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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 29th, 2023

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  • Did I? I was thinking in the sense that when climbing a steep hill, gravity isn’t actually any stronger, you’re just fighting against it more, since you’re travelling more vertically than normal. “Vertical” on a flat disk would be basically toward the edges. Falling there would be the same as tumbling down a mountain that gradually slopes to flat ground, but you’d still experience the same gravitational pull, no?

    It seems he edited his comment. “Always towards the center” means the direction of gravity, not it’s magnitude, absolutely would change. Most of the mass of a disk is towards the center, rather than the edge. That’s why gravity would pull you that way, but not with any more force than it would push you downward against the ground at the pole. As explained in the video, standing at the pole would feel totally normal (i.e. gravity is pushing straight down). At the edge, it would feel like hanging from a vertical surface (i.e. gravity is pushing sideways). If I’m not mistaken, that’s completely in line with what I said before. If anything, I suppose it’s possible gravity would be slightly weaker at the edges, just like objects in LEO don’t actually fall at quite 9.8m/s, it’ll be just a little slower, but that wasn’t covered in the first few minutes of the video, which is what the scope of my comment referred to. Without actually leaving the surface of the disk far behind, however, I’m not sure the difference would be appreciable.





  • Calories - the basic unit used to measure dietary energy. The unit used for nutrition (as opposed to Calories used in physics) are actually kilo-Calories, but they’re usually just called calories (though I think many European countries list them as “kcals”). Excess calories will be converted and stored as fat.

    Glucose - a simple sugar monosaccharide (just 1 sugar component). Sugars are calorie-dense. There are other basic, simple sugars like galactose and fructose. Combining two of these simple sugars yields a disaccharide, which requires breaking down into its constituent sugars before it can be digested and absorbed, but this is done quickly. Sugars, both simple and complex, are carbohydrates. Simple sugars/carbs (mono/disaccarides) are quickly digested and absorbed into the blood stream, but complex sugars take a little longer.

    Complex carbohydrates - these are long strings of sugars (polysaccharides), such as starch. As a result, they are very calorie dense (provided they can be digested by humans). They’re typically what is being referred to if someone is talking about “carbs”. Since they are strings of sugars, they require more breaking down before they can be digested than simple sugars.

    Gluten - a structural protein formed mainly of the naturally-occurring glutenin and gliaden proteins found in some grains. If you add water and knead wheat flour, like in bread dough, it will form a network of these proteins into gluten. This is what gives bread its elasticity. Around 80% of all the protein in bread is gluten. Because it’s sort of a dietary buzzword, I’ll add that it’s typically perfectly safe to consume unless you’ve been directed by a doctor to avoid it; avoiding it will produce no health benefits at all for the vast majority of people. There is some debate on whether gluten sensitivity truly exists outside of celiac disease (which is autoimmune in nature). Triple-blind experiments where subjects who claimed non-celiac sensitivity were given high-gluten diets, but reported no more symptoms on average than those given low-gluten or gluten-free diets. It’s possible that the true cause of intestinal discomfort for some is instead from a group of compounds called FODMAPs, which are also present in many gluten-containing grains. Follow-up experiments with diets high in FODMAPs with the same group yielded more reporting of symptoms than with the gluten.


  • Maybe the trick is to leave some food (like diced and crushed fruit, unsalted peanuts in the shell, or mealworms) where they hang out when you see them? Them being out of your sight doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out of their sight. They could be watching nearby. If they’re in the area often, they’ll probably find it. If you always see them at a certain time of day, try leaving it out there a bit before they show up. Maybe if you put up some feeders that have crow-friendly foods closer to the house, they’ll warm up to it and you, You could also try leaving some food out for them a ways away and just hanging out for awhile reading or something, then gradually over time, leave the food closer. I’d imagine it could take some time and persistence to get the crows to warm up to you.


  • I’ve heard that crows seem to recognize offerings made to them and respond well. Try going outside and, while in their sight (not too close, though), present some food to them where they can see it, carefully place it on the ground, and slowly back away out of sight once more. You may have to do this for multiple days or maybe even weeks, not sure. Otherwise, you can take solace in the fact that nesting season will probably be over shortly as crows usually only raise 1 brood a year. They also don’t usually reuse nests, but have been known to build on top of prior successful nests.

    You should post an update somewhere in a week or two because this is pretty interesting!


  • 😳

    For real though, they aren’t unlike many other fundamentalist sects across different religions, so one going in should expect pretty strict adherence to their interpretation of biblical doctrine. That’s one of the things they’re famous for, besides the no technology, raising barns, and building quality wooden furniture. Nowadays, there’s a bit of flexibility regarding technology depending on which Amish community you live in, especially if it’s to promote an Amish business, but there are still limits. All that being said, most newcomers who leave do cite the religious aspects as growing tiresome over time.

    But it’s not like the Amish are the kind of people who won’t let you leave or anything, they’re actually pretty big on the idea that one has to want to be a part of the Amish church and that it can’t be forced on anyone; they even have that Rumspringa thing where kids are sent out into modern society at 16 until they decide whether they want to formally join the church or not. They don’t believe in evangelism of any kind. I can’t claim to be any kind of expert, though, I’ve just had a personal fascination with them for awhile.

    I didn’t intend for my first comment to come off that way, but I believe everything I’ve said is factual.

    P.S.

    I’ll add for OP that I’m not sure how your goal of continuing your math studies would mesh with the Amish community. Assuming you’d be attending some sort of higher education outside of the community to earn a degree, I’m not sure how they’d perceive that. The Amish do their own schooling and don’t offer classes at that level because they’re actually against higher education in most communities, plus a university would probably be too far for a horse and buggy, so you’d most likely need a car. In fact, it was actually by Supreme Court decision that allowed the Amish to stop education at 8th grade. They might feel you weren’t fully committed to the lifestyle.

    If you were to stay after you earned your degree, what would you use it for? You’d likely have a job making furniture, doing some other handicraft, or farming. Your only option to use your advanced math skills would be to get a job in the non-Amish world, which might also ruffle some feathers. Hard to say for sure, though. I think even the more orthodox Mennonites are also a little more open to higher education, though, but I could be wrong.

    Then again, you could still totally just get a degree, join whatever church you want, and live however rustically you choose.











  • Since you asked and I haven’t seen anyone else answer, the most recent parallel to the Maduro situation is the 1990 capture of Manuel Noriega, the military leader of Panama. All around, it was a pretty similar situation. Just like Maduro, Noriega was accused of using Panama as a drug shipping hub and of being a dictator by the US. Relations deteriorated until in late 1989, Panama declared they were “at a state of war” with the US, prompting George H W Bush to launch a ground invasion into Panama with one of the goals being the capture of Noriega, which was achieved within a few weeks in early 1990. He was then flown to the US to face a trial over his drug charges and was held in prison until 2010, though he was then extradited to France and later Panama, where he spent his final 6 years in prison.

    Like Maduro, while the capture was ostensibly over drug trafficking concerns, it was largely to further US interests in Panama and Central America as a whole. Namely, it was to gain outsized control over the running of the Panama Canal for the US and grant them special perks such as reduced costs to send goods through, something that saved US companies billions every year. Additionally, it allowed as many as 14 military bases to be established in the area.

    Here’s a really fantastic and very thorough comparison between the two that goes into much more detail. https://brendonbeebe.substack.com/p/comparison-of-us-capture-of-nicolas