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nanna commented on CIA to Sunset the World Factbook   abc.net.au/news/2026-02-0... · Posted by u/kshahkshah
rented_mule · 5 days ago
20 years ago, I was working on a consumer device, doing indexing and searching of books. The indexer had about 1 MB of RAM available, and had to work in the background on a very slow, single core CPU, without the user noticing any slowdown. A lot of the optimization work involved trying to get algorithmic complexity and memory use closer to a function of the distinct words in books than to a function of the total words in books. Typical novels have on the order of 10 K distinct words and 100 K total words.

If you're indexing numbers, which we did, this book has little difference between total words and distinct words because it has so many distinct numbers in it. It ended up being a regular stress test to make sure our approach to capping memory use was working. But, because it constantly triggered that approach to capping memory usage, it took far longer to index than more typical books, including many that were much larger.

nanna · 5 days ago
Bit confused, what's this to do with the CIA World Factbook?
nanna commented on How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital   economist.com/britain/202... · Posted by u/ellieh
rmccue · 12 days ago
> Not as bad as the Glasgow one, which feels like travelling on a 2/3 scale model of a subway with alarmingly narrow platforms.

For anyone who's not aware, the Glasgow Subway is literally smaller - the track gauge is 4ft (85% of standard gauge), and the rolling stock (trains) is similarly scaled down, to the point that you probably have to duck if you're over 6ft.

nanna · 12 days ago
I remember that one of Stockholm's train line is also endearingly tiny too?
nanna commented on How London cracked mobile phone coverage on the Underground   ianvisits.co.uk/articles/... · Posted by u/beardyw
hexbin010 · 23 days ago
It's actually against byelaws to play music or other loud sounds on transport in London and they can prosecute you if they so wished...

It's about acknowledging it's a shared resource and respecting the space. No loud noises, no littering, no being drunk etc

These days people act like they're the only ones travelling

nanna · 23 days ago
Looks like TFL issued a whopping three fines in total last year...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx4lje9jpjo

nanna commented on How London cracked mobile phone coverage on the Underground   ianvisits.co.uk/articles/... · Posted by u/beardyw
Retric · 24 days ago
Neither of those things are needs, it’s just wants and preferring your own wants over others is completely normal.

Imagine trying to live your life where other people’s desires by default overrode you own.

nanna · 23 days ago
Because silence is a common good, like clean air. It's everyone's. When people fill it with their noise they effectively privatize it for the duration. When they shout on speakerphone or play their music or blare sound from their apps it's especially selfish.
nanna commented on Replit founder Amjad Masad isn’t afraid of Silicon Valley   sfstandard.com/2026/01/07... · Posted by u/newusertoday
flumpcakes · a month ago
> "My friends were in danger and they [the police] were getting quite hands-on.

They were petulantly resisting arrest (it looks on camera to scream instead of just complying calmly) while committing destructive/violent crimes. The police were very restrained here. There was no danger from the police, at all.

Now a police officer doing their job has a spinal injury. Palestine Action says they will not stop doing 'direct action' (sabotage, property destruction, violence). They deserve the proscription.

nanna · a month ago
Imagine if they were dealing with the US police...
nanna commented on Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright   bbc.com/news/articles/c1j... · Posted by u/YeGoblynQueenne
nanna · 3 months ago
Same for bicycle lights too, and street lights.
nanna commented on Ruby and Its Neighbors: Smalltalk   noelrappin.com/blog/2025/... · Posted by u/jrochkind1
nanna · 3 months ago
Anyone working with a Smalltalk implementation?

u/nanna

KarmaCake day6032August 9, 2013
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Background in philosophy, PhD on Norbert Wiener.
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