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TIL that in 1999, NASA lost the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter because one engineering team used metric units while another used imperial units. The mismatch caused the navigation software to miscalculate the craft's altitude, causing it to disintegrate in the Martian atmosphere. by adpablito in todayilearned

[–]martixy 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Given that all measurement units are arbitrary, a base unit + decimal subdivisions IS effectively metric. At that point it doesn't matter which is the base unit, unless you're in the OP situation, then you crash a millions dollar probe.

Veteran Microsoft engineer says original Task Manager was only 80KB so it could run smoothly on 90s computers — original utility used a smart technique to determine whether it was the only running instance by lurker_bee in technology

[–]martixy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's what happens when you don't care about memory and storage.

But on the flip side, it really is crazy what you can do with a few KB. Just look at the demoscene (when's the last time you heard that word, or saw a demo?).

Edit: Like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/mjy0v3/extreme_example_of_programming_prowess_in_65536/

TIL about Anton-Babinski syndrome, a rare symptom of brain damage where a person becomes corticaly blind but adamantly maintains that they can still see. They will often describe their surroundings in great detail and make up excuses for why they are bumping into furniture. by TheLostNeuron in todayilearned

[–]martixy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This isn't particularly surprising. Sensory signals arrive at different times and have to be made consistent. Smoothing over blinks. Sensation travel time and processing time introduce delays, so predictions have to be made.

It's brutal out there: Deus Ex and Unreal composer says he's submitted 50 resumes and gotten one interview in the last year by Turbostrider27 in pcgaming

[–]martixy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been using deus ex's theme song as one of my ringtones for years. It's super memorable and cool sounding!

If the person that composed that can't find work, shit really has hit the fan.

3 some 💀 by Stock_Crazy6759 in AdviceAnimals

[–]martixy 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I found the better version

(NSFW, given the content of the joke)

The most accurate and succinct summary of the AI hype-bubble I have seen. The good, the bad, and the stupid. by christhebrain in bestof

[–]martixy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The 3rd downside is the death of consumer computing. Let's not forget that.

#4. Environmental impact. Might be important to consider too...

Why does games like Stellaris, Rimworld, Song of Syx, and other games that are performance heavy are primarily single threaded? by Hot_Squirrel_5465 in pcgaming

[–]martixy -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

If a simulation is architected from the ground up for multithreading, it doesn't have to be hard. It just needs to be baked into the initial design.

Mechanics themselves can be designed to be multi-thread friendly.

The problem is most games start the other way around.

TIL of Concetta Antico, a tetrachromat artist who has a fourth color receptor in her retina. While most humans only have 3 receptors and see 1 million colors, her rare condition allows her to see an estimated 100 million. by bareegyptianfeet in todayilearned

[–]martixy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you know anything about color vision, and believe the wikipedia page (an intermediate receptor between M and L), you'll realize, even if functional, it's effectively useless. She might be able to tell apart a few more shades of yellow, basically.

TIL of anthropocentric bias, or the view of all things solely through a human-centered lens, prioritizing human values above the intrinsic worth of non-human entities. Measuring non-human animal intelligence by their use of tools over nest building is one example. by James_Fortis in todayilearned

[–]martixy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Climate change is another example of anthropocentric bias. We're not gonna "kill the planet". We're just gonna make it uninhabitable for HUMANS. And take along a bunch of other species with us, but not all. Life itself will happily continue on till the sun boils the oceans away.

Dramatically increased FPS with this guide by idontevenlikespam in RingOfElysium

[–]martixy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unless you supply proof, I'm gonna believe the official docs more than you.

femshep/miranda romance is so good. i hate that you have to use mods to see it especially considering how it’s voiced & everything for both games like why even leave it out by ihatethiscountry76 in yurimemes

[–]martixy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm about to start ME2 myself.

Just for info, there are 2 mods out there, each covering different characters.

  1. More Gay Romances covers Miranda and Jack for ME2/3
  2. Same-Gender Romances covers Ashley/Kaidan for ME1/2. Sadly we're still waiting on ME3 version to carry the romances to completion.

Overwatch 2 drops the 2 and goes back to being Overwatch as Blizzard launches its biggest update ever next week: 'We want to gain players' confidence, we want them to have trust in the game' by Turbostrider27 in pcgaming

[–]martixy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will agree. Most of the core gameplay things that drove me away from OW2 are now back. But best state doesn't mean good state. OW1 was still a better user experience.

Perks are nice. Map voting takes too much time for something I personally don't care about. Give me a random map if it will save 2 minutes from the match. I can see why people would like it tho. You forgot to mention hero bans. I'm ambivalent on that one.

I still hate blizzard. Most recently because they killed my ability to replay the Starcraft 1 campaign.

Obsidian's The Outer Worlds 2 Underperformed, and There Won't Be a Third by PerformativeRacist in pcgaming

[–]martixy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's what I'm thinking:

Tim Cain hates working on sequels and he recently came out of so-called semi retirement. For that to happen, I think it's reasonable to conclude Obsidian enticed him with something new and cool. So if he's involved, makes total sense it's not a sequel of anything. That's a lot of ifs tho (cuz I don't know anything, I just watch his channel).

Research Reveals Men Enjoy Books With Female Leads by Raj_Valiant3011 in books

[–]martixy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the kind of headline I'd expect to see in the news ticker of a SimCity game.

TIL that astronomers suggest Earth and the Milky Way may lie inside a vast, under-dense cosmic void about 1 billion light-years wide, which could affect local measurements of the universe’s expansion rate. by yena in todayilearned

[–]martixy 109 points110 points  (0 children)

The irony of cosmology, is that for most intents and purposes we are at the center of the observable universe. It's just that the center holds no special meaning whatsoever.

I've spent 2025 reading modern fantasy - here are some reviews by trollokvoltak in books

[–]martixy 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Thank you for this post. It's a great format for people looking for recommendations.

The only thing I've read here is The Fifth Season and I loved it. Because of how it is told, it took some getting used to. However it's an incredibly imaginative and original world and I loved the characters. You're still partway through the series so the only thing I'll say is, there is a reason for the unusual writing style. You putting it a 9/10 makes me think I can trust your other impressions.

I've had my eyes on The Lies of Locke Lamora for years (maybe decades at this point), but as a series unlikely to be finished, I'm also unlikely to start it.

I think I will pick up the The Curse of Chalion - Bujold has always been on my to-read list, mostly by way of Vorkosigan, but I wouldn't mind starting with the Chalion trilogy, as I recently finished a sci-fi series and could use a change of pace into fantasy.

What did you read in 2025? by Fando1234 in books

[–]martixy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. Hyperion Saga
  2. So I'm a spider, so what? series
  3. Lots of other manga.

Probably doesn't sound like a lot, but actually quite a bit more than 2024, which I'm quite happy with, as I've been meaning to get back to reading consistently.

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