blackshaw

The real way to measure predictive accuracy is to find _all_ the times they gave something a 25% chance of happening. If the predictions are accurate then roughly 25% of those things should have happened.

Comment · 2 years ago

If we're talking about spelling, the biggest source of English's orthographic oddness is the Great Vowel Shift:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

Comment · 2 years ago

> we are the champions of how to write something easy most difficultly, and crank weirdness of pronunciation to 100

Wurs than Inglish? I hav my dowts.

Comment · 2 years ago

Cigarettes kill you slowly over decades, fentanyl can kill a first-time user with a single dose.

Moronic analogy.

Comment · 2 years ago

Why do you say it's not working out in Portugal or Amsterdam? I frequently hear those two places cited as an example of where drug liberalisation has been a big success. Is that not true? I ask from ignorance.

Comment · 2 years ago

As dang explains in one of the linked posts, it's because if they don't do it, the discussion usually becomes "how is this on the front page when it's 2 days old?" instead of discussing the topic at hand.

Of course in this case we're now discussing the opposite question and still not discussing the topic at hand.

Comment · 2 years ago

But is that old man wrong?

Comment · 2 years ago

So much nostalgia in this thread!

Comment · 3 years ago

I lived in Southeast Asia for a few years in my 20s - not teaching English, mainly just scraping together a living through random Internet bullshit, but I had lots of friends who taught English, and I've seen what a good springboard it can be for global travel if you want to live abroad.

But the main thing I'd say to anyone considering moving countries is that most countries aren't highly desired immigration destinations like the US or Western Europe, and thus most countries don't have strict and tightly-controlled immigration systems like Western countries do. If you want to go spend a few years in Thailand as a Westerner, it's laughably easy - just buy a flight and you'll probably figure it out once you're there, as your Western dollars/pounds/euros will go a looooong way.

(I apologize to any Thai people reading this; I know that digital nomads and other wealthy foreigners aren't universally appreciated in the countries they park up in. Am just sharing my own experience.)

I wouldn't want to live in that part of the world for the rest of my life, but the time I did spend travelling was the best thing I ever did and I have no regrets. I wrote about it here if anyone's interested:

https://blackshaw.substack.com/p/digital-nomad