ISL

42 ms·

511.
by ISL 4y ago
On average, yeah, I think so. It would then be a way to say that money has non-linear utility, which is probably true. An aggregated million dollars probably does have more utility than a million single dollars. Such an institution would
512.
by ISL 4y ago
Touché! Washington State Lottery, "It's good to take your money!"
513.
by ISL 4y ago
Generally when lotteries "fund education", it can enable legislatures to allocate tax money that had previously gone to education to other priorities. This shift can turn lotteries into a de facto tax on being bad at math.
514.
by ISL 4y ago
Washington State Lottery has a slogan, "It's good to play!" It really should be, "Playing the lottery is a pretty terrible idea and we're going to, on average, take your money. If you still want to play, fine, but c
515.
by ISL 4y ago
If playing the lottery becomes worthwhile, arbitrageurs will immediately step in until it isn't. Got a lottery ticket with a 10% chance of being worth $100? I'll give you and each of your friends $8.50 for them, guaranteed, today.
516.
by ISL 4y ago
What an incredible achievement for our civilization.
517.
by ISL 4y ago
I believe that you are entirely correct. One of the big lessons-learned is that the response should have been: "N95s work. They are very important. If you hoard them, healthcare professionals will die. Please donate your extras to your
518.
by ISL 4y ago
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
519.
by ISL 4y ago
I would look hard at the entire history of Tucows' efforts with Ting Mobile and Ting Internet. Lots of important lessons there.
520.
by ISL 4y ago
To me, the copy of the EF 1.2L that I tested had a softness to its rendering that was very painterly. I shudder to use the term "microcontrast", but the lens appeared to have solid contrast and sharpness at broader spatial scales
521.
by ISL 4y ago
Wide open, they have some flaws, but stopped down a little, the aberrations are generally well-controlled. Here's the Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM compared with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4, both at f/4: https://www.the-digit
522.
by ISL 4y ago
Our perceptions of what an image "should" look like are shaped by all of the images we have seen. It may not be surprising to see mainstream CG place less emphasis on those imperfections in fifty years (perhaps especially lens fla
523.
by ISL 4y ago
To agree with the article author a little: A modern $150 50mm f/1.8 at f/8 will out-resolve an older $1300 50mm f/1.2 at f/8, but holy poops, can that older design produce a rendering quality that is simply smooth and b
524.
by ISL 4y ago
With the cleareyed understanding that this article is photographic clickbait/comment-bait... Use gear that achieves the task at hand. Sometimes that needs an optically-correct lens, sometimes it doesn't. When Frank Thorp brings a
525.
by ISL 4y ago
It is my belief that wider aspect ratio displays are easier to manufacture, too. At a given pixel-pitch, you need fewer rows. In extremis, imagine a display that is N x 1 -- much easier to limit defects and handle the necessary multiplexin
526.
by ISL 4y ago
My logic on that particular question was that someone would probably get a new trolley to replace it (trolleys are insured, right?), no matter what I thought, so I let the trolley go.
527.
by ISL 4y ago
365 * 5 / 7 = 260. Removing ~3 weeks vacation gets you down to 245. Eleven federal holidays? 234. 200 days/year sounds like an almost full-time job?
528.
by ISL 4y ago
I recall some unpleasant fights with license-servers in my past.
529.
by ISL 4y ago
"It’s an unprecedented level of openness—and engagement with the community." Hard to rationalize "unprecedented" with a lack of a Git-repo link for scientific software.
530.
by ISL 4y ago
Just OCR against the card-corners may be sufficient. I guess you also need suits, but that's only four special characters (all of which may be in more-modern OCR-libraries).
531.
by ISL 4y ago
Except Amtrak, which on that page is listed at 95%. Why are the US regional transit ratios so low? They're taking in real money, yet the costs are 4-5x the revenue.
532.
by ISL 4y ago
Mine is between my dual monitors at eye level. Works great.
533.
by ISL 4y ago
Satoshi's vision is still playing out. A possible goal was to demonstrate the notion of a distributed neutral-to-deflationary currency that could serve as both a store of value and a medium of exchange. Bitcoin remains volatile, but al
534.
by ISL 4y ago
If you're primarily chasing sensitivity, one can generally be much more sensitive with a non-platinum thermistor. They're less stable but exhibit a much greater change in resistance with temperature. A good voltage reference (o
535.
by ISL 4y ago
It is a reasonable bet that the thermalization time of their sensor is in the neighborhood of 100ms or so (which is very fast). The thing that is really good/interesting is the 60 nK/rtHz sensitivity at those frequencies. Off th
536.
by ISL 4y ago
Computation and access to information are sources of power within our civilization -- ensuring easy access to both should be a goal of our society, lest one group conclude that another group is unworthy. With that power comes responsibility
537.
by ISL 4y ago
Given that it was on HN, I imagined someone working through various strains of catnip to optimize their cats' high through some complicated ML-guided process.
538.
by ISL 4y ago
It is almost certainly less-likely than encountering another star. The outcome of a close-encounter between our solar system and another star or a black hole would likely be comparable: Earth's orbit would be disrupted, presumably to
539.
China detects possible ‘extraterrestrial civilizations;’ state media reports(kxan.com)
5 points by ISL 4y ago|3 comments
540.
by ISL 4y ago
It may be helpful to think through your intended holding period. As a companion to the sibling comment recommending the Intelligent Investor (realize that index funds didn't exist when Graham wrote that), I'd keep in mind the mant

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