The h Bar

Bernardo Meurer

08:00

Dawg quit hating on laptops

They work

What else would you have they buy

John Rennie

@BernardoMeurer modern BIOSes patch the microcode on CPUs!

Bernardo Meurer

Dells have great Linux hardware compatibility for eg

@JohnRennie Eh? I don't think that's the BIOS's function

John Rennie

So supporting a CPU isn't just a matter of patching a few bytes in a lookup table.

Sid

@BernardoMeurer I will agree to that.

Bernardo Meurer

I have to manually setup for the bootloader to patch my microcode

so GRUB and not the UEFI

John Rennie

08:01

True though.

Bernardo Meurer

wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Microcode

John Rennie

More on servers than laptops though.

Bernardo Meurer

Aha, so both

John Rennie

It's a scary world we live in. Your BIOS is actually changing the functionality of your CPU!

Anyway Googling has found examples of people upgrading their E6440s to an i7-4810 so I've fairly sure it will work.

Bernardo Meurer

UEFI/BIOS is cancer technology

Long live uBoot!

And other OpenSource reasonable alternatives

Also shoutout to CoreBoot/LibreBoot

John Rennie

08:06

@Sid both Dell and HP sell lots of laptops. Unless lots of people are stupid (which is possible :-) their laptops are good for lots of people. You may have your own specific requirements that rule them out, but you shouldn't assume everyone agrees with you.

Bernardo Meurer

Also, Dell + HP's line of products is huge

I can't fanthom how your use case isn't covered by it

I dare say, unless you're an Apple dev, it's literally impossible

Like, literally

Even if you're a FOSS nutjob who won't run a CPU without a ME scheme you can still just buy a pre-2012 Dell/HP

Slereah

08:19

BIOS is kind of bullshit

There's no standardization at all

Even Intel doesn't maintain a list

There's only one crazy internet man who maintains a big list of BIOS commands

and he is literally the standard on the topic

Bernardo Meurer

@Slereah BIOS is also dead

Intel maintains a UEFI standard IIRC

Slereah

UEFI is retrocompatible with BIOS, though

FOR NOW

Bernardo Meurer

Intel's dropping that

And other vendors will follow

Slereah

But then I won't be able to install MS DOS on my new computer!

Bernardo Meurer

::frowns::

John Rennie

08:24

@Slereah OMG!!

Actually it's kind of amazing that you can still boot and run MS-DOS on a modern PC/laptop.

Slereah

Well, it is very much not

that's why x86 is so awful

all the retrocompatibility

For some reason x86 has TWO FPUs and one of them uses an awful stack-based system???

John Rennie

@Slereah the architecture is a hideous mess, but it works. People place too much emphasis on elegance sometimes.

Bernardo Meurer

x86 needs to go

I'm glad at least i686 is DED

John Rennie

RISC was supposed to replace x86 but it never happened.

Slereah

@JohnRennie There's a huge security hole in pre-2015 x86 CPUs due to retrocompatibility

Bernardo Meurer

08:26

@JohnRennie With RISC-V it might someday

John Rennie

@Slereah Link?

@BernardoMeurer in your dreams

Slereah

The Memory Sinkhole - Unleashing An X86 Design Flaw Allowing Universal Privilege Escalation

►

You can do privilege escalation to ring -2

John Rennie

@Slereah link that isn't a YouTube video?

Slereah

That's pretty fucking bad

Bernardo Meurer

@JohnRennie Yes, I was about to say that in that same scenario I am married to [Insert super model]

@Slereah Yeah, I watched that talk, it's bizarre

Slereah

08:27

www8.hp.com/us/en/intel-processor-memory-sinkhole.html

(ring -2 is the one the OS can't even reach)

John Rennie

Right, but BIOSes patch microcode for exactly these sorts of reasons.

Slereah

@JohnRennie True, but how many people do it

Bernardo Meurer

Assuming you can fetch microcode updates!

That's a pretty big if already

Slereah

But that's an example of the issue with retrocompatibility

Two things that are not a problem separately

John Rennie

@Slereah shrug. Lots of people don't use AV either. Should we ban all computers because some idiots install no AV then open attachments promising them free money?

