Math is one of those funny things that’s always all around you even if you’re ignorant of it. The ancient Greeks calculated the circumference of the world to an impressive degree of accuracy and they didn’t even have calculators - they just looked at some triangles and made some guesses.

Do you need to know the circumference of the world in your day-to-day life? Probably not. But it’s cool as heck knowing that you can figure that out by applying the right formulae.

If you know math and you’re faced with a problem that can be solved with math, then you can solve the problem. If you don’t know math and are faced with the same problem, you might not know how or if it can be solved.

Your specific question: “Are there any upsides to go beyond everyday math?” is an interesting question because of the implication of what ‘everyday math’ is. Depending on our professions or interests, your definition of everyday math might be radically different from someone else. Numeracy is enough to go on for a lot of people, which often implies arithmetic. But hey, fractions are always coming up in places, and if you add algebra to the mix you can start solving some interesting problems.

Some level of applied mathematics are used in all sorts of fields. Construction, Finance, Medicine, Software, Logistics, Conservation, Cooking, you name it. And the beautiful thing about a lot of these cases is that you don’t need to know very complex math in order to follow along an established procedure. For instance, I don’t need to know how to find the proof for compound interest, but I can easily look up a formula so I can make some projections of my investment plan.

Anyway, long story, but math is one of those ‘use it or lose it’ things. And if you’ve lost the math, then you start to be unable to see where math can be used. Keeping the math alive or rekindling it opens you up to possibilities that you might otherwise be ignorant of. Learning math for its own sake is fine, but finding ways to use the math you’ve learned is what helps keep it alive, and broadens your own horizons too.

Speaking from the purely meritocratic view that capitalists take, I’d hazard that if the wages were similar then men would still get better employment because they’re less likely to take time off for menstruation.

I suppose that’s only really a benefit if you’re employing salaried workers though, so if you’re hourly they might actually be more likely to hire women because then individually they’d each get fewer hours. Depending on legislation, that might interfere with their requirements to pay benefits or something. We often see that businesses prefer to employ four employees at 10-hours per week as opposed to one employee at 40-hours because individually the part-timers are less expensive.

There’s always going to be some way to be exploited.

My wife and I have this conversation from time to time that women should get an extra week off every month to deal with their period. She has a pretty rough go when she’s menstruating, and I totally get it. She’s not even a particularly exceptional case and she has a nasty period. So many people have it even worse off, I don’t understand how they keep showing up for work.

I’m anti-discrimination and believe in equality, so honestly I think everyone should get an extra week off. Men and post-menopausal women should be equally entitled to worker benefits.

Some people think that’s pretty radical. “How are we supposed to get anything done if we have to pay for people who aren’t here a quarter of the time?” Well, the average CEO’s compensation package would probably pay for each of their workers to take a week off each month. And they’re usually not even in the office even a quarter of the time.

Something tells me that if we strove to be more equitable, they could afford it.

My wife won’t watch a movie if the dog dies, but she’ll make an exception for The Thing.

Which is pretty wild when you think of it. Nobody deserves what happens to them in the movie, but the dogs seem to get the worst of it all.

Didn’t they only announce the mascot like two weeks ago?

This has taken longer than most porn sensations to establish themselves, I’m a little disappointed in the community. Then again, she’s an underage anime girl, so I guess disappointment is the default state.

I live on the Earth, home to humans. Every human I’ve met, heard, or read about has been pretty stupid about something. I can’t imagine that I’d be the sole exception, so if I had to guess I’m not smart.

More to the spirit of the question, for me it has to do with programming. I love programming, I went to school for it and learned a ton. It really covers a wide breadth of applications, and you can make anything happen with a computer if you’re determined enough. And, like any field, there’s general knowledge as well as deeper specializations.

If you’re not into programming, know that there’s a divide in every application between what’s called the Back End and the Front End. The front end is what the user interacts with, and ultimately is an interface for the back end which actually runs the application.

I don’t know if it would still be considered accurate, but in school we’d joke about how the back end is more complex (more services to integrate with), and the front end is easier because it’s all about look and feel. Generally speaking, people develop an affinity for one or the other and then further specialize based on that.

