I'll say this, Europeans know how to make a soup base that can accommodate any number of ingredients. Some of the best soup I've ever had was just from a big vat of pea soup at a university dining hall in Brussels.
Yellow mustard on corndogs, Yellow mixed with ketchup to make "orange sauce" for burgers and hot dogs , spicy brown on polish sausage or cold-cut sandwiches.
It's only a throwaway reference in the original movie, but ultimately, as is the way with Star Wars, the lore was expanded and it was declared to be a sort of general purpose narcotic, possibly mildly involving telepathy, suitable mostly for inspiring organized crime plotlines. It's pretty different from Herbert's spice.
almost every one of these is sort of set dressing and skin deep, and changed drastically in some fundamental way.
I think we're on the same team here, but it would be silly not to view Dune as one inspiration among many. I think Herbert was a being a needlessly salty MFer though. For the second point, I was thinking more the Bene Gesserit than the Fremen, and while "warriors" is maybe stretching things a bit, you wouldn't want to get on the bad side of a reverend mother.
Desert planet to include skeleton of wormlike creature and suited inhabitants
Secretive sect of religious warriors with magical powers
Chosen one narrative with a dead dad
Now that said, almost every one of these is sort of set dressing and skin deep, and changed drastically in some fundamental way. Lucas was also not exploring remotely the same thematic ground as Herbert. He owes some of the world building to ideas lifted from Dune, without a doubt, but also to Lensman and Flash Gordon and John Carter of Mars. He owes plot and structure to Kurosawa ad Sergio Leone, and themes to Joseph Campbell and three thousand years of adventure tales, fairy tales, and coming of age stories. the only thing "original" about Star Wars is the integration of so many disparate influences into a coherent whole. You could argue that Dune was exploring more sophisticated themes and had a more actionable morality, but Herbert was flattering himself that Star Wars was a "ripoff." The influences were obvious, but they were just one hopper of grist for the Lucas mill.
Two of the world’s first desktop computers have been discovered during a house clearance. The Q1, which was launched in 1972, changed the way we use computers today....
Those arrow keys are confusing, but I can see why the first thought was to place them like that
I've seen worse. The Commodore 64 used two arrow keys and Shift. Many 8-bit computers split them onto completely different sides of the keyboard, and nobody agreed on what the layout should be, even if the group was similar. Finally, DEC and then IBM standardized the inverted T, and all was right with the world.
I never truly learned to type, though I had a few weeks instruction in school, and did a few levels of Mario Teaches Typing when I was a kid. None of it really stuck, and typing remains an exercise in hand-eye coordination for me. I topped out at around 70-80 WPM if I'm composing rather than copying, but that's been good enough for a lifetime of office jobs, and certainly for writing school essays. There is definitely a lower ceiling if you don't get proper instruction, but simple practice is still helpful.
Drawing an imaginary factory- and they wanted kids to do this before teaching them the parts of the cell- isn’t going to help you learn what mitochondria are.
That sounds like it's an exercise meant to get the kids thinking about a multi-faceted system existing inside a single structure, with parts that are interconnected but distinct, and will lead into a common metaphor teachers use to teach about biological cells. Not being graded means they're not judging the kids on what they know or don't, but want to evaluate where they are with this sort of thinking and figure out what they will focus on. Also, your kid may be smart and already know where they're going with this, but others in the class may not. If she does, she could probably knock that out in fifteen minutes. Even if you decide that she doesn't need to do it, I don't think it's stupid busy work, at least not necessarily.
Some teachers are dumb; we need too many of them and pay them too little for each and every one to be a superstar. The ones coming up with curricula and lesson plans usually aren't, though.
No need to go crazy with the first one. That first step from laptop keyboard or membrane pack-in is the biggest jump you'll ever make in typing experience. a brown-switch gamer board with the RBG turned off and some cheap Amazon "CSA" style keycaps might be all you'd ever need. Of course, even that type of thinking can lead to certain... rabbit holes.
Before I begin- Again, please no medical advice or suggestions. I am going to the Mayo Clinic in March and I will get their advice and I am just going to ignore any medical advice posted, sorry. Please no pity party either, I’m just angry and need a a place to rant and vent, that’s it. Feel free to ignore this post and move...
