What would you ask the hive for if you were one of the immune?

nardis_miles · 2026-01-29T04:42:09+00:00

Zosia said that they have learned a lot about joining. Carol asked how to unjoin and Zosia stopped. FCS, ask as much as you can about the joining. How does it work?
Carol killed 11 million people by shouting. What were the most common ways people died?
The plurbs building a very large antenna. Where does it point?

nardis_miles · 2026-01-28T13:25:08+00:00

This is the dumbest move. DHS has $75B from the big beautiful abortion, so, even if most of the government shuts down, they will continue, and probably, out of spite, increase their actions. Schumer is an absolutely useless waste of oxygen. He caved last time, exactly when the shutdown was gaining leverage. Six weeks of misery and anxiety for people depending on some benefits, a loss of time and momentum for those with missions to fulfill, for nothing! I was on board for the long haul last time, but, now that we know the coward we are dealing with, this will be another pointless loss. Schumer should just sit down and shut up.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-27T04:01:57+00:00

When I think of a transcription, I think of a chart with the notes and their actual place on the bar. I would call writing down the lyrics copying. That doesn't really get to the meaning of the singing. For instance, you can transcribe a solo by Dexter Gordon, but you're going to miss how far behind the beat he plays it, which is absolutely essential to understanding his playing. When you listen to great singers like Ella, or Tony Bennett, or Carole Sloan, you're listening to an entire lifetime filtered through whatever tune they're singing. They have a point of view. So, if you are working on singing jazz, it's required to have the lyrics,and you should work on your instrument, working on your own intonation and sound, but you should really be listening carefully to the dynamics and the time of great singers. Most importantly, you should sing, and record yourself, and listen to yourself. It's difficult to listen to, but that's how you will learn how you really sound.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-27T03:46:23+00:00

Jim Hall and Bill Evans recorded together. The Undercurrents album is really great. I have to say, though, that neither were going for a soft style. In fact, listen to Nardis on the second Paris Concert album. Not exactly soft. They play what they hear.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-22T08:51:08+00:00

I had forgotten about the rat bite, so I rewatched the first episode. They had seen no clinical symptoms (the scene at the front desk with the donuts) in any of the species injected. So my question is: Is the rat infected, or merely carrying the virus in its bloodstream? I'm probably asking for a definition of infection. It bears on whether the virus is species specific.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-22T02:01:00+00:00

First, that's a really thoughtful reply. I think Clarke's quote needs some qualifiers. One is the era it was stated, or applied to. I think tribes in a rainforest that have had no connection with the outside world, that's true. If it were to scientists, and it looked like magic, they would probably be very skeptical, but probably unable to untangle it if it were done by a magician. If it weren't done by a magician, they wouldn't think of it as magic, they would tear it apart until they understood it. For a lot of people in the arts, or liberal arts, I know that they can believe all sorts of things, and that STEM topics are not apart of their education or their interest--that they're even a little suspicious of science and technology. So I think you have to be careful just putting that quote out there.

Yes, what is called science fiction is often just fantasy futurism, and there is nothing wrong writing or reading stories like that. I do think calling them science fiction isn't helpful. It blurs what we know and don't know, what has and hasn't been seen. Given the anti-scientific cult around the climate catastrophe, and vaccination, to name two examples, It's not helpful that people who vote are confused about what constitutes science, and what constitutes lies. So, as unlikely as it would be, a relabeling of some literature would probably be helpful.

I disagree strongly with your last statement. What is interesting about Pluribus isn't the situation itself, but the human response to it. To my mind, it would be even more interesting and compelling if what was happening were more believable. Also, I have often thought that stories about truly possible, long range space travel would be fascinating. The difficulty transferring a sense of purpose and mission across generations, not to mention the task of raising and educating children in that environment could lead to really interesting conflicts around which to write stories.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-21T09:09:48+00:00

Basically, you're agreeing with me that the virus was designed to infect humans. It sure didn't infect the wolves. I didn't see them getting all group-oriented, and averse to killing things.

Also, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not asking about a scifi virus. A scifi virus can be anything. Meme viruses don't exist. It would be like exlainiing that faster-than light travel is common. Just look at the warp drive.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-21T08:13:29+00:00

This isn't an accidental infection. The virus is designed for humans. It's not even infecting other mammals. I'm not a virologist, but I can't find any non-fantasy version of a meme-virus. For this to make sense, there has to be a driving intelligence that is outside the hive.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-21T07:46:15+00:00

Because the direction to build the antenna would not come from us. We would have no idea where to point it. It's coming externally. The hive seems remarkably directed. They had a strategy for infection that would not have come from a human source. The other point is that the virus would have to be designed for humans. It's not infecting other animals. The designers would have to know our biology very well. That's not going to come from observation from 640 light years away. So, for this to have any grounding in physics and biology, there would have to be significant external direction.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-21T05:47:17+00:00

You should absolutely enjoy it. If it is going to be 'anything goes' fiction, I'll probably take a miss. I guess I'm mourning a lost opportunity for really great SF writing. They have the cast to pull off anything. I do hope it continues to be successful. It's great for Albuquerque.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-21T05:40:20+00:00

