The Republicans are very big on limiting government when they're not in power.

The Democrats are very big on reducing tyranny when they're not in power.

If I was a politician, I'd aim to be in opposition the whole time. It's a fucking doddle.

It’s like people who can sight read concertos at tempo.

May 20 1995, President Bill Clinton closed Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to all vehicular traffic, a security response to the Oklahoma City bombing.

That remains a mess, forever.

I want to be able to walk up to the Capitol and take a self-guided walking tour with nobody saying anything to me and no security checkpoints to walk through.

And on a Saturday morning I want to park right at the foot of the Capitol steps, without passing through any kind of security checkpoint.

That is how it was for most of the times I went there.

@doctor-phibes said in Throuple redux:

What's really funny is that that is one of the least embarrassing things to happen to him in the last six months.

alt text

@lufins-dad I can say with 100% certainty that I have never seen this person play. Would have never even heard his name if not for TNCR.

Probably depends on details such as whether the numbers are falsified or just reworded, euphemized, or generously recategorized.

@klaus said in Stupid computer question:

@horace said in Stupid computer question:

@klaus said in Stupid computer question:

They don't automatically speed things up, though. Things get faster by adding cores if you run different applications in parallel, or if you have applications that have been programmed to make use of multiple cores (which isn't an easy thing to do).

Unless parallel operations are built into the language. Then it's pretty easy.

Try to program a parallel sorting procedure that is faster than a good sequential algorithm. Not easy, regardless of language support.

Or here’s another one that is most likely impossible: write a simulator for a single core that uses multiple cores, such that doubling the number of cores would approximately double the performance of the simulation (it can be 100x slower on 8 cores, say, that’s not the point, only the speed up matters). If you can do that, I’ll promise that you’ll win every prize computer science has to offer and likely become a billionaire. In CS circles, this is known as the “NC=P” problem (not to be confused with the better known but completely different “P=NP” problem).

There’s much more to parallel programming than “parallel for loops”.

The claim I was responding to was that using multiple cores wasn’t easy. I don’t disagree with your new claim that some problems are difficult to parallelize.

A couple of times, I have go to the scotch bar in the basement of the Grand Hyatt in Bangkok. Cheap for me, as I dont drink it, but the people I was with impressed with the selection. LOL

alt text

Gucci sandals. Vague fishy smell.

@jolly said in "Got COVID? C'mon in!":

@taiwan_girl said in "Got COVID? C'mon in!":

Should there be inforced quarantine for them?

Should there be inforced quarantine for anybody who test positive?

What would Taiwan do?

Mandatory quarantine for everybody entering the country.. You HAVE to put an app on your phone that has an "electric fence". If you go outside the fence, a signal is given to the police.

They will randomly text your phone and expect a reply within X minutes to make sure that you dont try and go out without your phone to get around the quarantine.

Looks like a lot of fun.

Years ago, at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, they had a ride with simulated a ride on an F-14. You shot off a carrier deck, did some tight turns and landed. The ride seated 8 people in an enclosed "car". It was amazing how the combination of a visual of you accelerating off the catapult combined with the sensation of tilting backward (as the nose of the "car" tilted up) really gave the sensation of acceleration, but not climbing. Of course, once the visual changed to a climb, and the backward tilt increased, you felt like the aircraft was really climbing. It was a ton of fun.