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Should we worry about the overjustification effect with this? Or creating incentives for social and technical hacking when the site doesn't seem to have a great deal of moderator resources for counteracting either?

Joshua_Blaine11y50

You're right. I've now got new information. Excuse me while I go try and discard my idea, and rethink the potential benefits of rewards again.

See in context

39 New Monthly Thread: Bragging

by Joshua_Blaine

11th Aug 2013

1 min read

147

39

In an attempt to encourage more people to actually do awesome things (a la instrumental rationality), I am proposing a new monthly thread (can be changed to bi-weekly, should that be demanded). Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to comment on this thread explaining the most awesome thing you've done this month. You may be as blatantly proud of you self as you feel. You may unabashedly consider yourself the coolest freaking person ever because of that awesome thing you're dying to tell everyone about. This is the place to do just that.

Remember, however, that this isn't any kind of progress thread. Nor is it any kind of proposal thread.This thread is solely for people to talk about the awesomest thing they've done all month. not will do. not are working on. have already done. This is to cultivate an environment of object level productivity rather than meta-productivity methods.

So, what's the coolest thing you've done this month?

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[-][anonymous]11y750

I'm a high school senior. I co-authored a paper with John Conway. It's on pretty unimportant stuff, and hardly serious mathematics, but it's still interesting. And I get an Erdos number of 2!

[-][anonymous]11y190

Yeah just three weeks ago. The proofs are all complete and the guy in charge of writing it up should almost be finished. It'll probably take some time to get published though. I met Conway at a maths summer camp in Germany, and he told us students about the Prague clock problem. A friend, a grad student volunteering there, and I worked on the problem for a few days and pretty much solved it, and Conway said we should write a paper together. I was incredibly lucky, of course. Recreational mathematics isn't how one expects to get an Erdos number. It was a wonderful experience, and John Conway is an amazing man. I've never seen anyone that could delight so much in almost trivial mathematics. Kinda explains how he became great.

1Dan_Moore11y

It must be this you are referring to. Congratulations!

0[anonymous]11y

Congratulations! Will it be published behind a paywall? Any chance that we will get to read it?

[-]Joshua_Blaine11y110

Did you really co-author that paper just this last month?

Also, an Erdos number of 2? that's... that's just not fair, and I am incredibly jealous.

[-]Dan_Moore11y100

As this is the first bragging thread, even if this happened over a month ago, it should be admissible. (Heck, even if it weren't the first bragging thread.)

8Joshua_Blaine11y

Point conceded. but no doubling up by mentioning this in future bragging threads.

4pragmatist11y

That's amazing! Could you tell us some more about how this came about?

[-]RolfAndreassen11y490

I turned down a job offer. Because it didn't pay enough. When my current job will definitely end in December.

[-]Joshua_Blaine11y180

+1 for doing a genuinely uncomfortable thing. Nice job.

8atorm11y

Did you ask for more money?

[-]RolfAndreassen11y130

I did. They made it clear that more money was not on the table.

[-]chaosmage11y420

I formally proposed to the love of my life, and she said yes.

1[anonymous]11y

Congratulations!

[-]philh11y420

Probably not the most awesome, but something I have wanted to brag about: at swing dance classes, I've been making an effort to remember people's names. One girl in particular, I forgot her name after getting it twice, but I remembered that it was "eye-something-something". I also remembered that she was Turkish. So I googled for a list of Turkish given names, and per wikipedia, decided she was probably called Aybüke.

I didn't see her for a few weeks, but next time I did, I said "Aybüke, right?", and her reaction was a delightful combination of surprise, pleasedness, and embarassment that she'd forgotten mine.

9MalcolmOcean11y

I like this. I totally think that it makes sense with the intention of this thread to think of the thing you're most proud of. Similarly, at a CFAR workshop, we were debriefing from CoZE (Comfort Zone Expansion), and the thing I shared that put me most out of my comfort zone wasn't actually the most awesome thing I did.

4Joshua_Blaine11y

Not saving the world awesome, but still good, because names are hard.

[-]Prismattic11y330

I ran a mile in 6:40 (I'm 5'10" and 202lb, so this is actually quite a bit more impressive than it sounds).

