The only place I've read about in an SF book where I'd really like to live is the world of Neal Stephen's Anathem, and that's mostly because they keep all the nerds in big nerd communities where they nerd away without being hassled by the outside world.

In the very late 90s - so only a year or two after the Good Friday Agreement - he gave a talk in Dublin. The only part I remember was when he went off on his tangent about access to guns being an essential component of a free society and then stood there wondering why he was suddenly being heckled.

Very strong "University rag committee who spend half their time telling you how completely mad!!!!!! they all are and the other half telling you solemnly how important the work they're doing is" vibes here.

also why does he think people will take on his "wacky" pronunciation of "Robovan" to rhyme with "gas oven"? I generally leave actually listening to Musk's live ramblings to the professionals but damn, this guy is a terrible public speaker. Has his schtick always consisted mostly of awkward pauses and ers and ums or is this a new thing?

Knuth should have a special Nobel Prize for Being Donald Motherfuckin' Knuth.

Ooh, I know! I'd not exactly call it a moral panic but there were people who were convinced that people would be driving off cliffs or getting lost in the mountains because they didn't have the skills to read a paper map properly. Wasn't very convincing, especially as if people are determined to be stupid enough to drive off a cliff without noticing they're going to find a way to do that even if there's a big sign in front of them saying "Cliff, do not drive off".

In much of the world online mapping services still aren't anywhere near the standard of a proper topological map and there's really no substitute for (say) an Ordnance Survey map if you're climbing in the Cuillins, but that's not the fault of GPS.

From the comments: "Putting my conspiracy theory hat on, the dental hygiene industry in the US is for-profit, like the pharmaceutical, and would rather sell you a treatment than a cure."

Have these people ever BEEN to the dentist? While I know that certain dental procedures (tooth straightening in kids, whitening, etc) are way overused in the US no dentist worth their salt will allow a check-up to go by without a stern lecture on preventing future trouble. And if they don't do that then the hygienist most certainly will...

Well, "Man who wrote some code mostly based on other people's code a very long time ago and parlayed that into media darling status and a lucrative income" is a bit long-winded.

There was a new government elected last week on a platform which can be broadly summarised as “no more insane politics shit”. So far they’re showing dangerous signs of competence and rational thought. What a load of weirdos.

If you want more crazy, that political party is actually a limited company in which the leader is also the majority shareholder and the bylaws permit him to fire and appoint a majority of directors at will. I’m not sold on whether all those candidates were actually fake, but journalists from more credible outlets than Byline Times are no doubt working on physically tracking down every one off these candidates as we speak to verify their existence or otherwise.

I vaguely remember his original car crash on Wogan after he went loopy and it was barely veiled antisemitism even then - lizard people and the like

Romania is putting Andrew Tate on trial. Elmo probably wouldn't dare show his face there.