372 dix-huit-vingt-douze
373 dix-huit-vingt-treize
374 dix-huit-vingt-quatorze
375 dix-huit-vingt-quinze
376 dix-huit-vingt-seize
377 dix-huit-vingt-dix-sept
378 dix-huit-vingt-dix-huit
379 dix-huit-vingt-dix-neuf
380 dix-neuf-vingt
381 dix-neuf-vingt-un
382 dix-neuf-vingt-deux
383 dix-neuf-vingt-trois
384 dix-neuf-vingt-quatre
385 dix-neuf-vingt-cinq
386 dix-neuf-vingt-six
387 dix-neuf-vingt-sept
388 dix-neuf-vingt-huit
389 dix-neuf-vingt-neuf
390 dix-neuf-vingt-dix
391 dix-neuf-vingt-onze
392 dix-neuf-vingt-douze
393 dix-neuf-vingt-treize
394 dix-neuf-vingt-quatorze
395 dix-neuf-vingt-quinze
396 dix-neuf-vingt-seize
397 dix-neuf-vingt-dix-sept
398 dix-neuf-vingt-dix-huit
399 dix-neuf-vingt-dix-neuf

[agzcybrb] counting to 100 in French the right way

1 un
2 deux
3 trois
4 quatre
5 cinq
6 six
7 sept
8 huit
9 neuf
10 dix
11 dix un
12 dix deux
13 dix trois
14 dix quatre
15 dix cinq
16 dix six
17 dix sept
18 dix huit
19 dix neuf
20 deux dix
21 deux dix un
22 deux dix deux
23 deux dix trois
24 deux dix quatre
25 deux dix cinq
26 deux dix six
27 deux dix sept
28 deux dix huit
29 deux dix neuf
30 trois dix
31 trois dix un
32 trois dix deux
33 trois dix trois
34 trois dix quatre
35 trois dix cinq
36 trois dix six
37 trois dix sept
38 trois dix huit
39 trois dix neuf
40 quatre dix
41 quatre dix un
42 quatre dix deux
43 quatre dix trois
44 quatre dix quatre
45 quatre dix cinq
46 quatre dix six
47 quatre dix sept
48 quatre dix huit
49 quatre dix neuf
50 cinq dix
51 cinq dix un
52 cinq dix deux
53 cinq dix trois
54 cinq dix quatre
55 cinq dix cinq
56 cinq dix six
57 cinq dix sept
58 cinq dix huit
59 cinq dix neuf
60 six dix
61 six dix un
62 six dix deux
63 six dix trois
64 six dix quatre
65 six dix cinq
66 six dix six
67 six dix sept
68 six dix huit
69 six dix neuf
70 sept dix
71 sept dix un
72 sept dix deux
73 sept dix trois
74 sept dix quatre
75 sept dix cinq
76 sept dix six
77 sept dix sept
78 sept dix huit
79 sept dix neuf
80 huit dix
81 huit dix un
82 huit dix deux
83 huit dix trois
84 huit dix quatre
85 huit dix cinq
86 huit dix six
87 huit dix sept
88 huit dix huit
89 huit dix neuf
90 neuf dix
91 neuf dix un
92 neuf dix deux
93 neuf dix trois
94 neuf dix quatre
95 neuf dix cinq
96 neuf dix six
97 neuf dix sept
98 neuf dix huit
99 neuf dix neuf
100 cent

this isn't too unrealistic: all we need is for the next entity that conquers France to fix their language for them.  it seems like the kind of thing the Nazis would have done, imposing order, though maybe they would have just imposed German.  language reform by brutality has precedent in France, most notably previously done by Caesar who came saw conquered then imposed Latin, which stuck and evolved into French, and more recently by vergonha.  maybe France surrenders this time because they flub their numeric nuclear launch codes.

when this happens, French would join Japanese in having a perfectly regular counting up to 99.  (for others, see https://web.archive.org/web/20200303062737/http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/ts/language/number.html) and because French already does long scale 1000000^Latin for large numbers (more regular than short scale 1000^(Latin+1) as done in American), this would catapult them from having one of the worst words for numbers to one of the best.  (incidentally, both scales have already fixed the worst part of Latin numbers by preferring octodecillion and novemdecillion/novendecillion over duodevigintillion and undevigintillion.)

previously, fixing English similarly.