2Vive-ut-Vivas11y

6Prismattic11y

[I should note here that there's a tradeoff between weightlifting and running. I hurt my back and had to stop doing squats and deadlifts for six weeks, which left my legs a lot less tired for running. Otherwise this record would not have happened.] I typically run between 2 and 3.5 miles, running a mile at a time as fast as possible, gradually slowing down for a minute and stopping for a minute to get water, then doing the next mile. I run 5 times a week, along with weightlifting and judo. I prefer to run inside, with the treadmill at a slight incline to compensate for it being easier; I have trouble regulating my pace outdoors.

1Brillyant11y

Nice job on your 6:40 mile! I'm trying to run a 10:00 1.5 mile by Nov 1. I'm concurrently working to increase my strength and have some bench press goals I'm targeting. As you mentioned, I've also found running and weight training to be a bit of a tradeoff. I fear the training requirements for each may become detrimental to the other in pursuit of my goals. Any advice or thoughts on how to get faster and stronger? (I'm new to running, but have been lifting weights for several years.)

0Prismattic11y

I don't think I have special expertise that you wouldn't get from a book. The only thing I can say is that the extra half mile you do at the end of your workout, after you think you've given it everything you had, probably provides a disproportionate amount of benefit. Evolutionary just-so story: the body doesn't like to waste resources, but if you push it past its apparent limits, it figures the situation is desperate and maybe you need to be a bit fitter to survive.

[-]AngryParsley11y320

My co-founder and I launched Floobits, a tool for remote pair programming. We'd been soft-launched and were slowly growing through word of mouth, but we hadn't tried to get publicity or told the world that we're a Y Combinator startup.

We got coverage on:

...and a couple other places I've forgotten about.

I also wrote an insubstantial post about getting into YC. It doesn't contain any special hints, just a summary of the journey so far.

Demo day is next week, so maybe I should have waited to post in this thread. :)

6robertzk11y

Do you have an Amazon wish list? You are awesome.

4AngryParsley11y

I do not. Your praise is more than enough. Also, I have pretty much everything I want that can be ordered off Amazon.

[-]answer11y290

I solved the last 8 digits of 3^^^3 (they're ...64,195,387). Take that ultrafinitists!

[-]Kindly11y240

...62535796399618993967905496638003222348723967018485186439059104575627262464195387.

Boo-yah.

Edit: obviously this was not done by hand. I used Mathematica. Code:

TowerMod[base_, m_] := If[m == 1, 0, PowerMod[base, TowerMod[base, EulerPhi[m]], m]];

TowerMod[3, 10^80]

Edit: this was all done to make up for my distress at only having an Erdos number of 3.

7answer11y

Impressive, I didn't think it could be automatized (and even if it could, that it could go so many digits before hitting a computational threshold for large exponentials). My only regret is that I have but 1 upvote to give.

2Luke_A_Somers11y

It is not clear to me why the above code works. In particular, the 10^80 part.

5[anonymous]11y

A number mod 10^n yields the last n digits of the number.

1Luke_A_Somers11y

Aaah. it was just saying how much to output. Phew. I was trying to figure out what 10^80 could have to do with 3^^^3 and failing, hard. So, it's a great relief that the answer is, 'nothing'.

0Kindly11y

Technically, I have not used the fact that the number in question is 3^^^3 -- I am treating it as 3^^X, where X is very large. So for huge numbers of digits, this will not give the correct answer, but I don't think it's practical to compute that many digits, in any case. Should I explain how everything else works?

0Luke_A_Somers11y

Nah, I just figured that the named functions were something relevant, and I'm satisfied with that level of knowledge at this point.

7Joshua_Blaine11y

I.. just.. WHAT? The last digits are the easiest, of course, BUT STILL. What was your methodology? (because I can't be bothered to think of how to do it myself)

7answer11y

I started with some iterated powers of 3 and tried to find patterns. For instance, 3 to an odd (natural number) power is always 3 mod 4, and 3 to the power of (a natural number that's 3 mod 4) always has a 7 in the one's place.

3A1987dM11y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham%27s_number#Rightmost_decimal_digits

1wedrifid11y

That's awesome. Why did you do this? (ie. Did you get to publish it someplace...)

6answer11y

Partially just to prove it is a real number with real properties, but mostly because I wanted a challenge and wasn't getting it from my current math classes (I'm currently in college, majoring in math). As much as I'd like to say it was to outdo the AI at math (since calculators can't do anything with the number 3^^^3, even take its mod 2), I had to use a calculator for all but the last 3 digits.

1wedrifid11y

You mean you did it manually? You didn't write code to do the grunt work?

