Recent submissions

Comment · 8 years ago
Yeah, thinking about incidental chemistry occurring due to many collisions at or near the speed of sound while packed into a fluid solution or compressed gas, definitely puts things in perspective, in terms of how specifically matched and optimized everything needs to be, in order to be fortuitous as an otherwise unplanned event.

It's like stumbling into elevator after elevator, while running the hundred yard dash at top speed, everywhere you go, only to encounter the perfect dance partner to fall in love with at first sight.

Comment · 8 years ago
Well, first, you have to believe that the EEG's predictor model is accurate and trustworthy.

You have to trust those prescribing it, which, if you don't trust the advice of a doctor with a needle, would you trust them with a brain scan that labels your child defective, before they can even talk?

Some people (those who might consider skipping vaccinations) might avoid such an exam entirely, and choose to wait until their child is age 10 or 15, to decide whether they have some sort of problem with their social skills, or worse.

Comment · 8 years ago
Geeze, I though you needed a clean room to do this kind of work. I guess, being a hobby, with less concern for effort, loss of product, or cost versus profit, one might summon the will to try, try again, when confronted with botched fabrication runs.

Even with millimeter-scale components, I'd still think dust and debris could be a real problem. Is it just that 12 hour runs are short enough to just accept an imperfect production output, since it's a personal project, or is dust not as big a deal at this scale as I'd imagine?

Comment · 8 years ago
Comment · 8 years ago
In this cycle, we see a war of complex resources (produced by logistical wealth) emerge. Those with the most of everything, to produce the greatest fighting flexibility, eventually win. Perhaps pyrrhicly.
Comment · 8 years ago
Why, do you particularly enjoy deer brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes?
Comment · 8 years ago
I just use bullet points (unordered list) at the top, for popular buzzwords, to serve as an ad-hoc table of contents.

  - Artificial Intelligence
  - Machine Learning
  - Neural Networks
  - Blockchain
Then just expound and brainstorm freely, in a stream of consciousness, for ~60 minutes, and it practically writes itself.
Comment · 8 years ago
Only if you consider being kept alive on life support a sufficient implementation to back the main interface of "alive.h"?
Comment · 8 years ago
I mean, this is still a good thing, since it charts a map of decidedly grey areas, where information may always be ambiguous, and useful information needs to be sussed out carefully.

It's better than presumptively assuming that "Science" is an infallible always black-and-white.

Comment · 8 years ago
So, this might be a long shot, but I might hazard a guess that in hot, humid weather, with stagnant air, the dynamics of where exhaled exhaust goes, changes.

In the cold, dry air of winter your breath vents upward, but getting near sunny 90 degree weather, during summer time, it might descend and pool at the feet of gatherings of people at barbecues.

Carbon dioxide in ambient, matched temperature mixtures tends to be dense, and sinks toward the floor in many conditions (similarly true for carbon monoxide), but local conditions obviously vary, and odor travels differently than entire air masses. If mosquitos are already out, they probably travel along the odor gradient, toward the most concentrated area of scent.

Comment · 8 years ago
...and it's not even over yet.
Comment · 8 years ago
To frame an assessment of an individual like that, risks throwing the baby out with the bath water.

It leaves no room for externalities and circumstance, and assumes the individual had all needs met, perfectly, at all times.

Facts are facts, even if someone came up short once or twice. Maybe blame is irrelevant, and excuses aren't a substitute for productivity, but simply put, that's not how you measure humans, and any human knows that.

Comment · 8 years ago

  “More often than not, she relies on charts, graphs 
   and quantitative analysis as a foundation for a 
   decision, particularly when it comes to evaluating 
   people … At a recent personnel meeting, she homes in 
   on grade-point averages and SAT scores to narrow a 
   list of candidates, many having graduated from Ivy 
   League schools, … One candidate got a C in macroeconomics. 

  “That’s troubling to me,” Ms. Mayer says. 
  “Good students are good at all things.”
Kind of a stunning misconception right there. A person only needs to look in the mirror, to invalidate such an idea.
Comment · 8 years ago
Comment · 8 years ago
Blind spots are bad news for situational awareness though.

The corollary is 30 ton tractor trailer changing lanes on the highway, and concluding that there's no traffic because it would prefer not to see it.

Censoring the rear view mirrors is a bad idea no matter how much you hate what you see in them.

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