Thanks for the link. I traveled on the Cory Choeust multiple times during the late 80s, though not on Heard island test. Very interesting working on SONAR in the 80s, both on surface ships and subs. Riding alone in the conning tower of an SSN in Exuma sound was fun. And saw a full rainbow in north Atlantic
Seen similar benefits - many years ago applied GA's to schedule technicians to fix computers (based on location, part availability, skill set, etc) and also for manufacturing production lines (labor rules, parts, color changeovers, demand, margin)
According to "The Great Influenza" by John Barry young people died due to cytokine storms. Essentially young people have a vigorous immune system that gave an aggressive attack. 1918 flu was unique in that the deaths was not just the very young and the very old (a U shaped distribution) but rather a W shaped distribution with the middle point being 20-40 age group
Also in the book - the "spanish" flu was called that since Spain was the only place with a free press at the time (e.g., US press was not free at the time) + massing of young men in US in camps - like Ft Devens. Flu traveled from overcrowded camp to camp and then jumped to local populations along rail lines (and then overseas as troops were shipped out)
He describes it well, though would make a great visual as it moves from Boston to Chicago to NYC back into Providence/Brockton (which are just south of Boston). Transmission along rail (and shipping) lines.
Yes, this was a big reason why it was initially named the Spanish Flu. At the time that it began (with the war still on) Spain was one of the few countries that did not have very stringent press censorship in place.
This is discussed in several sources, but this is the one I had most readily available:
"In a month or two everyone outside of Spain was calling it "Spanish influenza," not because it originated there, but probably because Spain, still a nonbelligerent, had no wartime censorship to keep its health problems secret from the world. An estimated eight million Spaniards caught flu in May and June. The Spanish claimed that it had come from the battlefields of France, blown over by the strong winter winds, and that it would have been even worse but for the snowy Pyrenees."
America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 by Alfred W. Crosby
I don't have a ready source, but the press in the US would usually comply with a request to censor news that some in government worried would lead to panic, blame, or accountability. Continued well into the 60's and 70's, and still present today.
But IIRC there were dramatically more strict restrictions during WWI. Certainly in all the european countries busy fighting. (Famously, Bertrand Russell got himself locked up for six months for giving a lecture about whether the US should enter the war.)
RIP Tim. I remember reading his work (usenet) back in the late 80's/early nineties - he once told me of his early days at Intel and later invited me to join the cypherpunks list a very long time ago. Tempus fugit.
I worked at bbn for 10 years. Wonderful culture. I got to learn hardware, software and systems as a jnr engineer working across the world. Amazing people who developed technology from first principles. Thanks for sharing, great memories.
Many options including blocking anyone not in your contact list. Also include spammer blocking service nomorobo. Comcast also allows nomorobo service for free.
Learning characters has enabled me to watch movies, because subtitles are often easier to follow (and look up) than mumbled, fast, dialect-tinged dialogue. And the ability to watch movies is a game changer for language learning.
Note that recognizing characters is much easier than being able to write them correctly from memory (and you really don't need the latter – even Chinese can't write anymore; look up "character amnesia").
You should look at Pimsleur if you just want to be conversational in Mandarin.
But regarding the writing system, that's where the interesting stuff is IMO, it's a system where words are linked to more to meaning than sound (unlike most other writen languages), which meant it could be used as the writing system for many various regions all around what is now modern China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.
Right, when I’m learning mathematics I hate how they force you to learn math notation.
Learning a romanized version of a language is not learning a language. Sounds in one language don’t map neatly to English sounds, and beginner language learners who use romanization always have pronunciation issues because their headspace isn’t in the language, it’s in a romanized variant of that language.
What’s the point of learning Chinese or any other script language if you don’t learn the script?
> What’s the point of learning Chinese or any other script language if you don’t learn the script?
I once learned Chinese in a very intensive course that focused on the spoken language and only taught a few hundred characters. It has proven very useful for my occasional travels in China, being able to interact with hotels etc., having nice enjoyable conversations with my drivers when hitchhiking, etc. For me, my present skills are enough for what I want to get out of the country; for me, China is just one country among many. The few characters I know are enough of a bare minimum to find my way around. If I were keen on reading Chinese literature, then I would definitely go further with characters, but there is value for many people in having simply a minimum command of the language.
I have had it for ten years. Eventually you don't hear it until you think about it. Mine is very loud at the moment. Just another sign of aging. Nature's own memento mori.
Yes I notice if I'm distracted it seems to go away. But unfortunately this only happens if I happen to be outside, surrounded by traffic. As soon as I'm indoors (esp. at home, in the evenings) it comes back & it's hard to think about anything else.