8answer11y

In the interest of challenging my mental abilities, I used as few resources as possible (and I suck at writing code). It took fewer than 3^^^3 steps, thankfully.

[-]AlexMennen11y180

and I suck at writing code

In that case, you might find writing a program to solve it for you an even better challenge of your mental abilities.

[-]gothgirl42066611y270

Since I began working out a month and a half or so ago, I've managed to successfully to go the gym every other day, the exceptions being when I hung out with friends and either got too high to go or ended up spending the night at someone's house. The important thing being that at no point did I not go simply because of lack of willpower.

I also finally learned how to lucid dream in the last month and I've had seven or so (short) lucid dreams.

I like this thread idea. I think that bragging about charitable donations should be especially encouraged.

5Joshua_Blaine11y

Personal health habits, I like it. I love my early morning lucid dreaming myself. I still need to work out the kinks in really controlling them, but even so, they're pretty enjoyable. As for charity, it should ABSOLUTELY be encouraged. It's a less visceral awesome, of course, but I think we can all shut up and multiply if need be.

-4iamesco11y

Sounds like a lack of willpower to me.

[-]Qiaochu_Yuan11y220

I taught classes about probability and cognitive biases at the Summer Program for Applied Rationality and Cognition to some of the smartest mathematically talented high school students in the US. The classes I taught together with the rest of the curriculum will hopefully help them be some combination of more rational, more effective, and more reflective.

5Kaj_Sotala11y

How did they seem to like your classes?

2Qiaochu_Yuan11y

They seemed to like them okay. I'll know more once we solicit feedback at the end of the program.

[-]Anatoly_Vorobey11y220

Helped my wife as she delivered our child (well, a maternity nurse also participated).

(relevant link)

[-]gwern11y190

I have roughly doubled my monthly income. I thank efm, SDr, Ralith, and Burninate for pushing me to increase my price beyond what I would have cowardly accepted.

1EvelynM11y

You're welcome, gwern. A worthy adversary helps one to up their game.

[-]Ben_LandauTaylor11y190

I've been running a hobby project that's prestigious within my subsubculture, and it became clear that one of the four other people I'd recruited was a bad fit for the job. I convinced him to leave without wounding anyone's feelings, and we're all still on great terms. I'm assigning myself points for (text-based) social skills and for picking awesome friends.

[-]fluchess11y190

I'm an undergraduate student, and I recently completed a holiday research project in computational neuroscience. During the project I found some interesting properties about connection properties in matrices which may not be a currently known.

5Joshua_Blaine11y

Original research? CONGRATU-FREAKIN-LATIONS! Assuming, of course, that the whole things ends up being something cool.

3fluchess11y

Thanks Am in the middle of writing up generalised proof of what I have done. Work I did was mainly concerned with calculating integrated information for simple neuronal systems. If I get some time, I could write up my result if people are interested

2robertzk11y

I am interested. What software did you use? I am trying to learn NEURON but it feels like Fortran and I have trouble navigating around the cobwebs.

2fluchess11y

I used Matlab for most of my programming. From what I have read (and seen), Matlab is the most used software for Computational Neuroscience. Almost all of the researchers who used any programming used Matlab, which a few people using C.

[-]Jayson_Virissimo11y170

I reached 1,000 judged predictions on PredictionBook, my business hired three new employees, and I finally achieved a 30 day streak on Duolingo. So there!

5A1987dM11y

And with excellent calibration, too!

[-]palladias11y160

I started writing fiction (well, fanfic) again, including a horror sequence that quite upset my beta reader. I used to assume, when I was younger, that I could only write non-fiction, because I wasn't the kind of person who could flesh out a character or engage a reader about people instead of just ideas.

[-]Suryc1111y160

I implemented the Secret Weapon--a productivity system that combines Evernote and GTD--and have been making use of it quite effectively. I also have kept up on my recently started gratitude journal.

In other news, Evernote is simply awesome.

4Gimpness11y

You have also lead to me implementing Secret Weapon by mentioning it here. EDIT:Having now done this for 6 months I can attest to sticking to it and it very much being helpful for both checking on what I have done that day and planning for future days. Will keep doing it

0Suryc1111y

Yay! I don't want to wax too positive about it this early on, but I really do feel like it will continue to work wonders for me, especially during the school year.

1Dorikka11y

How hard have you pushed this system? As in, how intense was the work required of you during the period in which you tested it?

