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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Light is also not “stuff” - it’s electromagnetic radiation. It’s by the unprivileged intertial frame of reference that we define the speed of light. Light’s speed is the speed at which it travels unimpeded through the spacetime “field”. Additionally light does not accelerate or change speed in any way while traveling in that frame.

    Unless you’re asking if light travels through things that are not the field known as the spacetime continuum in which case yes: light travels (and changes speed) through all sorts of materials. Like glass.



  • huginn@feddit.ittoScience Memes@mander.xyzAcademic writing
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    2 months ago

    Every single word in the original post clarifies more than plain English. It is more specific and has better nuance than a plain translation.

    That doesn’t make it a useful explanation because the audience of the statement is not the in-group using the jargon.

    One part of my daily job is translating “technical” into “manager”. The translation always loses fidelity to the original. Jargon exists because it’s useful, not because there’s a deliberate attempt to keep others out. Some will then use it as a shibboleth but that does not mean it’s original purpose was such.

    For what it’s worth: that’s true of all translations. I’ve done real time translation from Italian into English and it’s always missing the nuance of the original. I’ve read the divine comedy in English and Italian and the English is always missing the context and nuance.

    Language is an abstract representation of concepts and never maps faithfully.








  • It’s the inverse that is true actually -

    As Lemmy becomes more popular it will drift from being so tech focused.

    Many popular sites gradually drifted off of tech focus as their user base grew. R*ddit is a prime example of how a very nerdy niche site grew and shifted to be popular (sorta) organically.

    I do think that for all the hullabaloo about Ellen Pao and banning a bunch of subreddits - that actually did more to open the place up to users who were otherwise driven away by /r/FatPeopleHate and /r/Jailbait being on the front page all the time.

    If Lemmy were to change to attract users it would likely be from increased defederation with instances that are less palatable to mainstream society.