zh3

22 ms·

271.
by zh3 3y ago
One day you might want to transcode - compression artifacts may well not be audible in normal use, different compression algorithms drop different bits though and so the result of transcoding between compressed formats is quite often an aud
272.
by zh3 3y ago
ncmpc used to be this simple little thing, now it seems to be a C++ mess that doesn't even have backward compatibility (so here sticking with an old version thats works with MPD). Ref. patches, I use a cheap Amazon RF remote to control
273.
by zh3 3y ago
Having built a rather large CD collection (over the decades since there were like 5 albums available on CD), eventually I used a rack of old computers to rip them all to FLAC - storage cost is way less than the original CD cost. Nowadays I
274.
by zh3 3y ago
Try compiling:- main() { int foo = 08; }
275.
by zh3 3y ago
Some great in-jokes there (hands up who gets the EBCDIC one). More seriously, a lot of the discussions about "undefined behaviour" seem to be aimed at the kind of code that no experienced engineer would write anyway. Until there&
276.
by zh3 3y ago
Likewise, an old alarm clock from the '70's with red seven segment displays. Never failed, and it's so easy to set the time/alarm (hold down the time or alarm button, and press the + or - button). The physical switches (
277.
by zh3 3y ago
Eh, some of us would wonder what the easier alteratives are?
278.
by zh3 3y ago
Not true (although maybe in the systemd world?). udev just populates /dev dynamically (rather than having to create all the /dev/ entries manually/via scripts). Even udev is optional (upon upon a time, adding a new devic
279.
by zh3 3y ago
dbus is a sort-of standardised way for applications to communicate; generally used so that a service can make itself available to clients (e.g. battery status, bluetooth devices, plenty of other things that I don't happen to use). Gene
280.
by zh3 3y ago
That's close-ish to what I do, which is to have symlinks for frequently used directories in my home directory. And as most of those directories are actually on an NFS server, setting up a new PC is just mount the server, create the sym
281.
by zh3 3y ago
I gave up on this fight some time ago; very interested to hear of better solutions than simply keeping a personal home elsewhere.
282.
by zh3 3y ago
Indeed, we've done exactly this with production quality adverts where we'd add real-time information (e.g. betting odds) into the ad at selected points.s
283.
by zh3 3y ago
Texas Instruments "Programmer II" [0] which dates back to the 1980's (bought new sometime back then). Sits on the desk for the days when I need to convert back and forth between hex and decimal. Edit: mine predates the one i
284.
by zh3 3y ago
Related recent discussion on "Intelligent people take longer to solve hard problems": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36434578
285.
by zh3 3y ago
I've seen (in one case personally) plenty of cases of councils being taking for a ride (quite possibly by private jet), e.g. case below on the BBC recently. Thurrock Council "invested" £655m in solar farms which then went on
286.
by zh3 3y ago
Just for general fitness, it's oretty easy to do a mile a day (or more) on a treadmill. A fast walk is enough if running isn't your thing, two or three 10 minute sessions is all it takes. Not long enough to get coding before the n
287.
Twitter accused of bullying anti-hate campaigners(bbc.co.uk)
7 points by zh3 3y ago|1 comments
288.
by zh3 3y ago
Note that when most people were poorly educated, those able and motivated to self-educate would stand out more. So could it be that the level necessary be considered a 'genius' has increased over time, as a result of most people b
289.
by zh3 3y ago
I've bought 2 apple products, my wife has bought 1. iPad: Failed after a year, no replacement (we can 'upgrade') - it technically works but shuts down 3 or 4 minutes after boot. mac Mini: Hard disk failed. Out of warranty, so
290.
by zh3 3y ago
Agreed - a lot of so-called quality shoes aren't and as for the mattress wars... It's pretty frustraing, because even stuff that used to be dependable quality seems to get outcompeted by people buying stuff they replace (or would
291.
by zh3 3y ago
I'm constantly amazed by how people spend so much of their income on Apple products; it's almost like their lives are ruled by the status they feel an iPhone brings (and the consequential sacrificial purchasing). It likely varies
292.
by zh3 3y ago
What would you do if you genuinely believe you'd discovered something as potentially important? 1) Get paranoid, figure out where you've gone wrong 2) Kicked it as hard as we can, can't find a problem. So... 3a) Keep this pot
293.
by zh3 3y ago
We're building a bicycle product involving loadcells, and one of the issues with them is that strain gauges typically have pretty low resistance. As we need readings at a relatively high sample rate (measuring pedalling dynamics) it&#x
294.
by zh3 3y ago
Yes and no. Spinning the motor will generate a voltage but if it's not connected to anything there's no current flow and so the only resistance is friction. For it to act as a brake, something has to use the current - for example,
295.
by zh3 3y ago
That's a simple case, I've seen much worse because of endianess and different archs have different conventions for whether char is signed or unsigned by default (common these days with arm/X86). Any C programmer who's co
296.
by zh3 3y ago
Just add the polarity of the loop counts (my solution, no idea if it's the right one).
297.
by zh3 3y ago
So is that last one just a simple +/-, or (like a lot of these tests) there are alternative solutions and I've simply got the "wrong" one?
298.
by zh3 3y ago
That seemed a complicated way of reminding us that C++ (at least originally) is/was compiled down to pure C and thus can't do anything that C can't do.
299.
by zh3 3y ago
Back then, there was all sorts of ideas and drills in the event of a nuclear war. There was "Protect and Survive" [0] from the UK Government and plenty of parodies along the lines of "In the event of nuclear war, take cover u
300.
by zh3 3y ago
Roger Waters, Goodbye Blue Sky (1979):- "Look mummy, there's an aeroplane up in the sky Ooh Did you see the frightened ones? Did you hear the falling bombs? Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the promise of a b

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