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Split total population into even groups, then apply random deviance from the average within a given range.
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 08:25 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 19:40 |
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I could've sworn there was a thread like "people will make tiny apps like that for you" but couldn't find it after looking through the Cavern of COBOL list of threads and doing a search for some possible thread titles. Edit: Oh, it wasn't in Cavern of COBOL at all, nor in the list of megathreads in SH/SC. Thanks, tarepanda. helopticor fucked around with this message at Jul 30, 2012 around 13:46 |
| # ? Jul 30, 2012 12:37 |
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=2415898
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 12:39 |
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Stupid question about Macs. At work, we have a desktop Mac that runs Snow Leopard. I download lots of e-mail attachments each day for my job, and as a result my Download folder in the dock is so full that it takes up most of my screen when I click on it. I clear my Downloads folder in the Finder, but for some reason it doesn't replicate in the dock. Like, there are noticeably less files left in the Dock Downloads, but I'd expect it to be empty. And anyways, I technically deleted those that remain. If I try to open them, it gives me an error message. Is there a way to clear the Dock Downloads?
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 15:28 |
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Bloody Mayhem posted:Stupid question about Macs. Not that anyone in the thread is doing anything currently but masturbating to the latest Mac OS release (Snow Kitty Litter?, Moutain Dew Lion?) but it is supposedly for general Mac Software questions: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3426005
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 16:25 |
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EVERYTHING I SAY ABOUT JAPAN OR LIVING IN JAPAN IS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT YOU BETTER BELIEVE I'LL 
ABOUT IT.
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Are roundabouts more or less efficient than normal intersections?
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 16:57 |
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Quote: Recent USA studies prove that the modern roundabout is safer and more efficient than all other forms of traffic control at most intersection locations. In some parts of the USA, once they have been installed, drivers have good experiences with them and become converts to their many benefits. However, in the USA at present, misunderstanding, misinformation, bias and prejudice still exist against the use of modern roundabouts in many areas. In many places, Midwestern USA in particular, opposition based on misinformation, misunderstanding and bias have limited the growth that has been experienced in other countries and some states in the USA, Maryland, Oregon and Washington (State) for example. The authors have presented evidence of this fact. The authors conclude that there needs to be more education programs and research results aimed at the public. Acceptance is coming slowly, but it will come. The authors believe that in a few years, the numbers of modern roundabouts will grow exponentially, and as more drivers experience the benefits, it will become widely accepted.
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 17:05 |
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utter dookie posted:Are roundabouts more or less efficient than normal intersections? I've seen it argued both ways, and they're typically used for lower-to-mid traffic intersections in the US because we're still enamored with traffic lights... but anecdotal evidence: our town just installed two at intersections which previously had stop signs on the (slightly) less trafficked road, and since then there haven't been the half-mile-plus long lines there used to be waiting at the stop signs. It's possible I haven't seen what it's like at all times of day but I've never seen more than like five cars waiting. And even then they're usually still moving, not stopped for a whole minute or anything. edit: It took some people longer than others to get used to them... yes, you have to stop if someone's in the circle. No, you don't have to stop if the circle is empty. As far as I know there haven't been any accidents* and the only real problem has been trucks cutting it too close and knocking signs down. * there was one guy in a stolen car going like 60 mph that took down some signs and other stuff but I think even he managed to keep going. 
spoon0042 fucked around with this message at Jul 30, 2012 around 17:13 |
| # ? Jul 30, 2012 17:09 |
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There are also many forms of roundabouts, like the turbo-roundabout you see a lot in the Netherlands: This speeds up traffic going straight and decreases the amount of weaving and flank-hits. So safer and faster. Not recommended for places where people need to go 3/4th of the way though.
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 17:21 |
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It depends on the intersection. On intersections with very dominant traffic in one direction, triggered lights can beat them because they don't disrupt most traffic. On intersections with high traffic in both directions like Interstate junctions, they can be a lot more efficient because they deal well with fluctuating traffic load. On intersections of more than 4 roads, they're pretty much always better.
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 17:26 |
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Yeah, I could have mentioned that. In the situation I was talking about there's a lot of traffic turning left at one intersection and right at the next, and the stop signs really didn't help with that. It looks kind of like this (they're actually both 4-way intersections now but the other way doesn't really go anywhere):pre: |
---o-----------o---
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 18:04 |
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Gravity Pike posted:It's a little more complicated than that - you're not giving him an upper or lower bound on each number, nor are you allowing him to specify how many he wants total.
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 20:34 |
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utter dookie posted:Are roundabouts more or less efficient than normal intersections? Try asking in the Ask me about being a Traffic Engineer! thread if you want a professional's view.
