J Carl Henderson

J Carl Henderson

  • Commented on Who wins? Cthulhu or the Emperor of Mankind from Warhammer 40K?
    Batman. Batman would win. Batman always wins....
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Charles Stross wrote: In 1982, if you had predicted in public that by 1992 the USSR would no longer exist, you would have been soundly mocked. In 1983, I predicted that the USSR would likely collapse in twenty years in...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    ADennis & Pigeon, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Your evaluations of any potential for the UK crown to become involved sound reasonable to me....
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    If you thought the entire "Leave" vote fallout could not get any stranger... EXCLUSIVE: Brexit ‘2nd Referendum Petition’ A 4 Chan Prank: BBC Report It As Real Note—the source above, Heat Street, is a Murdoch/News Corp-owned outlet designed to target...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Speaking as a Texan, I can assure you that the "Texit" people are (mostly) not serious. It would take a substantial implosion of the US government or the passage of some truly onerous Federal laws for people here to seriously...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Two questions: 1) Many people in this thread have made posts to the effect of "the EU is sick of the UK and doesn't really want the UK around, and if the UK doesn't actually leave we will either not...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    I live in Texas; I don't know whether the UK staying in the EU is a good idea or not. But I do recognize bad campaign tactics, and the "Remain" supporters checked most of those boxes. The “Remain” campaign was...
  • Commented on Crib Sheet: The Annihilation Score
    I found Mo to be a very sympathetic character; at a emotional level, I 'got' her actions and how she reacted to things. I think that the breakdown of people who liked Mo versus those who hated her in "The...
  • Commented on The unspeakable truth
    Charlie Stross wrote: "The referendum is non-binding; parliament can choose to ignore it. This doesn't mean there wouldn't be a political earthquake -- but it wouldn't be a constitutional one." In regards to the size of the potential political earthquake...
  • Commented on The unspeakable truth
    As someone who's been observing the entire Brexit affair from the safe distance of Texas, I've got a question. What happens if the Leave vote wins, and whatever Parliament you all end up with afterwards refused to enact the results...
  • Commented on Cytological Utopia and the rapture of the eukaryotes
    Please consider a blog on how "fanfic" in religion becomes orthodoxy and what "religious fanfic" of recent times will end up welded to the orthodoxy of the future. Example: the Rapture, a concept dreamed up in the 19th century has...
  • Commented on Cytological Utopia and the rapture of the eukaryotes
    I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense to even my grumpy sort-of libertarian self. Any culture that is going to go for large-scale resurrection or universe simulations is almost certainly going to be a post-scarcity economy. Way post-scarcity. The only...
  • Commented on Cytological Utopia and the rapture of the eukaryotes
    If you are trying to resurrect humans (outside a simulation where you can cheat a bit—or a lot), you can't stop at the Eukaryota. We are going to need at least the members of the Bacteria domain that we co-evolved...
  • Commented on Updating a classic
    The canonical US example of that sort of things is the story of Warren and Maureen Nyerges who managed to foreclose on a Bank of America building for unpaid debts, with sheriff and lawyers in tow: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/06/06/137002727/sweet-justice-a-florida-couple-forecloses-on-bank-of-america...
  • Commented on Updating a classic
    Wreck unions? Whatever for. A clever psychopathic manager can have all sorts of fun with unions. To wit: any large company's workforce will be composed of a mixture of union and non-union employees. In most cases, the non-union employees will...
  • Commented on Updating a classic
    Oh, I forgot one: Allow HR to keep highly confidential employee payroll and identity information on unencrypted laptops. When the entire workforce's identities are inevitably compromised, give everyone a free year of credit monitoring....
  • Commented on Updating a classic
    Charity begins at work. For lower level employees, institute optional (but really not) charitable contributions to United Way (or local equivalent) with participation tracked at work group level. For middle-mangement and executive level employees, add optional (but really not) contributions...
  • Commented on Three Unexpectedly Good Things VR Will Probably Cause
    It does not take a virtual reality to treat phobias. Ordinary sitting in front of the screen interactions can do it. Unfortunately, I don't have any studies, only anecdote. I used to have a quite silly fear of spiders. I'd...
  • Commented on A purely theoretical dilemma
    I'm a bit late to the game, so let me reframe this scenario a bit: Someone knocks at your door. Having not learned sufficiently from experience, you open it. Outside is a young women carrying a bible. She says, "Welcome...
  • Commented on It could be worse
    I'm sure you didn't intend to do so, but you just made one of the best arguments libertarianism, I've ever read. I'm serious. I'm going to bookmark this essay and send it to people, cite it in online debates, etc....
  • Commented on A question about the future of the world wide web
    Two other thoughts on micro-payments: Could some of the net neutrality laws and regulation in various jurisdictions prohibit some types of micropayment systems? The internet is world wide (the first two "W"s in www). Consider that what we in the...
  • Commented on A question about the future of the world wide web
    Micro-payments have been successfully implemented within the context of closed (or mostly closed) systems, such as MMOs. I believe that Second Life was the first such platform to go all in for micro-payments. What all these MMO micro-payment systems share...
  • Commented on The present in deep history
    CatinaDiamond wrote: "Mosses are plants? Since when? Ferns and mosses are no more plants than jellyfish are animals." I think you are wrong about some of your biology (or using a non-standard definition of "plant" and "animal")—at least phylogenisists seem...
  • Commented on The present in deep history
    Keybounce wrote: "Good point. So what are the likely viewpoints of the 30th century? How close is Futurama going to be to accurate?" The likely viewpoints of the 30th century? I've got no clue and argue that it's a nearly...
  • Commented on The present in deep history
    Jay wrote: "A deeply foreign society, though plausible, would be alienating to the readers. Would you want to read a book where genetically engineered subhuman "junior associates" work the fields with no rights whatsoever, and nobody has a problem with...
  • Commented on The present in deep history
    The answer of course is that we can't even pretend to know what the values and life experiences of our 30th century historian are. And that is what is going to determine what they choose as "important" for the 600...
  • Commented on Not-so-Invisible Ninjas
    Of the writers I mentioned, I know that Sarah Hoyt, Mira Grant, Julian May, Elizabeth Moon, Ann Aguirre, J.D. Robb (SF/Mystery), have written science fiction novels....
  • Commented on Not-so-Invisible Ninjas
    You are correct. I had forgotten her successful series of Deverry novels (which I never read, having burned out of high fantasy at the time), and her Polar City Blues book (which I did read, and completely forgot about). Her...
  • Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
    As requested by the moderators, I have refrained from commenting on Gamergate or Sad Puppies. [ Rest of comment removed by moderator. This is not a democracy, nor required to be "fair." Laying bare to the lies that are GG...
  • Commented on Not-so-Invisible Ninjas
    Your list is large, but it could go on for pages. For example, you are missing a great number of women writers who work primarily in the Urban Fantasy or Fantasy genres, and who's work tends to be "romance-adjacent" or...
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