Slereah

08:30

But become a problem when together

Bernardo Meurer

@JohnRennie Oh boii

Slereah

@JohnRennie that issue has existed for a while :p

Like over ten years

That's 10 years of vulnerability

John Rennie

@BernardoMeurer but you already have (will soon have) some pretty frackin' amazing speakers

Bernardo Meurer

@JohnRennie I know, I'm just sharing some eye candy :P

or, ear candy

John Rennie

@Slereah shrug. In real life it's not a problem.

Slereah

08:32

@JohnRennie It is if someone installs a rootkit using it :p

John Rennie

2 mins ago, by John Rennie

@Slereah shrug. Lots of people don't use AV either. Should we ban all computers because some idiots install no AV then open attachments promising them free money?

Slereah

Well yeah but if you put everything on the user, might as well have no security at all:p

Mithrandir24601

@vzn I spend a very large chunk of my day either reading or trying to come up with some small bit of 'new physics', so yes, but 1: that's not to say other things aren't also interesting, 2: I'd go mad if I talked about physics non-stop and 3: my health is more important to me than physics.

Bernardo Meurer

My speakers

Now I wish someone would buy them so I could upgrade to the LS50's :P

Slereah

just go back to 80's computer when everything executes on the same memory!

Bernardo Meurer

08:34

Or I could prostitute myself

Slereah

ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Einstein-Yang-Mills-Dirac-Higgs+theory

the best theory

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer That's... They cost considerably more than my headphones, earphones and dragonfly combined

Bernardo Meurer

@Mithrandir24601 Yeah, it was all the money I had :)

Well, plus my turntable

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer And I thought I was insane...

Bernardo Meurer

turntable

And the amplifier JR gave me for free :)

@Mithrandir24601 Do you understand now why them being stuck in Lisbon is such a drama? :P

Mithrandir24601

08:42

@BernardoMeurer I suppose I do :P

Bernardo Meurer

But SOON I WILL HAVE MY Hi-Fi AGAIN

I also own Sennheiser HD650's and Noble Audio's X

And some nice cables

Oh, and a Fiio X3 II

John Rennie

@Mithrandir24601 when I was 18, and working in restaurant kitchen washing up, I spent pretty much all my wages on my hi-fi. It seemed to really matter back then.

Bernardo Meurer

And like $10 on my bank account, lol

Mithrandir24601

@JohnRennie Funny, that's just what my Dad spent his first pay-cheque on

user685252

the music was a lot better back then :P

Bernardo Meurer

08:45

Yeah, my first paycheck went on it too

and second

John Rennie

@Mithrandir24601 I still have (and still love) the speakers I bought when I was 18. Heybrook HB2s. These days they're considered antiques. But that's OK - I'm considered antique too :-)

user685252

Antiques are valuable.

Bernardo Meurer

@JohnRennie Which I will totally inherit assuming the unlikely odds that I outlive you?

John Rennie

@user685252 ah, so I'm not an antique then :-)

user685252

:-)

John Rennie

08:50

I don't think music was any better in the 70s, but it was less readily available. Even Walkmans didn't exist in those days. It was the radio or your hi-fi at home. I think that made music feel a bit more special.

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer I have a pair of HD598's :) My earphones are all the way from Scotland and if anything, seem better than the Sennheisers, despite being noticeably cheaper and earphones

Bernardo Meurer

I have these guys for IEMs

Mithrandir24601

@JohnRennie I don't know about the different between what I have and things costing £100s, but there's a clear difference between what I have and what most people have in terms of sound quality, so people really do seem to be settling for less, which makes me slightly sad

John Rennie

I'm less convinced than I used to be that there is an objective meaning to better when it comes to hi-fi. I really love the sound of my old Marantz amp, and I prefer it to a lot of modern amps that get good scores from the hi-fi magazines. But that probably just means I've got used to my own amp.

Bernardo Meurer

I've heard the 598's they're nice

Mithrandir24601

08:54

@BernardoMeurer Fancy :P I'd still stick with my RHA's though :P

user685252

I believe we should spend more effort on improving the hi-fi of our "inner voice."

Bernardo Meurer

@Mithrandir24601 To be honest it was a challenge to find the right fit

I have really narrow ear canals

Like, my ears wil literally rip foam inserts apart

It's scary

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer yeah, same. I find that the small double-flanged buds that came with mine fit quite well, but at some point I'd like to go searching for something smaller

Bernardo Meurer

@JohnRennie Oh man I'm so happy I'm flying my things over

@Mithrandir24601 I'm using exactly the same, rubber, double-flanged

but they don't isolate as well as foam

and they slide off if there's any sweat

foam had the best hold & isolation for me

but it just didn't fit

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer I had this exact problem

Bernardo Meurer

08:59

Anyway, the nobles now fit well, and have truly amazing sound

I'd say they almost match my 650's, if not for staging and bass

Although the ELAC speakers are just unmatched

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer ::feels inadequate::

Bernardo Meurer

Why?

