Hacker News: TriinT

New comment by TriinT in "What Startups can learn from Lady Gaga"

TriinT — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:05:12 +0000

Either you're deaf, or your standards are very low. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I personally know tens of musicians, and most aren't even that talented, who make Lady GaGa look like the proto-amateur she is. Her talent is to sell, not to make music. Last but not least: she's ugly as hell. But then, so was Britney Spears 10 years ago, and that didn't stop her from becoming "successful".

New comment by TriinT in "Computer Science Education: It’s Not Shop Class"

TriinT — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:27:18 +0000

Philosophy is mostly games of words that lead nowhere. Wittgenstein wrote all about it. History is interesting, but too ambiguous and too subjective. Literature is to be enjoyed, not to be analyzed. CS is rigorous Philosophy and, hence, it's a good mental exercise that one can't get in other fields of knowledge.

When you design an algorithm and implement it in code, the computer will not allow you to be ambiguous and imprecise. You made a wrong assumption? Sorry, your program won't work. No partial credit for you. It's tough, but it's fair.

New comment by TriinT in "What Startups can learn from Lady Gaga"

TriinT — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:56:31 +0000

That being fugly and having absolutely no talent whatsoever does not mean one can't be a commercial success?

Creating Movies with PyPlot / PyLab

TriinT — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:37:24 +0000

Article URL: http://www.jkwiens.com/2010/01/02/creating-movies-with-pyplotpylab/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1027617

Points: 16

# Comments: 0

New comment by TriinT in "Computer Science Education: It’s Not Shop Class"

TriinT — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:40:56 +0000

I don't have a problem with the Bourbakists doing very abstract and rigorous Math. After all, Math was an edifice built on quicksand until they came along. I think they contributed a lot.

However, I also think the Bourbakists created a monster, which was this notion that the "Greek method" was the only valid one, and that the "Babylonian method" was to be avoided. Even Combinatorics was considered "unworthy" of great minds. All geometrical intuition was frowned upon. Applications were laughed at. All of a sudden, Math became sterile. Interestingly, Turing's work, in a sense, derived from Hilbert's program to make the foundations of Math solid. The fact that Theoretical CS exists outside of traditional Math is nothing more than an historical accident. Computability is pure Math. Computational Complexity is still a bit "dirty" but it's also rather fundamental.

New comment by TriinT in "Computer Science Education: It’s Not Shop Class"

TriinT — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:11:36 +0000

It's sad to read the comments on the NYTimes article. Even people who claim to have years of experience in the "field" can't tell the difference between Computer Science and computers. Dijkstra said it all:

"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."

In my most humble opinion, the value of CS education is not to prepare young people for a job in IT. Instead, its value is in teaching young people how to think in an abstract and rigorous manner. This is much more valuable, and it's useful regardless of what one's future career path is.

These days students think they can hack everything. They think they can BS on their homework essays, they think they can BS on their exams, they abstain from precise reasoning because it's too much work. Well, guess what? You can't BS a computer. All those sub-human morons commenting on the NYTimes article, the ones who work in IT and who are so afraid of outsourcing, should keep in mind that CS education is, at its core, applied philosophy and applied math. The label "Computer Science" is a misnomer. Yet once again, I blame the Bourbakists. If Turing had lived a few decades before, Theoretical CS would be a part of Math, not a separate field.

Counterfeit coins and rare diseases

TriinT — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:34:04 +0000

Article URL: http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2009/11/12/counterfeit-coins-and-rare-diseases/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1025543

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

A Theory of Goal-Oriented Communication

TriinT — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:30:25 +0000

Article URL: http://eccc.hpi-web.de/report/2009/075/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1023807

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by TriinT in "Intercourse and Intelligence"

TriinT — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:20:26 +0000

I never thought I would say this one day, but I believe that puritanical attitudes exist for a reason. Not that long ago, one could die of syphilis. Many other STD's would result in infertility. The sexual revolution is only a few decades old, and it was made possible by penicilin, antibiotics and advances in Medicine. You call anti-sex attitudes "ridiculous", while "anachronistic" would perhaps be a better word.

Why NYC is not ready for the iPhone

TriinT — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:15:55 +0000

Article URL: http://phorgyphynance.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/hello-heisenberg-new-york-city-not-ready-for-the-iphone/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1023242

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Physics of Wireless Broadband

TriinT — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:31:03 +0000

Article URL: http://phorgyphynance.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/physics-of-wireless-broadband/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1021773

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Why we write: a modern Greek tragi-comedy

TriinT — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:14:14 +0000

Article URL: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6712405.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1020113

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by TriinT in "How bees perform perfect landing"

TriinT — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:06:42 +0000

When I studied Biology in high-school I found it beautiful but boring to study because it was too descriptive. Many years later, after having done various kinds of engineering, I must say I am amazed at living systems. Now I see connections between biological systems and systems engineered by humans. I see feedback loops everywhere. I think in terms of robustness and fragility.

Saying that "we have a lot to learn from nature" is almost a vacuous statement. Nature is so complex, that there are billions of opportunities to learn from it and to design bio-inspired systems. An example: neural processing is orders of magnitude more power-efficient that CMOS. Sure, our brain can't do arithmetic at high-speed, but if we lose a bunch of neurons, our brain still works. Humans can literally lose parts of their brain and survive and function. It's amazing. By contrast, a dust particle on a Silicon wafer is enough for a CPU to malfunction.

This fascination with nature has a dark side, too. Just because evolution has attained such quasi-perfect designs, it does not mean we can do the same. Neuromorphic electronic systems never got anywhere. People in the 1980s talked so much about analog VLSI and neural networks, and I haven't seen that much coming out of it.

The problem with being fascinated by something is that being in awe is not always the most productive way. Sometimes despizing something works much better. Whatever. I am not saying anything deep, and cheap philosophy never got anyone to actual achievement, to building actual things that actually work. Hence, I shut up.

USB Hourglass Random Number Generator

TriinT — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:13:40 +0000

Article URL: http://home.comcast.net/~hourglass

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1016330

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by TriinT in "How bees perform perfect landing"

TriinT — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:11:40 +0000

Let us agree that this discussion is pointless due to lack of reliable performance metrics. In general, biological systems are orders of magnitude better than systems engineered by humans and, hence, I mentioned that we have a lot to learn from Nature. Sure, a hummingbird does hover but it can't attack enemy tanks like the Harrier does. We're talking apples and oranges here. However, look at the size of the brain of a hummingbird and how little power it must consume when compared to the powerful computers that run the control algorithms necessary for the JSF to hover. It's humbling. But Nature had millions and millions of years to come up with such solutions, and we, humans, have been flying for merely 106 years. Maybe we'll catch up.

The Kruskal Count

TriinT — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:59:51 +0000

Article URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0110143

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1015727

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by TriinT in "Ask HN: So HNers, whatd'ya get for Christmas?"

TriinT — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:06:47 +0000

A massive hangover...

New comment by TriinT in "IKEA: Flat-pack accounting (2006)"

TriinT — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:19:11 +0000

Have you watched the Tax me if you can documentary? You might enjoy it:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tax/

New comment by TriinT in "How bees perform perfect landing"

TriinT — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:10:11 +0000

I have stopped, and I am sorry that things became un-civil. However, do note that I did not throw the first stone. Cheers.

New comment by TriinT in "IKEA: Flat-pack accounting (2006)"

TriinT — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:07:13 +0000

Where's the injustice? I doubt the Kamprad family has cost the Swedish welfare state what the state wants to tax them. He's merely doing what's best for him, instead of subsidizing the education and medical care of other parents' children. Frankly, I don't see any injustice.