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narfquat

78 karma · joined July 3, 2013

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narfquat··on Is Kindness Physically Attractive?
I think it might be more reasonable to say that unkindness is repulsive.
narfquat··on Bannerman (YC S14) Delivers Bouncers On Demand
>The guards are exactly who you want in case of an emergency. Many are former military that have honorably served our country.

Nice that they could potentially provide an employment opportunity/avenue for returning service men/women.

narfquat··on Show HN: World Population with D3
Pretty cool. Something is wrong in the top left quadrant though, the graph tooltip becomes a little sluggish when it is anchored to the bottom right of the cursor. Might be related to array reversals, etc.
narfquat··on Fake Reviews launched Flappy to the App Store? See for yourself
Look at some of the comments for Satan. They all sound like they were created from the same prompt list and have the same tone/sentiment.

Actually, the sheer number and proportion of reviews with the word Satan in it is ridiculously high...

Also doing a keyword search for "evil genius" is pretty fishy to me...

narfquat··on Amazon Wants to Ship Your Package Before You Buy It
So does that mean someday I will be able to call in a same-day airdrop of semi-uncommon product x that has been sitting in my amazon shopping cart or wishlist?
narfquat··on Uber Is Crushing It in Nigeria?
It might be visitors from those countries downloading the app via their respective carrier's app "storefront" while visiting a city where the services are offered/operating.
narfquat··on Cárdenas: “416d65726963612043616e20436f646520”
and the ruby equivalent:

  "416D65726963612043616E20436F646520".scan(/../).map { |x| x.hex.chr }.join

  => "America Can Code "
narfquat··on Insect-inspired flying robot handles collisions, goes where other robots can’t
I think the linkage was appropriate. While reading the title I immediately thought about the way a housefly repeatedly rams itself into windows (while not seriously damaging itself) to try and find a way out.

Granted, insects don't fly in bucky-ball-esque gyro cages, but are there any other types of flying organisms that fly in a similar manner? Definitely not birds -- as windex commercials have demonstrated.

narfquat··on Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?
Perhaps corporate espionage/sabotage? Or maybe to keep things relatively low-key around the site.

Or perhaps the tech/approach is untested, and they want to do some preliminary tests/dry runs before putting their branding all over it.

These security measures are pretty tame in the grand scheme of things though. I think if google did want to completely mask their involvement, they would have at least issued different badges and credit cards to their employees on site.

narfquat··on Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?
Seems pretty telling to me, with the patent and coffee shop cashier testimonial.

I wonder how the hardware will hold up to the environmental harshnesses of the open water? Or even just sea spray...

narfquat··on Darpa Initiative Will Focus on Advancing Deep Brain Stimulation
Oh good, a military R&D lab aiming to develop brain implants...

Is there an equivalent of a tin foil hat that is available for subdermal implantation?

Kidding aside, military research has resulted in some of the most amazing stuff these days... like the entire space program and velcro.

narfquat··on Mars water surprise in Curiosity rover soil samples
I think he is using 3D printing synonymously with on-site fabrication of components. Not quite the same, but similar.
narfquat··on 419-million-year-old fish fossil resolves 'missing link' in evolution
Does that look like a turtle shark to anyone else?

Awesome.

narfquat··on Empty F-16 jet tested by Boeing and US Air Force
I think you're on to something...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_independently_targetab...

narfquat··on Empty F-16 jet tested by Boeing and US Air Force

  The firm added that the flight attained 7Gs of acceleration but was capable 
  of carrying out manoeuvres at 9Gs - something that might cause physical problems 
  for a pilot.
Wow, I guess this means they can push the machines to their mechanical limit without worrying about blackouts/redouts/etc. I wonder what kind of crazy maneuvers they can pull off without the biological factor?

Also: I'm not sure how I feel about a $15-18 million target dummy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_...

narfquat··on Youngest kid, smartest kid?
Huh, I had never thought about birthdate giving students a leg up in terms of mental capability.

I was in a gifted program in for elementary and middle school, and now that I think about it, in 8th grade, of the top 5 academically performing kids, 4 had birthdays in January or February, and 1 was redshirted... hmmm

I wonder if their parents planned that, or if it was a result of their developmental advantage/other environmental factors/own personality/aptitude?

Anyways, fascinating idea.

narfquat··on US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina in 1961
Looks like the other bomb disintegrated on impact.

From Wikipedia:

The second bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour (310 m/s) and disintegrated. The tail was discovered about 20 feet (6.1 m) below ground. Parts of the bomb were recovered, including its tritium bottle and the plutonium. However, excavation was abandoned as a result of uncontrollable ground-water flooding. Most of the thermonuclear stage, containing uranium, was left in situ. The Army Corps of Engineers purchased a 400 feet (120 m) circular easement over the buried component. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill determined the buried depth of the secondary component to be 180 feet (55 m), plus or minus 10 feet (3.0 m).

narfquat··on Is Your Unpaid Internship Illegal?
This has got to be one of the worst implementations of d3.js I have encountered in the wild...
narfquat··on German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs
If Battlefield 3 has taught me anything, someone is going to strap a brick of C4 to one soon enough.
narfquat··on Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day
To put that in perspective, here is a list of opening day top grossing movies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_openin..., and the previous video game record was $500 million, for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
narfquat··on USGS Releases New Topographic Maps of Colorado and Minnesota
Poor Alaska, forever uncharted territory :(
narfquat··on How Chris McCandless Died
Hmm, I wonder what other types of otherwise harmless food stuffs can become detrimental given the correct physiological conditions of the consumer? How do we even go about humanely testing that sort of thing?
narfquat··on Humble Indie Bundle 9 released
Oh cool, Watsi is one of the charities that the funds are being shared with. Gaming for medicine!
narfquat··on Tiny Inconspicuous Handcuff Key
Did I just watch a video of a series of pictures? Why not just have a 3-5 second motion video?
narfquat··on Your Phone Is Deadlier Than Pacific Sushi
Isn't that how Godzilla and the Incredible Hulk got started?
narfquat··on [dead]
Alright, show's over -- everything works again haha
narfquat··on CloudEmailApp completely rips off Mailgun
even the art assets are named the same -- not to mention the html structure, etc.
narfquat··on Hackers backdoor the human brain, successfully extract sensitive data
*cue inception music

But really, looks like this experiment could be totally derailed by closing your eyes, or by thinking of irrelevant topics.

Still pretty neat though.