UserFriendlyRobot's recent activity

  1. Comment on Twitch streamers have mixed reactions to Ninja’s choice to not play with female streamers in ~games

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link Parent
    Remember when Blizzard tried to enforce RealID, and the #$%#storm that went down?

    Remember when Blizzard tried to enforce RealID, and the #$%#storm that went down?

  2. Comment on The engineer who designed the Genoa bridge that collapsed and killed forty-three people warned of its corrosion risk thirty-nine years ago in ~engineering

    UserFriendlyRobot
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Since I'm bored and you mentioned capitalism, let's do a calculation on how long a bridge needs to last unmaintained in order for it to make economic sense to not maintain our bridges by doing...

    Since I'm bored and you mentioned capitalism, let's do a calculation on how long a bridge needs to last unmaintained in order for it to make economic sense to not maintain our bridges by doing Fermi approximations. Suppose the bridge is built at time 0, you spend X on building the bridge and Y per year on maintenance.

    Now if the bridge is unmaintained for a period of time T1 until that bridge collapsed, that is a cost of only X over T1, and you would have to build a new bridge after T1 which would last presumably around the same time as T1. Now if you were to maintain that bridge and maintenance over T1 costs Y * T1, it would cost you X+Y*T1 over T1 but you wont have to build a new bridge. So at a certain T1, Y * T1 = X, at which point it costs the same to maintain a bridge or leave it unmaintained, let it break and build a new one.

    But wait, what about all the destruction that is caused by the bridge collapsing? Let's call the economic damage of a bridge collapsing D, and let's assume our regulators are reasonable and will impose this cost on the bridging agency. At this, for it to make sense to leave a bridge unmaintained X + D < Y * T1. So if we have X, D, and Y we can find out the amount of time a bridge needs to stay up unmaintained for it to be profitable.

    To get a real sense of how much this is, according to this paper (http://www.iti.northwestern.edu/publications/utc/tea-21/FR-4-6-Krizek.pdf) in figure 4, around 50 years of maintenance will cost the same as the initial construction (T1 at which point X = Y * T1). According to Google a bridge will cost $10000 per sq meter to build (http://www.partnershipborderstudy.com/pdf/Suspension%20Bridge_2.pdf) and according to the measure function on google maps, the Golden Gate bridge is 100,000 square meters, so that's about $1b for the initial construction cost of the bridge (this is an order of magnitude approximation on "average", the actual number is $1.5b which is pretty close, this is X). Given that maintenance cost per year of that bridge is the initial construction divided by 50 years, we arrive at 20 million dollars per year (the actual non-approximated value is $37m which also is pretty close, this is Y).

    To find D, I counted 30 cars and 1 bus on 1 quarter of the Golden Gate bridge in Google Satellite view, so that's just say the bridge at any time carries on average 200 people. Averaging these people's current age at 40 and a life expectancy of 80, their lifetime domestic product lost (total economic damage) is 200 * 40 * 60000 (gdp per capital of the US) which is $480 million dollars (this is D)

    So we profitability if T1 > (X + D)/Y, which is ($1b + $0.5b)/($20m per year) which is 75 years. An unmaintained bridge will be profitable if it can support itself unmaintained for 75 years. I forgot the point I was trying to make, I've completely spaced out by this point, anyways kthxbai.

    Edit: I momentarily regained lucidity and remembered the point I was trying to make: capitalism dictates that you should maintain your bridges, but people are either too short sighted or susceptible to short term gains to see the long picture. No one is going to string up a politician or company for failing to repair a bridge if it works just fine every day. But people will string you up if you fail to report profits or cut taxes for them. So we end up in a situation where you take a low risk of ending your career drastically (bridge fails) in order to advance it incrementally (more earnings/cut taxes).

    9 votes

  3. Comment on Where Vim Came From in ~comp

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link Parent
    Probably something like Sublime. Like a spotlight-like feature so all options are accessible via text. Everything accessible via keybinds and addon friendly.

    Probably something like Sublime. Like a spotlight-like feature so all options are accessible via text. Everything accessible via keybinds and addon friendly.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on Nvidia announces RTX 2000 GPU series with ‘six times more performance’ and ray-tracing in ~games

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link Parent
    It will be worth $200+ increase in price for me if all my games support it, and there's no way WoW or most MMORPGs will on a 14 year old engine.

    It will be worth $200+ increase in price for me if all my games support it, and there's no way WoW or most MMORPGs will on a 14 year old engine.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link Parent
    We aren't really that long away from dropping Python off our resumes I feel like (at least for research). Like how in the 80s you used to be able to put Microsoft Word as a valued skill but no one...

    We aren't really that long away from dropping Python off our resumes I feel like (at least for research). Like how in the 80s you used to be able to put Microsoft Word as a valued skill but no one does now. I don't work in a computer-based field but programming is absolutely essential.

