The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion
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Daily Chit Chat
Jim wrote: "the kids came over & brought a couple of games tonight that we'd never played: "Cards Against Humanity" & "Poetry For Neanderthals". They were fun. In the first, 1 person picks a card that has so..."
We play cards against humanity at the beach house every year and it is fun. the sickest minds seem to be the quiet ones in my family.
Jim wrote: "Actually, you do care about someone getting into any accounts since they often have bits of verifying information like name, address, birthday, mother's maiden name & such. It takes surprisingly li..."Thanks. Maybe I do need one. I'll confer with The Boss....
It's been an 'interesting' few days. Marg's toilet started rocking & I couldn't find a contractor to fix it, so Josh (my SIL) & I did Friday. By lunch time both it & I were done. I have the knowledge, tools, & materials, but the body is just not up to the task any more. Very frustrating. That afternoon the seal between the tank & the bowl started to leak & Josh tightened it a little too much. The tank cracked. Well, I'd wanted to replace the toilet anyway. It was a low, cheap one & Marg's knees aren't getting any better, so we bought a comfort height toilet & installed it. Poor Josh was light on sleep & time since he's a web developer. Fixing the Log4J vulnerability kept him up until 3am & then busy again in the morning. All went well, except the supply line wouldn't reach, so he had to make another trip to town to deal with that. Any trip to town takes at least an hour, so it was evening before the new toilet was functional.
The trip to town wasn't bad since someone else had gone through & pushed all the fallen limbs & trees to the sides of the road. The storm we had Friday night here was pretty bad with high winds & almost 3" of rain. I live in Kentucky, but I'm in the north central area over 250 miles from Mayfield in the southwest end of the state where the town was flattened by tornados & dozens were killed inside a candle factory. That's a terrible, sad mess.
Since 2014, I've summed up my year's reading in the year on Goodreads. I update it occasionally through the year with the books that really strike me & I always list quite a few. 2021 on Goodreads was no exception, even though I wasn't able to read nearly as much as usual. Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I wound up buying a couple of Xmas presents for myself. My computer monitor died. Luckily, the kids had one I could borrow until my new one got here. I just got it today & I'm loving it. It's a 4K 29" one even though my video card doesn't support 4K yet. I'm sure I'll get one soon. In the meantime, the extra real estate is nice. The width is up from 1980 to 2560, while the height is still 1080. I usually keep quite a few apps running, so it's easier to put them side by side now.The aquarium pump I've been using on my scroll saw has been blowing less air, so I broke down & bought a new one that puts out a lot more. It's really nice. No more bending over to blow the sawdust off the lines while I'm cutting. Trying to figure out what the right output of air is for a scroll saw when hooking up a pump made for an aquarium was interesting, but I got it right. It’s 18 watt, 2.9 psi (0.02 mpa), 10 gallons (38 liters) of air per minute, in case anyone is curious.
My SF reading has slacked off in favor of nonfiction over the years. It's articles like this one about a new car that can change its color at the touch of a button. I feel as if I'm in one of those SF futures.https://www.dezeen.com/2022/01/06/ix-...
I have to update last years reading. I missed again due to COVID, but this year I hope to hit the mark once again.
Do we have too much time & money? Is social media making people less intelligent? I have serious doubts about our ability to survive when I read an article where a fairly obscure actress can make over $200,000 selling her farts in a jar. I don't understand why. I didn't think it could get much worse, but now she's selling NFTs of them. Imagine that for a moment. She's selling links to pictures of a fart in a jar & people are actually shelling out cash for this.
We're doomed.
https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/us-w...
I have no words!Except maybe "Yikes!"
Jim wrote: "I have serious doubts about our ability to survive when I read an article where a fairly obscure actress can make over $200,000 selling her farts in a jar. I don't understand why."Because there are buyers. Is it that different from buying passports to heaven or other things from 100 and more years ago? As an American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen wrote in 1920s, there is a Conspicuous consumption to show that you can even if you don't need
Jim wrote: "Do we have too much time & money? Is social media making people less intelligent? I have serious doubts about our ability to survive when I read an article where a fairly obscure actress can make o...We're doomed."
