Search found 107 matches
- Thu May 11, 2017 1:08 pm UTC
- Forum: Music
- Topic: Nighttime driving music
- Replies: 29
- Views: 27598
Re: Nighttime driving music
The obvious candidates to my mind are the futuresynth/synthwave/retrowave/outrun/whatever-they're-calling-it-this-week tracks. That whole 80s neon/noir aesthetic, much like that Starcadian track Mikeski posted. ... So the canonical 'driving' song from that genre-cloud, for me, is The Road To Alpha C...
- Mon Apr 03, 2017 9:34 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1819: "Sweet 16"
- Replies: 49
- Views: 12119
Re: 1819: "Sweet 16"
Assuming they're playing basketball, that appears to be an easy cruise to victory for the 1988 Lakers.
- Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:53 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Stress Test for a Proposed Electoral System
- Replies: 14
- Views: 7839
Re: Stress Test for a Proposed Electoral System
The leaders have safe seats high up on the party list, so it doesn't matter if they lose their districts. If you're willing to commit to a preferential ballot, then mixed-member proportional is possible with a single ballot: ⋅ Run a preferential-voting local-district election as per norma...
- Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:11 am UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Stress Test for a Proposed Electoral System
- Replies: 14
- Views: 7839
Re: Stress Test for a Proposed Electoral System
This is weird. Why would you have 'local' MPs if they can be elected by people from outside your riding? If you're willing to coalesce ridings into a region, why not just use some variant of STV or MMP? Key idiocy IMHO: as a candidate, you can lose the election even if your party wins an absolute ma...
- Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:31 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1810: "Chat Systems"
- Replies: 37
- Views: 9288
Re: 1810: "Chat Systems"
Interesting things going on with that Signal/iMessage intersection.
- Fri Oct 07, 2016 5:21 pm UTC
- Forum: General
- Topic: Do you meme? Or: I'm not really into Pokémon
- Replies: 21
- Views: 4335
Re: Do you meme? Or: I'm not really into Pokémon
I think that as memes have matured over the last decade, we've undergone a paradigm shift: memes are now memes not because they are funny but simply because everybody agrees they're memes. Somewhat like fiat currency, only without government force to back it up. Overall, this is a good thing, becaus...
- Fri Sep 16, 2016 1:31 pm UTC
- Forum: Music
- Topic: The 'I miss orchestra' support group.
- Replies: 17
- Views: 12165
Re: The 'I miss orchestra' support group.
I can also suggest finding a community choir and joining it. Usually a little less stressful (and shaky hands are almost irrelevant for choristers!) and many choirs are super social, especially if you can get one attached to your university.
- Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:59 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Proportional Approval IRV
- Replies: 40
- Views: 20625
Re: Proportional Approval IRV
Yeah, that looks like it, although I'm not sure how they are dealing with the quotas in that case. There aren't any quotas in that CFES system, just "top N are winners". (Single-winner) Approval, range and FPTP all have that problem. The CFES system also has BattleMoose's problem: minor-c...
- Wed May 13, 2015 2:42 am UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Proportional Approval IRV
- Replies: 40
- Views: 20625
Re: Proportional Approval IRV
I suggest that under any system that isn't FPTP, these so-called 'heavily partisan districts' will see minor-party or independent candidates coming out of the woodwork within a couple of election cycles, which should partially solve the uneven-representation problem. Also, to clarify, the scrutineer...
- Tue May 12, 2015 3:32 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Proportional Approval IRV
- Replies: 40
- Views: 20625
Re: Proportional Approval IRV
Most ballots in the US are machine-read. I can imagine hand-written ballots with STV would lead to a lot of errors when counting. We hand-count everything here (Australia) for the lower house, at least initially; for the majority of seats a result is clear within 48 hours. Upper house gets hand-cou...
- Sat May 09, 2015 5:12 am UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Proportional Approval IRV
- Replies: 40
- Views: 20625
Re: Proportional Approval IRV
Approval Voting can be done with the same ballots voters are used to. You just remove the rule that says “vote for only one”. IRV, on the other hand, requires a new ballot. Because ranking all candidates would take up too much space, the ballots are typically limited to ranking three choices. Say w...
- Sun May 25, 2014 12:17 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Proportional Approval IRV
- Replies: 40
- Views: 20625
Re: Proportional Approval IRV
Here in Australia we've recently finished the post-election submissions to our Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters; the general consensus is that we should introduce ticket-level optional-preferential voting and completely eliminate the Group Voting Tickets. The end result of that is a mas...
- Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:44 am UTC
- Forum: Books
- Topic: What are you readioactive now(and other book related stuff)?
- Replies: 1819
- Views: 457358
Re: What are you readioactive now(and other book related stu
I'm currently reading the Tactics of Mistake , the first in the Dorsai trilogy by Gordon Dickinson. I haven't read them before, and I'm quite enjoying it so far. The scheming is complicated enough to be interesting, without being so complex it becomes confusing. Sheesh, I haven't read anything in t...
- Sun Apr 07, 2013 3:53 am UTC
- Forum: School
- Topic: A poll on notes formats
- Replies: 6
- Views: 7357
Re: A poll on notes formats
Pretty much all my courses have their lecture slides available as pdfs. Sadly, PDFs and code examples do not mix well. So if you ever have code examples in the text or lecture slides, for the love of $DEITY make them available in their source format before the first class that uses each example. Exp...
- Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:41 pm UTC
- Forum: Music
- Topic: Your last and next concert?
- Replies: 438
- Views: 192183
Re: Your last and next concert?
Last: Seether (Brisbane, couple months back)
Tomorrow night (squee!): The Jezabels
Tomorrow night (squee!): The Jezabels
- Mon May 14, 2012 10:53 am UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Changing the American election system
- Replies: 98
- Views: 22559
Re: Changing the American election system
2. Assume you're right that the Democrats and Republicans are controlled by corporate lobbyists and are hostile to individual rights (a claim which I do not believe to be accurate, though I might be over reading into what you said in your first post). Why would replacing 10-15% of those Members* wi...
- Sun Apr 29, 2012 11:55 am UTC
- Forum: Music
- Topic: Is Music Mathematical or Abstract?
- Replies: 31
- Views: 11238
Re: Is Music Mathematical or Abstract?
But then why are original paintings worth so much more than prints? (compared with original master tracks vs. high fidelity copies) I think a better analogy there (on the music side) would be a live performance vs any recording. I guess for me, music and maths are both a subset of 'patterns'. Music...
- Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:28 am UTC
- Forum: Books
- Topic: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
- Replies: 1036
- Views: 391478
Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Saw in the FF.net reviews: New theory - Professor Quirrell is really Black Hat Guy (I couldn't resist). Also, added 'Black' for accuracy. Also: Are there any characters so far in MoR who've been identified as Slytherins and contemporary with Riddle? If this is accurate, there...
- Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:40 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1037: "Umwelt"
- Replies: 478
- Views: 299571
Re: 1037(?): Umwelt
@ ledahulavogyre: white balance aside, it looks the same on my mobile now as it does in the picture above...
- Sun Apr 01, 2012 8:02 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1037: "Umwelt"
- Replies: 478
- Views: 299571
Re: 1037(?): Umwelt
On my mobile I get a square image, black edges sketch-line-fading in to a white, centered, circle.
Edit: Here it is:

Edit: Here it is:

- Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:40 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1037: "Umwelt"
- Replies: 478
- Views: 299571
Re: 1037(?): Umwelt
Rythoka found it - there's a bunch of javascript magic. I saw it in the source, but I was after image links and assumed it was some (irrelevant) analytics type thing. 

- Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:32 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1037: "Umwelt"
- Replies: 478
- Views: 299571
Re: 1037(?): Umwelt
JimsMaher: I can't see your image within the forum thread (though I can if I right-click). I don't think the forum software is playing nicely with your image host. Or possibly there's another explanation. Probably the image host is changing the URL...
- Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:25 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1037: "Umwelt"
- Replies: 478
- Views: 299571
Re: 1037(?): Umwelt
Curiouser and curiouser. I'm a Mac guy; Chrome gets the above, Firefox gets: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7243561/Screenshots/Umwelt-Firefox-Mac.png Safari as mentioned gets nothing, and for me, neither does Opera. I guess it's screenshot time... Windows and Linux people, what are you seeing? QuickiEdit:...
- Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:16 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1037: "Umwelt"
- Replies: 478
- Views: 299571
1037: "Umwelt"
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7243561/Screenshots/Umwelt.png Alt-text: Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your gl...
Re: Happy?
Most songs by the B-52's.
Most songs by the Cat Empire - 'How to Explain', 'Hello' in particular.
Blues Brothers - 'Everybody Needs Somebody to Love'
Ben Folds - 'There's Always Someone Cooler than You'
Most songs by the Cat Empire - 'How to Explain', 'Hello' in particular.
