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ptelomere

50 karma · joined April 24, 2023

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ptelomere··on Japan wants to build a cargo conveyor belt because it’s running out of drivers
The article is misleading, I've read the actual report in Japanese. It's not trying to built Tokyo-Osaka conveyor belt, too expensive, too close the the realm of sci-fi.

What they're trying to do is to use the current trucking between metropolitans -Japan is not eager to just "erase" jobs - then switch to the conveyor belt system connecting into the city. What' they're trying to build, are these switch hubs and the underground conveyor system.

ptelomere··on Exploring How Cache Memory Works
Something I've experienced first hand. Programming the ps3 forced you to manually do what CPU caches does in the background, which is why the ps3 was a pain in the butt for programmers who were so used to object-oriented style programming.

It forced you to think in terms of: [array of input data -> operation -> array of intermediate data -> operation -> array of final output data]

Our OOP game engine had to transform their OOP data to array of input data before feeding it into operation, basically a lot of unnecessary memory copies. We had to break objects into "operations", which was not intuitive. But, that got rid a lot of memory copies. Only then we managed to get decent performance.

The good thing, by doing this we also get automatic performance increase on the xbox360 because we were consciously ? unconsciously ? optimizing for cache usage.

ptelomere··on FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations
Drug dealers also have the same modus operandi.

First, free samples, then you must pay, once addicted you pay more and more, no money ? go sell these drugs and be an evangelist for us, now your work is our profit.

ptelomere··on Google's AI-generated search results keep citing The Onion
Every AI answer should starts with "I read it on the internet, that ...".

or ends with "... so said the internet".

ptelomere··on Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice
First they lie to you saying they will save the world. Then they take from you saying they're using them to make the world a better place. Then they rule you, saying "there are no other ways".

All the while many people believe them at every step.

ptelomere··on Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu
Because competition is bad for business (good for customers for sure), but I repeat, BAD for business.

Why would you want 10 companies competing, bet your investment in one, or "spread it" like a loser, when you can pool ALL your money and make sure ALL the profit accumulates into one giant enormous company ?

Uber in this case happens to be the company chosen for big money.

ptelomere··on Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity
I'm more of a visual person. I usually "draw" my notes to make things easier to understand. When I need to revisit it, remembering how things relate to each other, I find it easier to picture what I drew, "retrace" my thought process, and recall relationships.

Everything else like recipe, TODO list, I just type it directly into my phone/tablet.

ptelomere··on Nvidia is now more valuable than Amazon and Google
When there's a gold rush, sell the best shovels you can make.

Pretty much the business model of Steam, Amazon, nVidia, Nintendo, all to some degree, we can go on and on.

ptelomere··on Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the first scroll
My God, once in a while, you need to read something like this, reflect, ask the question "can I do better in my work ?", such an inspiring story of technical feat, persistence, and ingenuity.
ptelomere··on How Monopolists drive the power and wealth divide
"It's different this time, we have machine guns, rockets, tanks, drones and AI, while Louis XVI only had guns, which was easily overcome with dirty peasant's pitchforks" - elites probably.
ptelomere··on OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
Google's "don't be evil", removed when it was against profit. Silicon Valley's "We're all family" culture, screw that, company profit first, you're all laid off! Now this.

When did "liberal" becomes synonymous with liberally removing/adding a moral value when they no longer works for your profit ? It's not a wonder why half of the country no longer believe in "liberalism".

ptelomere··on Japan's Comfort Food: The Onigiri
My girls join the Girlscout in Japan. When they have outings, they'll prepare "girlben" which is short for "girlscout's bento/lunchbox", which is literally just 2 or 3 onigiris with whatever ingredients they want.
ptelomere··on Toyota adopts the North American charging standard
Does Tesla get any kind of royalties or patent payment when car companies adopt their standard ?
ptelomere··on Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics
Massive public transports, not EV, is the solution.
ptelomere··on Japan's abandoned villages
Living here for more than a decade, spent first five years just working myself to death. Then I managed to finally settle, bought a car and started exploring the country. The difference between Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya and the country-side is stark.

I don't think that's a bad thing, "Abandon" is the wrong word, we simply "return" the land we no longer use to nature. We only borrowed it in the first place anyway.

As for making cities more crowded, I don't think that's a bad thing either. Tokyo is pretty nice, you can pretty much get whatever you need within walking distance, I lived there for 5 years before I had a car, and I explored the city and its every corner within that 5 years on foot, bicycles, trains and buses, never felt any inconviniences.

ptelomere··on Momofuku Ando invented instant ramen (2016)
If you have children and visit Japan, stop by Yokohama cup noddle museum. The children can "arrange" their own cup noddle, good fun!
ptelomere··on How to foster shoshin
"Invoking awe" is easy, travel to places you've never been, do things you've never done, and what not.

Richard Feynman once said "The easiest person to fool is yourself".

The real "humility" is how you'd respond when someone tell you how wrong you are. Most people response with "fight", instead of reflecting, which is the "correct spiritual" response many people should take, because logically you never know 100% of everything to be 100% sure about anything.

ptelomere··on Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens
IMHO, don't blame touch screens, blame bad UI design.

My touch screen annoyance: "oops, it detected a swipe instead of a press, because the car just went through a bump!". Or, "Oops! I accidentally pressed cancel instead of back button, now my map navigation is gone!!!".

Design the UI well, so that drivers can't screw things up easily.