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21
Browsers & Technology / Re: Best about wristwatches
Last post by ersi -
One of my favourite watch features is world time, particularly traveller's world time. It is so favourite that I do not have a watch with this feature (except a Casio, but on a quartz it is trivial). I won't get it unless someone gets world time absolutely right.

A proper world time watch shows all time zones in the entire world. It is especially proper when it does it at a single glance. Right now the closest to my ideal appears to be Nomos Sport Club neomatik Worldtimer.



For comparison, here is Oris Propilot Worldtimer.



A particular feature called "traveller's world time" means that the watch has a pushbutton that conveniently changes the hour hand *of the main dial* because a true traveller would want to see the current local time on the main dial, not on a subdial.

On the Oris it may seem that the pushbutton is missing, but actually it is provided by the turn of the bezel. Moreover, the bezel works in both directions, so the next time zone is available whichever way one is travelling. Still, even though the marketing name of the Oris claims that it is a worldtimer, it is rather a GMT watch. Different from a worldtimer, a GMT watch displays only one other time zone at a time and without a label, not all time zones labelled like the Nomos does.

Another difference between the watches is that the Oris has the date, which in my opinion is unnecessary in a worldtimer. Also seconds are mostly unnecessary, but both watches have it.

I like very much the way the other time zone has been solved on the Nomos. The Nomos has a 24h subdial, good for determining whether it is night or day in the other time zone.[1] Also, the 24h subdial has a single hand, which is honestly sufficient for the time zone where one is currently not residing and makes the overall look of the watch less busy, i.e. more legible.

Strictly in terms of functionality, any multi-time-zone quartz watch is better though, because it is possible to set a quartz GMT to any random time, while mechanical GMTs and worldtimers usually need to point to the same minutes on both dials. This is the reason why I have not bought a mechanical worldtimer: I value the functionality and I already have a quartz that is excellent with it.

Edit: And Jaeger-LeCoultre released Reverso Geographic.


1 On the Oris, the day/night indication is provided by a white window on the subdial, which flips to black for night,↵
24
DnD Central / Re: The Inauguration, & U.S. President Donald Trump's First 100 Days in Office
Last post by ersi -
Trump's Liberation Day meant he slapped tariffs on everyone. Except Russia, because Russia is already under sanctions. In this spirit, also North Korea, Belarus and Cuba are free from tariffs. Then again, Iran and Syria got tariffed.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-reciprocal-tariff-chart-2054514

No, I don't think it's supposed to make sense. Every explanation by Trump administration is meant to confuse people further, but intellectual confusion is the least of the sufferings caused by Trump.
26
DnD Central / Re: Two Systems of Justice, one for the rich, another for the poor.
Last post by ersi -
It is worth noting that OakdaleFTL, as a Q/KKK/MAGA wackadoodle, uses the term "bureaucrat" in the spirit of a Bolshevist slur: Kill 'em all! He has no idea why bureaucrats necessarily exist in every country. And when you get rid of or even destabilise them as a class, you don't have a country any longer.[1]

More calmly, let's note that literally no single person is hired by the government institutions with the job title bureaucrat. What the term entails is a routine employee at the government. Routine employees are always the bulk and usually the most valuable even when you don't notice they are there. But you definitely would notice their absence and that would be bad, just like when trash truckers or plumbers stop working.
1 Tocqueville was emphatic in claiming how de-centralised USA was (it certainly was compared to France) while incidentally recording the definitely central/federal institutions that held the country afloat, such as the Post Office, an institution whose employees are an excellent example of necessary bureaucrats who never get enough credit and acknowledgement.↵
27
DnD Central / Kaprekar constant calculator
Last post by ersi -
Kaprekar's constant is number 6174. It is to do with the feature of four-digit numbers that after sorting the four-digit number from the largest digit to smallest and subtracting from it the same number sorted from the smallest digit to largest, and repeating the process, then soon enough, in max seven steps, the result is 6174.