I can’t seem to pick up a front end framework to save my life. The thing that the self-described smart kids called easier is wayyy more complicated than it looks. I have a lot of training, I’m skilled in multiple languages, and I can whisper the secret words that open up the database. But I don’t know if I could Hello World my way through a React app if there was a gun to my head.

Pssh, I’m from Canada, I say let the gays come on up. Gays, make sure to check out where you’re moving to though. We’re always importing american politics, and you couldn’t pay me to visit Alberta right now.

Why don’t you want to support your fellow humans when they’re being repressed? We’re in a comment thread about an article where the newly elected administration is telling people that they want to criminalize and punish people because of their orientation and expression.

Project 2025 says that being in drag is a sex crime against children, and that pedophiles should be punished by death. Read: trans people should be put to death.

If your heart isn’t open to asylum seekers, then who is it open for?

Context matters a lot. I wouldn’t flip off my mom, but with some friends it’s how we say hello. So I guess I put it in the whole range of 1-5

Now, about you seeing it censored, I always thought that was bizarre. You see it a lot in american media - but let’s be adults for a second. If they’ve censored somebody’s hand, there’s a very limited few reasons why that might be. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what the censored gesture is, and the blurring doesn’t really do anything to diminish the insult.

Honestly, I think it has a lot to do with the prudishness of american media. The gesture is symbolic of an erection, but I don’t know anybody who’d confuse a finger for a penis.

Interestingly, all cultures seem to have a gesture for this, even if it isn’t necessarily the middle finger. Some places it’s the thumbs-up that stands in for it, and others it might be gripping your elbow and pointing your fist.

You have my sincere sympathies. I have family going through cancer right now and it’s a bastard. Nobody deserves it.

The best way to break the news is a highly personal thing. What’s good for one family might not be good for another family. If your family is supportive, they’ll probably want to help somehow. If your family is toxic, you don’t owe them anything, not even a diagnosis if you don’t want to. And in all cases, any sort of reaction is reasonable to expect - receiving news of your diagnosis is the first step in grieving and you can never be sure how people will react to that.

At the end of the day, you’ve got a much better idea how your family might react than a bunch of strangers on the internet. But I’ll go ahead and share our bad news delivery system, and you can decide if it works for you.

Ours is a family that believes in eating our feelings and ripping off the bandaid. When we have bad news to share, we invite the family out to lunch. Somewhere public if you feel that’s appropriate. After everyone’s ordered we hit them with a “Listen, I’ve got some bad news…” and then just jump into it. Then after the news has hit, the creature comforts of a hot meal does wonders to soothe the soul.

Telling everyone at once can be intimidating. You might find you benefit from having a confidant who knows your situation. Breaking the news one-on-one is often easier, and then when you’re ready to tell the group they can be there to back you up.

No internet forum is really good for receiving medical advice on, and I won’t talk you into or out of treatment. However, if you’ve only just received the first test results, you may not have a complete picture of what’s going on.

Ultimately, it sounds like you don’t want to suffer. And I respect the hell out of that. But if you only just received your diagnosis, you might be in shock and incapable of seeing anything hopeful.

Some people conflate the testing and determining prognosis and treatment plan with the treatment itself. I guess all I’m saying is that before you decide that you don’t want treatment, you should consult with doctors you trust and determine what that treatment actually is. Not all cancers are equal, and the aggressiveness of the treatment has much to do with where it is and how progressed it is.

Anyway, as in all things, it’s your body so it should be your choice. But when you’re making big choices it helps to have all the data.

All hostage negotiations require a certain amount of trust to proceed.

I don’t really follow any hackers, but I know that different groups have different ethics, and some of them actually have a reputation to uphold.

And speaking of reputation, currently I have more faith in a random group of hackers than I do in a fortune 500 company not to renege on their end of the deal.

The request for bread is unusual. But it’s France, so maybe not that unusual. Depending on the ‘payment plan’ you could feed a thousand people a week for a year.

It’s a bit of a stretch (their statement is so short), but I interpret this as: “Schneider has failed to serve the public trust by allowing the public’s data to be exposed. They can regain the public’s trust by feeding the public.”