According to the link, she's a Reality Star. So really, her buyers are only the kind of people who watch her kind of reality shows. Hmm. So we were probably already doomed even before the fart market started.
Mod
Wordle 209 4/6
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
sold. i'll sent you 16,4 of my self invented crypto coins for it.
Mod
Yay!
And for anyone looking for hints for today's Wordle: the word of the day is NOT "crwth".
The new Wordle game confused me at first. I have an old shareware DOS game from the early 90s that's called Wordle. As you can see, it's also a 5x5 grid, but it's filled in. You have to make 5 letter words by using adjacent letters with the last letter of the word becoming the first of the next. Difficult!
Jim wrote: "The new Wordle game confused me at first. I have an old shareware DOS game from the early 90s that's called Wordle. As you can see, it's also a 5x5 grid, but it's filled in. You have to make 5 lett..."Cool! You can play it here https://www.playdosgames.com/play/wor...
The rules are a bit different to what you describe: words must be 4 or more letters and no restrictions on first letter being the same as the last word's last letter. May be a different version?
Mod
The 9's wrapped around the screen and came out on the other side!
Then I stopped because that clicking sound was eating into my brain.
Looks like the same version I have. The next word starting with the last letter is a mistake on my part. I thought the rules said so, but I played it & the program doesn't stop you from moving to another letter.I have over a gig of old DOS games that I can play in DosBox. If you're old enough to remember loading those from floppy disks, you'll know just how many that must be. Most of the early ones fit on a single 1.44mb floppy disk. In the 90s, they often used more. Thank goodness CDs came out. Some programs came on dozens of disks. It got really old feeding them in.
Just had another go. Must be something wrong with the clock synchronisation because it's definitely allowing far in excess of 3 minutes. Curious to know what dictionary they used for verifying words. It doesn't allow some like "SWOT"; maybe that's too British.
Sabri wrote: "Just had another go...."If that's the old game, I wouldn't be surprised at either. They have tiny dictionaries & a lot of words we take for granted now weren't around.
I've played 4 rounds of the new Wordle now. I've solved it on the 3d word twice (including today) & on the 4th word twice. It's incredible how hard it looks to start, but the choices slim down so quickly. With over a million words in the lexicon & from some of the chatter, I'd think it would be harder. Maybe I've just gotten lucky.
Mod
The seller gave me a UPS tracking number. I've been looking at that tracking number on the UPS site every few days and it shows they have not actually been given the package to ship.
Nonetheless, today UPS sent me a mail saying it would be delivered today. It wasn't. Looking at the tracking info again on UPS, they still say they never received it.
It appears to be in a quantum entangled state of shipped and not shipped.
Ed wrote: "I'm having an interesting experience with an internet purchase."I don't usually buy physical books these days - already too many in my home library, preferring ebooks/audio. However, this December in order to support vaccination, the Ukrainian gov't give UAH 1000 (about USD 35) to all fully vaccinated, with a strict limit on where these funds can be spent - only to buy railway tickets (support transport and tourism), cinema/theatre tickets, pay for using sport facilities and finally for buying books. Quite a few decided to do the later, first overcrowding internet bookshops and then the delivery system. I've made 2 orders on Dec 31st and books aren't sent even now, the shops are overwhelmed (USD 35 allows to buy 5-7 hardcovers here, not like in the US).
That's weird, Ed. Good luck. I hope the seller is a good one & it's not a unique item. We've had very good luck with Internet purchases & we buy a lot that way now.
In Australia, anything that come from China, can take months to arrive or just never arrive. Even if only a tiny component comes from China.
Mod
On the one hand the computer sends me messages saying the package is out for delivery and I'll have it soon. On the other hand, it says they never received the package at all, thus cannot deliver it.
