Ben Matthews

Seems dust devils make sparks fly.

That’s a rate of only 1.2% per year, was that your intention ?

Interesting concept, but the efficiency compared to standing turbines needs to be calculated based on the expected lifetime. What’s the leakage rate of the helium? What’s the resistance of the fabric (or whatever it’s made of) and cables to UV light ?

The dolomite mountains are spectacular. However such data may be distorted somewhat near borders, if the definition of tourist includes anybody who happens to cross from a neighbouring country for the day. For example, I recall crossing SüdTirol by train, traveling from Linz (Austria) to Innsbruck (Austria) - it’s a beautiful route - and there is a convenient cross-border transport pass too.

Isn’t it technically possible to split browser functions so we can recombine as we like? - i.e. separating the rendering / js engine from everything around the side - managing all the tabs, bookmarks, cookies and passwords, workspaces and sessions, mail, notes etc. In my case, I like the workspace structure provided by Vivaldi, but don’t see why it has to be built on chromium browser. Anyway as a developer I need to test against blink, webkit and gecko, so would be nice to swap them within the same user interface structure.
By the way, I develop a “javascript-heavy” web-app (interactive climate model) and it seems to be working fine, and fast, in firefox, so I’m not convinced by complaints in the article.

Combined with topic of trains, this reminds me of the famous movie Dil Se with the Chaiyya Chaiyya song on the roof of the steam train - itself in the SW, but of which the core plot was also about an rebellion in Assam… i.e. it reminds that this problem is older than current government …
But maybe they will be motivated to catch up, as China will soon have a direct railway from Sichuan to the frontier of Arunachal…

Since much (so-called) “AI” basic training data depends on Wikipedia, wouldn’t this create a feedback loop that could quickly degenerate ?

Indeed it seems Trump picked up some ideas about “Juche” (national self-reliance?) from his best buddy “rocket-man”.

US has only 4% of the world’s population, there are now plenty of super-rich in China, India, etc. who like to flaunt i-stuff.

Yeah, but you just gave me an idea too, how about AI-directed canines? “apple-intelligence” applied to follow-your-nose. My dog loves to chase small spots of light, which might be a trick to steer them.

And if chinese buy iphones, do they now have to pay 84% tariff? - maybe HQ in europe solves that too?

As a global company, Apple could just re-establish itself in europe, e.g. Ireland, and continue trading with China, they can just put the US on hold for a couple of years.
Meanwhile for those who really addicted to istuff, coyotes can smuggle iphones across the border, so maybe this solves the fentanyl ‘issue’.

I like the haystacks. As also in alpine countries, they seem a fundamental part of the scenery. I guess they matter especially where livestock moves to mountain pastures in summer, while the hay from valley meadows gets them through the winter.
Maybe the tractor age is temporary, as smaller robots may surpass them in efficiency. So could anybody design robots to help with stacking and combing hay, if there are not enough young people to do it?

I read that you can graft apple-family fruits onto hawthorn too, has anybody here tried that?

I’d like to have no phone at all, I don’t like small screens, nor being interrupted. Problem is that phone apps are now almost obligatory for IDs, transport tickets, passes, banking, etc. So I’d just like a phone-receiver (modem) with a sim card on a USB stick that can enable phone-app-stuff via my laptop or tablet. (Yes some tablets have data sim cards, but we still need sms and occasional phone functions for ‘verification’ etc.). Any suggestions?

Too true, and good analogy with building a house extension…

pH 7 being neutral only works at STP (lab temperature). Actually the dissociation constant K_w of water increases a lot across the normal range of seawater (0-30^oC), so in tropical seas there’s a lot more of both H⁺ and OH^- around. I’d imagine that molecules of early life could be stable at some temperatures - i.e. in some regions, while not in others.

So how about the Cahill Butterfly projection, …

My dog certainly has a theory of my mind, she’s always out in front guessing where I’ll go and happiest when she gets it right, or suggesting ideas when it seems I lack one.

Fine map, good to see the old names. But some of these routes are pretty impassable even today - for example I doubt the Wakhan corridor was ever a major route, even the bottom of that narrow valley rises above 4000m. And note Torugart pass (been there…) is north of Kashgar on the way to Issyk Kul (missing lake), not on the way to Osh. So, considering the mountains, I guess a larger fraction than indicated crossed the steppe further north - horses wouldn’t need roads or cities, but it’s easier.