1Suryc1111y

So far, not too intense, which is why I'm a little hesitant to fully recommend it. I'll have better information once the school year starts. I like it right now not so much because it helps me be that much more productive, but primarily because it is a very natural extension to the way I already use Evernote. Evernote becomes better the more you do with it and the more you put into it, so a productivity/to-do system that allows me to make use of Evernote's features (tagging, searching, etc.) is great.

1Dorikka11y

Ah, okay. Please let me know how this went once it's been pushed a good bit.

2Suryc1111y

This is fairly late, but better late than never. I stopped using this system several weeks ago. It proved to be more effort than it was worth, at least in the context of frequent college assignments and meetings. Since very few of the things that I needed to get done were "assigned" through email, the very cool ability to forward emails to one's Evernote address to automatically convert them to notes did not see much use. I've since transitioned to a very simple (physical) calendar and planner system, combined with flagging emails which need further attention.

0gjm11y

Upvoted for providing a useful experience report. Are you still using Evernote for other things, and are you still finding it awesome?

0Suryc1111y

Thanks! Yes, definitely. I frequently use Evernote to save online references (one of my notebooks is actually named "(Intellectual) References" and has stuff like academic articles that I later want to refer to) because the ability to tag, comment, and later search these web clips makes bookmarks seem completely useless. I also use Evernote for journaling purposes and as a way to improve exam studying. Before an exam, I go through my handwritten notes and other class materials and compile a summary in Evernote. This ensures that I have a record of the most important things from my classes (some of which I would otherwise forget), as well as makes studying for a cumulative test easy. Sorry for the long answer, but yes, I still find Evernote awesome.

2gjm11y

(That was two paragraphs. I weep for the future of humanity :-).) Thanks!

1Suryc1111y

Will do!

0pinyaka11y

I skimmed through the methodology there but didn't see anything about how to handle repeating tasks. For instance, if you're trying to train yourself to floss, having a task that automatically comes up every day that you can "check off" can be very helpful. Is there something like that in this GTD implementation? I have been using a modified GTD system for a few years using ToodleDo (and Remember the Milk before that), and definitely think it's a great system. For me, there was a significant reduction in stress as I came to rely on my task list and calendar to let me know what's what. I still haven't found a really good way to track task dependencies without having to retag every task in a tree (or review the tree after completing each task to change something from "waiting" to "next action"). Keep us posted on how this works out for you.

0Suryc1111y

Hm, I think the "!Daily" sub-tag under the ".When" tag is meant for things like that, i.e., things you're trying to do every day. Two problems with that, though: What about repeating tasks that aren't daily? One solution might be to just create another appropriate sub-tag, say, "7-Weekly". Another problem is that this implementation doesn't really have tasks "automatically come up." You still have to put in the motivation to look through your to-dos; the system just makes it easier by ordering them by several filters, most critically by when you want them done (i.e., the ".When" context tag). And will do!

[-]new_throwaway11y150

I'm a futures trader. The week before last was my best week at my current company. $150K baby!

[-]Shmi11y140

Grats! You know, the MIRI's 2013 Summer Matching Challenge is still on, if you need tax deductions :)

2Transfuturist11y

Please elaborate. Algorithmic trading?

1new_throwaway11y

Yeah. I would call it automated futures market making.

2gjm11y

I guess the $150k is what you gained for the company. What is the relationship (if any) between this figure (once aggregated over a year, or whatever) and how much they pay you?

2new_throwaway11y

I get a percentage. I don't want to disclose specific details of my compensation, even anonymously, but in my industry I have seen anywhere between 25% and 65%. Higher than 65% usually requires putting in your own capital and less than 25% is usually a different situation. There are also a lot of places that do discretionary bonuses rather than fixed percentages, and that can work great, but for me personally it creates a lot of anxiety to not be able to calculate exactly what I'm making.

[-]kalium11y140

After using the same terrible, creaky, heavy bicycle for two years because it was free, I finally bought a decent bike. The search process was much less painful than I'd been expecting, and I can go up hills now without having to get off and walk.

I've also started a habit of going for a walk every morning, no exceptions, which seems to be improving my happiness already.

[-]Joshua_Blaine11y130

META COMMENT THREAD: KEEP ALL META DISCUSSION HERE

Anything you do or don't like about this thread, post here. Feedback fosters improvement.

