@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

demi

@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com

Rocket scientist, motorcyclist, gamer, sysadmin, globe trotter

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SFRuminations, to books
@SFRuminations@wandering.shop avatar

Joan D. Vinge (1948-) was born on this day. Bibliography: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?60

L, Vincent Di Fate, 1978; R, Diane and Leo Dillon, 1980

image/jpeg

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@SFRuminations
One of my favorite stories!

sidereal, to random
@sidereal@kolektiva.social avatar

I was on the cusp of starting to hate motorcycles less and then some guy blasted past me on his Harley on a crowded sidewalk in front of a cafe, almost hitting like 15 people.

I was about to start hating on e-bikes less but it seems they are all becoming as annoying as motorcycles.

And I already hate cars.

The majority of humans simply don't have the reflexes or the ethical awareness to use these vehicles safely in a crowded city.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal Sounds like it’s the people you hate, and not the non-sapient machines

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal @demi
Sure, aggressive bus drivers get fired, so your chance of encountering one as they drive a bus are small.

sidereal, to random
@sidereal@kolektiva.social avatar

As a person with none children and yes wrist pain, I wish I could opt out of "child safe" pill bottles.

You know what doesn't have child safe caps? Liquor. This shit is so fucking backwards.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal You CAN opt out of “child-safe” bottles

nyrath, (edited ) to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

This is entertaining! A pdf file about a copyright infringement lawsuit involving Games Workshop with lots of interesting pictures.

The author is an expert witness, asked if components of the Warhammer 40K line had elements from historical or preexisting scifi paperback cover art. He concludes that there indeed are such.

https://ia601300.us.archive.org/24/items/gov.uscourts.ilnd.250791/gov.uscourts.ilnd.250791.289.6.pdf

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@nyrath
That was pretty cool. Lovely to see all the prior art there.
Thanks!

sidereal, to random
@sidereal@kolektiva.social avatar

I have come to strongly dislike motorcycles because of how loud they are.

I'm aware that motorcyclists think this keeps them safe. I'm also aware there is no statistical evidence that it does. But it's useless to argue statistics with someone who rides a motorcycle.

I'm also aware that motorcyclists think you need to let your bike idle for like 30 minutes before you go anywhere even though you definitely don't.

This post brought to you by being woken up by my neighbor's bike. Please stop

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
I’ve been an avid rider since 2005.
I was a nationally-certified motorcycle instructor for 7 years, and taught more than 1000 students.

Loud pipes do NOT save lives.
Proper training, proper hi-vis gear, and proper signaling saves lives.

I could go into all the details of why this is true, but it definitely won’t fit in 500 characters.

I may write my own screed against “loud pipes” assholes.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
They don’t. The imbeciles who ride those kinds think they’re showing their manhood by having loud pipes.
They’re only showing their stupidity.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
Not all motorcycles are loud.
Mine certainly isn’t. Half my neighbors didn’t even know I had a motorcycle, despite me riding literally everywhere, every day, cuz I had no car.

The loudness of your asshole neighbor is probably illegal.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
Your neighbor’s fart-machine is not only illegal for noise violations, but almost certainly has the emissions-control device removed, which is also illegal.

sidereal, to random
@sidereal@kolektiva.social avatar

My whole life I felt like just-in-time shipping was a shitty idea and it feels like everything since 2020 has been proving me right

Like the Suez Canal is a no-go zone due to conflict and the Panama Canal is at low capacity due to climate change and apparently the "richest countries on earth" are going to have quite a bit of difficulty with shipments being delayed 2-3 weeks.

That honestly shouldn't make [that] much of a difference, but here we are.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
It’s always been a shitty policy and trade practice. All it saves is rent on a warehouse, which is usually pretty cheap.
Anyone who lives in the snow zone knows that you need to have a few days (or weeks) worth of stuff around “just in case”.

