* Posts by nintendoeats

692 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Aug 2020

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Lapping the computer room in record time until the inevitable happens

nintendoeats

Re: Green energy

Last week, 10:00, just hit the hay. Lying waiting to get to sleep, suddenly understood the problem with my atomic-based lock-free queue which I had known for several weeks could silently drop items.

11:00, it is fixed.

A character catastrophe for a joker working his last day

nintendoeats

Re: get-aduser | set-aduser

I agree, generally I try to make sure that code which behaves the same looks the same, and code that behaves different looks different. Control and Inquire are certainly very different!

Also, as noted by Kevlin Henney, get and set are two of the most overloaded words in the english language.

We've got a photocopier and it can copy anything

nintendoeats

Re: modern technology will prevent such counterfeiting efforts

Everything about that seems like the worst idea ever. The idea that you would trust somebody else's device to indicate that they paid you is madness.

nintendoeats

Re: Don't know if it's just that my coffee hasn't kicked in yet...

"I don't pay my TV license fee...but if I did, it wouldn't be for things like this!"

(Hugh Laurie)

nintendoeats

Re: Don't know if it's just that my coffee hasn't kicked in yet...

Coffee not even finished, mind already blown.

Amazon sues 10,000 Facebook Group admins for offering fake reviews

nintendoeats

Re: Not necessarily saying that the sentiment doesn't resonate here, but...

If you were the leadership of one of those companies, would you want to prompt any public discussion about the question "am I a toxic monopolist"?

Microsoft tests CD ripping for Media Player in Windows 11

nintendoeats

My preferred testing method: rip a CD to FLAC, convert the FLAC to MP3. Use the Foobar AB testing add-on to try and guess which is which.

50% success rate every time I've ever done it.

nintendoeats

In fairness, the difference was quite notable using older MP3 codecs. I know it took me years to do more testing with modern codecs and accept that even 128kpbs is typically audibly transparent now.

Twitter sues Musk: He can't just 'change his mind, trash the company, walk away'

nintendoeats

Re: The sticking point was bots, surely that's the real news?

Did you actually read the article? Musk CLAIMS that this is the problem. Everybody else and their dog claims that A) he is just looking for an excuse to get out of the deal and B) it doesn't matter because he agreed to a quick sale with a lower standard of due dilligence.

nintendoeats

They provided numbers. Musk says he doesn't believe them.

America's chip land has another potential shortage: Electronics engineers

nintendoeats

Re: Meanwhile, here in the UK, that well known technology incubator hub....

I have a philosophy degree, but work as a software developer. My girlfriend is a doctor.

I completely agree about the arts/science divide in university. At my school, effectively the science students didn't have time to take any arts courses and any interesting science course had so many pre-requisites that no arts person could take them.

It should come as no shock that you get science graduates who can't communicate and don't understand the broader implications of their work, and arts graduates with no understanding of the physical world or rigorous reasoning.

I would strongly approve of providing more of a "classical" education, that expects people to develop a base knowledge of everything.

Canadian ISP Rogers falls over for hours, takes out broadband, cable, cellphones

nintendoeats

Re: FSB

While I completely agree with the second paragraph, lets start by assuming incompetence rather than maliciousness. Rogers has plenty of that to go around, they don't need any help from the second world.

People who regularly talk to AI chatbots often start to believe they're sentient, says CEO

nintendoeats

Re: 'Some' out of millions?

A chatbot commenting on a chatbot article. How poetic? Or more like, how the product of random chance.

Getting that syncing feeling after an Exchange restore

nintendoeats

Re: That syncing feeling ...

I once used a friends laptop to play stuff off my ipod. I don't remember exactly why this happened, but when she plugged in her ipod it wiped out all her music. I do remember that she didn't keep the actual music files on her computer, only on the ipod itself.

I continue to maintain that this was basically Apple's fault, but nonetheless apologies were made.

California state's gun control websites expose personal data

nintendoeats

Re: Accidental?

Exactly, this is why the wiser firearms owners work hard to limit how many people know both where they live and that they have firearms.

nintendoeats

Re: Accidental?

