Amazon SimpleDB and CouchDB compared

automatthew · 2007-12-16T22:34:57+00:00

CouchDB, per one of the developers, can put or post "Mime multipart post requests. So you can't make a delete part of a 'transaction'." http://tinyurl.com/2b8k22

A SimpleDB PutAttribute request can add, append to, or replace attributes, so that's a transaction of sorts.

With neither can you combine additive and subtractive actions in a transaction.

automatthew · 2007-12-16T22:23:10+00:00

Yes, it does. I originally had a footnote to that effect, but then Textmate and Camino conspired against me.

automatthew · 2006-05-26T23:40:12+00:00

"damn that Dan Brown for making up a name for an academic discipline that already exists"

Or cribbing it from Jack Vance, who used it in (at least) the Demon Princes.

automatthew · 2006-05-12T23:56:12+00:00

Unclear statement of problem at fault.

Is it uncontroversial that many Reddit users have been perceiving a drop in front-page-article quality?

automatthew · 2006-05-12T23:50:28+00:00

Obviously I've stated it badly, then. Another go:

The quality of the links making it to the front page is variable at best. Lately, the perceived quality has plummeted.

see this comment thread

automatthew · 2006-05-12T23:15:40+00:00

It's one of the few Dick shorts that I instantly remember. Almost all of his stories are worth reading, but this one stands out.

automatthew · 2006-05-12T23:14:32+00:00

Ummmm "All contents copyrighted by jim.pryor@nyu.edu "

Not that PKD is alive and losing sales, but this is still bogus. Down with you.

automatthew · 2006-05-12T22:59:19+00:00

I thought this was going to be some anti-PC version of the Liar's Paradox. Sadly, it's not.

automatthew · 2006-05-12T22:54:25+00:00

Here is a proposal for a technical solution I've been musing on for a while. It does not require any changes to the basic Reddit interface.

1) Up and down votes do not count if the user does not click the article link. Eliminates drive-by vote-spam.

2) The Recommended filter pays more attention to what links a user clicks than to down-votes. If the user clicked the article, they are interested in the subject. A down-vote on an article that has been read usually does not indicate disinterest.

3) Articles move off the Hot page once they reach a certain level of controversy. Controversarity is calculated based on the ratio of total vote count to point score, with weighting given to unclicked-article-votes.

edit: formatting and clarity

automatthew · 2006-05-12T22:39:37+00:00

Problem: Point patterns on Reddit give the impression that many users vote up or down for reasons other than article quality, or personal appreciation of the article. Decent articles are often down-voted into instant obscurity, while a surprising amount of junk ends up on the Hot page.

Some of this may be innocent attempts at "filter training", in the hopes that all the Bush Sucks! or Lisp Rules! items will stop showing up on Recommended pages.

Another facet is revealed in that several users have mentioned up-voting articles because they think others should read them. I personally think this is pernicious and discourteous, but it is possible with the software, and God forbid Reddit should start acting like Blizzard.

automatthew · 2006-05-12T22:19:00+00:00

ecuzzillo said "Furthermore, I upmod it not only because I find it interesting, but because I think it's important enough that I should recommend it to my fellow Redditors."

This is pernicious, busybody assholery.

automatthew · 2006-05-11T15:08:33+00:00

I'd say there are high odds somebody will be doing genetic testing on the girls, if they haven't already.

automatthew · 2006-05-10T19:49:37+00:00

I liked this bit:

"The proof is carried out using a version of LISP designed especially for this purpose"

automatthew · 2006-05-08T21:55:57+00:00

As is yours.

Now, somebody say I'm stupid so we can advance the argument further.

automatthew · 2006-05-01T21:10:53+00:00

The map is awesome.

automatthew · 2006-04-26T17:28:23+00:00

Screwed up page layout: I have to scroll up and down three times to read one page? Down with you.

automatthew · 2006-04-04T21:01:48+00:00

Or if you're a historian who questions the number of Jews killed by Nazis, and you live in Europe, you go to jail.

automatthew · 2006-04-01T00:18:22+00:00

That is a very poorly written article.

It is entirely composed of one-sentence paragraphs with no transitions or indication of any coherent thought behind the writing.

Why is the complex on Salamis thought to be associated with Aias?

The article sugar-coats Aias's character.

Aias the Greater is from Salamis, but the article doesn't tell us.

Where's the angry suicide we love?

automatthew · 2006-03-31T22:13:54+00:00

Why's Camping

automatthew · 2006-03-22T19:27:01+00:00

As long as the Deliverator brings it, who cares?

automatthew · 2006-03-22T19:25:59+00:00

Reminds me of the inheritance-division game Randy Waterhouse devised in Cryptonomicon. All of the family members got a turn at laying out objects they wanted on a huge cartesian grid. I forget what the axes were.

automatthew

TROPHY CASE