All of moreati's Comments + Replies

Meta: I really like the three top-level comments you made to structure the conversation. Is this something you came up with, or perhaps picked up elsewhere? Does it have a name?

3Benquo
Thanks! I came up with it (during a conversation with the Arbital team, so some credit's due to them), post forthcoming to explain it.

There's a lot of Orion's Arm to wade through. Are there any sections you'd particularly recommend? Any stories or pages you enjoyed most?

0MrMind
Not at the moment, I'm wading through myself randomly following links in their wiki. I suggest you just ask the forum to be honed on topics you're interested about. I think I will contribute with ideas of my own, but I'll more likely ask the curators if they are new and where to place them.

Have you asked this question in a Windows specific forum? e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/windows

0Vaniver
I have now.
moreati00

Ah, sorry. I wasn't seeking answers to those questions. They were meant to suggest lines of enquiry you should follow, and workarounds you could try.

moreati00

A few thoughts based on eliminating/ruling out possible causes:

  • Can you avoid making cell -> cell calls? If you're both on a smartphone with wifi could you use e.g. Skype or Messenger?
  • Can you both use a hands free kit? This should eliminate poor positioning of the microphone/earpiece.
  • Are you or your girlfriend in a poor signal area? Does going outside to make the call reduce the problem? There are options such as GSM signal boosters and femtocells that might be worth exploring.
  • Some carriers have deployed HD Voice service. See if your phone and carrier(s) support this.
0CronoDAS
I have a Nokia Lumia 822 (a Windows Phone). My girlfriend has an iPhone 5s. Our carrier is Verizon.
moreati40

There's also "Pain is weakness leaving the body", which is less specific but probably pre-dates Eliezer's quote.

0Adam Zerner
I like it!! Never heard it before but it's becoming one of my favorite quotes.
moreati00

BBC Inside Health: Drug Driving; End of Life Care; Smart Drugs, also available as mp3. The smart drugs piece starts at 16m 58s.

Mostly I mention it as mainstream(ish) coverage of the topic, which I though note worthy.

moreati00

Sorry, I wasn't aware the US release is delayed vs the UK

moreati50

I saw Ex Machina this weekend. The subject matter is very close to LWs interests and I enjoyed it a lot. My prior prediction that it's "AI box experiment: the movie" wasn't 100% accurate.

Gur fpranevb vf cerfragrq nf n ghevat grfg. Gur punenpgref hfr n srj grezf yvxr fvatheynevgl naq gur NV vf pbasvarq, ohg grfgre vf abg rkcyvpvgyl n tngrxrrcre. Lbh pbhyq ivrj gur svyz nf rvgure qrcvpgvat n obk rkcrevrzrag eha vapbzcrgnagyl, be gur obk rkcrevzrag zbhyqrq gb znxr n pbzcryyvat/cbchyne svyz.

For those that worry it's Hollywood, hence dumb I think you'... (read more)

0Transfuturist
I'm in the US; is there no hope but to wait until April?
7Sean_o_h
Script/movie development was advised by CSER advisor and AI/neuroscience expert Murray Shanahan (Imperial). Haven't had time to go see it yet, but looking forward to it!
moreati50

Ex Machina (IMDB) looks like AI Box Experiment: The Movie. It's due for release in Jan 2015. Synopsis:

A young programmer is selected to participate in a breakthrough experiment in artificial intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I.

The trailer contains a possible spoiler: V guvax V fnj n tyvzcfr bs gur lbhat cebtenzzre jvgu na negvsvpvny obql.

moreati60

A client for http://chirp.io in Python https://github.com/moreati/chirppy

I started this over Christmas, and I've been poking at it on and off since then - firstly trying (and failing) to reimplement the error correction. The extent of my knowledge there is http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/663643/discover-parameters-of-a-reed-solomon-code-from-its-output.

My current effort is to implement the audio as continuous phase - so there are no discontinuities in the chirp, which make a nasty click noise in the current implementation. Doing so, I've learned a... (read more)

moreati00

I can't think of an academic name, the common phrases in Britain are 'stuck in your ways', 'bloody minded', 'better the the devil you know'.