[knlwtvtb] fixing English numbers

we make the words for English numbers regular up to 99.  (future post French.)

0 zero
1 one
2 two
3 three
4 four
5 five
6 six
7 seven
8 eight
9 nine
10 one-ty-zero
11 one-ty-one
12 one-ty-two
13 one-ty-three
14 one-ty-four
15 one-ty-five
16 one-ty-six
17 one-ty-seven
18 one-ty-eight
19 one-ty-nine
20 two-ty-zero
21 two-ty-one
22 two-ty-two
23 two-ty-three
24 two-ty-four
25 two-ty-five
26 two-ty-six
27 two-ty-seven
28 two-ty-eight
29 two-ty-nine
30 three-ty-zero
31 three-ty-one
32 three-ty-two
33 three-ty-three
34 three-ty-four
35 three-ty-five
36 three-ty-six
37 three-ty-seven
38 three-ty-eight
39 three-ty-nine
40 four-ty-zero
41 four-ty-one
42 four-ty-two
43 four-ty-three
44 four-ty-four
45 four-ty-five
46 four-ty-six
47 four-ty-seven
48 four-ty-eight
49 four-ty-nine
50 five-ty-zero
51 five-ty-one
52 five-ty-two
53 five-ty-three
54 five-ty-four
55 five-ty-five
56 five-ty-six
57 five-ty-seven
58 five-ty-eight
59 five-ty-nine
60 six-ty-zero
61 six-ty-one
62 six-ty-two
63 six-ty-three
64 six-ty-four
65 six-ty-five
66 six-ty-six
67 six-ty-seven
68 six-ty-eight
69 six-ty-nine
70 seven-ty-zero
71 seven-ty-one
72 seven-ty-two
73 seven-ty-three
74 seven-ty-four
75 seven-ty-five
76 seven-ty-six
77 seven-ty-seven
78 seven-ty-eight
79 seven-ty-nine
80 eight-ty-zero
81 eight-ty-one
82 eight-ty-two
83 eight-ty-three
84 eight-ty-four
85 eight-ty-five
86 eight-ty-six
87 eight-ty-seven
88 eight-ty-eight
89 eight-ty-nine
90 nine-ty-zero
91 nine-ty-one
92 nine-ty-two
93 nine-ty-three
94 nine-ty-four
95 nine-ty-five
96 nine-ty-six
97 nine-ty-seven
98 nine-ty-eight
99 nine-ty-nine

optionally omit "-zero" in multiples of 10 for brevity, if it does not cause ambiguity.  for example, if reading a string of numbers, we need to keep "-zero" to distinguish "90 9" from "99", or "10 4" from "14".  (the former is a problem in unfixed English, additionally ambiguous with "19 9".)

keeping "ten" as an isolated irregular but convenient synonym for one-ty-zero seems reasonable.

one-ty sounds similar to the old word twenty, but not the new word two-ty.

[wlxarken] hope nand comfort

hypothesis: a society may grant its lower classes hope for upward social mobility, or a comfortable existence, but not both.

this is a depressing hypothesis similar in spirit to those that originally got economics labeled the dismal science.

the general ideas justifying the hypothesis are the following.  if you grant the lower classes the possibility of upward social mobility, only some of them will be permitted to achieve it, so they will need to compete against each other in a zero-sum game for who achieves it.  zero-sum games are cutthroat, not comfortable.  if you grant (enough) comfort, there won't be incentive to seek upward social mobility (this might require more thought).  if you grant comfortable upward social mobility, then the lower classes will become depopulated, so society won't be able to function because it needs lower classes to do lower-class stuff.

also seemingly in support of this hypothesis are highly unequal, highly stratified societies which have remained stable for long periods of time.  they presumably deny upward mobility but grant enough relative comfort to squelch social upheaval.

unfortunately, or fortunately, this hypothesis is only a vague idea which could be incorrect in many ways.

