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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 25th, 2024

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  • Is there a particular reason why the artist decided not to include the one thing which would conclusively define the skyline of Alexandria at that time? You know, the part that was one of the tallest structures in the world, and which was known as one of the great wonders of the world? You know, the thing that literally stood out on an island, in order to make sure that everyone in a hundred miles knew that that was where Alexandria was?

    Like, yeah, this is aimed toward the moon gate, and you can see the Serapeum, but it seems like they purposefully picked a vantage point not to include the Pharos.


  • If you didn’t have plate tectonics, you’d have a lot of problems with the atmosphere, and there’s a decent chance that life wouldn’t evolve, as the energy differentials generated by tectonic activity are those which life hangs onto, from nutrients, to oxidation, to geothermal heat.


  • Given Europe’s own demonstrated islamophobia and treatment of asylum seekers, and the various genocides going on in east Asia at the moment, I hardly think that we Americans are alone in that regard. The primary difference being that the American Mythos props up America as this place where everyone should be ready to take up arms to protect their rights and the rights of others, and we’re getting to see precisely how hollow such fantasies truly are.






  • Again, I think you’re replying to the wrong person. I never disagreed with any of this. I literally learned all of this years ago. I appreciate your attempt to educate, but I’m unclear on its purpose. The dude claimed that the speed of light is defined based on the meter, and that that makes it a tautology. That is simply, provably false. Then the dude tried to move the goalposts. Never did I say that our measurements are anything less than relative. Never did I suggest that our derived units are not based on fundamental constants the nature of which can be only guessed at. Now, you’ve said that the statement I made didn’t tell the dude “how to make use of” dimensionless units, which is a complete non sequitur. If you feel that that lecture is an important one when a dude demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what c even is, that’s your own affair, and I invite you to give this lecture a few comment levels up to the guy who thinks that c is defined based on the meter.


  • I was unaware that the person to whom I was replying, who claimed to be intimately familiar with the complete works of Feynman, needed instruction in how to “make use of” a fundamental constant of nature. If that is something you think is necessary, perhaps you should see to their instruction in such matters, as you are so confident in your faculties of condescending instruction.

    Furthermore, I am acutely aware of the existence and nature of dimensionless constants, thank you very much.



  • c is a measurable constant, not some unit that is arbitrarily defined. Like Boltzmann’s Constant, or the ground state hyperfine transition frequency of the Cesium-133 atom… it just… Is.

    Therefore, it is a useful tool to define units. You claim it is a tautology because we write it in units of meters per second, while the meter is defined based on c. This is easily disproven, as you can represent the speed of light in any unit of velocity. It is a fundamental constant, derivable through experiment without any units a priori.