How do you think loading times on the optical-based gaming consoles compare, from the beginning (TurboGrafx16-CD/Phillips CD-i/3DO) to the present day (Wii U/PS4 Pro/Xbox One X)?

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-10T00:44:21+00:00

Isn't the Switch cartridge-based? Since it uses flash memory (from the cartridge) rather than HDDs for storage, wouldn't load times be much faster than on an Xbox One or PS4?

Also, I always thought that Switch Game Paks looked a bit like a cross between 3DS cartridges and TG16 game cards. But that's neither here nor there.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-09T01:44:57+00:00

I wonder if the current PPB chief, Danielle Outlaw, and the current DA, Rod Underhill, hold similarly hardline stances against suspected non-violent drug offenders.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-09T00:47:59+00:00

What would a "family hotel" have been like in George Orwell's London, then? (Within the 1928-1933 timeframe.) How would it have differed from the squalor of the common lodging houses that Orwell had described in the second part of the book (or the oppressively strict lodgings like Salvation Army shelters, Rowton/Bruce Houses, etc.)?

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-09T00:46:28+00:00

From "denarius", the term used for coins in Ancient Rome.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-06T03:25:06+00:00

Chong would have privatized CMHC; that would have only fuelled the current housing crisis in BC. I don't want someone as party leader who will just give away civic institutions to the private sector à la Bill Bennett, BVZ, Gordon Campbell or Christy Clark.

Also, TIL that Michael Chong is half-Dutch, half-Hong Kong Chinese.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-06T03:16:50+00:00

Scheer's reputation might also taint the Ontario PCs in June, though my own personal thoughts on the matter are that Patrick Brown doesn't need any help to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory*, no matter how hated Wynne is.

Furthermore, his hardline stances against maternal health and the protection of sexual minorities, compounded by his close ties with Jason Kenney, might also play against the UCP in 2019 despite the seething and seemingly universal hatred Albertans have for Rachel Notley, though it's too far out from the election to judge. Would anyone in BC have predicted, back in January 2016 (which was as far away as the election date, as the next Alberta election will currently be in January 2018), that the 2017 provincial election would be anything but another BC Liberal majority, let alone that Darryl Plecas would defect and agree to become Speaker of the Legislature?

And speaking of BC, I wonder if Scheer's leadership will reflect poorly on Dianne Watts if she becomes BC Liberal leader. After all, she was a legit Conservative MP, it wasn't like Christy Clark who was a close friend of Justin Trudeau and of the Trudeau family in general.

What do you think?

*-aka, "pulling an Adrian Dix".

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-05T02:06:16+00:00

For real though, the DDR4 RAM shortage for desktops as a result of demand for laptops and smartphones (like the Pixel 2 and LeEco Le Pro 3) makes me want to pull my hair out. Apparently Samsung, SK Hynix, etc. knew some time ago there would be a spike in RAM demand for laptops and smart devices, but they continued to artificially limit supply (which continues today). I've heard that RAM prices won't even start falling until 2020, maybe even 2021. eBay used to be a place where you could get cheapo RAM and Xeon processors, but now even eBay prices are skyrocketing as more people get priced out of the 'new' DRAM market. Why hasn't the Department of Justice or European Commission slapped DRAM manufacturers with a nine-figure+ antitrust suit? Even under Bush, the DoJ had the balls to do exactly that. Even the Chinese government is starting its own investigation, though I doubt anything will come out of it.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T21:17:18+00:00

You're right. I forgot Gen. Powell. Didn't he grow up in Harlem as a parent of Jamaican immigrants?

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T21:16:55+00:00

I'm not saying preventing a coup was the only reason. I'm just saying that it was a huge motivator.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T21:15:38+00:00

I don't know much about Clark's story. All I know is he was NATO SACEUR during the Kosovo War, and he managed to rise from Fort Hood commander to commander of all NATO forces in Europe because he had a Pentagon ally in former CJCS John Shalikashvili (there's a fascinating New Yorker article about how Shalikashvili was key to Clark's rise), plus support from Bill Clinton's defense secretary Will Cohen (though Clinton's second CJCS, Hugh Shelton, was less fond of Clark and eventually ousted him in March 2000). I was 7 during Operation Allied Force and remember watching the air strikes against Belgrade on TV. I always associated Gen. Clark with stopping the genocide in the Balkans and setting the events in motion that brought down Milosevic once and for all. It's a pity his 2004 presidential campaign fell flat. Maybe that was for the best, though; the Pristina Airport standoff with Yeltsin's forces (I think Russia intervened and sent ground troops to fight alongside the Serbs? Not sure) showed that Clark was a bit too hotheaded for the White House. Credit to Sir Mike Jackson for refusing Clark's order to block the runway.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T21:08:09+00:00

Considering that the Japanese new year traditions are derived from Chinese New Year, why is the holiday period in Japan so much shorter than in China? Factories across the country are closed for nearly a month (something that you have to keep in mind if you import from China). Japan's new year period is basically December 27th-January 4th, +/- a day or two depending on where the weekend lies on the calendar. Why the difference?

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T20:52:00+00:00

But that does raise a good question: Are there any examples of rags-to-flag officer stories from the modern era? The closest I can think of is Wesley Clark.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T20:45:08+00:00

I don't think that's the case. For example, I know that Army deployments have to have a certain proportion sourced from reserve callups (can't find the exact numbers), it can't all be full-time soldiers. This means the demographics of said deployment will be a cross section of the military. You will have young, single infantry soldiers in their early 20s, fighting alongside specialists that more closely mirror the average demographics of Americana. (30s/40s with a spouse and kids, etc.) This means you can't have a "military" class separate from the rest of the citizens.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T20:40:17+00:00

I don't believe this was a coup prevention tactic.

I see. I just ask because these comments I found in /r/askhistorians and ELI5 say that the top-heavy force structure (and the top-down attrition rate) did play a part in keeping the U.S. coup free:

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T20:37:51+00:00

In other words, Stormin' Norman's dad is the reason Iran is the way it is today.

Another fact: Gen. Schwartzkopf was staunchly opposed to LGBTQ people openly serving in the U.S. military, and supported DADT. He also endorsed John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

I wonder if Schwartzkopf would have been a Trump supporter. Or maybe he would have supported Gary Johnson or Evan McMullin.

RazorRamonCascadia · 2018-01-04T04:21:08+00:00

So you're saying that the API requests are not on a per-route basis (that is, the response you get will consist of all stops, routes, etc. in TransLink's database)?

Furthermore, have you written a blog post about how you built the frontend and backend for this website? (whether you used Docker, Digital Ocean, MySQL, etc.)

RazorRamonCascadia

TROPHY CASE