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer I'm joking :P I'd love to get better speakers/headphones but I don't want to spend the money

Bernardo Meurer

@Mithrandir24601 Ah, lol :P

Yeah, it was a decision I made at the time, and looking back at it, it seems kind of crazy

I just dumped all my savings and salary

But you know what, it's one of the only decisions I made in the past two years I can stand up to :)

Because after I've had a fucked up day I'll put "Getz\Gilberto" on my turntable, I'll lay down on the floor, and it's alright

So it's alright

Because it matters

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer Yeah, I know the feeling. A bit into my first year at uni, I went to my Dad to London and bought a used pair (B flat and A) of clarinets - I've never spent so much money in my life, but they've been worth every penny :) - I think the sound quality of them is unmatched

Bernardo Meurer

09:05

Ah, yes, clarinets are wonderful

Mithrandir24601

Although my organ teacher has a Steinway grand piano...

Bernardo Meurer

I registered for intro to piano next term

I want to give it a shot

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer A pair of R13s from 1980 (the time when R13s were just the best)

Bernardo Meurer

I don't think I can be truly great at it, I have fingers thick as sausages, but maybe it'll be fun

@Mithrandir24601 Oh my! How much did you pay for that?!

My grandfather has an R13 that he cherishes far more than he does his offspring

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer Well, to be honest, if you want to be great at it, you should have started at about 3 years old and practised non-stop for a couple of decades :P

Bernardo Meurer

09:08

Lol, true :P

I meant great as in "Granpa can play beethoven"

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer >£2k - the insurance is a nightmare :P

Bernardo Meurer

My goodness

Nice purchase though

Congratulations :)

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer Oh yeah, this is definitely worth it ;) I spent a couple of years practising this - I'm far from perfect at it and my hands still don't really have the endurance required, but it can still stop conversations more effectively than some more technically difficult pieces :D

Bernardo Meurer

Ah, yes, I am very familiar with that piece

it was the first piano piece I ever really liked

as a kid

Sir Cumference

Howdy

Mithrandir24601

09:12

@SirCumference Rytsas!

Sir Cumference

@Mithrandir24601 Rytsas?

Bernardo Meurer

But, to be honest, Ravel's "Pavane Pour Une Infant Defunte" is still, to me, the greatest piano piece ever written, from a melodic POV, not virtue

Mithrandir24601

@SirCumference High Valyrian greeting

Sir Cumference

@Mithrandir24601 High Valyrian?

Bernardo Meurer

I suppose La Campanella might be the greatest virtuoso piece of all

Mithrandir24601

09:15

@BernardoMeurer I'm currently obsessed with appassionata

Sir Cumference

@BernardoMeurer You celebrate Thanksgiving?

Bernardo Meurer

Ha! That was my first ever classical CD!

Mithrandir24601

@SirCumference The language in a Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones that plays the equivalent role to e.g. latin here

Sir Cumference

@Mithrandir24601 Ah. I've heard about Game of Thrones but haven't made time to watch it. Is it good?

Mithrandir24601

You have good taste then, @BernardoMeurer :)

2

Bernardo Meurer

09:16

@SirCumference If "celebrating" is getting drunk alone at home, then sure

Mithrandir24601

@SirCumference after the first 2 or 3 seasons, most definitely yes :D

Sir Cumference

@BernardoMeurer Welp, my definition is more like a family feast, usually with turkey...

Bernardo Meurer

@Mithrandir24601 I'm currently obsessed with a bossa guitar player

Pernambuco

►

@SirCumference Then no, I don't have family after all

Sir Cumference

@BernardoMeurer ?

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer "This video is not available." :(

Bernardo Meurer

09:18

Pernambuco (Luiz Bonfa) (1959)

►

@Mithrandir24601 This one?

@SirCumference What?

