@ptz@dubvee.org cover

Ask me anything.

I also develop Tesseract UI for Lemmy/Sublinks

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samojedesamu , to aww
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ptz ,
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Pretty dog, WAYYYYY too many hashtags.

ptz ,
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That's the kind of maths I like 😆

ptz ,
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I'm finally caught up, so I can participate in these now :)

t would be silly if, say, the Breen dreadnought was to show up and simply yoink away the structure with a tractor beam while we’re still in the cold open, and the Lagrange point did not matter for the rest of the episode.

That bugged me so much 😆. I literally yelled at the TV: "Why didn't you just do that?! Or at least technobabble away why you 'can't just' "

Granted, all the cool stuff that followed wouldn't have happened, but still.

Burnham uses her xenoanthropology specialization to understand that joining a Breen feast day would be considered a good thing to do. Xenoanthropology was established as Burnham’s scientific focus in the series premiere, “The Vulcan Hello”.

I am really loving the multiple callbacks to Burnham's xenoanthropology background this season. Given the nature of their mission, it makes sense for that to be a relevant focus.

ptz ,
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I definitely appreciated it on that level after the moment had time to sink in. Maybe that's what bugged me so much about it. Watching sci-fi, I suspend a certain amount of disbelief. When something entirely plausible happens, it just hits me off guard.

ptz ,
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I know you're being sarcastic, but that is exactly how I felt for about 15 seconds. 😆

ptz ,
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Oh, then I missed that. I knew they missed the mark with the jump but thought they had closed the distance by that point. Thanks for pointing that out.

I haven't had a chance to watch the finale yet, so I may go back and start S4 over and watch them all like 10 a hour movie. Will watch for that when I do.

ptz ,
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I think VOY - Counterpoint might fit the bill.

Reasons:

  1. It's got a double double-cross plot with pretty high stakes.
  2. It's traditional in the "alien of the week" format.
  3. Janeway and Inspector Kashyk have excellent chemistry
  4. Hefty abuse of the pattern buffer
  5. Basically a self-contained episode that's largely confined to the ship
ptz ,
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Yeah, same. I felt bad recommending it as "average" episode, but it checks all the other boxes. Still, it's a fun, easy episode to just drop into without needing any background info besides "They're on a long journey home, and then this happens".

"The Void" is definitely a solid choice, too. Teamwork and Federation principles save the day, a little action, and a first contact.

ptz , (edited )
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Gorgeous. I would love to get that printed poster-sized and framed for my office.

ptz ,
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That'd be awesome 🤞

Leaked NYT Gaza Memo Tells Journalists to Avoid Words “Genocide,” “Ethnic Cleansing,” and “Occupied Territory” ( theintercept.com )

The New York Times instructed journalists covering Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip to restrict the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” when describing Palestinian land, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by The Intercept....

ptz ,
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This sounds like the memo is a style guide against biased language which is pretty common.

News is supposed to give you information, not persuade you to take an opinion and normally a style guide helps do that in a consistent voice. I'd be interested in seeing the entire memo.

ptz ,
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All of that can absolutely be to reduce bias; there doesn't have to be some sinister motive. FWIW, the publication issuing these criticisms is heavily left-biased. Essentially, The Intercept is criticizing another publication for not putting enough bias into their reporting. I would consider that to not be good practice.

One of the main way biases are determined is by what words are chosen to describe a particular situation. From MBFC: "They [publications] may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using an appeal to emotion or stereotypes),"

All the memo is doing is setting the tone to keep from introducing strong biases. Again, no sinister motive and just sticking to the facts instead of appealing to emotion.

Can't they cite the UN now?

I'm sure they absolutely can if quoting someone from there; no need to jump to conclusions. Style guides are meant to reduce the amount of author / publication bias or otherwise provide a consistent tone among different authors under a particular publication.

Again, I have not seen this particular memo in whole (just the parts that this article cherry picks to make their own point), but I'm aware such guidelines exist and are common.

ptz , (edited )
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Watch [literally anything] narrated by Armin Shimerman.

Me: Yes, please.

Several years ago, I had just finished my first play through of BioShock when I read online that Armin did the voice for Andrew Ryan. So I immediately started a new game just so I could appreciate it properly.

ptz ,
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I would loved to have seen more of Admiral Cornwall in SNW.

ptz ,
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Happy for the outcome, but she never should have had to go through that.

ptz ,
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I liked Yeoh as Phillipa Georgiou, but I loved her as Emperor Georgiou. Phillipa was this cool, calm, experienced Starfleet captain we’d expect while the Emperor was a total wild card.

While I haven’t seen every movie she’s done, the ones I recall always had her playing a good guy. It was refreshing to see her play a villainous (then semi-villainous) character and watch Yeoh grow her into something of an anti-hero.

Definitely looking forward to the S31 movie when it comes out. It’s slated for a streaming release, right?

ptz ,
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Should we edit down all the courtroom episodes as well? /s

ptz ,
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Voyager: Just hearing the intro is comforting.

