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Comment Re:Give my my SysVInit (Score 1) 169

I'm a firmware engineer who has been using linux since the 90s.

I haven't read the source code because I haven't needed to.

Was it a hassle having to switch from using SysV init scripts? No, because they kept working...

Was it a hassle when my distro's cli commands changed? Yeah, but for the first few years I just used bash aliases.

In the old system you couldn't have efficient networking; you couldn't accept the connection first, figure out what to do with it, and then pass it off to a process after that. Which is important, because the process that is going to handle the connection might not already be running. There's numerous use cases from that, from servers that do a little bit each of a bunch of different things, to high load servers that need to more manage a lot of processes. A virtual file or pipe just doesn't cut it. And none of the whiners have another solution for that that works better than having a heavier-weight init.

Did the audio stuff piss me off? Yes, but that's actually on the distros for switching too soon without enough resources applied. There were also important improvements in that area that eventually paid off.

Comment Re:British slang (Score 1) 57

The normalization of anti-intellectualism is sad to watch. When I was a kid it was only tabloids that used that sort of language.

Oh, wait... The Register did turn into a tabloid. That explains it.

Hrm... it appears all the media has turned into tabloids.

The BBC is no longer broadcast for free all around the world, now it's paywalled. (Semi-literates haven't noticed because they give a couple free articles before the paywall turns on)

Maybe Batboy's grandchildren can clean up the mess.

Comment Re:Python ? (Score 1) 57

"Quantum computing" is usually a bit of a lie where they're actually just running simulations, written in python, that they believe would valid on a real quantum computer.

And usually what they're simulating is not an actual algorithm, but just the quantum computer itself... "this is the random state the outputs take with no algorithm, and look, the output is equally random!"

Comment Re:"the most likely scenario is that it doesn't wo (Score 1) 57

If you actually understood your link you're realize that is basically says, "Quantum computers help us understand the engineering involved in quantum computing."

What it doesn't say is, "Quantum computers are known to provide a shortcut that bypasses the minimum energy requirements predicted by information theory." And that's what you'd need for quantum computing to be useful.

Comment Re:"the most likely scenario is that it doesn't wo (Score 1) 57

"Everybody" agrees that you can build them using more energy than is consumed by conventional algorithms, and that they can be scaled with enough energy.

The question, the debate, is if they provide a "shortcut" that gets around the minimum energy required for a calculation under traditional information theory. If they always take more energy (as seems likely) then they're useless. But still valid as a type of device.

The default position should be skepticism, because we do have a well-established, well-tested set of theories on the minimum theoretical energy requirements for a calculation. And if every other type of physics there are no shortcuts. And quantum theory doesn't provide shortcuts in other areas; it makes possible some engineering that is otherwise not practicable, but it still follows all the normal energy requirements.

Comment Re:Just to clarify one point (Score 1) 188

If right wingers don't want to be known as -ists, they could just stop spewing -ist nonsense all the time.

Hilariously your own comment added an equal amount to the conversation; and you also just accuse people of "groupthink" without even considering what that means or if it applies in this context. The only explanation is that you know right-wingers are all those things, you just disagree that it's bad. And are dishonest about that.

Comment Re:Most boletes are safe to eat, but (Score 1) 74

If you feel the need to eat an unidentified mushroom, though, boletes (pore mushrooms) are what you want to pick. Leave anything with gills alone. The family lacks the deadly amatoxins and orellanine. They only have gastrointestinal irritants and potential allergens (and, apparently, novel psychedelics!), and even then, it's only like a dozen species that have them, and nearly all, if not all, are either red and/or stain blue, with the biggest culprits doing both. There's only been one confirmed death from a bolete that I'm aware of (from the red-+pored bolete (red pores, stains blue), an elderly man, and it seems to have been linked to (at least in part) severe dehydration from the mushroom's gastrointestinal effects (dehydration, vomiting). This despite the fact that boletes are among the most popular mushrooms globally to collect.

Don't get me wrong, if you eat the wrong bolete, you're going to have a really miserable time of it. If you're really unlucky you'll need to go to the hospital (among other things, to get an IV to keep you hydrated). But it's exceedingly unlikely that one will kill you. And it's quite unlikely that anything bad at all will happen.

Still, yeah, not worth it for a fancy meal!

Random agarics (gilled mushrooms), though, that can readily kill you. There are certain *subcategories* of agarics with very distinct characteristics that are safe, but if you just go out there and pick some random white mushroom or some LBM (Little Brown Mushroom), well, roll the dice ;)

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