(Soon, how to make this ridiculous scarf.) One day, I was struck by the absurd idea of a scarf, which looked like a tie. Was it a tie scarf? A scarf tie? A business scarf[1]?[2] It was so absurd that I obviously had to make it. However, these sorts of things usually make it onto the eternal […]
In 2013, someone I know was trying to fly to California for a break, but didn’t catch a break from the TSA, probably based on his appearance[1]. The TSA deserves much of the blame in the story. However, how does one reform the TSA?[2][3] By doing politics, of course! It’s a good thing that our national […]
This is a overview/review of E.T. Jaynes’ textbook on Bayesian probability theory, appropriately named Probability Theory (GoodReads, Publisher). This post is split into 3 parts: A fast high level overview, to provide background for the next two questions. My answer to the question “should you read this book?” A mildly more detailed breakdown of the book into chunks, paired chapters that […]
Status: surprised no one has put this together yet, would have loved to have this 6 months ago. If you don’t know what cryonics is, good luck. What this guide will cover: The different steps necessary for signing up for cryonics. Some choices that will have to be made in the process of signing up for cryonics, […]
Summary: lays out a skill leveling system based on time. I don’t endorse it, but maybe you’ll have fun thinking about it. Back in 201X[1], I was thinking about how to convey mastery of a skill. For example, at some point I was talking to a young kid that also played the violin. The kid […]
My blog is turning 10 this month[1]. Happy birthday, blog! (It also happens that my High School 10th year reunion was within a year ago, but it is difficult for me to care about it.) Let’s take a look at what I posted in June 2008… Oh no. What is this, using WordPress as unlimited character Twitter? Stream […]
Epistemic status: amateur effort, on the order of half a day of casual investigation. Accidentally failed to do scholarship properly[1]. Possibly accepts bad premises[2]. It’s story time. So tax season rolls around, and you wonder why taxes are so damn complicated, to the point that paying someone or something to help with your taxes is an […]
Warnings: contains spoilers for Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance, The Quantum Thief, The Expanse, The Laundryverse, Dark Matter, and SCP (as much as SCP could be said to have spoilers). Discussion of horror works. Otherwise contains your regularly scheduled science fiction rant. I recently[1] blew through Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation/Authority/Acceptance series, also known as the Southern Reach Trilogy, which I’ll abbreviate to SRT. First things first: overall, […]
Epistemic status: I believe I’m drawing on common wisdom up to part 5. After that I’m just making shit up, but in a possibly interesting way. Not proper financial advice, see the end of the post. So let’s say you have some Bitcoin. What do you do with it? #1. Cash out everything immediately Lots […]
Nothing that’s been said before, but it didn’t click until I thought about it some more and had an AHA! moment, so I’m doing my own write up. Let’s say that you’re faced with a Newcomb problem[1]. The basic gist is this: Omega shows up, an entity that you know can predict your actions almost perfectly. Concretely, […]