I don’t know if it’s anything specific about Voyager itself or just the part of my life it takes me back to, but it’s definitely my “Comfort Trek”.

ptz ,
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Reading that made me wish Picard S3 was two seasons long (not that I didn’t already). All of those scrapped ideas would have been amazing (if expensive lol).

ptz ,
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Agree on it needing breathing room, but I’ve also reluctantly accepted that’s just what we get nowadays with everything becoming so hyper-serialized and each season being a 10 hour movie. I don’t mind that trend too much when the story is good, but it does make me miss the longer seasons that could give you a few lighter / “filler” episodes to catch your breath. That critique is not just for Trek but a lot of other shows developed for streaming as well.

That said, I really do enjoy SNW being more episodic.

ptz ,
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They have such great chemistry. Would be awesome to see SMG make a cameo in LD as a holodeck character or something.

Curiosity is always going to be better than arrogance. Nobody will appreciate it if you pretend like you know what you’re doing.

Definitely solid advice.

ptz ,
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Yep, and also flipping the “what was the biggest challenge you overcame” standard question on its head.

And yeah, I was definitely curious about the hair but after learning Gates McFadden wore a bunch of different wigs in TNG, I just kind of let it go. I had no idea there was such thought and additional representation behind the change; that panning shot of her taking the captain’s chair they talked about seems so much more poignant now.

ptz ,
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I thought they just faked Discovery being destroyed at the end of S2 rather than her never existing? Welp, there’s the excuse I need to start a re-watch. lol

ptz ,
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Thanks for breaking that down. That makes sense, and I was looking for the relevant dialog to get an idea of what the case was.

ptz ,
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“I liked it before it got woke”

So they never liked it?

Chemours and DuPont Knew About Risks But Kept Making Toxic PFAS Chemicals, UN Human Rights Advisors Conclude ( insideclimatenews.org )

“DuPont and Chemours have produced, marketed and profited from PFAS for decades, contributing to a global toxic contamination problem,” the U.N. panel said in a public statement released Wednesday. “DuPont and Chemours appear to have impermissibly captured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and delayed (their)...

ptz ,
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Chemours is technically innocent here as they only exist so that DuPont can spin off their liabilities to a sacrificial company.

bloomberg.com/…/chemours-board-sued-for-duping-in…

ptz , (edited )
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I definitely like the idea, but I also like the Trill having some kind of distinguishing feature of their own.

Maybe all Trill have their spots but joined Trill could inherit some other feature from the symbiont or perhaps different stripe/spot patterns? Those “extra” spots could still develop more and more over time like you described; that’s a cool idea (even though it would make lying about your age difficult 😆)

If that were the case, then it would be cool to see Adira develop just that set of stripes after they joined with Tal.

ptz ,
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For the baseline Trill or the joined ones? If the latter, I’d really hate to put Adira through that. They’re finally healing and part of a family unit; would break my heart to have them go through a “what’s wrong with my forehead?!” arc in the final season. lol

Edit: Thanks for the picture. I completely forgot Jadzia had that in the early episodes.

ptz ,
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Ah, gotcha. I knew I’d seen it before (probably on Memory Alpha), but I guess I was mis-remembering it as some additional Early Installment Weirdness like Major Kira’s hair from the first episode.

What did you do to her head, she used to be beautiful?"

Damn.

ptz , (edited )
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Disappointed that Detmer and Owo don’t seem to be in this season; they weren’t listed in the cast in this article or another one I read. I know Tig Notaro was always a guest, and she wasn’t mentioned, but I really hope Reno shows up for a least an episode or two. She’s my spirit character.

And what is up with the photoshopping on Mary Wiseman in the promo photo poster? It doesn’t even look like her. Looks more like Jennifer Tilly than Sylvia. She looks like herself in the other photo in the article, but the top image looks shopped to all get out.

ptz , (edited )
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Ah, good to know. Definitely won’t give up hope then. I thought they were both promoted to regulars / opening credits a while back.

ptz , (edited )
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They’ll beat the crap out of each other and then curl up like this and take a nap. Brown one is 9, black one is 1.

https://dubvee.org/pictrs/image/953fd67f-c721-421f-b88a-49701bf5dd6a.webp

Fun fact: The old dog picked the new one. She didn’t like any of the dogs I chose, so I walked her through the shelter until she picked that one. Another fun fact: I did not want a puppy, but Daisy did. So, we got a puppy.

ptz ,
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Lol, yep. She was 8 at the time, so I was looking at middle-aged dogs that I thought would be a better fit for her, energy-wise. Nope. She hated them all. So we ended up getting a 4 month old Jack Russell mix which is the opposite of what I thought she’d want. They’ve been besties since.

ptz ,
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I don’t have a cat now, but when I did, that was the face right before a roll of paper towels became confetti all over the living room.

ptz , (edited )
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My only concern with that, which is likely shared by others, was addressed beautifully in the last paragraph of the article:

The second common objection is “Impartiality! We don’t want the government’s dirty money tainting the news!” Okay. Time to get over that. It is possible to insulate journalists from public money at least as well as they were insulated from the private money of advertisers. If your position is that public money will irrevocably taint journalism but the biggest companies in America buying ads will not, I submit that you have not thought about this issue very deeply. Furthermore, there are already existing examples of states funding journalism, evidence that the nature of this problem is dawning, at least in progressive states.

