Hi all,

Some time ago I've been thinking about a programming challenge that's not simply another HackerRank style algorithm task and came up with something that I myself had a lot of fun solving. It goes like this:

We have a well known function (as in I didn't come up with it):

 function xoshiro128ss(a, b, c, d) {
                return function() {
                    var t = b << 9, r = b * 5; r = (r << 7 | r >>> 25) * 9;
                    c ^= a; 
                    d ^= b;
                    b ^= c; 
                    a ^= d; 
                    c ^= t;
                    d = d << 11 | d >>> 21;
                    
                    return (r >>> 0) / 4294967296;
                }
            }  

We initialize it with 4 random parameters a,b,c,d (that I selected) :

  let rnd = xoshiro128ss(a, b, c, d);

and we do:

  let rand1 = rnd();
  let rand2 = rnd();
  let rand3 = rnd();
  let rand4 = rnd();

Knowing that:

rand1 == 0.38203435111790895
rand2 == 0.5012949781958014
rand3 == 0.5278898433316499
rand4 == 0.5114834443666041

What are the values of a,b,c and d?

I was wandering if it's possible to figure it out and couldn't stop trying until I did. It was an interesting journey and I learned some new things along the way Maybe someone else here will also have fun with it. As for prizes, I don't know... whoever posts the right answer first gets an upvote and eternal fame.

By now most of you know that I'm by far the most reasonable person on lemmy. I'm basically real life Judiciary Pag. Well, maybe not the Very Relaxed part... But I'm very Learned and extremely Impartial.

So here's the deal: if you need to resolve some conflict, if you need someone to decide who's the asshole or simply can't decide who's right and who's wrong in a silly comment fight - just ask. I will give you my totally unbiased, 100% impartial opinion and you will be able to move on with your life.

#IWBTJOT

On Wednesday, members of the European parliament [MEPs] voted to outlaw the use of terms such as “environmentally friendly”, “natural”, “biodegradable”, “climate neutral” or “eco” without evidence, while introducing a total ban on using carbon offsetting schemes to substantiate the claims.

Hi,

So I have lived in Spain now for almost 10 years and I will be applying for citizenship soon. As part of this process I can pretty much chose my Spanish name. Or I can keep my polish name.

The problem is that my name is very polish, like Grzegorz Filipowski. Every time someone has to write it down and look me up in a database I have to show them my ID. When it happens over the phone I have to spell it. Every time I meet someone they ask me what's my name is and then repeatedly try to pronounce it while I say 'yeah... close enough'. It's pretty annoying and it would be solved by simply changing my name to something Spanish like Gregorio González or something.

What do you think? Would you see it as a practical thing to do or as a stupid intent at impersonating a real Spaniard?

Saudi Arabia is driving a huge global investment plan to create demand for its oil and gas in developing countries, an undercover investigation has revealed. Critics said the plan was designed to get countries “hooked on its harmful products”.

Little was known about the oil demand sustainability programme (ODSP) but the investigation obtained detailed information on plans to drive up the use of fossil fuel-powered cars, buses and planes in Africa and elsewhere, as rich countries increasingly switch to clean energy.

Sometimes I will use something and realize I've owned it forever. It's a nice change in our throwaway reality. I think my personal record is a bicycle multi-tool I got for one of my first bikes, ~25 years ago. Still have it, still use it. When it comes to electronic devices I have a Panasonic mini Hi-Fi from ~2005. Never felt like changing it.

What's your record?

Cheese

I just finished watching 'Bodies' and we have to agree on one thing:

Timecrimes is the only proper time travel movie ever made.

Spoilers below...

Every other movie either tries to take time travel seriously (Primer, Minority report, Travelers) and fails by creating paradoxes or takes it lightly (Back to the future, Hot tub time machine, Groundhog day) and is not a real SciFi movie. Timecrimes is the only perfect loop and hence the only movie that avoid paradoxes. And what a loop at that. The reveal is just perfectly timed giving away each detail step by step. You basically figure it out together with the protagonist and watch him change his decisions as he realizes what's going on. The loop is the entire point of the movie and that's the only proper way to do it.

Bodies was close but of course they had to add a happy ending there and break the loop in the last episode which was pretty weak.

Timecrimes forever.

That's all I had to say. Thank you.

Sorry Python but it is what it is.

Tech company faces negligence lawsuit after Philip Paxson died from driving off a North Carolina bridge destroyed years ago

Discuss!

I'm thinking about learning to play drums for some time now and I have a question. If I'm a complete beginner should I still get a full drum set? I know you can buy a cheap electric set for like $300 but can I start with something smaller and simpler? Are there some kind of electric pads that would work for taking first steps and that would later let me progress to full drum set? It's not that I don't have space, I'm just not sure I will stick with it and I don't want to be stack a big set I don't use later. Or full set is actually the best way to start?