It says a lot about the culture of the 60s and/or Pohl himself, that the first conceivable use for “instant ordering” would be for drugs.

… Pocket bar? Googling it gets me nowhere. Surely he didn’t mean a bar of alcoholic drinks? Maybe a pocket pry bar?

The main issue with permafrost is instability. If you build on permafrost, when it melts you’ll lose everything that’s not anchored to bedrock. Imagine the ground 3ft below the surface of your street suddenly collapsing, like a sinkhole. At the very least that would ruin the road, the water and sewer pipes, the electricitu and telecom lines, etc. Melting permafrost also releases A LOT of methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. (Runaway global warning, anyone?) Lastly, after the permafrost melts, the soil that is left isn’t necessarily suitable for agriculture: it washes away easily and is prone to waterlogging.

Of course, these challenges can be overcome with time and money. It might become worth doing once the current arable land turn into deserts. But the scope of it is huge. We’ll have to invent a whole new type of agriculture.

“Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it.” Plato knew what was up.

That happened so long ago that we wouldn’t even call those people “human”.

Bananants

My 3-year old son has clogged our super-flush toilet on several occasions, without involving any TP at all. So add toddler shit to the list too.

There are three feline modern constellations: Leo, Leo Minor, and Lynx. They’re adjacent, so they’re all visible around the same time.

Leo’s heliacal rising from mid-northern latitudes is around early September. Alternatively, it is most easily visible in the evening in early May. So either early May or early September could be considered the “cat days”!

I think that fear is just one of the many responses humans like to stimulate. Spicy foods and deep massages? Fancy pain. Fireworks and laser shows? Fancy lights and colors. I wonder if it ties into the ability to remember that we survived the painful stimulus long enough to enjoy the aftermath, so we’re more likely to seek out that stimulus in the future? High risk = high reward kind of thing.

Also brings this to mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus

This.

I hear where you’re coming from. I can’t even begin to imagine how tired you are after all these hardships. The fact that you’re still writing civil replies to the other person is commendable.

I would like to respectfully say that universal healthcare would have eliminated the need to navigate insurance denials and out of pocket maximums. If we add a more robust social safety net to the equation, you may also not have to worry about childcare and having to stretch yourself thin with work… Would eliminating these battles really not have brought qualitative changes (for the better) for your family?

What is the best way to get the latest Flash player is required for video playback of the day of the day of the day

… I have never written anything about Flash player or video playback, what the hell autocomplete?!

The longer you press, the longer it gets?

My mom introduced me to avocado toast. She’s a boomer, I’m a millenial…

Government worker here too, can confirm our system runs on COBOL. The wizards who can program it have infinite job security.