All of wisnij's Comments + Replies

wisnij20

That's fine. I commented on this a few days ago but somehow it ended up getting posted to a different article, so I was trying to reproduce the issue.

3Raemon
Hrm. Yeah this has a particularly challenging bug. Apologies for it, will try looking into it next week.
3Raemon
This post has negative karma, so comments don't show up on the front page.
wisnij30

...okay, that's weird, I didn't write that comment on this article (which is certainly not garbage). That was supposed to go on the crackpot post here: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/mTS4Pmgtxje7XqsKr/pirate-c-vacuum-energy-and-the-joules-hertz-constant A glitch in the commenting system, maybe?

4Raemon
Ah. Sorry about that.
wisnij10

[redacted; comment intended for a different post]

2habryka
As our moderation guidelines state, all comments should be at least two of the following three: True, necessary or kind. This strikes me as neither kind, nor aspiring to be true in any meaningful way, and I doubt it's necessary since you can just decide not to read this post, so this is the one warning you will get. Another comment like this and we will temporarily ban you.
wisnij-10

The title made me think this was another spam post at first.

1rk
Hm. To the point that you think I should change it?
3Ben Pace
(Sorry, we’ll get those under control soon)
wisnij10

> How scary would it be to realize that Satoshi Nakamoto is actually Unfriendly AI slowly creating an insane amount of wealth?

Extremely scary, and equally unlikely. It's vastly more probable that there are more mundane reasons for the lack of withdrawals, e.g. he lost the thumb drive containing the necessary private keys, or deliberately destroyed the ability to access that wallet earlier in the project before it became clear how valuable it would become.

wisnij20

I'm assuming this post was meant to contain an actual link, but it doesn't appear to currently.

2gbear605
I put the link into the body of my post.
2gbear605
Huh, that's strange. If you click on the title from the front page, it links to the article.
wisnij30

The odds are low I would be able to participate, presently being on the wrong coast, but otherwise this is highly relevant to my interests.

3SnowSage4444
Same.
wisnij40

Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.

Donald Knuth on the difference between theory and practice.

5Oscar_Cunningham
Duplicate.
wisnij50

I have occasional fantasies of men and enjoy some varieties of shounen-ai/yaoi, but I'm almost never attracted to men in real life, though there have been a couple of exceptions. I can never figure out if I should call myself straight or bi, though straight is probably closer to the mark.

Heteroflexible?

5JackEmpty
I've identified as that before, but I find it doesn't really apply well anymore. Instead of slapping labels onto finer and finer grained levels of the fluid scale, I just have a clearly defined set of things that I will do with men, and a clearly defined set of things I will do with women, and that's sufficient for me.
wisnij110

As another example, the Jargon file has a general definition of 'hacker':

(sense 7) One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

That seems to fit pretty well.

wedrifid130

(sense 7) One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

That seems to fit pretty well.

It certainly fits 'hacker' (and myself) well. It doesn't fit people who are indifferent to intellectual challenge but just want to live (and so do cryonics) or just want to win (and so min-max the @#%$ out of life).

wisnij20

I wouldn't call it an error per se, but it's definitely unidiomatic. Native speakers will consistently produce big brown spider far more often than ?brown big spider. Some languages enforce this more strictly than others, and in some the words can be deliberately moved out of the usual order for emphasis. (E.g. in such a language, a phrase equivalent to "brown big spider" would roughly mean "big brown spider".)

wisnij70

There's a really interesting comparison of popular keyboard layouts and proposed optimizations here: http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/

The author uses dynamic programming to calculate the various costs involved with typing (like finger movement, distance from home row, etc) and uses that to generate better layouts via simulated annealing. I thought it was a nicely quantitative take on a subject that is usually so subjective.

0MTGandP
Although he had the right idea, I think this author's analysis was rather poor. I don't think he did a good job of modelling the importance of different kinds of typing strains. I like Colemak a lot better.
wisnij60

I live in the US. If I want to mail someone an item bigger than can be fit in a simple envelope, what is the procedure for determining the proper packaging, postage, etc? Will I have to actually bring the package to the post office to have them determine that? What is the protocol for doing so?

