Now how does this explain that we're able to read text more than 20 times as fast as it can be uttered ?
Some people who have trouble reading speedily might be trying to "silently speak out" what they're reading, acting like a narrator and a listener in one, instead of just absorbing and processing the incoming stream of 2-3 lines at a time (and a line or two during the backscan, if you're into boustrophedonic reading).
For them this layout may help. For experienced readers, not so much.
this meager generating capacity will power how many homes during overcast days and during the night (which lasts more than 18 hours in wintertime) ?
As long as no suitable backing energy storage exists, solar and wind have the nefarious effect of displacing carbon neutral nuclear power generation with cheap plants burning coal and gas.
Rule of thumb: be as wary of advocates expressing power generating capacity in 'number of homes' as of engineers that express data rates in LOC/s or volume in VW Beetles. In my experience, 'number of homes' is always used to elicit an emotional response, not unlike 'Homeland Security'.
FTFA: the amount of energy used by each system to render the scene, expressed in Watt-seconds
How can you subtract a unit of time (seconds) from a unit of power (watt) ?
Assuming multiplication was intended instead of subtraction, why use Watt.seconds instead of Joule ? Still, kudos for using SI units and not something like boe.
in terms of intensity; I saw only 4 common very faint streaks in 20 minutes.
However, I also was treated to a rare one that looked like a piece of shrapnel from fireworks coming down. That made it all worthwhile, certainly taking into account the unusually pleasant viewing conditions for a November night.
Probably, as will multiple monitors. Screen real estate is extremely important in a lot of cases.
That said, productivity increases related to screen real estate have flattened off since a long time. Most of us who need it already have large and/or multiple monitors. And yet we find ourselves scrolling, tabbing, rearranging windows and wanting for more.
But more area becomes unpractical past 500 square inch / 3000 square cm due to the mandatory rubbernecking, and upping the resolution beyond 150 dpi is not effective in showing more information.
Clearly, some disruptive technology is needed to continue improving the presentation of information from, and interaction with, multiple documents or applications. Any ideas ?
Glasses are next to unuseable for me - they're just sufficient to get me from the bed to the bathroom. Best corrected vision with glasses results 5/20 and a 50% size reduction of what I see: can't drive, can't read any monitors in the airport, and so on. So I carry a second set of contacts as backup, and often even a third set when I'm 'out there'. Not wearing contacts for more than a few minutes or in an unfamiliar location is simply not an option. That's why I called it a disability - it really is.
Since I'm so dependent on contacts I tend to be meticulous. Rinsing in the sink ? Go ahead if you're keen on getting an eye infection that precludes you from wearing contacts forever. I won't.
Arriving wearing contacts without being able to take them out and maintain them correctly ? Out of the question.
Arriving somewhere wearing glasses, but not being able to do my job or enjoy a holiday ? What's the point of travelling then ?
Maybe, but given the current state of fear the prick would more likely say "I'm very sorry Sir, but that container is clearly marked 120ml, and that is more than 100ml. You have to discard it, Sir. It's the rules, Sir". (Note that the limit of 100ml applies to the volume of the bottle, not the amount of liquid it contains.)
Anyway, that's only one of the products I need. The others are only available in a 300ml bottle, as 100ml would not last a week. Complicating the matter is the label clearly mentions that 'unimaginably dangerous' 3% H2O2 as one of the ingredients.
...it was decided today to restrict liquids in carry-on luggage to 100ml for intra-European flights, starting 1st November.
That is the day from when I and others like me are effectively excluded from air travel.
See, I have really bad eyesight, and wearing expensive contact lenses is the only practical remedy to my disability. As you may or may not know, proper maintenance and desinfection with specific hypoallergic products is critical. The sterile products I need come in 120ml and 300ml bottles, so I cannot take them with me any more. Transferring them to smaller bottles is a big no-no. I don't want any unsterile or mislabeled product in my eyes.
Delayed flights, lost luggage... How the hell am I going to cope with them ? Ever tried to get to correct product in an airport, or in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar city ?
If this is not addressed, my next flight in a few weeks may very well be the last.
About 30% of the halogens in my living room - where they get ample use - have not been replaced in 10 years, whereas I don't have a single fluorescent (tube or compact) that hasn't been replaced three times in that period. True, anecdotes do not make data, but I've learned to trust my gut feel more than advertisements.
The problem is not only the "whiteness", it's the color quality index that matters.
Incandescents put out black-body radiation, and the emitted spectrum is continuous. Every visible wavelenght is represented, and the color quality index will be high. On the other hand, fluorescents (and LEDs) have a discrete spectrum, where entire wavelenght bands are completely missing. This causes a lot of pigments to look dull and dark because of the mismatch between the spectra of light and pigment. Compare it with performing an AND operation between two random bitstrings: you will end up with 75% zeroes.
