We (Mastodonians) always laugh at stupid Americans and their poor sense of measurement.

This NBC article helps one to wrap their brain around “trillion”. The article is about visualizing the scale of SpaceX’s IPO, and I don’t care about that… but the scale references are neat:

“To help visualize such enormity, Paulos recommended a time scale: 1 million seconds in the past is less than two weeks ago, but a billion seconds puts us in 1994, and a trillion seconds goes back to approximately 29,000 B.C., predating recorded history.”

#numbers #scale #math #analogies #trillion

https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/visualizing-trillion-charts-graphics-musk-nears-trillionaire-status-rcna349018

The AI Iceberg: Understanding ChatGPT

https://leonfurze.com/2023/05/18/the-ai-iceberg-understanding-chatgpt/

We got into Warhammer in 1995 (peak Warhammer/40K 2nd/Mordheim/Titan Legions/Blood Bowl/etc). Now, at nearly 40, my brother is getting back into painting.

He was in his local store. The manager is a similar age but started more 2000s, so he remembers some bits of Red Period and the turn of the millennium games but is only vaguely aware of other bits.

While getting his Mini of the Month, my brother was educating the 20-something staffer on the Red Period style that he was going to use. And then mentioned John Blanche. And the guy goes "who?" 😮

My brother had to call over the manager for this flagrant shortcoming. But apparently Blanche is part of Deep Lore that they don't cover in standard staff training.

But… it feels like working for the Tolkien Estate and not knowing the work of Alan Lee or John Howe.

Or working on the Man United Old Trafford tour and saying "Eric Canto-who? And Peter Schmi-something? Nope, dunno" 😐

#Warhammer #GamesWorkshop #Oldhammer #JohnBlanche #Nostalgia #Analogies

#analogies (foireuses ?)
La latence, c'est le temps qu'il faut pour que la balle arrive.
Le débit, c'est le nombre de balles par secondes.

La tension du courant, c'est la hauteur de laquelle tu lâches la balle.
L'intensité, c'est le nombre de balles par seconde.

(Libre à vous de corriger, améliorer, étendre...)

Message Queues: A Simple Guide with Analogies

https://www.cloudamqp.com/blog/message-queues-exaplined-with-analogies.html

#HackerNews #MessageQueues #SimpleGuide #Analogies #TechExplained #CloudAMQP

Easily Swept Aside

I thought about making an analogy between spider webs and something fragile like human plans, or political ambitions, or romantic fixations, but they all seemed too obvious. You all know already that our best laid plans often go awry. You also know that you would not hesitate to swat away a cobweb that touches your face. So, I decided instead just to show some lovely, clever, temporary, webs on my patio this evening. They may not be there tomorrow.

#analogies #beauty #cobwebs #engineering #fragility #nature #Photography #spiderWebs #temporary