lagrangian
6mo ago
Can Bob afford a tutor? The instructional and executive functioning value there is huge (with a good tutor).
In particular, I think they could really help you know what is worth studying. E.g. probably you can skip trig identities, and you can certainly skip Kramer's rule.
Even better, find someone in the polisci program and ask them what you actually need to know. There is probably a big difference in what you need to know to get the job, and what you need to know to do the job. I'd focus on the former.
lagrangian
6mo ago
This week, in review:
High: had a first date that I think I'm actually more excited about than Ms. Definitely, and there will certainly be a second. Not quite as much in common, but still a lot, still brilliant and attractive, and just...better vibes. More stable and peaceful.
Low: buried the dog.
+1 to spaced repetition.
The other technique I will add, which I think underlies memory palaces, is...let's call it "deep engagement." Rather than just trying to remember rotely, deeply engage with the knowledge by connecting it to other knowledge. You've now added multiple recall points to your brain for the single fact, and as long as any of them are intact, you can get the fact.
In the case of memory palaces (which I find overhyped and not personally useful), that knowledge is a location in the memory palace. E.g. if yours is Pokemon, and you are trying to remember a grocery list, maybe you pictured Pikachu eating a watermelon. The element of the memory palace itself (Pikachu) is by design easy to remember. The visual of Pikachu eating a watermelon connects to enough other things (my memories of eating watermelon, a chuckle at the visual there, etc) to provide redundant encoding of "watermelon."
In the case of learning physics, you can:
- (no deep engagement) cram equations in your brain, regurgitate them at the top of a test, then reference them, OR
- (deep engagement) derive them, graph them, do experiments to measure them, think about their asymptotics, etc
In the case of politics, you can:
- (no deep engagement) memorize the latest fact about the advancing troops in Ukraine
- (deep engagement) think about why that movement was made, what might happen next, the experience of the soldiers during it
But is this not just trivial recall that could be handled easily by a computer, or a scrap of paper?
So, no, it isn't - it's redundant encoding that gives you more threads by which to remember. In CS terms, I no longer have to linearly loop through my list-o-facts; instead, I map quickly to the needed fact via any of a number of hashes (connections).
lagrangian
6mo ago
Link to landing: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nVNIoQUcFI4&t=48
lagrangian
6mo ago
Landing legs are heavy and any mass you lift up lowers payload
Notably, the relationship is exponential, so lowers it more than you would expect.
The laziest possible search gives me 550,000kg for the rocket, 8,000 kg for payload, and 2,000kg for the landing legs, so 0.33% of total but an astonishing 25% of payload. Given the exponential relationship, even the 0.33% could have real impact, so 25% is somewhere between "holy shit" and "did lagrangian mess up the math and/or use poor data"?
lagrangian
6mo ago
I love my electric kettle with temperature/time settings for different kinds of tea. Keeps things warm, and can even have the tea ready for you at the time you ask for it. Less expensive models also exist.
lagrangian
6mo ago
Tutoring? Wyzant etc, or for that matter Craigslist (either posting or responding to posts)
lagrangian
7mo ago
Rough. On the bright side, nominative determinism may have a silver lining for your Alpha Gal.
lagrangian
7mo ago
It's not exactly hard to convince a doctor to prescribe you stimulants for "your adhd" and then you're in the clear legally. Not trying to delegitimize real diagnoses/legit use of the meds (e.g. my own), but the fact remains
lagrangian
7mo ago
Yeah, that's rough, and it's not like there's a store you can try it out at . I've had I want to say eight keyboards at about that price point purchased by employers...
lagrangian
7mo ago
Numpads are overrated. I won a nickel in a bet with a coworker that I could type numbers faster without. I love my keyboard.io model 100 split ortholinear walnut thumbcluster keyboard
lagrangian
7mo ago
Whatever you do, just remember that the correct time to start shaving your head is about two years before you finally start shaving your head.
lagrangian
8mo ago
Interesting, say more?
lagrangian
8mo ago
The note provides the inductive base case.
(blue, brown, note falls from the sky saying someone has blue eyes)
(1, 0, False): No information on their eyes. They never leave.
(1, 0, True): No one else could possibly have blue eyes. They leave on day 1.
(1, 1, False): Same as (1, 0, False). No one leaves.
(1, n, False): Same as (1, n-1, False). No on leaves.
(2, 0, True): On day 1, each reasons that if they are brown in (1, 1, True), the other person will leave. The other person doesn't leave. They each leave on day 2.
(n, 0, True): On day n-1, each reasons that if they are brown in (n-1, 0, True), the other n-1 people will leave on day n-1. This doesn't happen. All n people leave on day n.
(2, 0, False): On day 1, each reasons that whether they are blue or brown in (1, 1, False), the other person will never leave. The other person does not leave. This gives no information. No one ever leaves.