[-]Omid11y160

I just realized that after reading all of these things that I was happy for each person's achievement, and not the slightest bit jealous. I'm not sure why this is, but it's a good thing.

3Viliam_Bur11y

It is a good thing to belong to a community where similar sentiments can be expected. Now it's like peer pressure on me (and anyone else here) to become more awesome. And we all know how people can change because of the peer pressure. (Somewhere else, there would be a peer pressure to start smoking or taking drugs, or just to not change.)

1derefr11y

Indeed, even knowing that in general I'm not a very jealous person, I was surprised at my own reaction to this thread: I upvoted a far greater proportion of the comments here than I usually do. I guess I'm more compersive than I thought!

3luminosity11y

Should it be the coolest thing you've done this month, or cool things you've done this month? For example, the last two months have been in many ways the most productive of my life, but it's not from any one big thing (well, there are a few big things) so much as a combination of different things. I could put them all in the same post, but then that reduces the motivation this thread delivers. Great thread idea, by the way.

1Joshua_Blaine11y

hm.. A'd like "coolest thing", but as an encouraging factor, any awesome things, cumulative or otherwise, should be fine.

1MalcolmOcean11y

I think it is generally a good policy not to talk about plans unless you're specifically looking for feedback/help/advice with them. It's hard, but I've been trying to avoid saying "I've been thinking about doing XYZ". There've been a few instances I can think of where this has prompted me to: * take action when I probably otherwise would have waited * framed my desire to talk about it as "do you have any ideas?"

1Joshua_Blaine11y

I've had an idea that should encourage more awesome: REWARDS. Now, I don't currently have much expendable income (Though I expect that to change soon, while also expecting that expectation to be false.), but I suspect $50 given to the top commenter (after a several days wait) could make for some nice incentives. Thoughts on that? Communal donations to the reward pool could ease my personal burden, and increase the scope of the prize as the scope of participation also increases. note: I'm not doling out rewards for this thread, but I may implement something in future threads. edit: I'm offering you money and getting negative feedback because of it... cool. :D

[-]Ben_LandauTaylor11y250

I expect cash rewards would mostly encourage lying.

2Joshua_Blaine11y

top comment gets money donated to charity of their choice, unless proven (to MY satisfaction) that they really actually did what they say they did. Of course, I'm reconsidering the reward plan anyway, as I now consider the overjustification effect to be potential problem. (Thanks to this comment)

6Risto_Saarelma11y

5Joshua_Blaine11y

You're right. I've now got new information. Excuse me while I go try and discard my idea, and rethink the potential benefits of rewards again.

4Nornagest11y

That sounds like a fantastic way to expose perverse incentives in the karma system, but there are probably cheaper ways of doing so.

0[anonymous]11y

I think bragging is its own reward, and that giving cash would cancel out the intrinsic reward.

0NancyLebovitz11y

Top commenter by karma or some other way?

2wedrifid11y

Opinion of the person giving the money seems reasonable.

0Dan_Moore11y

I like that this thread provides an incentive to finish a project so that you can brag about it.

[-]Alsadius11y110

Two entries for me. 1) Got a new job that's actually in my field. (Finally, after five years of looking) 2) Found a girl who's as big of a nerd as I am, and started dating her. Things are going really well so far, easily better than any past relationship.

[-]luminosity11y110

Many individual changes, several of them big and important in their own right (see my Meta thread comment ), but the big one is just keeping track of things I want to do, portioning out ambitious goals to hit for particular days, managing to hit all or most of these, reviewing why I couldn't hit them all when I didn't and doing a weekly review of which of the bigger goals I should attempt to tackle over the week ahead.

For example, I've hit the income threshold where it's cheaper for me to have private health insurance than not, so that was put on my list of things to do after finishing moving to Sydney, pulled off once I was set up, turned into goals over a few days of finding out more information in general, researching specific plans, picking one, and signing up for it. Each of these was just one bullet point of several on my list to accomplish for that day.

I've gone from being somewhat bored at home, casting around for videogames that inspired me to actually play them, about 3 months ago, to being occupied up until I go to bed every night of the week working on longer term projects for myself.

[-]J_Taylor11y100

I donated to the Against Malaria Foundation, which is GiveWell's top charity.

Here is a link for those who wish to do likewise:

http://www.againstmalaria.com/

[-]Baughn11y100

I built an aquarium that is, by observation, a sufficiently stable ecosystem that it can go without maintenance for a month with no apparent degradation.

