agar

21 ms·

151.
by agar 6y ago
The receipt story made me laugh. Trying to decipher receipts for expense reports was not the most fun part of business travel to Tokyo! (Though Japan on an expense report is really the best way to go, unless you're fabulously wealthy.
152.
by agar 6y ago
This is very true. Connecting with other expats is easy and fun, and I spent plenty a night in the "gaijin ghetto." I'm not sure that that would scale for a multi-year stay though; like you say, it's a pretty transient c
153.
by agar 6y ago
I'll admit to only having been to Tokyo about a half dozen times, for up to two weeks at a time. It remains one of my favorite cities, but at the end of two weeks I was ready to go home. I don't usually feel that way when travelin
154.
by agar 6y ago
A colleague took me to Tamahide restaurant in Tokyo, which opened in 1760 and is known for creating oyakodon, a chicken and egg rice bowl. (Oyakadon translates to "parent and child donburi" which somehow makes eating a combination
155.
by agar 6y ago
You certainly express an unpopular opinion, and at first glance you are right: secure backups should be a priority for any IT organization. However, not all backups are continuous and pervasive. There are often backup windows, gaps, and pro
156.
by agar 6y ago
I would counter-argue on three fronts: 1. A lack of variation, even skin deep, is even less interesting than only skin-deep variation. That is often the norm in large "open world" environments. 2. Much of what we find most inter
157.
by agar 6y ago
Thank you for the links. These projects are fascinating, and precisely what I was thinking about. I wish I had more time, skill, and knowledge to delve into ML and GANs.
158.
by agar 6y ago
Perhaps a dumb question from one fairly unschooled in ML: Can't ML be used to augment traditional procgen methods to create unique ornamentation and art styles on top of traditionally procedurally generated level layouts? IMO, despite
159.
by agar 6y ago
Which is much better than the precedent since the 1950s, that fusion was always 20 years away.
160.
by agar 6y ago
Wow, this jogged a memory from when Brad Fitzpatrick (bradfitz on HN) had to write a utility to ensure the hard drives running LiveJournal didn't lie about successfully completing fsync().[1] IIRC, the behavior caused fairly serious da
161.
by agar 6y ago
A few points to consider: 1. Facebook funds many of these games; think of it like a first-party game made to drive sales of a new console. The developer gets paid up front, Facebook recoups the revenue via incremental sales of HMDs and soft
162.
by agar 6y ago
Others have said this, but I'll reiterate: your description of mass market is precisely what's happening with Quest. Your view of VR seems rooted in pre-Quest (i.e., exclusively PC-tethered) VR and not the stand-alone world. In fa
163.
by agar 6y ago
As I'm sure many will jump in to say, "ough" is an unfortunate example. "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed
164.
by agar 6y ago
I can't weigh in from personal experience, but I look at it like a marathon. One set of runners face a first half of the race with mud, crushed glass, vertical climbs, and other obstacles, while other racers had a nice tailwind and ext
165.
by agar 6y ago
I like your framing, because it provides an opportunity to "judo" some of the institutional resistance to change. Loss of power is a huge motivator for the status quo. Are there ways to facilitate institutional change that do not
166.
by agar 6y ago
That's a good quote (or sentiment). Relating back to technical systems, it reminds me of implementing a CRM (customer relationship management) or other collaborative data system. Higher difficulty of use translates to lower participati
167.
by agar 6y ago
Hmm, this kind of snarky response doesn't really add to the discussion. Why slam humanities programs now, when it's those very skills that will be needed to address many of the societal issues we face today? Do you disagree that s
168.
by agar 6y ago
Based on the current gray color, this response has seen quite a few down votes. I wonder why? It essentially restates the premise of the article, and is reasonably accurate from my experience. ("upset the apple cart" may understat
169.
by agar 6y ago
One of the comments effectively frames the motivations for the US's current institutional disparities: * The preference of well-off whites to pull the ladder up behind them; * The preference of police unions to protect their members at
170.
by agar 6y ago
I don't think it was a GoogleX project, but Chronicle was spun out from Google as an independent company. It grew well, and seemed ready to succeed on its own. Google then re-acquired it. Speculation, but perhaps Google was concerned a
171.
by agar 7y ago
It's been great fun to follow bradfitz's career. I first learned of him from a post on Slashdot about a cool remote controlled door hack in a college dorm. His roommate posted and basically said, "this guy is brilliant, it&#x
172.
by agar 7y ago
You dismiss the question as ridiculous by pointing to the 4th Amendment. But you then seem to hand-wave away all the nuances that are intrinsic to your own argument, and thus make this question not ridiculous at all. If you believe the 4th
173.
by agar 7y ago
Somewhat related, any plans for integration with VR headsets? This could either be first-person flying, or the generation of stereo-correct video (using offset cameras) for later viewing.
174.
by agar 7y ago
Losing $4.5B in value really understates the impact LTCM's failure had on the public markets. Multiple wall street firms (at US Government urging) needed to urgently inject massive capital into the markets to contain a near-systemic co
175.
by agar 7y ago
Saying "the software industry dictates using VR controllers" misses the mark. When Oculus Rift first released, the VR controllers weren't ready. Most demos were "3D vision" only (i.e., no input), and games used an X
176.
by agar 7y ago
I've heard others with that same fear, and sadly it stopped them from taking advantage of a medicine that could significantly improve their quality of life. Depression and anxiety, even when mild, can be pernicious in their self-preser
177.
by agar 7y ago
I think your posts are being downvoted because it's just simpler to downvote than try to correct someone with such fundamental errors of fact. Too many people who say things similar to you (e.g., pointing to incorrect climate models, q
178.
by agar 7y ago
I don't know who downvoted you or why (not me), but I find your point to be a bit nonsensical. Someone is pouring gasoline in our house and you're suggesting that we talk less about a catastrophic house fire and more about how the
179.
by agar 7y ago
Gates says divestment will not lower carbon emissions. This is very different from saying it will not lower valuation. Has the reduction in tobacco companies' stock prices materially affected smoking rates? I don't think so.
180.
by agar 7y ago
I believe OP meant, "consider [the paywall strategy of] their mainstream-educated-conservative counterpart, WSJ" - not "consider [switching to] ... WSJ" - as he/she continued with a comparison of the hard vs. soft p

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