Search found 888 matches
- Thu May 23, 2024 2:13 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1948
- Views: 1021650
Re: British Politics Guide
Note that Scottish schools generally start their summer holidays at the end of June or the start of July. As John Swinney pointed out, Rishi didn't know, or care.
- Mon May 20, 2024 2:32 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: A planet that moved around its star at more than 99% the speed of light.
- Replies: 10
- Views: 425
Re: A planet that moved around its star at more than 99% the speed of light.
If you're orbiting a black hole, avoid the plunging region: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/17/world/black-holes-einstein-plunging-region-scn/index.html Responsible black hole owners will put up warning tape, but this is not always present. Standards have really deteriorated since we were young, haven'...
- Wed May 15, 2024 2:34 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Elections in various countries
- Replies: 1099
- Views: 610487
Re: Elections in various countries
Dunno if this is actually relevant, but about 20 years ago, when I was on holiday in Donegal, I was told that for a long time "socialism has had virtually no appeal in Ireland" and "Irish politics is always about personalities, not policies". Admittedly things might have changed ...
- Fri May 10, 2024 2:45 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: AIs gunning for our precious freelancers
- Replies: 736
- Views: 138876
Re: AIs gunning for our precious freelancers
To get this thread back on track, what would an AI Trump do?
- Wed May 08, 2024 2:43 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The perception of rhythm in language
- Replies: 15
- Views: 531
Re: The perception of rhythm in language
I had noticed that the prose of it was to my mind unusual yet i had not quite noticed it till it was pointed out. For those of you who are wondering, this was my reaction too. Some of the idioms (e.g. "makes segmenting speech a breeze") struck me as peculiar, but I put that down to the fa...
- Tue May 07, 2024 2:43 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The perception of rhythm in language
- Replies: 15
- Views: 531
Re: The perception of rhythm in language
So I realised too not long after logging out, aaarrrggghhh.
But I think you might need to read the paper more closely; some of its points are quite subtle.
- Mon May 06, 2024 2:49 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The perception of rhythm in language
- Replies: 15
- Views: 531
The perception of rhythm in language
See what you make of this, if you haven't already seen it. It's quite provocative.
- Fri May 03, 2024 2:33 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: AIs gunning for our precious freelancers
- Replies: 736
- Views: 138876
Re: AIs gunning for our precious freelancers
Getting a bit off-topic here, but a couple of interesting observations: One is that the Web is already filling up with AI-generated crap. When you feed an AI AI-generated stuff, quality goes way down. A metaphor I'd like to invoke here is the state of your water jar after you've been painting for a ...
- Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:22 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
- Replies: 557
- Views: 272547
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Cool stuff, travis. How does doing all this in a Forth-style environment differ from, say, a more tradtional C-style one, besides the obvious? Is it easier or harder? Etc.
- Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:20 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: United States Politics Thread 46
- Replies: 1438
- Views: 448316
Re: United States Politics Thread 46
Here's an exwercise for anyone who thinks Biden and Trump are for all practical purposes indistinguishable: Make a list of: - 10 important things which would be more or less the same regardless of which one becomes President - 10 important things which would be substantially different depending on w...
- Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:11 pm
- Forum: Conlangery
- Topic: A monochromatic consociety
- Replies: 8
- Views: 458
Re: A monochromatic consociety
I wonder - how would the world look like if humans could only see in black and white? Would the development of civilization be hindered in any way? I can't see how it would be, sorry. I see what you did there :-) Interesting question, though. I suspect humans would have become more sensitive to oth...
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 3:27 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: RPG thread
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2698
Re: RPG thread
I also remember reading somewhere (though not where) that the Elves, Dwarves and Halflings were added in a late stage of the design in order to market the game to Tolkien fans. And Tolkien's estate didn't like them being called "hobbits", and forced a name change. In my personal opinion, ...
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 2:58 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Venting thread
- Replies: 1943
- Views: 15031357
Re: Venting thread
This is quite true: it started out as a table-top wargame, and the role-playing bits were shoehorned in later.WeepingElf wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:57 pmI even seem to remember reading somewhere that D&D was initially marketed as a "wargame" and only latter called a "role-playing game".
- Thu Apr 18, 2024 2:27 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Do you think it will ever be possible to go back in time?
- Replies: 43
- Views: 1525
Re: Do you think it will ever be possible to go back in time?
I have been sent from the future to explain to you how to travel back in time, but you don't have the technlology yet.
- Fri Apr 12, 2024 2:30 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: United States Politics Thread 46
- Replies: 1438
- Views: 448316
Re: United States Politics Thread 46
Tangentially related to this, long ago, I saw a forum or comment section post by someone who claimed to be a former libertarian. That person claimed that, back in their libertarian days, when they were visiting libertarian forums, in the internal libertarian flamewars, they could always tell the pe...
- Tue Apr 09, 2024 2:37 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1800
Re: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
Two, in fact; one always capitalised (it thinks it's a newspaper) and one sometimes capitalized (it gives us warmth and other things).
- Tue Apr 09, 2024 2:35 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
- Replies: 557
- Views: 272547
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 3:19 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1800
Re: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
We get a double eclipse over here: the moon eclipses the sun, and the clouds eclipse them both.
- Fri Apr 05, 2024 2:50 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Voiced fricatives in Germanic
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2383
Re: Voiced fricatives in Germanic
To confuse things further, I've seen initial /z/ and /v/ in Dutch transcribed with the under-ring diacritic for devoicing, which clearly indicates something different from /s/ amd /f/, but I've never understood what. From hearing sung Afrikaans, orthographic initial <s>, corresponding to orthograph...
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 2:39 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Voiced fricatives in Germanic
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2383
Re: Voiced fricatives in Germanic
To confuse things further, I've seen initial /z/ and /v/ in Dutch transcribed with the under-ring diacritic for devoicing, which clearly indicates something different from /s/ amd /f/, but I've never understood what.