Durkoala's Desultorily Droll Drivel and Discourse (Random Banter Thread #212)

[Teddy]

And speaking of hive minds ():

Here is a fascinating article that expands on some recent advances in brain-reading technology, and what it means and some potential uses and problems. It's quite fascinating. And the author generally seems to know what he's talking about.

Ohh, interesting. Given, I got a bit tired when the author went "but consciousness is special and the physicists think we're all zombies", and then I realised I'd only gotten through a tenth of the text, and decided I wasn't interested any longer...

[factotum]

The CPU is a quad-core, and it's kinda fun seeing how all five processes manage to get 14% of the CPU each, since that means at least one process has to be scheduled on multiple cores. As someone who just yesterday wrote my exam in Advanced Computer Architecture, I can most definitely appreciate all the complex inner workings allowing a process to migrate like that.

If you look at graphs of individual core utiliisation and run a single-threaded, CPU-heavy application, you'll see that the CPU load tends to get distributed over all the cores anyway; just seems to be the way the thread scheduler works (e.g. it doesn't take account of what core a thread was last scheduled on when it next gets scheduled).

[Feytalist]

Ohh, interesting. Given, I got a bit tired when the author went "but consciousness is special and the physicists think we're all zombies", and then I realised I'd only gotten through a tenth of the text, and decided I wasn't interested any longer...

Heh.

Peter Watts, the author, is a SF novelist also, with a bit of a fixation on neurobiology. A recurring theme with him is that we are actually all zombies, and consciousness is all down to the wiring. It's a bit of an author tract with him, you might say

I find the whole idea fascinating, anyway. And if anyone's up for it, most of his stuff is online under Creative Commons. He tends to work with extensive references.

[CurlyKitGirl]

You guys won't believe the day I've had. Dad's been building shelves in the master bedroom in an effort to create more space, and I had to put all the books in the shelves. Double stacking them.
And . . . a great deal of the books were mine. Because that's obvious.
But . . . I had to be honest with myself, some of the books just weren't 'right' for me any more. For starters I had maybe a dozen duplicates. And some of the books I just . . . 'didn't want' due to 'maturity' and a 'lack of space' and 'having too many books' - if such a thing even exists - so I picked. I chose. I dithered. I was amazed at some of the poor physical quality of some of the books. And a good one hundred and fifty to two hundred books are going down the charity shop.
I still have 'too many books'.
I FEEL LIKE I LOST A LIMB. THOSE BOOKS WERE MY CHILDHOOD - the parts I no longer want, of course. I'm keeping my Hardy Boys, Nancy Drews, 3 Invetigators, Enid Blytons and various others; but I collected those books with my own money.
It was awful.
And yet, I still decided to donate over one hundred and fifty personal items. That's a lot of stuff. We'll just gloss over the two or three hundred I decided to keep . . .

ION:
Also I'm going to teach in Taiwan. Possibly by the eleventh of June. Just found out about that posting today, and to be honest, even with the hassle of literally doing last minute stuff, I kind of want to take that posting.
Just thought you might be interested in that little tangent.
Man, my books though.
I already miss them. Most of them.
Three-quarters of them.
God, I had a lot of strange tastes when I was younger.

[LaZodiac]

You guys won't believe the day I've had. Dad's been building shelves in the master bedroom in an effort to create more space, and I had to put all the books in the shelves. Double stacking them.
And . . . a great deal of the books were mine. Because that's obvious.
But . . . I had to be honest with myself, some of the books just weren't 'right' for me any more. For starters I had maybe a dozen duplicates. And some of the books I just . . . 'didn't want' due to 'maturity' and a 'lack of space' and 'having too many books' - if such a thing even exists - so I picked. I chose. I dithered. I was amazed at some of the poor physical quality of some of the books. And a good one hundred and fifty to two hundred books are going down the charity shop.
I still have 'too many books'.
I FEEL LIKE I LOST A LIMB. THOSE BOOKS WERE MY CHILDHOOD - the parts I no longer want, of course. I'm keeping my Hardy Boys, Nancy Drews, 3 Invetigators, Enid Blytons and various others; but I collected those books with my own money.
It was awful.
And yet, I still decided to donate over one hundred and fifty personal items. That's a lot of stuff. We'll just gloss over the two or three hundred I decided to keep . . .

ION:
Also I'm going to teach in Taiwan. Possibly by the eleventh of June. Just found out about that posting today, and to be honest, even with the hassle of literally doing last minute stuff, I kind of want to take that posting.
Just thought you might be interested in that little tangent.
Man, my books though.
I already miss them. Most of them.
Three-quarters of them.
God, I had a lot of strange tastes when I was younger.