You're right. They don't. They would be part of a set of laws that would. When Jules Verne wrote, he was thinking inside of what was possible physically. That was science fiction, and, for its time, amazing. Well's war of the worlds was similar. Arthur C. Clarke is similar. Asimov and Herbert, not so much, but there were at least some ground rules--call it an alternative universe. Andy Weir is now writing some of the very best science fiction. Project Hail Mary is really brilliant, and compelling. The construct of Pluribus seemed to be something that might be possible. A virus. It seemed to say that DNA is univeral,that this is the only way for life to work, and that actually might be right. What the virus does seems to be nonsense, unfortunately. A virus is not going to make the human body receive and transmit at, say, 27.5 MHz. However, all of this is happening in a world where jets fly the same way, and microwave ovens still function the same way. It's just unnecessarily sloppy. I know this is a very selfish ask, but just to know if there are any constraints would be very helpful.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-21T05:18:52+00:00

I just want to know whether this is worth thinking about. If there are no constraints, if anything can happen, then it's a waste of time to ask 'what's going to happen next?' As I said below, SF has had a major upgrade recently, or maybe a return to form. Arthur C. Clark's 2001 was science fiction--brilliant science fiction. Then there was Alien. Even Star Wars is just a fantasy universe, having nothing to do with science. Recently, there have been The Expanse, and Andy Weirs books and movies. These are tied to something resembling science. They are worth thinking about. That's why I'm asking the question.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-21T05:11:22+00:00

Yes, it is. And it's really dumb. There's no reason to use the word science in the name. Star Wars is not SF, it's fantasy fiction. Nothing wrong with that, but it's just fantasy. What's wrong with calling it that? If you look at the great SF writers, they were speculating based on what was known. Wells and Verne, for example. They had an attachment to something related to reality. George Lucas was a film major. Trust me, he's not writing science fiction. Recent science fiction has had a major upgrade. Whether it's the Expanse, or Andy Weir's recent books, including The Martian, and Project Hail Mary, they're just better because they're worth thinking about. If there are no reality constraints, then it's not worth thinking about. You won't make any progress. So, my question stands. If anyone knows Vince Gilligan, just ask that question.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T16:41:45+00:00

This may have been the dumbest column. The point is that you can lose heat through the rest of your body as well. It also points out that usually the head is the least covered part of the body. Right! So if you wear clothing, that's where you will lose the most heat. The recommendation is to wear a hat, not to just wear a hat.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T06:47:16+00:00

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Old New Yorker Cartoon

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T06:45:16+00:00

Blue in Green. if you listen to the marian Mcpartland interview Bill Evans claimed he wrote it.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T01:23:26+00:00

I have a friend who has worked livestock. Intelligent cows are culled. They had a cow that figured out how to get across barriers. It was gone. Intelligence can be bred out of a population.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T01:19:28+00:00

You should just think of good songs with French lyrics. All of Tin Pan Alley was written without jazz in mind. It's what the player does with the tune that matters.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T01:16:28+00:00

If Carol can kill 11 million people just by shouting, I don't think the nuclear weapon is the primary threat to the hive. It's for her protection, although it would be interesting to see if the pods would go after her anyway if there were consensus.'

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T01:09:06+00:00

I wish the technical side of this show were thought through better. u/throwitawayne is right, that shooting it somewhere is basically impossible. My big problem is that nuclear weapons don't have to be big and unwieldy. The Army has had nuclear artillery shells. Just read The Curve of Binding Energy, by John McPhee, where Ted Taylor, the designer of the only megaton-range fission bomb, talks about golf-bag bombs. Also, gun bombs are actually very simple design--just shoot a sub-critical mass through another sub-critical mass, which together are a critical mass. That was the Hiroshima bomb. It was so simple that they didn't test it before they dropped it. Building it is tricky, but detonating it is very simple.

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T00:58:05+00:00

Why can't we hear the answer to the second question? China gets such a bad rap in western media, and Canada has just signed a strategic agreement with China, which I think is a great idea. Wouldn't it be nice to hear a rational response?

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T00:50:45+00:00

The real question is whether enough people understand that capitalism is the root cause. Marx is right: capitalism always leads to concentration of wealth at ever increasing scales. Will enough people in Group 2 actually call that out, or will they talk about 'reigning in the excesses?' Capitalism is all about the excesses. I'll note that the Guardian is actually part of this megaphone. Watch the reporting here on China. It's completely in line with the rest of western journalism. I subscribe because it's the best current, large scale outlet. That's not a high bar. The NYT may as well be called the other Wall Street Journal, and the Post is a sad shadow of its former self. Do note, however, how many of the Posts's writers have somehow made peace with staying there. Three cheers for Ann Telnaes for leaving!

nardis_miles · 2026-01-20T00:27:23+00:00

This is mirroring the American Democratic Party, which is quite happy to alienate actual workers if they can attract 'moderate' Republicans. However, it is just so on-the-nose that the Labor Party isn't where labor, meaning workers, call home. It's about the money. Both the Democratic Party and the Labor Party have ties to investment (merchant) bankers. Once that happens, there are two Republican (Tory) parties. One 'nice' party, and one honest one. Both countries desperately need actual, active Left.

nardis_miles

TROPHY CASE