Randomness thread, part two.

[Poopadoop]

I'd call him Im if it wasn't so confusing. Tim it is!

[aubreymcfate]

Nope, and i tried.

That guy was deep into some nonsense. GOD stands for GOD of Djinn, and that GOD stands for GOD of Djinn.

Gabe has, though.

There's a whole MIT course devoted to the book that's available online on YouTube, if you ever want to revisit it without having to actually read it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWZ2Bz0tS-s I assumed you'd be into it since, from everything I've read, scientists and mathematicians love it.

Also, just reading about the content of the book made something click for me in regards to what people mean when they talk about the beauty of advanced mathematics. I think I understand it a little more concretely now. So that's pretty cool.

Not sure what the whole GOD of Djinn thing is in reference to.


I miss the pre-"big sites" Internet days. The net was way more of a wild west. No ads subtly infiltrating every thing you do, no social media empires. Your aunt and uncle and neighbor weren't lurking around every corner. I have very damning dorkiness that still exists to this day, including the geocities website I coded and designed myself when I was 13. It was creatively productive and stimulating to teach yourself HTML and Adobe and all that, to give yourself the tools to shape an online identity that's unique to you. Nowadays there's way less impetus for your average person to get that hands-on involved with their online presence bc all the social media platforms are super homogenized (with the exception of Tumblr).

[oskar]

Fuck Sasquatch. How sick is it that these guys exist.

[rong]

Omgbonga has been inside you

https://www.reddit.com/r/GetMotivate...tle_with_that/

[Savy]

You're browsing a reddit section called get motivated...

[MadMojoMonkey]

Fuck Sasquatch. How sick is it that these guys exist.

Vid is way too short.

I'd watch at least 30 more minutes of that.

[MadMojoMonkey]

You're browsing a reddit section called get motivated...

Not everyone has your superpowers of being self-motivated, bro.

Some of us have to think about it and make plans about it and actually try at it.

[Savy]

Not everyone has your superpowers of being self-motivated, bro.

Some of us have to think about it and make plans about it and actually try at it.

The point is that isn't the result you get.

[JKDS]

Ive just been motivated

[rong]

You're browsing a reddit section called get motivated...

It was front page. But I though it was pretty cool.

[OngBonga]

I don't lay in bed all day. For example, I've just returned from a 20 minute chill in the sun.

[wufwugy]

Lies. Everybody knows there is no sun in Britain.

[OngBonga]

Once every now and then during the summer months, the clouds break and we get what's called a "nice day". It's rare, but it does happen, sometimes even in Scotland.

[Poopadoop]

And when it happens, everyone goes outside and is like 'what's that big yellow thing?'

[OngBonga]

We did have a summer once, I think it was '95.

[JKDS]

California Adventure's Tower of Terror is closing.

[MadMojoMonkey]

-XKCD

[JKDS]

Non linear y axis...so tilting

[OngBonga]

Non linear y axis...so tilting

It's fine so long as it's proportional, in fact it's preferable to a ludicrous logarithmic curve, which in this case would require a long portrait graph, rather than a landscape one with ratios close to the golden ratio, which makes it look nice.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Non linear y axis...so tilting

I hear you saying that you prefer plussiness to timesiness.

Don't be a plussy, JKDS!

[MadMojoMonkey]

There's a whole MIT course devoted to the book that's available online on YouTube, if you ever want to revisit it without having to actually read it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWZ2Bz0tS-s I assumed you'd be into it since, from everything I've read, scientists and mathematicians love it.

Checking it out. Just on first lecture so far.

This guy says some dumb stuff, but I see what he's getting at. I.e. his talk about paradoxes is obtuse at best.

lol

happy happy horse happy happy apple happy happy happy happy

[a500lbgorilla]

Godel, Escher, Bach was a book about recursive cleverness, as best as I could tell.

Bach put clever inside of clever with some of his works. Escher's pics were patterned cleverly, then Godel's incompleteness theorem throws the whole systematized world on its head, leaving us only to turn to clever.

It's a pretty thought-provoking book, but it's really difficult to work through.

[a500lbgorilla]

It did lead me to read this slim book

https://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6dels-P.../dp/0814758371

which is v excellent

[OngBonga]

I wonder if spoon has deleted his FTR bookmark yet?

