Humor Random Comments Thread

[Artlav]

We really live in a subscription-based software world now.

Nah, that just means they'll be able to sell much less as people move to thepiratebay or other reasonable distributors that fix broken software like that.

 

[Majid]

Nah, that just means they'll be able to sell much less as people move to thepiratebay or other reasonable distributors that fix broken software like that.

Pirating software may be an option for individuals, but it isn't an option for legal business entities if they wish to remain in business. Enterprise is where the money is at my friend. I doubt autodesk is making most of its money off individual users.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Pirating software may be an option for individuals, but it isn't an option for legal business entities if they wish to remain in business. Enterprise is where the money is at my friend. I doubt autodesk is making most of its money off individual users.

Seriously.

They give their software for free to students. Which allows people to use it who can't afford to, and gets their software into use by students' future employers.

I requested a license from my employer and realized how bad they must be getting screwed with new versions.

 

[Majid]

I requested a license from my employer and realized how bad they must be getting screwed with new versions.

Heh, they can afford it. Could you be feeling bad for your employer??

 

[Linguofreak]

Pirating software may be an option for individuals, but it isn't an option for legal business entities if they wish to remain in business. Enterprise is where the money is at my friend. I doubt autodesk is making most of its money off individual users.

Well, that's true in the West, but Artlav's in Russia, where, given the current climate of international relations, I'm willing to bet that people caught pirating western software are given medals for patriotism.

Even in the West, though, FOSS alternatives are going to look more and more attractive.

 

[Artlav]

I'm willing to bet that people caught pirating western software are given medals for patriotism.

Not quite.
Not too far off, however - there is a wide push for "import replacement", and thus using FOSS is encouraged. There are a couple of "National Linux" distros floating around, but i'm yet to see one in use, most just use Ubuntu or Alt.

On pirating, consider the language.
In the west you people say "software" and "pirated software".
Here we say "software" and "licensed software".
And the latter is kind of hard to come by, outside of things on Steam and app stores.

It's been a decade and then some since i fixed computers for a living, and back then there were some rumours about police going after people for installing Windows and such, but no real cases i'm directly aware of. Nowadays, there aren't even rumours.

 

[jedidia]

Huh... If anyone was per chance looking for a perfect example on how not to do a BLAME! anime, you can find one on Netflix now. :facepalm:

 

[Linguofreak]

And the latter is kind of hard to come by, outside of things on Steam and app stores.

Well, physically packaged software is getting rare here too. A lot of computers don't sell with optical drives anymore.

 

[Mojave]

Orbital altitude change on paper

So lately I've been working with BurnTimeCalcMFD, and to determine my Dv for a basic altitude change, I looked up the equations and did the math myself. I'm very proud of this even tho it's basic stuff.

 

[Andy44]

So lately I've been working with BurnTimeCalcMFD, and to determine my Dv for a basic altitude change, I looked up the equations and did the math myself. I'm very proud of this even tho it's basic stuff.

It seems basic to us space/tech geeks, but to the average Star Wars fan on the street who thinks he's a geek because he can hack or code or whatever, doing your own orbital calculations seems like magic.

Real nerds can do a patched-conic approximation, compute burn times using the Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation, and navigate from Earth to Mars using only a calculator and a pad of paper, and get it close enough to aerobrake upon arrival!

I've done stuff like this a few times. One day I got tired of trying to guess my way through a manual Lunar landing, so I sat down and worked out how far away from the landing zone I needed to fire my engine at half a G acceleration, and what vertical rate to set using my pitch angle, and lo and behold I nailed the landing.

It's good to get in touch with your inner Buzz Aldrin from time to time.

That kind of stuff is where I get the most satisfaction out of a sim like Orbiter.

 

[Mojave]

I've done stuff like this a few times. One day I got tired of trying to guess my way through a manual Lunar landing, so I sat down and worked out how far away from the landing zone I needed to fire my engine at half a G acceleration, and what vertical rate to set using my pitch angle, and lo and behold I nailed the landing.