Also I convinced a fire eel to curl up in my hand while waiting for earthworms.

[-]linkhyrule511y80

I wrote a 2+1D special relativity simulator. It takes a Flatland spacetime volume in a rest frame and shifts it into a moving frame.

It's simple, but it's the first self-driven project I've ever completed, and it's also in a sense the first bit of "real physics" I've done.

(Next month: porting it to C from Java, so that I can actually run the thing without crashing my computer.)

5Viliam_Bur11y

Something like this?

5linkhyrule511y

... yes. Exactly like that. Oh well. It's good physics/programming practice, and I have a generalized way to put sprites into the sim so customizability is nice. Oh, and thanks for showing me that - grumpiness about nothing-new-ness aside, that's actually a really awesome game.

0Baughn11y

This should never happen; C should not be able to crash your computer, any more than Java. Ignoring considerations such as Java being the devil's kimchi... Do you want to talk about it?

0linkhyrule511y

From Java, to C, not the other way around. I'm pretty sure it's because I'm basically brute-forcing this in favor of accuracy: I'm populating a 1000x1000x2000 volume with world-paths and doing Lorentz transforms on the lot. I'm pretty sure researchers deal with millions of data points all the time, so I don't think this is unreasonable, but then I'm also new to serious programming as I noted above, so who knows.

1Baughn11y

1000x1000x2000 is.. hm two gigabytes at one byte per point, so probably at least eight, and possibly more depending on Java types and what exactly you're storing. You probably want some form of sparse array, or something more suited to the problem at hand. It shouldn't be possible to crash your computer by running out of memory (it'll just kill the program instead), but it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference when swap gets involved.

1linkhyrule511y

Oh, I'm using a sparse array all right - I "only" have to deal with, oh, 10,000,000 actual voxels. And to be fair, I was being colloquial, not accurate (in retrospect that was foolish on a site so closely linked to AI research) - JVM just threw an OutOfMemoryException and exited gracefully.

1gattsuru11y

It'll vary depending on JVM and Java version and Operating System, but a modern 32-bit Windows environment will default to a maximum heap size of 1/4th of total available memory or 256 MB, and even a 64-bit Windows or Linux server-mode Java environment usually defaults to only one or two GB. With 'only' 10 million voxels, those defaults only give you 200 bytes per voxel in the best-case scenario (and 25.6 bytes per voxel in a plausible scenario), which can be deceptively easy to overfill. You can change that with the -Xmx option when initiating the JVM in order to use more available RAM, which may at least buy you additional time. Software profilers will also let you get a better idea of how much space you're allocating, as well. If you want the system to be growable beyond the current point, you probably need a better way to compartmentalize the design and work on smaller subsets individually, though.

0gattsuru11y

Barring poorly configured operating systems or pointer arithmetic, you shouldn't be /able/ to run into situations where your computer (rather than the program) crashes -- modern OS and language design focuses on preventing this errors, because they're often tied to attacks on the operating system. That's actually more true with Java and similar languages like C#, where direct memory access is hard, than in C. That said, you are talking a 2-billion-deep set. The program itself is likely to run out of available memory space (or fail a m_alloc silently, causing something later to go terribly wrong) in a 32-bit Windows mode. Default java virtual machine settings also usually trend to significantly less memory than even that. You may want to test it in a smaller volume first.

0linkhyrule511y

It works fine in a smaller volume (and see cousin, I'm using a sparse array already so I only have to deal with about 10 million voxels in the final project.) I'm switching to Java because I'm pretty sure my computer can handle the data, so long as I'm not doing anything else in the meantime.

[-]somervta11y80

I am beeminding 'meta' improvements - things which I can implement that will increase my ability to do other things. (for example - using beeminder would be one, although not one of the ones I have been counting. Rationality improvements would count, although depending on how broadly you interpret it, there are things which are not explicit rationality improvements, like getting a working GTD system). The beeminder is currently committing me to a new idea or formal implementation of an idea every two days.

[-]MalcolmOcean11y100

Can you give a few examples of new ideas and formal implementations? I'm just curious what the typical size of the every-other-day item is.