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer Yeah, that works :)

Sir Cumference

@BernardoMeurer "Don't have family"

Bernardo Meurer

@SirCumference I don't, not here

I have family across the ocean

And then some hundred miles inland

Balarka Sen

I see some music

Sir Cumference

@BernardoMeurer Do you get a thanksgiving break? If so that could be a chance to visit them

Bernardo Meurer

09:20

@SirCumference It's just 4 days, I can't got all the way to Brazil and back in that time

it's too much $$$

Sir Cumference

@BernardoMeurer Oh :/

Bernardo Meurer

@0celo7's family invited me to join, but tickets to VA were too expensive

Physics Meta

1

Q: Giving newbie’s time to think

Maybe it’s just me, however, there are some questions where there exist much better answers somewhere which are not the accepted one. I understand that for an answer to be accepted, it just need to “work for the proponent of the question”. Nonetheless, a recurrent pattern seems to happen. Many o...

discussion

Sir Cumference

@BernardoMeurer Wait what

Bernardo Meurer

What?

Sir Cumference

09:21

I can't tell if you're trolling or not

Bernardo Meurer

Ah, lol

I'm not

We're not trolling when we say we are brothers

I know it sounds like it

Sir Cumference

>_>

Bernardo Meurer

@Mithrandir24601 That whole album, by the way, is great

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer Hmm, fair enough - I really ought to listen to music more...

Balarka Sen

Album? Pshaw. That's capitalism

Bernardo Meurer

09:24

@Mithrandir24601 I can always recommend Bossa and Jazz, other genres I can only recommend weird things

Balarka Sen

Listen to v a p o r w a v e

Sir Cumference

@Mithrandir24601 I can recommend some soft rock, but that's all I'm good for...

Bernardo Meurer

@BalarkaSen I spent $100 on an album once, murder me

Balarka Sen

Or better, listen to T O M & J E R R Y W A V E

Slereah

“I don’t believe in science,” declared the 61-year-old. “I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and how things move through the air. But that’s not science, that’s just a formula.”

Sir Cumference

09:25

@Slereah Er...context?

Balarka Sen

@BernardoMeurer it goes it goes it goes GULAG

(Yuh)

Slereah

theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/22/…

Bernardo Meurer

@BalarkaSen JK, it was just $40

discogs.com/…

@Mithrandir24601 You might enjoy listening to Bach to Moog

It's an album I really like

Mithrandir24601

@BernardoMeurer Haha! Nice!

Bernardo Meurer

@Mithrandir24601 Yeah, it's really funny :P

It's really scary how good Spotify's "Discover Weekly" is at finding me new music I like

Is it okay for me to cite myself in a paper?

I want to cite a post on my website

Mithrandir24601

09:52

@BernardoMeurer Depends on context; it's not like a web-post has been peer reviewed or anything...

Bernardo Meurer

It's some paper for my philosophy class

I need to use Leibniz's theory of truth in formal logic

and as far as I know I'm the only one useless enough to have gone through the trouble

Mithrandir24601

Well, if it's just a bit of work for class, then I personally don't see the problem, although I don't know about the lecturer :P

Bernardo Meurer

Meh, I'll try, if he complains then I'll tell him next time I'll embed the entire proof in the margins and he can have a blast

This is the thing btw

Slereah

11:05

CooperCape

ohai

@JohnRennie i love ypu

3

John Rennie

@CooperCape I'm flattered :-)

For anything in particular?

Or just for being an all round awesome guy? :-)

ACuriousMind

@BernardoMeurer drunk? Isn't that ILLEGAL? :P

Slereah

11:26

who is ypu

Bernardo Meurer

@ACuriousMind It should also be illegal to spend Thanksgiving alone

I say it's fair game

Slereah

I spent thanksgiving alone

and thankless

ACuriousMind

@BernardoMeurer I do not disagree with your defiance of prohibition, I'm just pointing it out! :)

Slereah

I didn't even buy a chicken

Bernardo Meurer

You're French, you don't even believe in giving thanks

Slereah

11:29

It's true

the french are rude

2

Bernardo Meurer

@ACuriousMind Honestly I wish they had taken my self-respect instead of my alcoholism

instead they took both

John Rennie

"That's OK I still got my guitar" - Jimi Hendrix 1967

s/guitar/laptop/ in my case

CooperCape

13:05

@JohnRennie That was my friend pranking me... ;) But of course, I do anyway.

Captain Bohemian

14:25

is the symmetry group of a manifold just the group which keeps isometry of the manifold?

