robryk @robryk@qoto.org

#informationtheory #lazytoot

The standard erasure codes (polynomial ones) require that the field size (so alphabet size) is larger than the number of symbols in the codeword. Clearly we can have arbitrarily-close-to-ideal erasure codes even for smaller alphabet sizes (because noisy coding theorem). Are there some that can be easily described?

@grrrr_shark

It changed, but not gradually: it was due to new (IMO populist) legislation (that owner-operated shops are exempt from). IIRC the stated goal of the legislation was to stave off replacement of small stores with chains.

IIUC currently the whole situation is a loophole-exploiting arms race. For example, post offices (for some value of) are exempt from that law, so a popular grocery store chain started embedding tiny post offices in their stores[1]. That loophole got closed, and I don't know what they're trying to do now.

[1] Prima facie it's not very weird to do so: it was common practice since decades for the post to contract out operation of a tiny office (that you can use to send/receive registered mail, send money from, and not much more) to a store.

@retr0id Does no cache mean no TLB either?

@grrrr_shark

This used not to be the case in e.g. Poland, so much that the common advice for people moving (both temporarily or permanently) to Switzerland or Germany would emphasize that getting groceries on a Sunday is hard.

So it's not only people moving to Europe that found that unexpected and requiring-nontrivial-adjustments.

@timorl

It seems to me that a "reverse plotter" that measures its distance to fixed points (via string length) as well as orientation (not sure which approach would be easiest here) and displays the appropriate part of a drawing would be helpful for drawing patterns on cloth, and would be a very compact device (e.g. in comparison to a drafting table, or even just the parallelogram angle transfer thingy from a drafting table). Do people make them?

Manual plotter for drawing clothing patterns (string with distance graduations, passed through holes in fixed LEGO bricks).

@timorl

@LukaszOlejnik

This seems to also be argument against opening letters one receives (because they might be mailbombs). Is there something that makes it a stronger argument against plugging in (supposed) USB mass storage than against opening envelopes that supposedly contain paper?

How would you send a nontrivial amount of data (i.e. more than can be reasonably fit into a few qr codes) to a journalist that follows that advice and without using the Internet?

@timorl I thought it more likely to happen to me :P

@trwnh Doesn't that change the situation from "a member have to consent to be part of collection" to "collection owner can add anyone"? (Or do I misunderstand the shape of the Create you're talking about?)

@grzgrz Z innej strony, jeśli to jest odpowiednio powszechnie używane, to Twój przyczynek do ilości pracy przez ich wszystkich wykonanej jest dość mały.

@rysiek @whvholst

If you want it to be _sustained_, you're right. I wouldn't be sure about peak acceleration, though: dropping things on other stiff things can give you surprisingly large peak accelerations (e.g. often HDDs are rated for shocks of magnitude of 250G with parked heads and tens of Gs while reading/writing, and yet dropping one on wooden floor from ~1m is something you'd expect to cause damage).

@tedted

This is the part that was most disappointing/infuriating/... for me: the response very clearly reads as something that doesn't care about truthfulness of its contents.

@grrrr_shark How would you gather evidence on whether something understands a given topic? (The reason I'm asking is that I have an intuitive feeling for that, but that intuition is very sensitive -- in the meaning of large derivatives over observations -- so I feel obliged to distrust it somewhat.)

@kornel It's a common setup for waterproof mp3 players (they actually do USB over that; I haven't tested how exactly (do they short D- and GND?)), so maybe there's a semi-common pinout?

@cato Similar small thing that (I assume) helps: embossing an arrow that points alone the crosswalk on the tactile (vibrating) "safe to cross" indicator.

Surprisingly (for general competence level of authorities in managing typical situations) nonsensical traffic sign combination.

@rysiek I really recommend that webcomic. Be warned that if you go forward from that point, you'll encounter spoilers for the story that is was developing between 1997 and ~2017.