JoeDaDude

I have no source for this, but I did read somewhere that the word "aerial" used to denote an antenna derives from early experiments where kites were used to hoist a wire high up.

Fun fact: The modern, gliding square parachutes we are familiar with today, was invented as an evolutionary development of a kite.

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

Every time I hear about something ancient being discovered that has writing on it, I immediately ask What does it say?! I realize it may take a lot of time and effort to decipher these things, but I think we have a pretty good handle on most Maya writing.

I'd add that modern PCs don't encourage programming. Sure, potential programmer could seek out ways to rode and run javascript in the browser, which is typically included with the PC, but it would still require curiosity and determination. Without that BASIC prompt, most users will never even have the concept that THEY TOO could program this thing.

Although not technically an Easter Egg (more like unused code), the Hot Coffee mod [1] to Grand Theft Auto San Andreas certainly cost the developer and publisher a lot of headaches and money. I can see why Easter Eggs would be forbidden after that experience.

[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Coffee_(minigame)

Native Spanish speaker here, giving two observations. First, it's not unusual to aspirate the "s" sound in Spanish spoken in the Caribbean countries, particularly if it precedes a consonant, hear several examples in [1]. While this is reserved for informal colloquial speech, it is not an indication of social class. Second, I realize there is a gray divide between what constitutes a dialect and what is just regional accent and slang, but I only hear the latter in the examples given in TFA. I'd expect a lot more differences, bordering on unintelligible, before I call it a dialect. Maybe I'll change my mind if I hear more examples of New Mexico Spanish, but for now, it just sounds like some peculiar word choices and not a completely different dialect,

[1]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9EXc9UkJtA

Famous quote: "Wouldn't it be nice if our machines were smart enough to allow programming in natural language?". Well, natural languages are most suitable for their original purposes, viz. to be ambiguous in, to tell jokes in and to make love in, but most unsuitable for any form of even mildly sophisticated precision. And if you don't believe that, either try to read a modern legal document and you will immediately see how the need for precision has created a most unnatural language, called "legalese", or try to read one of Euclid's original verbal proofs (preferably in Greek). That should cure you, and should make you realize that formalisms have not been introduced to make things difficult, but to make things possible. And if, after that, you still believe that we express ourselves most easily in our native tongues, you will be sentenced to the reading of five student essays. - Dijkstra From EWD952

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/EWD952...

The generally accepted way to learn music reading is to use the mnemonics like FACE and Every Good Boy Does Fine for the treble clef. So, basically, you need memorization with drilling to get you to associate the lines and spaces with notes.

But there is an alternate method [1] in which you learn a small number of reference lines and spaces, and learn the remainder as being separated by so many steps up or down from the references. You'll still need to drill and practice, but maybe this will feel more natural to you. Anecdotally, I can tell you that I used the mnemonics for a very long time and still made occasional dumb mistakes, but then I used the reference notes method and noticeably improved my sight reading.

[1] https://musophone.com/read-music-fast/

I knew it! For ages I speculated that those blinking red lights on auto flushing urinals were part of a camera system taking pictures of men's junk for an FBI database. In fact, that was probably how they obtained the evidence they used against Michael Jackson in his child abuse case.

For better or worse, we've been living in the future, and it will probably get worse.

So, it is something better than the Neurosky?

https://store.neurosky.com/pages/mindwave

While no longer available, the Neurosky was once sold for only $109.

To be fair, there is a clear definition of ethnicity as "the quality or fact of belonging to a population group or subgroup made up of people who share a common cultural background or descent".

So while an individual cannot decide who they descended from, they can choose whether or not to accept a set of cultural norms. People routinely change religions, learn other languages, or follow other traditions outside the ethnic cultural norms they were born into.

The TFA states that ethnicity is only one of many potential "population descriptors" and recommends that researchers "use multiple descriptors rather than a single, overly broad category".

I took my own advice. The credits for the film The Day After Trinity (1981) mention NBC which my fuzzy memory told me was the original interviewer. Further digging led me to this source:

https://www.historyvshollywood.com/video/robert-oppenheimer-...

which claims the interview was aired on NBC television in 1965.

I don't have a definitive answer, but for a clue, my fuzzy memory seems to recall that it was recorded in an interview in the 50's, sometime after Oppenheimer lost his clearance. The clip appears in the film The Day After Trinity, so there may be some indication in the credits about the source or when that clip was filmed.

Came to check out the Emulator, stayed to enjoy the history and design lessons of the Apple II computers. Thanks for posting!!

Detecting incoming asteroids, especially small ones, is really hard. The recent 1-meter meteor that exploded over Europe, was only the seventh instance of a successful detection.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2023/02/13/asteroid-expl...

Indeed I am totally unable to get female vocals no matter what I type. Every song has that same rapper dude voice.

Action creates motivation, rather than the reverse. Just take the first few steps. Goals? Nice to have, but you don't need them either (from a fellow Nihingo student).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO0GTMgqPI8

Great list. Did you manage to take these courses online? If so, where?

Yes indeed. This is a fun toy, but there is software out there that can be used to plan real balloon missions, such as:

https://amateur.sondehub.org/

In my will, I'm going to ask that I be buried in soft mud in a river delta, or some similar place likely to become sedimentary rock in the far future. But I also want to be buried with some relic that proves I was a member of a technically literate civilization. I surmise something like a wooden abacus. The wooden abacus would fossilize along with my remains. I hope my fossil, and the fossilized object I carry, will be found in the far future.

Not to mention giving China and Russia a run for their territory, first in the 1894 Sino-Japanese war, only some 40 odd years after opening up to world trade and rapidly industrializing.

Crazy idea: Try rock climbing. Climbing is (in addition to crazy fun) a huge motivator for getting in the best shape you can. Further, the best way to train for rock climbing is rock climbing. You'll still need to go out to a rock gym, but you won't see that as going to the gym, you"ll be going climbing.

How does a surveillance balloon get the collected data back to where it is analyzed and used? I suspect the data is relayed by satellite (unless there are collection sites within the US). Which Chinese satellites are able to cover the US?

Cute. I am reminded of the short story "Tower of Babylon" by Ted Chiang in which he writes science fiction/speculative fiction about ascending a fictitious Tower of Babel as it would have been imagined centuries ago.

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?40853

IMHO, not very much. Scientists would be all over it, trying to measure and study what they found. The public at large would speculate wildly on what the aliens would look like, what their society or philosophy would be like, etc. But in the absence of any new information, interest would die out and it would be just another bit of knowledge that humans adapt to, sort of like when heliocentrism took over or when evolution was discovered.

And there would be denialists and conspiracy theorists, people who would blame it on some group as an effort to change their deeply held beliefs and views.

The scene with the trucks and PoWs made it into the 1956 version of the film, see relevant clip (or the whole movie if interested) at the following link:

https://youtu.be/fpGThhWTW2E?t=1896

Swords to plowshares? I used to work there as a contractor a long time ago. Another place I worked at, the Naval Air Development Center in Pennsylvania, was also closed. The human centrifuge became a disco. Both military bases are now devoted to entertainment.

https://rentthefuge.com/

Best takeaway IMHO: "... writing begets writing ..." I've read elsewhere, and I'm finding it to be true, that action creates motivation which leads to more action and results. if there is something you want to do, start doing it, the sooner the better.

When much younger, I promised myself that if I do nothing else in life, I would learn to play the Prelude in C. I've since met that promise, and played a few other things too, but the Prelude will always be special for me.

As an aside, that's a way cool design! Love the bubbles pattern. If I could get one today, I would.