Sapere Aude
Month: February 2014
In Kinshasa, traffic congestion is a serious problem. Few drivers bother to obey signs, lights, or even human traffic directors. It was a snarled free-for-all. Until the robots showed up. Isaie Therese designed and built 2 2.5m, classic Robbie the Robot-style automatons to take over traffic-directing duties, and the plan is working.
this will be interesting to watch as the novelty wears off and the robot overlord has to smash a few things for “encouragement”
as the leverage of technology increases, this threshold will finally reach its culmination — with the ability of 1 man to declare war on the world and win. Edward Snowden proved it is possible to wage a one-man information war against a country that spends more than all other countries in the world combined on national defense. He was able to: steal the crown jewels of the US security system by himself, initiate an information war against the entire US national security bureaucracy while eluding capture, and initiate economic disruptions that have done $1Bs in damage to US corporations. However, his successes don’t end there, he’s winning the war
we could probably work far less, and still have just as much stuff, of just as high a quality, if only we’d sacrifice product variety.
that would get you huge economies of scale. if the few well-made things were tastefully designed it would be a win from that perspective too.
Okay, so you’re a CS graduate and you did a hardware/assembly course as part of your degree, but perhaps that was a few years ago now and you haven’t really kept up with the details of processor designs since then.
You might not be aware of some key topics that developed rapidly in recent times.
pipelining (superscalar, OoO, VLIW, branch prediction, predication)
multi-core & simultaneous multithreading (SMT, hyper-threading)
SIMD vector instructions (MMX/SSE/AVX, AltiVec)
caches and the memory hierarchyThis article will get you up to speed fast. In no time you’ll be discussing the finer points of in-order vs out-of-order, hyper-threading, multi-core and cache organization like a pro.
I realize it’s awkward, discussing these adult matters with your father, but have your buddies asked you to join a start-up? Be honest—Dad knows the HTML. Seriously, have you already started a start-up in the attic? I see you moved the family computer up there.
Putin warns about showing chiseled 6 pack
“Specifically, gay spectators should remain fully clothed at all times, and resist the temptation to unveil their chiseled biceps or shredded abdominals. under no circumstances should gays oil, grease, or otherwise lubricate their torsos in an effort to highlight their glistening, ripped pectorals.”
et tu, putin?
2015-06-18:
Photos of Putin looking shirtless, healthy, and powerful are a way to reassure the public that there’s no need to worry. If Putin is fine, then Russia is fine. But consider the implication of that assertion: if Putin is not fine, then neither is Russia. The scary part is that’s probably correct.
755 passengers, could land on existing runways. someone needs to do a spacex for the airline industry (which has been stagnant for decades)
Compared to the typical wing used today, the active wings will be longer from tip to tip, with an active air flow control system – eccentric turbine inside the wing near to the fuselage – which could redirect the laminar air flow and turbulences and at the same time produce electric energy for the hybrid engines (4 oversize electric-fuel engines). Projected advances in battery technology enable a unique, hybrid turbo-electric propulsion system.
“neckdowns,” left behind by snowplows, provide an existence proof of the ways that changes in curbs and streets would make things safer for drivers and pedestrians.
i look forward to competing with actual engineering.
Nadella is not the type of leader who would pound the table with his fist, instead taking a more thoughtful approach to problem solving. In that regard, he’s more in the mold of Nike CEO Mark Parker.
“He’s more cerebral and has great product depth, and is very, very good at getting the right people in the right jobs. Very hard working guy. Very outward focus, and very product oriented. He will be a guy that people enjoy working for, but at the same time, if you don’t deliver or don’t have the right skill set, he won’t hesitate to make changes.”
On March 28, 2011, Kurt J. Mac loaded a new game of Minecraft and started walking. His goal for the day was simple: to reach the end of the universe. Nearly 3 years later, Mac is still walking, has quit his job and has made virtual exploration his career. Kurt has been travelling since March 2011 and as of September 2018 is expected to take another 20 years to reach his destination.
Gregor J. Rothfuss 