Commodore 64 beats quantum computer

A 40 year old Commodore-64 home computer beat out IBM's new, multi-million-dollar quantum computer at its own test.  It was just as accurate, faster, more energy efficient, and far cheaper, too.  And it doesn't need a cryogenic chamber to operate.

Quantum computing is analog computing.  It's not quite a scam, but it's almost indistinguishable from one.  You can accomplish the exact same things through hydraulics.  In fact, the hydro-economic simulator built in 1949 is still working, and is still a more accurate simulation of economic activity than most digital computer models.

New hydro-computers are still being built.  And they can outperform digital computers at specialized tasks.  Digital computers were built to excel at general tasks.  Their whole point is that they are programmable, where analog computers are specialists at single tasks.

Yet another task resolution system

Yes, I enjoy making up rules for fantasy combat games.  It's a weird hobby, but it's a hobby.

Basic premise:  Character skill and item quality are measured in size of dice:  d4 (low) to d12 (high).

Mechanism:  In any endeavor where chance plays a role, the active player rolls a skill die and an equipment die, and adds them together.  The target likewise rolls skill + equipment, but may be using different equipment.  Bonus add to the size of a die, penalties reduce the die size.  Bonuses beyond d12 add to the total.  Penalties below d4 subtract from the total.  Defender/target wins ties.

Say a dwarf (melee d8) swings an axe (melee d8) at an orc (skill d6) with a shield (d8) and sword (melee defense +1).  That ends up being d8+d8 versus d8+d8.

If the attacker rolls higher than the defender, damage is dealt.  For simplicity, let us say one point.  For every 5 points the attacker beats the defender's roll, additional damage is scored.

Say a dwarf (melee d8) swings his axe (melee d8) at an orc (skill d6) with a shield (d8) and sword (melee defense +1).  That ends up being d8+d8 versus d8+d8.  If the dwarf rolls a mighty 14 while the orc rolls a pathetic 3, the orc will take 3 damage (1 for success, an additional 2 for rolling 10 over), killing it.

Say a thief (skill d6) is using his second-hand tools (quality d4) to pick a double-locked door (quality d8, 2 successes needed).  That ends up being d6+d4 versus d8.    If the thief rolls well and gets a 7 versus the door's unlucky 2, the thief achieves 2 successes, freeing both latches during one action.

The advantage of this system is that even a kobold with pointy stick can hit a high level fighter in heavy armor with sword and shield.  It won't happen very often, of course, but it is always possible, since your minimum roll (with equipment) is a 2.  It also highlights the need to have both skill and equipment, as having only one or the other means you roll but a single die, putting you at a distinct disadvantage.

If you're using a large number of hit points, you can either subtract the defense from the attack, or consider the defense roll to be a threshold, and count the full damage of any attack that rolls above it.  Either way, you would generally ignore the "5 over" rule, unless you want to add in some sort of combat options like stunts and feats.

You can add in rules for critical failures (all 1's) as you see fit.  I use them to degrade equipment quality/durability.  You can add in a rule for critical successes (maximum possible die rolls), but this system rewards low skill/quality that way.  The "5 over" benefit fills that niche for me.

Magic equipment allows a static bonus to the die roll, raising the minimum possible roll, which is quite valuable.  Low quality gear uses a lower die type, while exceptional quality gear uses a higher.

HE is risen!

And light and hope return to the world.  Happy Easter everyone!

(Except you, Pedo Joe Biden.  You're going to burn in Hell.)

Demystifying h and h-bar

h was the beginning of quantum physics.  It represents the indivisible quanta of light.  To get a photon's energy, you multiply its frequency by h.  The frequency is, mathematically, the inverse of the wavelength.  In other words, h represents the circumference of a circle, the amount of ink you would use drawing one wavelength.

All images are as found on the internet.  Credit to whomever made the things in the first place.  I can't draw.

That's easy enough.  But what is h-bar (ħ)?  It is h divided by 2π.  That makes ħ the radius of the circle.  (The circumference of a circle is 2πr.)  In other words, ħ is the null-to-peak amplitude of a photon.  Which photon?  Every photon.  That was the insight that eventually led to quantum physics.

