vincent.archer

vincent.archer

  • Commented on Obligatory Hugo eligibility post
    Finished a serialized series of 4 books in the niche genre of LitRPG (a subset of scifi/fantasy where the world obeys for various reasons the rules of some kind of computer RPG), with a dash of alternate history. (The Infinite...
  • Commented on A Quick Infomercial
    This is mostly due to Amazon and/or other wholesaler databases: if a book is delayed by more than 6 months they cancel advance orders In my case, they simply sent me a notification "we don't know when it ships, you...
  • Commented on No comment necessary
    And the first signs of study rejection start coming. I quote: Most of the 'damage' is myocarditis which is simply heart inflammation. It happens during infections and can be pretty common. You heard it guys. It's all normal for an...
  • Commented on "It'll all be over by Christmas" (Part 2)
    The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) is reporting that the CanSino Biologics proposed vaccine is now approved for human testing here and in China, and that China is making it available and/or requiring its use by their military. Don't hold too...
  • Commented on "It'll all be over by Christmas" (Part 2)
    Did you spot the bit about the Attack Macaque in Downing Street spaffing £500M (about $650M in today's cash) on buying the wrong satellites? Discovered that one yesterday as I was watching the GPS launch stream with a friend. When...
  • Commented on I ain't dead
    any sort of failure tends towards the spectacular. Or, as some say, a "rapid unscheduled disassembly"....
  • Commented on I ain't dead
    Sigh... who is ordering and buying Falcon Heavy launches? Apparently, people do. There's only one for 2020 (USSF), but 2 for 2021 (USSF/Viacom) - maybe a third (INMARSAT) - and already two scheduled for 2022 (NASA x 2). Plus the...
  • Commented on I ain't dead
    My money is on SLS flying once, or possibly twice at the most, before it's cancelled Twice. They already have a second core under construction so they will have two available to launch. (First one ordered in 2014 and one...
  • Commented on I ain't dead
    But at this point SpaceX has cornered 50% of the planetary launch market by matching and overmatching the reliability of the commercial competition and massively undercutting them on price, and that's with their last-generation product. Their next-gen product is solid...
  • Commented on COVID-19
    The headline mortality rate for COVID-19, 2%, is comparable to the 1918-20 Spanish Flu (an order of magnitude higher than a regular winter flu). It appears that the % of asymptomatic/mildly affected is much higher than initially estimated, making the...
  • Commented on Sucker bet (a thought experiment)
    This is a science-fiction blog right? I'm going for the Lich Philactery Strategy. 1) Investment #1: cloning technology (should be cheap, we're close for humans) 2) Investment #2a: brain/memory sync (probably easier on a brain that shares your DNA development...
  • Commented on CASE NIGHTMARE BLONDE, Part 2
    The streets of Paris have seen major advertising popping this week about where to go and what to do for British citizens working/studying here "Before Oct. 31st". Because nobody was sure there might be an extension deal coming....
  • Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
    A separate comment from my previous reply. From the EU side, the Brexit is a major hassle in my specific field. I do RGPD stuff about 1/3rd of my week. I have vetted and guaranteed data sharing agreements in the...
  • Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
    have a question: would a fresh Brexit referendum that reverses Brexit stick? The biggest question is: what effect would it have. I know a handful of legal scholars have argued that the UK can reverse its Brexit, but that's...
  • Commented on Deaths and Deadlines
    it aims to do for "Peter Pan" what "Equoid" did for unicorns The first thing that comes to mind on seeing this is "oh shit!". Aside, the big problem of getting older, one year at a time, is that everyone...
  • Commented on Dude, you broke the future!
    The geolocation stuff is terrifying, however can't you just turn off the broadcasting of your location from your phone? It feels like a lot of these problems can be - if not solved - at least lessened by more control...
  • Commented on Unforeseen Consequences and that 1929 vibe
    But what I mean by how do they work… if I'm a miner code, can I only generate a block with pending transactions that have a transaction fee? As a miner, you can generate whatever block using whatever subset of...
  • Commented on Book day!
    Got an email from yesterday evening by Amazon telling me the book is dispatched. By average post office run times, that means it lands on my doorstep tomorrow. I now have to finish the current book just in time, and...
  • Commented on The End of the British nuclear deterrent?
    I had a couple discussion about Trump's personality, and people tend to point me to his 1987 book "The Art of the Deal" as a way to understand how Trump works. And his negotiation skills are probably a parody of...
  • Commented on Empire Games
    EU residents and Brits will have to wait until next Thursday—Tor UK and Tor USA, despite the name, are different companies and use different printers and sell through different supply chains. Side note: amazon.fr offers both UK and US editions,...
  • Commented on The dog ate my homework
    Once again, I am so happy I adopted a policy, long ago, of never ever upgrading software until forced to do so. Thing is, I can see the result of those daily at work. Due to upgrade policies (computers must...
  • Commented on And the Rabid Nazi Raccoons shall inherit the Earth
    I though the Earth would be inherited by beetle people? If you've played the 4X game Stellaris, you probably know that most of the time, when your species discover Terra, it's toxic to all major evolved species and inhabited by...
  • Commented on Things Can Only Get Better! (Part 1)
    On the french election, it has become a cold-blood calculation on how much damage each candidate can do and how fast can you repair that after 5 years. Mme Lepen will lack a strong majority to implement most of her...
  • Commented on Busy busy busy
    I was delaying the preordering, because my CC expires next month, and Amazon does not switch preorders to your new card when you replace the old one; your orders remain associated with that card. Then, about one week after the...
  • Commented on The Day After
    Something that was bothering me the last few weeks were the campaign commercials. Someone pointed me the striking differences between those campaign messages. Clinton Campaign: "I'm with her, and you?" Trump Campaign: "I'm with you!" The second message is populist......
  • Commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
    I suspect (for example) cheese would taste different when the organisms involved are in a free-fall environment so it won't take long for someone to claim it tastes much better. If people will pay a premium for Kopi Luwak coffee...
  • Commented on What are you reading this summer?
    All kinds, because my average ebook is 75 a year, THEN I add the various books for which ebooks don't work (either because the ebook formatting is almost broken - that include's our esteemed hosts' Orbit ones which I take...
  • Commented on The Nightmare Stacks: US Launch
    Probably the aliens already are rummaging in the ruins of Earth in the other realities and wonder "what the fuck happened here?". Fun bit if you play Stellaris (space 4X game by swedish studio Paradox) and you find the Solar...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    I think the idea might be scorched earth policy; make sure the UK can't stay in. "Who cares about those treaties, the mighty UK will prevail in the end anyway". He'd probably fill the Eurotunnel as well....
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Do we get a general election if AT50 negotiations do start & go pear-shaped, so that we can press the "cancel" button? You can't cancel. At least not unilaterally. Once Art 50 has been invoked, it takes an unanimous vote...
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