1lincolnquirk
My protocol is: Find an appropriate sized cardboard box. (They have these at the post office, but I often reuse old Amazon boxes and the like.) Stuff it with the object you wish to ship and any necessary padding materials so that it doesn't slide around. If your box has anything potentially confusing on it -- inapplicable warning labels, old shipping addresses, etc., -- cover them up or black them out with a marker. (I had to do this when I reused a box that had warnings about liquids). Find a way to put the destination and return addresses on the box. You can just write on the box with a marker, or you can write on a separate sheet of paper. Address it like you would an envelope (destination in the center, return address in the top left corner). Tape it up good with packing tape (available at CVS). Tape all the seams. If you wrote the address on a separate sheet of paper, make sure all the edges of the paper are taped to the box. Take it to your US Post Office, bring the sealed box to the counter and ask for it shipped "parcel post" (unless your box only contains books and CDs, in which case you can ask for "media mail" and it will be slightly cheaper). They will weigh it, print a stamp, stick it onto the box, charge you money, and you're done. More notes: If the object fits inside a Priority Mail flat-rate envelope (even if it is bulging), that might be the best way to ship it, especially because of the convenience (no special materials or tape required). For example, you can reasonably fit about 3 DVDs into the flat-rate envelope. The Post Office won't ship liquids. For that you have to go to UPS or FedEx, and even then, some states might have laws against shipping liquids, so you could be out of luck.
0handoflixue
An addendum to all the above helpful replies: Be sure to write down the address before heading off to whatever facility will be shipping your package :) Also, simply taking the box to your local USPS does work for international shipments as well, but you'll be asked to fill out a customs form declaring what is in the package and how much it's valued at. Possibly not necessary, but this seems like a post where little nuances are useful to mention :)
0Swimmer963 (Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg)
I find it easiest just to bring it at the post office. I'll put it in a box/wrap it myself, but from what I've seen, the (very small) post office near my house also sells packaging materials. I just join the line up, bring the package to the clerk at the front and say "I want to mail this to __" and I received instructions. (I live in Canada, but I'm assuming the system is similar.)
0Sniffnoy
Place thing on counter. "Hey, suppose I wanted to send this [thing] through the mail. What sort of packaging would I need and how much would it cost?"
8Jonathan_Graehl
There's a flat rate USPS box deal. You're limited to just a few fixed boxed sizes. It's cheaper than Fedex or UPS.
-1nazgulnarsil
just bring what you have to a UPS or fedex shipping center. i can almost guarantee that it will be cheaper than USPS and the staff will be very helpful.
0LucasSloan
USPS lets you create shipping labels online. You'll need to set up an account, but that's fairly easy. To make a label, you just need an address and you'll need to know the weight of your package, but they calculate everything from there. Also, you're going to have to choose a type of shipping, but I don't think you need to pay for the fastest service, also beware that there are options for using their provided boxes, don't use those. When you print the label, tape it to the box (or, for advanced users, buy the USPS sticky-back printer-friendly labels). You can just leave the package by your mailbox and the mail carrier will take it with em (to be sure, maybe leave a sign the first couple times you do this) or you can take it to the post office.
wisnij30

This is one of the things I struggled with a bit when first learning to cook for myself as well. It may help to keep in mind that some meats are safer than others. My heuristic goes roughly: chicken < pork < beef/lamb < fish, in increasing order of safety. If I'm handling raw chicken, I'll wash my hands and utensils thoroughly in warm soapy water before doing anything else. If I'm handling fish, I'll usually just give my hands a quick rinse. The same ordering also applies roughly to doneness; it's a much bigger problem to have undercooked chi... (read more)

3Conuly
Also it should be noted that ground meats are not as safe as meat that is whole. A steak doesn't have to be cooked to the same level of doneness as a hamburger.
wisnij30

That "free will", at least as commonly defined, is largely illusory.

The notion "a common notion of 'free will' exists" is largely illusory.

0CannibalSmith
That doesn't make life any less enjoyable.
3Alicorn
What's the "common definition" you're drawing on?