While we're here, the Heisenberg uncertainty theorem states that the uncertainty in the momentum of a particle, times the uncertainty in its position, cannot be less than ħ/2.  In other words, their product cannot be less than half the amplitude of a photon.  Which certainly makes sense, because you couldn't possibly measure anything less than that size by any means.  Notice that this distance is minuscule!  So when you hear people say that you can't know the position and momentum at the same time, they're talking nonsense.  Of course you can.  But there is an absolute limit to the ability to measure something of that ridiculously small scale of precision.  (Notice we're not talking about absolute size, we're talking about the precision of a measurement.)  Not just because of the tooling involved, but because it really doesn't make any sense to talk about distances smaller than ħ/2, because a circle smaller than that is less than the amplitude of a photon, and there is no such measurement.  Not with any tools.  Not even conceptually.  In addition, the minimum arises because when you work out the math, at the smallest scales, the uncertainties (precision) in position and momentum sort of end up being reciprocals, just like frequency and wavelength.  The less you have of one, the more you get of the other.

Contemplate and compare this relationship with the minimum sampling rate of digital audio, which must be at least twice the maximum frequency of the audio signal being sampled.  If you tried to sample at a lower rate, the result would have no relationship to the original signal.

No, space is not curved

Space is flat.  What does this mean?  It means that the three familiar dimensions of space (x, y, z) obey the Pythagorean principle for Euclidean space.

0 ≤ (x2 + y2 + z2)  ≤ c2 

But what does this mean?  x, y, and z are not deformations, but velocities, so they have an intrinsic time element which we usually ignore.  No, it's not proper (subjective) time.  This is the home of true, objective time.  Yes, it exists, because it must.  After all, light propagates and changes over time, without experiencing any time itself.  But it is routinely ignored, for reasons which completely escape me.  (Note that the axes of a spacetime diagram are true distance and true time.  But we, for some reason, must pretend that these don't exist.  Possibly because we, being made of matter, can never actually experience them?)

It would be easier and more intuitive to replace the awkward x, y, z with a simple v for velocity, ignoring the actual direction, which is immaterial for this narrow purpose.  

0 ≤ v2 ≤ c2 

Of course, nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light.  By similar logic and a careful examination of the meaning of quanta, it cannot remain perfectly stationary, either.  To do so, the particle must give up that last bit or momentum.  But there is no way to drop that last bit, because it is less than the smallest quanta of energy transfer.  So we may simplify the expression slightly for normal matter.  (Notice that a photon either travels at the speed of light, or stops existing, but never anything in between.)

0 < v2 < c2

Spacetime, on the other hand, is not flat, but hyperbolic.  This is because proper (perceived, subjective) time is imaginary, and when you square it, out pops a minus one.

0 < (v2 - t2) < c2 

Oddly enough, you can negate the central term, and it still holds true.

0 < (t2 - v2) < c2

A morning wasted with Spring

Spring is here, ah, spring is here.

Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don't you? 'Course you do.
But there's one thing that makes spring complete for me,
And makes every Sunday a treat for me.

All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you'll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.

When they see us coming, the birdies all try an' hide,
But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide.
The sun's shining bright,
Everything seems all right,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.

We've gained notoriety,
And caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society
With our games.
They call it impiety
And lack of propriety,
And quite a variety
Of unpleasant names.
But it's not against any religion
To want to dispose of a pigeon.

So if Sunday you're free,
Why don't you come with me,
And we'll poison the pigeons in the park.
And maybe we'll do
In a squirrel or two,
While we're poisoning pigeons in the park.

We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment,
Except for the few we take home to experiment.
My pulse will be quickenin'
With each drop of strych'nine
We feed to a pigeon.
(It just takes a smidgin!)
To poison a pigeon in the park!

 - Tom Lehrer, An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer

On the philosophy of quantum mechanics

This began with this post at William M. Briggs' place.

Does Quantum Mechanics Speak To Theology? — Guest Post by Bob Kurland

BY BRIGGS ON MARCH 15, 2024 • ( 3 COMMENTS )

“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winner for his research on quantum electrodynamics

Being my cantankerous yet truth-seeking self, I had to comment.  The theme is, as always, none so blind as those who just won't see.

