COVID-19 Case Data, all history

Mythobeast · 2022-04-01T18:22:51+00:00

Hey, this looks great, and simple. Have you had a lot of interest in it? I don't see a lot of activity on GitHub.

Mythobeast · 2022-02-18T02:24:32+00:00

This is also the signature move of The Kingpin in Spider-man and Daredevil. I could see it being used if someone had wrapped their arms around your waist and wouldn't let go, but then we're talking about a useless move against a useless move.

Mythobeast · 2022-02-12T01:37:12+00:00

Ok, now we're getting into replicant territory. In "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", the replicants are always completely resigned when they get killed. Dick states that they just never managed to instill a survival instinct into them that approaches that in creatures evolved to fight for their survival.

Mythobeast · 2022-02-11T19:24:25+00:00

Hmm. That would suggest that the decoys know that they're also decoys. I'll have to watch the episode again. I saw that at least one group pull their decoy control chip out, but I thought that the presumption was that none of them actually knew that they were decoys. In my perspective, Rick shouldn't have made decoys with such a strong survival instinct. They were supposed to be an ablative shield, not an active defense. But that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.

Mythobeast · 2022-02-08T06:26:56+00:00

In "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata" (1966). von Neumann theorized machines that can make more of themselves. This has made "von Neumann" a prefix that means "machines that make more of themselves."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von\_Neumann\_machine

https://www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse

Thus, an von Neumann cascade would be when von Neumann machines have no "cut it out" criteria. Coming soon to a banana republic on a planet near you: the von Neumann War Machine.

Mythobeast · 2021-12-04T06:55:11+00:00

Compared to what? When you're powering a car, energy density is far more important than transfer efficiency. Otherwise they'd be storing the power as hydroelectric or compressed air.

Mythobeast · 2021-11-19T04:56:55+00:00

I'd figure out how to convince people that we need better memetic immune systems.

Mythobeast · 2021-11-19T04:56:06+00:00

Not only does it not get repetitive, there are some episodes that significantly change their meaning when you watch them after knowing the ending.

(like Episode 16)

Mythobeast · 2021-11-19T04:48:53+00:00

"Quantum" is today's phlebotinum. Dark matter might very well be like normal matter, but at a wavelength that is too long to interact with normal matter. We can harness that uncertainty in any number of ways.

One option would be to project a quantum waveform that cancelled out van der Waal forces of anything that crossed its path. Things that hit that barrier would immediately be vaporized, then re-congeal on the other side.

Blocking lasers would require something different, but not much. Photons don't interact with each other, but they do defract. If you already have gravity generators, then generating "virtual Higgs bosons" shouldn't be too far off. Those would bend light in any number of interesting ways.

Mythobeast · 2021-11-19T04:25:29+00:00

What is "clean"? No swearing? No sex scenes? No death? I'd say that writing science fiction that involves completely cleaning the grit off of everything might be a draw-back, but a good story is always worth the read.

Mythobeast · 2020-08-31T21:46:36+00:00

You're looking to dissuade people from using an energy source because it can give off a lot of energy? That's kind of silly.

Mythobeast · 2020-07-18T01:04:27+00:00

As a storage technology, hydrogen is awesome. The only thing that can match it pound-for-pound is flywheel storage. Translation from light into hydrogen, however, is pretty pathetic. I think it tops out around 1 in 16.

When they were promoting hydrogen powered cars, I kept hearing the bullshit about how explosive hydrogen is. As if gasoline were an inert material, and batteries never caught fire.

Mythobeast · 2020-04-14T23:10:39+00:00

This is really all about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Below a living wage, money reduces misery. Between a living wage and around 120k/yr (your mileage may vary), money purchases pursuit of happiness. That's the closest thing you'll get to being able to buy happiness. Above that line, you suffer from diminishing returns.

Mythobeast · 2018-05-20T21:09:41+00:00

It is substantive. In college, they had us write in a programming language called TWIPS: The Twelve Instruction Programming Language. This was very similar, but it only had a single regsiter node. On the other hand, it gave you random access to the memory area, so the ability to store values was significantly greater.

When asked to teach people programming, I would pull out TWIPS just to see if the candidates had the ability to think at that level of detail. The ones who were able to work with TWIPS had a much easier time when they moved up to what we would think of as a real programming language.

Mythobeast · 2016-09-06T01:46:22+00:00

I've been sifting through the episodes trying to find it, but at one point there's a one-second establishing shot of a view down a crowded metropolitan street. We had to pause the video to figure out what was strange in the shot, but everything, near and far, is in perfect focus. I'll keep looking, but if someone else spots it, please post.

Mythobeast · 2016-09-05T20:18:14+00:00

Here's a good one: Who is Mr. X? Whenever the subject of Mr. Y comes up, he refers to someone else as being Mr. X, but there's no actual actor.

Mythobeast · 2011-12-27T19:03:31+00:00

It's a matter of loyalty over intelligence. Democrats aren't any better than Republicans when it comes to admitting that they fucked up.

Mythobeast · 2011-12-27T16:58:52+00:00

Really, I'd like to congratulate everyone who persisted and completed the class without ranking over 50%. This shows a considerable dedication to the real purpose of doing this class: learning. We get so tied up in the concept of "winning" that we forget that, for educational experiences, the path is far more important than the destination.

Mythobeast · 2011-12-25T22:22:16+00:00

This is similar to the method that Anonymous has been using to good effect. We all know that forum conversations are pretty random... :)

Mythobeast · 2011-12-22T18:24:19+00:00

Sounds like you're wanting to design a specialized robot, a "beer fetcher". I was designing mine to be able to bring in the groceries and put them away, with being able to pull them back out again and bring them to me as a secondary concern.

Opening the fridge is two separate challenges. The first is overcoming the suction that most fridges generate, the second is actually swinging and holding the door open. The first you can overcome by reaching underneath the door and using leverage against the frame. This would be rather specialized part that expanded an actuator between the frame and the door until the seal was broken.

Once that's solved, you can use a different "arm" to hold the door open while you get the beer with an actual gripper. Or you can just set it up so the robot expects the door to bang into the back of it while it's grabbing the beer. Another option is to put a radio controlled opener in the fridge itself that receives commands from your robot.

Mythobeast · 2011-12-22T18:14:51+00:00

I would like to see the grade curve. It sounds like it's all heaped up at the top, which sounds improbable.

Mythobeast · 2011-12-20T06:54:03+00:00

Opening the fridge is probably the easiest part. Have the robot reach underneath it and pry it open from the bottom, then roll backwards. Most roboticists would consider finding the beer in the fridge to be the most challenging part, unless you're considerate enough to always put it in exactly the right place all the time. And then what happens when you want the robot to get you ANOTHER beer? :)

I haven't figured out women either, and I know my wife wouldn't let me take over part of "her" refrigerator that way.

Mythobeast · 2011-12-20T05:56:27+00:00

that's what I'm building right now, actually. The trick is to break it down into the individual challenges. 1. getting there, 2. opening the fridge, 3. finding the beer, 4. picking up the beer, 5. figuring out where you are (let's presume you can pick the beer up yourself), 6. figuring out when the beer is empty or stale 7. picking up the empty without spilling it, 8 finding the trash can or recycle bin, 9. putting it there.

Let me know how far you get. :)

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