What books did you get rid of that you're "too mature" for now? Also I'd argue the "poor quality" of the books just shows how much you loved them.

Ooh, have fun in Taiwan. I forget if it's Taiwan or Tailand that my Dad goes to every year on vacation but either way, have fun!

[Teddy]

If you look at graphs of individual core utiliisation and run a single-threaded, CPU-heavy application, you'll see that the CPU load tends to get distributed over all the cores anyway; just seems to be the way the thread scheduler works (e.g. it doesn't take account of what core a thread was last scheduled on when it next gets scheduled).

Well, single-threaded applications actually tends to stick to two hardware threads, so I think it schedules one core, but jumps between the hardware threads on it.

Heh.

Peter Watts, the author, is a SF novelist also, with a bit of a fixation on neurobiology. A recurring theme with him is that we are actually all zombies, and consciousness is all down to the wiring. It's a bit of an author tract with him, you might say

I find the whole idea fascinating, anyway. And if anyone's up for it, most of his stuff is online under Creative Commons. He tends to work with extensive references.

Huh? Well, perhapse he stood up for that viewpoint later, but there in the beginning, it sounded more like he despised the idea...

ION:
Also I'm going to teach in Taiwan. Possibly by the eleventh of June. Just found out about that posting today, and to be honest, even with the hassle of literally doing last minute stuff, I kind of want to take that posting.
Just thought you might be interested in that little tangent.

My closest friend has spent the last year studying in Taipei and exploring the country around, and while I'm not much for city atmospheres myself, judging from the photographies (he's a quite adept amateur photographer), it's a gorgeous country.

ION:
Calc, calc, calc...

[Feytalist]

Huh? Well, perhapse he stood up for that viewpoint later, but there in the beginning, it sounded more like he despised the idea...

Nah, that's just his writing style, more or less. Extremely blunt sciencey facts, but surprisingly poetic prose.

I'm a bit of a fan, as I'm sure you've guessed

[Thufir]

ION:
Also I'm going to teach in Taiwan. Possibly by the eleventh of June. Just found out about that posting today, and to be honest, even with the hassle of literally doing last minute stuff, I kind of want to take that posting.

But but but that's before the meetup! So I won't see you before you go!
(Though, good luck with that - why is it Taiwan now though, I thought you were planning to go to Vietnam?)

[factotum]

Well, single-threaded applications actually tends to stick to two hardware threads, so I think it schedules one core, but jumps between the hardware threads on it.

Well, it happens even on CPUs that only have one thread per core, so no, hyperthreading and its ilk don't affect this.

[Cuthalion]

I normally try to space these out a bit but then I saw this.

[HalfTangible]

I normally try to space these out a bit but then I saw this.

Listening to this when I saw this.

[LaZodiac]

That is one rockin' ass bird Cuthalion. I approve.

[Taet]

I saw a license plate today
HRH (heart) TEA
It should have been mine.

[enderlord99]

"You shall be killed by no beast;
You shall be killed by no chance event;
You shall be killed by no god;
You shall be killed by no human being."

...The man to which this was spoken, of course, was killed when an atheist named Noh Hugh Mann-Bing was playing darts (which inevitably results in a no-chance event, as the link shows) accidentally hit with his dart a button that released a circus bear wearing a Japanese theater mask (the Noh Beast,) which promptly mauled the man to death.

He should have seen it coming, really.

[HalfTangible]

"You shall be killed by no beast;
You shall be killed by no chance event;
You shall be killed by no god;
You shall be killed by no human being."

...The man to which this was spoken, of course, was killed when an atheist named Noh Hugh Mann-Bing was playing darts (which inevitably results in a no-chance event, as the link shows) accidentally hit with his dart a button that released a circus bear wearing a Japanese theater mask (the Noh Beast,) which promptly mauled the man to death.

He should have seen it coming, really.

"Walk softly, and carry a big gun."

There's very few problems that can't be solved by that philosophy.

[Feytalist]

Tomorrow, we are moving into our new apartment. Also, tomorrow it will be raining.

Should have seen it coming, really.

I normally try to space these out a bit but then I saw this.

That is one metal bird.

[Teddy]

Well, it happens even on CPUs that only have one thread per core, so no, hyperthreading and its ilk don't affect this.