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| # ? Jul 30, 2012 22:33 |
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I asked this in the hair care and shaving threads in YLLS before but got nothing: what's the best way to clean/sanitize electric clippers? I follow the maintenance instructions that came with my clippers (a Wahl Peanut) but I don't really recall much about cleaning it. Should I hunt down that blue goop they use at barber shops, or is one of the sprays/lubricants a better option?
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 02:47 |
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In the phrase, "Its a bird, its a plane, its Superman!" Why did the first person even point out what they thought was a bird?
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 02:49 |
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I've never seen or heard of it in the comics, but it was in the old George Reeves series that used to show on Nickelodeon. I grew up hearing that, heh. I always thought of it as Superman going to some disaster and people see some random thing hurtling toward it, so it looks weird. "It's a bird!" "No, it's a plane!" "No, you dumbasses, it's Superman!"
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 02:56 |
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The prescursor to that line is something like "what's that, up in the sky?" isn't it?
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 03:25 |
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Yeah, it's a part of the narration IIRC, along with the "faster than a speeding bullet" bit. You can probably find it on youtube, actually.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 03:31 |
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LeakyJuicebox posted:In the phrase, "Its a bird, its a plane, its Superman!" Why did the first person even point out what they thought was a bird? I think to understand the mindset that brings that phrase out, you have to put yourself in the mind of someone who had never seen a plane. They are such a feature of daily life, that we no longer register how bizarre it is to have enormous piles of metal hurtling through the air. For someone who has never seen a plane, the only thing that could be in the sky is a bird. Now Superman is just a super hero comic book figure, but he was a more than that for a generation that grew up before directed flight was possible, and before heavier than air flight was possible. It has only been roughly a hundred years since the exploitation of fossil fuels has fueled the technological explosion of modern life. There are thinkers who see this time of technology as a blip in the history of man, as we use every day stored sunlight energy that took thousands of years to put into the ground. Once we use that stored sunlight energy up, we will once again only see birds in the sky. Or Superman.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 03:35 |
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The phrase is from a 1950s TV show.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 03:41 |
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kapalama posted:It has only been roughly a hundred years since the exploitation of fossil fuels has fueled the technological explosion of modern life. There are thinkers who see this time of technology as a blip in the history of man, as we use every day stored sunlight energy that took thousands of years to put into the ground. Once we use that stored sunlight energy up, we will once again only see birds in the sky. Or Superman. Your first couple paragraphs were perfectly reasonable, dare I say sane, and then this happened... what the gently caress?
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 05:07 |
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LeakyJuicebox posted:In the phrase, "Its a bird, its a plane, its Superman!" Why did the first person even point out what they thought was a bird? That was the second person. Hoops posted:The prescursor to that line is something like "what's that, up in the sky?" isn't it? Yep. The first person said "Look, up in the sky!"
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 05:52 |
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I just remember those lines as old school cartoons they repackaged on VHS in the 80s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNgwnTEDbBI
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 06:26 |
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BobTheCow posted:Your first couple paragraphs were perfectly reasonable, dare I say sane, and then this happened... what the gently caress? (Contextualizing it fully. It is important to remember that while we stand here and think this will all last forever. But the history of the mankind is long, and the earth even longer. Powered flight, and technology, the indutrial revolution, and the human population count itself are products of exploiting fossil fuel. "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" was not written about modern cultures that fell. It was the amazing power of Mankind's harnessing of fossil fuel to become god-like that drove Nietsche to write about "Superman" in the first place. Context is important to understand, or at least think creatively about things. Superman was not just a comic book that happened to be made into a TV show.) Superman was written by people born before flight, and televised in live action during the beginnings of the Cold War (what was he fighting for again in the TV show?). But was written years before. And the line in question was used as early as 1942 Another look at Superman, the early years: http://img.moonbuggy.org/superman-s...can-slap-a-jap/ And the line in question in a cartoon from 1942 about Superman kicking some Jap rear end (note at this point he is only fighting for Truth and Justice, and not yet the American Way): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YDO8HR_2Xg
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 06:37 |
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Okay, what? How recently do you think that airplanes were invented? Siegel and Shuster were born around the start of World War I. There were certainly airplanes then and there were certainly dogfights. Beyond that, there had been blimps and zeppelins and balloons etc etc etc. If your context were true, odds are that they wouldn't be looking at a bird or a plane, but a bird or a balloon or something like that. I think you're reading way too much into a simple line that was probably not even written by them to begin with. Odds are that the guy who wrote the line was thinking "hmm, Superman is in the sky. What could people mistake him for?" ... and that's that.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 06:46 |