10W CFs are typically advertised as a replacement for a 60W incandescent. That may be a reasonable match when a white sheet of paper is lit, but the colorful real world will look noticably darker under CF light. You will need at least a 30W CF to match a 60W halogen.
Another point to consider is that CFs are typically a larger source then incandescents. The light they emit will be more diffuse, less focussed on what really needs illumination, and reflections and highlights will not be as brilliant as under lights with small filaments. While in some cases that diffuse light is desired, in other settings it's another dullifying factor that again requires more power to overcome.
You're absolutely right on all this. Twenty years ago I was a techno-optimist (fusion around the corner, human transportation obsoleted by computer networks, smaller, less resource intensive devices and focus on immaterial entertainment instead of huge consumer goods).
Some of it has come to pass. Instead of a large stereo a small iPod does the job, and much better. We occasionally work from home, and from time to time I'm even able to convince my travel-happy colleagues to just try to solve the problem by phone and e-mail instead of flying to a meeting. But fusion is a long way off, and even fission is phased ou where I live.
So now I see it's too little, too late. There's no way things will adjust without a huge and very painful disruption. And the longer that disruption is delayed, the worse it's going to be.
Re:Latest in a long line of such hacks
on
Scanjet Music
·
· Score: 1
Back in my punched-card-and-lineprinter days (please don't ask, and no, I'm not THAT old), I used comments that made a distinctive sound when my job was printed so that I could identify it from across the room.
Back then it was - read in a box of 2000 punched cards, 500 cards at a time - wait 15 minutes for the job to complete - wade through 500 pages of paper output - no profit - correct/duplicate some cards - repeat ad nauseam
In todays hasty world...
on
Demise of C++?
·
· Score: 4, Funny
C++ still is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to program anything in it, because we do not program anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to program.
Put in/on your earware with the music turned off. Make a quiet sound that you can hear, e.g. by running a fingertop over some cloth (if you use open earbuds) or tapping something solid (in case of canalphones or closed headphones).
Now turn the music on, and make that same sound again. If you're not able to hear it because it's masked by the music, the music is too loud. Turn it down.
Please use good isolating canalphones (Etymotic, Shure, Sony) or, if you cannot get used to them for whatever reason, closed over-the-ear headphones. Both types reduce the outside noise, so you'll be able to (and you should) listen at a much lower volume and still get all the details. Open earbuds are evil.
Slashdot Mirror
I found a nice spoof on an advertisment for the Flemish socialist party (sp.a).
I don't think you need a translation, but you might not know that Spa is *the* best known mineral water in Belgium !
Now how does this explain that we're able to read text more than 20 times as fast as it can be uttered ?
Some people who have trouble reading speedily might be trying to "silently speak out" what they're reading, acting like a narrator and a listener in one, instead of just absorbing and processing the incoming stream of 2-3 lines at a time (and a line or two during the backscan, if you're into boustrophedonic reading).
For them this layout may help. For experienced readers, not so much.
this meager generating capacity will power how many homes during overcast days and during the night (which lasts more than 18 hours in wintertime) ?
As long as no suitable backing energy storage exists, solar and wind have the nefarious effect of displacing carbon neutral nuclear power generation with cheap plants burning coal and gas.
Rule of thumb: be as wary of advocates expressing power generating capacity in 'number of homes' as of engineers that express data rates in LOC/s or volume in VW Beetles. In my experience, 'number of homes' is always used to elicit an emotional response, not unlike 'Homeland Security'.
How can you subtract a unit of time (seconds) from a unit of power (watt) ?
Assuming multiplication was intended instead of subtraction, why use Watt.seconds instead of Joule ? Still, kudos for using SI units and not something like boe.
in terms of intensity; I saw only 4 common very faint streaks in 20 minutes.
However, I also was treated to a rare one that looked like a piece of shrapnel from fireworks coming down. That made it all worthwhile, certainly taking into account the unusually pleasant viewing conditions for a November night.
where are the blinkenlights ?
A custom DSBGA chip simulating a mosfet and including a driver for a tiny SMD LED could have shown the state of each individual gate.
(I'm inspired by a cold...)
Can an omnipotent creator create unlimited numbers of omnipotent creators ?
Probably, as will multiple monitors. Screen real estate is extremely important in a lot of cases.
That said, productivity increases related to screen real estate have flattened off since a long time. Most of us who need it already have large and/or multiple monitors. And yet we find ourselves scrolling, tabbing, rearranging windows and wanting for more.
But more area becomes unpractical past 500 square inch / 3000 square cm due to the mandatory rubbernecking, and upping the resolution beyond 150 dpi is not effective in showing more information.
Clearly, some disruptive technology is needed to continue improving the presentation of information from, and interaction with, multiple documents or applications. Any ideas ?
