Darth Fluffy

USB is a good example of what you are talking about, so, yeah, I can see what you are saying. My impression is that manufacturers still try to distinguish their products with extra bells and whistles which only their drivers can activate, but I could be wrong. I am aware if Gibson's work, but have never read any of them. Back in the primordial days, one of the 'how computers work" column in some magazine was cast in the framework of Sherlock Holmes solving his latest crime of interest using the Analytic Engine. The lesson of the article was in the format of Holmes explaining to Watson what he was doing. It was a clever presentation; I think it may have been bundled as a loose volume. No great lessons, and apparently forgotten. I doubt if anyone foresaw how much we'd be living our lives online. Now ++, courtesy of COVID-19.

"Suddenly there is a gaping hole in my life that I was hitherto unaware." - she is obviously unaware of banal Presidential Tweets; that would be the bucket of ice water she needed. There is a factual error, Babbage did finish his non programmable Difference Engine.

That sounds like the host would have had memory mapped I/O as well, not just the peripheral. Was it current then? I recall a lot of that kind of funk from the primordial micro days in the late 70s early 80s, but not even as recent as a decade later.

It's good to have the name correct if you are meeting friends, who may be using an app to find it. Device drivers are small because they are focused on a specific task. That task bundles the messiness of interfacing with an external real world. Unlike games, where you can generally fudge if you skip a frame, interfacing to hardware has to catch everything while competing for attention with other hardware. It handles all of the hard issues. Your device drivers are essentially competing with each other. And the goal is everyone wins; if one dominates, they all loose. The kernel might have device drivers, but the manufacturer of hardware should provide more tailored ones. They would work at a low level, plugging into the kernel and might be considered as a whole. Re: Your dislike for Fenestrations. Fenestrations is device driver hell. <wistfully considers, "How much difference would it have really made?"> Odds are we would have had more accurate math tables published, that was the goal. Would more than one have been built? From our perspective, we'd think so, but they would not have appreciated what they had, early on, and the time to build each would have been daunting. I've worked with IBM punch cards long ago, before terminals were common. They were used as input, and in some cases output and long term storage for computers, but they had their won history; the various devices used to manipulate the cards included sorting machines. Since the cards as storage and the machinery to manipulate them could branch, making decisions, it seems the assemblage was Turing complete, and could be used to compute. I don't know the history of this in detail, but the Hollerith cards were developed in the late 1800s for census processing, so I'm thinking that as computing power, it was more than hypothetical. In the first part of the twentieth century, these cards and the associated machinery were used in database style tabulations, enough so that IBM was already a thriving concern when relay and electronic computation became available. I think, at best, the analytic engine would have introduced a similar card based information culture earlier. It would have done a similar job as the card punches and sorters, in a fairly messy, steam powered fashion. It would be interesting to see, I hope someone makes the movie version. Great impact? Eh, well, the telegraph, railroads, machine guns, balloons, and cartridge rounds were available during the American Civil war. Did they matter? Yes, to varying degrees. The intelligence assets were quickly exploited; the telegraph changed the pace at which response could be deployed by orders of magnitude. The balloon allowed battle updates within minutes when coupled with the telegraph. Railroads moved men and supplies much more efficiently, likely saving the North. Cartridge rounds were much faster to load and probably decided the ultimate outcome, in that the North was much more able to replace archaic weapons and field modern ones; they hit partial deployment vs the South barely deploying. Many Southerners carried family heirlooms to battle. The (hand cranked) machine gun was poorly understood, relegated to artillery, were it was not competitive with traditional designs. The point is, it's hard to say what the impact of a specific technology would have been in the short term. In 20/20 hindsight, Ada Lovelace's accomplishments look amazing; in the 1840s, had the machine been built, <shrug>, I have doubts she would have been appreciated in her time. It's like finding a $1000 bill, but you've never seen a bank note before. "Hey, look at the fancy toilet paper."

A few at a time is better. I have some I picked up this week, will add errant story. Not necessarily, both are refering to races that are alien in context, and the author is probably geek enough to know the reference.

