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Cake day: November 25th, 2025

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  • well mostly it’s explained by the fact that it didn’t happen.

    "In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

    All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.

    ‘You cannot enter here,’ said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. ‘Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!’

    The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.

    ‘Old fool!’ he said. ‘Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!’ And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

    Gandalf did not move."

    and then the Rohirrim arrive and the Rider leaves.





  • exactly, the real Luddites weren’t opposed to technology, they were opposed to wealthy factory owners using technology in a way that eliminated or cheapened their labor to extract more profit. what Sanders and most others are citing as threats posed by “ai” are actually perfectly in line with the Luddites, but they’re not allowed to say so because the actual history of the Luddites has been smeared and propagandized to make them look like unreasonable morons who are scared of things they can’t comprehend



  • it’s not a joke, the National Socialist Party of America was headquartered in Chicago. there was a famous supreme court case about their right to hold a demonstration in the mostly-Jewish suburb of Skokie that took place in 1977, three years before the movie came out

    edit: to clarify, the legal case took place in 77. the Nazis won but the demonstration never actually happened



  • arctanthrope@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyzqt π
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    6 days ago

    the square-cube law is the fact that a larger object has a lower ratio of surface area to volume than a similarly-shaped smaller object; i.e. as the scale of an object increases linearly, its surface area increases as a square function, and its volume increases as a cubic function.

    thermodynamically, this means an object twice the size has 4 times the heat transfer (which occurs at the outer surface), but 8 times the heat capacity (since heat is stored throughout the volume). so it’s heat loss is by raw numbers greater, but lower as a percentage of the total, i.e. the internal temperature is more stable





  • you are allowed to stumble on the first line. and it may come off poorly. and if it does the other person is perfectly valid for not wanting to engage further. therefore if you want the other person to continue to engage, you should try not to come off poorly. this isn’t some newfangled social phenomenon, it’s how basic human interaction has worked for millennia



  • fun fact: Sauron did not create the Palantiri (btw, the word Palantir literally means “to see from afar” in Quenya, Tolkien’s high-elven language, the same etymology as the English word “television”), but he was able to gain control of the stones and influence the thoughts of others who looked into them by showing them visions of only the things he wanted them to see, which would bring those who were susceptible over to his side, or for those who were less susceptible, drive them to hopelessness and despair (this is what happened to Denethor, the Steward of Gondor; the movies decided to remove that plot point and make him look like an asshole for no reason). anyway, just a random fun fact about a fictional world, definitely no real modern relevance to powerful malicious actors gaining control of “television” or other means of rapid communication to bend the thoughts of others to their will





  • I’ve always believed that everyone should be able to have, for free, a permanent private living space of at least 80sqft, a reasonably comfortable bed, access to a toilet and shower and associated toiletries, clothing suitable for the weather, water and food (even if only some flavorless nutritional paste), and access to medical care both as-needed and on a regular basis. if you have no ambition in life beyond sitting in that little room staring at the wall and eating soylent, then so be it, for a society to provide any less is immoral