0A1987dM
Depending on what timescales shminux is thinking of as “awhile” (hours or months?), RobbBB's suggestions may be better.
moreati40

When you read a comment how often are you consciously aware of who wrote it? How often do you read the username before you read the comment?

3Username
I normally don't register the name at all, but if it's a high-status person on LW (gwern, eliezer, lukeprog), it might grab my attention.
3ESRogs
When I'm reading a comment written by a name that I've seen enough to associate a personality with, I'm almost always aware of whose comment it is. But, when it's not a name I know well, I'm not consciously aware of having looked at the name and made that determination. So I think I must always read the name, and if my brain doesn't recognize it, it automatically filters it out.
2mare-of-night
On LW, I hardly ever notice the username. (I tend to notice more often on sites where people have avatars, and sites where I know most of the people whose comments I see.) I think I might be skimming the names, because I remember noticing usernames of people who I already knew about, but can't remember actually reading and comprehending usernames I don't recognize, at least not very often.
5A1987dM
About 90% of the times for comments and about 60% of the times for posts, I think. (And I'm more likely to notice it when it's a regular than when it's a newbie.)
3RomeoStevens
I check when a comment a surprises me, in either direction.
tim130

I am almost always aware if the author is someone with a distinct name that posts a fair amount. Otherwise it doesn't really register.

(its almost impossible for me not to read the username before the comment unless I put real effort into it)

6Oscar_Cunningham
I use the anti-kibitzer. (This anonymises LessWrong, with the hope of reducing bias in judging posts. I think there's an option for it in Preferences.) It's great.
5maia
I only notice if the commenter happens to be someone I know in real life or whose posts I have taken particular note of. Every other LW username could be replaced by "Anonymous Internet Person Number 3," and I would barely notice.
moreati90

Not being poly and only a bit rational (so far), I'll only propose

  • Is polyamory actually higher amongst LW people than the general population? Do you just have more exposure to polyamorous LW people than a wider polyamorous population?
  • Do polyamorous LW people talk about their polyamory more than polyamorous non-LW people?
satt130

Is polyamory actually higher amongst LW people than the general population?

This made me realize I didn't even know whether there were reliable estimates of polyamory prevalence in the general population. A cursory Google Scholar search didn't net me anything, but the Wikipedia article has a data point:

Research into polyamory has been limited. A comprehensive government study of sexual attitudes, behaviors and relationships in Finland in 1992 (age 18-75, around 50% both genders) found that around 200 out of 2250 (8.9%) respondents "agreed or stron

... (read more)
8asr
Survey says that 13% are poly and 30% are uncertain or lack a preference. That's higher than the general public. it might not be much higher once you control for age, gender, location, socioeconomic status, etc. In particular, I have no idea what fraction of the non-LW-reading but otherwise similar public would say "uncertain/no preference."
moreati00

Reading failure, "never been hit on" is very different to "never been hit". It sounded wrong when I (mis)read, and I didn't notice.

moreati50

If it's material you want to/are required to learn from try taking notes as you read the material, to force yourself to recall it in your own terms/language.

If it's just recreational/online reading try increasing the font size/spacing or decreasing the browser width, or using a browser extension like readability. Don't scroll with the scroll bar or the mouse wheel - use pg up/pg down to make it easier to keep your position.

5[anonymous]
I don't know if I deliberately developed a habit of highlighting the current paragraph when reading long articles, but it has become extremely useful.
0letter7
I understand the "recall in your own terms", that sounds like very practical advice, even more in my case since english isn't my mother language and thus I could try translating it, which would ensure a deeper understanding. Thanks. I don't see how the way that information is displayed (font size/spacing and using the scroll bar) could impact in the way I'm reading, could you explain that a little more?
moreati60

I had NO IDEA how much discrimination I suffered for wearing glasses until I gave them up.

I'm intrigued. What was the nature of the discrimination? How did you know glasses/not-glasses was the cause? Any specific examples?

