simonblack

18 ms·

61.
by simonblack 2y ago
Volcanic action. Most of the times I have seen pure sulphur in the wild, it's been at volcanic steam/gas vents. One that springs to mind was at the Big Island in Hawaii, another in New Zealand.
62.
by simonblack 2y ago
I recently bought a batch of six bananas from a local farmer's market - they were very fresh and very green and smaller, having just been picked. I let them ripen at home over the next 3 days. They tasted very much better than my usual
63.
by simonblack 2y ago
https://archive.is/THgjP
64.
by simonblack 2y ago
Why do you think the US was so rich and vibrant in the 1950s and 1960s? All that wealth from the industrial growth over the WW2 years.
65.
by simonblack 2y ago
And it could have a value equal to that of MySpace too. Ten years is too far in the future to pontificate on Company values. On the other hand, if the the US Dollar goes the same way as the Zimbabwe Dollar, that value could be quite accurat
66.
by simonblack 2y ago
Nope. Upgrade. I explained how the 8" held far more data than the 5". The HD 5" 1.2 MB didn't appear till the late 80s, early 90s. The 8" 1.2 MB was around about ten years earlier. 8" floppy (IBM-3470 SSSD form
67.
by simonblack 2y ago
Nope. CP/M software distribution standard floppy size was 8". (SSSD = IBM 3470 standard) I had gone from North Star DOS (5") floppy to CP/M (8").
68.
by simonblack 2y ago
I expect SpaceX will be bringing back two crews. Yes. Starliner will never reach Earth in one piece. It will be discarded and disintegrate and burn on re-entry.
69.
by simonblack 2y ago
Used 'em all. (UNIX, SunOS, 8" floppies, 5.25" floppies, etc,etc) Though I started with a 5.25" single-sided single density floppy in 1978: 88 Kilobytes. I actually upgraded to the 8" floppies about 4 years later, b
70.
by simonblack 2y ago
In 1942 the US had the largest manufacturing capacity in the world. The US also had a large population of military-age men. Today that position is held by China. How long do you think that the US could replace its lost materiel and men agai
71.
by simonblack 2y ago
China can’t invade Taiwan because it doesn’t have the ability to deal with carrier fleets. (No such animal as a country called Taiwan. However there is an island called Taiwan.) China doesn't need to invade the Republic of China. T
72.
by simonblack 2y ago
much higher than the cost of dropping a bomb (~ 16k dollars) from a jet on said target If you can operate a jet fighter-bomber for less than (say) $200 K an hour* I'd be very surprised. And that doesn't take into account the ser
73.
by simonblack 2y ago
I predict that if I'm still alive that I will be 10 years older. The question is wildly open. Do you want the subject matter to be specified in any particular field? As in "What are your predictions for the next 10 years in geopol
74.
by simonblack 2y ago
The "Falsehoods Programmers Believe about ..." series is well worth reading every six months or so. Invariably you forget one of the pitfalls. The things that annoys me about "Falsehoods Programmers Believe about Email Addre
75.
by simonblack 2y ago
So don't rest on your laurels, move on to your next money-making project.
76.
by simonblack 2y ago
Probably more about keeping distant sea lanes like the Malacca Strait open in the short term, until the overland routes are more developed. After which, carriers are a waste of resources. Otherwise I'd say it's just as silly for C
77.
by simonblack 2y ago
I mis-remembered: The Book was titled "Passages" by Gail Sheehy. And my confusing typo above was supposed be "I'm not sure" instead of "I'm so sure"
78.
by simonblack 2y ago
~/wrk/projectname/ If I haven't touched a project in a long time the 'projectname' folder gets moved to an archive disk. That prevents my /home directory from getting clogged with obsolete projec
79.
by simonblack 2y ago
In between marriages, over the course of a year or two, my standard answer to almost every invitation was "Why Not?" Coming to Melbourne for the weekend? Why Not? (Even though I'd just spent a hundred bucks or so on a plane
80.
by simonblack 2y ago
Traumatic experiences (Marriage, Divorce, Loss of a partner, etc, etc) cause a reassessment of your life-beliefs, or your lifestyle, or your mindset. So much so that there is a sharply-defined "before" and "after" period
81.
by simonblack 2y ago
I wonder if that has any effect on the periodic flipping of the north and south magnetic poles. Something has to cause that to happen.
82.
by simonblack 2y ago
"New Labour", since Blair, is more easily characterised as "Conservative Light". In other words, there is not much difference between "New Labour" policies and Conservative policies. If you like you can say tha
83.
by simonblack 2y ago
I'm a great believer in "Build one to Throw Away". When you start to build something you go through a huge learning curve. So much that, by the time you finish, you know dozens or even hundreds of design decisions that were p
84.
by simonblack 2y ago
If you want to know the answer to 90% of questions, that answer is 'Follow the Money". US manufacturing stagnated because US companies offshored their production. Great for the company bosses and their huge bonuses, but .... that
85.
by simonblack 2y ago
So what is the best way to overcome the "I don't want to pay for it" argument when trying to sell people on the idea of using Usenet? Ah, but people are paying for it. They pay with their time and interest in the subject-
86.
by simonblack 2y ago
PC compatible from XT onwards Hell, that ain't "retro", that's "modern". That's IBM-PC 16-bit (1980s!) for f's sake. If you want 'retro' go back further to 8-bit (1970s CP/M!) or even
87.
by simonblack 2y ago
The way I treat bullshit committees is to withdraw my support. I predict the Nixos setup will collapse and the people who aren't so political will form a new forked group, with a new name. They will 'win' by 'living the
88.
by simonblack 2y ago
I'm sorry, but I can't see where the problem is. These girls wanted a sperm donor, and he supplied the sperm. End of story. Whether he helped one girl with sperm, or whether he helped a million girls with sperm is irrelevant. Or d
89.
by simonblack 2y ago
Have you seen some of the 'rules' that govern auto-deletion? One of mine got deleted because there were 'not enough words'. I kid you not. Perhaps I should have added the first three verses of 'Jabberwocky' to
90.
by simonblack 2y ago
Roughly a third.

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