@MxVerda @ArchiteuthisFlux if it's an open fireplace, the flue is a piece of metal fixed into the chimney and you can use a handle above the fireplace to open and close it.

if it is closed, smoke would pour into the house. if it is open your house is venting hot air. fireplaces aren't great.

a stove is fully enclosed and much more efficient, and you can limit the burn rate so that a log or two can go all night and is designed from the ground up to heat the house through the chimney.

omg I'm reading this dumb twitter article but can't continue because I'm laughing too hard at this diagram. Like, using this as a definition of an intelligent system then crashing into the fucking rocks because you don't know wtf a lighthouse is.

@ArchiteuthisFlux the drawing is so confusing to me because if it's a sail boat that isn't what ERROR looks like that's just literally how sailing works

@rune @ArchiteuthisFlux you're still not supposed to aim AT the lighthouse. You tack into the wind, but the goal is to be in the channel/deep water near the navigational aid.

@7heo @ArchiteuthisFlux ok wait what?
I can't tell if running at relativistic speed would do anything notable or just be more 'cronch' at the end.

omg I'm reading this dumb twitter article but can't continue because I'm laughing too hard at this diagram. Like, using this as a definition of an intelligent system then crashing into the fucking rocks because you don't know wtf a lighthouse is.

@lproven @johnnythan @ArchiteuthisFlux show code

@MxVerda @johnnythan @ArchiteuthisFlux

A 2-word comment is not very helpful. You want example code of a stimulus-seeking automaton, is that what you are asking?

@lproven @johnnythan @ArchiteuthisFlux I meant as a joke like "show feet" but yes please if you're willing.

(No guarantees I'll understand any if, for, when, or in functions though.)

@MxVerda @johnnythan @ArchiteuthisFlux Oh right!

Dear gods. When I said I'd done it in BASIC and Fortran, that's a clue to how long ago it was.

@MxVerda @johnnythan @ArchiteuthisFlux

Google failed me. Here is some pseudocode:

Variables
bug location x, y
food location x, y

100x100 grid

Bug location x = rnd * 100
Bug location y = rnd * 100

Calculate distance from bug to food, using Pythagoras
https://byjus.com/maths/distance-formula/

The faint smell excites the bug: the _more_ excited the bug, the _slower_ it moves. More excitement = shorter stride

Stride = 1/distance

Search:
Pick a random direction
Move 1 stride that direction
Sniff
Calculate new stride length: if the smell is stronger, move shorter
If bug(x,y) = food(x,y) exit
Otherwise, go search
End

@hypostase @_thegeoff @ArchiteuthisFlux the story is an urban legend (check Snopes), I have seen probably more than a dozen versions (differing in the name of US ship and nationality of lighthouse crew); however, with current trend in US policies, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one day it becomes reality.

omg I'm reading this dumb twitter article but can't continue because I'm laughing too hard at this diagram. Like, using this as a definition of an intelligent system then crashing into the fucking rocks because you don't know wtf a lighthouse is.

omg I'm reading this dumb twitter article but can't continue because I'm laughing too hard at this diagram. Like, using this as a definition of an intelligent system then crashing into the fucking rocks because you don't know wtf a lighthouse is.

@ArchiteuthisFlux I was in a company with a morale problem, and the HR team's response was to cover the walls with posters telling us "Be a lighthouse!" and stop complaining all the time.

I read a letter to the editor once where the writer was complaining about the "deer crossing" signs on the highway, and wanted them moved away from where she lived because there were too many deer on the road.

In tech school, these would have been marked "GCE" - gross conceptual errors.

omg I'm reading this dumb twitter article but can't continue because I'm laughing too hard at this diagram. Like, using this as a definition of an intelligent system then crashing into the fucking rocks because you don't know wtf a lighthouse is.