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Articles by Michael Borgwardt
How to deal with floating point number precision in JavaScript?
Floating point can't store all decimal values exactly. So when using floating point formats there will always be rounding errors on the input values. The errors on the inputs of course results on errors on the output. In case of a discrete function or operator there can be big differences on the output around the point where the function or operator is discrete. So, when using floating point variables, you should always be aware of this.
10 checked pieces of luggage on a flight instead of a shipping service - crazy?
I'm moving to another country (Israel/Palestine to the Netherlands) and need to ship my personal effects. For the sake of discussion suppose I'm not shipping any furniture, and every single item fits into a large suitcase. My plan so far is to use a shipping service, which fills up a container with multiple shippers' packages. But now I've made a curious discovery: It turns out that if I fly KLM, I can take as many as 10 pieces of checked luggage with me, with upto 23kg apiece.
Where can I take a selfie with kangaroos in Australia?
Kangaroos are wild animals. While you will come across them if you are driving in rural areas, do not approach them. While most will simply run away, some may enter a more defensive posture especially if there are young (joeys) nearby. A kick from an adult can kill a human (http://www.amazingaustralia.com.au/animals/kangaroo_attacks.htm). Kangaroos can be mean vicious creatures. When I was growing up as a kid in Australia, we were cautioned away from getting anywhere near them.
Non-seafood food options in Tokyo?
While Japanese cuisine uses a lot of seafood, there are plenty of dishes based on beef, poultry, etc. as well as vegetable-based dishes. The problems usually arise when people have allergies or religious/moral objections to fish or shellfish, which might appear "invisibly" in sauces and seasonings.
Is it socially/culturally acceptable for Indian/Sri Lankan people to visit the Oktoberfest?
Oktoberfest is a major international tourist festival in a modern, progressive country. No one will question your attendance, no matter how you look. The only reason it would be awkward is if you told everyone that you didn't like German beer! [The only suggestion of racism I could find was where an Asian customer was asked to move from a table at Hofbräuhaus, and then a white person sat down.
What are Miner bees, and how do they differ from other bees?
The more common term is "mining bees". As the name says, they build nests underground, usually in sandy ground. The other big difference between them and regular honey bees, is that they are so-called solitary bees, so they do not form hives. The nest is built by a single female, who lays eggs in several chambers and provides each with pollen and nectar. So since they do not form hives, they never really become a nuisance, and they provide good pollination for plants.
What is Captain America's true allegiance?
In the MCU, Captain America is the leader of the Avengers, who were operating for SHIELD (at least until its destruction), which itself was under the command of a mysterious "World Council". But, at the same time, Captain America, started his career of a superhero as an American soldier. He is still a symbol for Americans and a symbol of America outside his country. What is Captain America's true allegiance?
Why are Superman and Batman against each other?
Because fans love that kind of thing. "Who would win in a fight of X vs. Y" is a perennial favourite discussion topic, especially when X and Y are both good guys and would not normally be opposed, so that there is no canon answer.
Why was Conan freed by his former owner?
Here's the words of the narrative: In time, his victories could not easily be counted... he was taken to the east, a great prize, where the war masters would teach him the deepest secrets. Language and writing were also made available, the poetry of Kitai, the philosophy of Sung; and he also came to know the pleasures of women, when he was bred to the finest stock.
In the Asterix series, Why didn't the Romans just address the magic potion problem head on?
Adding to Michael Borgwardt's answer, there's even an instance of Caesar re-building the village of Asterix and Obelix, so the stalemate between Rome and the Gaul village seems a choice of sorts. You could perhaps say that there's an unspoken non-proliferance treaty in place. After all, isn't it better for Rome to have one unbeatable village, that wants nothing but to defend itself, than to risk all the barbarians at the border getting hold of the potion recipe?
Why don't lightsaber duelists ever use the technique of turning off their lightsaber during a fight?
I am a medieval sword fighting instructor and have won a couple of tournaments so have a different insight than people who probably know the films better but in case you are interested: Sword (or lightsabre) fights rarely feature aiming at your opponent's sword. If someone aims a shot at your sword you just attack with your sword, their sword flies harmlessly through the air where your sword was as your sword hits them.
lord of the rings
I am currently re-reading the Lord of the Rings. While reading the chapter "In the House of Tom Bombadil", where the four hobbits meet Tom and Goldberry, I thought a lot about the speculations and questions about who Tom Bombadil actually is. Then the question "Who exactly is Goldberry?" struck me. From the description in the book I am not able to deduce if she is an elf or maybe a Maia, or - like Tom - probably something different entirely. So who exactly is she?
Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
The justification for this is given several times over in the books, twice in 2010 alone: And because, in all the Galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped. And sometimes, dispassionately, they had to weed.
Clash of Kings: Why didn't Arya reveal who she was?
By the time Arya makes it to Harrenhal, she has been repeatedly taught one key lesson: her identity makes her a target. While traveling with Yoren and the Night's Watch recruits, she has to work very hard to become "Arry", and pretend to be a boy. When the guards came for Gendry, Arya's first thought is that they've found her, and know who she is. When The Mountain and his men capture them, she knows that revealing her identity would almost certainly result in her being sent to The Tickler.
If Sauron had won, would the Valar have intervened?
Most likely not.
Picture of Captain Future's Otho that proves he is a robot
The character Otho ("Otto" in the German series) is, according to Wikipedia, a green-skinned android. But actually it is never shown that he is a robot. Does the series or comics show any pictures or stills with a scene, that proves that he is a robot and that he is green? On this picture from http://www.robertweinberg.net/captainfuture.htm it seems like he is green: But I am not sure, if that supposed to be Otho.
How far would you need to fall for it to be fatal?
There is no specific distance from which a person can fall and have it said they will survive or not survive. There are simply too many other variables that will dominate the factor of "distance." In 1971, flight attendant Vesna Vulović fell 33,333 ft (10,160 meters) and survived without a parachute. On the other hand 556,000 people died in 2013 from slip-and-fall accidents from essentially 0 ft.
How did Nazi Germany finance itself during WW2?
This recent book offers a new and very important look at this question. It is the subject of an ongoing academic debate but many of the factual findings seem to be indisputable, if I understand correctly (haven't read it but read very detailed reviews). UPDT: Very brief summary: The Nazis borrowed prodigious sums to finance the re-armament of Germany, the Autobahns and the social benefits the Germans received.
I accidentally published my SSH key passphrase, what to do?
So I mistook input fields and now my SSH key passphrase is visible to the world, and I can't even remove it. Now as far as I understand, this is not an immediate security concern, since the passphrase only protects against the case of my private key itself getting disclosed. Since that hasn't happened (they key only exists on hardware I own), I at most have to change the passphrase in case it happens in the future, I don't have to change to a different SSH key everywhere I've used it.
Could people perceive the color blue in ancient times?
This addresses the second claim. There are 4 types of photoreceptive neurons in your eye. One is the rod, which is sensitive to green but creates a black/white percept (for "scotopic" or night-adjusted vision) and the other 3 are cones with various types of rhodopsin, a receptor that is sensitive to photons. In a normal, unmutated (non-colorblind) person, the 3 types of rhodopsin are attuned to the colors red, green, and blue.
Why would staff officers carry swords during combat, in World War II?
I'm not sure why you think staff officers carried them for combat. They were not really the ones responsible for the actual fighting in the first place. More generally, Japanese officers carried swords as accessories for their uniforms. The blades were both ceremonial as well as status symbols, because higher ranks were entitled to swords with special distinctive styles. For instance, General officers used swords with: "brown and red strap with gold wire, zig-zag stitching and yellow tassel1".
Does the climate have any effect on plate tectonics?
I would argue that the heaviest impact on plate tectonics is not only climate, but the atmosphere and oceans as whole. Oxygenation from the atmosphere and hydratation from the oceans will lead to a decrease in viscosity of minerals that are subducted with them. This can make sense if you think about it: $H_2 O$ and $O_2$ would be volatiles under lithospheric pressures and temperatures, however by subduction they are forced into the minerals' crystal lattice and can act as mobile defects.
Why will data from a black hole solve the gravity problem?
This is explained in more detail in the book The Science of Interstellar by physicist Kip Thorne, who came up with the original script treatment and was a consultant on the movie. The explanation is a bit involved, but feel free to skip to the last paragraph of this answer for a short summary. The main idea about new physics in the movie was that gravity was affected by events happening in a higher spatial dimension, "the bulk".
How can I properly display German characters in HTML?
It seems you need some basic explanations about something that unfortunately even most programmers don't understand properly. Files like your HTML page are saved and transmitted over the Internet as a sequence of bytes, but you want them displayed as characters. In order to translate bytes into characters, you need a set of rules called a character encoding. Unfortunately, there are many different character encodings that have historically emerged to handle different languages.
What is the origin of the Great Eagles?
Silmarillion chapter 2, Of Aule and Yavanna, states that the Eagles were neither Valar nor Maiar but instead offspring of the thoughts of Manwe and Yavanna, given life by Iluvatar: But dost them not now remember, Kementari, that thy thought sang not always alone? Did not thy thought and mine meet also, so that we took wing together like great birds that soar above the clouds?
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