Messages

1

Living Room / Natural robotics, or: The Uncanny Valley Revisited

« on: December 04, 2020, 08:20 AM »

First semi-autonomous natural movement robot walking around in Tokyo.

Spooky stuff! 

2

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« on: December 03, 2020, 10:12 PM »

Really adheres to the less is more aesthetic.  Just sublime...

-wraith808 (December 03, 2020, 10:05 AM)

Like that one a lot. Thx for sharing it!   

3

General Software Discussion / Re: Etcher on Linux?

« on: December 03, 2020, 09:57 PM »

Was Linux not intended to be a clean operating system, unburdened by the bloat that comes with Windows applications?
So why would you even consider Etcher? It is already an abomination on Windows, it should be prohibited on every other operating system... 

-Shades (December 03, 2020, 07:03 AM)

New one for me. Why is that?

4

General Software Discussion / Re: Etcher on Linux?

« on: December 03, 2020, 09:55 PM »

I would have thought that most directions on making a live Linux USB drive have instructions for using dd, at least most of the ones I've seen have.

-4wd (December 03, 2020, 08:45 AM)

Absolutely. 

dd would be my preferred way to do it.

Although unetbootin as you mentioned is also a good alternative. Only problem I’ve run into with it in the past was that it could behave funny at times depending on the distro. But that’s probably more a thing in the past than now.

5

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« on: December 03, 2020, 03:51 PM »

Nice... I really missed your music recommendations  

-wraith808 (December 03, 2020, 09:46 AM)

You’re too kind. 

Here’s another gem: Yvonne Elliman - who is arguably one of the finest voices to ever emerge from the 60/70s rock era - on stage with Clapton and a whos-who of the era’s rock gentry. Here performing Steve Winwood’s Blind Faith classic Can’t Find My Way Home.

They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

I think I’m in love...

6

General Software Discussion / Re: Etcher on Linux?

« on: December 03, 2020, 06:23 AM »

Full information, download links, and instructions can be found here:

https://etcher.download/

7

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« on: December 03, 2020, 06:04 AM »

Camel in a live performance of Fox Hill.

*WARNING - Contains Prog* 

8

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« on: December 03, 2020, 06:00 AM »

Tone to die for: Dave Ryan Harris with studio legend Sean Hurley on bass.

—————
Tech note for bass players: notice how Sean is tuned to E-flat rather than E? Consider giving it a try next time you’re rocking a Fender Precision. It’s an old trick many studio cats swear by. The improvement in tone and response can (depending on the instrument) sometimes be quite remarkable. 

9

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: November 21, 2020, 09:56 AM »

I'm sure someone will come up with a better form of plaintext for the average word processor user. It will give up document management and document styling features (the latter are rarely used by most, and the former are little used by the average user) ave but keep the text control and styling. It will give up code blocks. Maybe it will be called marktext.

-Dormouse (November 20, 2020, 04:41 PM)

I don’t think it would require an entirely new plaintext format. I suspect it could be adequately handled by XML. The real challenge would be establishing the schema and taxonomies. The mechanics and details of the markup itself aren’t the issue. It’s the meta framework that represents the real work to be done.

Kinda like the old joke about how employing a computer and database for your average problem is often like hitting a fly with a 20-lb sledgehammer.  Easy enough on the face of it - except for the part about how to get the fly to land. 

10

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: November 20, 2020, 09:01 AM »

What's wrong with us?  Why do we write and write and curate and write?  I don't know, might be a mental problem.

-superboyac (November 19, 2020, 12:04 PM)

LOL! I suspect that of myself sometimes. More often than I’d like actually.  One professor described my “problem” as an “aspiration to achieve omniscience.”

I eventually gave up on trying to create an artifact and just constructed a classic memory palace for myself. Something I’ve since stopped worrying about externalizing for posterity. But I find the software based approach some are taking as
incredibly interesting just the same.

11

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: November 18, 2020, 05:52 AM »

@ Dormouse, Wraith808, JavaJones:

Thx for taking the time to answer my question in such detail. 

Interesting to see how, for you guys at least, this technology definitely is evolving to be an “extra” head. Which is how the authors of the software (especially Obsidian) seem to have envisioned it. 

12

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: November 14, 2020, 10:58 AM »

Just out of curiosity …

What are people doing with all this information they’re curating and cataloging with these various pieces of software? To what purpose? Or maybe even: to what avail?

I’m more curious about the individual “business” use cases rather than the supporting technology. Technology and solutions that offer varying degrees of utility aren’t that difficult to run down. God knows there’s tons of software out there. But the reasons to employ said technology can sometimes be less obvious. At least to me.

So help me out. What is/are your goal(s). What’s it all for? What are you guys doing with all this information you’re gathering? 

13

Living Room / Re: What, if anything, has IMPROVED for you as a result of the pandemic?

« on: October 23, 2020, 11:13 AM »

New hobby?
Learning more?
Developing new skills?
Better immediate family time?
Realization of long-term objectives?
Freedom to work in your underwear?

-cranioscopical (October 19, 2020, 08:14 PM)

• Yes. (Electronics)
• Yes. (My Udemy, MasterClass, and Babel, and Curiosity Channel subscriotions are all getting a serious workout these days.)
• Yes. (Chinese language.)
• No. (I always prioritized family time.)
• Sorta. (My LTOs are all on track but mostly nearing realization rather than actually having arrived, possibly because I keep adding stretch goals whenever I get close to them.)
• Wardrobe…not so much. I kinda grew up with the admonishment to act in private as you would when in public as far as grooming, manners, and decorum went. So I get up each morning and shower, shave, and get dressed regardless. I find it’s far too easy to start losing track of time and goals if I don’t have some semblance of a daily routine.

