cstross

13 ms·

91.
by cstross 4y ago
Now wait for =deep_dream() or maybe =stable_diffusion() as a graph-generating function! (Graphs plotted with this function will of course zoom in infinitely but the further you go the more eyes and shiba dogs you'll notice in the corne
92.
by cstross 4y ago
I wrote my first novel-shaped object when I was 15. Sold my first short story for actual money aged 21. First novel sold when I was 36. ... Stopped doing other stuff (mainly freelance computer journalism) to sub the fiction when I was 42. T
93.
by cstross 4y ago
Possibly the downvotes are because folks (like me) who started coding in light text on dark backgrounds in the 80s had emphatically not hit retirement age by 2010? They'd be between their late thirties and maybe late fifties, unless
94.
by cstross 4y ago
It's worth noting that despite all the valid points about the costs of the F-14, the F-14 was the cheaper alternate platform for the AIM-54 and AN/AWG-9 radar; they were originally developed (as the AIM-47 and AN/ASG 18) fo
95.
by cstross 4y ago
Nope, it's a genuine proposal from Jacob Rees-Mogg's department. Leaving aside that, in his mid-fifties, Mogg is probably too young to have learned imperial units at school ...
96.
by cstross 4y ago
Not enough for a space elevator on Earth, but definitely in the range you need for very long suspension bridges -- think in terms of railway bridges over the English Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Irish Sea, and (with causeways&#x2F
97.
by cstross 4y ago
Two points: Firstly SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747SP. The SP first flew in 1975 and the final SP was delivered in 1987: Boeing never made many of this type (a short-arse extra-long-range 747 that was designed for certain long-haul routes, b
98.
by cstross 4y ago
The Freewrite folks are currently doing a fundraiser on Indiegogo for Freewrite Alpha, their take on the Alphasmart concept, only using e-ink: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/freewrite-alpha-distracti... (I personal
99.
by cstross 4y ago
Not sure (but probably yes): I seem to recall ECMAScript was mentioned, not sure what version number.
100.
by cstross 4y ago
I got to visit the control centre while it was under construction back in 2016 (I think: I was one of the guests at an SF convention, hence the special group tour). One factoid that stuck with me was they also considered micro-Python, but J
101.
by cstross 4y ago
The physical form factor is still around today, if you want a notebook PC that's smaller than an ultrabook. Current flag carrier is probably the GPD P2 Max from Sheznhen's Gamepro Devices, a firm who started out making linux-based
102.
by cstross 4y ago
Shorter version: Yes, you are mistaken. Longer version: this is a discussion of a bill in progress in the British parliamentary system, where the current government is by a party known as the Conservative and Unionist Party , or "Cons
103.
by cstross 4y ago
Well, there's a reason they named it the Docklands Light Railway ! (Large stretches of the original network built in the 1980s ran on elevated track, supported on pylons over ground that's a mixture of chalk and clay and tends to
104.
by cstross 4y ago
The Laffer curve is an overly simplistic model that supposes government revenue is a function of income and sales tax revenue. This simply isn't true: Japan has control over its own money supply and can issue bonds. Nor are workers att
105.
by cstross 4y ago
Note that Japan is in a savage demographic crunch, with a TFR well below replacement and an ageing population, which means the ratio of workers to dependents (the elderly) is dropping. Which in turn reduces average productivity and GDP. Act
106.
by cstross 4y ago
I used a Psion 5 back in the day, and read ebooks on it which gave the battery life a torture test. A pair of Duracell AA cells would last 20 hours without the backlight, and about 7 hours with it. A Gemini or Cosmo with the wireless hardwa
107.
by cstross 4y ago
The Psion Series 7 was a netbook-sized machine with a VGA screen. Came along just too soon to have wifi and bluetooth built-in, just too late to be competitive with the ever-shrinking notebooks like the Toshiba Libretto range. The nearest t
108.
by cstross 4y ago
The UK's Planet Computers already occupy that niche, albeit with a focus on Android (although Linux can be installed on their Gemini PDA and Cosmo Communicator models): I'm waiting on the (long-delayed by COVID19 factory shutdowns
109.
by cstross 4y ago
That's my point. UKIP and BXP disintegrated because their more competent members colonized the Conservative Party, which is now much more radical and far-right than it was under Cameron. The only surviving cabinet minister from Cameron
110.
by cstross 4y ago
Yes, with one key difference: the Brexit campaigners insisted that the UK was being tyrannized and forced to implement policies set in Brussels by the EU (despite having full political representation in making those policy decisions), whe
111.
by cstross 4y ago
For non-UK people: There are four nations in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland). But England has roughly 90% of the population of the UK. So what England votes for in an all-nations referendum, the rest of the UK gets. Engl
112.
by cstross 4y ago
SOPHIA isn't a 747-400; if it was, it would probably still be flying. Instead, it's the now-extremely-rare 747SP, a 747-100 derivative designed for special long range operations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
113.
by cstross 4y ago
Nope, the term came out of SF fandom decades ago.
114.
by cstross 4y ago
Wrong: it's the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (founded 1962 by John McCarthy -- who co-authored the document that first defined AI as a field, invented LISP, time sharing, and garbage collection, heavily influenced the de
115.
by cstross 4y ago
The presidential motorcade travels with the president in his own country, remember.
116.
by cstross 4y ago
Multiple USAF heavy transports are required to facilitate a single presidential visit, and those flights come at a steep cost. This seems a peculiarly American way to go about things ... specifically, it's not actually about protecti
117.
by cstross 5y ago
As the old joke puts it: dogs have owners, but cats have staff.
118.
by cstross 5y ago
The word "internet" doesn't appear in Neuromancer because in most respects it hadn't been invented yet. While DoD declared TCP/IP the future standard for military networking in 1982, IBM, DEC, and AT&T only adop
119.
by cstross 5y ago
Whoops! Was commenting from memory.
120.
by cstross 5y ago
The An-2 (NATO reporting name: "Cock") is a single-engined utility biplane used throughout the former Warsaw Pact as a light airliner, cargo plane, and crop duster. Its general performance is comparable to the ancient Douglas DC-3

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