mdpopescu

12 ms·

61.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Not a bad definition, the problem being that most negative consequences from drug abuse are due to the fact that they are illegal, and thus 1) way more expensive than they could be and 2) of bad quality.
62.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
To be honest, I still don't understand how people use the word. Am I addicted to water? I have nasty physiological reactions if I stop using it. What about sleep? Is that a bad habit I should get rid of?
63.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
> If that isn't addiction, I don't know what is. In my case, boredom. I normally fix that by reading books on my Kindle, but if I don't have it for some reason, the phone is a good substitute.
64.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Yay, more poison in our diet. What's the worst that could happen?
65.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
As a general rule, I found that when institutions make it more easier for you to give them money, they don't do it for your benefit :)
66.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Ah... I'm sorry to say, ihsw, but you've been shadowbanned.
67.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
You forget the first law of UI: nobody reads messages. And the second law of UI: if the user wants to see porn^H^H^H^Hdancing bunnies, they will do everything they can until they get to the dancing bunnies.
68.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
The same way debasing gold coins is theft, even if the prices don't rise (because, say, you just conquered another country and got a new bunch of slaves to produce stuff). Claiming that inflation is a rise in prices confuses cause and
69.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Sure. However, the problem is the increase in the money supply, which is theft. The increase in prices is rather irrelevant - inflation would still be bad even if the prices were to decrease. (There are hundreds of papers explaining why.)
70.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
To inflate = to increase in size. The money supply increases = it inflates.
71.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
After that, we can also make sure politicians are honest and children are well-behaved.
72.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Of course they matter. We're discussing arguments that apply in the real world, not in math theory. In math, if you have this axiom: f(x) > 5 for all x >= 20 you are not then allowed to change it with a later axiom exc
73.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Hmm... in my experience, stable code is more likely to be correct than code that changes often. In fact, I would consider this obvious, given that there's a non-zero chance to introduce a bug with every change.
74.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Huh. On three separate jobs (small tasks, few hours to couple of days) I was told, after asking some questions, "stop bugging me and just write the damn thing". I would probably not ask any questions on any new task of that sort a
75.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Right. Testimonials in violation of their NDAs. Whistleblowers never prosper, at least in the US. Too many examples, take Stingray for a less controversial one. What was the result? Crickets. Exactly what would be the incentive for those en
76.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Really? In the parent message.
77.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
I don't understand this "argument from incredulity". It has leaked - you found out about it. Do you want them to publish an article in NY Times saying "yes, we spy on you all the time"? Do you want a personalized
78.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
I do hope that you're being sarcastic.
79.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
This attitude, I believe, is at the root of 90% of the so-called market failures. This was a clear, direct intervention of the state in the market. The guy above me calls it "the market shifting". It would be ridiculous as parody.
80.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Journalists aren't the elite. They're the PR people working for the elite.
81.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Hmm... I don't understand this. O(N) is very fast for most realistic purposes I can come up with. It's faster than sorting - O(N log N) - which I was taught is "basically a free operation". (Coursera class with Tim Rough
82.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
> Police may not keep you detained if they do not have probable cause... I believe this is called a distinction without difference. The police can always say you behaved suspiciously or they felt threatened by you. You can also be found
83.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
Sure, that makes a lot of sense, and it's a sensible demand when there are a million people, each putting up one fence. However, when you write the same architecture over and over, you don't write an explanation each time - for va
84.
by mdpopescu 6y ago
So... the browser on Xiaomi phones is doing what the other browsers have been doing for years? The horror!
85.
by mdpopescu 7y ago
Maybe the Chinese actually counted the people dying of the flu, instead of every death where the deceased also had the virus.
86.
by mdpopescu 7y ago
I think the "leave the site better than you found it" advice applies here. Whenever you need to touch a piece of code, write the proper tests (hell, add some fuzzy testing if you don't want to write them by hand) and then imp
87.
by mdpopescu 7y ago
Because of spooky action at a distance. Consider the following code fragment: glob = 5; f(); // what is the value of glob here? The problem with globals is that you can't know. f might change glob , directly or
88.
by mdpopescu 7y ago
I call these "real scientists", because they only exist in books and movies. In reality, the scientist will say "let's publish! who cares about testing, publish or perish!".
89.
by mdpopescu 7y ago
You weren't paying attention when we were doing all paperwork by hand. No more software = computers are bricks. You go back to manual operations. Emails? Replaced by letters. Writing "I fail to see any downsides to this" is p
90.
by mdpopescu 7y ago
Damn... I looked for a PC configurator for several hours two weeks ago and eventually settled for a 3800X. Your site managed to get me a 3900X in my 1200 eur budget (with 64 GB of RAM). Oh well, I will buy another PC in the next six months.

More ›