Timothy Trytitle

a pike in a pond full of fat carp

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@rowanfornow @nayrpat Not really, because many comments were saying “you must think x” or “if you are saying that, than x must be true” rather than directly refuting the point

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@AlexGodofsky @ValeriusFalto @andrewstepner Poorly written because it says the steak is poisoned, which is a weird choice of word. Makes it sound like the steak itself can kill. Also doesn’t say that the lions are hungry and would prefer to eat the steak as opposed to not eating the steak.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@sirchadius @etubruton @dee_of_e Yeah, not always, but almost always.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

Let me put it like this. In a traditional business, you have the union trying to take a bigger piece of the earnings from the owner/equity/capital etc

But universities don’t have owners and they don’t generate profit. They have constituents and beneficiaries in a sense (professors, students, the surrounding community, staff employees, alumni etc).

Grad students are one of these groups, but not the only group. Ultimately you have a fixed pie of resources, but none of it is profit that you can choose to allocate/spend in various ways.

Undergrad students and professors, and everyone else are essentially occupying the role of “owner/capital” in a traditional protest.

So when people say they should have solidarity with the workers, it’s a bit like saying a coal mine owner should solidarity with striking miners. I guess? But it seems like an improper use of the word. That’s my take.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

Doesn’t happen these days, but happened all the time in the first half of the 20th century. Look up “hate strikes.” My broader point though is that I think k it’s a bit reductive to pledge unwavering support to any group, regardless of the content of their of campaign.

If you agree with the union here, that’s fine, but it’s not crazy for an undergrad or professor (who essentially have material interests directly adverse to the union) to not support it.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@dnieporent @DaultRadio It’s funny with a union for a university (or government/non-profit) because you are fundamentally just taking a larger share of the pie not from the owner/capitalist/equity but from the other constituents

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

I mean it seems like you refuted your own point? If speed limits don’t constrict speed when routes are busy (b/c traffic) then we should just raise them to whatever off hours should be. You can still always get someone for reckless driving if they are weaving, but it’s BS that we have a system where a cop can give you a ticket for going 60 in a 55 even if everyone is going 60/65.

Just set the limit at what it actually should be.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@fimbres_paul @mwfowlie Why not just advocate for raising the limit to 45? I don’t understand people who think the law should remain, but not be enforced

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

I think it kinda just depends on the circumstances. If someone speeds, stops and gets gas and then speeds again, then sure. If someone is speeding, slows to make a turn and continues speeding, that’s less clear. At the extreme, you can imagine someone who goes between 58-62 in a 60, potentially having like 200 discrete violations if the counter resets every time they are at a legal speed

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@DaultRadio It’s crazy how crossing the picket line has gone from “be a replacement worker in a strike” to basically anything the union doesn’t want you to do.

Attending classes is not crossing the picket line, neither is teaching classes.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@DaultRadio It just seems like they are using the prior definition of the term (actively transgressing against the union) to punch up their rhetoric in cases where no such behavior happened, and instead applying it to a lack of support. I also don’t believe in grad student unions so YMMV

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@derektmuller @WilliamBaude The woman? Or Dario?

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@DavidPe51482177 @etubruton @dee_of_e That’s why I consider my English degree to be STEM

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

Like in this scenario, not canceling an exam already scheduled is “crossing the picket line” ? Like what?

Of course, the term has no real meaning. The union could just as easily say that being enrolled in Harvard at all is crossing the picket line, working for the janitorial services is crossing the picket line etc.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@DaultRadio It’s crazy how crossing the picket line has gone from “be a replacement worker in a strike” to basically anything the union doesn’t want you to do.

Attending classes is not crossing the picket line, neither is teaching classes.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@kfgpnz Which is fine b/c it’s a technical use, it’s jargon, but it’s obviously not the normal use or else people wouldn’t be confused!

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@kfgpnz He is unfamiliar with the mathematical use altogether

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

@kfgpnz I mean here’s someone who is familiar with the word and ostensibly the MW def but not the mathematical usage, they are clearly different.

[Paulie Cashews @CashewsPaulie]

@TimTrytitle @AndyMasley Please stop. "Arbitrary" means "chosen on a whim or without reason."

You use it in sentences like, "They couldn't point to any policy; I was fired entirely arbitrarily." Or "The decision to go with Company X was entirely arbitrary."

It makes no fucking sense in this sentence.

[Timothy Trytitle @TimTrytitle]

Look, the definitions are obviously related but it’s just plainly obvious that there is a specialized mathematical use that is distinct from the everyday use.

I mean look at this Wikipedia article! This is extremely different from the MW definition.

The WSJ or NYT for example, would not use “arbitrarily” in the “you can become arbitrarily smart” or “practice makes someone arbitrarily good at baseball” or whatever because it just obviously would not make sense to there non-Math readers!

The median English professor would say “what do you mean practice makes you good arbitrarily? It’s not arbitrary, it’s a result of practice?” or something like that. Again, there’s nothing wrong with the math use, but it just is different.

https://t.co/3hm6mcd14Q