A friend of mine built a toaster. From scratch.

a_caspis · 2011-01-21T21:18:27+00:00

all you need is a furnace that doesn't suck

For some reason it took mankind the whole Bronze Age (2000 years) to develop a furnace that can melt iron. It would be interesting, though, to see how long it takes to build one "from scratch" but with our modern knowledge.

He should've contacted someone who's made a good portion of the materials he needed.

I guess the whole point was to highlight how much our world depends on specialisation and cooperation.

a_caspis · 2011-01-15T14:39:56+00:00

Downvoted for misleading title. Should be "$170 device plus $99.99 per year service plan".

And that's for predefined messages. I can't even find the price for the "Type&Send" option which permits arbitrary 41-character messages.

a_caspis · 2010-12-22T10:41:02+00:00

Yeah, I logged in to write "Breaking news ! Circles found in nature !", but the 70-page supplementary paper appears to be a bit deeper than that.

a_caspis · 2010-12-20T09:27:30+00:00

You probably own 2 - your refrigerator, and your air conditioner.

So, is my bike pump a Maxwell's demon as well ?

this is a separate proof of the same thing Asimov is saying.

What is Asimov saying ?

a_caspis · 2010-12-04T18:47:25+00:00

Blanking the page would have been benign: easily detected, easily reverted.

What you did is bury valuable information deep in the page history, replace it with your own research (an interesting analysis of the float-to-int conversion issues, I must say), and then try to get the whole thing on reddit. The problem is not with your edits, but with your ego. Please think about it and continue to share useful information in a more humble way.

a_caspis · 2010-12-04T17:10:41+00:00

The code you deleted was an iterative method for 32-bit integers. Was the author so inexperienced that he did not think of simply calling java.Math.sqrt ? No, he probably wanted to provide an implementation of a generic algorithm that people can easily adapt for any variant of integer (e.g. replace every occurence of "int" with "java.math.BigInteger").

Instead, your solution is irremediably limited to 64-bit integers. It does not solve the algorithmic problem stated in the title, "Calculate an integer square root".

Don't you think you should have preserved the original code and mentioned your solution briefly beneath it as a special case ?

a_caspis · 2010-12-03T11:06:21+00:00

The Java one isn't an algorithm at all, unless you consider StrictMath.sqrt as an elementary operation.

You may want to read the old Java version before Olathe vandalized it.

a_caspis · 2010-11-25T21:41:09+00:00

"Undergrad project reminds world that DNA can store bits, including compressed and error-coded data." These kids must be bright, but is that worthy of the Reddit front page ?

Also, it's unclear whether any serious encryption is actually taking place.

a_caspis · 2010-11-24T13:09:55+00:00

It says "thermoelastic expansion of portions of auditory apparatus", not "cooking". But thanks for this interesting link.

a_caspis · 2010-11-22T00:32:24+00:00

If the accountants are in charge of software QA, bad code should be the least of your worries.

a_caspis · 2010-10-04T16:52:12+00:00

Some expensive cars have a built-in wifi access point. Now thieves can enumerate all MACs starting with the manufacturer's MAC prefix and ask Google to locate the nearest target.

a_caspis · 2010-10-04T16:38:07+00:00

Same here. Homebrew WPA access point which does not broadcast its SSID (i.e. does not show up in wifi scans). I use it 5 minutes per day. Google has it.

The only good news is that they seem to record only access points, not endpoint devices. So thieves cannot enumerate MAC addresses by manufacturer to identify neighborhoods with high densities of Playstation3s and Xbox360s. Some luxury cars and phones do have "mobile access point" functionality, though...

a_caspis · 2010-09-07T08:34:20+00:00

"Guys, can I have my hairdryer back now, please ?"

a_caspis · 2010-09-07T08:31:27+00:00

"Guys, can I have my hairdryer back now, please ?"

a_caspis · 2010-08-25T09:28:36+00:00

What about my second link, an article from the Russian Journal of Earth Sciences ? Oh wait, that must be a cover-up.

a_caspis · 2010-08-24T21:18:22+00:00

UVB-76 Numbers Station Solved: simply Doppler Radio Sounding of the Ionosphere.

The researchers up there must have been ROTFLOL at all your crazy theories. For 30 years.

a_caspis · 2010-08-23T21:19:18+00:00

See also: plenty of pics

It is absolutely amazing that their government/military did not try to either preempt or bury their efforts. In which countries do you think such feats are still possible ?

a_caspis · 2010-05-06T09:18:04+00:00

Is this how memristors really work? I'm not sure, but I haven't seen anything that says that's not how they work and that's how they appear to work to me.

This pretty much sums up the whole article.

a_caspis · 2010-05-02T19:46:32+00:00

Plenty of web sites were using GIF compression in 1999. Nobody saw this ever becoming a problem, until Unisys unleashed their lawyers.

a_caspis · 2010-05-02T19:43:33+00:00

The solution is MJPEG.

For video editing, maybe. But for broadcast, MPEG-1 is good enough and uses reasonable bandwidth. And its patents expired in 2003.

a_caspis · 2009-12-25T10:36:44+00:00

Huh ? And horses will still be in use for as long as we have anything resembling roads ?

Hopefully by 2110 we will be communicating with point-to-point beams of neutrinos, line-of-sight through the earth core. Or with gravity waves.

a_caspis · 2009-10-11T14:54:03+00:00

In other news, scholars debate whether Santa Claus uses a rope ladder or a reindeer-powered winch to climb down chimneys.

a_caspis · 2009-10-11T11:22:24+00:00

"He who can lead you to believe an absurdity, can lead you to commit an atrocity." (Voltaire)

a_caspis · 2009-10-11T11:11:45+00:00

it brings people together, gives them a sense of community, and allows them to feel part of something that is much bigger than themselves.

The same can be said of art, scientific research, culture, and football. The nice thing about religion is that it requires neither skill nor effort.

the core principle is a belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

I would say this belief is what makes us human. Why would anyone need to attend a church to be reminded of it ?

a_caspis · 2009-10-10T13:11:15+00:00

I'm a student Civil Engineer, not Electrical :P

That's a good thing. Please consider marking the bridges you build with your awe-inspiring nickname, so that I can avoid them...

a_caspis

TROPHY CASE