ACuriousMind

@CaptainBohemian Neither "symmetry group of a manifold" nor "keeping isometry" are technical terms, so I'm not quite sure what you mean.

user685252

@ACuriousMind may I ask why you shouted "ILLEGAL" in that sentence?

Captain Bohemian

@ACuriousMind they are not technical terms? Let me look up on web and think how to state my question precisely.

ACuriousMind

@CaptainBohemian There are isometries and isometry groups on pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, but neither "keeping isometry" nor "symmetry group of a manifold" are well-defined terms.

A manifold can carry different structures, and the groups preserving these structures (e.g. the isometry group for the metric) can conceivably be called the symmetries of these structures, but without specifying the structure you want to preserve, "symmetry" means nothing

@user685252 To underscore the seriousness of the offense.

user685252

I see, thanks for replying :-)

0celo7

14:37

@ACuriousMind likely the metric is given and thus they mean the isometry group

Although reading the original sentence, it seems confused.

ACuriousMind

@0celo7 Perhaps, but asking "is the isometry group just the group of isometries" doesn't make much sense, either :P

0celo7

@ACuriousMind “Eindeutigkeitsaussage”?

ACuriousMind

@0celo7 Whole sentence, please

Literally, it's "statement of unambiguity" :P

0celo7

“Beweis der Eindeutigkeitsaussage”

Slereah

Also the group of isometries can be pretty large

You might want to restrict :p

ACuriousMind

14:39

@0celo7 Ah, that's "proof of uniqueness"

Slereah

Discrete translations are an isometry group for Minkowski space

0celo7

Ah, you mean rigidity?

Slereah

Or scaling

or discrete rotations $D_n$

ACuriousMind

@0celo7 If you want to prove "there exists exactly one X such that Y", then proving there is at least one is the Beweis der Existenz(aussage) and proving there is no other is the Beweis der Eindeutigkeit(saussage). Aussage is pretty superfluous there, actually.

0celo7

That sentence isn’t English

Slereah

14:41

Saussage?

ACuriousMind

@0celo7 Warning: Sentence may contain German. :P

Slereah

is the proof in the saussage

0celo7

@ACuriousMind disregarding that, I can’t read it

ACuriousMind

@0celo7 Okay, let me try again

0celo7

“Proving there is at least one is”

What?

ACuriousMind

14:43

"Proof of existence" = Beweis der Existenz and "Proof of uniqueness" = Beweis der Eindeutigkeit

0celo7

Yes

What about “proof of the rigidity statement”

Also o.B.d.A.?

ACuriousMind

If rigidity there means the same as "there is only one thing with this property", then sure

@0celo7 w.l.o.g.

0celo7

I figured but I can’t figure out the words

Ohne

ACuriousMind

Ah, ohne Beschränkung der Allgemeinheit

0celo7

I see

German is so technical

Captain Bohemian

14:46

@ACuriousMind do these structures refer to geometries? like Earlangan program associates every geometry with an underlying group of symmetries.

0celo7

Nevermind, this guy abbreviates Witten as [WE]

ACuriousMind

@CaptainBohemian Often, yes. I'll not exclude that there are structures which are not $G$-structures, though.

Captain Bohemian

typed wrong, should be Erlangen program.

Balarka Sen

What is up dramalertnation it's your boy wikileaks here

user685252

When your math test? @BalarkaSen

Balarka Sen

14:50

Tomorrow

Abcd

For a submerged body, does archimedes' principle also say that : volume of fluid displaced= volume of body?

I have derived $m_{fluid displaced}= m_{body}$, but my book uses the above equation in a question :(.

Balarka Sen

That is "obvious"

Captain Bohemian

@ACuriousMind so advanced. there may be still other structures on a manifold beyond G-structure.

0celo7

God I really want to try arm candy sometimes

4

PDE literature really upsets me

Abcd

@BalarkaSen Not mathematically obvious. Density of fluid isn't same as that of body.

Balarka Sen

14:52

@0celo7 r/nocontext

0celo7

@ACuriousMind will you unban me when that gets flagged?

Some genius likes starting my stuff

Balarka Sen

@Abcd Wait, m_fluid = m_body happens only when the body has no total force acting upon it?

I mean Archimedes the Troll says the buoyant force is m_fluid g - m_body g

Abcd

Archimedes the troll?

Balarka Sen

archie deserves an adorable nickname

Never mind

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