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Freak_NL
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- Frisian is not a dialect, and is not usually spoken outside of Frisia (the Dutch province). In German Ostfriesland they do speak a German dialect with Frisian roots.
- So Dutch and German? Actually, those ICE are staffed by Dutch NS personnel until Köln where they swap with their German DB colleagues. Usually that means Dutch and German messages from Amsterdam to Köln (sometimes English too), and German afterwards.
- American Express I get. No one uses that in Europe. Visa and Mastercard debit cards are what everyone uses and they work in all German ticket machines. You weren't trying to use a credit card where you?
What language do you expect the Germans to use?
- At some point your Regio Express turned into an Intercity. Free upgrade!
- Why? Every name you pick is likely to be weird in one language or another. Mockito does one thing well as a name, and that is hinting strongly at what it is (a mocking library).
- There is now a neon add for some weird place called 'Hacker News'; right between the ones for Dunder Mifflin and Weyland Yutani Corp, over by the Catbus, behind that new huge pirate ship, but if you hit the Black Mesa ad you've gone too far.
- Who needs assistants? I'll make do with enough money to draw a monthly stipend covering my expenses and leisure from for life. You know, like a salary, but without wasting my time on pointless tasks that give me no satisfaction.
- What is the cut off date?
It seems to miss the mentions of the late John Varley's books in https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=46269991 six days ago.
- Not explaining something is not the same as ignoring it. You can't really explain technology which doesn't exist without risking getting it completely wrong as actual science moves along, or just harming the narrative by focusing on irrelevant details.
If a society has advanced medical technology where changing your body is not just possible but broadly available, then it follows that they have solved any issues with rejection and adaptation. Nanobots constantly tweaking hormones? Your mind and memories simply layered over a virgin clone brain with everything set for whichever sex that body has?
If the writer set out to explore that theme they might delve into it, otherwise all that matters is that it works and sounds plausible from within the context of the story.
Scifi is about 'what if?' and how that affects people. 'What if money could buy a body of the opposite gender?' is all that is relevant.
Similarly, we don't need to know how the huge space station capable of destroying a whole planet in a single shot works (unless you are a rebel princess), just that it does.
- Strictly speaking, the beginning and the end of the whole saga. :)
I found the whole trilogy enjoyable, and quite unique. If you enjoyed Wizard, pick up the other two and (re)read the whole trilogy.
- This is one of the things I like most about his writing. In the scifi-whodunnit The Barbie Murders the concept of changing your body without too much trouble is used by a cult of people who all look exactly the same — lack of genitalia (i.e., 'Barbie'-like) included.
Varley wrote very much like Heinlein, but with the edgier parts of libertarianism shaved off.
Anyone looking for recommendations for reading Varley would do well to pick up some short story collections like The Persistence of Vision, The Barbie Murders, or Blue Champagne.
For a solid trilogy I can recommend the Gaea Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon), but that includes a lot of (fun!) cultural references which may be a tad harder on readers under 40.
His Eight Worlds books are great fun to read too. Pick up The Ophiuchi Hotline and see what you think to get a feel for those. These can be read independently of each other.
For young adults and anyone looking to read some scifi not quite as heavy and more reminiscent of Heinlein's juveniles, the Thunder and Lightning four book series is quite entertaining. One prescient social development he predicted there is that for an event you weren't present at to be believable (like something shown in a news broadcast or viral video) you would want a friend or a friend-of-a-friend to confirm it. If nobody was actually there, it was probably fake.
- Why would you use a wooden spoon for those? I use wooden utensils for frying and stirring in metal pots and pans. Everything else is just the usual stainless steel type suitable for utensils.
- These people have all set up financial constructions that will see them and their children safely into old age with the very best of medical care, pocket money to the tune of being able to just buy off the whole evening of their favourite fancy restaurant for the night for just the two of you on a whim, and owning one or two private fucking islands in perpetuity, whatever happens to their megacorps.
They can indeed do with their toys whatever they want. They just don't want to put up with the bother of other investors trying to get rid of them, or the orange guy not sending them a Christmas card, or having a little less than infinite money.
- Mostly, although some text analysis would need to be done to prevent this:
(people commenting about how a bad design choice in ACorp's flagship product AProduct led to the tragic death of ten labradoodle puppies.) AD: Buy two AProduct, get one free — limited time offer! Woof! ACorp — your pup will love it! - That might sound strange at first, but we've seen enough now to know that this will inevitably mean that a lot of manufacturers will follow this model.
I can imagine deals where you get a huge 'rebate' if you permanently enable the ad-feature (the on-screen wizard will blow one of those tiny fuses as its final step, locking the device to that setting). That effectively mandates that the price for the device is its selling price minus the huge rebate, and the whole market will adjust to that.
Just ban advertising on those devices.
- Why should you absolutely visit Venice? It's not just the crowds that are unpleasant, you are actively contributing to a problem.
No, you don't have to avoid Rome — it's not as bad as Venice, and can support more people — but plan ahead and don't just do a tour of all the 'must see' highlights. Look into the off season if you are a history buff with a hyperfocus on Rome — you won't be able to finish your list otherwise due to all the pointless waiting around.
And yes, visit provincial villages and eat in an authentic Italian restaurant where tourists are mostly other Italians. Experience the difference. But you are not limited to villages. Italy is huge, and there are a lot of cities with remarkable museums, world-renowned festivals, great cuisine, and where your money is more than welcome and your stay won't be marred by extreme crowds and pushy con artists in faux Roman gladiator gear.
- > In the region? Because it's a gorgeous city with beautiful architecture, history and festivals?
That would be a great answer to continue from. Would you come for the Biennale specifically? Do you care greatly about sustainability? Would you enjoy yourself more in a different gorgeous city without the mass-tourism problem if that meant you would feel more welcome? Is there a way you can visit Venice without contributing to the issue as much? Off-season perhaps?
Venice is unique, but there are a lot of gorgeous places in the region, from Verona to Trieste.
- The product website isn't convincing either. It's only in private beta, and the first example shows 'A scenic walking tour of Venice' as the desired trip. I'll readily believe LLMs will gladly give you some sort of itinerary for walking in Venice, including all highlights people write and post about a lot on social media to show how great their life is. But if you asked anyone knowledgable about travel in that region, the counter questions would be 'Why Venice specifically? I thought you hated crowds — have you considered less crowded alternatives where you will be appreciated more as a tourist? Have you actually been to Italy at all?'.
LLMs are always going to give you the most plausible thing for your query, and will likely just rehash the same destinations from hundreds of listicles and status signalling social media posts.
She probably understood this from the minimal description given.
No. Please just give me an option to reject all tracking cookies instead of just kicking me in the face with a done deal.
Whoever wrote this 'EU/UK users: this serves as our cookie notice' is ignorant of the actual law. Have a look at:
https://gdpr.eu/cookies/