Viewing profile — Rayhem

Fun fact: the original was only produced in English but the Shrek remix (which is a *BOP*) got translated into every language the movie did.

The physics prof who gave me my start would always get this kind of fond, nostalgic look in his eye whenever anyone mentioned "the days of punch card programming". So, naturally, I…

Disclaimer: I'm just an...interested layman, but as far as I know we don't really know. It looks like there's both genetic and environmental components to it; your genes have a big…

> I came across narcissism. The idea that you’re smarter than everyone else. Comes from a grandiose sense of self importance. This may be the colloquial description of how narcissi…

While claiming an aversion to being evil. Actions matter more than words.

Yes, exactly. If you have to update everyone's health (you do) and the updates are pretty much the same (they are), then things don't get any more cache friendly than this.

Sure. If your monsters have health, then their health is going to need updating pretty much by definition. Option 1 would be to make each entity responsible for updating itself wit…

If you're really accessing those fields it's overwhelmingly likely that you're accessing the same field for all of your instances. Your access pattern is going to be monsters[0].he…

> The health of a monster is currently represented by a 4 byte signed integer, meaning that the health can range from -2^31 to 2^31-1 (2^31 ~= 2 million). We can already see that h…

> Sometimes authors use it without thinking, but removing the passive voice often makes writing shorter and clearer. I don't think mentioning "authors" is absolutely necessary, but…

In the same vein, I've been keen to try out "What would the world look like if..." and then show that we do or do not observe related phenomena. It seems like the best way to meet …

Except when LLM providers bury the thing you're obviously looking for under an entire page of sponsored ads (buy Diet Coke™!), then that convenience argument starts to not hold up …

I had a parallel thought when a loved one was in the hospital. I noticed the nurses were so busy that small requests like an extra blanket were often forgotten entirely. How incred…

I've come to understand that software has two axes: the problem domain and the software domain. The problem domain is things like your physical model. Your 3d mesh. Financial trans…

Obligatory callout to Nick Trefethen (et. al.)'s Chebfun[1] which extends this stuff in just about every direction you can think of. 'Chebfuns' are to functions as floats are to ac…

When it works we call it intuition. When it doesn't we call it superstition. There are all sorts of availability biases at work here; none of which really support the use of intuit…

A/C is interesting because it has something of a built-in capacity system. "Super" cool the building during times of the day when power is readily available, and that cooling then …

> "here's what you should have prepared for our 1:1s" Tangentially, I'd like to survey attitudes about this kind of 1:1. I'm of the opinion that my 1:1 with my manager is my time t…

> If you have a laser, you can print an optical neural network using a consumer 3D printer. I would love to look into this more. Do you have a reference that would give some instru…

Not necessarily. If self-driving cars "aren't ready" and then you redefine what ready is, you've absolutely got your thumb on the scale of measuring progress.

I would be very interested in seeing an error comparison of this technique against something like a full-wave PDE or integral equation solver. Demonstrating that the (fast) raytrac…

Why not simply ask? "Hi $COLLEAGUE. I'm having a problem with $TASK: I'm trying to accomplish $GOAL but I keep seeing $ERROR. I've tried $WORKAROUNDS, but none of them have fixed t…

This sounds like the next-gen version of Translation Party[1]. The "translation equilibrium" is when you get the same thing on both sides of the translation. I wonder what the "AI …

> I have no doubt quantum physicists know what they are talking about but...I always think it is the kind of excuse a schoolkid would give their teachers for their calculations bei…

> A better way to make decisions in a software project is to consult with stakeholders (if necessary), identify the appropriate decision maker based on competence and then let that…