Perhaps not. The comicis newer than the ST episode. BTW, thanks for the link, the comic looks interesting.

Well, OK, then. I don't think the Jesus portrayed in the Gospels would like most churches. How many times did he say, "Don't judge"; what are churches known for ... ? They do a bit more than that. Here, what the businesses call themselves is often a matter of branding. A lot of nicer restaurants have liquor licenses and serve drinks, with a small bar that is not the focus of the establishment. That's a different usage of the word bar, bar as a tavern-like business vs bar as a place where you store your liquor to serve guests or make your evening drinks, for those of you who are that organized and particular. ... Which he never finished, and Ada Lovelace wrote programs that never ran in her lifetime. Good idea, too far ahead of his time to implement; it could have been done had there been a compelling cultural focus. As it was, he pushed the state of the art of machining technology in Britain, but he could not retain the people he trained, they were too in demand. I use it all the time, it pays the bills, but I don't like it. I did mention device drivers, that covers a lot of ground. Uhg. I've had that. Taste like, well ketchup on pizza breading. I've had good pizza that was not covered in tomato based pizza sauce. If the person making it knows what they're doing, it can be good, though arguably isn't really pizza. But ketchup does not work.

The term for the male version is Marty Stu, a play on Mary Sue. She has serious flaws as well, and vulnerabilities.

Strangely, TV Tropes makes no mention of HVAC repair on their Fanservice page.

Hell, no, Planck Units for everything!

My mom lived by that. I'm doing that now myself, not entirely by preference, but I find (many?) religious people toxic. My PoV, religion being cultural, it is very much a social thing. Social standing is a motive for attendance, especially in old school churches (and mosques for sure; I don't know much about Islam, but I get that being a practicing one is not optional if your family is Moslem). It is a place to meet, more so before the invention of the automobile, but still significant. Many have social halls for social gathering and will host events; church suppers and such. Some have mild gambling in the form of weekly bingo, which is also seen as a fund raiser. And to alcohol, not all churches are hardcore against it; Roman Catholic priests drink alcohol, in fact the RC church has drying our enclaves for priests. My dad's ethnic Lutheran church had an associated club which was basically a pub. My last church has a coffee bar, which a Mormon temple would never have. I am curious, do use 'pub' and 'bar' interchangeably? To my mind, they are primarily British and US terms for the same kind of place, but I get a nuance of 'pub' meaning 'neighborhood bar', and that a chain serving alcohol is not a pub, even if it calls itself one. Also, a restaurant can have a bar, which is a section of the restaurant, but a pub is the whole place. That's my experience in the US, I don't know if that is universal. Google says pub is British usage, short for Public House, and serves food, tavern is a more of less equivalent American term, also servers food, and bars tend toward light appetizers only. Hmm, in my experience, bars all serve food, and many are pretty good at it, but the kitchen is less of a focus than the bar. Also, pubs and taverns tend towards beer and lighter alcoholic beverages, bars will have harder liquor and serve mixed drinks, although mostly neither is generally particularly exclusive. I have seen places, particularly attached to breweries and wineries, that specialize in whatever they make. Saloon I've only heard in the context of American westerns, and a club has some sense of restrictive access; even if you don't have to be a member per se, you have to be the member of an eligible group. They might act like a bar and not turn you away, but that is not their purpose. Oo! Tomato Webcam and phone accessible watering and shade controls! It's math, applied differential equations, and definitely predates the digital age. The governor on an engine is a simple example, and those date from the 1800s, no? Analog computing was big in the 1940s, WW II era. "It's not exactly rocket science" is about this, keeping your rocket flying where you want it to go. Many early attempts were not particularly good at this. Digital control systems emerged gradually, not really coming into it's own until the processors were small enough to embed. Late 1970s inot early 1980s is a turning point where it became mainstream. It has it's own special issues vs analog control; sample rate is a limiting factor to the response time. I would say it overlaps with programming. You can write useful software without understanding control systems, but there are fields were that is not true. Device drivers; programs that react to conditions and make decisions, like buying and selling stock; thus also AI in general. When I was in my formative years, Italian restaurants were widespread throughout the Northeast US, long before chains like Olive Garden. I've had plenty of many kinds of pasta, and they can all be good in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing. Gnocchi are more challenging, heavier than typical pasta, but I've had good gnocchi. I've even made it, but I wouldn't recommend mine. But I'm not much of a cook.