That is a very good point to which I have no counter-argument. In fact, if we look at BBC as an example, they’re publicly funded and maintain high credibility and a high degree of press freedom.

TL;DR: Public funding definitely won’t make the situation worse, and there is evidence that it would improve things. I say give it shot.

ptz ,
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while i haven’t looked into it particularly, i’m also sure there are ways to de facto public-fund media while still creating separation from the state if you’re really worried about that.

It’s not so much that I’m worried about it personally; it’s just more of a general concern for public trust given our current divisions. I just figure that, regardless of the party in power, half the country is going to call it a propaganda arm at any given time. OTOH, we already have that division with private journalism, so I guess nothing would really change much?

I think you’re right on the money (pun intended) that it would have to be a de-facto funding with clear separation from the state. This is where I feel BBC does well, at least with world news.

like, there probably isn’t just the single way to publicly fund media and you have to either accept that model or not publicly fund media, right?

Oh, I’m sure there are multiple feasible ways to do it - I just don’t know what/which, specifically, would be necessary or best. The funding part is a bit out of my wheelhouse as that’s not something we really covered in the journalism electives I took all those years ago. lol

ptz ,
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Oh, for sure. I also think a lot of things would be improved by that method, but that’s veering quite off-topic.

ptz ,
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Hope to have some contributions soon. I’m due for a re-watch, and I’m sure I’ll find some gems to share.

Have been watching nothing but narco novelas all winter, lol, so I need a change of pace.

ptz OP ,
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I tried, but I can’t even pick up the phaser in the introductory level. Not sure if I’m just an idiot who can’t figure out the controls or if it’s some glitch since I’m running it under Wine in Linux.

ptz OP ,
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The only thing I manged to accomplish was walk awkwardly around the armory and roll xD

Going to have to see if there’s some Wine tricks to work around whatever that issue is.

What is the best way to fix cracks before repainting ( lemmy.world )

I am renovating my son’s bedroom and trying to make the walls as nice as is reasonable before repainting. There are a few cracks like this in the paint. It looks like on top of the drywall there is paint, wallpaper, and then a few more layers of paint. The cracks could be at the seams of the drywall from expansion and...

ptz ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

I gouged out one crack and filled it with joint compound to see how that works.

Fellow “old house” owner here. I’ve got very similar cracks and similarly old drywall. Sanding it down and filling with joint compound was my plan. How did that work out?

Saving this post to see what kind of advice you get so I can try too.

Sewer smell in bathroom only when temperature outside below freezing

I’ve been noticing an occasional sewer smell in my bathroom, and finally realized it’s only present when it’s below freezing outside. As soon as the weather warms up, the smell goes away. For reference, my house was built in '55 and the toilet is plumbed into the original steel sewer line. There are no leaks (everything...

ptz OP ,
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Thanks. Will give that a try. The sinks get used frequently, so I don’t think the traps would have a chance to dry out, but it’s simple enough to try.

ptz OP ,
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Interesting. I don’t have any issues with things going out (or, worse, coming back up), so I didn’t think to involve them at all. Worth a shot. Thanks!

ptz OP ,
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Haven’t had any snow accumulation this year (yet), so it shouldn’t be that blocking it. Not to say it couldn’t have a block by something else (it’s almost 70 years old). Haven’t noticed any glugging, but like you said, I may not notice it.

I’ll mention it to the plumber and see what they think.

Thanks!

ptz OP ,
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Interesting.

My sinks, showers, dishwasher, etc all have a separate PVC sewer line and only the toilet still uses the original steel one. Both sewer lines, PVC and steel, exit the basement separately, but I don’t know if they stay separate all the way to the sewer connection at the street or combine outside. Thanks previous owner /s.

That said, I’ll have to check the vent configuration. I think there’s only one vent and want to say it’s shared between the two, but I have no idea. When I bought the house years ago, the inspector didn’t make any notes about that, so I assumed it was all good.

Thanks for that diagram, btw. Will see how mine compares and hope the plumber doesn’t just recommend ripping everything out and starting over xD

ptz OP ,
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there’s a flap that is supposed to only allow stuff ou

Did not know that was a thing. Learn something new every day.

In my case, depending on where that is and if my setup even has one, I doubt it’s the case. My house is also on a hill above the street/sewer connection and pretty much goes downhill from the time it exits the house. If sewer levels rise that high, the whole neighborhood is going to be in deep…well, you know. lol

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