I should have tacked on a note saying "when it can". I wouldn't say hyperthreading doesn't affect it when you haven't studied a hyperthreaded computer, though. It all depends on the OS, and scheduling within the same core is more efficient that jumping between them, cache-wise.

[CurlyKitGirl]

What books did you get rid of that you're "too mature" for now? Also I'd argue the "poor quality" of the books just shows how much you loved them.

Oh dear. Well, let's embarrass myself.
The Sweet Valley Twins series, Sweet Valley High (such a guilty please), The Saddle Club, Babysitter Club, miscellaneous stories and a book or two from the Demon Headmaster series.
Sex, drugs and alcohol? Immature. Picnics with lashings of ginger beer, watercress sandwiches and cream teas whilst going about genteely solving mysteries and/or attending a board school? Timeless classics.
As for poor quality I mean 'puppy/cat got hold of them and gnawed the top and bottom of the spine off. Or pages missing (not any story pages, but the blank cover leaves).

Ooh, have fun in Taiwan. I forget if it's Taiwan or Tailand that my Dad goes to every year on vacation but either way, have fun!

Well Thailand is the place that's infamous for 'massages' and nearer to Angkor Wat. Taiwan is an island off the coast of China where they speak Mandarin Chinese.

My closest friend has spent the last year studying in Taipei and exploring the country around, and while I'm not much for city atmospheres myself, judging from the photographies (he's a quite adept amateur photographer), it's a gorgeous country.

Oooh! What did he study? And where did he go? Mountains? Gorges? Beaches? Any cities in particular he went to? Or did he literally just stay in Taipei?
Any anecdotes you care to relate?
And how weird is that that I say 'yep, pretty definitely Taiwan, in the middle of a job application that's fairly guaranteed', and guess what? A friend of a friend went to Taiwan to study!
Life man. Smaller than you think.

But but but that's before the meetup! So I won't see you before you go!
(Though, good luck with that - why is it Taiwan now though, I thought you were planning to go to Vietnam?)

Plans change. In particular, there were more applicants than places for the Vietnam programme, and Taiwan's pretty cool. Second choice actually because Japan and Korea are a bit more intimidating and you get better pay if you apply with experience. Now I have to learn Mandarin.
Anyway, this is jut a luck offer. My actual earliest start date was in July, but fortune goes where fortune goes. I might not get this job because PAPERWORK IS EVIL AND THERE ARE PROBLEMS INVOLVING MY DEGREE FOR SOME REASON.
Seriously. Paperwork: evil.

And speaking of paperwork, time to go to the travel clinic and find out about vaccinations and things! And travel insurance. And medical insurance. But I know that already.

[Taet]

I got to see a bit of Kung Fury the new indie movie. It is very '80s fighting game like in the parts I saw. But from what I hear the entire movie is like that and calling one scene like an '80s fighting game does not say exactly which scene. But it was fun. I see many demotivators getting made from this.

Wendy's only sells ice cream, ice cream, milkshakes, ice cream, milkshakes, and hot dogs.

This was extra confusing because the frozen ice cream like milkshake like thing American Wendy's sells is almost the only good food it has.

It's like tiny fragments of a hive mind manifesting itself.

Australia was always going to be the doom of us all. But everyone thought it was going to be from the wild animals.

You guys won't believe the day I've had. Dad's been building shelves in the master bedroom in an effort to create more space, and I had to put all the books in the shelves. Double stacking them.
And . . . a great deal of the books were mine. Because that's obvious.
But . . . I had to be honest with myself, some of the books just weren't 'right' for me any more. For starters I had maybe a dozen duplicates. And some of the books I just . . . 'didn't want' due to 'maturity' and a 'lack of space' and 'having too many books' - if such a thing even exists - so I picked. I chose. I dithered. I was amazed at some of the poor physical quality of some of the books. And a good one hundred and fifty to two hundred books are going down the charity shop.
I still have 'too many books'.
I FEEL LIKE I LOST A LIMB. THOSE BOOKS WERE MY CHILDHOOD - the parts I no longer want, of course. I'm keeping my Hardy Boys, Nancy Drews, 3 Invetigators, Enid Blytons and various others; but I collected those books with my own money.
It was awful.
And yet, I still decided to donate over one hundred and fifty personal items. That's a lot of stuff. We'll just gloss over the two or three hundred I decided to keep . . .

