gilleain

25 ms·

361.
by gilleain 3y ago
It's "Esunertos". Presumably you would have immediately known who that was, so if they put it in the title it would have been obvious, right? While clickbait is annoying, of course, not every single article title is clickbai
362.
by gilleain 3y ago
A couple of biochemical points about selenium: * Selenocysteine < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenocysteine > is the 21st amino acid - essentially cysteine with selenium instead of sulfur. * Selenoenzymes are us
363.
by gilleain 3y ago
"... For here, at the very center of this watery globe, there seemed to be no gravity. There was collossal pressure, certainly, pressing in from every side, but one was in effect weightless ..."
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by gilleain 3y ago
Praise frog.
365.
by gilleain 3y ago
I have a friend that makes medieval lutes. He even reproduced one from Skyrim - it sounded bad, apparently, as it was designed to look good, not sound good. More of a business than a hobby, but still.
366.
by gilleain 3y ago
As it happens, my coin-collection ranking is very low. Mainly as I have none. Totally agree that this 'gamification' of collecting is an unpleasant way to monetise something that is otherwise quite a chill pursuit. From the compan
367.
by gilleain 3y ago
> there's definitely a kind of pseudo-hobby of buying things that all too often ends up as an addiction-like behaviour For Warhammer, specifically, that's maybe why I've heard the term 'plastic crack' ... That is
368.
by gilleain 3y ago
True, but the problem is not the collecting. It's that people want to 'succeed' at some hobby, and are blaming the lack of gear for not achieving some particular goal or level of success (however they define it). To re-imagin
369.
by gilleain 3y ago
> The thing I have most of is certainly cables and tech widgets of various descriptions, but I don't try to collect them That makes me think that someone who is a hobby cable collector must have the easiest time of it! People do col
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by gilleain 3y ago
Interesting that you can just mirror enzymes and they work in the same way. I wonder if any of the mechanisms are subtly different, or if there are changes in kinetics.
371.
by gilleain 3y ago
Oddly, the original phrase is "Form follows function", although it was in the context of (human) architecture - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_follows_function There is a school of though that says that e
372.
by gilleain 3y ago
I've written in notebooks for many years (mainly write-only, like perl). I think the key thing to remember is that no one is going to read or judge your notes, so literally write anything. Shopping lists, random thoughts, UML-like diag
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by gilleain 3y ago
Another useful resource might be this blog : https://depth-first.com/ Richard Apodaca has some very clear explanations of topics in the field.
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by gilleain 3y ago
A broader problem is that some people do not really want one answer to one question but basically some tech support to solve their problem. Either they then ask a series of separate questions (not always fun times) or try to engage in the c
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by gilleain 3y ago
That's fair - maybe I expressed it badly or just that it's hard to come up with succinct rules for questions. Consider two scenarios : a) I have installed some software X but messed up one of the install steps and now there is thi
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by gilleain 3y ago
I would not want to white knight for SO, but perhaps grey knight? My understanding of the reasoning behind some of the moderation - flawed as that often is - is to make the questions and answers 'general'. Which means a question t
377.
by gilleain 3y ago
I would argue that this text is very hard to compress as it is already a compressed version of PKD's thoughts on reality, religion, perception, philosophy, and more. It's well worth the time it takes to read it all.
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by gilleain 3y ago
He was good with aliens that have blue/orange morality. My favourite is the exchange in 'The Algebraist' between the big bad villain, who is firing people at the planet in order to 'force' the Dwellers to do what he
379.
by gilleain 3y ago
Perhaps 'Oryx and Crake' by Margaret Atwood? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx_and_Crake ). She calls it 'speculative fiction' so ...
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by gilleain 3y ago
As a Britisher, I can confirm that a sentence like "Cor blimey, it's only bleedin' raining! And on the day of the Queen's funeral, an all! Oh well, I'm off dahn the pub for a cup of tea and a plate of chips" is
381.
by gilleain 3y ago
Sure, not an obvious connection but I see it :) In general, it seems like there are many people who see a problem - like with the financial system - but come up with a solution that will never work. Crypto, for example seemed very promising
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by gilleain 3y ago
I don't know the demographic breakdown of London homelessness, but I do walk around the city (of Westminster) a lot and have read the Big Issue a fair bit. There are all sorts of reasons to be homeless in London, including (in no parti
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by gilleain 3y ago
I read that as the literal letters for like 10 seconds before realising it was French for 'at home'. Made me laugh.
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by gilleain 3y ago
Fascinating intersections between people wanting to change the world and grifters and conspiracy theorists. How we so easily 'worldbuild' our way into a different reality in which up is down and literally accidentally tweeting a s
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by gilleain 3y ago
I feel like you have nuanced yourself into a ridiculous position. One side in this conflict invaded the other. That is not being 'backed into a corner'. Yes there are endless examples of Western governments meddling or invading or
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by gilleain 3y ago
Apologies, that was meant for the specialists :) It is mostly just technical jargon so do not feel too humble ... So I'll break it down: - "feruloyl esterase" : an 'esterase' is an enzyme that makes or breaks ester
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by gilleain 3y ago
Sure, fair enough. I just thought people might read it as "Enzyme with new ability (to break down PET) discovered", but maybe I was being pessimistic.
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by gilleain 3y ago
No idea. From skimming some university press releases, I see a lot of "potential for!" and similar wording. This https://news.utexas.edu/2022/04/27/plastic-eating-enzyme-cou... has "Up next, th
389.
by gilleain 3y ago
Slightly misleading headline, as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) hydrolases were already known - see https://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/PETase/PETaseh.htm This is a study of an archaeal enzyme (from the deep-sea) th
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by gilleain 3y ago
What does "DVD anyone" mean? (Perhaps a roundabout way to say "Make obsolete", as a way to say "Get rid of"?)

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