[wufwugy]

anybody know why he left?

[Savy]

When did he announce he was leaving?

[MadMojoMonkey]

He didn't, to my knowledge.

Just AFK for longer than expected.

[oskar]

Hardware rant coming up. Mildly interesting... you have been warned.

So my sister decided to put windows on the Steam Machine I built her last christmas. She installs it, and it wouldn't boot up and I play phone tech support, but I can't figure it out. So I drive to her and it turns out what happened is that there's a dll that came with a windows update about a year ago that stops windows from booting if you had overclocked certain intel chips that were not officially sold as overclocking chips. These chips can often be overclocked with some (most) motherboards. No fault in the chip, no problem with Windows because if you delete that dll from system32, it boots up as if nothing happened. So what happened here is that Intel went: hold on, some people are getting more performance than what they paid for and Microsoft is like: We can totally brick all of those! And then they both do a funny little dance. This is the most disgusted I've been with Microsoft since Windows ME. And this is the mild version. I've since read that on other CPU's microsoft pushed a microcode update that permanently disables overclocking capabilities. Microcode updates are essentially firmware updates for cpu's that might come in really handy if they find bugs post-launch that they have to patch, but these fuckers use it to brick your thing if they think you underpaid. What a load of shit.

Let's move on.

[OngBonga]

I can't say I understand the technicalities of what you just said, but welcome to the way the world really works. Stop complaining and bend over like a good boy.

[JKDS]

Ive long believed that computers were designed to stop functioning after a certain period. Like, 2-5 years. For whatever reason, they all seem super slow after that time, and I think it's by intentional design.

[MadMojoMonkey]

I fully don't understand why overclocking your machine is considered "ripping off" the manufacturer.

You bought the tool. What you do with it is up to you. Certain modifications will nullify the warranty.

I don't see why this should be any different from any other tool.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Ive long believed that computers were designed to stop functioning after a certain period. Like, 2-5 years. For whatever reason, they all seem super slow after that time, and I think it's by intentional design.

Your computer's specs are probably still as good as they were when they were new. There can be minor losses due to aging power supplies and long-term heat loosening the glue on heat sinks. This is usually a 'puter killer or not really an issue at all. So if your computer still works, it's probably nearly good as new as far as performance.

The more likely culprit is that you've got creep in your startup files where stuff you install has automatic processes which always load up and run in the background. I say creep because each one is tiny, but if I go through my startup folder every few months, I always find some stuff that I don't want in there.

That and the fact that as time goes by and the "average" computer gets more powerful, the "average" software is more demanding. So newer software might not run as quickly as it's counterpart prior to all those updates.

[wufwugy]

What would a pleb like me have to do to get rid of the creep?

[JKDS]

Well, I have a SSHD right now, and my computer used to boot up almost instantly. Now it takes a few seconds.

[MadMojoMonkey]

What would a pleb like me have to do to get rid of the creep?

It can be tedious.

Go to Start or the Windows icon or that button on your keyboard between the left ctrl and left alt buttons.
Type "msconfig" in the search / run window (depends on which version of Windows you have). Don't type the quotation marks, obv. If you did a search rather than a run, go ahead and double click the search result to run it.

Click on the Startup tab. This shows you a list of processes which auto-run every time you open Windows.

This may be a huge list of stuff that doesn't make any sense or indication of what it is or does. Plenty of it is actually requisite for Windows to run, but plenty of it is optional.

There's no simple way forward from here. My method is to google search every entry and lookup what each thing is doing. Then I copy/paste the relevant bits into a Word file which I keep as a record so I don't have to look things up more than once. Or at least, when I look them up again, it's in my own Word file which has everything I need to know about most of those files.

Then de-select anything you don't want.

Sorry. I don't know of any less tedious way to do it, and it sucks to have to dig through a bunch of tech-ese on every google search to determine if the thing is necessary or junk or auto-update for some program which I don't really want to do that.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Well, I have a SSHD right now, and my computer used to boot up almost instantly. Now it takes a few seconds.

I haven't checked, but I bet you can google a program which tests your CPU speed or whatever performance parameters you wish to query.

My gut says that other things have changed beside the passing of time when it comes to what your computer is being tasked to do, but I'm not supremely well-versed in this area.

[JKDS]

It's all a plot to make us keep buying new computers!