The most basic is that as far as I can tell, I had never been hit on while wearing glasses, and that started happening regularly.

moreati00

As promised, the answers rot13 here so people can still choose to play, and unsullied so you can verify the hash

My answers (2nd, unsubmitted guess in brackets)

  1. Gbbgu
  2. Fpnes (Synt)
  3. Svban Oehpr (Hyevxn Wbuaffba)
  4. Vgnyl (Jnyrf)
  5. Wnpx Fcneebj (Oynpx orneq)

Correct answers:

  1. Gbbgu (grrgu npprcgrq)
  2. Synt
  3. Qnivan Znppnhy
  4. Fcnva
  5. Wnpx Fcneebj
moreati30

Family Fortunes Pub Quiz

On a Sunday night I take part in a pub quiz. It's based on a UK quiz show called Family Fortunes, which in turn is based on the US show Family Feud. To win you must answer all 5 questions correctly, the correct answer is whatever was the most popular answer in a survey of 100 people.

I'm curious to see if LessWrong does better than me.

We asked 100 people...

  1. Name a part of your body that you'v had removed
  2. Name something you might wave at a Football match
  3. Name a female TV presenter
  4. Name a country that has only 5 letters in it's name
... (read more)
0moreati
As promised, the answers rot13 here so people can still choose to play, and unsullied so you can verify the hash My answers (2nd, unsubmitted guess in brackets) 1. Gbbgu 2. Fpnes (Synt) 3. Svban Oehpr (Hyevxn Wbuaffba) 4. Vgnyl (Jnyrf) 5. Wnpx Fcneebj (Oynpx orneq) Correct answers: 1. Gbbgu (grrgu npprcgrq) 2. Synt 3. Qnivan Znppnhy 4. Fcnva 5. Wnpx Fcneebj
0Bill_McGrath
Individual. 1. Nccraqvk 2. Synt 3. Qnivan ZpPnyy 4. Jnyrf 5. Oynpxorneq Fun post. I'm not a fan of the show really, but it's a neat idea. Have you seen Pointless? It's almost the reverse of Family Fortunes.
0daenerys
1. nccraqvk 2. sbnz svatre 3. xngvr pbhevp 4. vgnyl 5. oynpxorneq
0pragmatist
1. grrgu 2. onaare 3. Ubyyl Jvyybhtuol 4. Puvan 5. Oynpxorneq I'm not British and not that familiar with British popular culture, so number 3 is hard. My answer is based on a couple of minutes of googling.
0[anonymous]
1. nccraqvk, 2. synt, 3. Xngvr Pbhevp, 4. Puvan, 5. Wnpx Fcneebj
0Elithrion
I'm slightly confident in two of my answers (rot13): 1. unve, 5. Oynpxorneq, and would not be surprised if 4. Vgnyl was right (or alternatively Fcnva if the poll was taken earlier in the year). I'm not even going to bother guessing the other two, as the only way I'd have a chance is to do a lot of research.
0Zian
a1c2b7ae7c4e56188eb3dbd96cdf46ecb4bdaf81 I expect Less Wrong people to be more "normal" than me though so... oh well.
0sixes_and_sevens
b89926c684b2637444b34430c3ab1718bec22da2 *awaits "EH-EHHH!" noise *
moreati40

If you've not already, you'll probably enjoy Accelerando, also by Charles Stross.

moreati00

They are also very different hardware. The Roomba is mostly a sweeper (it took me forever to realize that "Roomba" is "broom" inside out) whereas the Neato is mostly a vacuum cleaner.

Does this have any bearing on the hard floor vs carpet suitability of each? I have both, but I'd like to optimise for carpet

0fubarobfusco
I haven't run either on hard floors much.
moreati00

Yes please, either Coventry or Birmingham would be great.

moreati00

I'm afraid I shan't be there tomorrow, but I'll be IRC during the day. I've started a GraphViz graph of the Sequences, to visualise their structure and make navigating them a bit easier. The code is at Github, with png output. Please let me know what your think, and whether/how you'd like to see it developed.