ScottBurson

9 ms·

61.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Wow, that was fascinating -- thanks for the link.
62.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
It does seem like a poorly chosen example. In the case of an exponential process, the doubling time is a remarkably important number.
63.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
For fine art photography a fast lens is still desirable, but for almost anything else it matters less than it used to. The sensor itself is worth about 2 stops.
64.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Yeah, that's still going on, dammit -- my new D780 has the 30 min. limit.
65.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
I've puzzled over some of Glenn's recent writing too. But I think I'm starting to get the picture. Although he's certainly left-leaning -- he likes Bernie Sanders -- what really motivates him is attacking the complac
66.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
There are lots of good ideas floating around for a second CL standard. The problem is, either such a language has a CL compatibility environment, in which case it is probably implemented in CL using the features already in the language, me
67.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Never use LOOP. I don't! (Except in the trivial keywordless form in which it means "loop forever".)
68.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Dylan doesn't have parameterized types.
69.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Wow, what functionality did it have that took all those pages to document? Can you offer any examples of things it could do that Unix couldn't?
70.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
I feel a tribal connection with all the other people in this thread who agree with you.
71.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
People with strong eyeglasses (more than 3 or 4 diopters positive or negative) may find wide-gamut monitors hard to use for text. The problem is that chromatic aberration is wavelength-dependent; the larger the difference in wavelength bet
72.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
I have read elsewhere about researchers at least trying to develop 15-minute tests. Not sure what the status of their work is, but some think it's possible -- and they're specifically targeting entry checks.
73.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
What you're missing is that a rapid test like this can be used as an entry check at restaurants and other public venues, allowing them to go back into business. Even if the vaccines turn out not to work for some reason, we can have ou
74.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
> What they want is predictable, maintainable error free software that still works when the "artist" moves on. Producing such software is the essence of the art! Managing the complexity of large software systems as they grow d
75.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
I met my wife online, in 1993. On Usenet. I kid you not: it was in alt.psychology.personality. She was trying to figure out whether she was a Four or a Five on the Enneagram, so I emailed her "Well, do you have a worse problem with
76.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
We are in a time of moral upheaval, when the old mores are no longer acceptable, but as a society, we haven't yet worked out new ones. The search is inevitably clumsy at times, and mistakes will get made. That said -- outlawing mere e
77.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Calling someone and telling them you've found them to have violated a rule, and that there would therefore be certain consequences, is not an easy task, nor one that most people should be expected to do well. There's no shame in
78.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
It's not "every group of people" -- it's organizations that invite the participation of the public, or at least of others they don't know well, as long as they adhere to the mores of the community. More importantly,
79.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Then it seems to me that you're not the sort of person who should be on such a phone call, unless you can get this habit under control.
80.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Burson's Observation on Programming Languages: When someone who knows a lot about programming languages has a task tn do, they probably already know a language well suited to it. They also know how many person-years of work are requir
81.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
> As soon as Stripe doesn't employ them - they're gonna be competing for remote-only workers wages (or whatever is local too I guess) unless they move back. And on top of that, they may have to accept a non-compete clause in th
82.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Here's a great piece on caste in America: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/magazine/isabel-wilkerson...
83.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Writing an entire operating system in an inherently insecure language?
84.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Ha! Best laugh I've had in a month!
85.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
I don't know whether you'll see this belated reply, but anyway: I have had some sympathy with your position, as you can see in my sibling comment, BUT as I read more about IRV, I am actually coming to disagree. Look at this page,
86.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Yes. This is why I think we should be doing much more geoengineering research than we are now. I realize that geoengineering poses its own dangers. I just don't think we're going to have any choice.
87.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
So the losing candidates get empowered to speak for their voters? An interesting suggestion, but I think the voters would prefer to allocate their votes themselves — this is what IRV is.
88.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Hmm, this is interesting: As part of concerns about whether the NPVIC would shift power from the federal government to state governments, at least two legal scholars have suggested that the NPVIC would require explicit congressional approv
89.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
Yes, I tend to agree with this. Even so, I think Approval Voting deserves more buzz than it's been getting. As I like to say: "I approve of preferential voting, but I prefer Approval Voting" :-)
90.
by ScottBurson 6y ago
That's the best argument for Approval Voting. It's very simple: you just vote for or against each candidate independently. The votes are tallied, and whichever candidate has the most votes wins. It's much simpler than IRV

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