I hate LaTex, it wastes so much of my time. Please tell me why it’s actually good. (Besides “it looks good” yes I know it looks amazing compared to the alternative. But it can only do a few things easily, and I waste so much typing time adding dollar signs and backslashes)
it is not actually good
It’s really not any good.
LaTeX is really the only thing out there that works for certain kinds of documents (like math and physics papers). I’ve never spent any serious time using it to typeset anything that I would have any idea how to produce any other way.
That said, either I just am not using the right packages, or LaTeX formatting (of pretty much any kind) is counter-intuitive, opaque, and badly documented. I can understand that you are not supposed to be thinking about the fine details of how things will look on the page, which is fine in the 90% of cases where the default layout results are fine. But then in the other 10% of cases it produces something amateurish or even unreadable, and it’s not like you can just go with that.
Suppose that, at a certain time, certain very numerous elementary particles wholly compose a certain copper table, Carl. But, then, all Carl’s copper is pushed through an extruder and, out the other side, there gradually appears a very long and skinny copper wire.
Now, we take James Bond’s brain out of his head, and we put Vat Bond’s brain in the cranium of that athletic de-brained body. That won’t help bin Laden: Just as the original Bond would have daringly done, Vat Bond will soon unearth the terrorist.
in 1700 BCE Egyptian mathematicians came up with the best possible way to end a math proof (”Behold! The beer quantity is found to be correct!”), and the only evidence you’ll ever need of base neoliberal depravity is that we knew about this absolute masterpiece and instead opted to end our proofs with an empty square that means “what was to be demonstrated”
My new policy is to pre-emptively shoot anyone who calls for a “darker and grittier” reboot of something. I know that this contsitutes a darker and grittier reboot of my own previous policy of not shooting people, but there you go.
This paper about Etherium Ponzi schemes is a pretty enjoyable read. Did you know that ~10% of Etherium smart contracts with verified source code are Ponzi schemes? (Although they only constitute 0.05% of transactions)
What’s even wilder is the way these schemes are promoted. The paper links to various actual advertisements, and they don’t try to hide the fact that they’re Ponzi schemes. There is no purported “real” business activity; the mechanics of a Ponzi scheme are simply and transparently described (and ensured by a smart contract, albeit often a poorly coded one); sometimes the word “Ponzi” is even used in the advertisement! It seems like they are being presented a form of gambling, although I have no idea why anyone would choose them over the many more exciting, higher-EV (if still negative-EV) forms of gambling out there.
For example, check out this pitch, which promises a first-class experience – you know, for the discriminating Ponzi scheme connoisseur (?!):
Hello everyone! I bring to you THΞ GREEÐ PIT.
Tired of copy paste ponzi games? Me too. This one has gone through weeks of brainstorming and tweaking to provide a solid, enjoyable (and hopefully profitable) experience. There are many unique mechanics that differentiate it from the rest, please check the website for all the details.
[…]
Features:
Original mechanics w/ strategic elements Fast payouts for easy profits (x1.1~x1.5, up to x2 with tokens) Random bonuses & rewards (extra multiplier tokens, rescue shares) Dynamic adjustments to keep things fast Transparency and statistics Nickname support Incentives to play & replay Designed to last Verified source code *Recycle function: If the contract is inactive for close to 3 months (no deposits), the owner may choose to destroy it at any time and start over. As long as people continue to play, the contract isn’t going anywhere, and hopefully, by the time it dies, you’ll have earnt enough ethers to not be at a loss. Don’t let this functionality scare you, it’s still designed to last longer than other similar contracts. I just figured I’d mention this before people start claiming I’m misleading them.
