The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XXXIV

[Snerk]

Sounds cumbersome. I'm willing to pay for something quicker and easier. But it's got to be DRM free.

 

[Takhisis]

I'm willing to pay for something quicker and easier. But it's got to be DRM free.

As any engineer will tell you, it's very hard to maximise all three of good-fast-cheap.

 

[Snerk]

That's all relative. There's plenty of room for a fair compromise.

 

[Takhisis]

Exactly. You'll have to compromise but you won't usually be able to get all three.

 

[Snerk]

Jeez lousie.. I never said I wasn't willing to compromise. It's doesn't even make sense as affordability and ease of use are both relative. Are you saying you know for sure there isn't a music provider somewhere where I can buy DRM free music that I find reasonably priced and simple enough to use?

 

[Synobun]

The entire industry is built on DRM and usage rights. If your preferred artists are represented by independent labels, you could contact them and figure out if they have a direct download option.

For the big labels though... fat chance. It's simply not in their interest to offer it.

iTunes or Google are likely the least intrusive options (but they are still DRM and bloated). Spotify Premium is okay, I guess, if you can afford it and don't mind actually not owning the content (and that of course means all your offline music goes *poof* the second you stop paying).

 

[Snerk]

I've tried Google Music and it seems alright. Do you know if it come with restrictions on where you can play the files after dl?

 

[Synobun]

AFAIK, you can transfer the music files you download through Google Music to your PC and then play them through any player you'd like as they're kept in .mp3. So you own them and can do as you please with them, I think, although they make this as difficult as possible if you're doing it through your phone. I haven't gone through the process myself as my music interests dwindled enough to the point that Spotify and YouTube fill my needs.

 

[Synobun]

What is the actual difference between painter's tape and masking tape? They look the same and Google seems to think they are interchangeable terms, but then the DIY sites talk about how painter's tape is somehow better for working with paint while masking tape is cheaper but not as good.

But how can that be true if they are the same product?

 

[Takhisis]

I never said I wasn't willing to compromise.

I never said you weren't either.
Have you tried Google Music yet?

 

[Snerk]

I never said you weren't either.
Have you tried Google Music yet?

Yeah I've tried it and it seems OK. Not super cheap though.

I've got an idea of how to make it cheaper. I'll send you a list of songs and you'll preform and record them for me. Then send you'll me a USB drive with the finished products.

 

[Takhisis]

If you pay for me to learn how to play every instrument required and/or sail down to pick it up in an actual longship, you've got yourself a deal, mister.

 

[Snerk]

We'll do it a cappella! It'll be cheaper anyway. You can beatbox the drums.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

What is the actual difference between painter's tape and masking tape? They look the same and Google seems to think they are interchangeable terms, but then the DIY sites talk about how painter's tape is somehow better for working with paint while masking tape is cheaper but not as good.

But how can that be true if they are the same product?

Painter's tape doesn't stick as well as masking tape, making it easier to pull off without damaging the paint underneath that you're masking. Masking tape will work fine in a pinch, but you really have to be careful taking it off, as it can rip off the paint on drywall.

At least this has happened in my experience. Did you know that green and blue painter's tape are different? They have different levels of adhesion. I learned this thanks to the nice man at the hardware store.

 

[Broken_Erika]

THere are different grades of masking tape too, apparently "270" is garbage. When it comes to auto-body shops, they need a tape that can stick well enough not to fall off during painting but not too well as to damage it. Although Car-Paint is somewhat tougher than house paint.....There's also orange tape, and a weird liquid masking tape that you spray on before you paint and peel off when you're finished.

 

[Traitorfish]

Some kind person help a humanities major figure out basic statistics:

So if you roll a d20, the odds of rolling a natural 20 are one-in-twenty, or 5%, yes? Naively, if you roll two d20s, your odds are two-in-20, or 10%. But following that logic, if you rolled twenty d20s, the odds of getting a natural 20 rise to 100%, and that's clearly untrue.

So what is this probability curve actually going to look like?

 

[Takhisis]

I can't draw the curve, but:

if you roll a d20, the odds of rolling a natural 20 are one-in-twenty, or 5%, yes?

yes!

Naively, if you roll two d20s, your odds are two-in-20, or 10%. But following that logic, if you rolled twenty d20s, the odds of getting a natural 20 rise to 100%, and that's clearly untrue.

More accurately, if you roll exactly two twenty-sided dice it is 19/20 probable that you won't get a 20. For that not to happen you need to multiply: (19/20) × (19/20). Extend that according to how many eikosahedral dice you roll and eventually the probability will be close to 1 (certainty) but will never reach one. Dangit, I cannot write functions properly here.
See on Wikipedia:

Limit (mathematics), the value that a function or sequence "approaches" as the input or index approaches some value​

The curve itself will actually be very very nearly flat, at values ever closer to 1. It's like the hare-and-tortoise fable.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I can't draw the curve, but:

yes!

More accurately, if you roll exactly two twenty-sided dice it is 19/20 probable that you won't get a 20. For that not to happen you need to multiply: (19/20) × (19/20). Extend that according to how many eikosahedral dice you roll and eventually the probability will be close to 1 (certainty) but will never reach one. Dangit, I cannot write functions properly here.
See on Wikipedia:

Limit (mathematics), the value that a function or sequence "approaches" as the input or index approaches some value​

The curve itself will actually be very very nearly flat, at values ever closer to 1. It's like the hare-and-tortoise fable.

Probability of not getting a twenty when rolling a fair 20 sided die N times equals 19^N divided by 20^N. Therefor probabilty (P) of getting at least one twenty in N rolls is 1-(19^N/20^N).

Writing functions here is not that hard.

 

[Synobun]

Therefor probabilty (P) of getting at least one twenty in N rolls is 1-(19^N/20^N).

What is this supposed to mean?

1-(19^N/20^N) might as well be a violent sneeze to someone who isn't versed in probabilities.

 

[Traitorfish]

I actually understand that much. The probability of a natural 20 is 19 to the power of the number of dice, divided by 20 to the power of the number of dice, subtracted from 1. So the probably of a nat 20 on twenty d20s is 64.15%. Ten d20s gives 40.13%, forty d20s gives 87.15%, one hundred d20s gives 99.41%, and so on and so forth without ever quite hitting 100%.

Problem solved! Thanks, people-who-comprehend-statistics.