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Cake day: November 8th, 2023

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  • Somewhere around 1987, I had my computer modem call my university library’s phone number directly so that I could see if the book that I needed was available (it was a long walk to the library). My computer acted as a terminal and the screen displayed everything pretty much the same as the terminals installed in the library itself (text only, monochrome display). Not really the internet, but probably the first practical use of a network of sorts for me.




  • I realise that many people, on reading that first sentence, will suspect I’ve finally flipped. Where, pray, are those rolling sand dunes or sere stony wastes? But there are many kinds of desert, and not all of them are dry.

    No, being dry is really what makes a desert. Deserts can be hot, cold, even seasonally wet, but overall they must have low yearly precipitation.

    In fact, those spreading across Britain are clustered in the wettest places.

    Obviously, no.

    Yet they harbour fewer species than some dry deserts do, and are just as hostile to humans.

    Few species and hostile, sure, but these are not defining attributes of desert.

    Another useful term is terrestrial dead zones.

    Well, it is closer to accuracy.

    This twat is using desert figuratively in an article on ecology while chastising readers for thinking that deserts are dry.

    Idiot