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zlatiah

@ zlatiah @lemmy.world

Posts
116
Comments
234
Joined
1 yr. ago

Ask me about:

  • Science (biology, computation, statistics)
  • Gaming (rhythm, rogue-like/lite, other generic 1-player games)
  • Autism & related (I have diagnosis)
  • Bad takes on philosophy
  • Bad takes on US political systems & more US stuff

I'm not knowledgeable about most other things

  • For those who tried to enter the dating pool, how did it go?

    Jump

  • I know this is not c/casualconversation but OP you gave me an opportunity to share the funniest dating story I have ever heard of, from first-hand experience unfortunately. This was in middle/late 2023

    I... am not that great. Pretty mediocre looks, Asian guy (there's research on this lol) in the US, and the Autism is very strong... so I only ever got 2 matches, neither of which worked out. One of them was particularly brutal because we talked on the app for a whole month, finally met in a coffee shop... and I immediately got ghosted afterwards. I think at that point (2 mo) Hinge started only showing me ppl I have already seen so I deleted the app. However

    The person I talked for a month with mentioned a local arcade that I didn't think much of. Later in 2023 I decided to visit, on 2023-12-09... and holy shit they have all my favorite games, and they even had a DDR (technically ITG) cab and a maimai cab that are basically workouts. I instantly signed up for the monthly membership (which was way cheaper than a gym) and started going there at least 3 times a week, probably for like 3-4 hours at once. That was literally what got me through the end of grad school

    I still have a picture I took the first time I went of a Sound Voltex cab (6th gen, "EXCEED GEAR") and how I got destroyed on a song I would now do as a warmup routine... which is why I knew the exact date I visited the arcade btw, the picture is timestamped

    So what was I typing. No dating pool isn't great

  • I am looking for a Linux OS

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  • I play a lot of games over steam

    If my main concern is playing game with Steam, most mainstream Linux OSes should be fine. If I have to pick one... Linux Mint is very beginner-friendly, and I've heard great things about Bazzite too. SteamOS works flawlessly with Steam out of the box (owns Steam Deck, can verify), but I don't know how easy it is to set up by yourself

    If you happen to also like non-Steam games: a lot of them can be added as a custom application/game via your Steam Library, which does most of the heavy-lifting: you only have to specify which compatibility layer to use & sometimes do keymapping. Setting up wine on its own is not for the faint-hearted

    I personally use Arch because AUR (a user-uploaded repository, a lot of popular Linux OSes have their own versions) makes it easy to play a lot of FOSS games... but I can't recommend Arch Linux for beginners

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  • As a kid I dead-pan told my mom that I'd like to be a "white-collar office worker. Because I wanted somewhat of a predictable routine without too much unexpected things happening

    Considering that this is already my second postdoc (somewhat of a scientist training... intern... thing) "job" (no employment contract btw) within 2 years of my graduation, during which I have moved twice including once across a continent, and once getting work-related anxiety so bad I got sick for a month... I think young me's plan is preferable at this point

  • If a multi-dimensional political compass existed, how many dimensions would it have? What would be those dimensions?

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  • As a researcher doing data-stuff: there actually is a somewhat objective way to answer this! I don't know the answer to the question itself though... and the method is quite boring

    Usually how data scientists do this is to first collect a bunch of data... let's say we have a 200~300 question comprehensive survey about ppl's political beliefs. This survey would have a dimension of 200-300. We can include all of them but they would offer diminishing information (& is very confusing), so usually people trim it down to the most important dimensions only. We then apply dimensionality reduction/manifold method to reduce highly similar dimensions. I think in social sciences people call this factor analysis. Usually in my field people do PCA followed by UMAP, social scientists I think may do something differently but PCA is quite universal

    Then researchers will be able to tell a few mathematically identified dimensions that contribute the most to the results. Say if the first dimension contributes 70% of the variation of people's differences, and the second dimension another 25%... then we would have a 2-dimension model that can explain 95% of the differences and would be good enough. If the first dimension only 10%, second 8%... then a good model will need a lot more dimensions. This doesn't tell what the dimensions are though, that's up to the researchers to identify. If all of these work well, we'd have a simple, N-dimension model suggesting how people's political beliefs are... and some of these might not map to what people would intuitively think of

    Unless I'm mistaken, Big Five personality traits is developed this way for example... About politics, I found a 2013 research article that suggested two political dimensions: economic and social ideology

    I guess this doesn't quite answer the question... it just states how political dimensions (or any dimensions in data fields, really) came from, and the fact that there's an old paper suggesting a two factor model of economic + social ideology. I don't know how many dimensions are sufficient for politics, not to count for the fact that different countries/cultures treat this differently

