TheVat

That would certainly make more sense of what's otherwise an odd crossed wire. That would be great, if moderate voters could see two California pols as not too much of a stretch. That's why I was thinking Kelly or Whitmer.

Wisconsin guv just signed a new redistricting bill, which removes most of the Republican gerrymanders. That might help with some of the House races (but I don't know how much effect the new maps have on US congressional districts v. statehouse districts). The House races are going to be critical this year, in terms of providing some reigning in of a demented and vengeful TFG (if he wins). NY and CA are also looking at potential seat flips. Though I've defended Biden in several threads here, his confusion of leaders of Egypt and Mexico the other day (a verbal gaffe I'm pretty sure, rather than a deeper confusion) seems to reflect a continuing decline that is worrisome. I've been hearing some compelling arguments from Dem pundits that Biden should bow out before the Convention and pass the torch to one of the younger stars currently sitting on the bench. Mark Kelly, Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, are some of the alternatives who look pretty strong and would definitely get me more excited about 2024. I think them continuing to boost Biden is okay, boosting solidarity and showing gratitude to Biden for the amazing job he's done in a very trying term, and they can keep doing that until the Convention draws nigh. But then, maybe Joe needs to do some candid self-reflection (if he hasn't already) and work with his team to figure out who might best carry on his work. As usual, Trump's ongoing and nonstop incoherence (Pennsylvania is going to change its name, Putin should feel free to attack our NATO allies if they can't keep up their membership payments, etc.) gets a pass from his adoring zombies.

I think the software is cra-shin. But I doff my cap to your wordplay.

There is no lumeniferous aether. Light can't have infinite velocity without matter containing infinite energy (also goodbye magnets). It just doesn’t make sense to talk about something moving faster than c. C just is - because it is specific in its relation to other things. Basic causality has a finite speed limit, which has nothing to do with some sort of aether.

Speaking of cheap sneakers.... https://www.thewrap.com/donald-trump-sneaker-con-gold-shoes/ Selling his sole again?

Sorta wonder if this is all some kind of decimal point error. Not enough lanthanides in the entire planet, even if everyone started recycling their cellphones (and all other electronics) and government stopped stockpiling them. Altman would have to have a fat M-type asteroid tucked away somewhere.

Thank you, benevolent overlords! So... complaining works. Who knew? Look out, world! 😀 Now, about my left knee....

So (i see) they moved the e.e. cummings style contest to here (this thread)) and he who pays attention to the syntax of things will never wholly win?

China’s rising economic success in the world isn’t a threat to the United States, that may be true but only in isolation from other facts about China, e.g. it being a totalitarian surveillance society that seeks to diminish liberal democracy in the world and ensnare developing countries in a web of debt obligations and political debts via its Belt and Road initiative, which may also prove a Trojan Horse for military expansion. Also, brutal repression and ethnic cleansing - Uighurs, Tibetans, et al. So, yeah, affordable appliances here may not be a direct threat, and help a squeezed middle class pay the bills, but that doesn't mean China's humming factory floor was developed out of pure altruism for the world's working class Context would be nice. And, because I occasionally enjoy being a dick, don't "context," and "time and circumstances" mean the same thing thus rendering that second clause redundant? 🙂

Sokay, and now I'm going to look up Fallen Angel later. (RW duties call atm). Thanks for the info.

Simple method: Roku stick on ten year old LED tv. No mic. No power to tv and Roku unless we're watching. Power strip off. @StringJunky I didn't see any text in your earlier reply. Zen? WAIT NEVER MIND. The whole post appeared after refresh.

I've heard this, don't know if that's a real thing. I opted not to buy a so-called Smart TV due to the suspicion about them and the mics. Five seems like a lot, though! 🙂

General reply to all, re ad format Here's an analogy: when you drive down a road, you may see billboards. You may take note of whatever they're peddling or ignore them. The billboard doesn't walk over to the middle of the road and demand that you notice it before you can continue on your way. This is what the page wall ads here are doing. I don't care what the budgetary excuses are for this. If the owner of SFN is really in this for the money (unlikely given he is a holistic medicine physician in Florida), then I have no problem sending him $10/yr or whatever. JMO.

I've had that happen a couple times and ascribed it to coincidence and a certain amount of attentional bias - i.e. if I had a chat about turnips I'm thinking more about turnips and so I notice the turnip sale ad my mind would otherwise have passed over. (watch out for turnip ads, everyone!)

Thanks, the term (though not the trend) was new to me. It's why I don't entirely object to a small annual subscription fee to a web forum (perhaps set up as a premium option, so those who cannot pay are still able to participate). Yep. My wife knows about it. Apparently they are trying to edge out Amazon by means of massive floods of random crap ads, hoping to get just one click which takes you to absurdly cheap deals which are loss leaders promoted to grab market share from Amazon and get people hooked. DO NOT CLICK, says me spouse, and they diminish after a while. I automatically scrub my browsing info (cache, cookies, etc) so the ads are generally wild and incorrect guesses. As the OP indicated, I object to the quantity and the format which is used on my Chrome device.

Tired of harassment-level ads that constantly drop over the page one is trying to navigate to. Is there a way to get some feedback to @blike and go back to the usual banner ads or other formats one can scroll past? Does anyone really think they're going to sell a product by shoving it in our cyber-faces over and over? I would think there is an inverse relationship between rudeness of ads and sales generated. SFN is better than this. And no, I don't want to change my wifi provider, thanks.

Well played. And if he did order an assassination, Congress might try to impeach, but such proceedings are just partisan witch hunts, as Trump has taught us.

Yes they do me as well. VKM disappeared from his prison near Omsk a couple weeks ago, so it seems likely he got the Arctic circle hellhole transfer that Navalny got in early December. "Special regime" colonies, they call them.

Very sad to hear of Navalny's death. A light has gone out of the world.

Corvids and parrots are noted for their intelligence, so why not them as models for a neural architecture? In fewer words than the OP, what makes an albatross the preferred bird brain? Why not an African gray parrot, which some consider the smartest avian? Animal behaviorist and psychologist Irene Pepperberg et al found this species to be cognitively on a par with a human 3-4 year old.

Wow, Earth has really gotten fat!

Yes, I was not offering speculative fiction as anything but a nod to the possibilities that writers and futurists explore. I'm aware it would not be easy, nor is success certain. My guess is that commercial profitability in space would depend on something other than chemical rockets to get out of Earth gravity well. Not only due to per kilo costs of lifting and the expense of maintaining stability and safety atop a controlled explosion but also environmental regulations that might be imposed.

A lot of importance is given to Faraday's new electromotive motor and there is considerable hype that it might be amenable to practical applications where Mr Watt's engine proves cumbersome. However it's hard to see this ever going beyond a few niche markets, given the considerable expense and labor involved in the fabrication, not to mention the problems of creating a wide availability of electrical generation and transmission. Mr Faraday's device appears to be more a toy than a real solution in providing mechanical power in quotidian uses.

Agree if the projections are with chemical propellants supplying the delta vee. Which is why I respect sci-fi writers and futurists who take some trouble to posit different propulsion systems, carbon nanotube elevators, etc for their robust off-planet futures. But for sure, chemical rockets are cranky and expensive AF. And likely to remain so. There may be other scenarios responsive to Fermi's Question. And we are still at the beginning of an era of remote sensing of extra-solar planets, so it's not like all the anomalies have been studied and conclusions drawn. Worth looking into that before dropping in a doom prophecy and confidently labeling it as "news."