Solow famously disproved Malthus's original "dismal science" with the economic concept of technology.  however, our dismal hypothesis survives overall positive sum: technology may lift the entire pyramid, but it still remains a pyramid.

society can grant its lower classes neither hope nor comfort, which is why the conjunction is nand not xor.  but a situation with neither hope nor comfort might be unstable, threatening civil war.

[pmycapmx] horse meat

cow = beef
pig = pork
sheep = mutton
deer = venison
horse = ?

we have alternate names for the meat of animals that we maybe do not want to think of as animals when we eat them.  Americans and British generally do not like to eat horse.  would we be more willing if there were an alternate English name for horse meat?  in cultures which do eat horse, do they have an alternate name for its meat (for any meat)?  other animals (e.g., dog)?

in English, chicken = chicken, fish = fish, but these we consider "lower" animals.  however, lamb = lamb despite sheep = mutton.

maybe horse will become demoted to lower animal soon because of the ascendancy of the automobile.  will horse-riding as a hobby of the upper class affect its transition to acceptability as food?  how is it currently affecting?  on one hand, horses are (expensive) friends not food to those who ride them.  on the other hand, horses are literally below them when ridden.

[mudkoisq] assassination of assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

(this post was written before Luigi Mangione was arrested.)

predict that the suspected assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, if apprehended, will be killed by the government before reaching trial.  if the case reaches trial, jury nullification seems so likely that the government (puppeteered by wealthy CEOs of evil industries) will need to use extra-legal means to punish the assassin, to deter further assassinations.

if you are helping (or not hurting) the assassin's chances of avoiding capture, you are likely saving his life.  and you would also be helping reform an insurance industry which has been using regulatory capture (a.k.a. corruption) to preserve profits and escape reform.

during voir dire, can a prosecutor strike every potential juror who feels he or she has been unjustly denied a health insurance claim, or knows someone who has?  excluding such a large group of people feels like it should be unconstitutional.

previously, the government killing James Hodgkinson when jury nullification was likely.

powerful wealthy people likely engineered the death of Jeffery Epstein while in government custody (also future post vaqruxzf).  back then, everyone was predicting -- it was a no-brainer -- that the puppeteered government would kill Epstein before trial: everyone was right.

(regarding the title: in the olden days, homicide meant the person who committed (what is now called) homicide; regicide meant the person who committed (what is now called) regicide.)

[whftjxrk] 2nd amendment Black Lives Matter

one of the things learned from the Uvalde, Texas school shooting is that police do not like to go where there are guns.  (this is obvious in retrospect.)

same idea:

"Eventually, the bloated people take up residence in the nearby Meadowlark Park, stealing from joggers and passers-by to feed their Luther habit. The police stop responding to that area and, as Huey put it, 'This had officially become a bad neighborhood.' " -- Boondocks, "The Itis" (2006).

police not wanting to go where there are guns means that owning a gun is a viable method of decreasing police brutality: Black Lives Matter.  if you haven't had to own a gun to protect yourself from the police, Check Your Privilege.

how much police brutality has been prevented by Black people, especially poor Black people, the most likely victims of police brutality, owning guns?  if true, this is the anti-fascism interpretation of the second amendment working exactly as intended.  presumptive new gun control measures in response to Uvalde will no doubt make it relatively more difficult for Black people to acquire guns to avoid police brutality, because America is racist like that: this is institutional racism or systemic racism.  how much will police brutality increase as a result with police knowing that Black people are less likely to have guns?

it may very well be that decreasing the general prevalence of guns in the population through gun control will decrease the rate of civilians killing each other, offsetting in terms of total deaths the above-predicted increase in police brutality, with a net result of fewer Black people dying from guns.  however, it is inappropriate to add the numbers of civilians killing civilians to the numbers of the state (in this case, the police) killing civilians.  the latter is much more troubling, an abuse of power by an institution officially vested with power.

counterpoint: if police stop responding in a bad neighborhood, organized crime fills the power vacuum, unofficially vested with power.  even though this would be civilians killing civilians, maybe it is just as bad, because organized crime is an institution unofficially vested with and usually abusing power.

it is also possible that a decrease in civilians having guns could decrease police brutality, with the police less likely or less able to think a civilian has a gun and justify applying deadly force.  will this occur?  we would still have brutality, perhaps more of it, but less deadly brutality.

how much police brutality is excused -- officers escaping any punishment -- by a presumed weapon?  by an incorrect presumption of a weapon?  by a racially motivated incorrect presumption of a weapon?

