ilya187

Recent Actions

• Commented on Shrinking the world
  Hitchbot was not owned by a rich corporation with lots of lawyers...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  Re: '... a viable short-term solution necessarily requires reducing the size of motor vehicles and the amount they are used' Which is not likely to happen in the US... It is entirely feasible if we get reliable self-driving at low...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  It looks a lot like the upper class parts of the Ceres colony in The expanse. Yes, very much so. Including the drones buzzing around...
• Commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
  I also thought about "Black Easter" almost as soon as this thread started, and the line where the magician points out that some of the most important forces in the universe are persons. Mikko @172: So magic is like social...
• Commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
  Most demonic incursion plots bother me, because it's the sort of thing you would expect to happen almost immediately after demons are discovered, well into the past of most plots. I just read a book which has an unusual twist...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  I assume the horror story from the Indian railway disaster hasn't made much news in the US: I suspect if you began running high speed passenger trains on the US network without the above changes, this is what you'd get....
• Commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
  One character finds slaughterhouses very convenient for this; he simply dumps the excess entropy into a beast due for slaughter, and it drops dead on the spot. And should be at least partially cooked...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  BOS's Silver Line connection, which is a glorified trolley bus rather than an extension of one of the real subway lines. I had never been on a Silver Line (I took Logan Express bus many times, and it is pretty...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  Someone I know through a different online forum, asked Stable Diffusion AI for an aerial view of London. Here is the result: https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-19546f2e0851cb4c9a4fdce9254e02f4 The guy who requested the image says it "looks like London if Sauron won the War of...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  Since we are past 300, I have a completely unrelated question for Charlie: Ever since I first read "Saturn's Children", I wondered whether you included the flashback to Rhea's training specifically to keep the readers from feeling too sorry about...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  Actual pre-gunpowder hand to hand combat was nothing like you see in Hollywood ancient/medieval war movies (looking at you Braveheart). With maybe one exception, HBO's Rome showing how the legions would rotate men in out of the front ranks allowing...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  The period 1780-1820 saw an early proto-feminist false dawn Can you elaborate on this a bit? I never heard of such thing in 1780-1820 period....
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  For a few of them they carried them to a dumpster via poles. They skipped the normal "open it up and look for papers that might have contact information" process. Elf: Why are you lugging around an 11 foot pole?...
• Commented on Shrinking the world
  Read an interesting essay about how the approximately 20 year period ending about 10 years ago might be an exception in Chinese relations with the west. Do you happen to have a link?...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  I do not oppose capital punishment on principle, I oppose it as a practical matter. The government will inevitably fuck it up & get it all wrong. And there's no way to undo it after. I support capital punishment in...
• Commented on Signed copies of "Season of Skulls" available for pre-order!
  I asked ChatGPT: Write first chapter of "The Hobbit" as if Tolkein were an Australian The results were less than impressive, although I suspect mostly because ChatGPT's guidelines prevent it from writing entire chapters: G'day mates, let me spin you...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Escape from Yokai Land
  What's really weird is that other people don't merely fail to find all this messing about infuriating, they actually seem to view it as a positive aspect. Sorry for a late response. Pigeon -- That dance at a dinner table...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  The situation in the UK is that, since the Prohibitions of Nuclear Explosions Act was passed, it's a criminal offense to procure a nuclear explosion, carrying a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. What is "procure a nuclear explosion"? Does it...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  Who is Alastair?...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  Anyway, I agree with you that MBS is a monster who lives in a different reality than we do, but I think he's reality-based enough to realize that the oil's running out, and that the House of Saud didn't do...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  In the USA, we have seen royalist-level reverence directed toward The President "Royalist-level"? I beg to differ: https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/pastor-criticizes-now-removed-fort-oglethorpe-billboard-comparing-trump-to-jesus-09-22-2021 https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/billboard-featuring-donald-trump-make-gospel-great-controversial-bible-verse-taken-missouri-214229930.html...
• Commented on Minor updates
  In case someone here does not know what Greg is talking about: https://media.oglaf.com/comic/blankpage.jpg...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Escape from Yokai Land
  "Hey Nazi-boy! You recommend societal discipline, but can't even be faithful to your wife, and look at the skin tone on that hooker you hired!" So far the empirical evidence (in US anyway) is that this approach does not work....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Escape from Yokai Land
  Do you preface the restatement with the phrase "to make sure I understood correctly"? I've found using a "let me play that back to you to make sure I got it" complete statement helps I also found this technique very...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Escape from Yokai Land
  I hear you. Again, I am very glad Russian parents (and Russian language in general) are more direct in their requests/orders....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Escape from Yokai Land
  That needs something like a T-Shirt with a picture of a white blood cell and text reading "C.J. Cherryh was right!" This went over my head. What was she right about?...
• Commented on Minor updates
  Honestly, Martin Shklreli is the closest thing in real world to a cliche comic book villain....
• Commented on Minor updates
  And then there's the whole issue of "practising medicine without a license" From the Gizmodo article I linked: Like many people this time of year, this writer was suffering from a particularly nasty case of seasonal allergies. After explaining my...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Escape from Yokai Land
  With this team member, I should have phrased it as: When X needs help, I want you to help. [Ugh, sounds so controlling/micromanaging ...] Can't speak for you coworker, but I absolutely do not mind being micromanaged. Give me instructions,...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Escape from Yokai Land
  I think part of the problem (from my end) is not being able to find the appropriate turn of phrase or conversational rules. Idioms don't seem to work - they're not as universal as we've been lead to believe, i.e.,...