International Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.Play
- Dos.Zone. An interactive database of DOS games playable in a browser (see also Internet Archive). Thanks Boing Boing.
Breakfast Links
- Motor Vehicle Deaths in 2020 Estimated to be Highest in 13 Years, Despite Dramatic Drops in Miles Driven. Thanks Max.
- Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in. Thanks Acleacius.
- The worst bed also perhaps the best.
Science
Image
Media
Mr. Tact wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 15:25:Appears that you're correct.RedEye9 wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 13:33:I was going to guess, "No traffic, BABY! Pedal to the metal!"jdreyer wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 13:30:My uneducated guess is less public transportation use.
Motor Vehicle Deaths in 2020 Estimated to be Highest in 13 Years, Despite Dramatic Drops in Miles Driven.
Surprising, I would have thought a drop in deaths by 25% over 2019. I wonder what the cause is. Self driving cars can't come soon enough.
You have a lot of people that went out and bought vehicles so they could avoid buses and subways, and most of them I bet are unskilled drivers.
I bet the number of fender benders are through the roof.
Acleacius wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 13:53:See here.
Still hoping one day, to be able to login and return to the intended page to post.-
If there is no current post in an article you want to post in. You login, then get stuck, have to return to the Bluesnews.com, and then back to the article page.
Acleacius wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 13:53:Done, for both news and forums. Thanks, this was one of those little why-didn't-I-think-of-that-ten-years-ago tweaks.
Doing a Search, it would be nice to have a Page Count. -
I was trying to see if you already had posted the story of Kojima's exit after finding a decent story but had no idea how many pages I was going to be searching through.
Kxmode wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 14:04:While I love that episode (even if it's illogical as pointed out by others) I'm not sure you could really base an entire show around them. The entire point of making theMr. Tact wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 07:49:Kxmode wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 02:17:The Darmok episode is a fan and critic favorite. I like it too, but it does have serious problems.
And the episode, Darmok explains how nomenclature can render the UT useless. "The situation is analogous to understanding the grammar of a language, but none of the vocabulary," as Data puts it. Technically speaking, if the UT followed the rules, its use would be quite limited.
The concept of a language which uses metaphors as the major component is intriguing to say the least. I could see it being purposely developed as a formal or perhaps royal dialect. A way of speaking for special occasions. But the idea a race which builds and uses interstellar spaceships, which have communications, weapons, shields, matter transport, seemingly all the technology the Federation has and using such a language as their only communication is inconceivable. You can't discuss and design technology like that via metaphors. You can't measure wave frequency, mass, density, power fluctuations, etc., using metaphors. You can't research chemical interactions, physics, and other very technical subjects using metaphors. If nothing else they would have to have a "technology language" for these things. And they would realize the need to have a language of this nature to communicate with any species which did not share the cultural basis for their formal dialect.
It is a fun episode, but ultimately quite nonsensical.
Agreed. The Tamarians were the disposable "alien of the week." When DS9 premiered, my thought was, "Why the Bajorans?" The series fleshed out other aliens like Fereghi, Cardassian, Breen, and so forth, but the Bajorans remained the series's centerpiece. There are many other exciting races the series could have chosen as the centerpiece. Chief among them were the Tamarians. I wish the series could have had the Federation learn more about their people and exciting language. Maybe even have an episode where the UT team visits the Tamarian homeworld to learn essential words to add to the device, and in doing so, the viewers learn more about language.
Mr. Tact wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 13:40:Truly one of the great hard-sci fi movies ever made. A true masterpiece. And Denis V is such a good director. I'm super stoked for his Dune.The Flying Penguin wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 12:24:"Arrival" was awesome. I've watched it at least a dozen times and have it on 4k Blu-ray. Definitely the best sci-fi film of the that decade.
As a model for first contact, I really liked the movie Arrival. I enjoy it more and more each time I watch it. It really gets across how difficult it would be to establish communication with a completely alien species that we have no common linguistic framework with.
Mr. Tact wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 07:49:Kxmode wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 02:17:The Darmok episode is a fan and critic favorite. I like it too, but it does have serious problems.
And the episode, Darmok explains how nomenclature can render the UT useless. "The situation is analogous to understanding the grammar of a language, but none of the vocabulary," as Data puts it. Technically speaking, if the UT followed the rules, its use would be quite limited.
The concept of a language which uses metaphors as the major component is intriguing to say the least. I could see it being purposely developed as a formal or perhaps royal dialect. A way of speaking for special occasions. But the idea a race which builds and uses interstellar spaceships, which have communications, weapons, shields, matter transport, seemingly all the technology the Federation has and using such a language as their only communication is inconceivable. You can't discuss and design technology like that via metaphors. You can't measure wave frequency, mass, density, power fluctuations, etc., using metaphors. You can't research chemical interactions, physics, and other very technical subjects using metaphors. If nothing else they would have to have a "technology language" for these things. And they would realize the need to have a language of this nature to communicate with any species which did not share the cultural basis for their formal dialect.
It is a fun episode, but ultimately quite nonsensical.
