retrac

32 ms·

391.
by retrac 2y ago
Classic speech synthesis is interesting, in that relatively simple approaches, produce useful results. Formant synthesis takes relatively simple sounds, and modifies them according to the various distinctions the human speech tract can mak
392.
by retrac 2y ago
I think it's still more in the realm of philosophy. But I do have an argument that NNs demonstrate abstract, generalized learning: the transfer learning effect. Neural networks pre-trained on data for a completely different task, lear
393.
by retrac 2y ago
> Basically what I came to is that southern europe of that time had a high degree of exchange with other mediterranean cultures There were people in England in Anglo-Saxon times. who had been as far away as Alexandria, or Constantinople.
394.
by retrac 2y ago
No. The prehistoric Indo-Europeans appear to have had no words for the ocean, or ships, or other such things. Or if they did have words for these things, their descendant cultures did not inherit them. This, and many other clues, suggest
395.
by retrac 2y ago
The Egyptians domesticated the ostrich and it has been familiar to Mediterranean civilization since. England was part of the Roman world just a few hundred years before the period in question. At that time at least, there were lions in Lo
396.
by retrac 2y ago
The most egregious acts can be downplayed or politely ignored, if the aggrieved party really wishes to avoid war. On the other hand, the smallest provocation can serve as a justification for war, if the aggrieved party wants war. North Kor
397.
by retrac 2y ago
A very large percent, surely. It's why barbiturates or benzodiazepines or opioids have very rarely been used for strong sedation outside of a hospital setting. One person's sedating dose is another person's lethal overdose
398.
by retrac 2y ago
Gothic architecture also feels oppressive, at least to me. I believe that is working as intended; dread and awe bring us closer to the divine.
399.
by retrac 3y ago
[deleted]
400.
by retrac 3y ago
Arbitrary precision integers aren't necessarily that expensive to implement. It does require overflow checking for operations on regular fixed integers, and keeping track of type, but if you're doing that anyway (many languages a
401.
by retrac 3y ago
Re: point 1, in the 1980 paper, that should be interpreted in the context of the time. Cache memory was still a relatively new idea, and uncommon. Core memory (only supplanted by semiconductor memory c. 1975) had been much slower than dig
402.
by retrac 3y ago
Iverilog is a Verilog simulator. [1] Yosys [2] can synthesize Verilog to a variety of things, including simplified Verilog, cell netlists for ASICs and FPGAs (requiring further conversion), and also directly to the bytestream, for some Lat
403.
by retrac 3y ago
It would affect the Moon's natural radiation. It would vaporize plutonium and other isotopes and this would be attracted by the Moon's gravity and eventually settle as a powder all over the Moon. (We did it to the Earth already.
404.
by retrac 3y ago
The magnetometers and charged particle detectors are still operating. So they are measuring the galactic magnetic field, and cosmic rays and the gas in interstellar space. The results are more or less what was predicted, though the exact
405.
by retrac 3y ago
The plutonium 238 decays according to a curve, and the thermocouples are degraded as well by heat and radiation according to a curve. So the power output drops rather predictably: "The radioisotope thermoelectric generator on each spa
406.
by retrac 3y ago
Cut off the money. Make it illegal for American residents and businesses to do business (exchange money) with the company. Individuals would still be able to post, view it, etc. But with no advertising, no sponsorships, the business mode
407.
by retrac 3y ago
I recognize the distinction you make. But most of this comes up in relation to practical ethics. Is it possible for a form of life to have consciousness, but not sentience? They seem to be bundled together. And if it were possible to hav
408.
by retrac 3y ago
Electoral ballots have often listed the candidates in alphabetic order, but some studies have suggested that it gives a small benefit, to the first person listed. [1] Many election authorities, in Canada at least, have shifted to randomizi
409.
by retrac 3y ago
Reminds me of the hack that got .NET 3.0 running on Windows 3.1 via Win32s [1] [2]. Not that much works beyond a text window. [1] https://twitter.com/MStrehovsky/status/1215331352352034818 [2] https://
410.
by retrac 3y ago
Oh, Kermit wasn't just on The Muppet Show; he was on Sesame Street too, with dozens of local language adaptations. Though it's not always popular in other countries as it is in the USA, it has been a worldwide phenomenon for decad
411.
by retrac 3y ago
> [...] I don’t know what to call these countries Marxist-Leninist, Communist. It's what they were always described as. There's historical context here. You have offered no objection to the use of the term "Leninist&quo
412.
by retrac 3y ago
Vietnam is ruled by a Marxist-Leninist party. One-party rule, vanguardist, officially Marxist, ruling allegedly for the benefit of the workers. Similar to contemporary China, Cuba, or the late USSR. What term would you prefer, if not (M
413.
by retrac 3y ago
Corruption purges in Leninist states are always political. In many cases, the officials and executives purged are, in fact, corrupt, and breaking domestic law. But the political element is really unavoidable. These serve as demonstration
414.
by retrac 3y ago
Windows 2000 was based on NT. While it had the Windows 98 interface it was very different underneath. It's a bit bonkers, but MS sold two superficially-identical operating systems for five plus years, that were in reality, about as d
415.
by retrac 3y ago
Discrete is the opposite of integrated, as in integrated circuit. In practice, it means using multiple components. In a strict sense it means no integrated circuits at all, I suppose. But it's also a relative thing. So while a 7400
416.
by retrac 3y ago
> one can't help but think that the samples are already in the decoder itself In a certain sense, maybe they are. Or more accurately, small fragments of samples, and just how to mix them together, is what is transmitted. It reminds
417.
by retrac 3y ago
Yes. In theory, any pure function can be turned into a lookup table. And any lookup table that isn't just random numbers can be turned into a more compact algorithm that spends compute to save space. Such tables may be infeasible, th
418.
by retrac 3y ago
Some of that did not really materialize during the System/360 era. A custom version of the model 65 was the only one with virtual memory, for example. And while OS/360 was an architectural marvel on paper see the comments elsew
419.
by retrac 3y ago
Unfinished concrete, specifically. I would translate "brut" as "bare" or "unrefined" here. English brutality is related to French brut, but in French it means more like crude, unrefined, raw, blunt, with no p
420.
by retrac 3y ago
When it works, it's not ugly but, vaguely inhuman and austere. A kind of modern Gothic, like a medieval cathedral, overwhelming with dread and awe. Perhaps unsurprisingly it's quite a popular style for modern cathedrals, as well

More ›