OmegaMouse

So there's a possibility the instance I use will go offline. I've never had to think about this until now, but I want to choose a new instance and I'm wondering how this will affect things.

Certain instances have defederated from furry instances right? If I create an account on pawb.social for example, will I lose access to any particular communities? Is that a stable server running the latest version of Lemmy?

It's been a while since I was taught Chemistry, but I was reading something the other day and I couldn't quite get my head around the concept.

So the periodic table shows elements with their atomic numbers (protons) and atomic weight (protons + neutrons). Isotopes have different numbers of neutrons, like carbon-12 and carbon-13 which I believe would have 6 and 7 neurons respectively.

So why is carbon-12 the 'default' option, shown on the periodic table? Is it to do with which version of carbon is the most common? I don't understand how we decide what makes up the pure version of an element/ it's atomic weight as shown on the periodic table

I understand that the Romans were unable to conquer Scotland so they build Hadrian's Wall (which explains the survival of older cultures there). But as far as I know they occupied Wales and Cornwall, so how is it that the Celtic culture (language etc.) survived in those places?

Something I've never been that great at is spontaneous conversation. I'm more than capable of public speaking if I've prepared something in advance. But if someone asks me something out of the blue, I really struggle to engage in deep conversation. Afterwards I'll think to myself damn, why didn't I bring up X or Y?

Half the time I don't know what to add and I struggle to think of what to say. Sometimes words feel like they're on the tip of my tongue and I can't get them out, especially when I'm under pressure. And in group conversations, I find it hard to interject when I do think of a point. By the time a natural break comes along, the conversation has moved on.

I'd love to get better at this. What can I do to improve?

So a view I see a lot nowadays is that attention spans are getting shorter, especially when it comes to younger generations. And the growing success of short form content on Tiktok, Youtube and Twitter for example seems to support this claim. I have a friend in their early 20s who regularly checks their phone (sometimes scrolling Tiktok content) as we're watching a film. And an older colleague recently was pleased to see me reading a book, because he felt that anyone my age and younger was less likely to want to invest the time in reading.

But is this actually true on the whole? Does social media like Tiktok really mould our interests and alter our attention? In some respects I can see how it could change our expectations. If we've come to expect a webpage to load in seconds, it can be frustrating when we have to wait minutes. But to someone that was raised with dial-up, perhaps that wouldn't be as much of an issue. In the same way, if a piece of media doesn't capture someone in the first few minutes they may be more inclined to lose focus because they're so used to quick dopamine hits from short form content. Alternatively, maybe this whole argument is just a 'kids these days' fallacy. Obviously there are plenty of young adults that buck this trend.

Macro shots of e-ink, including colour e-ink devices.

The other month I asked for some help choosing plants for my boyfriend's birthday. Many thanks for all the suggestions! I decided to go for a Philodendron Plowmanii and a Jewel Orchid. They came as unpotted plants, so I just wanted to check that I've potted them correctly.

I put some clay pebbles at the bottom and then filled the rest with multi use compost. I made some little holes in the soil and gently placed the plants in, then covered up their roots.

Will they be ok like that, until next week when I can gift them? How much water should I give them?

Thanks for your help :)

Fascinating exploration of the origin of certain food items and how they came to embed themselves in American culture.

I was wondering if anyone has tried upgrading the textures on Skyrim? Is it possible to do this without affecting the performance too much on Steam Deck?

I actually haven't played the game since the original release, so if it's possible to run it now with extra enhancements that would be a great incentive for me to get back into it.

What mods would you recommend, and how hard is it to get them running?