howrar

What kind of benefits are there to maglev trains that are not cost related?

I think you mean their Tesla line of cards? The A (e.g. A100) stands for the generation name (e.g. Ada or Ampere, don't remember which one got the A), and that same name applies to both the consumer line (GeForce and Quadro) and the data's centre cards.

The hardware isn't identical either. I don't know all the differences, but I know at least that the data centre cards have SXM connectors that greatly increase data throughput.

Anyone know if there are good backup options for sftp?

Nothing. That's my point. Unless you count the practicality of having a pet cow/pig in a city.

Those are some great conversation starters, and certainly lots of relevant advice. Got a few ideas of my own as well while writing up these replies. Thanks for sharing! We've settled on a hybrid setup now and most of the people I care to talk to are regularly in the office, so I mostly just need to get my ass out of the house. But that's a whole other can of worms to tackle.

Yeah, a BT headset would make things easier for me for sure, but my concern is for the other party. Not a fan of inconveniencing people.

Yeah, so the generic small talk openers. This is definitely something I personally need to work on, but until then, it's a rather large barrier to cross for socializing.

As for your other suggestions:

1. I would think most people are less willing to put effort into this than their desk decorations. What you place on your desk is for yourself to enjoy, and it gives a real window into this person's life. A showcase as you propose is made for other people. You put things there that you think others would like to see. You'll get very different things, and it's harder to do, so fewer people will do it, and those who do won't put in the same kind of effort as they would if it were for their own personal enjoyment.
2. We have these on Slack. At the start of the pandemic, we had a lot of these ideas float around on how to encourage better socialization and collaboration in an online setting. Everyone was very excited for them, but they very quickly fizzled out. Random conversations still happen and I'll hop in on those, but they're like conversations in a large social media platform. You exchange a few messages with a group of people, then you forget about it and never speak to them again.
3. That's also something that was tried at my organization. It similarly had a lot of interest at the start, but very quickly died. It just seems that no one really enjoyed it as much as they thought they would.

I also just realized that a large part of socializing for me is just being physically present in the same space as another person and sharing an experience as much as it is talking. Sharing a cup of coffee with someone in silence at a coffee shop? Very enjoyable and relaxing. Doing the same over a zoom call? Awkward AF.

Intelligence has nothing to do with it. Intelligence isn't even well defined or measurable. Things like IQ are designed for humans, so they would not be applicable to other beings. They're barely even useful for human applications.

It's an interesting question though. First, I'll ask myself why I eat beef in the first place.

• It's tasty
• It's relatively cheap
• Very nutrient dense, so it's easier to consume

Why do I not eat dogs or cats?

• They are not socially acceptable to consume
• They contribute positively to my life in other ways than being a food source

I'm pretty sure that a dog/cat could be dumb as a rock and I still wouldn't eat them because I'd still enjoy their company.

Now I do try to reduce the amount of beef I consume, but it's mainly for environmental reasons.

I don't understand how you do that. If you're in person, you have many ways to get a conversation going. For example:

• Seeing something they're wearing/carrying or that they have on their desk and commenting on that
• Overhearing a conversation and joining in
• Being physically present alone in a location conducive to socializing while giving off inviting vibes

You can also easily see if someone is available to chat or if they're deep in their work, and get a vague idea of their general state of mind so you know if it's a good idea to start a conversation at all, and know what to expect from it if you do.

You get none of that from video calls. You start with a completely blank slate. When you call, all you have to go on is their face looking into the camera.

A video call is also a whole ordeal. You need to set up in one location, and you're stuck there for the entire duration of the call. It takes time to prepare your headset and webcam, make sure you have water, etc. So it's hard to justify a call to just make some quick exchanges like your typical "good morning" and 2-3 sentences of small talk, whereas you can easily do that in person at no cost as you walk past each other in the hallway. You can also easily just have someone walk with you as you chat, so you don't need to make any kind of preparations ahead of time.

This is all coming from someone who's likely autistic, so maybe my experience is different from everyone else's, but I can say for sure that I have more difficulties with socializing in a remote setup than in person.

Not just about. Literally everything is lethal at a high enough concentration.

If you connect to anything on the internet, you're giving out your IP address. Why would this be any more of a concern?

So basically, just add a bit of lemon juice to your smoothie?