Notices by ⛈️ Information ⛈️ (elucidating@mastodon.social)

@tek I love those shots. They're not only pretty, but they're so fun to take.

This isn't just chips and other things with highly centralized and secretive fabrication methods though. There has been a national shortage of trained and qualified Electricians for at least 4 years, and the problem grows.

Electricians are pretty smart and pretty skilled, but doesn't require a ton of secretive technology. But we don't have enough, because we don't train enough. Because a lot of folks can't afford the training, or do not consider that work to be "real" or "making it."

People believe Biden's chips'n'science act fixed this, but many of those engagements either have not materialized yet or seem to be going poorly. A good example is the TSMC engagement, which appears to be a train wreck.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/tsmc-arizona-struggles-to-overcome-vast-differences-between-taiwanese-and-us-work-culture

"Well how do production countries like India, China, and Singapore handle this?" You might ask.

Well, for India their workforce is collapsing. Fewer and fewer people are engaging with it because they cannot. Big problem! For China and Singapore, *they have better primary and secondary education systems*. They produce better results, for more people, for less money.

The problem with "well you should buy American" is that for many things Americans want, it's very hard to hire enough workers educated enough to build them, because so few Americans have any experience at modern manufacturing.

This is not a problem you can pay your way out of.

My SUSPICION is that what people need even more than money is health insurance, because it sorta doesn't make any difference if you make $7 or $40 an hour if you have medical bills in the US. So good, important work that develops and empowers individuals is disenfranchised and discouraged because the bad health plan at wal mart or starbucks is still better than no access to health care at all.

Ultimately, I think for many Americans the idea of doing "real serious productive work" has been somehow blocked. I can't really claim to understand why.

For example, there's widespread unemployment in PA, and if you look electriican rates and plumber rates are through the roof AND demand is high.

But evidently people don't find this information realistic or actionable. I honestly couldn't tell you why they don't. I can't see a lot of inquiry into why this is the case in public discourse.

X: "I won't vote because I have principles. I'm abstaining for Palestine."

Me: "How will abstaining the vote in a swing state help end Israel's genocide in Palestine?"

X: "Because we need to send a message to the Democrats that they can't keep supporting Israeli genocide."

Me: "Alright, but then they won't be in power, especially in the executive. So I don't understand how this helps Palestinians."

X: "This is the only way we can be heard."

Me: "So... it's not about Palestinians "

X: 😡

I think a lot about how even people I know, nice and good people, still carry on the culture of abusive puzzle/quiz interviews for software engineering. These same people who have never once asked if the candidate understands why mutating global state is bad for a code base or why commits should be small and single purpose.

@vantablack Psst, please boost if you already know this: There is no such thing as a disposable vape battery please pass used equipment to the local makerspace so they can reuse it.

One thing that's very frustrating to me about a log of the current debates re the limits of tech is that folks will complain ceaselessly about the behavior of social media but then act powerless to stop using it.

This is: 1) Wrong. 2) Learned helplessneds. 3) capitulation to the capitalist takeover of your social life.

I'm probably just gonna start blocking people who say "I have to stay on Twitter because..." Or "but all my friends are on Facebook so..."

@mattly I posted one of the complaints to lobste.rs just to see what would happen and the replies were as entitled and focused around "value delivery for startups" as one might hope.

@mattly Many of the comments are implicitly about how you need to "grow up" and "think about your consumers" and I think this is a deeply depressing thing.

My background was clj-time, and the decision to violate my license around that code because people found it convenient to use my razor thin wrapper around jodatime, is why I quit open source participation with the understanding at any point in time, the community would come along and bully me and barring that steal from me.

@feld No. That's ridiculous. What the actual fuck are you talking about?

@feld But ultimately I don't think the microplastic problem is nearly so pressing as the oil demand induction problem. So I won't address there too deeply

@feld yes it can, will post some links later. Theres some good novel data here.

PLA is best processed in industrial composting.

Quick reminder as you see the news float by today: most 3d printers tend to use specific non-industrial plastics made from agricultural byproducts. These have entirely different characteristics than the industrial plastics you see.

Some 3d printing is done with other plastics, and you should try to avoid buying products made with PET or PETG, ASA, and ABS. These materials are not substantially better than PLA for non-industrial use (e.g., their glass transition is higher but not much).

There are plastics that do not induce demand for oil, can break down in the environment, and have higher glass transition temperatures. But the demand for them is too low, and so they never leave the lab.

We can change that by demanding which plastics are used and rejecting the idea that recycling is a valid solution to the problem.

@mattly Okay, well I mean, if you think that like... people are confused about this and don't understand that starbucks is mostly coffee-flavor-compatible sugary drinks then... I mean I won't deny it if you say that's a thing. I can't help but think that if Dr. Phil said that exact phrase like a decade-ish ago, the message is out there. 😀

@mattly Arguing against hot chocolate as a personal preference is fine, but like as a general complaint it's just not gonna get a lot of support. 😉