Slow neutron by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Sarin by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Mutagen by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Install MongoDB on Ubuntu by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Tested as of Ubuntu 20.04, there is no Mongo package available by default due to their change to Server Side Public License, which Debian opposed. Therefore, you have to add their custom PPA as mentioned at: docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-ubuntu/
Petri dish by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Why can't you send voice without modulation? by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Basically, the antenna has to be very, very large, more comparable to wavelength. E.g. even for the higher pitches, we fall in very low frequency, so have a look at the size of some of the submarine VLF antennas! They are like football pitch sized.
vmpk by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
VMPK is a virtual device that replicates what you would get by connecting a physical MIDI keyboard to your computer. It is not a software synthesizer on its own. But it does connect to a working synthesizer by default (Sonivox EAS) which makes it produce sounds out-of-the box.
TODO: then I messed with my sound settings, and then it stopped working by default on the default "MIDI Connection" > "MIDI Out Driver" > "Network". But it still works on "SonivoxEAS".
A hello world of actually connecting it to a specific software synthesizer manually on Advanced Linux Sound Architecture with aconnect can be found at: askubuntu.com/questions/34391/virtual-midi-piano-keyboard-setup/1298026#1298026
Reasonable default key mappings to keyboard covering 2 octaves.
3 multiple simultaneous keys did not work (tested "ZQI"). This might just be a limitation of my keyboard however.
Arduino by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Metabolomics by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
OK, you have to share your phone with the company to prevent spam which forces us into messaging software that force you to have a mobile phone, but why do you also have to share your phone with contacts? So you are then forced to give your phone number away on the Internet.
Effect of a change of basis on the matrix of a bilinear form by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
If is the change of basis matrix, then the matrix representation of a bilinear form that looked like:
then the matrix in the new basis is:
Sylvester's law of inertia then tells us that the number of positive, negative and 0 eigenvalues of both of those matrices is the same.
Proof: the value of a given bilinear form cannot change due to a change of basis, since the bilinear form is just a function, and does not depend on the choice of basis. The only thing that change is the matrix representation of the form. Therefore, we must have:
and in the new basis:
and so since:
Lorentz covariance by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Same motivation as Galilean invariance, but relativistic version of that: we want the laws of physics to have the same form on all inertial frames, so we really want to write them in a way that is Lorentz covariant.
This is just the relativistic version of that which takes the Lorentz transformation into account instead of just the old Galilean transformation.
Twin paradox by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
The key question is: why is this not symmetrical?
One answer is: because one of the twin accelerates, and therefore changes inertial frames.
But the better answer is: understand what happens when the stationary twin sends light signals at constant time intervals to each other. When does the travelling twin receives them?
By doing that, we see that "all the extra aging happens immediately when the twin turns around":
  • on the out trip, both twins receive signals at constant intervals
  • when the moving twin turns around and starts to accelerate through different inertial frames, shit happens:
    • the moving twin suddenly notices that the rate of signals from the stationary twin increased. They are getting older faster than us!
    • the stationary twin suddenly notices that the rate of signals from the moving twin decreased. They are getting older slower than us!
  • then when the moving twin reaches the return velocity, both see constant signal rates once again
Figure 1.
Twin paradox illustration with twins sending light signals at regular intervals
. Source.
Another way of understanding it is: you have to make all calculations on a single inertial frame for the entire trip.
Supposing the sibling quickly accelerates out (or magically starts moving at constant speed), travels at constant speed, and quickly accelerates back, and travels at constant speed setup, there are three frames that seem reasonable:
  • the frame of the non-accelerating sibling
  • the outgoing trip of the accelerating sibling
  • the return trip of the accelerating sibling
If you do that, all three calculations give the exact same result, which is reassuring.
Another way to understand it is to do explicit integrations of the acceleration: physics.stackexchange.com/questions/242043/what-is-the-proper-way-to-explain-the-twin-paradox/242044#242044 This is the least insightful however :-)
Bibliography:
Concurrent Versions System by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
It is said, that once upon a time, programmers used CSV and collaborated on SourceForge, and that everyone was happy.
These days, are however, long gone in the mists of time as of 2020, and beyond Ciro Santilli's programming birth.
Except for hardware developers of course. The are still happily using Perforce and Tcl, and shall never lose their innocence. Blessed be their souls. Amen.
Gordon Linoff by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Infinitely many SQL answers.
As mentioned at Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions, he just answers every semi-duplicate immediatly as it is asked, and is therefore able to overcome the Stack Overflow maximum 200 daily reputation limit by far. E.g. in 2018, Gordon reached 135k (archive), thus almost double the 73k yearly limit due to the 200 daily limit, all of that with accepts.
This is in contrast to Ciro Santilli's contribution style which is to only answer questions as he needs the subject, or generally important questions that aroused his interest.
2014 Blog post describing his activity: blog.data-miners.com/2014/08/an-achievement-on-stack-overflow.html, key quote:
For a few months, I sporadically answered questions. Then, in the first week of May, my Mom's younger brother passed away. That meant lots of time hanging around family, planning the funeral, and the like. Answering questions on Stack Overflow turned out to be a good way to get away from things. So, I became more intent.
so that suggests his contributions also take a meditative value.
www.data-miners.com/linoff.htm mentions he's an SQL consultant that consulted for several big companies.
LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/gordonlinoff/ says he now works at the New York Times.
2021 Reddit thread about him: www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/puok1h/a_single_person_answered_76k_questions_about_sql/ mentions that by then he had:
answered 76k questions about SQL on StackOverflow. Averaging 22.8 answers per day, every day, for the past 8.6 years.
Adobe Flash by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Fortran by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Perl (programming language) by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
TODO why did Python kill it? They are very similar and existed at similar times, and possibly Perl was more popular early on.
Perl likely killed Tcl.

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