increased fuel consumption of spinning down and then spinning back up

wastes a tremendous amount of fuel to spin down/up again

I think a flywheel mechanical energy storage system could both serve as a way to store energy and as a way to manipulate the rotation while preserving rotational energy. To slow down the rotation, transfer the rotational energy to a flywheel, and then transfer it back when you need to go back to speed. That adds some mechanical complexity but it creates a more efficient way to control rotation. Plus with electric motors and solar panels, that should be possible to manage without using any propellant fuel.

And the “I guess” guy.

Maybe other intelligent life forms don’t make the same assumptions that we do that lead to the statement that there are two “apples,” and maybe mathematics isn’t universal.

That just shows that “Apple” isn’t necessarily universal, and doesn’t actually disprove the universality of the concept of “two.”

There are a ton of different physical ways to represent the Fibonacci sequence, for example, and I would imagine the first contact looks for ways to find the mutually understood medium by both sides: raised symbols, pulses of radiation, pulses of vibrations, physical pebbles arranged in a line, physical pebbles manipulated over a timeline, etc.

Once we establish a common medium, we’d explore mutual understanding of prime numbers, approximations of pi/e/phi, and things like that.

You can swallow things while dangling upside down. The esophagus is strong enough to work against gravity.

But liquids are a little bit more difficult, because they tend to flow in unexpected places in the mouth/sinuses/nose before trying to swallow.

The children yearn for the Voight-Kampff test.

30 minutes each time

Jim, would you like a sex metaphor or a nature metaphor?

this would not work

You assume the goal is to actually try to date or fuck. It’s not. The goal is to intimidate and degrade, to make someone else uncomfortable. So viewed through that lens, it works.

Does it make the bread taste like shit?

I would argue that toasting your bread to the point where there’s significant acrylamide on it is making bread taste like shit to begin with.

Just don’t burn your bread and you’ll be fine.

Not to mention, the acrylamide is formed from the amino acids naturally present in the grains, which is what this whole article is about.

listen to really old music

Hey! Fuck you for pointing out this song didn’t come out within the last decade!

Don’t count on it. Instant Pot managed to sell so many units they’re in what seems like almost every kitchen. And then that was that, because everyone already had one, so their sales volume plummeted and they went bankrupt. I still use mine all the time, but the original company went away.

Back in the day you called a repairman.

That guy’s time is worth probably $30/hour, so if you want to use up his 8 hour day you’d better be willing to pay $240, plus parts, plus the gas money of driving his truck to your home, plus the cost of keeping those parts on hand and the truck available.

Or if it’s something he knows is only a half day job, then he can book something else so that he only really needs to charge you $120.

Now that a lot of these appliances are like $500, it’s pretty hard to justify the cost of professional repair.

50 years ago, when the price of an appliance was something like 50 hours of a repairman’s hourly wage, it made a lot of sense for most issues to be fixed by a professional. Now that these appliances are worth like 15-20 worker hours, it’s much harder to justify.

It’s also a point of friction in the Sopranos episode “Rat Pack,” at the funeral of Carmine Sr., with an Opus Dei rosary used by Johnny Sack to convey to Carmine Jr. (while they were maneuvering for succession) that he didn’t know his dad as well as he thought he did. Opus Dei’s background as a secretive organization is part of the tone of that interaction.

The cardinality of this infinite board is the same as a board with infinite number of rows, though, so same same.

Have you considered, um, sports?

Yup, gardeners are encouraged to cut off the tops of basil so that it doesn’t flower (and then it doesn’t turn woody).

Yeah, I know a lady who caught a parasite on her uterus from unprotected sex. It grew inside her for nine months, had all sorts of weird effects on her, and then she eventually pushed it out.

And don’t believe the old wives tale that the Van Allen Belt will prevent transmission.

It’s a lot easier when you’re in a social circle where most people (regardless of gender or sexual orientation) are already like that.

I’ve lived in rural places where the dominant industry skews blue collar and less educated, and it was a bit harder to find my people in that kind of community. But I still found a good friend group in that environment. Dating scene was pretty abysmal, though, and I spent most of my time single.

I’ve also lived in places and contexts where it’s the opposite. There are university towns where most people in their late 20’s are grad students or faculty, lab towns with a disproportionate number of Ph.D wielding scientists, tech cities where software engineer seems to be the most common job, big cities where you’re running shoulders with people from all walks of life and employed in all sorts of industries, etc.

I’ve lived in a lot of these types of places and if you’re in the right environment (and you’re social enough to where you can make new friends easily), getting plugged into the right social group makes it easier to meet and date people who fit what you’re looking for.