There isn’t much in the way of wildlife that guns will really help with. Apart from crocodiles, nothing here is going to try to eat you. And if a crocodile is in a position to have a go, it’s too late to use a gun.

Tolkien would be spinning in his grave at the thought of this. It’s against everything he believed in.

When people mispronounce the names (as they usually do) I don’t correct them, out of respect for the Professor.

The rule of three is a common rhetorical device.

And multiple dashes is a common way for a human to type an em dash. I’ve been writing like that since the early nineties.

I don’t sound like an LLM. LLMs sound like me.

What do you base that on?

Not saying you’re wrong, but I can’t see that you’re right.

Except in this case it’s not the people pushing or profiting from AI who are going to be the victims.

But hiring a ghost writer is the only way they could get a deal with Ayn Rand.

But just as much sugar.

No, no, no, not the Dart, not the Dart. They always think it’s the Dart!

Oops, a decimal error there.

One percent of eight billion is eighty million, not eight hundred million.

My team is constantly on the road and don’t live at their computers.

I doubt any of our guys actually realise you can set your status on Teams, and no one would think to look at it.

If only you had access to a piece of communications software with which you could ask your coworkers if they’re in the office or not, and when they’re likely to be.

Maybe MS could make one of those that worked.

It should definitely been seen as an historical book. And every time you see a weird rule like this, you have to remind yourself that it was being instituted to improve the situation.

In this case, it’s likely that the extant rule was that girls who had been raped were to be banished from the community, or worse. This rule guaranteed she would still have a home and protector. Not a great one, but still an improvement.

A similar thing happens in the story where Abram is told to sacrifice Isaac, but is given a reprieve at the last moment.

You can see this as evidence that God is sadistic. Read through our eyes, it looks that way. It’s likely that child sacrifice was common in that time and place, so this story tells something else: it’s telling people to start sacrificing animals instead of children, and putting a divine stamp on the instruction.

Again, not great, but a huge improvement.

Apes are a lineage of Old World monkey.

Chimpanzees are monkeys, and so are we.

Well, it can also radiate away in the form of EM radiation, typically infrared. That takes time though.

Ukraine does have oil, although they’re largely in areas affected by the war.

All three were heroes.

What’s often missed is that Peter Norman, the white guy on podium, encouraged Carlos and Smith to take a stand, and he was the one who had the idea to wear a glove each, since they only had one pair.

Norman’s role in the protest led to him never being selected to represent Australia again, even though he was at the peak of a brilliant career in running. He qualified for the 1972 Olympics, yet was mysteriously not picked to go.

The three men remained close friends, Carlos and Smith were pallbearers at Norman’s funeral in 2006.

(I hate to be the one making the Black rights protest about the white guy. He paid dearly for his role, and I also hate to think he’s remembered as the third wheel on that podium.)

Where I live, you have to slow down if kids are in the school zone regardless of the time or date.

Have they called Bruce?

It sounds like they need to call Bruce. Where would you rather be?

You have to ask politely. At least say please.

You know the old saying, ‘Get a job doing the thing you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life!’?

That’s really bad advice. Get a job doing something you like, but not your passion. If you burn out on your passion, you’ve lost the thing that brings you joy.