parenthesis

A gentleman is one who can play the bagpipes, but doesn't.

My example of a modern philosopher who writes wonderfully clearly would be David Lewis.

Here in the UK, you see them in people's gardens sometimes:

https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9164681,-3.1675508,3a,15y,27...

Previous discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31589839

Ian Pooley is still using his:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJv9nnnQHRs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huC-0InPdjY

How can one go about making one's code apt for a compiler to be able to do these kinds of things?

I am the only one who thinks `onboarding' sounds like a method of torture? What is wrong with `orientation', `initiation' or `indoctrination'?

The real question is: do they ever clean the handles?

"State of Independence" by Jon [Anderson of Yes] and Vangelis. Also features the wonderful Dick Morrissey (who, amongst other things with Vangelis, plays saxophone on the Blade Runner soundtrack).

Those beards are pretty hip.

Why isn't there a streaming service that has basically every movie and tv show ever made before, let's say, 2000.

Netflix etc. can keep on having their own new stuff exclusive to them, and fair enough if some `special' older content with a high ongoing value was kept off the `everything old' service (Star Wars, Star Trek, James Bond or whatever).

The streaming services have become too much like tv: you can only watch `what's on'.

If you set up a bottling plant, he'll sell you the additive but won't tell you what's in it.

And has probably regretted it.

In the context of hours of time, I perceive `15' as just an alternative symbol for `3pm'.

Likewise, I perceive 1539 as an alternative symbol for 1536, as I like to keep my clocks three minutes fast.

The stronger Russia tries to blow the cloak of NATO away from its borders, the tighter its neighbours will seek wrap themselves in NATO.

(Aesop's fable of The North Wind and the Sun.)

What's wrong with mechanical bathroom and kitchen scales?

There's even a song that says that (Double Exposure - Ten Percent).

Kraftwerk agree.

Would Prince be sexier, or have better tunes if he were taller? Would Danny DeVito be funnier if he were taller?

It seems anachronistic to refer to the Spectrum as a PC rather than as a microcomputer.

I miss the term microcomputer, but now that everything contains microprocessors (up to and including supercomputers), I suppose it makes more sense to call personal computers personal computers.

When I gave away my Spectra I kept the manuals.

I will become a Musk fanboi if he reverts twitter to allowing unlimited reading without being logged in.

This also helps the speaker know whether to speed up or slow down to fill their time.

How a chord sounds depends greatly on the timbre of the instrument or instruments. For example, a major or minor triad played on a heavily distorted electric guitar sounds pretty uncomfortable (hence power chords), but played on strings sounds pretty calm.

How a chord sounds also depends greatly on what came before it. For example, in typical common practice period harmony, dominant seventh chords do not sound resolved. On the other hand, many songs in popular music have moments that resolve to a dominant seventh chord.

Every major scale contains one note with each name (ABCDEFG). For example, Bb major is Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A.

If you start with C major (no sharps), and ascend in 5ths (G, D, A, etc.) then you add one sharp to the previous major scale to get the major scale starting on the new note. The added sharp each time is the 7th of the scale. So G major just has F#, D major adds also C#, A major adds also G# etc.

If you start with C major (no flats), and descend in 5ths (equivalently: ascend in 4ths) (F, Bb, Eb, etc.) then you add one flat to the previous major scale to get the major scale starting on the new note. The added flat each time is the 4th of the scale. So F major just has Bb, Bb major adds also Eb, Eb major adds also Ab etc.

Key signatures put the sharps or flats in this order.

The two meet in the middle:

  F# major: F#, G#, A#, B,  C#, D#, E#  (key with 6 sharps)
  Gb major: Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F   (key with 6 flats)

I.e. on the piano F# and Gb are the same key, G# and Ab are the same key etc.

© 1982 Sinclair Research Ltd

LOAD — argh, symbol shift doesn't work any more!

> Something I think we overlook is that America was more fractious prior to the mid-20th century, but the stakes were lower because our institutions were more distributed and more local.

Donald Trump always struck me as a character out of a western. Only in 'western' times he would have just 'owned' one town.

Thanks for reminding me, that as a child I used to love touching the TV screen for the static.

To me the differences matter much less than the fact that after about a minute and a half you've basically heard the whole song, and then I just get bored.

Which is funny, as there are many very repetitive tracks I like with long running times which never bore me. (Random example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbdzLgwME0 .)

I was searching for the artist Urban Soul on Tidal to discover there's another artist called Urban Soul (I wanted the Roland Clark project) with albums by both mixed up together in the search result.

'Twas all in vain, since I wanted a particular remix of `Alright' — which I have on a vinyl promo less that a metre from where I am sitting (I can remember clear as day buying it more than 25 years ago) — which Tidal don't have. So I ended up listening to it on YouTube.