Who needs laptops? People with money. Business people. Students (loans). Most arnt tech savvy. So make em fail after a few years, and milk them again!

[Savy]

It's all a plot to make us keep buying new computers!

Who needs laptops? People with money. Business people. Students (loans). Most arnt tech savvy. So make em fail after a few years, and milk them again!

You're kind of forgetting that the people who are tech savvy would expose this if it was the case. Maybe when the lack of technological development means it isn't creating it's own demand for improvement we'll see this happen.

It's almost always to do with people not properly caring for their computers. I've fully wiped and reset a laptop my family used because it was almost unusable after a few years due to how slow it was. As if by magic it worked like it was brand new.

[rong]

What would a pleb like me have to do to get rid of the creep?

This deserves it's own thread. Maybe a team effort of googling.

[daven]

so about my first ever permanent job (always a contractor prior to the six years of gamble) -> had my first ever permanent job performance review finalised last week. apparently i'm crushing. must be time for change

[oskar]

Grats Daven! I'm still trying to get the willpower up to grind again. Up to 200NL on Bowada looks like 2010 all over again, but I have a very hard time motivating myself for poker.

[oskar]

It can be tedious.

Go to Start or the Windows icon or that button on your keyboard between the left ctrl and left alt buttons.
Type "msconfig" in the search / run window (depends on which version of Windows you have)...

Yeah, you can safely disable everything in "services" that isn't tagged with microsoft. If that doesn't help either re-install or if you're uncomfortable with that chances are you have an oem version that can be reset to factory with the press of a button at startup... check your manual for that.
The only things that can really deteriorate on a PC are the harddrive and the OS. Everything else tends to either be broken or not broken.

[oskar]

I fully don't understand why overclocking your machine is considered "ripping off" the manufacturer.

You bought the tool. What you do with it is up to you. Certain modifications will nullify the warranty.

I don't see why this should be any different from any other tool.

Different cpu's or graphics card from the same series often have the exact same chips only that they remove some pins, disable a memory bus or lock/unlock the multiplier. There were some PII chips that sold at 250, 350, 450mhz clock speeds and the only difference was the FSB frequency. If you bought the bottom end chip and put the FSB from i.e. 60 to 100hz you now had the top end chip for half the money. So I understand that they don't want that. They later disabled that silently with a revision. But the thing I bought really only made sense if you tune it. It's a G3258 that runs at 3.3ghz boost at stock but that can go up to 5ghz in many cases, and I got it up to 4.7 with an air cooler. On stock speeds that thing is shit. When tuned it does some things faster than my cpu which is 4x the price.

[The Bean Counter]

It's almost always to do with people not properly caring for their computers. I've fully wiped and reset a laptop my family used because it was almost unusable after a few years due to how slow it was. As if by magic it worked like it was brand new.

Probably just your dad watching things your mum wouldn't approve of and picking up some problems.

I stumbled on my dad's internet history a while back while trying to speed up their sluggish PC. I'll be in my grave before I tell any of my family about it (not that is was weird in any way, just that I found it at all).

[MadMojoMonkey]

so about my first ever permanent job (always a contractor prior to the six years of gamble) -> had my first ever permanent job performance review finalised last week. apparently i'm crushing. must be time for change

Congratulations!

We already knew you were pretty awesome, here.
It's always nice to hear that other people aren't blind to it, though.


Something to keep in mind about that change:
Never make yourself seem irreplaceable in your position. This is a rookie mistake.

You want to be the easiest person they've ever replaced. You want them to know that you are so organized and have planned ahead so much that someone else could step right in and pick up where you left it. They need to know that you are capable of much more than your current position requires, that you are always working even when the bottom line has been met, and that your current position will have minimum down time due to training when they promote you out of it.



Congrats, again!

[MadMojoMonkey]

Probably just your dad watching things your mum wouldn't approve of and picking up some problems.

I stumbled on my dad's internet history a while back while trying to speed up their sluggish PC. I'll be in my grave before I tell any of my family about it (not that is was weird in any way, just that I found it at all).

Time to discreetly show him how to use Private Browsing, I think.

[Savy]

Probably just your dad watching things your mum wouldn't approve of and picking up some problems.

I stumbled on my dad's internet history a while back while trying to speed up their sluggish PC. I'll be in my grave before I tell any of my family about it (not that is was weird in any way, just that I found it at all).