4somervta11y

First: +1 for asking for examples! The 'ideas' can range from fairly vague; * 'find 'some way to stop using games on phone as a distraction' to more specific; * 'nail down a GTD system, focusing on ease of modification in response to strategics reviews', * 'integrate all my uses of to-do and time-planning software into a single tool/piece of software". (other examples: * 'find some way to store meta ideas and increase them', * 'Find a reliable [I've had problems with blockers being too easy to circumvent, I don't want to screw around with deeper modifications to OS etc and I'm often on university computers anyway] way to stop myself using facebook at certain times/days') The point there is just to keep thinking about "what can be done to improve" and to encourage writing down 'clever ideas' that have no obvious next-action. 'Formal Implementations' are more like "this is exactly what I'm going to do/try": * 'use backup-to-computer app and software to store savedata, then uninstall games' [this is the only one so far where I fulfilled the idea but not the F.I - I couldn't get backup apps to work, and I ended up uninstalling without concern for savegame data], * 'Use an ical port to get all my uni timetable data into Gcal and use Google's text message reminders to duplicate the fact that I'd moderately trained myself to pay attention to that style of reminder. Copy important lists into Gcal, experiment with Gcal's todos, and set aside time to copy important data from other services.' (the FI versions of other examples: * "Use separate Trello lists to represent levels of precision and integrate with beeminder", * "Get a friend to create half of my facebook password [half to prevent them having access], give them instructions on when I can use it, [starting with when I ask and ramping up if that doesn't work] and turn on email notifications of anything I need to keep track of"). Also, implementations always have a next-action associated wi

1MalcolmOcean11y

I'm curious what your pre-existing Factoring tool is.

2somervta11y

It's not really a tool - that's just what I used to call breaking up a task into subcomponents in a sort of 'next-action-chain'. You know - I've got an assignment due, but instead of worrying about the whole assignment, it turns into read chapter 9 -> read this paper -> scratch out an outline -> fill in arguments file ->decide which arguments I'm going to focus on...

0A1987dM11y

Gurer'f gur “sbetbg lbhe cnffjbeq” yvax, naq hasbeghangryl jvgu Snprobbx lbh pna'g punatr lbhe r-znvy gb n snxr bar orpnhfr vg'q nfx lbh sbe pbasvezngvba gurer. (Ohg n qvfcbfnoyr rznvy nqqerff zvtug fbyir gung.) (These days I just use a ridiculously long password, and log out of Facebook anywhere except on my laptop, where I have LeechBlock installed.)

0westward11y

I use a randomly generated password from LastPass. I have no idea what it is, so I can only access it from my laptop (with the Firefox LastPass Add-on). That combined with LeechBlock is pretty effective. I could go to the LastPass site on another machine, I suppose. But I do store other, more important passwords on LastPass and don't want to expose those. And it takes only nominal inconvenience to prevent me from jumping into FB.

0somervta11y

can I ask why this is rot13'd? I don't want to read it and find out that it breaks the placebo efffect or something, which was my first thought of why it might be.

0A1987dM11y

It describes a way to escape a precommitment, which certain people in certain situations might be better off not knowing.

0wedrifid11y

I rather suspect that most people have encountered 'forgot my password' links before.

1A1987dM11y

Yes, but it might not have occurred to them to use them in that situation.

0MalcolmOcean11y

If your problem can actually be isolated to facebook, it might be possible to write an app that enacts some sort of negative consequence based on how much time you spend on facebook, regardless of where you spend it.

[-]iamesco11y80

I learnt that Cologne and Koln are the same city; beat that.

[-]Anatoly_Vorobey11y190

My go-to example in that area is when I learned, at the young impressionable age of 30, that raisins are really dried grapes and not separate other kind of fruit.

4palladias11y

Mitochondria are real was pretty shocking in 9th grade bio. (I'd read A Wind in the Door)

9Alicorn11y

I was really confused when mitochondria were real but farandolae were not.

2komponisto11y

Also, Munich and München (which has always bothered me, because "Munich" looks German enough already).

[-]summerstay11y70

I turned in my PhD dissertation. Here's the title and first paragraph of the abstract:

PRODUCTIVE VISION: METHODS FOR AUTOMATED IMAGE COMPREHENSION

Image comprehension is the ability to summarize, translate, and answer basic questions about images. Using original techniques for scene object parsing, material labeling, and activity recognition, a system can gather information about the objects and actions in a scene. When this information is integrated into a deep knowledge base capable of inference, the system becomes capable of performing tasks that, when performed by students, are considered by educators to demonstrate comprehension.

(Basically it is computer vision combined with Cyc.)

[-]Thomas11y60

I've calculated that the atoms in the center of the Sun are not fast enough to escape the Sun's gravity even from its surface, let alone from its center.

