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coobird

Pine (パイン) is likely a contraction of pineapple (パイナップル), as the Japanese word for pine is matsu (松=まつ) and I don't think many Japanese are familiar with the English word for it.
Hi, author of Thumbnailator here.

Just FYI, Thumbnailator itself doesn't delegate processing to native processing -- it's just a wrapper around Java's Image I/O[1] functionality. In other words, it delegates the compression/decompression to loaded Image I/O plugins, hence, whether native processes are used depends on those plugins.

In terms of cross-platform support, the default Image I/O plugins that come with Java shouldn't be much of a concern. For 3rd party ones, IIRC there are some that will use native libraries, while others are pure Java. One good library on the Image I/O plugins front is TwelveMonkeys ImageIO[2], which provides plugins to support a wide variety of image formats.

1: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/image...

2: https://github.com/haraldk/TwelveMonkeys

Re:Demolishing the Fry's Electronics in Burbank on Thursday April 17, 2025 @01:06AM (#43713288)
I probably still have some LEDs and transistors in my parts bin that (my dad) bought for me from that Fry's.

Fry's really made me feel like a kid in a candy store -- all the PC software and hardware along with electronics parts too. I was less interested in the household appliances, but I think the small Sony Trinitron TV that was in my bedroom was from Fry's.

Oh yes, they also had candy as well, strategically placed in the isle where we'd wait before reaching the cashier. Must have picked up dozens of Reese's peanut butter cups and Skittles over the years.

Re:Demolishing the Fry's Electronics in Burbank on Thursday April 17, 2025 @12:52AM (#43713225)
That was my local Fry's and I wouldn't touch any returned item with a 10-foot pole given the stories I heard about them, despite them being on discount. This was back in the late 90s before social media, so it must of been word of mouth through my high school friends.

I had the impression that their return process was very lax so you'd have "customers" returning broken items or worse... And they'd end up on the shelves with the white "returned item" sticker with the discounted price.

Re:Brainfuck Enterprise Solutions on Monday September 23, 2024 @01:00AM (#41622508)
(Shameless plug) With Brainfuccuccino[1], you can embed your brainfuck programs right into Java, so you get the "best" of both worlds ;-)

[1] https://github.com/coobird/brainfuccuccino

Re:Unlocking the Duron and Athlon Using the Pencil on Sunday June 02, 2024 @02:01AM (#40551748)
IIRC, the Athlon XP processors also had these contacts, but it required an additional step to fill a gap dug between the contacts with super glue. (Probably possible because previous processors used a ceramic package while the newer ones used organic plastic.)
> What is this obsession with the past and the early days of computing? The reason why people don't cherish these types of things is they are rational. Technology is about tomorrow. It's not about yesterday

This reply hanging off a thread about prior art is telling.

As surprising as it may be, the past can tell a lot about the future, as the past was present at a point, and the future is now.

Take an example about AI. This past couple of years isn't the first time that AI had been a hot topic. Look back to the late 80's -- there was a lot of research into it and lots of predictions about how the world would change -- but that didn't happen. It definitely didn't affect the general public as has today. So why is that? Looking at the different circumstances between the past and today (i.e., increase in computing power, availability of networks and broadband, general availability of computing devices, etc. etc.) could then be used to predict the future.

Looking back at the past can give hints about what the future may hold.

This.

If you want to see a world without fair use, check out the Japanese Wikipedia pages -- it's noticeably lacking in pictures and images than the English counterpart, likely because the latter was written by those in the U.S. It's especially ironic when there's more photos and images on the English language article for topics about Japan!

Re:Facebook Is Not Working on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @10:43AM (#39604860)
Same situation here in Japan -- all devices logged out of Facebook and cannot log back in.
Re:Getting SSH Port 22 on Monday February 12, 2024 @01:42AM (#39342168)
Indeed.[1]

I recall using it as my main search engine at altavista.digital.com before they moved to get its own domain at altavista.com.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltaVista

Re:En Route: A Magazine About Trains in Japan [pdf] on Monday January 15, 2024 @07:02AM (#38999863)
Note that the Hokuriku region is where the large earthquake struck on January 1st and at least some of the places listed has been affected.

One example is the "Royal Squid" on page 31 -- the website says that they're going to be closed indefinitely. While the building did not collapse but the tsunami flooded the building, and the parking lot is uneven.[1]

Seems like precautions would be necessary before visiting some of these sites, especially those in the Noto region of Ishikawa prefecture.

[1]: https://ikanoeki.com/blog/%e4%bb%a4%e5%92%8c6%e5%b9%b4%e5%b9...

Larger buildings tend to better withstand the large quakes. Building codes have been revamped after large quakes in Japan, so large commercial and public buildings tend to be the safest ones. They also are used for temporary shelter in natural disasters like quakes and heavy rain/typhoons.

Problem are with older wooden houses. There's quite a few photos and videos of older houses that have completely collapsed or their ground floors collapsing.

On a side note, since it's a public holiday, hospitals aren't able to cope with those who are injured because they're lightly staffed, and medical personnel can't reach them due to damaged roads, etc.

Re:How to Write a Great Readme on Tuesday July 18, 2023 @11:36AM (#36774196)
My thought as well.

If every project started to make their README filled with HTML (gah, why does Markdown allow arbitrary HTML...), I'd end up crying on the CLI as I frantically search for how to build the project in a sea of <p>, <a> and <br/>s...

This. Also doesn't help that many ordinary Japanese think that getting arrested basically equals they're guilty. So much for due process.

That said, the 99% conviction rate is a bit misleading in that the prosecution rate is pretty low (as low as 10%?). Seems as the prosecutors are picking and choosing slam dunk cases than sending cases through the courts to avoid not guilty verdicts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice_system_of_Jap...

Re:Word-processor idiot (Japanese expression) on Saturday March 04, 2023 @08:49PM (#35026298)
Indeed. When someone says ワープロ, electronic typewriters are what come to mind, just like what the Japanese Wikipedia page[1] shows. The word ワープロ馬鹿 probably wouldn't make much sense to those under 30, as they're very unlikely to have ever used a ワープロ.

1: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3...

The United States also had something similar -- the Mark 18[1], designed as a very large fission bomb in case the first thermonuclear bomb failed, had four critical masses of uranium-235 in its core. Even one of the implosion lens detonating could have led to a kiloton-range explosion. To prevent such an accident, a chain of aluminum and boron (the latter being an especially good neutron absorber) was inserted in the core until it was ready to be used.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_18_nuclear_bomb

The warhead(s) and decoys[1] are deployed in outer space[2]. I believe missile defense systems in this phase will use ground-based equipment like radars, and interceptors themselves use optical and other sensors to discriminate the warhead from the decoys. That said, as the linked page mentions, the decoys can have similar temperature and radar signatures as the warhead, so it's not easy. Let's not forget this is happening as these are travelling at several kilometers per second, which is no easy feat.

It's best if the missile can be disabled during the boost phase before it ever deploys the warhead and decoys.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetration_aid [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_missile_flight_phase...

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