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User: Intropy

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Comments · 466

  1. Re:Confused? on $50,000 To Solve the Most Complicated Puzzle Ever · · Score: 3, Insightful

    For N items, there are N! ways to arrange them. That doesn't make sorting an N! problem.

  2. Re:Confused? on $50,000 To Solve the Most Complicated Puzzle Ever · · Score: 2

    If you allow for multiple possible pairs of edge mappings the problem is not just not solvable in polynomial time, it is not solvable at all. because multiple arrangements can match, and despite not being described formally, the goal is pretty obviously to find "the" solution and not "a" solution.

  3. Re:Confused? on $50,000 To Solve the Most Complicated Puzzle Ever · · Score: 1

    It's not NP-complete. You can determine whether two pieces fit together in constant time so you can find a match for a given piece in O(n) time. The paper is planar, so the number of "matchings" is linear in n. Find a match in O(n) time O(n) times and you got yourself a quadratic problem.

  4. Did they fix it? on Man Calls 911 To Fix Broken iPhone · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, did the first-responders fix the phone or not? TFA doesn't say.

  5. Re:Bear witness against yourself on Judge Makes Divorcing Couple Swap Facebook Passwords · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't be forced to testify, no. But evidence is still presented and used without the accused/defendant testifying on it. In any case, I didn't mean to make any claims regarding "should" just to comment that the asymmetry, justified or not, seems odd.

  6. Re:Bear witness against yourself on Judge Makes Divorcing Couple Swap Facebook Passwords · · Score: 1

    Not really, there's still discovery which is where all that stuff comes out anyway.

  7. Re:Bear witness against yourself on Judge Makes Divorcing Couple Swap Facebook Passwords · · Score: 1

    Right. No argument there. No argument at all really. I was just commenting that limiting the protection to criminal cases strikes me as an odd choice.

  8. Bear witness against yourself on Judge Makes Divorcing Couple Swap Facebook Passwords · · Score: 2

    Does it seem strange to anyone else that while in a criminal trial you can't be compelled to testify against yourself, in a civil trial you can be?

  9. Re:Real men use ... on Linux Mint: the New Ubuntu? · · Score: 1

    I liked it the one time I tried back in '03. Can anyone with modern experience with both compare portage and apt?

  10. Re:Better idea on Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government · · Score: 1

    So you want to eat children? Because that's exactly what you're proposing. Oh, hey there non sequiter.

  11. Re:Sounds like a joke. on Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government · · Score: 1

    You're being a bit uncharitable. He argued in the form "X does Y," not "X only does Y."

  12. Re:Better idea on Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government · · Score: 2

    There's also the issue of cultural norms. What people in one country might consider to be corrupt, people in another might think is fine behavior or so commonplace that despite being bad it's expected and so doesn't count.

  13. Re:Better idea on Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government · · Score: 2
    My first thought was that corruption is already illegal.

    My second thought was that making something illegal doesn't stop it from being done.

    Then I saw "Corporate donations, professional lobbyists, etc." Your examples of "corruption" aren't corruption at all. You just want to shut up people you don't like.

  14. Re:Specialists on Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government · · Score: 1

    The average person does not participate in a given business or research program. The average voter does participate in a democracy.

  15. Re:Because so many more enter college these days? on Why Do So Many College Science Majors Drop Out? · · Score: 1

    No, it's gone up greatly in the last few decades because it's becoming harder and harder to draw a living wage without a degree. Even jobs that don't require a degree are increasingly likely to have a degree listed as a requirement.

    Chicken, meet egg. If two people are up for the job and they are otherwise equal, I may as well pick the guy with the degree since that proves at least a little bit about his intelligence and perseverance. That pushes down relative demand for the degreeless, and hence, wages. So now college degrees are of value even in fields where they have very little meaning. Well, since the degree has value more people will get them. If more people have degrees, then it will become more common for a person with a degree to be seeking a job that really doesn't require one. Repeat. What makes this particularly troubling is that nobody in the cycle is really doing anything irrational or wrong. Placing less value on the degree in the case where it's irrelevant would help. Less willingness to seek an irrelevant degree would as well. If a degree cost more either monetarily or in terms of effort/difficulty that might actually make a big difference.

  16. Re:Bring back ability to use plus and quotes... on Google Tweaks Algorithm As Concern Over Bing Grows · · Score: 1

    query: "jazzlad" first result: www.jazzlad.com/

  17. Re:Disabling secureboot implys a Non-Win OS is ris on No Windows 8 Plot To Lock Out Linux · · Score: 1

    No. It's a real attempt to solve a genuine security issue dealing with threats like a boot sector virus. The only security implication is that in this one single way the other OS is less secure, and it will actually be true.

  18. Re:I doubt that Microsoft would try this on No Windows 8 Plot To Lock Out Linux · · Score: 1

    Ah, but now you're talking about the market in which people know exactly what they want and how to ask for it. If you're selling a board for the server market, then you're a fool to eliminate half your potential customers by supporting only Windows.

  19. Re:confused on Asteroid Passes Closer To Earth Than the Moon on Nov 8 · · Score: 2

    My, what an eccentric asteroid.

  20. Origami on The Story Behind the Demise of the Microsoft Courier Tablet · · Score: 1

    Microsoft's Origami from way back in 2006 was an even better concept that failed to take off.

  21. Re:Not necessarily relevant to US debate on Belgium To Give Up Nuclear Power · · Score: 1

    Don't forget Barringer Crater, which of course could happen anywhere.

  22. Re:Health issues on The White House Responds To We the People Petition · · Score: 1

    400+ years? When the hell are you counting from? Are you referring to pre-Columbian Amerindian civilizations? If so that's a lot more than 400 years of slavery.

  23. Re:Government works can't even read 1st amendment on The White House Responds To We the People Petition · · Score: 1

    The laws you mention sound an awful lot like they are respecting the fact that religions exist not respecting the establishment of one. The law is allowed to recognize that such a thing as religion exists; it's not allowed to establish, prefer, promote, or otherwise favor any of them over one another or over their absence. Really would you want to read that the way you suggest? A legal system that is required to stick its fingers in its ears and yell "la la la, I can't hear you" when dealing with facts on the ground is crippled.

  24. Re:First to repeat it in this story on $25 PC Prototype Gets Award At ARM TechCon · · Score: 1

    As to your power comment, the FAQs page on their website claims it runs on 4 AA batteries.

  25. Re:Benchmarks always spark controversy on Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards Tested · · Score: 1

    That's a pretty accurate recount over the years by my memory as well. But I think you skipped the GTS 250 between the 8800 and the 6950. Alas, I'm still on that generation, and Battlefield 3 appears to demand a lot more.