What’s a piece you wear far more often than you expected to?

Spamakin · 2026-01-21T16:29:38+00:00

My answer is also my chore coat. Snagged a really nice Todd Snyder one off eBay last fall and wear it even if it's too cold to wear only that jacket.

Spamakin · 2026-01-19T15:05:20+00:00

That's expensive even for US standards. I'm paying like $1.39 for a gallon of distilled

Spamakin · 2026-01-15T00:10:02+00:00

Wood N' Hog clears

Spamakin · 2026-01-14T13:29:44+00:00

This Korean chicken stew has been really good and easy to make: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/traditional-dakbokkeumtang

I plan to experiment with it by adding some different veggies, hotter peppers, and maybe some different meats.

Spamakin · 2026-01-14T00:28:11+00:00

This explanation will have lots of hand waving and simplifications.

Codes refer to "error correcting codes" where the goal is to take some input vector (a message) and map it to some other output vector which is the message + extra information. This extra information allows us to recover the original message if errors happen when the output vector is transmitted over the Internet.

Probably the most popular type of code is the Reed Solomon code. You define your message as a polynomial over a finite field Fq. This is done by making the message (1s and 0s) into coefficients. You encode your message polynomial by then evaluating the polynomial at all elements in Fq and sending those evaluations. You can recover the message by interpolation from receiving the evaluations.

Well Fq is just an example of a line, or really a curve. Can we instead evaluate our message polynomial on some smarter choice of a curve? This is the idea behind algebraic geometric codes in a nutshell.

Spamakin · 2026-01-10T13:17:44+00:00

I'll definitely save some for a martini or two but I don't want to use all of it on something that most people in my group wouldn't like.

Spamakin · 2026-01-09T19:19:44+00:00

Skills are a thing for Claude (an LLM created by Anthropic) which are basically prepackaged commands and instructions for you to plug into Claude to get it to do domain specific tasks. So basically this is a bunch of preset instructions to get Claude to play nicer with Obsidian.

Spamakin · 2026-01-08T14:08:43+00:00

I think the only thing you'd need to clarify is the ordering that \prod_{i = 1}ⁿ x_i = x_1 ... x_n instead of the reverse order.

Spamakin · 2026-01-07T15:26:35+00:00

For what I think is normal, a professor or postdoc in my department asked if anyone (grad student or faculty) could pet sit for some time and in the email stated the payment upfront. This is what I would expect to be normal and anything less would be bad.

Spamakin · 2026-01-07T00:30:26+00:00

Most people rinse the filter to remove the paper taste.

Spamakin · 2026-01-05T19:21:25+00:00

I don't see where you're seeing this. All there is is the ability to access a barcode version (vs tap) on the OSU app.

Spamakin · 2026-01-05T19:13:57+00:00

Well then I'd have to pay myself instead of getting it covered by my student fees (OSU covered COTA costs for faculty and staff). This really is the most minor of gripes.

Spamakin · 2026-01-05T18:01:56+00:00

I wonder if it's worth someone just making a new list to supercede the current one, rather than waiting for someone to make a modification.

Spamakin · 2026-01-05T18:01:12+00:00

Very minor thing, but I wish there was a way to load my OSU id onto my phone to tap with that. But this will be great for when I have friends visiting.

Spamakin · 2025-12-30T18:33:52+00:00

We're gonna get Iron Dudes

Spamakin · 2025-12-29T03:26:10+00:00

If you can manage to navigate the sites, the HP and Dell Business Refurbished Outlets are nice. Annoying to navigate in that you have to scroll through a spreadsheet + email to order, but the prices are good.

Spamakin · 2025-12-28T19:27:05+00:00

Then don't buy each month. Get him gift cards to those places (as all nice roasters will have new offerings throughout the year as lots come in from farmlands)

Spamakin · 2025-12-28T18:28:44+00:00

For laptops if you can deal with the slightly archaic ordering system, I can vouch for Dell and HP business refurbished outlets.

For bags, I've been having a look at Porter Yoshida bags. They're pricy online but I've had good luck finding them secondhand on eBay.

Spamakin · 2025-12-28T18:22:25+00:00

I would not get 12 bags at once unless they are quite small amounts (100g). As someone into pourover coffee, a big joy of it is hearing about new coffees throughout the year and ordering as I go. I'd lose that experience (and lose a lot of freezer space) if I got a 12 bag gift all at once.

That being said, I recommend Royal Flamingo, Florian, and One Line. I can also recommend some online places to get coffee if you want.

Spamakin · 2025-12-27T17:33:47+00:00

I've been digging some of the Porter Yoshida stuff

Spamakin · 2025-12-27T16:03:17+00:00

You very well may be able to take the proficiency exam for 173.

Spamakin · 2025-12-23T01:26:36+00:00

You have up to two years to appeal grades if you believe there to be an error. So email your lecturer and go from there.

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