Etc
lagrangian
8mo ago
lagrangian
8mo ago
I think the answer is roughly the same as that to my favorite riddle: https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html
lagrangian
9mo ago
(I'm a bit grumpy because I spent the day integrating with an LLM-based auto code eval system that represents scores with emojis.)
Gonna need to hear more about that.
lagrangian
9mo ago
LLMs are great at writing scripts for this kind of thing. Untested, but see e.g. https://g.co/gemini/share/3ce27fe9318f
lagrangian
10mo ago
Look into intuniv - it is commonly prescribed with stimulants and can mellow them out.
lagrangian
11mo ago
mog
a term popularized by modern day aesthetic bodybuilders meaning out sizing or dwarfing somebody in muscle size, fullness, and definition Watch me man I’m about to fucking mog these rockets over there! Jesus Christ that guy is about to mog them!
TIL
lagrangian
11mo ago
Reading the details, this strikes me as reasonable on the part of the Biden admin.
Two major caveats on what you've written:
- The news in the press release is about an additional 7.7 gigadollars for 160 kilopeople. Your figures are for the total over his entire term.
- This is, like all previous loan forgiveness by Biden, not a giveaway so much as letting people qualify for forgiveness programs for which they fell through the cracks. E.g. from here
Automatically cancel debt for borrowers who would otherwise be eligible for loan forgiveness under income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, like the SAVE Plan, or Public Service Loan Forgiveness but are not enrolled in those programs.
It's also forgiving loans for people on permanent disability. That one's a little more questionable - I imagine some "permanent disabilities" are sketchy at best. But, still not "free money for all."
I think it's important to acknowledge that this is (afaik) very much not a giveaway to all or even most loan holders, including those doing well. I'm against executive orders/overreach, and I want to see the government stop giving out loans for underwater basket weaving as much as the next Mottizan, but this is just much less crazy than it seems at a glance.
lagrangian
11mo ago
Meta: please consider making multiple top level comments instead of one (excellent!) multi-topic comment. The responses get disorganized as-is.
lagrangian
1yr ago
And when Scott did a survey on the topic, users ranked it higher, though it's been a long time and I can't remember what the post was.
From his Lorien Psychology page:
- Is Adderall the right stimulant for me? There are two commonly used families of stimulant for ADHD: Adderall and Ritalin. Most adults will find drugs in the Adderall family more effective.
See for example this survey of 4,425 ADHD patients by ADDitude Magazine, where 52% of adult Adderall users described their treatment as very effective, compared to only 41% of adult Ritalin users. Only 12% of Adderall users described it as ineffective, compared to 22% of Ritalin users.
More formal studies find the same thing. Faraone does a meta-analysis comparing both drugs in children (not exactly our population of interest, but this is the best I can find) and finds Ritalin to have an effect size of around 0.9 and Adderall of around 1.3 (higher means more effective). A separate meta-analysis by Stuhec, Lukic, and Locatelli finds two Adderall-family drugs to have effect sizes of 0.6 – 0.9, compared to Ritalin’s 0.5.
About 80% of my patients who have tried both tell me they prefer Adderall (informal estimate). Along with Adderall being more effective, they complain that Ritalin makes them feel more “robotic” (note the Additude survey shows Ritalin users about half again as likely to complain of “dampened personality”). This isn’t to say that Adderall is better for everyone – just that it’s a better choice to try first.
Does Ritalin have any advantages? The main advantage is that it’s considered harder to get addicted to. But addiction to ADHD drugs is already very unlikely (see the section on Addiction below), and realistically it’s less addictive because it is a worse drug which people like less. Also, there are now members of the Adderall family at least equally suitable for people at risk of addiction (see the section on Vyvanse below). Another Ritalin advantage is that it lasts less time, so if you want very fine-grained control over exactly when you are or aren’t stimulated Ritalin may be a better choice. But you probably do not need this much control. I understand Ritalin may have other advantages for children, but I’m not a child psychiatrist and don’t understand it well enough to comment on.
I personally think the 25% of Adderall that is left handed amphetamine is unpleasant. Go Vyvanse if possible imo (or Dexedrine), for that mellow, pure right-handed goodness.
lagrangian
1yr ago
No.
I find the "six figures" part interesting. If you take it to mean 100k, that's...not that impressive.
I'm seeing 80th percentile in the US at age 30. 127/170/300 get you to the 90/95/99th percentile. At age 27, it's 91st percentile; 121/190 get you to 95/99th percentile.
Presumably it's a lower percentile than these for men (but probably higher than that for black men). Downgrade the impressiveness again in blue areas (cities).
This raises the question: what percentile or dollar amount is impressive enough to offset what degree of attractiveness? Or more broadly, what is the marginal utility as you move through those levels?
More options
Context Copy link