    A doctorate can seem bleak while you're doing it, it's 6-9 years of somewhat stressful work (depending on your situation) paid at below market rates (3x lower approximately). But I've seen people come out of it with definitely more than they would have gotten if they didn't do it. The nice thing is once you get in you can basically switch fields if you don't like your current one.

  6. Comment on University of Chicago eliminates SAT/ACT requirement in ~news

    UserFriendlyRobot
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    If they get rid of the standardized tests (which I am in favor of) they have to think of a way to replace it as a measure stick for academics across many different high schools. This doesn't have...

    If they get rid of the standardized tests (which I am in favor of) they have to think of a way to replace it as a measure stick for academics across many different high schools. This doesn't have to be a thing applicants have to do. Where I did undergrad, they would take your grade from your school and compare it to everyone else who went to the university from your high school, and compare your grades to those people from the same high school and judge those grades in the context of graduation rates for all previous students from your high school. This is one way to do it, it doesn't have to be the way, but you have to normalize the grades somehow. Because I can tell you right now a 90 at my old high school in the suburbs and a 90 in a school deeper in the city is not the same thing. One of those schools has a dynamic range of 60 (mediocre) -100 and the other has a dynamic range of 85 (mediocre) -100.

    I very much hope that the trend of using short videos (instagram/vine/facebook) for general admissions will not be a thing. I have no issues when it's done for fun or for those majors that are more artsy but I will campaign hard against it if it ever came to my school. It feels like they are making the process easier in the guise of making it accessible for more, but I feel like writing a well thought out long-form essay is more meritorious and accessible. More likely than not, some photogenic individual with lots of charisma/good camera setup who's one of those people who are a part of everything but interested in nothing (aka rich kids) will have a much greater advantage. Note that I'm not against a long form interview taking upto even 20 minutes. I just feel like college is an incredibly large investment on life, and ideally you only do it once, much like marriage. If you really want to go through with this major life decision, you should 1. be able to put in a lot of work to get in and 2. be able to distinguish yourself academically with more than a simple 2 minute video and grades that look like everyone else's if your school is tough.

    Further, if you go into a mathy/sciency direction, you should be able to get in with mostly technical proficiency, and it will be incredibly accessible (the Cambridge mathematics entrance exam for example will equalize rich and poor).

    2 votes

  7. Comment on Advice for people terrified of board games? in ~games.tabletop

    UserFriendlyRobot
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    It's okay to lose. I'm the worst at board games, but I really like them. Usually I only play with close friends and just everyone being together is worth it. It's kind of reassuring that there are...

    It's okay to lose. I'm the worst at board games, but I really like them. Usually I only play with close friends and just everyone being together is worth it. It's kind of reassuring that there are somethings that you can't just go connect to a server and play with strangers.

    If you have a group of dedicated friends who wont get mad play axis and allies an hour a night over the course of a month. I only done this once but it was magical.

  8. Comment on Ad blocker Ghostery celebrates GDPR day by revealing hundreds of user email addresses in ~tech

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link Parent
    Is it much better than pfBlockerNG? Like is it worth it to spin up an extra VM for it.

    Is it much better than pfBlockerNG? Like is it worth it to spin up an extra VM for it.

  9. Comment on What is your favorite non-American TV show? in ~tv

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link Parent
    I think it gets better but lots of people disagree. Some don't like Clara as a new companion but I liked her better than the ponds. The 50th anniversary/the lead up was really good too.

    I think it gets better but lots of people disagree. Some don't like Clara as a new companion but I liked her better than the ponds.

    The 50th anniversary/the lead up was really good too.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on What things in gaming do you not agree with or do not like that the general audience enjoys? in ~games

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link Parent
    Probably, but it's the game that I played in high school with friends, and anything's fun with friends. I don't know anyone who plays the shooty games of today.

    Probably, but it's the game that I played in high school with friends, and anything's fun with friends. I don't know anyone who plays the shooty games of today.

  11. Comment on What things in gaming do you not agree with or do not like that the general audience enjoys? in ~games

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link
    Shooty games. I don't mind games with shooty elements like Far Cry, but I don't like CoD, battlefield, fortnite, overwatch, CSgo, etc.. For some reason I do like TF2, I don't know why...

    Shooty games.

    I don't mind games with shooty elements like Far Cry, but I don't like CoD, battlefield, fortnite, overwatch, CSgo, etc..

    For some reason I do like TF2, I don't know why...

  12. Comment on What is your favorite non-American TV show? in ~tv

    UserFriendlyRobot
    Link
    Non-American: Doctor Who Non-Mainstream: Murdoch Mysteries

    Non-American: Doctor Who
    Non-Mainstream: Murdoch Mysteries

    2 votes