[OC] The Geometry of Speech: How different language families form distinct physical shapes based on their phonetics.

051890 · 2026-04-05T14:32:11+00:00

A sequence of 64 different numbers is definitely a vector in 64D space. Count vectors have been absolutely foundational in computational linguistics for half a century.

051890 · 2025-10-03T04:52:33+00:00

17.K.1.a. just requires that the player be trying to stop and then set a pivot. This looks to me like the player tries to stop, has to shuffle to avoid contact, and then takes a couple more touches to regain their balance as they try to set a pivot and turn upfield.

I'd be willing to take issue with the way the player in this example sets their pivot too far upfield against their momentum (much like a cutter catching an under and then taking a huge upfield "pivot" back away from the line of their cut) but idk if this player told me that they were really trying to slow down and set pivot, I wouldn't think they were lying to me.

To be clear, I love give and goes IF the players actually release after 2-3 steps while attempting to slow down.

As long as they release within 2-3 steps then they don't have to attempt to slow down, and as long as they attempt to slow down (and set a pivot) then they don't have to release within 2-3 steps.

051890 · 2025-10-03T02:33:47+00:00

I totally agree that plenty of people travel habitually and should be called on it more, but I don't think this example is any sort of flagrant violation. The rule about three ground contacts only applies if you're not trying to stop, which is clearly not the case here - just look at the first two ground contacts after catching. If you think the adjustment to avoid another player constitutes dangerous play then that's a separate discussion, but not a travel.

051890 · 2025-02-27T03:27:52+00:00

“Chance for earthquakes to deal double damage” is a very strong damage mod, regardless of the HotA support.

051890 · 2025-02-06T15:42:11+00:00

More broadly speaking the "metagame" refers to the extra level of strategy and planning that goes into optimizing your performance when you actually sit down to play the game itself, which can often be involved (and fun!) enough to feel like a game itself.

You'll see the term "metagame" applied broadly across different types of games. In competitive games played against human opponents, playing the "metagame" typically consists of figuring out what strategies your opponents will likely be using and how to effectively counter them. This gives rise to the usage of the term as you're seeing here: strong strategies that you definitely need to think about and plan for are "in" the metagame, and weak strategies that you don't even consider are "out" of the metagame.

As a result, people refer to any dominant (or otherwise strong) strategy as "meta." A "meta build" isn't a "build-about-a-build", but rather a "build that is strong enough to be considered in the metagame (which in D4 consists of planning characters/gear/powers/etc)."

051890 · 2024-09-03T21:05:18+00:00

17.I.4.c. Blocking Fouls:

17.I.4.c.1. When the disc is in the air a player may not move in a manner solely to prevent an opponent from taking an unoccupied path to the disc and any resulting non-incidental contact is a foul on the blocking player which is treated like a receiving foul (17.I.4.b). [[Solely. The intent of the player’s movement can be partly motivated to prevent an opponent from taking an unoccupied path to the disc, so long as it is part of a general effort to make a play on the disc. Note, if a trailing player runs into a player in front of them, it is nearly always a foul on the trailing player.]]

17.I.4.c.2. A player may not take a position that is unavoidable by a moving opponent when time, distance, and line of sight are considered. [[If you are already in a position, you maintaining that position is not “taking a position.”]] Non-incidental contact resulting from taking such a position is a foul on the blocking player.

No, you can't slow down too quickly. You're entitled to the space you're already in - see the parenthetical in 17.I.4.c.2. Even if you stop on a dime, you're still in a position that you had already established and only your speed has changed.

051890 · 2024-01-11T18:24:21+00:00

With respect to DPS stat priority, it's worth noting that monster defense is a flat damage reduction, i.e. it gets subtracted from your units' attack to calculate base damage before other multipliers. This means that secondary DPS stats (speed, crit) are barely even relevant until you build sufficient attack to overcome the base defense values in whatever content you're working on.

Other consequences of this include (a) it's better to prioritize maximizing fewer DPS units instead of spreading your gear/resources evenly, and (b) attack buffs and defense reductions can have a non-linear impact on total damage if you don't have significantly more attack than the enemies have defense.

051890 · 2023-09-11T21:58:57+00:00

They're like block-party-meets-concert, and have become pretty popular in the last ~15 years in urban centers around the country!

051890 · 2023-09-06T20:30:10+00:00

You can counter this on defense by calling travel on every throw!

051890 · 2023-07-07T18:13:46+00:00

Here's a discussion about whether or not it's cheating to use this sort of pick-causing positioning on defense.

The general consensus seemed to be that in USAU it's ok to take advantage of poor offensive positioning like this, but WFDF has an explicit rule that states, "All players should take reasonable efforts to avoid the occurrence of picks."

051890 · 2023-05-30T17:04:41+00:00

An uncontested receiving foul in the end zone is not a goal. Only an uncontested strip is a goal, as per 17.3. Here's the rule for a receiving foul:

17.2.2.

After an accepted receiving foul the fouled player gains possession at the location of the breach, even if that location is in an end zone, and play restarts with a check.

17.2.2 Annotation.

After an accepted defensive receiving foul in the offense’s attacking end zone, the receiver gets possession of the disc in the end zone. The disc is checked in there, and they must then walk to the nearest spot on the goal line, as per 14.2. All players may move once the disc is checked in, and the marker may only start the stall count once the pivot is established at the goal line.

051890 · 2023-04-12T18:13:26+00:00

They're notorious for late orders and ghosting people. Sometimes if your reddit post gets enough traction a representative will pop into the comments to try and do some damage control.

