Zompist Bboard Again

Something which, of course, only occurred to me when I switched my computer off: we depend on oil for a lot more things than just petrol; where would we get our plastics from, for example? And I hear a lot about how much essential fertilizer comes from the Middle East; would this trigger a change in...

Most interesting article I've read all week: Cory Doctorow: Will Trump hormuz us into the full Gretacene? Fascinating, and I fully support the name "Gretacene" for the new era. If he's right, it'll cause a fundamental change in the global economy, which gets me wondering: what will the de...

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 10:44 amAmusingly, it's possible to simulate electronics using gears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkiJZKJfpY

Ha!!! That led me to this, which is just begging for a conlang equivalent in which you put phonemes in at the top and get words, inflection tables, and so on out at the bottom.

Is anyone else disappointed by the obvious lack of imagination in the name "Project Freedom"?

Glenn wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2026 6:50 pm ... describing the Elves as "natural conlangers" who are conscious of the features of their language, and enjoy playing with them.

Just who invented the word "conlanger", anyway?

Au contraire, the Computer is a Being of unfathomable Cunning, large and complicated far beyond our Ken, whose Function we can only ascertain in very small Parts at a Time, by offering it divers Incantations and interpreting its Responses with very careful Understanding. Well, that is certainly the...

A computer is a deterministic machine whose every bit of function can be explained by the electronics: voltage levels, flows of current, relationships between its hundred billion transistors. Au contraire , the Computer is a Being of unfathomable Cunning, large and complicated far beyond our Ken, w...

However, gas prices won't just evaporate on their own A bit off-topic, but this is a rather good mixed metaphor I just have to highight :-) I do think we have to cut malloc a bit of slack, though; he probably only encounters non-Trumpists very rarely in real life, so he's a bit like Bilbo climbing ...

What in your opinion would count as an unlucky break? Is there *anything* which could happen to Trump which would not result in him becoming ever more popular and omnipotent? Good question. It really did seem like Trump was finally facing a losing streak over the past few months. Between the Epstei...

I'm not sure why they can't be regularised into devolved nations with representation in parliament I'd love to see the Right Honourable Member for the Falkland Islands flying 100 degrees of latitude once a week to attend Parliament. Twice, surely? There on Sunday and back on Thursday. No, because i...

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2026 10:07 amI'm not sure why they can't be regularised into devolved nations with representation in parliament

I'd love to see the Right Honourable Member for the Falkland Islands flying 100 degrees of latitude once a week to attend Parliament.

It really does astound me how Trump keeps getting lucky breaks like these. Just when it looked like the tide was turning against him. What in your opinion would count as an unlucky break? Is there *anything* which could happen to Trump which would not result in him becoming ever more popular and om...

6. Wealth tax. 7. Back to 90% taxes on billionaires. And, presumably some way of stopping Very Rich People petulantly flouncing off to places with lower tax rates. On which subject, one of our more left-wing political parties (now defunct) many years ago had a proposal in its manifesto to seize the...

It's been a bit erratic for me too.

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 2:46 pm What, there are people in Scotland whose political identity is centered on their love for an American satirical website?

onionist, not Onionist (and definitely not TheOnionist).

Nicely presentated, indeed. I like the use of pictures behind the inflection tables.

Obviously there's no international standard for representing the Köppen type with colours, but I find it hard to think of A-type climates as blue. (What do synaesthetes think? This could be very interesting.) I am not a synaesthete, but my thinking of what Köppen climate type should have which colo...

Is there any serious risk of Reform making inroads in Scotland in the first place? Ok, having looked at the Wikipedia page for the next Holyrood election, I have my doubts that the Baron Offord of Garvel will have the voters throwing themselves at him, but what about the Westminster level? There's ...

How many people remain unoffended by that AI picture of him as Jesus? ("A Red Cross worker"? Don't insult my intelligence!)

Obviously there's no international standard for representing the Köppen type with colours, but I find it hard to think of A-type climates as blue.

(What do synaesthetes think? This could be very interesting.)