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cobaltoxide

336 karma · joined February 19, 2021

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cobaltoxide··on The "computers are social actors" theory no longer applies to desktop computers
Abstract

The Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) theory is the most important theoretical contribution that has shaped the field of human–computer interaction. The theory states that humans interact with computers as if they are human, and is the cornerstone on which all social human–machine communication (e.g., chatbots, robots, virtual agents) are designed. However, the theory itself dates back to the early 1990s, and, since then, technology and its place in society has evolved and changed drastically. Here we show, via a direct replication of the original study, that participants no longer interact with desktop computers as if they are human. This suggests that the CASA Theory may only work for emergent technology, an important concept that needs to be taken into account when designing and researching human–computer interaction.

cobaltoxide··on Gigantic heat caverns in Mustikkamaa have now been filled with water (2021)
That should tell you more about the energy intensity of a long-haul 777 flight.
cobaltoxide··on My favorite prime number generator
That doesn't seem like a good way to generate "random" numbers, since it will only produce numbers with exactly two prime factors.
cobaltoxide··on My favorite prime number generator
Could you explain it? Those two links are Greek to me.
cobaltoxide··on The 2002 Überlingen midair collision
"In 2004, Peter Nielsen, the air traffic controller on duty at the time of the collision, was murdered in an apparent act of revenge by Vitaly Kaloyev, a Russian citizen whose wife and two children had been killed in the accident."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_%C3%9Cberlingen_mid-air_c...

Jesus

Also:

"On 8 November 2007, Kaloyev was released from prison on parole after having served two-thirds of his sentence, a total of three and a half years."

"Returning to his home in North Ossetian city of Vladikavkaz, Kaloyev was met with enthusiastic crowds who cheered him as a hero."

cobaltoxide··on Amiga runs Michigan schools' heating and air conditioning systems (2015)
Reminds me of: "We do these things not because they are easy but because we thought they would be easy."
cobaltoxide··on Virgin Galactic successfully flies tourists to space for first time
Nope.

As a point of comparison, the orbital velocity of ISS is 17,000 mph.

The max speed of Unity was given as Mach 2.88. The speed of sound varies from 340 m/s at sea level to 200 m/s at 120,000 feet. So Mach 2.88 would correspond to somewhere between 1000 - 2000 mph depending on where it was attained.

To enter orbit, a vehicle must be simultaneously at orbital altitude _and_ at orbital velocity (in the correct direction).

Furthermore, note that quoting speed as a Mach number is fundamentally only relevant to atmospheric flight. Mach number is referenced to the speed of sound, and sound does not travel in the vacuum of space.

The Virgin Galactic vehicle shoots up to very high altitude but then simply falls back to earth.

cobaltoxide··on Melatonin as a treatment for food waste
You should be able to fall asleep in less than 15-20 minutes without using melatonin as well.
cobaltoxide··on IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view
Now there's a name I have not heard in a long while...
cobaltoxide··on Transcript of taped conversations among German nuclear physicists (1945)
Of note, these are the translations of the transcripts. The original transcripts unfortunately were not preserved.
cobaltoxide··on Arizona driver says he was 'trapped' in hot Tesla after battery died
Agreed. I've rented a Tesla on two occasions (for one week each time) and was unaware of this manual release until now.
cobaltoxide··on UCLA professor refuses to cover for Dan Ariely in issue of data provenance
Has _any_ of his work been successfully replicated?
cobaltoxide··on Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)
What is this?
cobaltoxide··on National Geographic lays off its last remaining staff writers
RIP Nat Geo ?
cobaltoxide··on CS61A: The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
From 1986 - wow!
cobaltoxide··on Why isn't Titan classed? (2019)
Serious question though. Doesn't look very good if they intentionally took the website offline.
cobaltoxide··on Why isn't Titan classed? (2019)
Did they take their website offline? Or did it, uh... collapse under load?
cobaltoxide··on Debris found came from missing Titan sub, says friend of passengers
> I keep seeing reports that they've search an area "the size of" Massachusetts or Connecticut

This was the size of the search _on the surface_.

cobaltoxide··on The US government is buying troves of data about Americans
What is your point?
cobaltoxide··on The US government is buying troves of data about Americans
Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world. And I wouldn't call Italy or NL "poor."

Switzerland's GDP per capita is around 25% higher than the United States. I would further guess that Switzerland probably has much less inequality than the United States. The Swiss are uniformly rich compared to the extremes of America.

cobaltoxide··on Why did Usenet fail?
Spam
cobaltoxide··on Lawsuit accuses DoorDash of charging iPhone users more than others
[citation needed]

I'm skeptical because you can get quotes for rental cars without entering any personal details. I guess they could geolocate based on your IP but it still sounds fishy.

cobaltoxide··on CS 61B Data Structures, Spring 2023 UC Berkeley
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dWqymxQxZrMWYl76GfJo...
cobaltoxide··on CS 61B Data Structures, Spring 2023 UC Berkeley
Oh man I am sorry you had that experience. I look back on CS61A with SICP in Scheme (taught by Brian Harvey) as one of the most enjoyable and enlightening experiences of my college academic career.
cobaltoxide··on CS 61B Data Structures, Spring 2023 UC Berkeley
One of the lectures is actually "The Design of CS61B" which explains a lot about how the course is structured and how it has evolved!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dWqymxQxZrMWYl76GfJo...

In my mind this is the most interesting aspect of this course website - the meta reflection aspect.

cobaltoxide··on CS 61B Data Structures, Spring 2023 UC Berkeley
The data structures and algorithms themselves should be the same regardless of what language you are using.

The bigger difference here would be C versus C++, as the language features present in the latter allow significantly more abstraction than the former. Implementing fundamental data structures in C can be very instructive but you will also spend more time on low-level details.

With Java and Python you can ignore memory management to some extent, as these languages are garbage-collected. That could also be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view. When learning the subject, it might be better to be forced to do manual memory management, to learn about the pertinent issues. And then once in "production", you can appreciate the convenience of a garbage-collected language.

When I studied EECS at Berkeley in the late 20th century, we used the following languages:

1. CS61A "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" - Scheme/Lisp. Very highly abstracted from the machine details.

2. CS61B Algorithms and data structures - C++/Java. Allows "just enough" machine details.

3. CS61C Machine structures - MIPS assembly language and some C. All the machine details.

4. EECS 152 Computer Architecture - Implement a RISC/MIPS CPU and SDRAM controller using VHDL.

cobaltoxide··on Searches for VPN Soar in Utah Amidst Pornhub Blockage
I googled to try to find some reference to this alleged law, but found nothing.
cobaltoxide··on Searches for VPN Soar in Utah Amidst Pornhub Blockage
Many sources put Russia in the top five for incidence of alcoholism, and the life expectancy of Russian men is famously diminished due to their high intake of alcohol. The life expectancy of Russian women is 13 years longer than for men.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_consumption_in_Russia

"A recent study blamed alcohol for more than half the deaths (52%) among Russians aged 15 to 54 from 1990 to 2001.[14] For the same demographic, this compares to 4% of deaths for the rest of the world."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_in_Russia#Alcohol_consu...

I don't think it's just a stereotype.

cobaltoxide··on Searches for VPN Soar in Utah Amidst Pornhub Blockage
It's surrounded by mountains, but the urban part of the city is indeed very flat.
cobaltoxide··on Groupon, which has lost 99.4% of its value since its IPO, names a new CEO
So you're saying there's a discount
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