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kapalama posted:Superman was written by people born before flight Actually, flight was born before the creators were. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman, were both born in 1914. World War I began between their birthdays, and planes were up in the air. The Wright Bros. began powered flight in 1903, 11 years before the creators were born, and had contracted with the US Army by 1908. The creators would have learned about WWI as boys and thus would know about small planes up in the air. They would also know about airliners, which began flying as early as 1913 (The Ilya Muromets first flew on December 10, 1913), so they were well aware of planes large and small up in the air by 1932, when they created Superman, and certainly by 1938, when they sold it to DC Comics.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 07:05 |
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tarepanda posted:Okay, what? You can still find old people who can remember the first time they saw an airplane. They've been around for a long time but there was still a long stretch of time where people went "Holy crap! An airplane!" But I suspect the whole conversation is just meant to emphasize how cool it is that a dude can fly and supposed to really be realistic. The "It's a bird" guy is still unaccountably excited.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 07:26 |
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Maybe he's an avid bird-watcher who couldn't recognize the silhouette and assumed it was an exciting new bird he'd never seen before.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 13:32 |
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I was just reading a thread in GBS that was a bunch of pictures clearly taken suddenly in a haunted house, and I cannot find it again (drat browser crash). Anyone have any idea what that thread might have been called?
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 13:39 |
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kapalama posted:I was just reading a thread in GBS that was a bunch of pictures clearly taken suddenly in a haunted house, and I cannot find it again (drat browser crash). Do you not have browser history?
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 14:02 |
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Do you not have browser history? When the browser crashes that stuff gets lost, but I cannot remember the thread title anyway. Congo line of fear got me nothing in search. I was laughing and then my browser died, and with it, the laughter.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 14:33 |
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kapalama posted:When the browser crashes that stuff gets lost, but I cannot remember the thread title anyway. What browser? Recent Firefoxes have 'recent closed windows' in the History menu that might be able to help.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 14:43 |
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If it was Internet Explorer you can try IE History View. This can usually bring things up even after a crash. It is also good to see what your kids/wife/workers have been looking at even if they try to cover their tracks.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 15:01 |
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Unfortunately it is Opera, which has been a squirrelly piece of pooh lately, but it remembers my SA password for me, even if it manages to crash in when displaying image heavy threads. New thread warning tag: Opera Users beware.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 15:07 |
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kapalama posted:Unfortunately it is Opera, which has been a squirrelly piece of pooh lately, but it remembers my SA password for me, even if it manages to crash in when displaying image heavy threads. Other browsers will also remember your password, and don't crash.* * they still crash
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 15:23 |
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3441972
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 16:28 |
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This may need to go in SHSC but I'll try here first. I have a recurring problem with my laptops over time losing the ability to connect to the Internet. At first they'll connect fine, but after a few months it'll get to where every time I wake up or turn on my computer I will have to manually disable and enable the wireless adapter to get it to connect, and then that stops working and I'll be stuck with a computer that I have to let sit there for 10-15 minutes before it will connect. My iPad, iPhone and ps3 all connect with no problem. I tried a USB wireless adapter and that did not help. Has anyone experienced this? It has happened with 3 laptops now in two different houses (with two different routers.)
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 16:33 |
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If it's always after wake/power on it's basically Windows fault and has been forever. Are you running XP? This was a big deal with XP, less of a deal with Vista, and has mostly (but not completely) went away with W7. Basically the drivers for the wireless suck and can't deal with sleep mode/power off very well. I would suggest posting in the Haus with: - Your OS version - Your laptop model - Make of the wireless card if you can get it (Device Manager probably) - When it happens Unfortunately in some cases it just does that. Forever.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 19:28 |
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Can anyone point me to a thread to ask about Matlab help? I didn't see a Matlab thread in CoC, and it isn't exactly a general programming question. In a GUI I've been working on, I'm loading data from some user specified .mat files. What I'd like to do is rename the uipanel to match the file name. The first file works fine, but when I load another file with a shorter name, it prints that, but doesn't clear the old name. So if I were to load firstDataFile.mat, and then test.mat, the title would change to something like test.mataFile.mat. I'm not doing anything special code wise. After verifying that the .mat file has the appropriate data I've been using: code:
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 20:24 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 19:40 |
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unpronounceable posted:Can anyone point me to a thread to ask about Matlab help? I didn't see a Matlab thread in CoC, and it isn't exactly a general programming question.
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| # ? Jul 31, 2012 20:36 |
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