madcaptenor

6 ms·

1. 1.▲
   by madcaptenor 5d ago

   I was not expecting to see that the book would culminate in a chapter on general relativity!
2. 2.▲
   by madcaptenor 8d ago

   My guess is that Miami and Washington are there for essentially rhetorical reasons. Miami is often talked about as a city that's vulnerable to climate change, and Washington is the capital.
3. 3.▲
   by madcaptenor 17d ago

   Well, they wouldn't call it a "projection", but whatever drawing of the map they use.
4. 4.▲
   by madcaptenor 18d ago

   I didn't know that. Makes more sense than a rectangular projection at least.
5. 5.▲
   by madcaptenor 18d ago

   Over water, probably something like the entire 60th parallel south. Over land, I think you want to start near the westernmost point of the African continent and thread the needle of the Isthmus of Suez, and stay south of the Caspian Sea.
6. 6.▲
   by madcaptenor 22d ago

   I would think the person committing piratage would be called a pirate.
7. 7.▲
   by madcaptenor 23d ago

   Franklin couldn't predict the future. It was Twain, saying you'd never go wrong attributing a quote to Franklin.
8. 8.▲
   by madcaptenor 27d ago

   (2016) but still worth the read
9. 9.▲
   by madcaptenor 1mo ago

   He didn't carry the stone tablets around all the time.
10. 10.▲
    by madcaptenor 1mo ago

    I tried to read it at the height of the pandemic, inspired by the plague framing, and couldn't get into it. Might be time to give it another shot.
11. 11.▲
    by madcaptenor 1mo ago

    Except there is no such place. Perhaps you're thinking of Intercourse, PA?
12. 12.▲
    by madcaptenor 1mo ago

    I get what you're saying, but if the government repealed the Gregorian calendar (and went back to Julian) that wouldn't change the day of the week. The day of the week is historically independent of the day of the month. Catholi
13. 13.▲
    by madcaptenor 1mo ago

    and brown is just dark orange.
14. 14.▲
    by madcaptenor 1mo ago

    I assume there is a way to handle this in modern contract law. Surely people have forgotten how long the various months are and written contracts referring to April 31.
15. 15.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    I think the rays are straight but you're comparing them to the US-Canada border, which is curved. (No, it really is! A parallel of latitude is not a great circle.)
16. 16.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    You're right, but: - he works in Germany ( https://vedran.miletic.net/files/cv-vedran-miletic.pdf ) - the original author is Till Tantau ( https://www.beamer.plus/Introduction.html ) who is German ( h
17. 17.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    I believe the software was written by a German.
18. 18.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    I'm guessing this is a coincidence, though; the Capitol is also, famously, on a Hill.
19. 19.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    Wait, so it was actually believed that the Washington meridian just happened to fall exactly on an integer number of degrees (120-43 =77) west of Greenwich?
20. 20.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    I need to remember that this is okay. I didn't do it because of concerns about resale value... but recently I sold books for the first time in a while and got so little money that I realize this is not worth worrying about.
21. 21.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    ai;dr
22. 22.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    Every now and then HN falls apart
23. 23.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    IIRC her best-known song saw a spike in popularity around the 2024 solar eclipse. (I know I played it a few times.)
24. 24.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    "Strong Songs" podcast breaking down Total Eclipse of The Heart: https://strongsongspodcast.com/blogs/episodes/s07e06-total-e...
25. 25.▲
    by madcaptenor 2mo ago

    I am an Italian-American and would presume to speak for Italian-American foodways but not the foodways of Italians living in Italy.
26. 26.▲
    by madcaptenor 3mo ago

    Bluey would never do this.
27. 27.▲
    by madcaptenor 3mo ago

    I had wondered if getting wordle in 1 based on social media data was possible! Now I know.
28. 28.▲
    by madcaptenor 3mo ago

    see also "absurdle": https://qntm.org/files/absurdle/absurdle.html
29. 29.▲
    by madcaptenor 3mo ago

    These exist for various medical usages. I've seen one to compute the due date of a pregnancy (from either the date of conception or the last missed period). This was at an obstetrician's office. It was probably dropped off by a
30. 30.▲
    by madcaptenor 3mo ago

    That's what I was thinking.