So you literally are speaking from experience.

[Savy]

You want to be the easiest person they've ever replaced. You want them to know that you are so organized and have planned ahead so much that someone else could step right in and pick up where you left it. They need to know that you are capable of much more than your current position requires, that you are always working even when the bottom line has been met, and that your current position will have minimum down time due to training when they promote you out of it.

Reasonable advice but completely dependant upon the situation. Whilst the other advice may stop your progression within a company your advice can do you out of a job.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Reasonable advice but completely dependant upon the situation. Whilst the other advice may stop your progression within a company your advice can do you out of a job.

In general, this is the opposite of true. Don't fall for the rookie mistake of thinking your boss is too stupid to recognize that diligent workers make more money for the company than slackers who only meet the minimum requirements to avoid getting fired.

I mean... maybe your boss is, in which case you should be doing everything you can to get away from that poisonous business relationship. You should be seeking to work for someone you respect as a quality leader / manager. Actively seek employment with better long-term personal gains.

If you automate your position, then do nothing while that automated system does the work, then sure. You should have expected a short-term employment for said services and charged significantly more for your services. However, if you automate your position, then remain busy and expand the scope of your position's responsibilities, effectively making the company money where it was not before, then any employer who does not recognize that excellence is doomed to run a stagnating business. Again, actively seek employment with better long-term gains.

***
Make sure all of your plans always meet these 2 criteria: awesomeness and practicality. If your plans aren't both awesome and practical, then it's time to make new plans.

[MadMojoMonkey]

I can't believe ongie reported Satan Youth Cream.

It's the hand cream of the devil; it moisturizes even in the most hellish environments.
It's the hand cream for real men.


Oh wait... now I see why he did it.

[OngBonga]

Real men don't use hand cream for fuck's sake.

[rong]

I moisturise daily.

[OngBonga]

I bet you wax your legs, too.

[a500lbgorilla]

[oskar]

I'm constantly reminded that I should listen to his podcast more. Between Joe Rogan, WTF and re-listening to all Patrice O'Neal episodes of Opie and Anthony it's hard to find time. Even My Wife Hates Me (Rich Vos, Bonny McFarlane) is amazing.

[a500lbgorilla]

He's a POS. Don't sweat it.

PS Fuck Brady.

[oskar]

He's a POS. Don't sweat it.

PS Fuck Brady.

I know. He's the best

[The Bean Counter]

Saw the Book of Mormon in the West End over the weekend and can recommend it to people that usually wouldn't go to a show. It's written by the creators of South Park and Avenue Q, so you know what you're going to get (Avenue Q is also worth a look if it's touring).

[Savy]

Wuf got a question for you (everyone feel free to answer though).

Say there is a market for an item. There are three of these items and you own all three. They're all exactly the same & are of no value to you but are of value to the market that wants them and as a result you'd rather sell them for as much as possible for obvious reasons. The value of these items isn't going to change in the foreseeable future as a result of outside circumstances. The use of the item is a one type thing and when it's used it's gone.

How do you go about selling these items to the market to best maximise the amount you get on average?

[MadMojoMonkey]

There are exactly 3 of the items and you own all of them?
There is no method of production of said items, just the pre-existing 3?

Is there any cost to you in not selling them? E.g. you have to store them. That storage space may be incidental or substantial. If they require any upkeep, that matters, too.

Also, current market trends vis-a-vis supply-demand pricing will dictate whether you want to offload them quickly or to wait for prices to increase.

Then you need to compare your estimated increase due to waiting against other potential increases like... if I wait it will gain value at 1%, but if I sell it now and invest that money, it will gain value much faster.

[Savy]

There are exactly 3 of the items and you own all of them?
There is no method of production of said items, just the pre-existing 3?

Is there any cost to you in not selling them? E.g. you have to store them. That storage space may be incidental or substantial. If they require any upkeep, that matters, too.

Also, current market trends vis-a-vis supply-demand pricing will dictate whether you want to offload them quickly or to wait for prices to increase.

Then you need to compare your estimated increase due to waiting against other potential increases like... if I wait it will gain value at 1%, but if I sell it now and invest that money, it will gain value much faster.

yes
nope, just the three that exist.
nope

Market for them won't change in the foreseeable future. The only thing that I can see changing is that when one has been used then there are only two so the price would change accordingly (I'd assume up).

