ilya187

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• Commented on Invisible Sun: Themes and Nightmares
  Life in the USA would be a lot less unpleasant if, I think you copied and pasted the word "unpleasant" where it should have been "pleasant"....
• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  Then once you have hanged all the priests, the Calcrafts get bored, and to keep themselves occupied, expand the definition of a priest to include any kind of thinker of unworldly thoughts, such as scientists, or people who prefer looking...
• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  So is Musk out to "Save the World"? Or just a spoiled brat who refuses to obey the rules in almost any game he plays? What makes you think one can't be both? Actually, I would say that assuming the...
• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  I live in Gloucester, MA, and feel fairly secure. Plenty of fresh water, and when there is too much it runs off quickly -- Gloucester has a very pronounced relief and we live on top of a hill. And while...
• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  The novel I'm working on has intelligent plants that form clusters (like computer clusters). Have you read "Turquoise Days" by Alastair Reynolds? It is part of his Inhibitors series, and it features Pattern Jugglers, which are just that kind of...
• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  Omnilingual always pissed me off, because its premise was so stupid. In retrospect, that could describe most of 1950's science fiction. Especially the stories which dealt with aliens....
• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  Minor nit: Lake Karachay is not a result of an accident, but of a deliberate policy which prioritized nuclear parity with US over literally everything else (and future generations were not even considered)....
• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  I wonder if the US (or other country) could set up a Public Reactor Service to operate commercial reactors. It would be a non-military uniformed service like the USPHS or NOAA. They could use ex-navy reactor specialists and give them...
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  That's what Japan does. Japanese prisons are structured along the lines of a boot camp -- inmates stand at attention, march in formation, make perfect beds, etc. They are supervised every minute of every day, so there is no room...
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  My wife is a nurse. And I could never do her job. Not because of blood, shit and pus -- that I can deal with. What I cannot deal with is entitled assholes who treat medical staff (the very people...
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  Happily, in this case it worked out fine; he got taken to Friday night Shabbat service LOL! Very similar experience, except for me it was USAF, not USMC. And happened before Maximilian Uriarte was even born....
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  soixante-neuf? Does it mean in French the same sexual position it means in English? Or does it have some totally different meaning?...
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  Asian & Latino voters choosing the GOP represent a deluded minority who think they're somehow going to end up being "white" once the GOP secures permanent one party rule. There were Jews in Germany who tried to join the NAZI...
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  If pope Francis stays on for much longer, and especially if he is succeeded by someone similar, I expect a lot of conservative Catholics to either join Sedevacantists, or declare an outright schism....
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  Raising the saddle so that your knees are straight at the bottom and toes pointing down at a modest cadence is far more natural, how people used to cycle, and is less problematic in general (everyone's anatomy is different, so...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  The eco version of the Model 3 is supposed to hit 320 miles on a fill battery. Two months ago my wife and I bought Tesla model Y. Its full range is 310-315 miles....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  weird size race where those who decide to stay small become more likely to get killed/injured in accidents (not to mention having a hard time seeing around the huge vehicles around them) while those who upsized are no further ahead...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  Elderly Cynic, what IS the car you drive? If it is mentioned upthread, I am having trouble finding it....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  Quote from the article: "Our thinking is that this bay is giving us a glimpse into the future where the corals that are at a disadvantage today have the advantage tomorrow,"...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  Heteromeles, are you familiar with acid-loving corals? https://phys.org/news/2019-05-super-corals-glimmer-world-dying.html The term “super coral” is a bit of a hype, but it describes something very real, and quite important. For years we’ve been hearing how rising CO2 levels cause ocean to become...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  Geologists define mass extinction events by the sudden absence of reefs in the fossil record. These are called "reef gaps." Do you have a link for that? I would love to bring this up on certain other web forums, but...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  try getting into overloaded public transport with a young child in a pushchair. It's a man's world. I had taken babies on a public transport. I did not bother with a pushchair (I assume it is a British for "stroller")...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  As an aside, now that I mentioned it: iRobot has the most comically inept customer service I have encountered in at least 5 years. Love their product, but iRobot's internal communications seem to be still in DOS era. And I...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  And then, based on my experience, you get to spend the next 2 weeks trying to ring them back That never happened to me. Over last 12 months or so the only entities which called LEGITIMATELY called me and left...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  I never answer a phone call if it is not a number already in my phone book, or otherwise identifiable. If it is legitimate, they will leave a message....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  I know this is a radical notion (so far), but I am convinced that within 40 years some government is going to bite the bullet and make child-raising an occupation, and will start paying people a competitive wage to do...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  It doesn't matter whether the belief is in a supernatural deity or a possibly deceased superhuman leader In many cases it is the belief in The Market. With von Mises and Hayek as the prophets....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  Wrt. your orcs, you maybe want to read "Chasm City" by Alastair Reynolds. Which features a very memorable uplifted pig ... Did you read the rest of Revelation Space series? "Redemption Ark" has an even more memorable uplifted pig, and...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  I keep running into people for who pacifism is a way of life, and they don't plan to start the second civil war, but they'd be happier than most imagine to end it with enormous finality. Maybe you are...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  lots of authorly fun to be had telling tales about things that still think they are human, and the consequences of said contradictions Even more interesting (IMO) is the opposite -- people who know for a fact that transcending humanity...