G2 is less sweet. Hell, that's a whole market segment at this point, so maybe there's something that hits your palate better. Pickle juice is probably still around somewhere too.
For the shakes, maybe look up various protein smoothie recipes if you get sick of Ensure. You can add milk or water to get the protein powder to a consistency you prefer.
Personally work in IT, mostly fixing server and infrastructure. Big fan of listening to ambiance music while working: the kind of music and sounds that make you forget that you’re listening to it, to me, that’s the perfect kind of working music. Otherwise I will listen to game and movie soundtracks from Lotr, Star Wars,...
Mostly (though not exclusively) Alt-country/Americana, because that's what I always listen to. As long as I've already heard it a few times, I don't typically find lyrics distracting. I'm a Contracting SME for a software company, because it's better hours and fewer crazies than being lawyer.
Last night, I watched ‘The Conners’ (it’s on after Jeopardy here, and it’s not so bad now that Barr is gone), and I can’t stop thinking about it. Hopefully, you saw it, too, but it was bothersome. It started with a 90+ YO woman getting her identity stolen. Fair enough. Then, the family thought that debit would be their...
More seriously though, I don't think any sitcom is obliged to be "educational." If most of the audience laughed and didn't find the narrative out of step with the tone of the show or the characterizations to be distractingly broad compared to earlier seasons/episodes, then it was a "good" episode of The Connors.
Now you tell me, do the Connors usually try to do the right thing and learn lessons, or are they kind of a bowdlerized "Shameless" now? I do not plan to watch enough to find out for myself.
Before Center could reply, I’m thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol’ Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He’s the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground. And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done – in mere seconds we’ll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check? There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground. I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: Ah, Center, much thanks, We’re showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money. For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the HoustonCentervoice, when L.A.came back with: Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one. It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day’s work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.
There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn’t match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: November Charlie 175, I’m showing you at ninety knots on the ground. Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the “ HoustonCentervoice.” I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country’s space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houstoncontrollers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that… and that they basically did. And it didn’t matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the Cessna’s inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his groundspeed. Twin Beach, I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed. Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check...
I did once try to drop my largest book on my dad's head from as high up as I could get, my logic being that since it wasn't an anvil, which was clearly artistic license, he'd probably be fine.
Interesting insight into how NIL and free transfers have combined (and only the combination could have done it) to wreak havoc on the G5, and to some extent up and down the chain. Seems the biggest schools are even cobbling together NIL packages for "walk-ons" that mysteriously cover the cost of attendance....
So, maybe I'll backpedal a bit. I used to argue vigorously against pro/rel for CFB, and I still don't think it works particularly well for the American mindset and not at all if you have rosters that have (1) players early in their development curves, (2) limited player movement and (3) literally every player cycling out of the "league" in 5 years. In the older system, it causes the exact problem, competitive imbalance, it meant was invented to combat, because what is more classic than a team of seniors overachieving or one full of freshmen taking their lumps and learning on the job?
In the old days, annual Euro stlye pro/rel would be a disaster for any "interesting" newly promoted teams and an unsatisfying romp for many relegated ones. You'd eventually settle into yoyo clubs but to an even less satisfying degree than in England now. Latin America style rolling performance relegation could work, but it rarely goes smoothly in practice, and is basically dead (or at least in a coma) in Mexico. Hell, the Superleague is rearing its head again in Europe, because Real Madrid and Juventus have somehow decided that a world where they can't outspend their opponents is the same thing as soccer "dying." We might see the end of pro/rel in Europe before we see a large US organization adopt it.
Still, In the new world order of CFB? Who the heck knows. Pro/rel could work. Playoffs aren't going away, so base playoff participation (but not seeding) at least 75% on conference performance, ban contracts for advance OOC scheduling (it's sports... the "need" to schedule 10-12 years out is overstated), let players go part-time and hang around for 7-8 years if they don't have an NFL future. Rework the TV deals with parachute payments and revenue sharing. You could craft a scenario where it works, and it could be an antitrust dodge the biggest schools are willing to stomach. I don't THINK SO, but nothing makes sense anymore anyway, LOL.
I don’t think the big dogs will stop coming after the studs from teams like USF.
