theoh

25 ms·

181.
by theoh 8y ago
This just seems self-aggrandizing. There's always been something a bit off about Tim Bray's self-presentation online. Not sure how self-aware the guy is.
182.
by theoh 8y ago
Citation needed, please. The most convincing popular article I've read on this topic is https://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2014/10/air-france-... It's far from clear-cut that the way auto
183.
by theoh 8y ago
When cargo cult thinking applies to organizational structure, it's called mimetic isomorphism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimetic_isomorphism . There's nothing inherently fake about that, but contextual fact
184.
by theoh 8y ago
If the jar is 10% empty presumably you want to multiply the estimate by 10/9.
185.
by theoh 8y ago
There are interesting histories, like this one, that are apparently very little known in today's UK computer industry: https://books.google.com/books?id=Dhk9wHXfQMkC
186.
by theoh 8y ago
The positive features you mention are related to network effects or essentially to Facebook's "first mover advantage". As I see it, you should consider Facebook as merely the incumbent in this "connecting" role, i.e
187.
by theoh 8y ago
Interesting. I'm guessing you mean "reactive", though, not "reactionary". So it would have been reacting to events rather that projecting and controlling future scenarios.
188.
by theoh 8y ago
There are a lot of examples to read through here: http://ioccc.org C is used rather than C++, because C++ is a car crash before you even start trying to obfuscate.
189.
by theoh 8y ago
It's mysterious, all right. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/128708/why-wasnt-cr... The case where things are given three or four letter codes is more comprehensible. Baudot code from the 19th C calls
190.
by theoh 8y ago
This is about validating code, not about maintaining the integrity of the system in the presence of corruption or a party that is deliberately trying to break things. It's actually helpful to be able to check that the system is sound i
191.
by theoh 8y ago
I don't know what changes, if any, would stop this problem from occurring. It just jumped out as a case of a book at the top of a list that doesn't really address the topic in question. It does seem like an outlier in the data, ri
192.
by theoh 8y ago
Odd that "Assertiveness at Work" comes top of the RPG books list. https://bookinsider.gitlab.io/2018/12/01/top-20-books-on-rpg... I looked into it, and it's just one user recommending it over a
193.
by theoh 8y ago
Air quality is also an issue!
194.
by theoh 8y ago
GoodJokes's "stick" was a mild call for more diversity. I don't see how naming a favourite would counteract that or add "carrot". Maybe one or more links would have done the trick? The fact that the original li
195.
by theoh 8y ago
Register renaming doesn't mean changing the name of registers you already have (which isn't really possible), it just adds new "virtual"/concurrent registers that conserve the semantics of operations. So what you sa
196.
by theoh 8y ago
I think the GP was talking about what you might call "expressive range". Anything that can be expressed in a string of characters of a given length uses at most the full expressive possibilities of that string. I think it's
197.
by theoh 8y ago
This is a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomasulo_algorithm . Butler Lampson mentions register renaming as one of a dozen paradigmatic neat techniques in this 2015 presentation: http://bw
198.
by theoh 8y ago
That's true if one considers the convex hulls of the two objects, but not if one sticks to thinking strictly about their volume.
199.
by theoh 8y ago
Can anything every be (physically) less than the sum of its parts? In terms of mass or volume, for example? If you're saying "an accessory that only works as an accessory is sometimes just dead weight (when you're not using i
200.
by theoh 8y ago
Joule's apparatus can be seen at the Science Museum in London. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joule_Apparatus.jpg It's a beautiful device, worth googling around for the various photos that are online
201.
by theoh 8y ago
Narcissists are a danger to everybody, but the consensus seems to be that narcissists themselves would be happier if they were treated. It's a pathology, so I don't think there's any problem with pathologizing it. How to trea
202.
by theoh 8y ago
Specifically Bukowski "wants to seem" a particular way, which is the essence of glamour. Virginia Postrel is very good on this expanded sense of glamour, finding it almost everywhere in professional culture (including space travel
203.
by theoh 8y ago
The steelmanned version of your comment might be something like "graphic designers these days really seem to have abandoned every recognizable principle of 'good' design". That would be a claim that design quality is det
204.
by theoh 8y ago
I'm afraid you are giving the psychiatric profession way too much credit. Most DSM disorder categories don't perform well on measures of inter-rater reliability. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-rater_reli
205.
by theoh 8y ago
No. If anything confirmation bias is a consequence of one particular case of motivated reasoning. I think you will need to make a much stronger case if you want to convince anyone that this distinction is not useful (and that, therefore, th
206.
by theoh 8y ago
She probably does know about cognitive bias, but you can't seriously be suggesting that her bio establishes that with certainty. People who write and set up organizations are a very mixed bunch. Galef is not exactly a high-powered scie
207.
by theoh 8y ago
Probably total number of objects.
208.
by theoh 8y ago
Actually, if you're using your own skills and judgement, I think it's still "making". If the job was all done with CNC and robots, then there would be a strong case that it was not DIY any more. http://promoti
209.
by theoh 8y ago
Yes and no. I tracked down the original message in the archive of the 9fans mailing list. The fate of Mothra is discussed. http://p9.nyx.link/netlib/9fans/9fans.0007 There's more discussion in this file betwe
210.
by theoh 8y ago
I think what they're looking for is more like a counterintuitive economic situation in the tech industry. Something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus_paradox In general see https://en.wikipedia.

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