Blues Brothers - 'Everybody Needs Somebody to Love'
Ben Folds - 'There's Always Someone Cooler than You'
- Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:03 am UTC
- Forum: School
- Topic: Your Schedule
- Replies: 655
- Views: 159722
Re: Your Schedule
Fresher ~o~ Engineering/Science dual degree, plan to be EE and Maths majors respectively. Courses (semester-length and all of an introductory nature, obviously): Calculus & Linear Algebra 1 (compulsory, formal recap of highschool level topics ... vectors and matrices up to eigenvectors/values, c...
- Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:25 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Textbook publishing ills
- Replies: 68
- Views: 10773
Re: Textbook publishing ills
Well, much is explained.
- Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:43 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Textbook publishing ills
- Replies: 68
- Views: 10773
Re: Textbook publishing ills
Indeed. Though half the time I find myself writing it like that anyway. For my part, I finished at a smallish independent highschool in Brisbane last year; our textbooks usually seemed pretty good. Occasional numerical error in the answers. Granted, in most subjects we often used ~30pg booklets (for...
- Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:22 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Textbook publishing ills
- Replies: 68
- Views: 10773
Re: Textbook publishing ills
I call mod madness on element 13. Though I see the international spelling in both cases, except for as quoted by Proginoskes.
Test: aluminum (I wrote the standard US spelling)
aluminium (used everywhere else)
QuickieEdit: Yup, US version -> international version.
Test: aluminum (I wrote the standard US spelling)
aluminium (used everywhere else)
QuickieEdit: Yup, US version -> international version.
- Mon Mar 12, 2012 6:15 am UTC
- Forum: Books
- Topic: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
- Replies: 1036
- Views: 391478
Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
... Indeed. Also, if you haven't yet read the update, be aware that the two most-recently-prior-to-this chapters (76 and 77) have had their order swapped.
- Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:52 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: A new Australian PM by Monday?
- Replies: 23
- Views: 3884
Re: A new Australian PM by Monday?
Joeldi wrote: Unless he gets knifed in favour of Turnbull, who might be able to slip something past a left-wing Upper House. That'd be hilarious.
There is this.
(quickie edit: google "rob oakeshott would switch allegiance but only for malcolm turnbull" to see the full article).
- Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:38 pm UTC
- Forum: General
- Topic: Show the world your desktop! [Mommy, what's 56K?]
- Replies: 2356
- Views: 422005
Re: Show the world your desktop! [Mommy, what's 56K?]
Holy mother of Necro! I now have three similar background images (OS X Lion and a need to have a visually quiet zone for Geektool ...) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7243561/Screenshots/Bokeh%20Rainbow.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7243561/Screenshots/Pointillate%20Rainbow.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7243561...
- Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:49 am UTC
- Forum: Books
- Topic: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
- Replies: 1036
- Views: 391478
Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
WarDaft wrote:Hmm... I don't remember this being in chapter 6 before:like the "Dementor Exposure Treatment", which looked and smelled like ordinary chocolate.
IIRC it's been there for quite some time, probably since at least this time last year. But then again, memory is awfully fallible.
- Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:41 am UTC
- Forum: School
- Topic: Awesome Student Quotes
- Replies: 868
- Views: 196432
Re: Awesome Student Quotes
Little Richie wrote:I'm helping out at my old high schools Calc class.
Him: *in a serious voice* aw thanks, my mom picked it out this morning.
And if you (I) assume the existence of a uniform, it gets even better!
- Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:16 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1012: "Wrong Superhero"
- Replies: 119
- Views: 41309
- Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:59 am UTC
- Forum: Music
- Topic: What are you listening to?
- Replies: 9560
- Views: 1138557
Re: What are you listening to?
Shake It Out - Florence and the Machine
- Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:37 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1012: "Wrong Superhero"
- Replies: 119
- Views: 41309
Re: 1012: "Wrong Superhero"
This is why I firmly believe that every scientific laboratory should have no less than a .357 in one of those "In case of emergency, break the glass" cases. I'm pretty sure that guy has nothing more than a 9mm. We can clearly see it lacks the necessary stopping power to take down your ave...
- Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:14 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Alleged criminal ordered to surrender password to hard drive
- Replies: 48
- Views: 7473
Re: Alleged criminal ordered to surrender password to hard d
Forgive me for being an Australian with little knowledge of the situation, but do we have precedents with encrypted paper documents? And if so, were the suspects required to divulge the contents of those papers (or how to decrypt it)?
- Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:55 am UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 0992: "Mnemonics"
- Replies: 278
- Views: 62175