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  • In terms of absolute length in years? Minecraft. First played it in middle school when it was still in beta, a few months (or maybe a year?) before Nether even was a thing. Last played... maybe 1-2 years ago? If Luanti/Mineclone also counts then last month. Ironically I never liked Minecraft that much... only "gotten back" into it for like a week or two at a time

    Second longest is probably Skyrim (honorary mention of The Binding of Issac, but rebirth is technically a new game so...), both of which I liked a lot. Played both quite a bit in high school, and still played a bit within the past year

    My actual comfort game hasn't even been developed until 7 years ago

  • How far do you wear your daily shoes out before bothering to replace them?

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  • It's a small brand started by a few Chinese marathon runners, modelled exactly after HOKA. So it's equally as comfortable at like 1/2-1/3 the price. Only available in China unfortunately...

    The main annoyance is that this pair doesn't have much sideways support, so it's easier to slip sideways. Probably not a worthwhile concern for most people of course

    Also... Durability isn't a strong suit for HOKA shoes, so I'm not sure if I can really recommend them for daily drive regardless

  • Can ‘toxic masculinity’ be measured? Scientists try to quantify controversial term

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  • I think it is. The first linked paper is the one designing the scale... so they went into more details on this:

    The definition of toxic masculinity fluctuates depending on context. For example, hegemonic masculinity, sometimes used as proxy for toxic masculinity, is a manifestation of masculinities that is characterized by the enforcement of restrictions in behavior based on gender roles that serve to reinforce existing power structures that favor the dominance of men (e.g., [7,8,9]). Hegemonic masculinity speaks to the systems and processes that elevated men to positions of power and maintain their dominance (e.g., [10,11]). Additionally, traditional masculinity is marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance, and aggression, characterizing it by an adherence to gendered attitudes [3].

    Their final scale uses five factors: “masculine superiority”, “domination and desire”, “gender rigidity”, “emotional restriction”, “repressed suffering” (and a six one that they dropped). So some of these are indeed related to enforcing narrow definitions

  • How far do you wear your daily shoes out before bothering to replace them?

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  • I just realized that nearly all of my daily shoes were replaced by my dad... who is a semi-professional marathon runner and would go through shoes in months... So probably every 1-3 years, depending on when my parents visit I guess; I think their definition of wearing out is when there are a good amount of rips/holes

    My last pair was a pair of HOKA that lasted a year and a half; they are designed for long-distance running and have massive toe boxes (which I need) but are not known for their durability.. Dad basically urged me to get a pair of Chinese HOKA knockoff to replace it, got it half a year ago. It's showing signs of wear but I think it can still go for at least another year

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Can ‘toxic masculinity’ be measured? Scientists try to quantify controversial term

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00144-4
  • World News @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    High-speed train crash in southern Spain leaves 39 dead

    www.theguardian.com /world/2026/jan/18/high-speed-train-crash-in-adamuz-cordoba-southern-spain

  • What do all the subgenres of music mean? How does anyone make sense of them?

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  • I've actually been looking into how music genres/subgenres are defined for the past few months due to the fact that my favorite genre "doesn't exist" (I'm not joking someone wrote a research paper on this)

    I think there are research articles on this if one wants to go into details... Like how certain genres separate. Sometimes there are strict definitions (most techno I think are quite well-defined). But practically I think most ppl tend to enjoy ranges of genres that are close to each other... There are also plenty of genre-blend songs too so there's that

    Also I second for Every Noise At Once, they have some really obscure genres too for detailed comparisons

  • What do you wish you'd have known before you started your hobby(s)?

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    • It's always more expensive than I thought
    • It's always more physically demanding than I thought
    • There's never a local hobby/support group for it

    ... Sums up pretty much every hobby I have tried/am trying

  • What's the dumbest/silliest reason you got in trouble for in school?

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  • 1st to 2nd grade so this was what my parents relayed to me after I grew up a bit more

    Apparently I was so aggressively autistic (and relatively smart) that I not only did close to perfect on all my exams, I once did the calligraphy/writing homework so well that my teacher had to talk to my parents to know if I cheated by having them do my homework for me... FYI: my handwriting now is as bad as a doctor's

  • Can’t get motivated? This brain circuit might explain why — and it can be turned off

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  • I'm not a subject matter expert on this so I had to look this up but... it seems that the experimental method was actually introduced over 10 years ago? They cited this paper (https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3088) from Nature Neuroscience that I don't have access to unfortunately

    I also didn't know this before, but it seems that maladaptive "approach-avoidance conflict" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approach-avoidance_conflict) has been known to be a symptom and a predictor of depression for a while (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032706000139)

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Can’t get motivated? This brain circuit might explain why — and it can be turned off

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00062-5
  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    “Gifted word learner” dogs can pick up new words by overhearing their owners’ talk

    www.science.org /doi/10.1126/science.adq5474

  • When/how frequently do you replace your phone with a new one?

