xenadu02

5 ms·

31.
by xenadu02 2mo ago
I think that overstates the case for the parametron though. Even compared to contemporary vacuum tubes they were slower. Contemporary bleeding edge vacuum tube computers could reach Mhz frequencies. Parametrons were 10-15kHz. The supposed p
32.
by xenadu02 2mo ago
That's unavoidable. We now have shake alerts in CA but if the quake happens on the Hayward fault across the bay San Francisco isn't going to get much warning no matter what anyone does. By best estimates we may get 15s of warning.
33.
by xenadu02 2mo ago
The traditional model of compilation is the biggest issue holding back fast incremental compilation IMHO. Swift suffers from this as well. Even a simple change to one file results in re-parsing the whole library because definitions come fro
34.
by xenadu02 2mo ago
I didn't leave the Republican party, the party left me. Then again I'm some kind of crazy nut for believing that principles matter even if you lose the election and that cruelty isn't something to be praised so what do I know
35.
by xenadu02 2mo ago
Also note this is a side-effect of the fact that mammals lost true 3-color vision then primates re-evolved it by mutating the yellow cone into green/red cones. If you look at the sensitivity of red/green cones they almost overlap,
36.
by xenadu02 2mo ago
One thing you learn if you study the Amish or interact with them personally: there is no "Amish generally" or "the Amish usually". Every Amish congregation makes their own rules. The local deacons vote on changes. Each &
37.
by xenadu02 2mo ago
Well studies show that early school start times are bad for kids anyway so schools should fix their schedules. Kids also naturally like to stay up later these days so more daylight would better match that rather than keeping awake with arti
38.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
I liken it to the story of Noah. Whether that was the mediterranean re-joining the Atlantic and thus oral re-tellings from a much much earlier event or merely a localized flood you can certainly imagine someone preparing for a flood and sur
39.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
You don't have to do the exercises or follow along with the book. No matter if you are new to the field or have decades of experience: almost everyone would benefit from watching these videos if they haven't already (or done an SI
40.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
Most piston aircraft engines are still air-cooled which really means air and oil cooled. The oil is a big part of getting heat out of various parts of the engine. That also makes them harder on oil as the piston/rings have larger toler
41.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
That's a dangerous game to play. It requires them to bet that: 1. This AI-driven demand cycle is a temporary blip 2. None of their competitors will make massive investments in capacity. 3. No state actors will do so despite evidence to
42.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
Wasn't this also one of the last chips laid out by hand (literally the masks were cut and laid out physically)? Or am I thinking of something else? I sometimes wonder if some design decisions were made on that basis.
43.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
> That said, (before things like SPF) it was easy enough to deliver email to anyone you wanted even if you didn't have your own real email account and SMTP server Yup, this was also a fun exercise. Use nslookup, find the MX records,
44.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
Ah this one was so long ago I forgot about it. The realization that (on DOS) "copy con file.txt" as the world's worst text editor or "copy file lpt1:" was treating physical devices as files. Everything on the comput
45.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
> This is false. They slow down disease progression by about 30%, as measured by cognitive outcomes. This is discussed in the article. Perhaps I am just not well-informed but 30% slowdown in progression translates to sufferers have some
46.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
I don't think that's quite true. Unifi 10GbE switches are cheap enough I have a 24 port PoE+++ one in my house and my 3 main WiFi APs are 10GbE connected. My MBP uses a 5Gbps Thunderbolt adapter that runs relatively cool as well.
47.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
As a kid in the late 90s my mind was blown when I realized I could telnet to port 80, 25, or 110 and interact with the servers manually. Simple get: GET / HTTP/1.1 Content-Type: text/html User-Agent: l33t hax0rs lol X-Funny-M
48.
by xenadu02 3mo ago
Let's put all of that aside for a moment. When the first drugs targeting HIV arrived the results were undeniable. Yes the drugs sucked for various reasons and yes HIV would evolve resistance. But the data demonstrated a very clear link
49.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
By definition a free market in healthcare requires forcing some people to die from a treatable injury or condition to discover the optimal price. That's part of the definition.
50.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
That's by design. If currency doesn't devalue then stuffing it under a mattress looks like a reasonable alternative to investing. If we hit deflation you can receive gains for "free" and borrowed money becomes more expen
51.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
> with the US actively sabotaging their access to information and hardware More like they didn't see the need and didn't invest in early computing and so lagged behind. Something the US very nearly almost did as post-war a lot
52.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
> Actually pre-ANSI C technically didn't have function prototypes, Thanks, I completely forgot they weren't called prototypes originally.
53.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
The percentage of times I prompt claude "what about checking if there are any child processes running?" or "Would using a lock here greatly simplify the design?" only to have myself be correct is approaching 100%. That i
54.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
Not just this it is important to remember that there was no "aha!" moment where C was created whole-cloth by writing the first compiler in B then cross-compiling. The language B was evolved in-place by adding new features, then ed
55.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
That's fair. I had hoped GF was not entirely giving up but was going to wait until the tech for new nodes was proven and cheaper to obtain. It seems that is not really possible at the moment because anyone who is involved in that suppl
56.
by xenadu02 4mo ago
I remember in elementary school being amused by the idea of handedness so I decided to practice writing with my left hand as well. I'm not great at it but even to this day I can write legibly with my left hand from that little bit of p
57.
by xenadu02 5mo ago
Cryptographically secure random number generators are equivalent to encryption itself. If you could predict anything about the plain text by analysis of the cipher text the algorithm is compromised/broken and useless. That's the w
58.
by xenadu02 5mo ago
I've made this same argument so let me make a counter-argument: There are some ways to get this off the ground much quicker. One or more companies could buy an existing non-leading-edge fab like GlobalFoundaries. That buys a lot of exp
59.
by xenadu02 5mo ago
For some time I've been curious why none of the major UPS manufacturers offer LiFePO4 UPS units. They'd be smaller, lighter, and have a longer run time all else equal (dramatically lower shipping charges). Batteries wouldn't
60.
by xenadu02 5mo ago
You have however many people who you seem to believe have no useful work to do in their current roles. You aren't bleeding money. Is that not the time to invest in new products? To take moonshots? Is this not admitting that they simply

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