Maybe that’s what we should replace it with - no more “just-in-time shipping”, instead use “just-in-case warehousing”.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

On the theory that "everything old is new again", I think a good movie could be made by taking the plot of Only Angels Have Wings but replacing airplanes with starships and the dangerous mountain pass with some sort of dangerous cosmic phenomenon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_Angels_Have_Wings

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@steinarb @nyrath
That part is from (IIRC) “The Dam Busters”

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@_thegeoff @steinarb @nyrath
🤦‍♀️

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Notes on the dreaded nanotechnology "grey goo" scenario.
TL;DR it is not much of a threat due to limits of chemistry and thermodynamics

https://www.rfreitas.com/Nano/Ecophagy.htm

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@carcosa @cstross @nyrath
You’d have to make your molecular nanotech machines out of something that bacteria and fungi aren’t interested in or can’t accumulate enough energy to take apart, like metals, ceramics, or diamond.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@carcosa @cstross @nyrath
And I imagine that the first few generations of molecular nanotechnology is going to be limited to clean or sterile labs and factories.

kissane, to random
@kissane@mas.to avatar

Women of fedi! Drowning in waves of condescending reply guys!

I see you and hope to be able to swap blocklists at some point. I'm glad you're here.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@kissane Is there a blocklist capability? Because damn that would be nice.

demi, to random
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

I work in devops/sys-eng/infra.
It amazes me how so many of the ppl in this biz are so badly burnt out.
It’s pretty much because upper mgmt keeps failing to hire more people for the teams, fails to assign PMs, fails to hire any middle managers that care about the teams.
None of the mgmt realizes that if the infra team burns out and quits, the company is slowly doomed.

It truly blows my mind that everyone thinks “infra” is a cost-center, and not “the thing that lets you have a business”.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Asteroengineering?

https://medium.com/@qraal01/asteroengineering-4258e76daab1

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@cstross @nyrath
Fusion ends at iron.
So does fission.
It’s like fairy tales got something right by accident.

sidereal, to random
@sidereal@kolektiva.social avatar

It is impossible for me to get excited about voting when 90% of these people fucking suck and over half of the "super important local elections" are unopposed anyway.

In school I was told the Soviet Union was bad because people ran in elections unopposed but yet here we fucking are. And without even any giant grey apartment blocks.

But I voted, I met you liberals halfway even though it feels like more of a waste of time every year. Will you now please meet me halfway and revolt?

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
I keep thinking that mandatory voting might help

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
I would be 100% down with that change

sidereal, to random
@sidereal@kolektiva.social avatar

Do you think roleplaying helps people learn things? Like sometimes workshops/classes will have roleplay or skit elements to them. Do you think they help?

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal
Yes, most people get some benefit from role playing to learn about new situations; some people get great benefit.

demi, to random
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

Men,
Do not, under any circumstances, pop the question to your girlfriend in a public place with a big showy display and a ring.
It’s creepy, misogynistic, and puts sudden, unwelcome pressure on someone who wasn’t expecting it - not a great way to start a life together.

sidereal, to random
@sidereal@kolektiva.social avatar

Getting emotional thinking about how around Seattle, we took some of the most productive, longest-growing-season farmland ever discovered by humans and turned it into suburbs.

People are starving, and instead of being able to help we have... Bellevue. Which, by the way, was stolen from its legal owners during Japanese Internment.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@sidereal That’s pretty much the case around every major city in the world - suburbs grow where people are, and people used to settle where the farmland is good.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

A 20th century society on a ringworld

https://therestlesstechnophile.com/2023/08/06/a-20th-century-society-on-a-ringworld/

#RingWorld

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@http_error_418 @nyrath
Biofuel and alcohol, just like in the book.

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@militant_dilettante @nyrath
IIRC, Niven accounted for many of those in later books. Even the meteor defense system, and the possible disaster of “oops, a meteor came in through the back and punched a hole through the ring”, because under the Mars map was the ring repair center, including continent-sized patches for those meteor-punched holes. And even with a continent-sized hole, the air leaking out would take A Very Long Time before it started to threaten life.

TheSpaceshipper, to scifi
@TheSpaceshipper@socel.net avatar

Pandorum was released 14 years ago today.
A fun adventure in space horror 😁

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@TheSpaceshipper
I really liked that movie! Thanks for reminding me of it.

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