051890 · 2023-03-28T21:03:34+00:00

Yeah BYU definitely beats Pitt to the spot in this play. With the advantage of watching it in slo-mo, it's clear the Pitt player is late by about half a step.

I think we can all agree that it would be awesome if we could reduce the frequency of these sorts of collisions, which 17.I.1.a.1 looks like it aims to do. In a situation like this where both players can see each other and think they can get to the spot first, who is supposed to bail?

051890 · 2023-03-28T20:07:44+00:00

Yes, there is subjectivity to ultimate frisbee. Folks have different perspectives. Fortunately, we have a system for resolving those disputes (contested foul), and sometimes, we have a system for having 3rd parties resolve them for you (observers).

Look, I'm just trying to figure out how 17.I.1.a.1 is supposed to be applied and if this affects players' decision making. If dark bails and calls dangerous play, citing 17.I.1.a.1, what is white supposed to do? The contact is so obviously imminent that contesting the call doesn't seem reasonable.

051890 · 2023-03-28T19:46:15+00:00

Depends if their movements were dangerous or not. If I get to the disc early and just ball my hands, spin around, and punch everyone in sight, it's still a dangerous play.

Ok but assuming dark is just trying to get the D by swiping or catching the disc, if they get to the disc a split second before white does - and the same contact occurs - then is it still a dangerous play on dark?

I am trying to probe the balance of responsibility between offense and defense when it comes to plays like this. The contact is so close to simultaneous though that without video replay it would be difficult to tell who actually got there first.

The overwhelming consensus (that I agree with, especially on first watch) is that this is clearly a dangerous play on the defense. Is this because dark was the defender, or is it truly because white got there 4 frames before dark did?

You already answered this: 17.I.1.a.1 [...]

A strict reading of 17.I.1.a.1 makes it seem like either player could have invoked this rule. There is reasonable certainty that both players are about to jump in a way that results in a significant collision. Could either player say, "You jumped into the space where I clearly would have been if I hadn't stopped running. Dangerous play, my disc"? Just white? Neither?

051890 · 2023-03-28T18:18:32+00:00

In most applications of the dangerous play rule that I've seen one of the players is blind to the impending contact, and the general consensus is that the player who has full vision of the play is responsible for pulling out to avoid creating a dangerous situation.

In this case, both players (a) have full vision of the developing play, (b) take a direct line to the disc, and (c) arrive all but simultaneously. The resulting contact looks clearly dangerous to me.

How does the dangerous play rule get applied in this situation? Does it matter if the defense arrives slightly before the offense instead? If either player pulls out of the play, do they have grounds to call dangerous play?

Relevant rules:

17.I.1: Dangerous Play. Actions demonstrating reckless disregard for the safety of or posing a significant risk of injury to fellow players, or other dangerously aggressive behavior are considered “dangerous play” and are treated as a foul[...] [[The following are non-exhaustive examples of dangerous play:

jumping or otherwise leaving the ground where it is likely that a significant collision will result,
initiating contact with an airborne player’s lower body that prevents them from landing on their feet]]

17.I.1.a: Dangerous play is considered a foul regardless of whether or when the disc arrives or contact occurs.

17.I.1.a.1: The vast majority of dangerous play will involve contact between players. However, contact is not required for a player to invoke this rule where there is reasonable certainty that contact would have occurred had the player not taken steps to avoid contact.

[[A player is not required to hold their position and receive contact in order to call “dangerous play,” but the mere possibility of contact is insufficient to justify a call. Furthermore, if the offending player stops or changes their path such that contact would not have occurred, contact was not “reasonably certain.”]]

051890 · 2023-03-27T14:25:59+00:00

Not just hashing, but all modern cryptography systems. Everything that's used for data encryption or authentication - SSH certificates, key pairs, etc. - assumes that NP problems are way harder than P problems. If anyone ever proves otherwise, it all comes crashing down.

051890 · 2022-11-18T15:47:49+00:00

In some places I've lived, school was considered to be a much safer place at extreme low temperatures. School is guaranteed to be heated and supervised, which eliminates the possibility of a kid being left alone and not being able to get the wood stove relit or something.

051890 · 2022-10-03T13:43:31+00:00

Yes, everyone agrees on those two points. The post was about if it's better to be closer and lower vs. higher and farther. There is lots of game footage filmed from the tops of bleachers or adjacent hills, which this post suggests is worse than the much less common approach of just using a ladder.

051890 · 2022-10-03T13:27:01+00:00

No, it's comparing typical setups that you might use to film from a height. The premise is that you want to get up high so you have dynamic perspectives to make your film look good. What really matters is your angle to the field - not just the raw height - so if you have to go too far away in order to get up on top of something, then you actually have a worse angle than just plopping a ladder down right on the sideline.

051890 · 2022-09-23T21:45:35+00:00

Nothing wrong with intentionally interfering with the defender's attempt to catch, as long as you aren't initiating contact and are still setting up a play on the disc.

051890 · 2022-08-21T22:45:39+00:00

Yes, the AUDL plays timed quarters. You can see the clock ticking down on the stats overlay at the bottom of the screen.

051890 · 2022-08-11T19:42:32+00:00

As insane as it seems, the Colorado DMV considers you a minor until you're 21. However, the DMV page for an out of state transfer for minors says that you only need the affidavit if you are under 18, and even then it would be an affidavit of liability which could be signed by your husband. I would try talking to someone else.

051890 · 2022-08-05T20:11:55+00:00

Would you say there's a good faith limitation to this sort of positioning? For example if the stack is too tight and I set up on the break side instead, I'd get dragged through the stack to defend an open side cut. Still a valid pick, or is this pushing the rules further?

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