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self_buddliea

6 karma · joined September 4, 2018

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self_buddliea··on A Lego car crossing larger and larger gaps [video]
This video gives you an idea of the tensile strength of Lego constructions, as well as being imaginative.
self_buddliea··on How to programmatically find out if computer is on
Could you apply the same reasoning to 'double is_computer_on_fire()'?
self_buddliea··on Banning anonymous social media accounts would only stifle free speech, democracy
If they pass this legislation, my bottom will lose its precious anonymity.
self_buddliea··on High schoolers are training to drive 18-wheelers amid shortage of truck drivers
> "... but I never left trucking," he said. "I would always either drive on the weekends or part-time not because I had to, but because I enjoyed it."

The impression I get being in the UK is that driving HGVs is a cruel and soul destroying activity.

self_buddliea··on Chekhov's Gun
With regards to Pulp Fiction, is the Gold Watch another MacGuffin?
self_buddliea··on Facebook's Horizon Workrooms promises a virtual future of teal despair
I'm trying to picture how Reggie Perrin would react to this abomination.
self_buddliea··on Denser cities could be a climate boon – but nimbyism stands in the way
From the article: "Drawing more people into cities could help significantly shrink the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. Low-density developments produced nearly four times the greenhouse gas emissions of high-density alternatives, with research finding that doubling urban density can reduce carbon pollution from household travel by nearly half and residential energy use by more than a third."

This refers to the overall volume of pollution, but not the concentration of pollution in a particular location. If you're from the UK you've likely heard about Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who tragically died aged nine in 2013 after an asthma attack. Last year a coroner's verdict was given stating pollution played a part in her death, specifically the high levels of nitrogen dioxide. I know this is just one case, but it makes me think the fine structure of urban planning is very important in this respect.

self_buddliea··on The Triple Revolution
I'd feel better off with MAD, it's supposed to prevent a nuclear exchange.
self_buddliea··on Urban Dictionary on Hacker News (2013)
I'm aware of the philosophy behind HN and the dictionary entry alludes to this. From my experience it's more focussed on technology and a liking of knowledge in general.

On the other hand, I still find this amusing.

self_buddliea··on Why wild foxes led you to treasure in Skyrim
"A chain of tweets interspersed with memes." I really liked the wholesome meme with the cat. The Cox-Zucker tweet was also quite amusing.
self_buddliea··on Stonewall Nation
At the end of the article... "It has since been suggested that the entire Stonewall Nation idea was a hoax perpetrated by the Los Angeles GLF to generate mainstream publicity." I don't see the advantage in employing this strategy, it seems risky. You could be fairly confident that you would get criticism from within the gay community about the plan, but nothing more. It would be hard to predict the level of hostile reactions from people outside the community, and how hostile the reactions could get. To take this chance over a hoax sounds implausible.

Edit: I've forgotten how to format on this site, sorry.

self_buddliea··on Scottish Government wants to make emergency Covid powers permanent
The best thing about the Telegraph is MATT.
self_buddliea··on 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)
Today I learned Jackson Pollock was a perl programmer.
self_buddliea··on Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds
Reading this article made me recall an incident back in art college. A mature student asked if I smoked cannabis, I said I do. There was another mature student in the room with us. Upon hearing my confession she stared at me with a very serious expression, then lunged forward at me and pushed her face into mine. I was so taken aback I nearly fell off my chair. I had never met this woman before, we were never introduced and I haven't seen her since.

I would argue this woman was sufficiently arrogant that she thought it was socially acceptable to invade my personal space because I was a stoner. Perhaps I myself was more arrogant when I was younger, in the spirit that user warent mentioned below. On the other hand, I'm not the type to spontaneously invade the space of others.

self_buddliea··on Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards
That reminds me, I really need to watch Pink Flamingos by John Waters.
self_buddliea··on To compute a constant of calculus (2019)
Thank you for the link, I might start watching at the beginning.
self_buddliea··on To compute a constant of calculus (2019)
I'm referring to the float registers, not arbitrary precision. So, 'math.pi' essentially.

You probably already know this, I'll apologise in advance - My understanding is you can only get accurate values of a value smaller than unity on a float if it is a sum of perfect powers of 1/2 (ie. the denominator is a perfect power of two). Therefore any reciprocal of an odd number will get an error (bar the first term, which is 1) since odd numbers don't fall into the above category (except for 1).

I tried using this series years ago to calculate pi. It was a total disaster, the final value was way off.

Edit: 'sum of'

self_buddliea··on To compute a constant of calculus (2019)
Reading this reminds me of Leibniz's formula for pi:

Although it computes the value correctly, it is almost completely useless on a computer. All the elements of the series are reciprocals of odd numbers, hence you will get errors on every term.

self_buddliea··on Vladimir Lukyanov’s Water Computer (2019)
Imagine using the metal of a T-1000 as the 'water', and another T-1000 as the 'computer'.
self_buddliea··on Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
This makes life seem more like a video game.
self_buddliea··on Drain-spotting: The people who keep their minds in the gutter
Two well known drain-spotters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanton_Warriors
self_buddliea··on One Letter Programming Languages
If you've run out of letters in the alphabet, you have diacritical marks at your disposal.
self_buddliea··on Estate agent's hi-tech house tour exposes personal data
Third column from the left, second row from the top, you see a copy of Euclid's Elements. Pull that out to open the door to Bret's secret lair.
self_buddliea··on My startup failed, then I found out I was unemployable
I googled "binary tree reversal".

Google requested clarification: "Did you mean: binary tree traversal". Google also mentioned "inversion" of a binary tree.

Google seems more confused than I am.

self_buddliea··on Are you a lazy programmer?
I was expecting something about lazy initialisation.
self_buddliea··on Roland TR-909 Famous Patterns
...but no Dom & Roland.