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Comment · 5 years ago
Raising budgets don't intrinsically guarantee better results. Would a larger staff of physicists etc. lead to more breakthroughs or quicker results? Or would it just be piddled away in frivolous experiments, nicer Aeron chairs and the like?

A physicist friend from NSF told me once that $50 billion would be about right.

Comment · 5 years ago
What happens if the expansion port itself becomes damaged? Would you need to change out the motherboard?
Comment · 5 years ago
Yes, and weirdly, hyenas didn't get the sharp, retractable claws that all true cats possess. I wonder what advantage this adaptation gave them.
Comment · 5 years ago
Eat well, sleep well, stay or become physically active, and try something new every day.

Don't compare yourself to others. Rather, set goals for yourself that work best for you.

But do keep learning and drawing inspiration from others. We are not meant to be islands unto ourselves.

Challenge your mind with books and articles that may run counter to your ingrained beliefs. Sit down and have a game of chess with someone who is the opposite of you on issues of the day.

Get out in nature, take regular walks through the local park, cemetery, etc. There's evidence that this has therapeutic effects on the brain and body.

Grow a garden, get your fingers in the dirt, eat your own homegrown produce.

Shake it up and do something totally new and different: African drumming, Asian cooking, 3D printing (my new hobby).

Comment · 5 years ago
Aliexpress is a terrible outlet for consumers. The buyer pays the return shipping which is often too expensive to be worth the trouble. At least Amazon/Ebay respect the consumer protection laws and make returns pretty easy.

I'm dealing with an Aliexpress seller that sent me the wrong thing and it's basically not worth shipping back to China. I'm trying to get a few dollars from the seller but they're slippery as hell, want to privately paypal me the money etc. Never again!

Comment · 5 years ago
Is 150,000 downloads enough to attain "hit" status in the iOS world? On Android, anything less than half a million or so is somewhat niche. 150K is a respectable number, but just saying.

Also, was the takedown initiated by the Clubhouse owner? Seems like the ill will they have created is not worth whatever imagined advantage.

Comment · 5 years ago
So, create your own platform, like Parler tried to do?
Comment · 5 years ago
Their algorithms seem to be looking for the words "black" and "white". I posted a comment to a YT video just today describing my daughter's experiences in high school, the school's recent heavy emphasis on black lives matter (the topic has crept into History, Cooking, Math, and even Chemistry) and the kids, including the few black kids at the school, think it's excessive. The comment disappeared when I refreshed. I reposted (have learned to always cmd-C), and it was taken down again. So I substituted "bite" for white, "back" for black, and this time it stayed up. Ridiculous and counter-productive, in my opinion.
Comment · 5 years ago
If network latency is a significant factor, and server storage and processing resources are sufficient, then the author's example of an 800 column table needs redesign.

Break that monster into smaller, more manageable tables and architect your database such that you can obtain exactly the data you need with well indexed joins, cached lookups, etc.

Comment · 5 years ago
I don't see the privacy issue here. They're just measuring physical activity per quadrant. They can use it to study which products and product areas seem to be attracting the most interest. They specifically don't use photography or wifi that follows people around.

Although the vibration/light sensors are a somewhat novel idea, in the end a retailer already knows exactly what products are sold, in what quantities, which ones are returned, and (anecdotally at least) which ones spark the most questions from shoppers. It's not long in coming before UHF RFID chips will show the products being carried around the store (or out the back door, etc.).

Probably this system would be most useful for determining which products are "hot" and should be moved to an end cap or special display near the entrance. Or they might choose to "bury" the products to force shoppers to walk past tempting tangential items.

Retailing is a science, perfected over many decades. The lights, the music, even the aromas, all conspire to influence shoppers in ways that online can't compete with. I wonder if retail in fact will eventually find a formula to outcompete the online folks. (I'm still kicking myself for ordering a Pi Zero W online when I could have driven the same day to the Microcenter and picked one up.)

Comment · 5 years ago
According to the article, this particular system doesn't monitor the shopper, but rather the movements of products as they are picked up and examined. They specifically say they don't use cameras.
Comment · 5 years ago
As I understand it, our immune systems are pretty busy even under today's sanitary conditions. We're constantly fighting off bacterial and viral invaders, 24x7. But, I guess we're just not as busy as we could be.
Comment · 5 years ago
Comment · 6 years ago
Comment · 6 years ago
He shot at the police. They discovered narcotics needles in the house. This guy was likely on drugs, definitely armed and dangerous. How exactly were they supposed to de-escalate? If they backed off, he could have maybe slipped out the back door, stolen the Lechs' car, maybe went into a neighboring house and held someone hostage or shot them. He was at that point a public menace. Also he had multiple past felonies or felony charges (I don't remember which).

But we're kind of off the main topic which is Google tracking and geo-fencing :)

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