Ongaku

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• Commented on The impotence of the long-distance trillionaire
  Corporations may not inquire about previous salary history in hiring. I believe New York recently enacted this....
• Commented on Holding pattern 2022 ...
  My recollection is that the V7 C compiler, which came with Version 7 Unix, was available separately and that was around 1978. It had a lot of improvements on the V6 (or was it V5?) compiler. You no longer said...
• Commented on Because I am bored ...
  I think if you'd said 'that gas chamber' instead of 'the gas chamber' I would have realized that. I brought it up as a curiosity. I'm sure we share similar anti-death penalty views. And I think I had a professor...
• Commented on Because I am bored ...
  Also, the "gas chamber" is strictly a one-person affair - there is simply not anything which remotely resembles WWII Germany's assembly-line of death, and the gas-chamber is smaller than the average stall in a public restroom. It has room...
• Commented on Because I am bored ...
  Non-technical article today in the Guardian:https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/02/microwave-weapons-havana-syndrome-experts The bonus is all the cool pictures of 1950's cars....
• Commented on Because I am bored ...
  It needs to be approached diagonally, I think. Should I leave now?...
• Commented on Because I am bored ...
  I got it; thought you put it with a nice bit of subtlety....
• Commented on Because I am bored ...
  VERY poorly designed set of controls. Oh, and the volume needs multiple rotations to go from, say, upper 20's down to say, 10 (where you can talk). Agree completely. Awful interface. I thought Pioneer would be a safe choice,...
• Commented on Because I am bored ...
  That said, the thing they need to do with Trump is to nail him first with a really obvious felony that precludes him from ever holding public office again. That will defang him. I wish that that were true. His...
• Commented on A death in the Firm
  The gas from Costco & from $brand is the same gas. It comes from the same distributors & gets delivered in the same trucks. In fact, the EXACT same truck that delivers to Costco then goes across the street...
• Commented on A death in the Firm
  Didn't Larry Niven suggest that a bacterium evolved to eat PVC, so humanity had to stop using it? My recollection is Niven's bacteria ate semiconductors resulting in the infrastructure levitating the floating cities failing. Eating something more high tech than...
• Commented on A death in the Firm
  What I find really interesting in that article is the drawing by Lear himself, which features a runcible spoon without any prongs, in contrast to most definitions I came across....
• Commented on A death in the Firm
  Is there any definition runcible that isn't part of 'runcible spoon'?...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  Wish I knew who wrote it--IIRC it was to a single page story: "Just like everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when Kennedy was shot or they landed on the moon, I'll never forget where I...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  I've gotten small, silvery 'particles' at 11,000 ft altitude. At the top of one of Mammoth Mountain's ski runs, IIRC. Kind of-star like, but maybe a little needle-like too. Very pure silver colored....
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  Well put....
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  That's kind of the impression I got. That might be considered quick, but 'quick' might be a matter of opinion depending on what side of the blade you were on. But not instantaneous. Always been skeptical of news reports that...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  Hmmm. Clear window. How long is a clear window?...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  Canada's last hangman wasn't cruel. He tied them up correctly so that the rope would kill them by breaking their neck, instantly. Instantly. How do you know that? Anyone ever hooked up an EEG to the victim to find...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  The way the VP works for ties is a part of the Constitution, not the rules of the Senate. And that is my point. The filibuster, a rule of the Senate, interferes with the VP's tie breaking power, which...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  Yes, but do the rules they adopt have to be consistent with the rest of the constitution? For example, could they have a rule that black Senators only have 2/3rds of a vote? Or that the VP only breaks a...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  The constitution has no mention of the filibuster. But it does say the Vice President votes in the case of a tie. However, if a filibuster is allowed, the VP's tie breaking vote is meaningless--it will produce a majority vote...
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  My wife, who is Yorkshire through and through, never heard this story, but finds it entirely plausable....
• Commented on Lying to the ghost in the machine
  My ISP suddenly became more unreliable than usual, and the IP address was changing frequently as a result. Then the IP changes stopped, but as near as I can tell, the unreliability and router re-connection requirement did not. My theory...
• Commented on What happens now?
  And of course you have -san which is gender neutral. I must admit I studied the language for years before seeing much use of kare/kanojo. As for boku, I heard it was exclusively used by males, but about the only...
• Commented on What happens now?
  What pronouns there are do not have masculine and feminine forms. Kare? Kanojo?...
• Commented on What happens now?
  As for the House, yes it is close and subject to gerrymandering, which has no effect on the Senate. But there are 20 Rep seats at risk and only 14 for the Dems. Included with the Rep seats are two...
• Commented on Submarine coming through!
  Sorry, did not quote the subject. Was about containerization and theft....
• Commented on Submarine coming through!
  Funny, about 40 years ago, I suggested this to my twin brother, a labor (or is that labour?) lawyer. He scoffed. I kept my counsel (appropriate) but I've often re-visited the thought. Interesting it showed up here....
• Commented on Submarine coming through!
  Isn't Bozo a U.K. citizen (or subject) even though he was born in New York City? Did he have to get a Social Security number before he could become Prime Minister? I recall reading that he managed to renounce...