Copenhagen Interpretation delenda est!

Entanglement is nothing more than the Zero Principle in action: Everything adds up to zero. When two particles interact in an entangling way, all it means is that they obtain, at that very moment, some set of opposite properties. They carry these opposites forward unless changed, because particles do not change without cause. It does not matter if they travel one millimeter or ten thousand light years, their properties will remain opposites until and unless altered by some force.

Let us say you have a pair of shoes. You place the shoes into identical, unlabeled, opaque boxes and seal them tightly shut. You hand the boxes to someone, and direct them into a dark room. There they place the boxes, unopened, upon a table. They swap them back and forth to their satisfaction. Then they come out, and a third person goes into the dark room. They find two boxes upon a table, and swap them back and forth to their satisfaction. They come out, and a fourth person goes into the darkened room, and selects one box at whim. Locking the door behind him, he comes out with that box, and fly to some distant portion of the globe. When he arrives at his destination, he calls you, and opens the box. At the moment that person tells you which shoe he has, you suddenly and irrevocably know, for a fact, which shoe still lies hidden in the sealed box in the darkened room.

Unpossible! Magic! Quantum strangeness! Or so the Copenhagen junta would have you believe.

It's all about mind control

 I am the leader of Gamergate 2.0, and so can you!

A leaderless insurrection cannot be decapitated.  There is no leadership to subvert and control.

This was never truly about video games.  It's all about control.  Mind control. 
"Give me the child, and I will give you back the man."

Links to Wilder's posts on the topic, because he is much more well-written than I.

Post 1

Post 2

Algebraic types demystified

In programming, a type is what a variable is allowed to represent.  Typical types are character, integer, and floating point number.  These are the usual atomic types, meaning they hold and represent only one value.  Typical collection types are lists (of one type) and strings (lists of characters).

Functional programmers like to talk about algebraic types.  They wrap these concepts in mystery and superstition, because they originated in mathematics.  They call them "product" and "sum" types.  But really, they're remarkably simple collections of other types.  

Product type = AND collection

A product type is a fixed length, ordered list of various types, where you must fill each element.  A and B and C and D.  It is better known in programming as a tuple.  If you name what each type represents, it is a struct or record.  For those working with an object-oriented language, this is a class.

Sum type = OR collection

A sum type is a set or list of various types, from which you must choose exactly one element to fill.  E or F or G or H.  It is better known as an enum (when referencing elements of a single type) or union (when referencing elements of disparate types).

You can combine these two concepts with each other and the atomic and basic collection types to produce arbitrarily complex data structures.  Some languages even allow types to be recursive, and include themselves as an element.

Contrived example:

type NameOrNumber = union [string, int]    # can be either but not both

var myGirl1, myGirl2: NameOrNumber

myGirl1 = "Jenny"

myGirl2 = 8675309

Overly Contrived Example:

type Lowercase = enum [`a ... `z]    # sum type

type Uppercase = enum [`A ... `Z]    # sum type

type NameFormat =  record       # product type

    initial: Uppercase

    rest: list[Lowercase]

type PersonName = record        # product type

    firstName: NameFormat

    middleInitial: Uppercase

    lastName: NameFormat

type PersonInitials = record        # product type

    firstInitial, middleInitial, lastInitial: Uppercase

type Person = union [PersonName, PersonInitials]    # sum type

var generalName: PersonName        # create a variable

generalName.firstName.initial = `G

generalName.firstName.rest = [`e, `o, `r, `g, `e]

generalName.middleInitial = `S

generalName.lastName.initial = `P

generalName.lastName.rest = [`a, `t, `t, `o, `n]

var nationName: PersonInitials        # create a completely different variable

nationName.firstInitial = `U

nationName.middleInitial = `S

nationName.lastInitial = `A

var name1, name2: Person        # create two variables of the same union type

name1 = generalName               # which are used

name2 = nationName                 # in different ways

How stupid the lies are

Zelensky, dictator of Ukraine, recently claimed that they have lost a total of 31,000 men so far in their war with Russia.

Bwehahahaha -wheeze- hahahahha!  

