Antiquercus

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• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  570: "Well, since you were, quite literally, trying to reinvent the origin of the fundamental equation that's used in all climate change models, it's not a cheap shot unless you take it personally." Hmm. I smell methane, the sort you...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  Nice, until the gratuitous cheap shot at the end. I didn't claim priority or originality....
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  I mean that the Moon provides another data point - what the greenhouse effect looks like if the CO2 (and all other gases) concentration is zero. The Moon is as far from the Sun as the Earth, yet their surface...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  I use NordVPN on multiple devices : Android, Windows, and Linux. The Linux implementation requires a bit more manual effort to install, but it uses OpenVPN so it should work on Macs too. I'm happy with it, I don't see...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  "On the above theme, I found compelling a recent piece by London-based Aussie novelist and lawyer Helen Dale. I'm wondering what you of Charlie's commentariat will think of it." If people do decide to look at Helen Dale's blog, I'd...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  We also have the Earth's moon to show us what a planetary surface at 1AU does without an atmosphere....
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  215: "However, if she tries to use any of those levers, it automatically triggers a constitutional crisis, and the outcome of any monarch/parliament showdown since 1649 is that parliament wins and the monarch loses (in extremis, loses their life)." I...
• Commented on The crazy years
  Some guesses: Some tourists buy junkers to tour around Australia, it's cheaper than renting a car. When they're done, they just abandon the car, and sometimes that's at an airport. Stolen cars get left in car parks. Maybe it draws...
• Commented on Dude, you broke the future!
  As I read this forum, I find myself hoping to see a post from the one with many names. I wonder what happened to them? Despite the frequent rudeness, their (plural, yes, I think there was more than one entity)...
• Commented on Houston: what are the long-term consequences?
  @128 Indeed, Brisbane gets severe flooding every few decades, but people continue to build and live in the flood zones. I'm astonished at how much new development has gone up on the flood plain of the Brisbane River. Those buildings...
• Commented on Trapped in the wrong trouser-leg of time
  Charlie, I read a gloominess in your post. But for mine, this blog is a place for learning. I read so many thoughtful posts here, and the links are especially info-rich. It may be hard to find new things to...
• Commented on I can't keep up
  I'm puzzled - surely they would only show passwords if they went in plain text in transit? If the password went through cloudflare encrypted (via SSL?) the memory leaks would only show the encrypted password.?...
• Commented on I can't keep up
  My current laptop doesn't have a drive activity LED, which up to now has been a wee annoyance. I guess now I don't have to put more masking tape on my laptop....
• Commented on Placeholder? Placeholder!
  I understand the 'pat-downs' are quite gropey. I wonder if there is legislation that excludes this from being treated as sexual assault. What do they do if a child opts out of screening?...
• Commented on Placeholder? Placeholder!
  Oh, that reminds me: some of you are wondering if I had any trouble entering the United States, right? Today, this: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366 Mem Fox is a children's author. Seems like goons at the border took issue with her visa, and...
• Commented on Some notes on the worst-case scenario
  Pigeon@446: It's a trap! I know it sucks not to be able to make any repairs, but if you do, and the landlord finds them, they can use it to keep part or all of your bond. If you put...
• Commented on Some notes on the worst-case scenario
  Beowulf @63: Yes, for now they seem to be quite chaotic and disorganised. But that may not last. Bannon won't get away with a cute trick like the executive order that placed him on the National Security Council - they've...
• Commented on Some notes on the worst-case scenario
  heckblazer @140: So why did Trump act so hostile to the PM of Australia? Likely because Trump had heard that Turnbull was the head of the Liberal Party, and therefore assumed he was dealing with an immigrant-loving lefty trying to...
• Commented on Some notes on the worst-case scenario
  Beowulf @63: Yes, for now they seem to be quite chaotic and disorganised. But that may not last. Bannon won't get away with a cute trick like the executive order that placed him on the National Security Council - they've...
• Commented on Some notes on the worst-case scenario
  Wōdan Shodan @ 50: Science has long predicted that climate change would see a rise in pests / disease. I went to a seminar in about 2012 on some modelling done on the Murray river system - I think they...
• Commented on Some notes on the worst-case scenario
  Wōdan Shodan @ 37: The White Nationalist "breeding us out / genocide" cry is not a new one Yeah, I remember hearing the 'breeding us out' argument in Macedonia in 1987 - the claim was that ethnic Albanians were deliberately...
• Commented on Some notes on the worst-case scenario
  Under your rational and humane strategy, how about expanding work on other food sources, like insects and algae?...
• Commented on A Surfeit of Emeralds: Healthcare in the Middle Ages
  I was wondering the same thing, sort of. Why would people keep pushing the humor theory for so long? Things must have gone right from time to time, and these would have been ascribed to the correctness of the humour-based...
• Commented on Policy change: future US visits
  Ah. For those who may have been following the sub-thread about Hitler and laughter, I think I know the book I saw this idea in. It's Ron Rosenbaum's Explaining Hitler. I read it in the 90s, but I see that...
• Commented on Policy change: future US visits
  "Spreen"? Anyone? Is this a portmanteau? ddg just points me to Honda dealers......
• Commented on Policy change: future US visits
  I apologize for not speaking up, but I was struggling to find the words, because he set up an extreme hypothetical, and it's hard to counter fantasies. However, @John Hughes, others did challenge jaju on other claims, although not specifically...
• Commented on Policy change: future US visits
  Hey Wōdan Shodan, maybe you know something about this. Video streaming services like Netflix and Stan - has the viewing history of users been used to make inferences about people's political tendencies?...
• Commented on Policy change: future US visits
  @513(joat): Well, yeah, mostly. Depends on how harsh the mockery is. And how thin one's skin is. Some of us can cope with some chiding. My kids give me shit sometimes - and sometimes, it is funny. The little fucks....
• Commented on Policy change: future US visits
  Thank you for opening this space, Charlie. I find this forum a safe place to discuss the current woes, with people who post intelligently, respectfully, and with dignity (apart from the occasional post-300 squabble)....
• Commented on Policy change: future US visits
  SFReader@13: Suggestions: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ an essay by Umberto Eco in the New York Review of Books. The Authoritarians by Bob Altemeyer - on the psychological mindset of Right Wing Authoritarians, people who are predisposed to follow authoritarian leaders. Free PDF book....