Ima Pseudonym

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• Commented on Worldcon in the news
  And this recently in on fille770: https://file770.com/the-2023-hugo-awards-a-report-on-censorship-and-exclusion/...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Bechdel Test: wondering how the Raadchai do in Anne Leckie's "Ancillary Justice" et seq. fall?? (Not to mention the Interpreters.) :-) And as for containers, what used to be $2,000 is now $20,000, if not $30,000......
• Commented on Crimes against Transhumanity
  Duffy @1459: "Also a bit like the old days of Usenet." Does that still exist, or is there at least an archive? It still exists, although it is much, much smaller than it was, even before the Great Reorganisation. Many...
• Commented on Books I will not write: BIGGLES!!
  Elderly Cynic @1564: That is complete bollocks. NTP is a very complicated and, worse, brittle protocol, originally... Hmm, never seemed that brittle to me, but back when I was worrying about things being externally accurate - as in the time...
• Commented on Books I will not write: BIGGLES!!
  Okay, a bunch here, not tied to any numbers because I can't be arsed. Sarbanes-Oxley (and its relatives): Bloody thing nearly caused a heap of grief back when it happened, until it was pointed out that ROT-13 (aka Caesar code)...
• Commented on Books I will not write: BIGGLES!!
  Or you could just type "numberC", as the Celcius scale is not a degree-type scale....
• Commented on Books I will not write: BIGGLES!!
  Mikko Parviainen (he/him) @93: I kind of think there have been stories about accidental AIs which either don't care about humans or are actively malicious. Sadly I can't name any, but it feels like a regularly used trope. Harlan Ellison...
• Commented on Holding pattern 2022 ...
  Troutwaxer @1568: Just out of curiosity, has anyone played with a language called Julia, and if so, what did you think? One of the seconded-to-a-recently-purchased-data-science-company managers (who is really a programmer, but let them know he has people skills) from...
• Commented on Holding pattern 2022 ...
  Leszek Karlik @1497: Commuting to work by bicycle reduces all-cause mortality by 20% compared to commuting by car (for cardiovascular diseases, it's a 24% reduction), according to a cohort study by Patterson et al in Lancet Planetary Health. There are...
• Commented on Holding pattern 2022 ...
  Re: Bicycle Helmets... Just ask the poor bastard of a neurosurgeon who is on-call at the nearest emergency hospital how much more time they've spent with their family since the helmet laws came in. Oh, and while you're at it,...
• Commented on Behind the Ukraine war
  dpb @1217: That's the kind of thing that I used to come up with when I was an undergraduate. I bet that most of the people who turned up were bored students. In town, on a Saturday, over Easter??? Not...
• Commented on Behind the Ukraine war
  Argh!!! Try this one it works. (Mods, please fix at your leisure.)...
• Commented on Behind the Ukraine war
  whitroth @1194: Y'know, folks, all this discussion about the "kingdom of heaven"... it just struck me to be surprised that the funnymentalists aren't fighting the space program tooth and nail. They do. There was a rally in Bourke Street, Melbourne,...
• Commented on Behind the Ukraine war
  Elderly Cynic @944: Actually, no, they wouldn't have helped in the Falklands - and I have done essentially that. Yes, they are a lot easier over many terrains, but boggy, tussocky moorland is not one of them. The boggy conditions...
• Commented on Behind the Ukraine war
  Wheelbarrows and warfare?? Graydon will be along soon......
• Commented on Bad news day
  Elderly Cynic @1851: Not in the UK nor, I believe, most countries. They are required to manage them for the BENEFIT of shareholders, but that can be to increase the share price at the expense of return, or simply to...
• Commented on Bad news day
  Why are you lot required to use cars or bicycles? I live within 15 minutes walk of four adequate supermarkets, two Woolworths, one Coles, and an ALDI. Decide to walk a bit further, 32-45 minutes, and you can add three...
• Commented on Bad news day
  whitroth @622: Before I forget: several folks have mentioned killfiles - and I don't get that. How are you reading this blog? I'm on a computer, in a browser, and I go to antipope.org, and scroll. I also don't understand...
• Commented on Bad news day
  SFReader @514: Re: Putin screwed up I've been trying to think of what consumer products with any distinctive well-known 'Russian special sauce' high tech are or ever have been in high demand globally and can't. Thought you (and possibly...
• Commented on Bad news day
  SFReader @514: Re: Putin screwed up I've been trying to think of what consumer products with any distinctive well-known 'Russian special sauce' high tech are or ever have been in high demand globally and can't. Thought you (and possibly...
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  Looks like the constant 'nym-shifter is back, under yet another 'nym, no doubt taking advantage of OGH's absence to annoy and aggravate....
• Commented on On inappropriate reactions to COVID19
  Greg Tingey @209: Re: Power and telephone lines... Until you go to something like the NBN we now have in Oz. Ignoring the mistake in not delivering Fibre-To-The-Premises thanks to Rupert, it's all VOIP, so even if you do have...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Dead Lies Dreaming
  Here in Oz locking fuel pumps were banned about the same time that self-service pumps came into vogue, on a state-by-state basis, so the mid- to late-seventies here in Victoria. I think Queensland didn't allow them until 1988 or thereabouts...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  Well, in any discussion about Orcs, there has to mention of "Grunts" by Mary Gentle. It's about what happens after the Last War. :-)...
• Commented on Starship bloopers
  Greg @1187: Oh shit [ MicroShaft new OS ... please say it ain't so! ] Lots of us have no effective choice, but to use MS. Hahahahah! Don't worry about it - if you haven't recently purchased a machine with...
• Commented on Starship bloopers
  gasdive @968: ... Without waste collection our urban life and all that brings would be completely impossible. In Niven & Pournelle's "The Mote In God's Eye" the "Crazy Eddie" archetype is explained by, “When a city has grown so overlarge...
• Commented on Starship bloopers
  And there's a slight problem with using "United States", are you referring to: The United States of Mexico or: The United States of America ????...
• Commented on Starship bloopers
  Toby @356: This thread has been absolutely fascinating because of peoples responses. My interpretation of Heinlein's intent, is that JBSs response is exactly the response he wanted, but I don't know. But (apologies to our host if this breaks his...
• Commented on Starship bloopers
  Damian @303: I think this sort of cuts to the main fact that would have been obvious to Verhoeven but isn't to many here, and that is that Heinlein is niche, and outside a certain audience he is really (like...
• Commented on Starship bloopers
  Juan Rico's family were Filipino - the use of Tagolog, of course - but I recall no real information in the book as to where little Johnny grew up. (Could have been KC, maybe he and LL were neighbours??? :-)...