https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/85809/feynman...

Hand it back, with a request to prove that it can't be done with one of the devices that the OS's already recognize as virtual COM ports.

On the other hand, fertilizer is fluid -- either ammonia or ureal ammonium nitrate.

I know very little theory, but I've been playing jazz for almost 50 years, and I know hundreds of melodies along with enough of their harmonies to improvise and accompany other players. Many people pick up tunes from the radio or hymns at church, even if they don't play an instrument.

I think a helpful tip for ear training is that you can do it without an instrument, just by hearing stuff (tunes, rhythms, accompanying parts) and trying to sing along. For beginners, this avoids the awkwardness of the instrument and its technique getting in the way.

If you develop your ear and learn your way around your instrument, then you can learn to play along by ear and then just write down what you're doing.

Not that there's anything wrong with loving and playing classical music, which is a factor too.

This may be why it's different when you start very young. You're not conscious of your own sucking, you just play, usually in a setting where everybody's congratulating you. For sucking. ;-)

I started on classical, and got into jazz by accident, as a bassist. It turns out that you can function in a band as a bassist without having to improvise very much, so I was able to learn at my own pace and eventually did. In fact a lot of good jazz players started out in school jazz bands or large ensembles where you didn't have to be a good improviser right up front.

Over the years it's been hard to avoid noticing that the people who show up for classical and jazz concerts tend to be older. But we're not playing "the music they grew up with." Many of them grew up listening to rock 'n' roll or similar, and when we play an old pop tune, they'll get up and dance.

What I think instead is that they've adjusted their musical tastes to find settings where they can enjoy the performance: Typically quieter, less crowded (though we fill our venues), easier to get in and out of (parking, public transit, etc), and at decent hours.

https://theonion.com/ant-farm-teaches-children-about-toil-de...

For us, it was all in FORTRAN.

Very few people have taken the bait. I think we techies over-estimate the ability and inclination of people to make something. Even most programmers don’t want to solder. They may still be technically inclined, but want to be involved at a higher level: Buying the basic stuff and using it as a basis for even more elaborate things.

Why not? Pure geeky curiosity.

The rules are changing because of switchmode voltage conversion, using transistors to switch the voltage at a high frequency, where the magnetics (transformers, inductors) can be much smaller and more efficient, then converting back to DC. This is how virtually all smaller power supplies have been made for years, the only question (which I don't know) being how far along we are at reaching the voltage levels of long distance transmission in this way.

I'd think that hustling us towards DC with electronic voltage conversion would be a reasonable strategic goal for dealing with the transformer problem, worthy of support by a government.

Now my info might be outdated since it was a few years ago, but I was once told that when you use one of those microscopes, you bring with you a terabyte hard drive for each specimen.