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User: seasunset

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Comments · 61

  1. End of good quality simulation? on 'Something Weird Is Going On' as New Horizons Approaches Distant Asteroid (popularmechanics.com) · · Score: 1

    Maybe the virtual world where we live can only maintain a logically consistent simulation when the observer is "inside" the "solar system"?

    If something goes "physically out", then empirical and sensory experience is reduced in quality?

    Maybe the end game scenario is when we collectively conclude we are in a simulation? Maybe we are almost winning...

  2. There are plenty of Linux titles on Steam. Maybe not many AAA ones, but a lot of indies, that is for sure.

    The majority of games that I have work fine on Linux. Indeed I do not remember the last time that I had to reboot to Windows in order to play a game.

    Interestingly some Linux games are way more CPU/GPU intensive than on Windows. Anyone knows why?

    So, thanks Valve for Linux support! Please keep it!

  3. Re:Since I will not be using mail on win10 anyways on Microsoft Wants To Force Windows 10 Mail Users To Use Edge For Email Links (theverge.com) · · Score: 2

    Even for games....

    I understand that for AAA games Windows is the way to go.

    But if you are into the indie game scene, most indie games on Steam also work on Linux.

    I also have Windows for gaming only, but currently all the games that I am palying work on Linux.

    Thanks Steam.

  4. Emacs org mode on Ask Slashdot: Best To-Do/Task List Software? · · Score: 1, Informative

    I am one of those who moved to emacs because of org-mode.

    Give it a try. If emacs is the kitchen sink, emacs is the rest of the house. And it is especially good as a (human) task manager

  5. Mozilla and DuckDuckGo on Ask Slashdot: Which Tech Company Do You Respect Most? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think Mozilla is doing wonderful things and a single mistake doesn't change that.

    DuckDuckGo is the other one...

  6. Re:Montana? MONTANA? on Montana Becomes First State To Implement Net Neutrality After FCC Repeal (thehill.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in Montana. Not an American citizen, but proud of being here. Best place in the world.

    Have you noticed that this is an executive order signed by a DEMOCRATIC governor?

  7. Re:As users, we're getting fucked over. That's why on Ask Slashdot: Life After Firefox 3.6.x? · · Score: 1

    How is chaging the version number at a different pace lying?

    I understand your concern, but it is just a version number. If the perception of users is being taken away by your competitors, why not adapt?

    Sure, it would be better to live in a world where companies did not resort to such misleading tricks, but it is not lying.

    Numbers do not semantics have.

  8. Slashdot editorial garbage on Seismologists Tried For Manslaughter For Not Predicting Earthquake · · Score: 1

    Somethings are completely below acceptable standard. Like poor Slashdot editorial care.

    It is completely different to "not predict a earthquake" to "predict that it will not happen".

    These specialists PREDICTED that there would be no problem.

    Can we get basic logic right, please?

    This is a case of scientific hubris (belief in self-ability to predict things) that cost many lives. Now it has been joined by lack of basic logic and linguistics here in Slashdot.

    What a dis-service to science.

    Talking about proper science, may I suggest reading say, The Black Swan?

  9. I am all for stupid on How Good Software Makes Us Stupid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If this is being stupid, then I want more.

    You see, I am human being, with limited cognitive capacities, limited free time, limited resources.
    Not having to deal with such "important" things as remembering phone numbers or massive amounts of data allows me to direct my time and memory for other things.
    Ah, and I can leverage my freed time and freed cognitive abilities with the search powers of google to discover even more. I've now searched and read philosophers and historians. Something a few years ago this would have been less simple: more costly to get the info and less time to do such thing. This by the way, encouraged me to by their books.

    Yes, I do not know the year that Nietzsche or Wagner were born, but I do have an idea that they were contemporary to each other. Guess what: having been exposed to their ideas and their music is much more important than knowing the details of their birth dates. Which by the way were [goes way and googles for 20 secs] 1844 and 1813.

    I've gained a lot with my new found stupidity. And lost very little in return.

    I may have lost the details, but I have more time and resources that allow me to see far away. And the details are really here, at my fingertips.