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  • I am doing it... My local convenience store also sells tooth cleaners shaped like tiny brushes which I use. It does help a bit but not entirely

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    When/how frequently do you replace your phone with a new one?

  • as a young person, what must one look for when it comes to finding a new country to live in?

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  • ... This may sound a bit pessimistic, but I think the main thing to look for is whether there are viable ways for one to enter said new country in the first place

    Using the Low Countries as an example... For non-EU (or a select few countries) citizens, these three only grant residency permits to people who have a really good reason to be there... I believe they allow things such as having a job, having family, going to university, and some other situations. NL has the DAFT visa, but that's only for American citizens (I believe?) and is quite difficult to follow-through

    Depending on how young... maybe uni would be a good bet? NL has some extremely strong universities. I'm not familiar with the system there though, from what I just looked up looks like they're quite expensive for non-EU citizens

    There are a ton of other things to consider too but at least for me the most difficult part is to get a job in the first place so... everything else (climate, culture, language, ...) was an afterthought by that point

  • Do you make a grocery list, or do you just go to the store and wing it?

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  • Wing it

    I did worse than wing it actually... half of the groceries I got over the past few weeks were from Too Good To Go, so near-expired food that the grocery store winged-it for me💀

  • What is something you achieved this year that you're proud of?

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  • I'm usually a bit excessively modest, but if I'm reflecting on it... I left my precious job in the US & pulled off a successful cross-continental move with little to no outside help (even though there was a lot of stuff involved). Had a ton of fun traveling during the past year too as a result of that. I guess that would be the thing I'm most proud of

  • Those who have moved residences, do you still remember all the places you've been, do you feel anything about it when remembering it or looking at street views? Do you feel sentinmental about it?

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  • I remember every single place I've lived in (over a dozen) and remember the address of most of them; the ones I don't I can look up quite easily

    I do feel quite sentimental about two specific places (ironically the two "worst" places I've lived in), not much with most others; one I almost hate with a passion

  • If you were dropped into a pool of people's spit and prevented from getting out, would you melt to death?

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  • Physically, I don't think so; the main enzyme in saliva mainly digests starch, which humans are not made of

    More likely, you'd drown eventually due to not being let out, which would be one of the crazier ways to die I guess, up their with that time when some nobles drowned in fecal matter

  • Have you ever tried to "acquire" a taste? (Ie. spent time eating/imbibing something you didn't like at first to start to enjoy it.)

    Jump

  • Quite a few!

    • Spicy food: didn't grow up in a spicy-loving part of the world but tried a lot of Indian food in college and decided to just upping the spice level. I can handle some pretty extreme stuff, which always comes as a surprise when I meet Southern Chinese ppl
    • Coffee: turns out it was less of an issue with my tolerance and just that I needed a good setup and locally-roasted beans
    • Beer: surprisingly easy to get into, similar to coffee I just needed high-quality beer. I prefer the fruity ones over blondes/browns/pils though
    • K-pop: unwillingly, because I play a "K-pop" game... I think I'm starting to get the appeal now though
  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Video-call glitches trigger uncanniness and harm consequential life outcomes

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    It's quite impressive that most English speakers across the world understand each other, despite variations in accents/dialects

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    AI chatbots can persuade voters to change their minds

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-025-03733-x
  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    How does trash collection/recycling work where you live, and do you like the system?

  • No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Is there an optimal home/apartment size that most people would be happy with?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    People who are learning a foreign language: what are you learning & how is it going?

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    A modest increase in physical activity can delay cognitive decline by three years — or more

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-025-03596-2
  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    People who prepared costumes for Halloween: how much money/effort did you put in it?

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Rats filmed snatching bats from air for first time

    www.science.org /content/article/rats-filmed-snatching-bats-air-first-time
  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    AI sycophancy (excessively agreeing with user) is pervasive and harmful for people who seek advice from AIs

    arxiv.org /abs/2510.01395
  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Do you use a system-default or a custom wallpaper for your personal computer? If custom, what kind of wallpaper & why?

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Lab mice can now have periods like humans

    www.science.org /content/article/lab-mice-can-now-have-periods-humans
  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    "United States" in French (États-Unis) would have made a very confusing acronym