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[bloop_bleep]

I'm not trying to offend anyone, but isn't the Kinsey scale still a simplification of representing orientation, as much as binary orientations are a (even more of a) simplification of representing orientation?

Sure, and your blood type is a simplification of the variety of a hundred proteins that are on your blood cell membranes. There's nothing wrong with simplification for the sake of a model.

[TD1]

Everything bar the sum of the universe is a simplification.

[methylatedspirit]

I'm not trying to offend anyone, but isn't the Kinsey scale still a simplification of representing orientation, as much as binary orientations are a (even more of a) simplification of representing orientation?

Sure, and your blood type is a simplification of the variety of a hundred proteins that are on your blood cell membranes. There's nothing wrong with simplification for the sake of a model.

I mean, that's the whole "all models are wrong, but some models are useful" thing, isn't it? Orientation is some billions-long (at least) set of variables that encode the state of part of the brain at some point in time, so you have to compress that down into a handful of variables, basically picking the ones that are most important to you.

I'll agree with you, it's not wrong to do that, but it's important to keep in mind that it's still a simplification. If there exists a person that doesn't fit into any such model, the model is wrong, not the person. Then again, for something this complicated, I don't think it's possible to have a model that encompasses the entire possible gamut of orientation. I think it's good enough to just cover most of the population, and call it a day. What "most" means to you depends on you, which is why there's 300 different models/scales of orientation.

[ChairmanPoo]

I'm not trying to offend anyone, but isn't the Kinsey scale still a simplification of representing orientation, as much as binary orientations are a (even more of a) simplification of representing orientation?

Sure, and your blood type is a simplification of the variety of a hundred proteins that are on your blood cell membranes. There's nothing wrong with simplification for the sake of a model.

This is probably a bad example

[pisskop]

so I just got an email from the Trump campaign promising to match any donations I make -via purchasing products like shirts and caps- by a factor of 800%.

8.
0.
0.
%.

You know, that doesnt scream desperation to win the election'.

It screams 'oh crap Ive got to sell my merch'.

[Reelya]

I mean. Americans do still mean negroid when they say black and mongoloid when they say asian, so...

Which is why 'caucasian' is itself a problematic term. A co-worker got upset at another co-worker for using the word 'White'. Someone suggested 'European' but they weren't happy with that since it suggests non-white Europeans aren't European, so co-worker#1 suggested 'Caucasian' as the appropriate term. This person is an idiot though (a bully who just happens to occasionally include out-SJW-ing people as one of her bullying tactics) and I didn't want to engage with them, so I didn't bring up the fact that 'Caucasian' is part of historical Germanic "race 'science'" that was a precursor to Nazi ideology, and has been discredited and is no longer used outside of police descriptions as a 'euphemism' to mean white.

Hence, there isn't any term for white that isn't any less problematic, and at least 'white' doesn't have links to proto-Nazi Aryan race science. Saying white and black aren't perfect but they're the best options. "African-American" is problematic because then white people are the default Americans who don't need a subtype while suggesting that they're never going to be fully American since Africa =/= America, while 'people of color' suggests white people are the default people who don't need to be labeled.

[Rolan7]

Just call people what they want to be called
Assuming a wrong term is inevitable and they're surely used to it, just adjust and move past it.  In my experience they very much don't want it to be a *thing* any longer than necessary.

If a third party chimes in, ignore them as politely as possible.

[scriver]

Hence, there isn't any term for white that isn't any less problematic, and at least 'white' doesn't have links to proto-Nazi Aryan race science. Saying white and black aren't perfect but they're the best options.

Light brown, middling brown, and dark brown

Just call people what they want to be called
Assuming a wrong term is inevitable and they're surely used to it, just adjust and move past it.  In my experience they very much don't want it to be a *thing* any longer than necessary.

If a third party chimes in, ignore them as politely as possible.

This presumes people don't want to be called things that they are not, though. Like that woman who pretended to be "black" that I can't remember the name of but am pretty sure you remember. Or things people are but also aren't, like native Americans or aren't Native Americans.

Or, you know, bands who pretend to be Grunge but aren't from the late 80's early 90's Seattle scene.

[Maximum Spin]

Just call people what you want to call them. If someone doesn't like what you want to call him, you probably don't want to be friends with that guy and he probably doesn't want to be friends with you, anyway.

[scriver]

That's my secret, cap... I'm always friendly

-- John Dorian

[Kagus]

Plus the Caucasus region is in Turkey, and I ain't a club sandwich.

I've always had a little trouble with "African-American" because I consider that as more of a nationality thing than a color thing. Like, I'd consider myself Norwegian-American, because I'm both a Norwegian and an American citizen. And calling people who've been living in the US for generations and who've probably had about as much to do with Africa as I have "African-American" just strikes me as a bit off.

Yeah, "black" is also kinda stupid, because they're just sorta brownish (unless you're like that chick from Senegal with the cool ultra-dark almost bluish-black skin), and even if not directly offensive it's still a bit of a crude label. That said, it's the best descriptor I personally know of for "black America", which has been an incredibly important and powerful cultural influence for ages.


I dunno. It's all a bit dumb anyways. And I make horribly racist jokes all the time and probably shouldn't be allowed a position on such matters to begin with 

[Mathel]

I finished homework which required calc. I put everything into a document. Then I duplicated the sheet in calc to mess around with alternative input values.

Calc stopped updating equation cells, so I saved and reloaded. This updated the equation cells... Including the ones working with original values. That is, the ones that I already put into the document and spent time formatting correctly.

So I checked these new values. They were correct. Which means that my calc calculated it wrong and the only reason I got the correct answers is the bug that happened when I was messing around. Now I am putting the new values into the document.

[scriver]

"Lemelinials" and "Momelinials"

[Yoink]

Just unfolded a Nat Geo map that's been floating around my room for ages and took a look at it.   
It's hard to describe the feeling that looking at world maps gives me. Like... it's so big, you know? And there are so many people scattered across it. Having a visual reminder of that is always, not shocking exactly, but still kinda mind-bending. All those hundreds of li'l place names marked everywhere, and you know that each of those names isn't just some tiny two-horse town, these are places of substance with enough population to warrant a spot on a world map. Dang.   

[methylatedspirit]

I went to a supermarket, and for some godforsaken reason, the bread and peanut butter was near the cashier (technically, slightly beyond the cashier), which is like, the impulse purchase zone. I looked around the whole damn place, and I didn't find those things until I got to the cashier. Why the hell is bread and peanut butter in the same place you'd find candy and snacks? Are they trying to imply that they're impulse purchases? The hell?