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/tilted/

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Posts posted by /tilted/

  1. **One of my favourite little analogies.**

    A car is driving at 100km/h toward a cliff 1000 meters high. If the car goes over the cliff, the car will certainly be destroyed and the probability of survival for the driver is nil.

    • If you try to stop the car starting 10 km from the cliff, the driver can't see the cliff but a warning sign reading "DANGER - cliff ahead" is a low cost solution to prevent disaster to the car and the driver.
    • If you try to stop the car starting 1km away from the cliff, the driver may still not be able to see the cliff but a warning sign reading "DANGER - cliff ahead" is a low cost solution to prevent disaster to the car and the driver.
    • If you try to stop the car 200 meters away from the cliff, the driver might be able to see the cliff but depending on the conditions (for example, road surface/weather/visibility/distraction/condition of brakes and tyres), a small number of cars+drivers will drive over the cliff but most of the time, mere application of brakes will be sufficient to stop disaster.
    • If you try to stop the car 100 meters away from the cliff, the majority of cars and drivers will drive over the cliff. In this case, mere application of brakes is not sufficient, as the stopping distance is greater than the available distance. The driver must take other affirmative action to prevent driving over the cliff.
    • If you try to stop the car 30 meters away from the cliff, most cars and drivers will drive over the cliff. Brakes won't be sufficient, steering most likely won't be sufficient. It would take something like deliberately driving into a tree or wall to stop cars from going over the cliff, and these will have there own consequences. Car and driver are likely to suffer substantial injuries.
    • If you try to stop the car 3 meters away from the cliff, its just too damn late.

    On February 7th this year, the temperature in Melbourne (latitude 37deg 44sec, average maximum for Feb is around 34 degrees) got to 46.4 degrees - the hottest temperature ever recorded in an Australian capital. Bearing in mind that Melbourne is the second-farthest Australian capital from the equator, and that one Australian capital lies north of the tropic of Capricorn. This temperature was hotter than has been recorded even in some of our harshest deserts. Even down in Tasmania, the coldest part of the country, there was a new record set at 42.4 degrees.

    All this happened in a part of the world which has experienced far-below-average rainfall for the last 15 years. The result was firestorms of unprecedented fury, which were measured as outputting in excess of 20kW per square meter, and travelling around 70km/h in places. Substantial loss of life and property ensued.

    You can chose to be skeptical. It's a healthy viewpoint to an extent. But if you want to see proof, come and visit. You can deny climate change all you want, we're already living in it.

  2. I agree. Mind you, give it a couple more CPU generations and software versions...

    It could be improved by combining the camera with a side-facing projector in one box. Perhaps an improvement could be made over hanging it around your neck, as I wonder how long it would last bouncing around up there. Perhaps a tap directly into the optic nerve would be better than the webcam/projector thing... ;-P

    I'd be interested in how long your battery life is with a projector hanging round your neck. There would surely be a trade-off to be had between daylight readability and battery life. Perhaps the light level sensor in the webcam can communicate to the projector...

    Also, I'd like to see how well it survives if you run for a train or something.

    (Not that you'd ever need to run for another train...)

  3. I realise this was supposed to be a 'quick' question, but I think I object to the use of numerator and denominator in the context of a time signature.

    I think using these terms implies there should be a vinculum somewhere. I don't think the note line in the middle of the stave counts as a vinculum...

  4. Hmmm. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure they have a name... It's one of those things where you're taught what it means, but not necc what it's called. I've only really heard them called "upper" and "lower"..

    If you're looking for short but descriptive words that might fit easily on an LCD, perhaps you could use "beats" for the top, and "units" for the bottom.

  5. A problem I've had is that on the DOUT module, there are 8 outputs and two grounds, so ten in total on each group of pins.  But the network cable has only 8 contacts, so I lose a channel for each grouping - 124 in total.  Currently my program doesn't compensate for this, but I'd rather get those pins back.

    Perhaps you could exchange the RJ-45s for DE-9s?

    9 pins = 8 + GND...

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