If things go well on the date, maybe they’ll vibe Louis Sachar’s holes

The magician’s assistant must be a labracadabradoodle

Then the Canadians show up with their shovels and frying pans and all hell breaks loose

Wake up
Sun is shining
Birds are singing
Have tea on porch
Watch the squirrels frolicking in the leaves
Despite everything, it’s all going to be okay
Oh, hiya neighbour
Doing some yard work?
BWARRRARARARRRGHGHHGHGHGHGHG

I wouldn’t worry too much about getting three down votes. Honestly, those are rookie numbers, and I’m sure as a fellow queer person you’ll get many more for just existing. Which is incredibly sad, but that’s life for you.

Some instances actually specifically disallow downvotes for similar reasons. My home instance doesn’t allow them because brigading has been a problem in the past.

At the end of the day, you can’t ever know exactly why somebody’s downvoted. The question you have to ask then, is “does it matter?”

I’m not saying that to diminish your feelings. It hurts when people are hurtful. But downvoting someone for being different is the refuge of hateful people who are otherwise impotent at effecting change in their own life. It’s sad, miserable, and frankly pathetic.

Consider it another way: if transphobes are seeking to make you feel bad by giving you a thumbs down, then not giving a fuck becomes an act of defiance and a source of strength. Haters gonna hate.

As to your specific question wondering if maybe you should ignore people asking about your pronouns: that’s up to you. You don’t owe anyone an explanation of your identity - particularly not if someone is asking in bad faith.

If someone asks you and you want to tell them “no,” again that’s up to you. But I can practically guarantee you’re going to get downvoted when you could have ignored them.

For what it’s worth, if anybody can’t figure out your pronouns from the context of how you talk, that’s kind of on them.

Some people have an interpretation that the devil wins anyway, either because of the sin of pride or because Johnny is gambling with his immortal soul.

That’s not in keeping with hopeposting though, so let me offer an alternative interpretation.

The devil sees this good ol’ boy playing fiddle in the woods and thinks he’s an easy mark. He proposes the wager, and then in true devilish fashion immediately cheats.

Johnny’s unbothered by this. He’s just that good, and he schools the devil through skill alone.

Johnny’s a force for wholesomeness. He’s just happy to be sawing away at the fiddle in the woods, singing songs about chickens and petting dogs. He’s talented, but he’s also incorruptible.

Because of this, the devil can’t swindle him. He truly is a good ol’ boy. And when you think about it, wager or not, there’s nothing damnable about playing good tunes.

Usually in these Faustian tales, the devil offers a wicked person a bargain, and then that person uses the bargain to perform more wickedness. I posit that the devil doesn’t win souls just because of the contract, but because the person damns themselves through their actions after the deal is struck.

If Johnny was a wicked person, maybe he’d waste the golden fiddle on hookers and blow and end up damned anyway. But Johnny doesn’t seem like that guy. He probably keeps the gold fiddle on the mantle to tell the tale of his jam session. There’s nothing wicked about that, so Johnny is safe

Cooking from scratch is almost always going to be less expensive, better tasting, and healthier.

Cooking with pre-made ingredients is often faster and easier.

For me, the decision is often predicated on how much energy I have. Sometimes prepping all the ingredients and the resulting cleanup feels like an impossible undertaking. Which is a shame because I’m a good cook - but sometimes I hate cooking.

Meal prepping or making batch meals is often a happy medium. Homemade food that you can later just reheat. If anybody has tips for making it feel less like I’m eating leftovers all the time, I’m happy to hear them

I have a friend with one of those automatic food dispensers that releases food at set times

The cats hate the time change (and I mean, fair). They’re probably screaming right now

My wife would probably do the same, because if she expected me to keep a real plant alive I’d surely disappoint her.

This feels weird.

Like, I get it. Having a Hammer documentary without Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would be like making a sandwich without bread.

But using a simulated likeness and voice to push your narrative into a dead man seems wrong. I’d even go so far as to say it undermines the credibility of your documentary.

Cushing was hugely prolific and starred in so many of these films that I have a hard time believing they couldn’t find contemporary interviews to use instead of making something new.

I think there’s a difference between saying, “This is my name and I work here for the city,” and, “This is the home address of my opponent whom I’m sharing lies about and threatening violence towards”

Especially when you consider that it’s not just the officials, but their families who are exposed too