They lost 1,500 dead and 1,000 captured in just the two day rout from Avdiivka.

I'm sure this announcement had nothing to do with the cancellation of all future elections.

Remember:  They announced last November that they'd lost over 1.1 million men so far.  Which, when you take into account their population of less than 25 million, means they've lost around 10% of their total number of men.  Naturally, they immediately arrested the people responsible for accidentally leaking the (likely) true figures.

The five basic principles

There seem to be five basic rules, or principles, of the universe.  They are simple, yet have remarkably profound consequences.

1. The total energy at every point is a constant.

2. There is no such thing as negative energy.

3. Spacetime is the field governing motion.

4. Time is the source of all potential energy.

5. Proper time is a type of spin.

All else follows. There are no infinities. There are no singularities. There are no contradictions. Proper time appears to be left handed, except for antimatter.

"Proper time" is the time you feel, by the way.  It is the time that affects you.  Photons have no proper time. 

Black holes are hollow shells of maximal density surrounding absolute nothingness.  All the energy has been taken from the center by the mass and energy of the shell, leaving nothing for anything else to exist.  This is how black holes can rotate and move about the galaxy.  The hole grows as energy density increases, pushing everything out into a spheroid shell.

What are you testing for?

I am very intelligent.  I was a counterintelligence agent, which is the opposite of intelligence, which means I have been specially trained how to be stupid!

I am very well educated.  I dropped out of college twice!

I score very well on most tests.  Except...

When I first joined the military, back when Reagan was President, I went to Pensacola after basic training.  As part of the in processing, every Army trainee on this Navy base where dentists were also trained got two fillings, whether you needed them or not.  Ah, the joys of taking a typing test (real typewriters, following a program on real punch tape) while wearing heavy headphones immediately after getting two fillings.

We also had to participate in this new personality profile test.  I guess it was part of the counterintelligence program, but I'm not certain about that.  The Navy was just weird, sometimes, especially from a Soldier's perspective.

I had already done something like this in high school, as part of the vocational advisement program.  It showed that I was neither suited for nor interested in any profession.  Oddly enough, the vocational test had nothing in it about wanting to join the military, the only thing I had really wanted to do since I was 8 years old or so.

So I took the Navy's personality test.  A few days later, I was ordered to take a different one.  They were sort of silly, but something to do while I waited for my class cycle to start.

A couple days after taking the second test, I was called to the office of the testing program manager.  He railed at me for a while.  He accused me of cheating on the tests.  He asked me who I thought I was?  Who sent me?  What am I really doing there on the base?  Who did I really work for?

I had no answers to these questions, and no idea what he was going on about.  So I asked what the real problem was.  He told me that I must have been specially prepared by someone, because both tests indicated that I had no discernible personality.

New books!

I hate writing blurbs for books.  I'm terrible at it.  So here are a few new (and new to me) books I enjoyed, so you might, as well.

Harrier and Murder

Ice

The Sumire Series

Doctor Inferno

The Arcane Casebook Series

It's goundhog day... again

Well, the day is happening again.  Once again, we entrust our fate to a large, generally ill tempered rodent.

Happy groundhog day, everyone!

Don't drive angry.

Gang warfare

Large gangs cannot be effectively fought by police using normal, civil rights focused procedures. Large gangs are alternate governments, with their own laws, taxes, police, courts, intelligence, and military forces. They are insurgencies. They must be fought with heavy handed policing in conjunction with military force. Anything less is a waste of men, money, and time.

Fighting a gang is fighting a civil war.

The Glatisant: A Questing Beast Newsletter

 The Glatisant: A Questing Beast Newsletter

This is Ben Milton's regular posting place for (mostly) OSR RPG happenings.  Ben is the author of Knave and Maze Rats, two hugely influential and useful mini-RPGs.  He's also the guy behind the Questing Beast channel on Youtube.

If you're at all interested in tabletop role playing games, check out Ben's newsletter and channel.

Depletion hit dice

Several OSR style role playing games employ usage (or depletion) dice to track inventory items like torches and arrows.  It's not really simpler than actually tracking individual items, but it can be more fun.

