Posts by arclight@oldbytes.space
(DIR) Post #AUE8DcS7GqxXsphWZk by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-02T02:02:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@clive Does the device still meet the requirements of its role? Does the community still accept its failure rate and failure modes? Can you demonstrate that a modern replacement adds no new failure modes and has no greater of a failure rate? Safety-critical systems need to be understandable, predictable, and dependable. We're so trained by marketing that new, complex, and featureful is in all ways better than the old and familiar. It might be, but it takes rigor and field data to demonstrate it. That doesn't move merchandise or stock price so it's a constant, tedious fight to ensure rigor is applied and not just handwaved away by futurists and PR flacks.
(DIR) Post #AUR9Pcq396ZqehZtrs by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-08T08:46:37Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mjg59 GG was an absolute shitshow of cowardice in the face of unhousebroken manbabies.
(DIR) Post #AUgJ1fqhgc2wrpGb3Y by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-15T15:23:35Z
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@th I can't give you an exact value but it's proportional to the square of the number of beers you've consumed during construction.
(DIR) Post #AUkUgZjcrNaxwaDr3Q by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-17T13:01:43Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@shelldozer Ironically, the value of PI is much more likely to change if your code doesn't use named constants. A hallmark of most scientific software is the inconsistent precision applied to well-known physical and numerical constants. You're likely to find literal values of ln(2), g, and π written in at least 3 different precisions through a code.
(DIR) Post #AUkUgbDnKhK0YRLSiW by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-17T13:10:51Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@shelldozer Want to drive lazy scientists and engineers nuts? Require citation to the canonical source of every physical constant used in a code."What?! Everyone knows g is 9.8 m/s2""Then it should be trivial to provide a reference (points at most recent CODATA release on NIST website)""(Angry typing) FINE. Happy now?""Nice. Now do Boltzmann's constant and every other constant whose value you just pulled out of your ass in this code..."
(DIR) Post #AUsxwMZxzaHJi7GRvM by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-21T18:51:44Z
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@lowqualityfacts That is a darling cat with a very good name.
(DIR) Post #AV0hpFjizT46SY5zGq by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-25T12:28:56Z
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@niplav You really don't want to learn R...
(DIR) Post #AV6FIgwFCZKvV5OdEG by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-04-28T04:37:31Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@lowqualityfacts I will pray for you.I won't say who I'm praying to or for what, but it involves taquitos. A whole lot of taquitos.
(DIR) Post #AWtRJDoamnr41r2GCu by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-06-20T19:49:33Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Please tell me there is a way to manage a Google Fiber router with an actual adult computer and not some idiotic childproof iOS/Android toy application. Please tell me this is possible even if you know it to be a lie.
(DIR) Post #AWtRJEXG6jaGGNvvpQ by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-06-20T19:56:35Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I have a Brother laserprinter that I have a love/hate relationship with. When it decides to connect to the network, it prints what I tell it to print without holding my family hostage over ink or toner. The problem is, it is from the era of Brother laserprinters where the UI consists of five LEDs and two buttons, one of which just ruins sheets of paper by printing test info. The remaining UI elements are various forms of power and signal cabling, screws, removable trays and the like. Meaning - nothing that can provide you more than one bit of input or output without a great deal of soldering.The upshot is, this printer falls off the network at the slightest change in wind direction and pretty much the only solution is deleting it and reinstalling it on every device that expects to use it.Because who needs a UI, for anything, ever?
(DIR) Post #AWtRJFEVVwB8QWATEu by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-06-20T20:03:28Z
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So I can either waste mounds of toner and paper trying to sort out this printer's IP address in order to - I don't know - try to talk directly to it somehow or otherwise get it to behave like a printer instead the doorstop it continually devolves into. Windows can't find it, Brother's stupid management program can't find it, but I see activity on both ends of a piece of Cat5 cable, so _something_ is happening. Allegedly the router should be able to see it but - surprise - the router is totally inaccessible to me in any useful capacity, trapped behind yet-another-proprietary-unusable-inaccessible-dogshit-mobile-app
(DIR) Post #AXedjBThYhjodAEJ1c by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-13T12:27:08Z
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@hughbartling @kjhealy I updated the firmware on a new Yamaha audio receiver this week. Everything needs a sysadmin anymore; I changed careers for a reason...
(DIR) Post #AXn9EQ08GPnSUgS5E8 by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-17T17:06:06Z
1 likes, 2 repeats
@lowqualityfacts "Crucially, it lacks an algorithmic feed which directs social media consumers to my Substack"
(DIR) Post #AXvuTMX4cpJ1Hynhtg by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-21T22:30:05Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Early 60s textbooks are kind of special.
(DIR) Post #AXvwtUBczQnmSuM0kC by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-21T22:54:47Z
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@clive There's a ton of fascinating stuff in there!
(DIR) Post #AXzIJUA6NvAmQhl77w by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-23T13:38:43Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@thomasfuchs My best discovery about Google's disintegration this week was finding that Google Maps (the website) tries forwarding you to Google Maps (the phone app) but does not forward your search origin or destination as it once did. I had to manually copy & paste destination into the app. They literally control the phone OS, the website, and the app, this is by no means a new & novel function, but it no longer works because Google (the website, the company) is so absolutely useless today.
(DIR) Post #AYD4NZo0D1dsMlnCbp by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-30T05:08:00Z
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Light reading at bedtime...
(DIR) Post #AYGJqBfB88Cwfte61Q by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-31T18:51:28Z
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Ok, my employer still exists, I'm still alive as far as I can tell, and yes, people got in contact with me because my timesheet hasn't yet been submitted.It seems that none of the phone numbers of record for the firm work so it's not just me.
(DIR) Post #AYHO97aF7GJ6Uza5GS by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-07-31T12:40:58Z
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@Nicovel0 @Pandamoanimum And doesn't gratuitously require a phone app to make use of its most basic functions. An app that will be discontinued in 18 months, requiring you to purchase a new refrigerator compatible with the current app...
(DIR) Post #AYV6MuU8JHajkfxCls by arclight@oldbytes.space
2023-08-07T22:00:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mjg59 Noice!