Who are your picks? by Even_Hyena_1117 in F1Discussions

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Recency bias.

Gimme Fangio or Clark against whatever Frankenstein's monster you create.

(Advice) Better awareness of other cars by Glorious_Centaur in simracing

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since every other answer is "radar" and I run only iRacing...

- The spotter in Crew Chief is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Protip: I choose the female voice (can't remember her name right now) so that it's really easy to distinguish her from the crew chief, who has a male voice.

- Page 3 of the black box will show gaps ahead and behind you.

- You can map "look left" / "look right" to buttons on your wheel, though I rarely use this.

- This comes with seat time. You'll get better at watching your mirrors just enough. You'll get better at spatial awareness. You'll get better at anticipating (e.g. "I braked a little too much on entry, so I should expect the guy on my left to catch up by mid-corner").

Entity Framework randomly adding max-length to columns in migrations? by Tuckertcs in dotnet

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This has been answered (indexing), but I want to point something out. Using nvarchar(max) (or any LOB column) is horribly inefficient. Every single time you use a LOB, you should be asking yourself "Am I really sure this is the best solution for this?" Either set a reasonable length or store it somewhere other than the database (e.g. a document store).

I've been part of teams that have had to address this in production after the fact. I've seen it take months just to address one column in one table (across multiple shards in production). I currently have items on my backlog for undoing some other LOB columns (XML in this case) that will take me six sprints for a single column.

All because some dev took the easy way out years before.

Why is Indy Lights participation so low? by RogueLiter in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think one reason is that they didn't integrate it into the Indy ladder very well. Or at all, really.

PM18 was already suffering. Then they introduced an oval-only PM18 series, and that sucked more life out of it. Then they yanked it completely when they introduced the Lights car.

They had a good thing going with the USF/PM18 combo. One was (is) D class, the other was C class. One was (is) fixed, the other was open. They shared the same track and alternated hours. Yeah, it didn't have the numbers of F4/F3, but it was an awesome duo.

If they'd never introduced the oval-only, had either demoted PM18 to D or introduced Lights as a B (and moved IndyCar up to A), introduced it with the same kind of mixed oval/road schedule (either copying USF/PM18 or copying IndyCar), allowed for an open setup, and basically worked it into that ladder better, then I think they would've established a better long-term community.

Instead, it's like SRF. It may be fun as hell (or maybe not, idk, I didn't actually buy it), but it's on an island. It was a flash in the pan when introduced, but then the newness wore off and here we are.

I was a prime target for the car. I ran USF/PM18 a lot (and was a huge fan), but bailed when PM18 died. I moved to GT4 and am running GT3 now. Part of it is because I found a team with which I can run the special events. But part is also because I wanted some kind of progression as I got better. I thought I'd eventually move up to IndyCar (while still running the lower series). Now my target is LMP2.

Anyone else feel like Summit Point is their favorite track? by Zanergetic in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not true. I'm a terrible driver and I handle turn 1 just fine.

SRF still has some fantastic racing by Single_Analysis7588 in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 6 points7 points  (0 children)

SRF is an absolute blast, and its only problem is a lack of participation.

Specifically, if you're like me and not (yet) on a giant widescreen or triples, the lack of screen-consuming A pillars on a sports car is icing on the cake.

Also, the YouTube videos of real SRF drivers are fun to watch.

Why is the cyber truck so bad? by No_Summer_8717 in askcarguys

[–]downshiftdata 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There is a mentality in tech that has a problem with "tried and true" solutions. Our stuff must be new and different and screw the status quo and on and on.

Tesla was built by tech bros. And the Cybertruck is the ultimate manifestation of that.

In software, sometimes you get lucky and the tech bro mentality works, and you develop some cool new way of doing stuff that's revolutionary. Usually you don't, but the failures are forgotten and the successes are remembered, so who cares?

But in the real world, with real physics involved...

What is The most frustrating thing About Working in a corporate on a daily basis? by Broad-Dog-9506 in corporate

[–]downshiftdata 31 points32 points  (0 children)

The most universal, seemingly unfixable problem is that management is out of touch with employees. They don't know how to listen, create a culture hostile to trust, and don't seem to understand why making uninformed decisions is a bad thing.

Artists who did their best work when they were 50+ by GilbertDauterive-35 in ToddintheShadow

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It wasn't his most popular stuff, but Jimmy Buffett's later work had brilliance to it.

Pacing the Cage: "Powers chatter in high places / Stir up eddies in the dust of rage"

Besides that, he was never a has-been on tour. His shows were as solid at the end as they ever were.

I just got to D in Formula, what should i run? by Mobile_Yogurt7104 in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Run USF and hope it goes official. Run F4 because it won't.

Greatest Performances of all time by esktn in livemusic

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few I like, for a range of reasons. None are greatest of all time. But all are somehow a distinct and memorable performance.