A: you can't get an assault rifle in canada. Fully automatic is illegal. Anything that is not fully automatic is not an assault rifle. This is not an academic distnction.

B: you can't get a firearms license in canada until you are 18.

C: The statistic I'm quoting is specifically limited to the adult population.

nintendoeats

Re: Accidental?

While it may be a fanciful and hyperbolic scenario, it is true that firearms are one of the most stolen category of items (IIRC they are third behind electronics and something else, but I might not have that exactly right).

nintendoeats

Re: Our privacy laws only punish data blunders

Laws that centered around processes rather than just breeches would be good. Then organizations could be fined for non-compliance before any breech occurs.

It's the same reason we have fire codes. If we didn't, organizations could take the risk of having lax safety standards and just gamble on not having a fire. Because we have regulations around fire safety measures, it is an offence to make that gamble at all.

nintendoeats

Re: Accidental?

Totally agree on all counts. I'd say that they need to treat this data as sensitive, but lets be honest...many organizations don't seem to be good at protecting any information that goes on a computer no matter how seriously they take it.

nintendoeats

Re: Accidental?

In Canada, holders of a firearms license are more likely than average to have at least a high school education.

nintendoeats

Re: Accidental?

Surely this more favors groups opposed to firearms registration? One of the arguments some groups have against firearms licenses and requiring registration of individual firearms, is that it centralizes a great deal of personal information and increases the likelihood of theft (generally, one is best served not letting random people know both their address and that they have firearms).

I don't agree with the position I just stated (I think some degree registration has to be part of a fair compromise between the two camps, and that it is therefore the government's job to mitigate the risk by taking all reasonable steps to protect the data), but if this event is evidence for any position I would say it was that one, rather than for increased regulation.

nintendoeats

I am a firearm owner ( but not American). I have done the safety courses, follow the laws, get the piece of paper that allows me to take my firearms to the range. They are stored in a safe, with trigger locks. The ammunition is stored in a locked cabinet. I would only deliberately point one at a human being if lives were on the line, and even then I doubt I could pull the trigger. Everybody I know who owns firearms is similar (again, not American).

Can you see why I do not think it is fair that I be compared unfavorably to a sex offender? No doubt there are many irresponsible people with guns (particularly in the US where many people buy them expressly for "self-defense"), but can you agree that it is inappropriate to refer to the "overwhelming majority" in this way without statistical backing?

And to re-iterate for the final time, I do realize that the American gun culture is the one most likely to attract and permit people who really should not have firearms.

2050 carbon emission goals need nuclear to succeed, says International Energy Agency

nintendoeats

I totally agree. In particular about the batteries, as far as I know we don't really have "environmentally friendly" battery tech at such a stage that we can deploy it at the kinds of scale that we need. IMO, if public opinion didn't waffle around nuclear power so much, we would currently be in a notably better position as far as carbon emissions (no the planet would not be irradiated, and no we would not be up to our ears in nuclear waste).

Cisco quits Moscow

nintendoeats

Re: It's not enough

I put to you that the best way to radicalize somebody is to marginalize them and tell them that their opinion doesn't matter. I'm not taking a position on the issue at hand, but I think it's important to be civil in all but the most extreme circumstances. If somebody's position is wrong, then let it fall on its own lack of merits.

nintendoeats

Re: It's not enough

...Is this really so important it's worth insulting somebody over?...

The perfect crime – undone by the perfect email backups

nintendoeats

Re: Email is forever

Presumably he kept his job because he demonstrated that he was the smartest of that group of criminals, therefore he was permitted to move on to the next stage of the "inner-circle" process.

nintendoeats

Re: Context!

I'm sure it's the kind that sells stocks to buy drugs, and not the kind that sells drugs to buy stocks.

Amazon can't channel the dead, but its deepfake voices take a close second

nintendoeats

I agree, this technology has far more applications for ill than for good.

nintendoeats

Compare this to The Sixth Day (basically a terrible movie), in which Arnie is encouraged to purchase a clone dog to shield is child from the reality of death. While the film totally failed to explore this idea with any depth, the fact is this is a real issue that deserves deep public discussion. As we become more and more able to shield people from the painful things in life, one has to seriously investigate the effect on long-term mental health and cultural values.