[Poopadoop]

Sell one, wait for the price to go up, sell the second, same thing, sell the third?

[MadMojoMonkey]

yes
nope, just the three that exist.
nope

OK

Market for them won't change in the foreseeable future.

Sure it will. People are fickle. Some will lose interest, out of futility at the ridiculously low chance of them acquiring said items. Some will want the items more over time if they symbolize some aspect of what the people admire.

You can play to their ideals by how you communicate what it is you have. Marketing influences people's understanding of the value of your items.

The only thing that I can see changing is that when one has been used then there are only two so the price would change accordingly (I'd assume up).

So by selling the item, it becomes "used?" It cannot be re-sold by the buyer?

[Savy]

Sure it will. People are fickle. Some will lose interest, out of futility at the ridiculously low chance of them acquiring said items. Some will want the items more over time if they symbolize some aspect of what the people admire.

You can play to their ideals by how you communicate what it is you have. Marketing influences people's understanding of the value of your items.


So by selling the item, it becomes "used?" It cannot be re-sold by the buyer?

There's very little point in me telling you something if you're just going to tell me I'm wrong. What I've said is the case and even if it isn't what I'm asking for is under those criteria.

No, by being used it becomes used. By selling it someone else has it. That's why I said after it's used not after it's sold.

[MadMojoMonkey]

There's very little point in me telling you something if you're just going to tell me I'm wrong. What I've said is the case and even if it isn't what I'm asking for is under those criteria.

That's a perfectly fair assessment. I wasn't trying to re-phrase your question, but we've exposed a misunderstanding on my part.

If you're going to stipulate that you aren't selling the items in a human-consumer market, then I'm at a loss.

No, by being used it becomes used. By selling it someone else has it. That's why I said after it's used not after it's sold.

So poop's stipulation that by selling one, the price will go up, is not a guarantee, then?

[Poopadoop]

So poop's stipulation that by selling one, the price will go up, is not a guarantee, then?

In that case you have to make assumptions about what each buyer is going to do with it, either use it or resell it. Seems impossible. But given you have no reason to want to use the items up yourself, then there's no other way to push the price up than sell one and hope it gets used.

[OngBonga]

Destroy two of them.

[Savy]

It's a reasonable assumption that they would get used but there is no guarantee. If there is demand and very limited supply does it make sense to buy one and hope the price goes up as the other two get used?

Destroy two of them.

But does the value lost from the other two increase the value of the one that is left that much? I think it's unlikely.

[OngBonga]

I reckon if there's one of something in the world, it's worth more than three times the value of the same item of which three exist.

Depends on the item in question, of course, but imagine if there are only three copies left of a particular record. They would be worth a lot of money, but its value if fixed in the sense that all three of them are worth the same. Imagine if there was only one. It's now essentially priceless, because there's no comparison, it's worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. That could be significantly more than three times the original value.

[Poopadoop]

I reckon if there's one of something in the world, it's worth more than three times the value of the same item of which three exist.

There's probably some equation in economics that describes this. My hunch though is that three of the same items are always going to have a higher sum value than one item alone.

[OngBonga]

I think it depends on the item's natural inclination to deteriorate in quality. For something that has a short shelf life, then sure. But for something that lasts for decades, I think the balance would tip in favour of rarity. Obviously, there's no economic basis for my comments, it's pure speculation on my part.

[JKDS]

The question seems to vague to answer. Not vague regarding the product necessarily, but vague regarding maximizing value. We could talk for hours on the profitability of advertising, for example. Advertising would certainly be part of maximizing value

[Savy]

The question seems to vague to answer. Not vague regarding the product necessarily, but vague regarding maximizing value. We could talk for hours on the profitability of advertising, for example. Advertising would certainly be part of maximizing value

I was purposefully trying to be vague for simplicity. We can assume advertising plays no impact if you like.

[JKDS]

I mean, I guess if we're talking super general.

You want to find the person with the deepest pocket, and convince them that the thing is worth a shit ton. The only info we have right now is rarity, so we'd exploit the shit out of that.

[JKDS]

I guess the museum approach works too though. Don't sell it, but charge to see it. That could ultimately prove more valuable if it was something of little material worth