Viewing profile — professorgerm

It has been a repudiation of the communication layers between experts and average people, as well, which I think might be more of Aaronson's ire than experts qua experts (it's cert…

Any chance your sister was in/near Pittsburgh or the surrounding coal-country? The "Pittsburgh toilet"[1] is a relatively common basement feature in older homes of steel and coal i…

Yes. I assume they're referencing the chemical spill several years ago, and the water has tested clean consistently since. I've never heard of other issues with the water quality i…

It's not so much that they're Muslim, but that they're Uighar, concentrated in one region, and calling for independence much like Tibetans. The Hui are also a majority-Muslim ethni…

How often do you miss a turn? Perhaps there's a setting I've missed, but for me Apple Maps seems to "lock" onto a particular route, and if I miss a direction it'll keep trying to g…

According to CNN[1] and a scientist in Scotland- yes! It hydrates pretty much equally, though it's slightly worse for your teeth. Not nearly as bad as regular soda/pop/etc, though.…

American that just recently learned about Indian pencils- they're so much better than pencils we have here! Though I'm partial to the Apsara Regal Gold instead of the traditional b…

The Comstock Laws [1] are probably the most famous US example, which made it illegal to use the USPS to send any obscene materials, including personal letters with sexual content. …

Yudkowsky is a polarizing writer. Some people love his writing; I do not. There's the occasional nugget of wisdom but I find his style so irritating and pretentious that it's not w…

I was curious, so I looked up the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment [1]. They have 16 member organizations, including the Tacoma Dominicans and the Sisters of St Mary …

Likely they mean good ole original Marxism. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" is a slogan popularised by Karl Marx.

That's an optimistic view of dealing with government, that they would actually be reasonable and helpful. Many in the US have a decidedly pessimistic view of dealing with regulatio…

It varies by location, though. If you have a Kroger with a Murray's, the cheese selection will be much better than the average grocer. They're easy to recognize given all the Murra…