I fear a world where the rose seemingly has no thorns.

GitHub's AI code assistant Copilot takes flight. And that'll be $10 a month, please

nintendoeats

I really don't want this.

Never fear, the White House is here to tackle web trolls

nintendoeats

Re: Finger-Wagging

Odds that periodically children will (deliberately or accidentally) access the teacher's gun and do something bad: %100

Odds that a teacher will at some point (deliberately or accidentally) shoot somebody other than an active shooter: ???

Odds that an armed teacher will, in the moment, be both willing and able to shoot somebody (especially a 16 year old): ???

Odds that the anti-gun lobby will consider this to be an acceptable compromise solution: %0

Odds that many teachers will seek other employment if this is implemented: %100

Percentage of school budgets that is left over for a program like this: %0

Percentage of democratic countries other than the USA that would deal with school shootings by arming teachers: %0

I lived in the states for a few years when I was 5 - 10. My parents were always disturbed that they needed to have a "no guns allowed" sign at my school.

nintendoeats

Re: Finger-Wagging

I know that the mosque shooting in Quebec a few years ago, the shooter had actually been reported by members of his gun club as a risk and the RCMP failed to investigate (if they had, they would have learned that he had a history of mental illness and had made false representations on his license application).

You won't get every single maniac by looking for these sorts of markers, but let's be honest; few people go from 0 to mass-murderer in one step. Unfortunately the conditions that lead to this kind of behavior is often tied to not having the support infrastructure which would catch the warning signs.

nintendoeats

Re: Finger-Wagging

No, what he said was "I would prefer that a smaller number of children be attacked with a knife than a larger number of children be attacked with a gun".

I do not "want all the scary guns taken away" (you would be taking several away from me), and I am fully capable of understanding and agreeing with what this person is saying. Being deliberately obtuse does not help your position.

Know the difference between a bin and /bin unless you want a new doorstop

nintendoeats

Re: Indy Gone

Not a Tezro!!!!!

I have heard that people have issues with the Indy PSUs, but both of mine still work (one is Nidec, the other is Sony)

nintendoeats

Re: Indy Gone

They are very hardy machines, it may well work. The biggest concerns would be the HDD and the PSU.

Of course you also have to get an appropriate SGI-compatible 13W3 -> VGA adaptor which is a bit expensive, and you need a monitor that supports SoG (fairly common).

nintendoeats

Hmm, I taught myself C++ on an Indy. In fairness to the department head, it would have been exceptionally good at browsing the web and making those posters. If he had bought a second one, they could have done video conferencing in 1993 (just because they could, that's why).

Musk can't tweet about Tesla without lawyer approval – and he's still fighting to end that

nintendoeats

Re: Potentially an interesting legal case

I think some people take offence to the idea that one of the signatories of the contract is a public entity. Perhaps more generally, they do not like that the original fraud charges were based on his speech. I don't agree with either of these criticisms (yelling fire in a crowded theater is a well discussed counter-point), but I understand them.

nintendoeats

Re: Anyone else getting the sense that his attention is starting to wander?

Would you rather be dependently wealthy or live and have sex with an asshole?

nintendoeats

Re: Potentially an interesting legal case

Exactly. In fact, NOT enforcing this would take away a valuable right of the accused. Clearly Elon's laywer's deemed this to be the least punitive of the available options for his settlement. If the government could not legally secure an agreement from an individual not to make certain statements, then the government must pursue another form of punishment or bond which in all likelihood would be more punitive.

By accepting the agreement, Elon also accepted the validity of the agreement, and that it was in his best interest to accept the agreement. He certainly had it reviewed by council, so he cannot make the claim that there was not a meeting of the minds on it. QED, he cannot challenge it (except on the basis that it required HIM to do something illegal, which it clearly doesn't).

nintendoeats

Re: Advice from Twitter?

Just to provide a little bit of it: the manager at that location had significantly increased the temperature of the coffee above what would be considered "normal", for strategic reasons. The woman in question received severe burns, well beyond what you would get if you spilled coffee you made at home. Also, IIRC, she was only seeking payment of her medical bills and it was the court that decided she deserved a large settlement.