ION:
Also I'm going to teach in Taiwan. Possibly by the eleventh of June. Just found out about that posting today, and to be honest, even with the hassle of literally doing last minute stuff, I kind of want to take that posting.
Just thought you might be interested in that little tangent.
Man, my books though.
I already miss them. Most of them.
Three-quarters of them.
God, I had a lot of strange tastes when I was younger.

Congratulations on Taiwan! And are you going to take those books that you kept with you?

[Teddy]

Oooh! What did he study? And where did he go? Mountains? Gorges? Beaches? Any cities in particular he went to? Or did he literally just stay in Taipei?
Any anecdotes you care to relate?
And how weird is that that I say 'yep, pretty definitely Taiwan, in the middle of a job application that's fairly guaranteed', and guess what? A friend of a friend went to Taiwan to study!
Life man. Smaller than you think.

All over the place? I'm a little too tired and headache-y to retell his stories (which I, by the way, haven't quite kept up to speed with), but this is his blog. It's all in Swedish, but it has pretty pictures.

And yes, life is small. Like the time I told the name of Halu's off-path village to one physical acquaintance, and they immediately knew where that was. I was pretty impressed by that one. Didn't ask how they knew it, though.

Seriously. Paperwork: evil.

And that is why we Swedes are evil. Burocracy is our middle name.

[Durkoala]

I wish I hadn't quoted that owl now. It's too adorable to ignore and it's now on two pages.

It's a fast food chain. They're weirdos that make square hamburgers and apparently really good chocolate milkshakes.

There where some catchy songs I just don't remember any details. It was kind of like this one musical I can't talk about since it does involve religion, but suffice to say its done by the guys that did Southpark and thus is firmly "a weird, dark comedy". This one lady really loved her neighbors, and she realized that it's because she wanted to eat them.

Awesome, and good luck! I hope you make yourself a cool hat.

Now I know that (and Rawhide's misleading comment as been cleared up), I have to say that dream sounds pretty sensical as dreams go. And also pretty cool, nomnomnom. Was the neighbour lady the only cannibal or did it turn into a raving horde of people-eaters? I haven't seen the musical you're referring, but I know of it beacuse it was plastered on the buses for a few months.

The hat's probably not going to be cool so much as redundant, and hopefully funny. At the moment it looks like something rejected from asdfmovie, though.

It's like how England and America both ended up having two distinct yet eerily similar characters called Dennis the Menace. (UK) (US). The world is full of odd coincidences, huh?

I remember when I saw the US version's movie when I was little and thought it was a really bad adaption. I seem to recall that I didn't understand that it was an American film: at the time I thought that the American accent was put on to tell the audience that they were watching a work of fiction.

[Milo v3]

at the time I thought that the American accent was put on to tell the audience that they were watching a work of fiction.

Wait is America fictitious?

[Domino Quartz]

Wait is America fictitious?

I remember that when I was a lot younger, I didn't understand/know that there was a country called "America" - I just knew the American accent as "the way people talk on TV."

[Milo v3]

American Documentaries must have been very confusing to many young peoples.

[LaZodiac]

Now I know that (and Rawhide's misleading comment as been cleared up), I have to say that dream sounds pretty sensical as dreams go. And also pretty cool, nomnomnom. Was the neighbour lady the only cannibal or did it turn into a raving horde of people-eaters? I haven't seen the musical you're referring, but I know of it beacuse it was plastered on the buses for a few months.

She was the only cannibal if I recall.

Yo so Splatoon is great and everyone should buy it and play it.

[Qwertystop]

She was the only cannibal if I recall.

Yo so Splatoon is great and everyone should buy it and play it.

Are you, at this time, playing? Because we could team up.

[LaZodiac]

Are you, at this time, playing? Because we could team up.

Give it 30+ minutes, I'm watching anime. But then yes we can throw squids at each other.

[Qwertystop]

Give it 30+ minutes, I'm watching anime. But then yes we can throw squids at each other.

Gotcha. I'm in, just hit join friends.

You been doing single-player at all? Each boss unlocks a new multiplayer weapon.

[LaZodiac]

Gotcha. I'm in, just hit join friends.

You been doing single-player at all? Each boss unlocks a new multiplayer weapon.

Since it took me 4 hours to get multiplayer working, I've already gone ahead and 100% cleared Story Mode. The final boss has shot up to being one of my most favorite bosses in video games.

[Qwertystop]

Since it took me 4 hours to get multiplayer working, I've already gone ahead and 100% cleared Story Mode. The final boss has shot up to being one of my most favorite bosses in video games.

Ah. No spoilers, I've only just finished the third one.
(spoilers there are more than three)