"I thought the white businessman was holding a suitcase nuke, so I brutalized him to death."

[hwsolprj] the 3D actual reality experience

inspired by "___: the 3D virtual reality experience"

[acrvinwj] pi vs 2pi in binary

in base 2, the battle between pi and 2pi (tau) is over where to put the decimal point:

1.10010010000111111011010... = pi/2
11.0010010000111111011010... = pi
110.010010000111111011010... = 2pi

[evzistck] if I had a million dollars

"...I'd buy you various expensive goods."

that's sweet.

"...I'd buy your love."

well, that turned dark.  or maybe it was always dark, 1 always as a means to 2.

(a seemingly lighthearted song by Barenaked Ladies)

create a cover or remix highlighting this darkness.

[foofbzwe] revenge of the Jedi

team A rises to power and nearly genocides ("humanitarian crisises") team B.  team B survivors regroup, play the plucky underdogs for a while, then overthrow team A.  team B, now in power and fully aware that the reason they succeeded was because team A only "nearly" humanitarian crisised team B earlier, avoids making the same mistake and completely humanitarian crisises team A.  then they live happily ever after.

what sections of this narrative make the best fiction stories?  of course, "happily ever after" because fantasy utopia is pleasant.  though discovering one's dark past might not be.  team B overthrowing evil team A, because we love rooting for the underdog.  we also love tragedies: team B, the good guys, logically descending to evil, more evil than even the evil team A that they overthrew.

[ihehqrko] supergun space fountain

at first glance, a giant gun seems not a very practical method for space launch, because very few payloads, certainly not humans, can survive that kind of acceleration.

in contrast, a space elevator, if we could build one, would be a very practical method of getting humans and other fragile cargo to outer space.  (a space elevator is not so great for putting satellites into low earth orbit because it only provides vertical height not horizontal speed.)  one of the most promising designs for a space elevator, promising because it does not require materials with currently unachievable amounts of strength, is a space fountain.  and one of the ways to build a space fountain is a giant gun launching pellets up a tall evacuated tube to space.  the tube does not need to be made of an impossibly strong material because it is actively held up by skimming momentum (somehow) from the pellets shooting upward inside it.  humans then leisurely climb up the outside of the tube to space and beyond.

(at the top of the space fountain, the pellets fall back down to earth.  for energy efficiency, their falling energy at the bottom should be recovered or reflected to launch pellets up again.)

space elevators seem the only realistic way to migrate all humans off the planet before the gradually warming sun boils all water on earth.  alternatively, maybe we can get nuclear pulse propulsion to work, but rockets with radioactive exhaust will be extremely messy near the earth's surface.

(maybe we can increase albedo or play cosmic pinball to survive the warming then red giant sun, but we would still need to get off planet to survive white dwarf sun.)

therefore, the executions of both the world's leading scientist on giant guns and his patron, with the chilling effect those assassinations have on anyone considering continuing such work in the future, may have tremendous consequences on the long-term outcome of our species and survival of intelligent life in the universe.  perhaps that was precisely the moment when humanity went extinct: "Israel, you fool!  you've doomed us all!"

