Netflix is expanding into games beyond videos.
I think it would work best if they start with interactive videos, like Carmen Sandiego, to steal or not to steal with increasing range of interactivity (like in adventure games), instead of 3D gaming like first person shooters.
July 22, 2021
Netflix gaming
July 20, 2021
ACM SIGGRAPH new technical publication program survey
You can find the survey by Adam Bargteil here.
I have a simpler proposal: revert to the original conference format for SIGGRAPH technical papers (i.e., before year 2002) and give authors the option to submit an extended version of their SIGGRAPH conference papers to ToG as journal papers (with the usual rule of at least 30\% more new materials, for example, most likely for additional analysis and evaluation).
We can then get rid of the current special ToG issues of SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia.
CEO pay fairness
I think if you define fairness by “fair market value”, then C.E.O.s are paid fairly. I think if you define fairness by how you think society should value people, then I think C.E.O.s are paid too much. – Dara Khosrowshahi, the C.E.O. of Uber, in an interview.
If every new hire is paid an above average market value (as likely in the senior executive job market), that will lead to an exponentially higher growth of compensation than otherwise (e.g., the minimum wage job market).
July 19, 2021
The feeling of predestination
[I thought about this earlier this morning during a dream, which I happened to wake up and managed to memorize.]
Do you ever have the feeling of predestination, of meeting someone, being in some place, or going through some events?
I wonder if that is some kind of mental post-processing that tries to fit a narrative to a past event.
July 18, 2021
Cross-cultural casting
I believe our openness to cross-cultural casting in films and performances depends largely on our analytical and creative capabilities – seeing through the physical demography of an actor/actress for the actual performance and imagining the potential alternatives with curiosity.
(I really like to see a black or female James Bond, even though I might have difficulty seeing a male actor playing Wonder Woman outside a comical/satirical role.)
Akai bohshi
The lady in this (oil?) painting on a cookie box looks like a guy to me, so I set out to show you what I see via photoshop.
(I guess I was bored enough to actually do this.)
July 15, 2021
Fill the board with calculus
I heard from this podcast about how Dr. Cecilia Conrad was advised to, instead of making her lectures too clear, “fill the board with calculus” to establish her credential for students who thought she was an “affirmative action hire”.
I know plenty people, my past self included, who are natural board-calculus fillers by overwhelming technical communications such as research papers and presentations with math/algorithm details, and need to reverse what Dr. Cecilia Conrad did.
July 14, 2021
Conservatorship
I found it odd that a functioning adult can be put under conservatorship in a country where people can carry guns, sometimes without permits.
(I am not taking stance on either issue; just pointing out the irony.)
July 12, 2021
Are drugs interfering with evolution
Natural selection has been fostering the formation of genetic traits that fit the environment better as well as addressing any imbalance between the relative populations of different specifies.
The introduction of drugs has interfered these natural mechanisms, such as antibiotics that made certain bacteria stronger, and hooking people on constant medical interventions.
Our efforts so far against covid-19 continued this trend. Nobody knows what will happen in the end, but the viral strains seemed quite adaptive to all our interventions so far and there is a chance that they can continue to do so unless we fundamentally change our genetics and/or behaviors.