The seller originally promised me "Free two-day delivery". (Even though I don't care much about the speed.) So now at work, when my boss asks for something I say "Free two-day delivery!".
Mod
That is interesting! Possibly a bureaucratic difficult problem to enforce, but a well-intentioned idea.
Ed wrote: "That is interesting! Possibly a bureaucratic difficult problem to enforce, but a well-intentioned idea."It is a bit like food stamps idea-wise - in our case, you get a debit card, which can pay only on seller's specific ID products (most goods have IDs for tax purposes)
While I'm having fun & still doing well with Wordle, a friend just turned me on to Lewdle (lewdlegame.com). Only lewd words allowed, otherwise the same. It's TOUGH.
Mod
I've also played wordle in Spanish and French and even "Evil Wordle" where there is no answer until you start trying to guess, then it intentionally leads you down a path where you will need many guesses.
Jim wrote: "While I'm having fun & still doing well with Wordle, a friend just turned me on to Lewdle (lewdlegame.com). Only lewd words allowed, otherwise the same. It's TOUGH."Got Wordle in 3 today. I'm fairly impressed with myself and had to boast, sorry.
I'm getting tired of the cold. I know single degree temps at night bouncing up into the 30s during the day isn't a big deal for some of you, but it wears me down as I get older. We're in our second week of this mess. I hope it kills off the ticks, anyway. We had a warm winter last year & far too many ticks this past spring. It took me 4 to get the Wordle, but only 3 again to get the Lewdle. If I hadn't read something with the Lewdle word in it not long ago, I never would have gotten it. I only remembered it because I had to look it up since I didn't understand it even from the context. (view spoiler)
I feel the same way about the cold, but I'm really tired of the giant piles of snow making the side streets very narrow, so that often two cars don't fit when they're coming from different directions. And walking is even worse on uneven hard, or slippery snow.
Jim wrote: "It took me 4 to get the Wordle, but only 3 again to get the Lewdle..."Hah, very imaginitve variation. Today's Lewdle for me:
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
The reduced dictionary makes it harder to think of words, but easier to get it in fewer guesses. Once I had that middle letter I took five minutes to think of anything that would fit, and it turned out to be the answer.
Sabri wrote: "...The reduced dictionary makes it harder to think of words, but easier to get it in fewer guesses. Once I had that middle letter I took five minutes to think of anything that would fit, and it turned out to be the answer."Wow! You got it fast. I agree with your summation. I got 2 letters in my first guess (i & m), but they were out of order & couldn't think of anything, so I tried 5 new letters on my second guess. That gave me the same result as you got on that try. I kept flipping back to it for over an hour before getting it, though.
Jim wrote: "Sabri wrote: "...The reduced dictionary makes it harder to think of words, but easier to get it in fewer guesses. Once I had that middle letter I took five minutes to think of anything that would f..."Looks like you had a different word to me! Maybe a timezone thing?
No idea. Yesterday's word was (view spoiler) & today's word was (view spoiler) for me. What were yours?It took me 4 tries & quite a while to get both today.
Ah okay, my "today" word equals your "today" word.Your "yesterday" word is particularly British, I'm not surprised it took some special effort.
Sabri wrote: "Ah okay, my "today" word equals your "today" word..."It might have been the time since I'm up pretty early & there's about a 5 hour time difference. You're sure right on the Brit-ness of that word. I read it several times, couldn't decide what it meant, & looked it up. Only that much trouble would have made me remember it for more than 5 minutes.
Jim wrote: "I'm getting tired of the cold. I know single degree temps at night bouncing up into the 30s during the day isn't a big deal for some of you, but it wears me down as I get older. We're in our second..."After growing up in Georgia, I moved about as far south as I could, without leaving the US, to get away from winter. This weekend the forecast is for a low of 35, the coldest we've seen in years, plus high winds. It is supposed to tie a record low set in the 1970's, the first time we will have tied a record low temperature since 2010. I cannot tolerate cold weather. Brrr. I don't see how you Upnorth folks survive.