There are four-digit numbers that resolve to Kaprekar's constant in one single step. Kaprekar's constant 6174 itself is among them. The procedure is as follows:
1. Sort a four-digit number from the largest digit to the smallest, e.g. 6174 becomes 7641
2. Sort the same four-digit number from the smallest digit to the largest, i.e. 6174 becomes 1467
3. Subtract the larger number from the smaller, i.e. 7641-1467=6174.
4. If the result is other than 6174, repeat the entire process with the result until it becomes 6174.

The four-digit number needs to have at least two different digits, because anything like e.g. 8888-8888 or 2222-2222 would be an immediate zero with nowhere else to go. However, leading zeros are allowed. For example 8760-0678 and 1000-0001 are valid Kaprekar operations.

 
Code: [Select]
(defun kaprekar-calculator (num)
    "Calculate the number of steps to Kaprekar's constant for a
  given four-digit number."
    (interactive "nGive a 4-digit number: ")
    (let* ((given (number-to-string (abs num)))
           (numlength (length given))
           (numstring (cond ((< 4 numlength)
                             (string-limit given 4))
                            ((> 4 numlength)
                             (concat (make-string (- 4 numlength) ?0)
                                     given))
                            (t given))))
      (require 'cl-lib)
      (if (equal (cl-sort numstring '>) (cl-sort numstring '<))
          (message "The given number must have at least two different digits")
        (if (equal "6174" numstring)
            (message "6174 is Kaprekar's constant!")
          (let ((result 0)
                (varstring numstring))
            (require 'calc)
            (while (not (equal "6174" varstring))
              (if (equal "999"
                         (calc-eval
                          (concat (cl-sort varstring '>)
                                  "-" (cl-sort varstring '<))))
                  (progn
                    (setq varstring "6174")
                    (setq result (+ 5 result)))
                (progn
                  (setq varstring
                        (calc-eval
                         (concat (cl-sort varstring '>)
                                 "-" (cl-sort varstring '<))))
                  (setq result (1+ result)))))
            (if (eq result 1)
                (message "%s resolves to Kaprekar's constant in one step"
                         numstring)
              (message "%s resolves to Kaprekar's constant in %d steps"
                       numstring result)))))))

After minimal manual verification, it seems to work. I have not run into numbers that take more than seven steps. Indeed more than seven steps should not be possible, so I guess it's calculating correctly.
28
Browsers & Technology / Re: Software of Potential Interest
Last post by Frenzie -
The grid concept looks interesting and makes sense to me if you have an allergy to your hands ever leaving the keyboard. :) I'm inclined to think some variation is likely to be better for you. It may be worth pointing out that move mouse to center (of focused window) and move mouse to focus(ed button) are standard functionality that perform a task somewhat similar to the grid concept. And of course that a pointing device needn't be anything like a mouse.
30
DnD Central / Re: Two Systems of Justice, one for the rich, another for the poor.
Last post by jax -
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
You could start by reading de Tocqueville... But your worship of bureaucracy has long been obvious, and un-shakable: You would, no doubt, invoke the "only following orders" defense for any crime!
But -to play your game: Didn't the bureaucracy under Woodrow Wilson revive the Klu Klux Klan? (After un-desegregating...) Was that one of the "achievements" you refer to?

Quote from: jax on
The bureaucrats were what made the US great.
Can you give a few examples?

Good governance is the fundament on which all improvements are built. That includes the rule of law, and the rules of law, like the US Constitution, which was ahead of its time. Or the free markets, who cannot be free unless there is governance.

Now that is a bit of an imposition, as bureaucracy is usually limited to those who actually maintain and suggest improvements to those rules and workings, not those who put the rules into law, in a democracy the politicians. Then again you included police among the bureaucracy, which is another imposition.

A good bureaucracy is not a big bureaucracy, governs best who governs least and all that. And it must continuously be challenged, checked, and improved. It cannot be a world unto itself. Impartiality is a difficult requirement. Especially as a bureaucracy must be forward-looking to coming challenges.

US bureaucracy used to be pretty dynamic, except where it was designed not to be. Unfortunately for the US, there has been a growing desire among the politicians that it shouldn't be. And lately making it so unattractive to be a bureaucrat that any clever or skilled person would seek employment elsewhere. And the consequence of a bad bureaucracy is bad policy decisions poorly implemented. That will last long after Trump.