sfRattan

20 ms·

1. 211.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   I struggled with this same question for a long time, and I think you're stuck in a false dilemma. You give as options: the delusion that the world is fair and an individualistic zero sum mindset which promises violence and such nega
2. 212.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   We had to do something similar for our Intro to CS course at Tufts years ago: implement both a tic-tac-toe game and an algorithm that would play optimally. Second stage of the project was that, after a player's third move, the oldest &
3. 213.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   Specifically, twelve is a superior highly composite number.[1] In plain (and probably over simplified) English, it has more factors than other numbers in a similar range. Historically, problems of division have been harder to solve than pro
4. 214.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   > But the fact many Americans are unable to do that is, in itself, evidence the imperial system doesn't work that well for them. The set of anecdotes you have put forward about Americans you know could be evidence of any number of
5. 215.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   Fiction: Voice Net by Shinichi Hoshi An eerie look into the future from before the age of computers. The number of things about our lives now he got essentially right in 1969 is frankly stunning. Twelve interwoven short stories explore va
6. 216.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   This is a great little tool! The subtle grid reminds me, oddly perhaps, of OneNote. It was my favorite note taking app in college, and there was an implicit/invisible grid at the base of every page with similar click and drag boxes for
7. 217.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   So that the employer will see him more favorably than the other employees at the same level when making decisions in which all other things are equal. From the candor of GP's comment, I would venture to guess that both he and the manag
8. 218.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   The words I wrote were computer connected speaker. So, yes, plugged-into-a-computer is what I was talking about. Thanks for the further reassurance that government agents won't break into my home, but that wasn't what I was sugg
9. 219.▲
   by sfRattan 7y ago

   I chuckle at a 'reassurance' like that one. Mechanically, a speaker is a poorly optimized microphone and a microphone is a poorly optimized speaker.[1] I don't doubt there are people working for most major governments' i
10. 220.▲
    by sfRattan 7y ago

    I believe you can't know whether a message is sound until you've managed to work past/through your own strong feelings reacting to a message's pleasantness or unpleasantness. A heuristic which dismisses a message becaus
11. 221.▲
    by sfRattan 7y ago

    I don't think GP suggested that some people can't grasp the content of a mean message. GP specifically wrote, "the premise that you don't listen to messages that are too mean," and not, "the premise that you
12. 222.▲
    by sfRattan 7y ago

    For a large number of games and platforms, USED products are the entire category. Specifically with Nintendo, the vast majority of games for NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Wii, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS
13. 223.▲
    by sfRattan 7y ago

    I usually turn the Bluetooth off when I'm done with it. The problem is when I occasionally forget, just like any human eventually will. If I need to remember to hit a switch on one computer to prevent another computer from unpredictabl
14. 224.▲
    by sfRattan 7y ago

    Design of cars can be as much a safety issue as design of roads. The Honda Civic I drive will auto-play whatever audio my phone was last playing when it syncs via Bluetooth. It does so inconsistently, and somewhere between 30 seconds and 2
15. 225.▲
    by sfRattan 7y ago

    Or it could go: Dry county -> social drinkers must drive to the bar in the next county over, or even several counties over -> drunk drivers from the dry county spend more time and distance on roads than they would otherwise -> high
16. 226.▲
    by sfRattan 7y ago

    > She was closely allied with Ludwig von Mises, an economist and historian who helped shape neoliberal thinking. I don't know too much about whether Rand and von Mises interacted personally, but I know that Murray Rothbard (who move
17. 227.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    Aereo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo The Supreme Court decision that killed the company is an excellent example of what happens when jurists don't understand technology... And don't want to, either.
18. 228.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    You can get a relatively recent beta for WinAmp. It was leaked online and the current owners of the software (Radionomy) chose to release the beta[1] following the leak so that people could download from an official source rather than resor
19. 229.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    I never used Inbox as I never had a problem with Gmail, but how were 'bundles' different from creating labels and logical filters that skip certain categories of message past the inbox? Was it just that 'bundles' were mo
20. 230.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    That particular example isn't really an oddity; it's a pattern. The "-chen" used in "Mädchen" is a suffix/diminutive and it nearly always transforms the original word to the neuter gender. The original wor
21. 231.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    Having lived in Germany as an 11th grade exchange student, the rather minimal homework and the schooldays that ended in the early afternoon (early enough to eat lunch with guest family) were great. It's important to consider that 30min
22. 232.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    When I picked up a new phone last fall, this change made me irrationally angry. Now everything looks like a little piece of candy and not like an icon. Designs proceed further and further toward abstraction to the point that, without a lot
23. 233.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    Maybe it's because I can be 'long winded' and have put effort into curbing that habit, but I find that the 'uh/uhm/ehm/mmm' interjections can be removed from conversation as well. I have to put more e
24. 234.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    My recollection from the book was that, as the sibling comment states, the moon was previously 2:1 men-to-women. It was no longer so by the time of the novel's start, but social norms established during that tumultuous backstory had pe
25. 235.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    I suspect Heinlein gets categorized all over the map (from "hippie" to "fascist") because critics looking at only one of his books don't realize that he's using science fiction to explore (but not necessarily f
26. 236.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    Another author of science fiction who made some chillingly accurate predictions was Hoshi Shinichi[1], whose works are generally not that well known in the West, even among some of the broader scifi fandom. In particular, I vividly remember
27. 237.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    Two terms not mentioned in the article are elder and guardianship abuse. The prevalence of these factors can and should be huge in determining both where to retire and, if it comes to it, a nursing home for one's own parents. Specifi
28. 238.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    For those who remember it, the peer pressure and shaming implications of these apps remind me more of the season 8 episode, "Douche and Turd." Particularly how everyone in the town ostracizes Stan until he's willing to vote,
29. 239.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    I have a distinct memory of 8th grade typing class: once a week over the whole fall semester we practiced typing on these awful AlphaSmart devices. Made almost no progress in our words-per-minute. Then, over Christmas break, we all started
30. 240.▲
    by sfRattan 8y ago

    Thanks, that makes more sense. I clearly parsed the sentence badly.