thomasjkenney
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
re: Einstein and ‘scientific expiry’, I heard on the British panel show QI a quip from Stephen Fry that ‘XX percent of all facts will be false in some number of years’ (paraphrasing), and while the numbers were not accurate, the trend is obviously there. A longtime family friend once told me that there is about a 40-year lead that science fiction stories have on reality…that is, most stuff that is incorporated into science fiction will have been invented, discovered, or calculated within the succeeding 40 years. That may actually have been a statement by one of the authors (Niven, Benford, Asimov, ???), but a quick Google doesn’t turn up anything, and I have to get back to work.
@zerosum re: cartoonsTom Toles has always been a favorite of mine, as well as, of course, Scott Adams.
I read all that CJ quoted, nearly ‘cried for no reason’ in front of my wife on this peaceful Sunday afternoon. Reading these, and here’s what I’m hearing:
Unbroken Chain – Grateful Dead
Blue light rain, whoa unbroken chain,
Looking for familiar faces in an empty window pane.
Listening for the secret, searching for the sound
But I could only hear the preacher and the baying of his hounds.Willow sky, whoa, I walk and wonder why,
They say love your brother, but you will catch it when you try.
Roll you down the line boy, drop you for a loss,
Ride you out on a cold railroad and nail you to a cross.November and more, as I wait for the score,
They’re telling me forgiveness is the key to every door.
A slow winter day a night like forever,
Sink like a stone, float like a feather.Lilac rain, unbroken chain, Song of the sawhet owl.
Out on the mountain, it’ll drive you insane, Listening to the winds howl
Unbroken chain of sorrow and pearls, Unbroken chain of shy and sea.
Unbroken chain of the western wind, Unbroken chain of you and me.@Dr. D re: snow…
Not sure where you’re from that you haven’t seen it before, but Arizona and Mexico regularly get snow in winter. Come to think of it, all those places you mention regularly get snow in winter, and maybe even the AUS location (mountainous?). Here in Cali, we get snow in summer on some of the higher peaks. We used to get occasional snow here in winter, just north of Los Angeles at 300m (900ft) elevation, but I haven’t seen this for more than a decade.
Also, re: ezlexa1949’s comments about instability – my observations (I’m 51 yrs, lived in same region, so have some time for this) are that the dry-wet cycles and the high-low-pressure cycles have been compressed. We are frequently getting a ‘whiplash’ of high pressure followed by low pressure. This and the dry-wet are something I feel physically because I have some bone injuries and some congenital weather-related sinus issues.
Add to this the increase in atmospheric moisture, which remains in cloud form longer into the summer, with summer being more mild until September, and then brutally hot until late November. More days in early- to mid-summer look like San Francisco weather, with puffy low clouds and more fog.
RE: the cartoon, and apropos to both Brexit and COP24 – Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop – A Day In The House. “Much is being said, My Lords, but nothing, Nothing, NOTHING IS BEING DONE!” The album was released in 1989…so…’same as it ever was’ (to also quote David Byrne).
@V. Arnold re: the Magritte style. For me, it’s his seashore. It reminds me of the opening ‘Sea and Sand’ sequence from the movie Quadrophenia…and very apropos to themes of drug addiction and sociopathy.
RE: ‘extremophile’ species, I see this locally in the mountains with tree species. The White Fir (Abies Concolor) has a typical range, in the San Gabriel Mtns, of about 1800m to 2600m. There are few summits in the range higher than that, the highest just above 3000m. The habitable zone for the trees is shrinking like a draining lake in reverse. This makes me quite sad, since these trees are among the most beautiful anywhere.
RE: the Picaso woman, cartoonist Robert Crumb professes to a preference for rubenesque women in the documentary Crumb.
@VA and our host re: the circus…
I was instantly reminded of the Jacques Tati film Parade. It’s got some amazing performances, not what I expected at all.
RE: Time Traveling Russian Assassins
I just posted this at MoA, after taking a fresh look:
OK, I’m late to the party on the ‘flipped’ meme. It bothered me yesterday that there wasn’t enough detail to determine if it was the same hallway. Today, with fresh coffee, it hit me…just before I read comments here and at the C. Murray article that mentioned the flippage. Anyway, here’s my highlighted comparison, with red highlighting the ‘wonky railing’ and orange highlighting the shoulder straps of their carry-on bags. The straps have a lower confidence score, but if the two are both right-handed (or both left) it’s more likely they would shoulder the bag the same way.
@Dr. D…
I believe the problem is that long-term lack of taxation has allowed some entities (persons?) to become big enough to be this problem. Unfortunately, now any fix is like closing the barn door after… wait… where the hell is the barn?!?!?
I will donate soon…but you must understand: here in the good ol’ U S of A, we are inches away from having ads injected directly into our brains! Please excuse if some of us are willing to cut off a foot to be able to have an ad-free experience somewhere.
anyone who thinks they’re sane is disqualified right off the bat
Catch 22!
I’ve got the apolitical blues, so I’ll quote from one of my favorite apolitical pundits, Mr. Neil Peart:
Half the world talks
With half a mind on what they say
Half the world walks
With half a mind to run away“…lack of new construction…”
Right…because we really need more of our precious farm land paved over with McMansions.
