Kneecap have been getting massive publicity because of their pro-palestine/anti-genocide stance. I haven’t listened to much to their latest stuff, but I should re-explore them.

Sometimes yes, sometimes it is correct to use murder.

But I was just using it as well known an example of how even a short sentence can have implicit bias while appearing to be simply factual. Not referring to anything specific.

Sometimes using killed is the most factual, sometimes it isn’t. Saying someone died is often factual as well. It’s really dependent on context what word to choose and they can create a very different narrative.

It also can simply be passive versus active voice in sentence structure.

There was an interesting case where Reuters headline was about police in South Africa killed protesting miners. They had a headline video that showed the police opening fire and an officer getting them to stop shooting. And a second “uncut” video on their RSS feed that wasn’t published in any headline that showed the miners were actually a giant mob carrying machetes, sticks, clubs and a few had guns which were fired into the air. The mob started charging the police line and when they opened fire the mob scattered. There was no mention of the police officer that had been beaten to death in the same area the night before by the protesters.

Both were completely factual reports, but they lacked context, and were subsequently widely used to demonise the police.

(Now, don’t get me wrong, cops are usually at fault, and the wider situation of why did those miners need to protest etc is a different topic. But in that specific instance there was a lot of context missing to the individual actions)

Since they generally report in a shorter format, they tend to not provide much context.

On the one hand, one could say this tends towards less bias, but on the other, context is absolutely critical to assessing a situation.

I think they have their place in the news cycle, and they are a useful source. I think that if they report an event you can be confident it has occurred, BUT they are very, very good at putting spin in only a few words, e.g. “murdered” vs “killed”. They also leave out extremely important context when it doesn’t fit their narrative/bias/click farming.

I am extremely critical of Reuters. But if they are one source amongst many they are useful. Particularly if you look at local news sources or other Reuters news snippets for context around the event.

The others have put good descriptions of why calories are an accurate measurement for food energy.

However, you are absolutely correct that calories are not a perfect measurement, and different types of foods are not one to one replaceable. 1500 calories of sugar is NOT the same as 1500 calories of protein!

Burning the food produces a reasonable and useful approximation of the available energy.

Does the human body burn food? Of course not. We transform food into useful components and then pump them around the body to be used by cells.

If you eat 1500 calories of protein, your body will use some of those calories simply as proteins, rather than breaking them down into energy (via sugar). Which means you will have less food-energy in your system and are more likely to run a deficit.

Again with protein, the transformation of protein into sugars which can be used as energy takes energy, so you end up with a smaller amount of calories actually being available.

TL;DR Calories are not perfectly interchangeable. However, they are our best, and most useful, quick way of approximating energy intake from food.

As most have said:

Underlying issues, sleep hygiene and doctor are all first port of call to check out. Some herbal remedies/melatonin can also help. For me sometimes taking a bath and having some lavender scent helped just in promoting calmness.

I haven’t seen much mention of mindfulness for sleep, and for me nothing has been as effective other than prescription sleeping pills.

Medito is a FOSS app, backed by meditation guides from universities.

https://medito.app/packs/2adEdsVRJwmU27G8

Body scan is a great first place to start, or try some of their “starting guides”. Meditation is a skill that needs time and practice, and sometimes you won’t be able to, but that just means you need to do something to reset your brain and try again.

They also have some sounds and sleep stories which are nice if you are into that sort of thing

It really depends on your personal financial situation.

For me, I only need around 50k per year (before tax) to maintain my lifestyle and save a bit. That includes a pension (as if that will make a difference lol).

So going from 70k to 55k would be … Uncomfortable (I get you with the stability anxiety), but rationally, if my mental and physical health were suffering. Those extra 20 % is really not worth being miserable.

You only have one life. Make sure to enjoy it.

Having said that, if it was going from 55k to 45k, I would have to have a close look at my finances and lifestyle to see what would be worth cutting. The end question is: are the things you need to cut to make do worth the extra suffering you are currently enduring?

Everything has a cost, whether that is paying with your time, your health, sanity, or choosing to spend time with one person instead of another. Only you can answer if it’s worth it for you.

Many books are managed by a publisher, however. To varying degrees of control. The publisher can have significant sway in the process of writing and editorial control, depending on the contract.

I think the indie part is mostly to do with size and influence of the publishing house. As well as if the art comes first or market appeal. I think A24 in film are a good example of that question.

On further thought, I think one possible criteria may be: Was this work completed independently and then subsequently published, or did this work have a publisher prior to completion?

To your question, if the author gets big off of an indie work, then writes another, independently, which gets published again, then it’s still indie. But if that author agrees a contract to write said book with the publisher before it is written, then it is no longer indie.

Basically, has the creator taken it on their own risk to make this thing and then tried to publish it later? Or did a publisher take the risk by funding it and then therefore may have some degree of control?

Dear Esther

Sleep Token

Absolutely incredible band

That too 😂

The greenhouse effect still has a limit to how much it can trap.

At the end of the day infrared radiation is still basically light.

Even on the cloudiest day, or when there is super dense smoke or ash, it is still not pitch black out. Some light gets through. If you are looking into a mirror, it might seem like it reflects 100% of light. But they only reflect around 95%.

You would require something which can let through 100% of all sunlight, but still trap 99.5% from leaving.

You could have a look at how one-way mirrors work, to understand the percentages of light passed through and reflected.

Data comes from NASA planetary fact sheets (amazing resource btw).

Overall equation structure:

Circular area that can receive sunlight: pi x radius ^ 2

Total incoming power : solar irradiance x circular area

Spherical area : 4 x pi x radius ^ 2

Black body radiation : stefan-boltzmann constant x Area x Temperature ^ 4

You know have incoming power and outgoing power.

Percentage : 100 x (Outgoing - incoming) / outgoing

I don’t think so.

Even out at Mars you already have significantly diminished solar incidence.

I think that past Saturn you probably start to have so little incoming solar energy that it’s almost impossible to retain it.

EDIT:

Saturn receives around 1% of the solar irradiance of earth.

Pluto receives 0.064%. less than 1W/m2.

With a radius of 1188km, the absolute maximum incident solar energy is 3.8E12 W. (Assuming no efficiency loss as the angle of incidence decreases due to curvature)

The radiating surface is the full sphere, and using Earth’s black body temperature of 254K.

Therefore, Pluto would be radiating approximately 5.67E-8 x 254^4 x 4 x pi x 1188000 ^2 = 7.38 E14.

In other words, you would need to retain at least 99.5% of all energy emitted by pluto. Mirrors reflect around 95% of visible light, and infrared is even more difficult to reflect.

Another Earth

50/50

Grave of the fireflies

5 centimetres per second