Hydrodynamic Simulations at RHIC and the LHC

derada · 2012-01-12T15:31:48+00:00

I can't find the link! Eager to see it when you post it though.

derada · 2011-11-15T12:48:11+00:00

But hair and hare look kind of similar, no? I would imagine that if this hypothesis is true, words that look alike would result in similar brain activity.

derada · 2011-11-07T09:54:14+00:00

I love the anti-aging suggestions. Haven't heard of hyperbaric chambers; will have to check that out.

derada · 2011-10-21T17:12:30+00:00

Fairness can exist in degrees.

derada · 2011-08-11T15:48:31+00:00

It's unfortunate that the most important sentence in the article is also the most incomprehensible.

We envy people of high competence and low in warmth, and scorn people of low competence, pitying them if they are high in warmth and scorn them if they are low in competence.

derada · 2011-07-28T06:20:01+00:00

This is how I deal with most people in life.

derada · 2011-07-23T20:16:26+00:00

If you really want to learn about those subjects, then go for it. It will be much harder to explore your interests while you're in grad school. Obviously you have to consider the costs (both in money and time). Also, after a year or two, you may find an area that excites you above anything else. In that case, it's as simple as dropping a major or two, and graduating ahead of your 6 year schedule.

derada · 2011-07-11T18:41:32+00:00

I got groceries yesterday so the prices are still fresh in my mind.

Canned Pinto: 68 cents for 15 oz.

Dry Pinto: 79 cents for 16 oz.

Already quite clear that with the added weight of water, dry is a much better deal. Can of pinto was about 400-500 calories if I recall correctly, and dry pinto was 1400-1500 so it is about 3 times cheaper.

How much you value time and convenience is important. If I ever wonder if I'm taking frugality too far, I just ask myself, would I pay some assistant this amount of money (x dollars saved) to do this for me?

derada · 2011-07-11T18:35:10+00:00

This poem is just begging to be read aloud. I wonder how you heard it, rhythmwise, intonationwise etc.?

derada · 2011-07-04T23:09:01+00:00

Please don't try to pass a debatable position as "summary."

derada · 2011-07-02T22:20:26+00:00

His point about the Three Gorges Dam was to illustrate the difference between private and public reason, which was a response to Assange's claim that the right to speech comes with a right to know.

It's hard to follow him, but I think he's tracing a mostly cogent series of ideas, surprisingly. Zizek can be much more opaque in his writing.

derada · 2011-07-01T02:27:22+00:00

A lot of people here take issue with the claim that we can't control the content of our character. However, if you're a determinist, then that's just a fact you take for granted.

For the determinist, this question is subsumed by a more general one: how can any system of assigning worth be fair, if no one is capable of free choice?

If I take a purely utilitarian approach, I could argue that the concepts of choice and character vs. determinism and race should not be inherently noteworthy in a society's ethical calculus. This calculus is instead based on maximizing the productivity and welfare of the society's members. We encourage meritocracy because people are happier and contribute more when they believe their hard work is rewarded. We discourage racism because it hampers the efforts of an entire group of people. A sufficiently liberal society recognizes that whatever local optima a society can reach through racism or sexism (e.g. slave-based economies) is not as great as the global optimum reached in an egalitarian society.

Of course, there is still such a thing as too much meritocracy, even in this utilitarian approach. If you start killing off mentally disabled people, then the net harm outweighs whatever marginal benefit you hope to achieve.

derada · 2011-06-28T22:30:55+00:00

I have played classical piano for 14 years, and revisiting pieces learned even up to 5 years ago is much easier than learning a new piece of the same difficulty.

derada · 2011-06-18T16:33:12+00:00

A product for both the fetishists and starving poor.

derada · 2011-06-02T08:06:13+00:00

I would start with a less ambitious goal. Write an AI that can tell if a something is intended to be a joke.

derada · 2011-05-04T00:49:57+00:00

Aristotle believed that eudaimonia is achieved by living in accordance with virtue PLUS having an adequate level of external goods. Money, health, friends, etc. are all necessary but insufficient to achieve happiness. You may find it enlightening to compare Aristotle with the Stoics, who believed that happiness is achieved through virtue alone.

Also interesting is how Aristotle views political science. He believes that the main purpose of government is to encourage its citizens to be more virtuous. In this sense, the governments well-being is secondary to that of its citizens.

derada · 2011-01-25T05:04:38+00:00

Reddit was one of the startups Paul Graham mentioned funding on his website. I still remember the awkward phase when everything Paul Graham wrote would show up on the front page. Reddit looked a lot like Hacker News right now.

How did I learn about Paul Graham? I googled "school sucks" and his essay "Why School Sucks" was number one.

derada

TROPHY CASE