[wgiquvdb] mpv watch_later invertible hash

if you quit with Q instead of q (which is possible to do by accident, e.g., CAPS LOCK accidentally on), mpv stores its resume or "watch later" information in ~/.config/mpv/watch_later/ .  by default for privacy (see the manpage documentation of the flag --write-filename-in-watch-later-config), the filename of the media being watched is not written; instead, the resume file filename is the MD5 hash of the full path (or just the filename if --ignore-path-in-watch-later-config).  this hash is computed in mp_get_playback_resume_config_filename in player/configfiles.c .

although MD5 cannot generally be inverted, it can be if the attacker need only check a small universe of possibilities, so this feature is a privacy risk.  check every filename on the filesystem, every file suspected of having been on the filesystem, or every filename of illegal content.

one can disable "watch later" entirely with --no-config, but this disables all configuration.  best would be a way to generally disable it, only enabling it if explicitly invoked for a certain video in the command line or UI.  (capital Q is arguably an implementation of exactly this: improve it with an "are you sure?" dialog.)

another idea is to use a much smaller hash, say, 16 bits (configurable), which permits plausible deniability.  of course, each collision, now more frequent, will lose information about one of the colliding files.

or, create a wrapper around mpv which always copies the file to a random name, then calls mpv on it.

[chzlegcm] a Bosnian, Croat, and Serb walk into a bar

what major conflicts had 3 main parties?

a Scotsman, Irishman, and Englishman walk into a bar.

they drink all the alcohol.

(a country that does a lot of war typically has a large lower class to populate its enlisted ranks.  lower class tend to drink a lot to numb the burden of servitude.)

even with 3 (or more) major parties, I can't think of any in which they all pairwise fought against each other.  the Bosnians and the Croats did not fight each other, nor did the Scottish and the Irish.

WW2 in Europe had a western front and eastern front, but the western allies and the Soviet Union did not fight each other (until later).

maybe a 3-way struggle for power in a power vacuum induced by the demise of the ruling 4th party.

maybe a dominant player forces the other two to fight over scraps while both of them try to overthrow.

Update: Chinese Nationalists, Chinese Communists, Japan.

[lwlazfcq] yuppie Nuremberg offense

set yourself up with a mortgage and mouths to feed, so that you may do the horrible thing that you want to do.

(expanding from "yuppie Nuremberg defense".)

[pxpkjwva] adult animal play

among animals that play, how much less play do the adults do than the young?  (how to quantify amount of play?)  how does the seemingly dramatic decrease in play by adult humans compare with other animals?

is it only animals that play?

[cvxwtsvp] irrationality of phobias and philias

phobia: irrational fear of the unfamiliar.

philia: irrational lack of fear of the familiar.  (this definition is a bit of a stretch.)

when is either irrational?  quantify how irrational.

[eaylckiu] specific Turing Test

variations on the classic artificial intelligence task of mimicking a specific human (the Target) while being questioned by an Interrogator:

with or without the Target's prior cooperation.

with or without the Interrogator suspecting they might be interacting with an AI; i.e., is it an adversarial interrogation?

communication medium could be text, audio, or audiovisual.

AI getting good at mimicking a human in full audio and video ("deepfakes") will cause problems with remote authentication.  (such AI will break one method of establishing identity in porn, now used by many sites.)  such AI seems likely to be accessible to normal people in the near future.  like any other tool, AI can be used for good or evil.  good: you could have an avatar.

previously, transmitting a program of a person.

[kgirkrmu] fail deadly

"when in doubt, launch nukes.  your superiors will deal with the fallout."

(scenario (but not the pun) depicted in the 1964 movie ironically named Fail Safe.)

this order must exist (perhaps implicitly) in nuclear launch protocols, because nothing is truly certain in reality; there is (in reality, though perhaps not the mind of the operator pushing the button) always some doubt.  quantify how much the order exists: uncertainty (as a probability) must be less than P.

[tazlfpka] business school is finishing school for men who can't do math

quote heard elsewhere.

not knowing anything, an employer is willing to pay a job applicant a maximum of X wage to hire them, for a job that involves math.  but upon learning they have graduated from business school, the applicant's value decreases, and the employer becomes only willing to pay them some amount less than X, because they are probably bad at math, the skill this job requires.  business school graduates might recognize this as a situation in which an MBA confers negative brand equity.

previously, the Nobel-prize-winning cynical description of business school.