The Flying Penguin wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 12:24:"Arrival" was awesome. I've watched it at least a dozen times and have it on 4k Blu-ray. Definitely the best sci-fi film of that decade.
As a model for first contact, I really liked the movie Arrival. I enjoy it more and more each time I watch it. It really gets across how difficult it would be to establish communication with a completely alien species that we have no common linguistic framework with.
Mr. Tact wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 07:49:Kxmode wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 02:17:The Darmok episode is a fan and critic favorite. I like it too, but it does have serious problems.
And the episode, Darmok explains how nomenclature can render the UT useless. "The situation is analogous to understanding the grammar of a language, but none of the vocabulary," as Data puts it. Technically speaking, if the UT followed the rules, its use would be quite limited.
The concept of a language which uses metaphors as the major component is intriguing to say the least. I could see it being purposely developed as a formal or perhaps royal dialect. A way of speaking for special occasions. But the idea a race which builds and uses interstellar spaceships, which have communications, weapons, shields, matter transport, seemingly all the technology the Federation has and using such a language as their only communication is inconceivable. You can't discuss and design technology like that via metaphors. You can't measure wave frequency, mass, density, power fluctuations, etc., using metaphors. You can't research chemical interactions, physics, and other very technical subjects using metaphors. If nothing else they would have to have a "technology language" for these things. And they would realize the need to have a language of this nature to communicate with any species which did not share the cultural basis for their formal dialect.
It is a fun episode, but ultimately quite nonsensical.
RedEye9 wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 11:40:Shama-lama-ding-dong
The mentally ill ‘QAnon Shaman-long-a-ding-dong’ will remain in jail. Judge slams his arguments as being ‘So frivolous as to insult the Court’s intelligence’
But that wasn’t the main reason they’re keeping him locked up. They don’t think he would come back to court if they cut him loose based on his previous statements. Not to mention his threats against the former veep.
RedEye9 wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 09:59:What I would like to know and haven't seen in any of the articles I read on this subject is how much did people save prior to the storm via this pay the wholesale price deal? The only mentions I've read to this point have been non-specific and at least partially contradictory. If over ten years those people paid the same amount which others using standard power rates paid for one year of power. Well, my sympathy for their plight is going to be reduced by about nine tenths.jdreyer wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 04:47:It didn't affect me and i seriously doubt BoP would sign up for such a scheme.
A decade of low cost power savings wiped out in 32 hours. Crazy. You didn't get hit did you? BoP? Someone else lives in TX, I forget.
As for those that did i remind them of this oldie but goodie "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is."Waiting for the inevitable comment from politicians: "Texans would rather pay a $10,000 power bill than have the Federal Government messing in their electricity."I would expect the AG to say those exact words.
jdreyer wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 04:47:It didn't affect me and i seriously doubt BoP would sign up for such a scheme.RedEye9 wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 21:28:
Texas Won't Reduce $16 Billion In Electricity Charges From Winter Storm
The word Friendship was adopted as the Texas state motto by the Forty-first Texas Legislature in February 1930.
A decade of low cost power savings wiped out in 32 hours. Crazy. You didn't get hit did you? BoP? Someone else lives in TX, I forget.
Waiting for the inevitable comment from politicians: "Texans would rather pay a $10,000 power bill than have the Federal Government messing in their electricity."I would expect the AG to say those exact words.
Kxmode wrote on Mar 9, 2021, 02:17:The Darmok episode is a fan and critic favorite. I like it too, but it does have serious problems.
And the episode, Darmok explains how nomenclature can render the UT useless. "The situation is analogous to understanding the grammar of a language, but none of the vocabulary," as Data puts it. Technically speaking, if the UT followed the rules, its use would be quite limited.
RedEye9 wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 21:28:
Texas Won't Reduce $16 Billion In Electricity Charges From Winter Storm
The word Friendship was adopted as the Texas state motto by the Forty-first Texas Legislature in February 1930.
The Half Elf wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 23:31:
Go all the way back to Undiscovered Country, when Uhura has more or less Klingon Dictionaries. Or further back with Hoshi on Enterprise figuring out languages for the UT. Take Cuban Spanish verses Mexico Spanish, or even some words from English to those in Spanish or Italian. It's like the saying to the effect of "Eskimo's have 50 words for snow", when most languages have multiple words that mean the same thing relatively speaking.
Kxmode wrote on Mar 8, 2021, 21:37:Yeah, it is one of the big things they paper over. In ST:DS9 when the Cardassians are introduced to the Breen as their new Dominion allies, Damar can't understand the Breen. He complains to Weyoun and then says (paraphrased), "If I had known we were meeting with the Breen I would have had my universal translator updated". This is one of a couple of nods I have noticed over all the Star Trek series which is apparently meant to make us think universal translators are ubiquitous... but it doesn't explain why with no human present that we, the audience, would hear English. And even if it was supposed to, why can't we understand the Breen?
Has anyone noticed in Star Trek episodes where there are no humans, the language spoken is still English? I thought about that after watching the DS9 episode "The House of Quark."![]()