  10. Re:Dont't like the idea anyway... on Australia Adopts EU's Geographical Indicator System For Wine · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is not a nationalistic/rationalistic thing. Have you tried to take Furmint grapes and plant them say, in Norway? [For the less knowledgeable, it is too far North for this plant]

    I am being extreme but illustrating the main point: a wine is not only the grapes: it is the weather and the soil (and many other factors, actually). This is why most wine is also known by the year: "good" or "bad" years mostly influenced by that years's climate on a specific place.

    Australia has lots of wine variety. It can stand on its own merits. There is no need to hijack names for other places, that actually mean (and taste) different.

  11. Re:Blame the Free Press on Given Truth, the Misinformed Believe Lies More · · Score: 1

    To add to the German option above, you also have option D (like in The Netherlands).

    There is a public broadcasting system, but with several senders.
    Every sender has members (you can affiliate with them). Time is allocated by number of members.
    See here for details

    Seems like democracy to me.

  12. Human History has more than 10 years on The Big Technical Mistakes of History · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When I saw the title, I immediately imagined the Maginot line. Thousands more examples could come to mind.

    Could somebody please explain to the author of the articles that Technology is more than computers/gadjets and older than 10 years? It is an epic history that goes along with mankind.

  13. IPhone World domination? on Does Microsoft Finally Have a Phone Worth Buying? · · Score: 3, Informative

    Iphone world domination?

    I don't know what world is being referred here, probably the marketing and fairy tale world. Last time I checked, Apple was a marginal player in the real world (i.e., not some particular geography or some fashionable pundits).

    In the real world, Nokia might be the one to talk about, but even so, its share is far from "world domination"

  14. Re:Cool, now nobody has to pay taxes. on EU Overturns Agreement With US On Banking Data · · Score: 1

    Yes, but that is precisely my point: 15% is not the average, it is the minimum (Canary Islands being an exception).

    In fact the 15% in Luxenbourg has been subject of hot political debate because of sales tax evasion through there.

    The GP post is dead wrong.

    And in the near future VAT in Europe will go up, as it will be the easiest way to tackle the now very famous deficits...

  15. Re:Cool, now nobody has to pay taxes. on EU Overturns Agreement With US On Banking Data · · Score: 1

    VAT 15% in the EU?

    How such a misleading and uniformed post can be rated (as of now) "3, Informative"?

  16. "homosexual" as a form of abuse? on FOSS Sexism Claims Met With Ire and Denial · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just the idea that there are some people that use the word homosexual as a form of abuse...

    And the fact that the author refers to being called homosexual as a form of abuse without inserting a caveat that he himself did not found it abusive...

    Yes, there is sexism. And homophobia, that is for sure. :(

  17. Re:Low on MS Word 2010 Takes On TeX · · Score: 1

    It is a myth that TeX is more used in science than Word. It depends on what branch of science that you are talking about: sure, most Math, Physics, EE, CS uses TeX. But Word has a much bigger quota in Biology, Medicine and (probably) Chemistry.

    Disclaimer: I am a LaTeX/Linux user (I officially hate Word), started on a CS department, then onwards to a Biology department, now on a Medicine school. Colaborations with Chemistry and Maths.

  18. Re:In tomorrow's news on Intel Receives Record Fine By the EU · · Score: 1

    Somewhere in the middle AMD will be grossly more competitive (or people will stop buying computers at the same rate in case no competition appears and prices sky rocket - as the need to have "brand new" is fading because computer power is "enough" for many years).

    The world is a bit more complex that the relationship between a company and a state: there is external competition, there are costumers (who can stop buying). "externalities" matter more than this single issue. It is because of these externalities that your reasoning is 150% unrealistic.

  19. Re:Oh well on Intel Receives Record Fine By the EU · · Score: 1

    Fortunately the money does not disappear. It will be used for something, as an example:

    Yesterday I had my "socialist" surgery done to me by less than 50 euros all costs included (x-rays, blood samples, surgery, medication, ...). While taxes can be a good thing, it is even better when the money for state operations (I know, this case it is EU, not national states) come from fines (as one is not taxing productive behavior).

    So all in all, just good things: Intel is fined, Intel will need to increase costs to the user (indirectly increasing competition in a market that was going the way of a monopoly - always a bad thing in the long run). We get more more market and more competition! And the fine money will serve a purpose somewhere (hopefully not the bailout of banksters, something we see going on everywhere on the planet: But that is actually a good example of corporations getting to much power and everybody suffering from it).

