cstross

22 ms·

181.
by cstross 6y ago
What you describe is the Junkers Jumo 204, and the Deltic design was allegedly directly inspired by it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Jumo_204
182.
by cstross 6y ago
Needs more Napier Deltic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic (It's a two-stroke cycle diesel but not as we know it -- three cylinders arranged in a triangle with a crankshaft at each vertex, one of them c
183.
by cstross 6y ago
30 year old anecdote: Lo, many years ago, I was working for a small company as their one and only technical author. I decided to leave (something to do with a 50% pay rise to go work for a much larger company that wasn't obviously ci
184.
by cstross 6y ago
Hint: I remastered the original six book series in three revised omnibus editions circa 2011. (There's then a subsequent trilogy, of which "Invisible Sun" is the climax.) Anyway, start with "The Bloodline Feud" rath
185.
by cstross 6y ago
... It's also the ninth (and final) book in a long-running series, so not the greatest starting point!
186.
by cstross 6y ago
One problem in written science fiction is the requirement for it to be at least vaguely commercially viable, which necessitates dramatic plotting and/or readability. ML is, to most non-technical people, intensely boring . How do you d
187.
by cstross 6y ago
If the Gemini was a Psion 5 only Android/Linux based, the Cosmo was aiming more at the Nokia Communicator design space -- it was much better at telephony than the Gemini. But neither of them worked quite right, so Planet Computers ar
188.
by cstross 6y ago
Not sure, but very probably: the record was specifically between US colonies and England, so NY to Cornwall seems likely.
189.
by cstross 6y ago
I went researching pre-steamer Atlantic crossing times for a project a few years ago. Before steam, a sailing passage averaged 10-12 weeks. However the min/max bars were huge : a badly becalmed crossing might stretch to six months (wi
190.
by cstross 6y ago
That's how it works in the Scottish NHS. National stool screening program every two years after you turn 50 (you get mailed a sample tube and send it back to the test centre). If it's a positive, you're called in for a colono
191.
by cstross 6y ago
I've done both tests. One thing the colonoscopy came with but the occult blood stool test didn't: a warning that there was a 1 in 1000-10,000 risk of an accidental tear in the colon leading to peritonitis, an immediate surgical em
192.
by cstross 6y ago
That's entirely possible. But don't discount covert monetization channels, such as supposedly "free" download sites that provide a vector for bitcoin miners and other malware.
193.
by cstross 6y ago
Most likely a super-fan. The only possible nefarious scenario I can figure out is: phisher is connected to a more dodgy publishing outfit -- either piracy sites that offer access to PDFs of books for a monthly subscription, or (much less
194.
by cstross 6y ago
They can't do that because publishing these days is, when you get down to it, all about supply chain contract management. And in particular, my book contracts stipulate in mind-numbing detail precisely how sales will be accounted for (
195.
by cstross 6y ago
The time_t limit in Linux is inherited from UNIX, which baked it in circa 1970, back when it was developed on PDP-8s (manufacturing lifetime: about 50,000 machines total) so Ken Thompson could write a space wars game on an unused machine wi
196.
by cstross 6y ago
Obviously a valuable project to know about when you don't have enough dead badgers to hand. https://everything2.com/title/How+to+install+Linux+on+a+dead... (Originally documented in Strange Horizons magazine, but
197.
by cstross 6y ago
My point was, I'd be more impressed if there were options other than "glorified TV stand". (I may be unusual here but I don't really watch TV.)
198.
by cstross 6y ago
I have two questions (after "cats: how does it deal?" which is answered in other comments, kinda-sorta): 1. Where does the chair go when the Pocket Office is closed? (Illustration shows a generic office chair: I'm not sure th
199.
by cstross 6y ago
Canada is one huge hole in Three's roaming. As I learned the hard way, visiting Canada on Three is like taking an involuntary time trip 20 years back in time, cellphone-wise. Source: am a happy long-term Three customer (other than th
200.
by cstross 6y ago
I use Three because apart from Canada their international roaming deals are way better for my purposes (as in: free all-I-can-eat data in almost all the countries I visit). The problem is the holes in the network of bilateral roaming agre
201.
by cstross 6y ago
Whether or not google are "stealing" data allowance from customers, or acquiring this right voluntarily/contractually from customers is interesting in the abstract Specific example of harm: international roaming data fees a
202.
by cstross 6y ago
Coincidentally, the bare Raspberry Pi 400 sells for £67, and the original Sinclair ZX81 (my first computer, back in 1981!) sold at launch for £70, with 1Kb of RAM. Per the ONS composite price index, £1 in 1981 is worth £4.42 today. So the e
203.
by cstross 6y ago
I'd like to note that Termux is totally amazeballs on a Cosmo Communicator: https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/cosmo-communicator Having a proper fold-out QWERTY hardware keyboard makes for an eccentric Android experie
204.
by cstross 6y ago
> I have never actually seen a left-placed mouse in the wild. Then you've never seen my desk! (About 10-15% of the population is left-handed) But really, the Pi 400 supports Bluetooth 5. So I expect many/most folks will go wire
205.
by cstross 6y ago
Same. Had one under light sedation a few years ago (switched to biannual stool screening for occult blood subsequently) and I'd say the discomfort was similar level to having a tooth filled under local anaesthesia. Not fun, occasional
206.
by cstross 6y ago
Yep. When I called the CIA researchers "quacks" I did so for a reason: when tox testing, it is customary to start with a minimal dose then increase it progressively until it exhibits a measurable effect, not start with a huge ov
207.
by cstross 6y ago
I take it you wouldn't approve of the CIA's experiments on elephants either! In 1962 Tusko the elephant was given 297mg (yes, milligrams, not micrograms) of LSD by CIA-funded quacks who were trying to simulate "musth" in
208.
by cstross 6y ago
It's the introvert/extrovert split. Introverts find face-to-face social interactions draining; extroverts find them energizing: and work-from-home chops that element out of the workday.
209.
by cstross 6y ago
To European eyes, the delays on that journey (which the author dismisses with a shrug) are outrageous. Arriving an hour late at one stop, then 1h40m late to the next -- 93 miles away per google -- is ridiculous! You'd only get those so
210.
by cstross 6y ago
SCO wasn't losing money on sales -- IIRC their cheapest product at the time (bare-bones SysV 3.2 SCO UNIX) sold for upwards of $600 without the dev tools or extras: Open Desktop retailed for a minimum of $1200 in its most pared-back fo

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