It's a bit wierd that that is the first time it came up in Star Trek, how many years into the franchise? Why didn't the Vul-cons Rum-u-luns, and Kilng-ons have similar issues? If you say "Universal Translator", why didn't that work with the Ferengi?

TV Tropes distinguishes between Trope Makers, " the first unambiguous example of a particular trope", Trope Namers, "widely known for the trope, so much that it is referred to as an example" (condensed and paraphrased), and Ur-Examples, predate the Trope Maker, but were not known for the trope, which may not have been recognized as such. Trope Codifier is in a similar vein as trope Namer, but is cited for usage and structure, rather than as an example; a work could be both. The Ferengi saying 'hu-mon' would be the trope maker for me; I can't think of an earlier example, and when I first heard it used in conversation, that is the use I thought of. I had a boss that would say "We hu-mons don't do things that way." whenever upper management had a particularly unempathetic cranial flatus.

Yes, but original Traveller has that (almost?) unique feature where you can die while rolling up your character.

... with the wrench, in the parlor.

Also a good point.

That is a good point. Grace has some interesting weaknesses, though. Which is what you're saying ...

"My box."

I suspect Dan is revising her to make her not be a Mary Sue. Not saying she absolutely was one before, but some tendencies were there.

That's when I joined. I'm not very aware of military metrification, doesn't come up often once you're out, your post reminded me. It's in there, but I had to dig through the clutter.

The US military is standardized on metric for operational issues, for interoperability with other nations. Stuff like haircut length and where to place ribbons, not so much.

Context, or use another word.

For me, it's like a foreign language. I can estimate in Imperial, I have to think about the conversion to do metric. It's not all that difficult, but a bit more cumbersome. And I've used metric in coursework.

I will definitely look into that cache add-on, that would be helpful. Acknowledged, there was a process of formation of a system of dogma, including formal creeds. Well, yes, that actually underscores why church buildings might have some value; it doesn't contradict it. The monasteries, the physical layout was part of the parcel of what they were and are. They are designed, or maybe better stated evolved to be a sprawling structure that supports monastic activities. I suppose you could do similar with a campus of smaller dwellings. In any case, that they have some value is tangential to their religious purpose, and they aren't important for their religious purpose. On the other hand, I've been to home churches, and they have their own issues. I think it is the idea of meeting that is emphasized, and that's not entirely without merit. Social isolation is unhealthy, and even though some folk prefer it, it's not without costs to them in terms of mental health. I'm not seeing it, but if you can put Creationism to rest, in a way that will convince them to go away, by all means, take the podium. Engineering not relevant? Is there such a topic? I see control systems in everything around me, including the way COVID-19 spreads. Who wouldn't want to maximize his tomato crop? So, they were in transition, so cultural bias was a factor. Counterpoint, The Daily Show, and shows like it, like Last Week Tonight rely on humor to get their points across, and they do so very effectively. But when you watch, you know that at their core, they are tackling a serious topic, and they they break into serious when it's relevant. There's a time to deflect and defuse with humor, and a time to deal with what is real. I'm still hopeful. If it was impossible, there would be no such thing as acquired immunity. Are you an adherent to Gnocchicism?

No. Meaning two is the verbatim meaning, "it's free, no cost". Meaning one is an application, in line with "putting it out there or excessive, depending on your tone". I understand what they are saying when I read it, it's not out of line, but the degree, "Uncalled for; lacking good reason; unwarranted" has to do with the tone in which it is said. If you said some web comic had gratuitous fan service, you might mean it is boldly displaying it, you would more likely mean it is excessive. You probably wouldn't mean uncalled for unless either the site was meant for children or you had a prudish outlook. But all would be possible meanings.