Man, fuck off with that "No true Scotsman" bullshit.

That you have shitty taste in music comes as no surprise.

My sister used to raise her own turkeys. Up close they looked like something from a paleontology textbook, but they were still good-natured, very curious creatures. They would always come up to you and inspect you, talking all the time. Maybe they were just demanding food. Dunno.

They ate good stuff, they had a big enough pen that they could run around to their heart's content, they were basically happy turkeys. And it showed: they had a wonderful flavour and a nice texture.

...laura

Walker, sanely, is gauging whether his soul is worth wading

What soul? He's a pol.

Basic plug strip for the cord that comes out of my computer. I don't have a cord coming out of my armpit... :-)

...laura

It's not Oil being a part of the equation, it's cheap oil, which really wasn't available until he beginning of the 20th, that was the feedstock for all that complexity.

See how much innovation and growth you can manage when just brewing your cup of coffee in the morning either requires you to build a fire or fork over lots of money for a few watts.

I remember a few years ago seeing the 1960s Canadian TV series Wojeck, and it carried a viewer discretion warning that the standards for personal and professional relationships had changed since the program was produced. There was a certain element of "like, duh!", but somebody had thought about it, and I had no problem with it.

Fast forward to the present day. I'm watching Swedish sci-fi show Äcta Människor ("Real Humans" in English). It quietly avoids any gratuitous sex or violence, but there is lots of non-gratuitous sex and violence, as integral parts of the plot. Like all Scandinavian shows it has interesting female characters who do in fact talk to each other about something other than men. That's the sort of culture they want, it's one I admire, and I'm cool with it.

...laura

Automate basic jobs, so I can talk to humans.

I view this as an extension of using cruise control in a car, or an autopilot in a plane. Let robots do what they're good at, so humans can do what they are good at.

...laura

Ah, Slashdot. Where everyone's a rugged individualist, whip smart, and an IT god.

No wonder this place collapsed, burdened as it was it was by the greatest ego load known to mankind.

My Dad was 68 when he died. My Mom was 75. I'm 53 now. If I significantly outlive either of them I will be surprised.

...laura

I think it's completely pointless.

At the latitude where I live, the sun sets after 2100 PDT in the summer. That would still be 2000 PST, with an hour and a half of twilight after that. What more do people want?

In the winter the sun sets at 1600 PST. Even 1700 PDT wouldn't buy much, particularly since that would mean sunrise at 0900 PDT.

...laura

I looked carefully at my viewing habits, concluded I was paying a fortune for the two or three channels I actually watched, and decided there had to be a better way. The major drop in the quality of the content didn't help.

I now have over-the-air TV for local news, iTunes, Netflix and Acorn, DVDs, and stream stuff. This includes a U.K. VPN account to circumvent BBC and ITV geoblocking. It all works fine.

...laura

Started a farm, moved house, moved offices, attended an elaborate southern wedding.

That's my last 6 months. How about you?

We're talking about Jose Canseco here. "Common Sense" doesn't apply to a roided-up ex-celebrity ballplayer.

Yup.

There are often limits on authenticity, either due to parts availability (e.g. TTL ICs), or for convenience (modern monitors, keyboards).

...laura