As a video game person, Hot Coffee amuses me as a title for that film :p

Nothing says 2022 quite like this remote-controlled machine gun drone

nintendoeats

Re: Fortunately Useless

Or it goes into a building, behind enemy lines, and shoots them. Unlike a human, the robot does not fear death. That's probably the most terrifying part of all of it.

Japan makes online insults a crime that can earn a year in jail

nintendoeats

Re: I approve

I agree, such a law is quite difficult to prosecute (though I believe there have been cases where such has been done successfully). However, personally I am not ok with adopting a sweeping law just because the more targeted law is difficult to enforce.

In the case where an effective targeted law cannot be created or enforced, I would prefer there be no law at all...though I also believe that in most cases some compromise can be reached that maximizes the combination of personal freedom and legal protection from harm. I agree these are very difficult problems to solve...I fear that in an attempt to catch up with the pace of society, the legal system may become worse at solving them.

nintendoeats

Re: I approve

Disturbing. Cue more lyrics from Diamond Dogs...

nintendoeats

Re: I approve

By the way, observer the irony that this was posted anonymously (presumably because the writer was concerned about the consequences of their speech...)

nintendoeats

Re: I approve

It does actually...at least legal consequence. If we refer to On Liberty, the intent of such principles is that we might find it reasonable to make "causing certain events by speech" illegal, but we should not make the speech itself illegal.

So in this case, we might find it appropriate to make a law that says "it is an offence to commit acts which directly lead to a suicide, if that suicide was easily foreseen by the accused", but it does not fit the Harm Principle to make a law that says "it is illegal to make insulting statement, because they may lead to a suicide". We judge the harm, not the act.

Surely a law that said "it is illegal to cause somebody offense" would be considered too broad and unenforceable to ever see the light of day (in a country that still has some oversight from the judiciary).

Sony responds to inflation with $3,700 gold-plated 'Walkman'

nintendoeats

Depends on which kind. There are science-based audiophiles, and magic-based audiophiles.

I suspect I do not want to know what you think the worst is.

nintendoeats

For some reason Sony's audio division is much less down to earth than their other departments. They are always releasing products at outrageous prices, making extremely dubious claims about their audio quality. I remember a while back I wanted their car stereo for my Miata, because it was the only one I could find that didn't look like a transformer combined with a storm trooper. I think they wanted 2 grand or something insane? And even if it somehow had performance exceeding audible transparency...it was going to be in a car...

Side note, the gold-plating is dumb. Either you carry it in a case and can't see it, or you don't use a case and the gold plating wears off. Good job guys.

Coinbase CEO cuts 1,100 jobs, warns of 'crypto winter'

nintendoeats

Re: 60-second Superbowl ad at the start of the year that was a QR code bouncing around the screen

I expect there will always be some semi-legitimate scam to extract large amounts of money from dentists.

Woman accused of killing boyfriend after tracking him down with Apple AirTag

nintendoeats

Re: Ban cars?

Well you said "your politicians" and I quite clearly said that I was Canadian.

nintendoeats

Re: Ban cars?

Who is "our" in this case? Clearly the Canadian politicians do have the spine for that, because they are absolutely doing this...even though we do not have carry rights (which I'm generally glad for), and the only legal uses for a civilian to have firearms are sport shooting, hunting, and defense from animals. Canadian gun culture is heavily aligned with those uses, and it doesn't have much tolerance for people who don't respect that. I could go on here, but frankly my irritation level starts to rise heavily after that.

American politicians don't have the spine to implement gun control because they genuinely fear that a civil war will break out if they do.

Your Australian example absolutely has value, but it's not going to carry any weight in American politics because they are so polarized that even the most mild firearms control is viewed as unacceptable by 2A enthusiasts. The proposed effect will only happen if "everyday carry is actually illegalized, and that's a lot more than "mild". (As I mentioned earlier, the Australian example isn't relevant in Canada where the vast majority of legal firearms owners respect the existing laws about carrying firearms, there are serious legal penalties for those who do not, and Canadian gun culture actually encourages narcing on people who do not follow the law).

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