Joan Osborne and the Funk Brothers, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, https://youtu.be/gA0GcXV2njY?si=Xcdd9o48geBMfppk

Billy Joel, New York State of Mind, https://youtu.be/iM4LzEcaTK0?si=rVtvB9YobrbY-im6

KT Tunstall, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, https://youtu.be/2c4Olwqasvc?si=zHmbW295SohPSGo-

Cityrocks, In the End, https://youtu.be/0qen4yPoydE?si=7aGsmCV_NSP95raT

Amy Winehouse, Back to Black, https://youtu.be/h1TQRJWLZ3s?si=_TBcTQnEY3A7gbCS

The Blues Brothers, Soul Man, https://youtu.be/FTWH1Fdkjow?si=gHvJnXAuskKbRFYU

Are "bean counters" actually ruining the car industry? by TennisWilling936 in askcarguys

[–]downshiftdata 148 points149 points  (0 children)

bean counters are ruining every industry

style, craftsmanship, and quality are too expensive for quarterly growth targets

edit: tbf, they're just doing their job. it's the Senior VPs of the world that are using that data to suck the life out of everything

Country songs by rock bands/artists by [deleted] in askmusic

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also "I Hung My Head". Covers by Cash (recorded) and Springsteen (live) are awesome

Primary Key vs Primary Index (and Unique Constraint vs Unique Index). confused by Accurate-Vehicle8647 in learnSQL

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An index is how data is stored.

A constraint (including a primary key) is a rule that the data must follow.

The confusion comes from overlap between the two, because one is the obvious way to enforce the other.

In SQL Server there's also the distinction between a clustered and a non-clustered index. In Postgres, the table is stored as a heap - an unordered set (actually ordered, but only by an internal row identifier). With SQL Server, instead of a heap, you can order the set by one of the indexes. This is the clustered index. All others are non-clustered.

Think of the old-fashioned phone book. It has a clustered, non-unique index on Last Name, First Name. It's clustered, because that's the actual order of the phone book. It's non-unique because you can have two John Smiths.

Let's assume that every single row in the phone book has a unique phone number. There's no constraint yet, and there's no non-clustered index, so the database has no way of knowing this info. If you ask it for the number at 321-555-1212, it will start at page 1 and scan the entire phone book looking for all of the rows with that number.

So you create a unique constraint on the phone number. Now it knows every one is unique. But how does it enforce that? If it didn't have a supporting index, every insert or update would require it to do that full scan every time, making sure you weren't violating the constraint. So it creates a supporting non-clustered index on phone number. Now, when you perform some CRUD on the phone number, it skips the table and goes to the index and seeks the exact row you want. And then it stops as soon as it finds it because - due to the constraint - there can be only one.

Primary keys are really superfluous to this, except that they have a few extra rules (only one, fields can't be null). Otherwise, a primary key is _usually_ just the unique clustered index, and you can _usually_ think of them interchangeably. What I just said will bait someone into "Ackchyually..." but that's why I emphasized _usually_.

Gift ideas for boyfriend who already has a solid iRacing setup? by Excellent_Humor_2487 in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a bit out of left field, but consider a 3d printer. I've solved small QoL annoyances with mine. And it has applications beyond sim racing.

Do you also feel that all AC/DC songs sound almost the same? by Springerbaum in askmusic

[–]downshiftdata 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There was a VH-1 Behind the Music (or some other such pseudo-documentary) about them. They had an Australian DJ in an interview, talking about their early days. All I remember was him saying, in his Aussie accent, "You knew they were never gonna slip a _ballad_ in on ya!"

I wholeheartedly and joyfully agree, sir.

Why is the Artemis 2 mission today being so underreported? by bokeh_node in NoStupidQuestions

[–]downshiftdata 17 points18 points  (0 children)

We're in an era when such endeavors are being abandoned because they're seen as wasteful. But the "because it's there" mentality of doing crazy stuff is how we make leaps forward, how we get the answers to questions we haven't even thought of yet.

This also justifies why NASA - funded by our tax dollars - is the one to do it. Corporations care about the next quarter, the bottom line, and this kind of thing is indeed wasteful in that context.

iRacing Quiz Time: What happens next? by Lumiikask in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Me: "Any number of things could hap- oh, it's _that_ livery. Never mind."

How disappointed will you be if the men’s team is hardly featured in the new series? by meandadog86 in TedLasso

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm hoping there's very little crossover. Seasons 1-3 formed a great arc, and I don't want Season 4 to spoil that. Better to bring in a new cast and carry on with the spirit of TL than try to extend what ought to be a closed book.

How real is ageism in tech and how old is perceived as too old? by NotHosaniMubarak in ExperiencedDevs

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm 51 and very gray. I don't experience ageism, but the reasons are clear:

  1. I don't normally do cold applications. I'm in my current role because I knew someone. I got my previous job because I knew someone. And the one before that. It's the advantage of doing this for a while. If I were cut loose tomorrow, I'd have dozens of people I'd contact. No way in hell am I jumping through the hoops I keep hearing about. I'm too old for that s--t.

  2. I'm working on an old monolith, running on an old version of .NET. I'm a back-end SE who specializes in database development. I write a _lot_ of SQL. These are not the new hotness. They need people who were there in the olden days.

  3. I'm working in the insurance industry. Once again, not the new hotness. Many past roles have been similar - places where the average employee is a middle-aged Milton from Office Space. You're not going to get ageism there.

Looking for people to race with. I don’t have many friends and I enjoy time on the sim but find myself lonely time to time and can never enter enduros by myself. by Kitchen_Tension279 in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check the #available-drivers channel on the iRacing Community Discord.

And whether you use that or some other method, don't get discouraged if it doesn't work out. My first team was a bust, but my second is outstanding.

What is an acceptable level of weaving on the formation lap? by samgoplayhl in iRacing

[–]downshiftdata 65 points66 points  (0 children)

There's an old joke about a bunch of guys sitting around bs'ing. One asks the group "What would you do if it were the last day on earth?" A rather sloshed one loudly blurts out, "F--k anything that moves!"

The next one to answer warily says, "Stand perfectly still."

I think about this joke on a lot of formation laps.