While I don't think pro/rel is the solution in CFB, at all, I do think professional soccer has it right in how they handle similar roster pressures with nominally "equal" clubs on obviously uneven financial ground. If you pay players for a 3-4 year commitment, there is control with compensation. Big teams buy the contracts of players from smaller teams, and they pay training compensation to the teams where players first developed, and some non-negligible fees go to the players as well. Players still move, but in doing so they keep their old clubs financially healthy, the costs throw some grit into the flow from small to large, so not every player moves after every good year, and players are incentivized to maximize their value where they are. Something roughly analogous could happen in a professionalized CFB, though obviously compressed with most of the players moving on after 3-5 years.
Though, as I wander off on a tangent, admittedly the length of contracts is another wrinkle in professionalizing, and the powers that be do have their work cut out for them finding the right way to maintain a connection to the schools to keep product differentiation (i.e. how to keep it "college" football). A "lower" league can be vibrant and have passionate fans, but it needs something to make it unique and to have its rewards valued by stakeholders; in England for instance, history and community ties are enough to keep 100+ clubs culturally relevant. A "minor" league, on the other hand, is ultimately practice with uniforms and has a natural cap on how much enthusiasm it can generate.
We’re just getting closer to admitting that truth and paying the athletes for their work in the minor leagues, er, I mean college.
I mean, good. I want the college teams to have some essential nexus with the schools, but there are more ways to do that than the current or the prior model. The fiction that they're just regular ol' students who work out and practice and play for the love of "good ol' 'varsity" is ridiculous to the point of being insulting, and now we're in the worst of all worlds where the schools STILL pretend and therefore also won't pay the players directly to commit to them for 3-4 years, but the money is there so the players all (reasonably) follow it. Even the guys who have accepted that the NFL isn't an option (and among upperclassman starters I bet that's not very many) likely love the experience and lifestyle of playing football and/or getting a no-cost degree+NIL more than they love their specific schools.
How do you eat mustard where you live?
Frank Herbert always thought Star Wars was a Dune ripoff (www.polygon.com)
Two of world's first desktop computers found during house clearance (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
Two of the world’s first desktop computers have been discovered during a house clearance. The Q1, which was launched in 1972, changed the way we use computers today....
[Not OC] Welcome to Alberta (lemmy.world)
My daughter lost her social studies essay because LibreOffice doesn't have autosave on automatically.
This is about the most recent version of LibreOffice on Windows 10. I can’t speak for other versions....
It's a very special anniversary for me: I haven't had solid food in my stomach for six months as of 9:30 this morning. [This is a very long rant, please no medical advice.]
Before I begin- Again, please no medical advice or suggestions. I am going to the Mayo Clinic in March and I will get their advice and I am just going to ignore any medical advice posted, sorry. Please no pity party either, I’m just angry and need a a place to rant and vent, that’s it. Feel free to ignore this post and move...
What music to do you listen to while working?
Personally work in IT, mostly fixing server and infrastructure. Big fan of listening to ambiance music while working: the kind of music and sounds that make you forget that you’re listening to it, to me, that’s the perfect kind of working music. Otherwise I will listen to game and movie soundtracks from Lotr, Star Wars,...
Last nights Conner’s and TV responsibility
Last night, I watched ‘The Conners’ (it’s on after Jeopardy here, and it’s not so bad now that Barr is gone), and I can’t stop thinking about it. Hopefully, you saw it, too, but it was bothersome. It started with a 90+ YO woman getting her identity stolen. Fair enough. Then, the family thought that debit would be their...
Do you ever copy somebody else's post from one forum and post it on a different forum as your own?
Your username has suddenly become your only means of staying alive. How bad is it?
Finished the DIY build. Handwired, NO STABS, 3D printed case and feet, lasercut plates, Box Jades, and (kinda "meh") laser dye-sub XDA keycaps.
What's the smartest or most insightful thing you figured out as a kid that stays with you today?
As college football's elite is engulfed in a power struggle, G5 left just trying to survive: 'We are a farm system' (sports.yahoo.com)
Interesting insight into how NIL and free transfers have combined (and only the combination could have done it) to wreak havoc on the G5, and to some extent up and down the chain. Seems the biggest schools are even cobbling together NIL packages for "walk-ons" that mysteriously cover the cost of attendance....
These violent delights have violent ends (i.imgur.com)
Not my OC.