I agree, Buck. Part of our issue is the temps bounce so much. I really feel sorry for folks like you since too many don't even have proper heat or insulation.
Ed wrote: "Beware of falling frozen iguanas!"The local TV news people have been warning us of that. We've only ever seen one iguana at our place but some folks have lots of them. It hasn't been cold enough in a long time to make them fall.
Jim wrote: "I agree, Buck. Part of our issue is the temps bounce so much. I really feel sorry for folks like you since too many don't even have proper heat or insulation."
Our old house was built before the days of air conditioning. Its insulation is poor and the windows leak. Fortunately, it doesn't stay cold long enough for it to be a major problem. And I do have a jacket and a couple of flannel shirts.
My wife is originally from the Midwest. She fondly remembers snow from her childhood and wishes it would snow here. It never has and I hope it never will.
Do iguanas fall off trees above freezing?We're down 1 degree this morning. Yuck. At least we're not in New England. My son lives in RI & he's got a foot of snow already with more blowing in fast. It's a real problem getting their small dogs out for nature's calls. Their Boxer isn't real happy about it, either. I think Rio, our Australian Shepard, would love it. He was out rolling in the snow yesterday. He's out playing & eating snow right now. He comes in occasionally quite put out that no one else wants to join him.
Jim wrote: "Do iguanas fall off trees above freezing?."The last time I remember for sure we had temps below freezing was the Christmas Eve Freeze of 1989. We've probably had a freeze or two since then but they didn't get named. I didn't become aware of iguanas here, and the stories of them falling out trees, until well after that. They are cold blooded, so when it gets cold enough they go into a torpor and can't hold on. The TV weathermen and weather women love to say, "Watch out for falling iguanas." For all I know it could be an old wives tale.
Iguanas are invasive exotics. Their poplation is exploding, along with dozens of other species including Burmese pythons.
I hadn't realized iguanas were an invasive, but I doesn't surprise me. I've read a little about the python problem & remediation attempts. Groups of people capturing a few dozen after hours of exhausting, dangerous effort. Considering how fast they breed, it seems rather pointless. It's one of those areas where I think only a targeted pathogen of some sort will work & that could well be even worse. I'm all for infecting mosquitos with Wolbachia, though. It would be great to figure out something similar for a specific species of snake.
The NY Times bought Wordle for a 'low, 6 figure sum' from Wardle.www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/m...
I'm still enjoying it & my library allows me access to the NYT. That's kind of a pain since I have to renew it every 24 hours, but it's worth it for the games & news.
Very much hoping this doesn't mean they introduce ads or a subscription requirement to the game.
I just ran across a Smithsonian Magazine article about the pythons in Florida. It's pretty interesting, especially how they're capturing them. They've implanted tracking devices in some males & follow them to take out the females during breeding season.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...
Mod
The seller had UPS investigate and they have declared it "lost in transit". So, good news is I will be refunded.
Something fishy is going on. You don't simply lose a 40 pound digital piano in between the warehouse and the UPS location. It doesn't just blow away in the wind. Anyway, I'm not paying for whatever happened.
The Evolution of Science Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
A History of the English Speaking Peoples, 4 Vols (other topics)Charmian Kittredge London: Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer (other topics)
A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? (other topics)
Bleak House (other topics)
A Night in the Lonesome October (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Winston Churchill (other topics)Roger Zelazny (other topics)
Felix Salten (other topics)
Sam Kean (other topics)
Chuck Tingle (other topics)
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In the first, 1 person picks a card that has some question or saying with a blank that the rest fill in using one of the 10 cards in their hand. The object is to make the funniest saying, so it can get pretty raunchy. My wife won handily.
In the second, one person draws a card with a word & a phrase on it. They have 1.5 minutes to get their team mate to guess what it is, but only using sentences with 1 syllable words. Who knew it is so difficult to stick to single syllables! Failure to do so means losing that round & getting hit with an air-filled club.