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  • 268 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: July 9th, 2023
  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•Federal judge rules DOJ can ‘no longer’ be trusted in voter roll crusade
    7·
    1 day ago

    And yet, as with any disease, outlook depends on many factors. The number of cells in the immune system that recognize an infection, for example, can radically alter its progression.

    A sudden widespread immune response may be all that can save the organism following an initial exposure, but often a more targeted, adaptive, and coordinated immune response is possible later. It mostly depends on how much of the body recognizes the infection and does its part to block its spread.

    This judge had a particularly crucial part and played it to a Th.

    It takes a hell of a lot more courage to hold the line with your comrades, like this judge did by laying the groundwork needed for their future victory, than it does to

    1. abandon them because “waving signs and impotent chanting never made a difference,”
    2. take long looks in your mirror to “ask yourself how far you’re willing to go” because “no one is going to save you,”
    3. tell all the comrades currently fighting for your rights that they “should leave” if they’re not willing to be more “outwardly aggressive,” or
    4. otherwise pose for all the other terrified edge lords on here who dismiss activists, predict defeat, lionize fascists, and imply that they’re prepping to do what’s actually necessary to “fix this.”
  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•Dragged down by an unpopular president, Republicans are bracing for a midterm trouncing
    4·
    1 month ago

    Is it? There seems to be widespread agreement on that point, here on Lemmy, that expecting the worst of everyone is critical to motivate the Americans to go out and vote.

    It’s a strong enough consensus, reinforced with absolute certainty over and over in our political communities, that I’ve been forced to ponder it myself many times. Because I also have an instinct that it’s quite possible to demotivate and even deactivate would-be voters by making them feel that theirs is a lone flame in the wind, or that the insurmountable forces of evil will make their efforts inconsequential.

    As a counter example, here in New York, that wasn’t what brought people out to knock on doors and vote for the new progressive mayor. People participated because they had hope for change, or maybe just to be a part of a something new. They weren’t voting against Cuomo as much as they were voting for Mamdani, if that makes sense.

    Are we confident that our all-in commitment to motivating people through fear of their neighbors’ inaction is a winning strategy?

  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtomemes@lemmy.world•Math is not a democracy
    11·
    1 month ago

    Dear colleague,

    By qualification I meant explanation. My doctorate is irrelevant to the truth.

    Since you asked, my larger point was about the unhelpful nature of this content, which makes students of math feel inordinately inferior or superior hinged entirely on a single point of familiarity. I don’t handle early math education, but many of my students arrive with baggage from it that hinders their progress, leading me to suspect that early math education sometimes discourages students unnecessarily. In particular, these gotcha-style math memes IMO deepen students’ belief that they’re just bad at math. Hence my dislike of them.

    Re: Dave Peterson, I’ll need to read more about this debate regarding the history of notation and I’ll search for the “proven rules” you mentioned (proofs mean something very specific to me and I can’t yet imagine what that looks like WRT order of operations).

    If what riled you up was my use of the word “conventions” I can use another, but note that conventions aren’t necessarily “optional” when being understood is essential. Where one places a comma in writing can radically change the meaning of a sentence, for example. My greater point however has nothing to do with that. Here I am only concerned about the next generation of maths student and how viral content like this can discourage them unnecessarily.