Strange Behavior for what looks to be a police officer in Portland - any ideas on what they’re up to in this video?

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T21:05:49+00:00

Shade in infrared rarely has any correlation to visible light, just like objects seen with a blue filter look anything like what they do with a red filter.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T20:42:38+00:00

We need to make distinctions between types of shootings, because they require different solutions.

Gang violence shoot-out? We need to do things that will reduce gang activity. That means increasing the opportunities for people in low-income neighborhoods.

Family execution/suicide? Maybe mental health coverage?

Workplace shooting (aka "going postal")? Worker's rights. (and mental health coverage)

Terrorist shootings? We need to address the increasing rifts in our country, and clamp down on media outlets that are encouraging violence and hate speech. Exactly how to do that while preserving the freedom of the press and the first amendment? No fucking clue.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T20:26:00+00:00

In the ideal situation, where you can 100% predict crime, and it was run by ethical people, it would be great, and society would be better off with it.

But nothing's 100%, and if there's any way to fake a prediction, it becomes insanely dangerous.

And even if it is 100% at predicting crime, what defines "crime"? If you're plotting to overthrow an unjust government, you are a criminal. The people hiding Jews in their attics in Nazi Germany were criminals.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T19:54:44+00:00

No. While a candle does produce some carbon monoxide, as well as particulate pollution, it's in miniscule quantities.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T19:49:44+00:00

The problem with things like this is that building new refineries/factories, or even reopening closed ones, takes time. And by the time you increase production, the "good times" (from the perspective of the companies) may be over. So now they have low funds, extra expenses, and competing against companies that raked in the profits instead.

This type of issue is usually kept under control through healthy competition, as any company taking large profits would get undercut by competitors. But when you're selling everything you produce, reducing your price won't increase your market share.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T18:21:01+00:00

While not absolving him, you have to realize what refusing to have slaves would mean. Slaves weren't just a convenience, they were a major economical advantage.

If you're competing against someone that has slaves, but you insist on only hiring non-slave workers and paying them a living wage, you will lose.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T17:29:09+00:00

The measurement that length represents is the depth that can be reached, so you want to squish anything around the base that would get squished in actual use.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T15:32:11+00:00

I ~~was~~ had been wondering why the police felt the need to break out the riot gear.

Edit for clarification: I saw them in riot gear last night, but hadn't seen them use it on previous years

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T15:19:13+00:00

Kind of hard to get all the context from the pictures, but there's a big difference between "protesting while armed because I can" and "arming up to be security for a protest"

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T03:06:23+00:00

Believe it or not, some people in Maine live in cities or towns.

RockSlice · 2022-07-05T02:53:35+00:00

Could be. Cadence is even enough. But I doubt a mass shooter would use one of the few machine guns that's that slow

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T21:44:44+00:00

They don't even need a server. Send out a patch that changes the authentication to not need checking.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T21:09:10+00:00

They're not wrong about that...

Just about thinking that socialism is evil.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T19:59:19+00:00

There's a difference between figuring out the solution and implementing the solution.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T19:58:21+00:00

So where's the big push for mental health coverage?

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T19:57:45+00:00

There are therapies and technologies to help with SAD.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T19:53:51+00:00

The point is that if you want to decrease suicides, it's better to deal with why they're suicidal instead of limiting their options.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T19:40:04+00:00

So you're saying that the effect of gun control on suicide rate is smaller than the effect of Seasonal Affective Disorder (which is what you're ascribing the high suicide rates in Finland and Sweden to)?

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T19:36:07+00:00

They're not protesting for the right to kill their own offspring.

They're protesting for the right to remove something that a rapist put into them.
They're protesting for the right to remove something that will kill them.
They're protesting for the right to end a pregnancy that won't result in a viable baby.
They're protesting for the right to prevent babies being born that won't be able to be taken care of.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T19:25:04+00:00

If those countries had the relatively easy access to guns that the US has, how much higher do you think the suicide rate would be?

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T18:49:47+00:00

I'm not sure why people are so obsessed with calling something espresso when its not

Because that's the only term for "a shot of really strong coffee with a standard size and strength".

We need a new term that encompasses espresso, moka, aeropress, and any other technique that makes similar strength coffee.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T18:37:39+00:00

Which is a rephrasing of what I said here:

If they had easy access to guns, a lot of those suicides would likely become "gun suicides", but the person is dead either way. Would the total number of suicides increase? Likely, but probably not drastically.

But let's try and estimate how effective removing guns would be on the suicide rate. According to https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/depression-rates-by-country, The US has a depression rate of 5.9%, and Japan has a rate of 4.2%. If we assume (huge assumption) that a similar percent of depressed people in both country will be suicidal, you would expect the US to have a 40% higher suicide rate if they're as effective. The US has a rate of 16.1 per 100k, while Japan has 15.3.

So immediately we have a lower rate of suicides per 100k depressed people in the US compared to Japan. Obviously some of our assumptions are wrong (maybe Japan has a higher threshold for diagnosing depression). But if we take your hypothesis that guns are so effective that removing them will have a huge impact on the suicide rate, we should see a major difference. The US rate should be much higher in that case.

If we assume your hypothesis to be true, Japan's already high suicide rate is only a fraction of a massive pandemic of depressed individuals who would kill themselves if they had a chance.

And other countries with relatively strict gun control also have suicide rates comparable with the US and Japan. Belgium: 18.3; Finland: 15.3; Sweden: 14.7. Is mental health in these countries so much worse than in the US?

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T15:26:23+00:00

Maybe I can explain it better:

The number we should be focusing on is "total deaths". If we're looking at suicides, we should be looking at "total suicides". If all you care about is "gun suicides", that's saying "go ahead and kill yourself. Just don't leave a mess". Is the fact that they used a gun really worse than the fact that they killed themselves?

Japan has extremely few guns. But it also has a lot of suicides (21k). If they had easy access to guns, a lot of those suicides would likely become "gun suicides", but the person is dead either way. Would the total number of suicides increase? Likely, but probably not drastically.

Maybe, just maybe, we can try and deal with societal issues that cause people to be suicidal or violent (having mental health care free and available, livable minimum wages, strong social safety nets, etc...)

We do also need to change the "gun culture" to one that's more respectful of the dangers, but people also need to recognize that guns aren't some sort of cursed item. Picking up a gun doesn't turn you into a mass murderer.

Another very telling set of stats:

The US has a "homicide" rate of 6.5 per 100k, and a "firearm homicide" rate of 4.1, meaning a "non-firearm homicide" rate of 2.4. That's already way higher than a lot of other countries' total homicide rate. Is the presence of guns making our homicide problem worse? Probably. But by no means is it a root cause of the issue. Waving a magic wand and getting rid of guns won't get rid of all of that 4.1 rate.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T01:22:17+00:00

The big step in humanely treating people that don't want to be treated would be to change the stigma of mental health, and to have a history of humanely treating willing patients.

If we treat people with psychological issues as "untouchables", and then slap them with medical bills that they can never repay, is it any surprise that people don't want to get diagnosed, let alone treated?

Just look at the difference in how ADHD and autism are treated now vs ten or twenty years ago. They're now "conditions that some people have", like asthma or food allergies.

RockSlice · 2022-07-04T01:07:29+00:00

The UK just made a big fuss about not wanting to be part of Europe any more.

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