Interesting Links for 18-08-2015

[andrewducker]

• Evolution 101: No, an Octopus is not an Alien
  • (tags: octopus aliens science evolution OhForFucksSake viaCipherGoth )
• Linux "suspend" functionality seems to be remarkably broken
  • (tags: linux technology computers power usb )
• Now we can read burned books, by examining the ashes.
  • (tags: books fire history xrays viaTheWeaselKing )
• What's your least

Comments

[bart_calendar]

That writer asks how we can believe that chastity belts existed in the Middle Ages. The reasonable response is "because they exist now."

http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/female+chastity+belt.html

Now, not being a woman I can't tell you how effective those are, but I can tell you that the ones made for men to wear can be very, very effective.

https://chastitybeltformen.com/

[marrog]

That writer asks how we can believe that chastity belts existed in the Middle Ages. The reasonable response is "because they exist now."

...like laptops and smartphones? I am not following this logic.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, but there's a difference between "Play toys people actively use for fun now" and "These were real things people used to awful purposes in the past" (which we have no direct evidence of).

[cmcmck]

The first 'evidence' is from Victorian fakes. There's no written or concrete evidence that such things ever existed in the Middle Ages- Mediaeval people were not the savages that some moderns seem determined to believe.

Some Victorian writers plainly needed regular cold showers!

[cartesiandaemon]

I remember thinking, "wow, I wonder how they gained access to the machines". It literally didn't occur to me it would have had wifi

[andrewducker]

I agree with all of this :-)

[theweaselking]

Not XP. ME, or 98. You don't want to go back to 95 because it didn't default networking-on, but 98 and ME were way easier.

[momentsmusicaux]

I remember when I tried running Ubuntu, I couldn't suspend my PC because on wake-up the mouse didn't work.

And that was back in something like 2006.

[andrewducker]

I had a laptop with some Linux strain on it a few years ago, which wouldn't resume - the screen would go white and stay that way.

I'm sure some of this is down to driver issues. But I'm sure it could be done better!

[mlknchz]

While I seriously doubt video games make people violent, DRIVING games can make people unsafe drivers. They're simulators, in effect, like the ones used in drivers-ed courses. Unfortunately, the "sight-picture" put in players minds from those games is being a foot off another cars back bumper, while driving 100 mph. Some people unconsciously mirror that while driving IRL.

[chess]

Suspend and resume was hugely flaky on Windows recently enough ago that I still side-eye it a bit when I'm doing something I care about, so I'm not surprised that it's still pretty awful when you don't have the muscle to bully device manufacturers into not screwing everything up for you.