Biggest change is I’m now devoting a lot more time to physical exercise than in the past. I manage at least 5 miles of walking daily, either outdoors or on a non-motorized treadmill. I’ve dropped 40+ lbs. of unneeded weight since January, am now close to my weight when I was in college, and feel better than I’ve felt for several years.

The pandemic has been hard on a lot of people. But I’m eternally grateful that (for me at least) I was able to approach it as an opportunity to reflect and get things in my life in better order than they were when i was juggling too many competing priorities

14

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: October 12, 2020, 06:09 PM »

I think the problem is in the workingdirectory

-superboyac (October 11, 2020, 04:08 PM)

Sounds like systemd can’t find the script.


Check the full path of the neuron directory. Is anything missing? Is user1 inside another folder?

for example, try: 

/root/home/user1/neuron
for your working directory entry.

15

General Software Discussion / Not CPU, not GPU, but …DPU?

« on: October 04, 2020, 01:24 PM »

Found this video pretty interesting.

When I think back to my days in enterprise IT I can almost cry thinking about how much easier my life and work would have been with this hardware technology at hand. Oh yeah.

As an aside, this guy’s web channel is pretty cool if you’re a hardware geek. This TinyMiniMicro project of his is very similar to something I’ve been implementing for my home setup over the last few years:

I guess I miss my server room days after all.

16

Living Room / Re: Android 11 forcing people to only use the built-in camera

« on: October 02, 2020, 01:56 PM »

I found this presentation to be quite interesting. Cleared up a few nagging questions I've always had about what the limit of the speed of light actually implied:

17

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« on: October 01, 2020, 01:10 PM »

Wiggins - the newest member of our family. A 7 mo. old miniature long-haired dachshund. Probably the hands-down coolest, most laid back dog we've ever met.

18

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: September 30, 2020, 08:09 PM »

In our excitement at reunion, let us not forgot Codex.

-JavaJones (September 30, 2020, 06:28 PM)

I watched a few of the videos. It all seems a bit stream of consciousness from what I’ve seen so far. Is there a design document for it that's available to read? Maybe I haven’t watched the right video - or enough of them yet. But I’m having a little trouble getting my head around the central paradigm and design of the thing.

19

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: September 30, 2020, 07:27 AM »

While 40hz may not have been "away" for that long, it does feel that way sometimes.

-Shades (September 29, 2020, 11:07 PM)

Well, it certainly felt that way for me. (How goes it Shades?)

20

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: September 29, 2020, 10:02 PM »

Hey!  Look who's back!!  Great to see my good friend!!

-40hz (September 29, 2020, 09:07 PM)

Hey you! Good to see you too! Hope life is treating you kindly. It's been a crazy few years. Especially this one, hasn't it?

21

Living Room / Re: Cyph - A potential Keybase alternative

« on: September 29, 2020, 09:57 PM »

Just out of curiosity...how do they know for sure it'll be immune from cracking by the emerging quantum computing technology? Last I heard, even the mathematicians and cryptography experts (who actually have the requisite credentials and backgrounds to express such an opinion) have been extremely reluctant to say that about any existing or theoretical encryption method that's public information.

Consensus seems to be that once we start seeing more quantum cores out there, the more the concept of encryption will become a thing of the past.

22

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: September 29, 2020, 09:07 PM »

Hope to see you visit more regularly- it's not been the same without you! 

-wraith808 (September 29, 2020, 03:09 PM)

Probably a lot less discursive and wordy too. 

23

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: September 29, 2020, 11:49 AM »

40hz! Great to see you here again.

-JavaJones (September 28, 2020, 07:17 PM)

Thanks JJ!

Good seeing you and some of the Vieille Garde regulars again. It’s been far too long. I definitely missed the civility and high level of discourse that characterizes DC’s forum. This place is like an oasis of civilization compared to some of the online circles I’ve (more of necessity than choice) been moving in lately. It’s refreshing.

24

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: September 28, 2020, 11:38 AM »

I saw that referenced on an episode (the last episode maybe) of the Librarians.  I didn't realize that it was a real thing.

-wraith808 (September 28, 2020, 10:05 AM)

Yep. Prior to the advent of affordable books the practice of training up human memory and recall to produce an “artificial memory” was a highly valued skill. You can find a general introduction to it here.

The basics of the technique are pretty simple:

But it takes some planning and a commitment to regular practice. However, speaking from experience, it’s very doable. And fun too!   

25

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: September 28, 2020, 09:01 AM »

I know how it works, working at a financial reporting institution.  I'm just saying that the 200m valuation is high based on the fact that we do know.  And standards indicate that it is a percentage of the sales+assets-liabilities over a period of time.  It's a standard and known fact.

-wraith808 (September 24, 2020, 02:31 PM)

Running a Z-score calculation is also helpful. It’s not a 100% reliable predictor. But it’s right often enough that, when combined with ratio analysis and a good hard look at the fundamentals, it can give you a pretty clear idea of just how big a gamble you’re taking.

After that it’s time to play Dirty Harry. As in: “How lucky do you feel?” 

Institutional investors, being bound by concerns about fiduciary responsibility and reputation, need to be more cautious than individual and small investors who my chose to take an  occasional ‘flyer’ and hope for the best.

And who knows? Sometimes long shots do pay off. Just so long as you can responsibly afford the risk - and understand it’s more akin to gambling than investing - there’s no harm done.