And published it in my blog.

Not that it is a discovery of any kind, just another eyeopener how bad is our intuition.

Would you say, that 15 million K hot proton is too slow to escape the Sun's gravity?

3A1987dM11y

Huh: Unless I've botched something: * kT for T = 15 MK is about 1.3 keV; * GmM/R for m = 938 MeV/c², M = 2e30 kg and R = 700,000 km is about 1.0 keV (In retrospect, it's not surprising they would be the same order of magnitude, as per the virial theorem.) (In the above I'm implicitly bragging about remembering the mass and radius of the Sun off the top of my head (everyone working in my field knows the proton mass anyway so that's not bragworthy), but I didn't learn them last month, so that doesn't count.)

2GeraldMonroe11y

Why is there a solar wind, then?

8Thomas11y

Those particles of solar wind don't wander away from the Sun by the Brownian motion. They are ejected in Solar storms by electromagnetism. When many billion hydrogen atoms or rather ions conspire just in a right way, they can launch one of their own to the stars. The energy contribution of them many is needed, to accelerate just one. Sometimes, a rock is ejected to the outer space by a volcano on Earth. That doesn't mean, the rocks here are that fast, 10 or more kilometers per second. But when a lot of rocks conspire in a just right way, one of them may be launched with such a speed from the Earth. On the other hand, hydrogen molecules from Earth do wander away by the Brownian motion alone. 50 kilograms of them every second, according to Wikipedia, are fast enough to evaporate. And a few kilos of helium evaporates away from our planet every second as well. Sun's gravity is too strong to permit a noticeable leak of this kind. Hydrogen atoms/ions on its surface are not that hot, that an observable fraction of them would gain the escape velocity. Paradoxically, on Earth they are! That the Earth is loosing its mass I wrote something here. I guess the Sun is gaining mass. Still.

-1Locaha11y

I'm pretty sure there are no atoms in the center of the sun. it's all plasma. So speed of what exactly did you calculate? Electrons, protons, helium nuclei? Can 15 million K hot electron escape?

2Thomas11y

The mass difference between a hydrogen atom and a proton is very small. None of them has enough speed. Heavier isotopes (deuterium and tritium (nuclei)) are even slower. So are all helium isotopes, so are all other elements. Even slower than a single proton! Okay?

2Locaha11y

What about the electrons? :-)

2Thomas11y

Electrons are faster than the escaping velocity is. But they can't escape alone. Electromagnetism prevents that. Except for a negligible minority, maybe.

1Locaha11y

OK, but I thought that in this thought experiment you ignore electromagnetism. Otherwise you'd have to concede that a lot of particles do reach escape velocity, in a form of solar wind. :-)

2Thomas11y

You are right here on something important. Atoms couldn't be much, much smaller than they are. Otherwise not only the stars, but our planet had been evaporated, long ago.

[-]feanor160011y40

Got my dissertation proposal approved.

First paragraph: This dissertation continues the tradition of identifying the unintended consequences of the US health insurance system. Its main contribution is to estimate the size of the distortions caused by the employer-based system and regulations intended to fix it, while using methods that are more novel and appropriate than those of previous work.

[-]Prismattic11y40

I finished the Super Spartan Virginia race. Veterans of other similar contests said this was the most insanely grueling course they'd ever seen. There was very little running involved, because the only flat areas were near the obstacle challenges. Everything else was either long hikes up ~30 degree slopes or scaling mud-slicked rocks/woods, alternating with trying not die by impalement descending similar terrain or 45-degree slopes. Sometimes carrying logs around with you, etc. All of my limbs are currently covered in lacerations and contusions. (I'... (read more)

[-][anonymous]11y20

Since everyone else is talking about research, I suppose I should mention that my first article was accepted to Inverse Problems and Imaging. The preprint has been on arXiv for a while.

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[-]CAE_Jones11y00

Someone was having trouble finding good resources for learning Nemeth (the braille format specialized for mathematics); ancient books, programs only available on 3.5floppies, screen reader unfriendly unicode tables, etc. So I wrote a quick guide in roughly half an hour that, according to the person needing such a guide, is actually pretty useful. If I want to go into bragging mode, I seem to have single-handedly half-assed Nemeth into the twenty-first century. (This reenforces my idea that a blindness organization that's actually based out of the 21st cent... (read more)

[+]Rukifellth11y-140

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