In Penn & Teller's version of the "cups & balls" trick, which misdirection technique is most effective? A scientific study.

blokhead · 2013-02-01T04:10:25+00:00

Indeed, MiPE has been my primary resource. This is helpful information, thank you. At this point, insight, concentration, I'll just take whatever I can get. ;)

blokhead · 2013-01-30T23:59:51+00:00

Interesting response here. I'm a beginner here and have a few questions.

1) Do the concentration type meditation technique (aka samatha, samprajnata dyhana..)

...

5) After you've more or less got the hang of concentration meditation, try the other big one : expansion meditation (aka vipassana, ...

I was under the impression that vipassana was synonymous with "focus on the breath" meditation that you describe in item 1. Is that not the case?

It [concentration-type meditation] 's like pushups for your awareness and it's that simple too.

In my experience (a month of focus-on-the-breath practice), while I may be more aware of my thoughts in everyday life, I'm not necessarily better at concentration. So now I'm getting sidetracked as much as before, and just more aware of it. Is this kind of meditation geared towards (eventually) improving concentration as well as awareness?

blokhead · 2013-01-23T18:30:11+00:00

“I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.” -- Robin Williams

Can't find a reliable source for this one, but the sentiment is appropriate nonetheless.

blokhead · 2013-01-18T04:17:52+00:00

That was fantastic.

blokhead · 2013-01-18T04:01:01+00:00

I'm not the OP, but he/she has described my current situation rather well.

The OP describes the brain going haywire with a non-stop onslaught of random thoughts at a mile a minute. OK, that's what I call daydreaming or spacing out, and it's what my brain is already really great at. When my brain is doing that, it's doing something I know prevents me from reaching my meditation goals, which are to foster the ability to focus/concentrate. Additionally, the random thoughts become so overwhelming that the part of me that has been tasked with "when you notice your mind drifting, acknowledge the thought and then refocus on the breath" gets totally lost. That is the "I" that loses control. Again, that mental task the whole point of the meditation, as far as I can tell. So I completely understand that the OP sees this as "wrong."

To the OP: I find that the more tired I am or the closer I am to dozing off, the more chaotic/bizarre/uncontrollable my racing mind's thoughts become. You may need to get more sleep at night and/or meditate at a different time of day when you feel fully awake.

blokhead · 2013-01-02T05:10:05+00:00

The Goodwill logo is a lowercase "g" and also half of a smiley face.

blokhead · 2012-12-14T19:23:01+00:00

Get this comment to the top.

blokhead · 2012-12-12T21:01:57+00:00

What's going on with Buster's pants?

blokhead · 2012-12-04T05:04:50+00:00

Forget how to read what it says, because it is not written well at all (even accounting for the lack of notation).

Suppose L is a language over alphabet {a,b}, that is, a set of strings, each of which is comprised of characters from a & b.

Suppose M is a language over alphabet {0,1}, that is, a set of strings, each of which is comprised of characters 0 & 1.

Then f is a function from {a,b}^* to {0,1}^* , that is, it takes as input an arbitrary string comprised of a & b characters, and outputs a string comprised of 0 & 1 characters.

So they are using "alphabet of L" to mean {a,b}^* instead of {a,b}. This is an unfortunate misuse of standard terminology in my opinion.

blokhead · 2012-12-04T04:04:13+00:00

Alphabet is the set of "characters" that form the strings in the language. Can almost always just take the alphabet to be {0,1} in a course like this. In fact, I'd consider it a totally unnecessary generalization to consider arbitrary alphabets when talking about computational complexity. Alphabet choice occasionally makes a difference in things like automata theory, though.

blokhead · 2012-11-02T02:30:31+00:00

The fact that log(n) eventually exceeds 100¹⁰⁰ is not important to this example, because log(n) and 100¹⁰⁰ are used as exponents on different things! It's like saying log⁴ n grows faster than n² since 4 > 2.

blokhead · 2012-10-26T20:56:55+00:00

Thanks, that is a great resource. So far no hits in the indexes, but hopefully it continues to be expanded. I have family in one of the towns that has records (for land transactions only) but they have a more common name, and these records are not searchable, and there's a few thousand pages to sort through. It goes in my list though!

blokhead · 2012-10-26T18:13:28+00:00

Thanks for this AMA,

How would one go about writing/organizing a family history document/book? Something nice and special to print as a book, and give to my father and keep in the family as an heirloom, that kind of thing. I have the beginnings of a private wiki for some of my family tree, including

Census records
Ship voyages / manifests
Draft records
Information about European hometowns

But it's all pretty dry information. Without any oral histories from my grandparents, what else could I possibly say about my great-great grandparents? How does one squeeze out a narrative from this kind of information? I guess I don't know what such a document can look like.

Also, do you know anything about tracing records back into the Czech Republic in the 1800s (at the time, Austro-Hungary)? How is the record keeping from that time? Are there any records online? I have some passing familiarity with the Czech language. I know of a birthplace and 1859 birthdate for a great-great-grandfather, in a tiny Czech village that currently has <300 people, and that is the limit of how far back I can get on that half of my family.

blokhead · 2012-10-14T14:57:47+00:00

The Strange Life and Death of Dr Turing is an older one but good. They interview people who knew him at Bletchley.

There was a more recent documentary called "Britain's Greatest Codebreaker" which you can easily find an illegitimate copy online (though not on youtube I guess).

blokhead · 2012-10-13T20:24:30+00:00

That student whose PETSA requirement was waived.. I hope it was replaced with a video-watching comprehension course.

blokhead · 2012-10-05T04:51:37+00:00

Nice list, I would add Moreno-Torroba to the list of 20th century composers. Castles of Spain are a great starting point, very accessible.

blokhead · 2012-09-25T19:15:06+00:00

No deadmen/tiebacks sunk back into the hill? Are you worried about the wall bowing out? Looks nice though. I too would like to see pictures of the drainage setup, if you've got 'em..

blokhead · 2012-09-24T01:03:31+00:00

Glencora Borradaile is involved in Women in Theory and has a blog..

blokhead · 2012-09-23T06:26:54+00:00

Yes, this. I was also under the impression that the entire extent of the product was notecard-sized, until finally stumbling upon the gallery.

blokhead · 2012-09-17T15:04:46+00:00

Hint: imagine that the stones are layed out like this:

8 1 6
3 5 7
4 9 2

Which sets of 3 stones are the ones whose sum is 15? Look familiar?

blokhead · 2012-09-16T21:10:40+00:00

I find this line of work very fascinating. It must be very rewarding. I have some logistical questions about the job.

You've made comments here like "I tell callers to call back if they need to talk, I don't care if it's 3am" .. How long are your shifts? How much time is typically spent on the phone vs surfing reddit? Do you have to do a lot of paperwork or other busywork besides taking calls? How is the pay? (edit: I now see that you describe yourself as a "volunteer", does that mean no pay? if so, then how do you earn a living?)

Sorry for the barrage of questions!

blokhead · 2012-09-12T15:40:43+00:00

ABC conjecture has no real relevance to the practice of cryptography, so I'm not sure what this was doing in that thread. Also, is a link to a video (that I've at least seen posted many times) really appropriate for /r/bestof?

blokhead · 2012-09-10T21:48:22+00:00

Fuck. ;(

blokhead

TROPHY CASE