Senor SquishyPantsSep 10, 2025
I've found that when certain people get a little too overconfident with their knowledge in certain subjects, I instinctively knock them around a bit. To the extent that I can, I just scale up *my* level of understanding and correct them on the minutae that they invariably mess up.
You think you know gold mining? Great, but you're forgetting about the OxyReduc potential of silver vs CN-sol Cu.
An expert in anatomy? You should know not to mix vasodilators and depressants.
Think you understand operating systems? The CPU governor you're using on your laptop can get a little aggressive, that's why your battery sucks.
It's the complete opposite of "mansplaining" and I love it so much.
Show threadSenor SquishyPantsSep 10, 2025
The number of people who have, straight-faced, fed me completely impossible chemical reactions is incredible.
"Did you know that burning *pure* ethanol releases Mercury into the atmosphere?" <-- I have heard this line about like 6 different heavy metals and it gets more wrong every time.
Show threadSenor SquishyPantsSep 10, 2025
For those of you who don't know chemistry, when it comes to heavy metals, what you feed a reaction is what you get back.
If you're not doping your feed stock (corn or potatoes) with heavy metals, you will not be getting them back.
Show threadSenor SquishyPantsSep 10, 2025
And to everybody screaming "but contamination," yes, but these people were not thinking that many steps ahead.
Show threadSenor SquishyPants
And fusion. Holy crap, I get so annoyed with the fusion people. They're like completely unironic modern-day steampunks.
Would it be good if it worked (at scale and economically)? Yes, of course. Does it work (at scale or economically)? No, not even kind of.
I want to see it happen, but "fusion will save us" is like banking on a fire alarm saving you from a big exam: it'll work, but only if it actually happens in my lifetime.
Sep 10, 2025 at 6:34pmWeb