pmdulaney

"That’s the main thing good tutors do differently. If motivation decreases, they switch to lighter content, or even transition into non-lesson conversation. If motivation increases, they ramp up the difficulty of the lesson."

I would say that's reasonable (but not optimal) if we're talking about an adult client who is footing the bill himself or herself. But in the case of, say, high school students, parents don't like that kind of laissez-faire ambiance.

Prefer "Chinese".

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that this attempt will be unsuccessful.

Yes, I think it is, now that you mention it. But maybe "non-decidable" could be dropped into a casual conversation more easily?

But if I say that I think an issue is non-decidable, my interlocutor is likely to think that I simply can't make up my mind!

The author (David C. Brock) uses and defines the word "decidable". There exist, it has been proven, mathematical statements whose truth or falsity cannot be determined. That is, they are non-decidable.

What a useful notion to bear in mind, beyond the scope of mathematics! I think the next time I find myself in a dispute over a fine point of politics I shall say: "Perhaps we can agree that the matter is non-decidable".

I'm not talking about a legal entitlement, hence ethos, not right. You know, just common courtesy -- the kind that resists the temptation to throw around accusations of "persecution complex". But perhaps the concept is foreign to your kind if thinking.

I think you're right, not essentially because YC is a privately-funded service, but because their sense is that the majority of their users enjoy expressing their disapproval of those with whom they disagree.

In substance I agree with you. But at the same time I think HN would be better off without downvoting at all. An ethos of free speech is entirely lacking.

The author appears to be making the case against quantum computing not because it is a societal evil -- as, for example, one might make a case against AI -- but in the sense that (he thinks) it can't actually be achieved.

Thanks for the reminder.

I do think a sincere apology and a promise to behave himself or herself in the future should be acceptable.

Costco's version is pretty dang good!

Unfortunately, tantalum costs about as much as silver.

What is a logistical flight?

I used the first edition of Marsden & Tromba at UCLA in 1976. The computer-generated plots were mind-blowing back then. The cover had a bluish image of clouds streaming over the Sierra Nevadas as viewed (I think) from US 395.

Thanks

I just subscribed. The temperature legend on the map is in deg C even though I have selected deg F units.

As a Protestant you have not, of course, convinced me that "cat" is in the Bible, but that is a great comeback!

I think the award for the most theologically significant word not in the KJV (or any other English translation, for that matter) is "trinity".

I much prefer your "turdnological" to "enshittification"! It doesn't take itself so seriously.

I wish that everyone I interact with could say that I spoil them with respect and patience!

"Nothing is too wonderful to be true"

-- Michael Faraday (incribed over the entrance to the UCLA physics building)

Totally fascinating. Thank you.

In a 2/9/2026 profile of Michael Kors in the Wall Street Journal, Mr Kors emphasizes that he is living a "peptide-free life".

Very cool! Thanks

In many cases the notion that something in the brain causes the elderly person to fall, with the result that a bone is broken gets things backwards: In fact, the bone "spontaneously" breaks, causing the person to fall.

It says something wonderful about the French that they came up with the word flaneur.

Should I have? My post was composed in such a manner that my meaning (and the concomitant implications) was quite clear to a presumably intelligent person like yourself.

Note that in the spirit of free discourse I have upvoted your comment.

I don't suppose I could induce the ACM to come up with a covert plan to protect the lives of the unborn? I mean, if you're going to involve yourself in politics, you should be balanced and disinterested about it right?

I first noticed my next-door neighbor doing this in his driveway. I figured it was he was a retired fireman.