It's good to get in touch with your inner Buzz Aldrin from time to time.

That kind of stuff is where I get the most satisfaction out of a sim like Orbiter.

That's what I was thinking. I got tired of just going by estimations. I'm not awful at math, but not that good either, and this kind of stuff is tangible to me. It was really fun getting these calculations and having them be correct.

 

[jedidia]

Real nerds can do a patched-conic approximation

Well, I'm afraid I have to pass on that... :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

You are obviously NOT a Millennial, don't you know you're supposed to get everything for no money in exchange for all your personal information, and that it's uncool to ever use the word "privacy"? :lol:

No, I still remember how it was like being under surveillance... and that was just for the few days in my life of visiting the other half of my relatives in the GDR. I learned quickly what the word "Stasi informer" means.

And privacy given away once can't be reclaimed.

---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:58 PM ----------

Real nerds can do a patched-conic approximation, compute burn times using the Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation, and navigate from Earth to Mars using only a calculator and a pad of paper, and get it close enough to aerobrake upon arrival!

And if you have a slide rule around, you are really having fun - especially since the typical electronic pocket calculator is performing worse in that field, while a slide rule is accurate enough and way faster for calculations with many logarithms.

 

[Artlav]

Speaking of random stuff, i just dug up my DIY digital-camera-in-a-box, took a timelapse of a sunset with it and spent the rest of the evening figuring how to do automatic white balancing.

Turns out it's kinda hard...

 

[Andy44]

Well, I'm afraid I have to pass on that... :lol:

It's not that hard. If you have access to a copy of Understanding Space by Jerry Jon Sellers he explains it pretty well. It can be a tedious exercise but the math for it really isn't that hard.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Developers Who Use Spaces Make More Money Than Those Who Use Tabs

 

[MaverickSawyer]

:blink:

 

[jedidia]

Speaking of random stuff, i just dug up my DIY digital-camera-in-a-box, took a timelapse of a sunset with it and spent the rest of the evening figuring how to do automatic white balancing.

If you figure it out, please tell me. I'm getting payed for developing stuff like that :lol:

Developers Who Use Spaces Make More Money Than Those Who Use Tabs

Huh... I didn't think this is still an issue, what with virtually every editor converting tabs to spaces by itself... ?

 

[Andy44]

I'm in a weird place. There are currently no TV shows on that I care to watch; all my "must see" shows are in between seasons.

In the old days, all TV shows took a break and went to reruns during the summer and picked up again in the fall. Now, TV show seasons are broken up and rolled out in halves or quarters, and it always seems that when one of my favorite shows (like The Expanse) is on break, another favorite show (like Gotham) is running.

But for right now, I actually have a break.

Not like it really matters; I rarely use an actual television set these days and stream it all on my laptop. My TV is only on for maybe an hour or two per week, if that. Still, it's nice to be caught up so as to talk about the latest episode with friends and coworkers.

 

[Artlav]

Developers Who Use Spaces Make More Money Than Those Who Use Tabs

Hm, if most for-money development wasn't done in teams, i would have suspected that this is a result of thinking type difference.

If you see and think code as a picture, then you are more likely to patternize code. That is, have as little gaps as possible (a=b+c; instead of a = b + c; ), and clear, controlled indentations that are only possible with spaces.

If you see and think code as text or sound, then the visual patternization is irrelevant, and spaced out easy-to-tokenize code would be preferred (a = b + c; instead of a=b+c; ), so tabs would be the right thing.

However, i suspect teamwork would hide such patterns, since you are forced to use what the team uses rather than what fits you best.
Unless there is some sort of teaming-by-thinking-mode effect, ofcourse.

If you figure it out, please tell me. I'm getting payed for developing stuff like that :lol:

I would have expected such problems to be solved decades ago in the industry?
The only reason i need to bother with it is because i literally invented a camera from scratch, without access to any prior work on the topic.