Search found 887 matches
- 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: 266
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: 609451
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: 734
- Views: 137885
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: 355
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: 355
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: 355
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: 734
- Views: 137885
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: 271821
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: 1431
- Views: 446246
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: 353
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: 2604
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: 1940
- Views: 15029326
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: 1276
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: 1431
- Views: 446246
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: 1725
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: 271821
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 3:19 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1725
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: 2352
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: 2352
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.
- Tue Apr 02, 2024 2:27 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Random Thread
- Replies: 3734
- Views: 453053