Glasses are next to unuseable for me - they're just sufficient to get me from the bed to the bathroom. Best corrected vision with glasses results 5/20 and a 50% size reduction of what I see: can't drive, can't read any monitors in the airport, and so on. So I carry a second set of contacts as backup, and often even a third set when I'm 'out there'. Not wearing contacts for more than a few minutes or in an unfamiliar location is simply not an option. That's why I called it a disability - it really is.
Since I'm so dependent on contacts I tend to be meticulous. Rinsing in the sink ? Go ahead if you're keen on getting an eye infection that precludes you from wearing contacts forever. I won't.
Arriving wearing contacts without being able to take them out and maintain them correctly ? Out of the question.
Arriving somewhere wearing glasses, but not being able to do my job or enjoy a holiday ? What's the point of travelling then ?
Maybe, but given the current state of fear the prick would more likely say "I'm very sorry Sir, but that container is clearly marked 120ml, and that is more than 100ml. You have to discard it, Sir. It's the rules, Sir". (Note that the limit of 100ml applies to the volume of the bottle, not the amount of liquid it contains.)
Anyway, that's only one of the products I need. The others are only available in a 300ml bottle, as 100ml would not last a week. Complicating the matter is the label clearly mentions that 'unimaginably dangerous' 3% H2O2 as one of the ingredients.
A friggin' shark ? But I did see this
That is the day from when I and others like me are effectively excluded from air travel.
See, I have really bad eyesight, and wearing expensive contact lenses is the only practical remedy to my disability. As you may or may not know, proper maintenance and desinfection with specific hypoallergic products is critical. The sterile products I need come in 120ml and 300ml bottles, so I cannot take them with me any more. Transferring them to smaller bottles is a big no-no. I don't want any unsterile or mislabeled product in my eyes.
Delayed flights, lost luggage... How the hell am I going to cope with them ? Ever tried to get to correct product in an airport, or in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar city ?
If this is not addressed, my next flight in a few weeks may very well be the last.
Same here.
About 30% of the halogens in my living room - where they get ample use - have not been replaced in 10 years, whereas I don't have a single fluorescent (tube or compact) that hasn't been replaced three times in that period. True, anecdotes do not make data, but I've learned to trust my gut feel more than advertisements.
The problem is not only the "whiteness", it's the color quality index that matters.
Incandescents put out black-body radiation, and the emitted spectrum is continuous. Every visible wavelenght is represented, and the color quality index will be high. On the other hand, fluorescents (and LEDs) have a discrete spectrum, where entire wavelenght bands are completely missing. This causes a lot of pigments to look dull and dark because of the mismatch between the spectra of light and pigment. Compare it with performing an AND operation between two random bitstrings: you will end up with 75% zeroes.
10W CFs are typically advertised as a replacement for a 60W incandescent. That may be a reasonable match when a white sheet of paper is lit, but the colorful real world will look noticably darker under CF light. You will need at least a 30W CF to match a 60W halogen.
Another point to consider is that CFs are typically a larger source then incandescents. The light they emit will be more diffuse, less focussed on what really needs illumination, and reflections and highlights will not be as brilliant as under lights with small filaments. While in some cases that diffuse light is desired, in other settings it's another dullifying factor that again requires more power to overcome.
... in case it goes KADARASH !
Global warming is not the pending disaster, energy shortage is.
You're absolutely right on all this. Twenty years ago I was a techno-optimist (fusion around the corner, human transportation obsoleted by computer networks, smaller, less resource intensive devices and focus on immaterial entertainment instead of huge consumer goods).
Some of it has come to pass. Instead of a large stereo a small iPod does the job, and much better. We occasionally work from home, and from time to time I'm even able to convince my travel-happy colleagues to just try to solve the problem by phone and e-mail instead of flying to a meeting. But fusion is a long way off, and even fission is phased ou where I live.
So now I see it's too little, too late. There's no way things will adjust without a huge and very painful disruption. And the longer that disruption is delayed, the worse it's going to be.
Like chicken ?
Back in my punched-card-and-lineprinter days (please don't ask, and no, I'm not THAT old), I used comments that made a distinctive sound when my job was printed so that I could identify it from across the room.
Back then it was
- read in a box of 2000 punched cards, 500 cards at a time
- wait 15 minutes for the job to complete
- wade through 500 pages of paper output
- no profit
- correct/duplicate some cards
- repeat ad nauseam
C++ still is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to program anything in it, because we do not program anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to program.
Put in/on your earware with the music turned off. Make a quiet sound that you can hear, e.g. by running a fingertop over some cloth (if you use open earbuds) or tapping something solid (in case of canalphones or closed headphones).
Now turn the music on, and make that same sound again. If you're not able to hear it because it's masked by the music, the music is too loud. Turn it down.
Please use good isolating canalphones (Etymotic, Shure, Sony) or, if you cannot get used to them for whatever reason, closed over-the-ear headphones. Both types reduce the outside noise, so you'll be able to (and you should) listen at a much lower volume and still get all the details. Open earbuds are evil.
The strip is known as a 'telatemp', after the company who makes it.