Zompist Bboard Again

zompist wrote: ↑Fri Nov 18, 2022 7:44 pm Not much, but it looks like a neutrino masses something under 1000 quectograms.

Ryusenshi wrote: ↑Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:00 am U.S. government project

Moose-tache wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 12:16 am

Ryusenshi wrote: ↑Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:00 am U.S. government project

Close, but not quite. This is how it actually works.

Say there is a large land crab loose in a residential area. Every few days a small child wanders close enough to be caught in its pincers and is seriously injured. Sitting next to the dangerous crab are two large and sturdy rubber bands, roughly the size and shape of the cross-section of the pincers of the menacing crab.

Very soon the media, community leaders, federal authorities, state authorities, municipal authorities, the local black church, Girls Scouts den #947, and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, all recognize that the large crab-claw-sized rubber bands need to go on the claws of the large threatening crab. Kamala Harris's husband, who calls himself the "second gentleman" I am not even making that up, tweets a picture of himself banding a lobster and gets called out for cultural appropriation. John Oliver does a segment about children with claw marks on their bodies. Someone makes one of those three-color Che Guevara posters, but with a banded crab claw. This goes on for a truly ridiculous amount of time.

Eventually, the inexplicably pro-crab-violence party, which I haven't mentioned because there's no time, discredits itself over something unrelated, and a collection of people find themselves in power who have actually promised to find a way to put the rubber bands on the perilously pinchy crab. A team of people in hard hats who are otherwise dressed like accountants is dispatched to stand around and stare at the crab, measuring the distance to the bands, taking turns picking up and putting down the bands, and doing feasibility tests on a papier-mache model crab. This goes on until the public is distracted by Kanye West being racist, or in the event that Kanye West is dead the plan moves on to phase two.

At this point, the government has no choice but to actually put the safety bands on the unsafe crab. The pile of wounded children is starting to obscure sight lines from local condominia. The treasury amasses a budget of $500 billion dollars to provide for a series of tax cuts in the crab-band-installing industry. This fails, as this industry does not exist. Next, government employees pick up the rubber bands and carry them around the world at great expense, trying to find an enterprise that is willing to install them on the crab. A new budget of $1.5 trillion is raised, given out in direct payments to major businesses in both seafood and organic polymers industries, all of which immediately disappears and is never heard from again. Upon close inspection, most businesses just turn out to have been crabs the whole time.

Insane crack pots suggest the government use its resources to directly place the rubber bands on the alarming crab, and are ignored for the dangerously unstable individuals they are. The last country that allowed the government to directly apply rubber bands to a crab was an abysmal failure, in that its population of lethal crabs was too low. It is imperative that the United States not fall into the same trap. The federal government continues to try to find a private enterprise that can be bribed into installing the bands, but each business simply takes the money and spends it on more crabs. At this point the John Oliver segments are about the social problems caused by the government spending all its money on "crab solutions," instead of addressing real problems, like Kanye's latest Tweet.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 6:26 pm Why is the traditional food of most of Europe (except for some of the southernmost countries) so bland by the standards of much of the rest of the world?

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 6:26 pm Why is the traditional food of most of Europe (except for some of the southernmost countries) so bland by the standards of much of the rest of the world?

The traditional food of most of Europe is generally quite bland by the standards of much of the rest of the world due in part to the colder climates and limited access to ingredients and spices that were only available from other regions. In addition, the European diet was typically based on local ingredients, which often lacked the exotic flavors found in other parts of the world. Additionally, traditional European dishes are often prepared in a simple manner, relying on cooking techniques such as boiling and stewing, rather than more complex ones such as frying or roasting. This further contributes to a lack of strong flavors in the dishes.

There are a few reasons why the traditional food of most of Europe may be considered bland by the standards of much of the rest of the world. One reason is that European cuisine has historically been influenced by a variety of cultural and environmental factors, such as the availability of certain ingredients and the climate in different regions. For example, the colder climate in many parts of Europe may have limited the availability of spicy ingredients, which are commonly used in cuisines from warmer regions. Additionally, European cuisine has often been influenced by religious dietary restrictions, such as those in the Catholic Church, which may have limited the use of certain flavors and ingredients. Overall, the development of European cuisine has been shaped by a complex set of historical, cultural, and environmental factors, which may have contributed to its perceived blandness compared to cuisines from other parts of the world.

The food of Europe, oh so bland
With flavors that just can't withstand
A taste test against the spicy fare
Of cuisines from lands beyond compare

In every country, in every town
The same dull dishes can be found
No heat, no spice, no flavor bold
Just blandness, served a hundredfold

But still the people of Europe dine
On dishes that lack any design
They eat their food with stoic grace
And never show their boredom on their face

Perhaps it's the cold and dreary weather
That keeps the spice from coming together
Or maybe it's the old tradition
That keeps the flavors in restriction

Whatever the reason may be
The food of Europe remains bland, you see
But still the people eat their fill
And never seem to mind the lack of thrill

So if you're looking for a culinary thrill
You'll have to look beyond Europe's hill
For here, the flavors are dull and tame
And never set your taste buds aflame.

The oldest documented human-made object in continuous human possession without ever being lost is the Ivory Casket of St. Maurus, which has been in continuous possession by the Benedictine Monastery of St. Maurus in Trier, Germany, since it was made in 796 CE.

No, the Codex Vaticanus is not older than the Ivory Casket of St. Maurus. The Ivory Casket is believed to have been made in the 8th century, while the Codex Vaticanus is believed to have been written in the 4th century.

The ornithopter should have a curved wing design with a lightweight carbon-fiber frame. It should be powered by a large electric motor and have two sets of wings - one set to provide lift, and the other set to provide thrust. The wings should be adjustable to allow for efficient flight in a variety of situations. It should also have a tail stabilizer and a system of servos and gyroscopes to provide stability and maneuverability. The ornithopter should be equipped with a camera and sensors to provide real-time data for the pilot and for research purposes. Finally, it should have an aerodynamic shape to reduce drag and improve efficiency.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 6:26 pm Why is the traditional food of most of Europe (except for some of the southernmost countries) so bland by the standards of much of the rest of the world?

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 8:19 pm
Really? The Catholic Church doesn't put those kinds of restrictions on food to the best of my knowledge. On the other hand, the chat function is much better at poetry than text-davinci-003. Here's chat's output for, "Write a poem about the blandness of European food."

Moose-tache wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:11 am I think for most people, almost every meal before about 1800 was:
a) slurry of local starches
b) hopes and dreams

Ares Land wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 5:03 amThe real question is why we quit using spices so much (this seems to have happened before modern sanitation, and I have yet to find a really good explanation)

rotting bones wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 3:39 pmMoose-tache: I'm talking specifically about spices, not flavors.

My point about high culture had to do with the French elites in Northern Europe.

IIRC pepper was one of the few medicines that Buddhist monks were allowed to carry. I'd be surprised if all of it came from wealthy donors.

Ares Land: Did you have to cut back on spices on lean days?

Linguoboy: Did the Victorian elites become stuck up mainly because they hated black people, or because they were trying to demonstrate Protestant virtue

Maybe the bland dishes were yet another extension of Protestant asceticism.