How the mechanic works:  You assign a die type (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20) to the supply level of the item.  After you use some in an event (like arrows in a combat encounter), you roll the die.  On a 1-2, the die size drops one level to show depletion of that resource.  When a d4 reduces, you're out of whatever it was tracking.  This could also be used for item durability.

My new take on this idea:  Use depletion dice for hit points.

A minor hit reduces on a 1, average on 1-2, major on 1-3.  

Reduction from a d4 causes unconsciousness or death.

Level        1   2    3    4    5      6      7      8      9    10

Fighter   d4  d6  d6  d8  d8  d10  d10  d12  d12  d20

Cleric     d4  d4  d6  d6  d6    d8    d8    d8  d10  d10

Thief      d4  d4  d6  d6  d6    d8    d8    d8  d10  d10

Wizard   d4  d4  d4  d6  d6    d6    d6    d8   d8     d8

FM 22-102 Wall to Wall Counseling

I was there. I was there thirty five years ago. I was there the day the humor of Enlisted Men prevailed.  In 1989, on the slopes of Mount Teufelsberg, the Wall to Wall Counseling manual was written.

Field Manual Headquarters Department of the Army

22-102 1 April 1989

'Skipjack' dice resolution

In role playing games, you use the dice to determine success or failure, and degrees thereof.  In modern d20 systems, you roll a 20 sided die (d20), add bonuses, and see if you meet or exceed a target number.  Rolling a 1 always fails, rolling a 20 always succeeds.

I don't like having to do math every time I roll the die.

There is a popular alternative method - roll under.  With this, you use some target number (normally based on your character's attributes), roll a d20, and try to get less than or equal to the number.  Very simple.  But if you want to have a variable difficulty, you still need to add or subtract from your target number.

I don't like having to do math every time I roll the die.

A closely related mechanic is called blackjack resolution (or under-over).  You need to roll equal to or less than your target number, but higher than the difficulty.  You don't have to do math when you roll, you just look at the die and compare it to the two numbers.

Now we're getting somewhere!

I like blackjack resolution, but I also like to make everything possible.  If the difficulty is too high, the player will be unable to succeed - and then what's the point of rolling the die?  I also like to keep everybody involved.  So, I use what I call skipjack.  (What can I say, I like tuna.)  It's like blackjack, but instead of a fixed difficulty number, you roll a difficulty die.  The greater the difficulty, the larger the die.  (0, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20)  Now the player rolls a d20, and the game master rolls the difficulty die (or vice versa).  The d20 still has to show less than or equal to the player character's appropriate attribute, but higher than the difficulty die result.  The difficulty can vary, but nothing is impossible.

Players rolling to defend themselves feels really good.

This opens up a few opportunities.  For example, magic armor could us a larger die size, or allow a roll with advantage (roll twice, take the better result).  Stacked defenses/difficulties could grow the die size, or just roll separate dice.  Character level could determine their die size when defending.

Note:  It's important, when using a roll-under mechanic, to start your characters out using a more limited attribute range than the traditional 3d6 (3 to 18).  That method leads to way too much variability in starting power levels.  Instead, I use 2d3+6, giving a starting range of 8 to 12.  This is identical to a starting bonus of -2 to +2, which falls in line with the old D&D standards.  I also allow characters to add half their level to their attribute, when doing something related to their class (profession) or background.  This adjusted number can be written on their character sheet, so no math is involved during the game.

"THE FLAMINGOES ARE THE BOUNDARY MARKERS."

I just ran across the tale of Steve and the Antler Guy.  This is much too funny not to share.

Imagine that this is your neighbor.  How would you react, given that the entire rest of the neighborhood thinks he's just a great, friendly guy?

"It's hard, living in suburbia. It's harder when your neighbor is an eldritch abomination."

High praise indeed!

 "An enemy of global communism"

Happy New Year 2024!

Wishing the new year will be kinder to you all.

Remember, this is an election year here in the USA.  The Democrats will, once again, cheat with both hands to steal the election.  They can't allow the populace to elect the wrong people, after all.  Even though they have decided to elect a new populace.  Being upset at this behavior is like being upset at dogs barking at a squirrel.

Don't get mad.  Get even.  It's more productive, and settles the nerves.

Now go read more books by independent and small press authors.