    Now can we break MS in a OS division and a Office division please?

  20. Reaction from the Portuguese culture minister on French Assembly Adopts 3-Strikes Bill · · Score: 1

    This is the reaction of the Portuguese culture minister (another EU country):

    It seems a project adapted to the French political and legal circumstances and to the country past, but I don't think it will be followed by other EU countries. ...
    We (Portugal) are a country with a specific state and legal framework. We lived 48 years under dictatorship and we do not easily understand solutions that can be seen as censorship

    I hope this thing won't take root in the EU. Furthermore lets see what the European Human Rights court (if somebody takes this there) says.

  21. Re:When I was breaking in on More Than Coding Errors Behind Bad Software · · Score: 1

    This is a true story: Once a coleague (a test engineer in the case) asked me to give an afternoon explanation on how Java Servlets work. I sit with the guy for a couple of hours, give a general overview of the architecture, show some code... His last move after that couple of hours: ammend his CV in order to put "experience with Java Server Side Testing".

  22. Re:99.3% accurate? on New Method To Revolutionize DNA Sequencing · · Score: 1

    It depends on what you want to do. Note that existing methods also have problems of this kind.

    I remember listening to a world wide specialist on the issue (with papers and software published on handling errors in genetic datasets) where he talked about error rates of 10% in some cases (mostly human introduced: like reading protein gels wrongly or just plain typos on spreadsheets).

    I have tested myself the HapMap project (sequencing of human SNPs in several populations) and the error rate, while very low, doesn't allow for studies of mutations from parents to offspring (the noise - error - is orders of magnitude bigger than the signal - very low mutation rates from parent to offspring).

    I would say 28 out of 4000 is quite good. Although it would be great if it was random (like you could repeat the experiment and get a different set of errors). This would allow to go lower (at the expense of more experiences).

  23. Re:Maybe on The State of UK Broadband — Not So Fast · · Score: 1

    Not really, here in the UK things seem to be a bit worse. I just have two personal experiences (plus what I hear from other people) to talk about, but speeds are worse, coverage is worse.

    I've lived in two other countries in Europe and I would agree that the UK situation is not very good in comparison.

  24. Asus? on Asus To Phase Out Sub-10" Eee PCs · · Score: 1

    Dear Asus,

    I write this post on a Xubuntu eeePC 1000 (originally a Linux eee).
    My previous computer? An Asus. Before that? An Asus. Before that? An Asus. Before that? You guessed it right, an Asus. On these old cases I accepted paying the microsoft tax mainly because, at that time, Linux was not enough for all my desktop needs. Now Linux is more than enough for my desktop needs, actually it is even better than the MS stuff you are forcing on your costumers (costumers which should be your first priority).
    My next computer? Surely one that does not force me to pay an MS tax. By the looks of it, you have lost a once loyal costumer.

  25. Re:Cheat code for even Sudoku?? on Solving Sudoku With dpkg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I suppose nothing will beat Prolog with constraint logic programming to concisely solve Sudoku.

    Actually, let me put the whole code here from the above blog post:

    sudoku(P) :-
      fd_domain(P,1,9),
      Xs = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9],
      row(P,Xs),
      col(P,Xs),
      unit(P,Xs),
      fd_labeling(P).

    row(_,[]).
    row(P,[X|Xs]) :-
      setof(V,[C,I]^(for(C,1,9),I is (X-1)*9+C,nth(I,P,V)),L1),
      fd_all_different(L1),
      row(P,Xs).

    col(_,[]).
    col(P,[X|Xs]) :-
      setof(V,[R,I]^(for(R,1,9),I is (R-1)*9+X,nth(I,P,V)),L2),
      fd_all_different(L2),
      col(P,Xs).unit(_,[]).

    unit(P,[U|Us]) :-
      Cs is ((U-1) mod 3)*3+1, Ce is Cs+2,
      Rs is ((U-1) // 3)*3+1, Re is Rs+2,
      setof(V,[R,C,I]^(for(R,Rs,Re),for(C,Cs,Ce),I is (R-1)*9+C,nth(I,P,V)),L),
      fd_all_different(L),
      unit(P,Us).