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robotomir

134 karma · joined November 24, 2010

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robotomir··on Why the Bronze Age Collapsed
My personal theory is not that iron ended the Bronze Age, because archaeological evidence seems to show that iron became significant after the Bronze Age collapse. Instead, what if bronze accumulated to the point where more people could afford a metal weapon? Then some other event started the series of escalations and population movements. Unlike iron, bronze accumulates and is recyclable. "The blade itself incites to violence."
robotomir··on European sentiments towards the US hit an all-time low
This is an oversimplification, I would not consider Orban far right and PB are more populist left if anything. And it's not all Russia's fault, in Bulgaria the pro-Russian government came into power after five years of self-proclaimed pro-Western politicians attacking the institutions for their own political gain. Well, it misfired.
robotomir··on Tao Te Ching – Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin
I am just noticing how those ideas are present in Wizard of Earthsea.
robotomir··on Why is Venus hell and Earth an Eden?
What if the threat is not environmental collapse but hostile government?
robotomir··on Europol said ChatControl doesn't go far enough; they want to retain data forever
Do you think that monitoring and surveillance are less of a problem in the US? In China?
robotomir··on Stimulants in Germanic communities of the Roman period
Bronze pipes have been discovered in Roman-era settlements and even earlier sites. That's a long time before tobacco was available in Europe.
robotomir··on Diátaxis – A systematic approach to technical documentation authoring
>Diátaxis is similar to DITA

I don't see it. DITA differentiates between topic types such as task, reference, concept, etc., but a tutorial or a solution guide will be a combination of those topic types. Here I believe the focus is on deliverables that are larger than the individual topic.

robotomir··on The muscular imagination of Iain M. Banks: a future you might want
There are less than benign godlike entities in that imagined future, for example the Excession and some of the Sublimed. That adds an additional layer to the narrative.
robotomir··on Analysis of Greek prehistoric combat in full body armour
I am sorry for jumping on this opportunity to be a smartass, but this type of armor predates the sarissa phalanx by almost 1000 years.
robotomir··on ESA report shows unsustainable levels of orbital debris
You can deorbit debris without physical contact, but you could argue the method results in a weapon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_broom
robotomir··on 95% of container ships are now going around the Southern Tip of Africa
Not only that, people whose most fertile agricultural land is now under salt water.
robotomir··on 95% of container ships are now going around the Southern Tip of Africa
Yes, we might need to shoot at them.
robotomir··on 95% of container ships are now going around the Southern Tip of Africa
There is a non-zero chance we are headed for a situation where global warming and sea level rise will make hundreds of millions, mostly from equatorial regions, desperate refugees. It could be that an attitude of self-righteousness might become impossible to maintain. Friends come and go.
robotomir··on Acquia, my Drupal startup
What are examples of good CMS software that you've used?
robotomir··on Stanisław Lem's vision of artificial life
I would not put him in the same league as Lem. Or Banks or Reynolds, for that matter.
robotomir··on The story of titanium
I had a titanium Tissot watch and it scratched easier than steel watches.
robotomir··on Large amounts of carbon capture as a solution is an 'illusion'
I'm starting to think some kind of shade megastructure in orbit might might be the only solution to lowering global temperature. I know that light exerts pressure and that keeping it in place would be a major challenge, but still.
robotomir··on White House warns of ‘unprecedented’ Serbian troop buildup on Kosovo border
You use Balkan as a synonym for Yugoslav, which is wrong.
robotomir··on White House warns of ‘unprecedented’ Serbian troop buildup on Kosovo border
Bulgaria and Greece are Balkan countries. How are they much smaller than Serbia?
robotomir··on Plastics are poisoning us
Where's titanium on that scale?
robotomir··on Socialist Romania Computer Chips
Sadly, the "everything is bad" refrain which 10 years ago was invented by conservative eurasianists is today picked up by the new liberal left.
robotomir··on We Need to Talk
I will assume you're a fellow Bulgarian. At least find comfort in the fact that we've sold billions of USD worth of weapons to all those conflicts of the last 30 years. The part with the F16s is bullshit, as is most of your post.
robotomir··on Turkey to implement pact on access to shipping straits due to Ukraine war
German Parliament convened today, they will triple funding for the Bundeswehr.
robotomir··on Can Science Fiction Wake Us Up to Our Climate Reality?
I would recommend Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl and other books. Violent but masterful narratives about an unhappy future.
robotomir··on Sunlight affects whether languages have a word for ‘blue’
This thing again. I think all the misunderstanding starts from this one person misinterpreting Homer's "wine-dark sea" to mean blue. No. It means on the deep black sea.
robotomir··on How far could a spaceship go if we never ran out of thrust? (2020)
I think Chasm City is his best book, but it requires context from other Revelation Space novels to be enjoyed fully.
robotomir··on Feelings at the Fall of the Republic, Ancient and Medieval Living Standards
What about armor?
robotomir··on Feelings at the Fall of the Republic, Ancient and Medieval Living Standards
I think shortage of metal was a problem during the bronze age. Because bronze is easily recyclable, my theory is that the Late Bronze Age collapse happened when everyone had a sword. In the Iron age, it's not a question of availability, but of technology, how quickly can you provision a sword and a chainmail for everyone?
robotomir··on Facebook took our election ad money then bulk-deleted our pages
It's worse than than, the author of the post owns a failed startup named LogSentinel and now he is desperate to escape into politics.
robotomir··on Facebook took our election ad money then bulk-deleted our pages
>As a result, an opposition party had no media coverage at all

The party in question is supported by an entire media conglomerate, Ikonomedia, and they have always supported first and foremost the interests of the local oligarch Prokopiev who owns Ikonomedia.

P.S. This is not a story of the good underdogs being oppressed by the evil system, those are politically motivated players with an aggressive and often provocative political message, pursuing goals that favor specific people.

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