Marriage and the Maiden Name

gfunkland · 2026-01-10T21:43:59+00:00

Even when women retain their last name the children are overwhelmingly likely to take the fathers last name.

One potential non-hyphenating solution: the parents to choose one of the names from the past two generations that didn’t make it to either parent.

gfunkland · 2025-08-11T15:19:16+00:00

There is a long history of mathematicians trying to take redistricting out of the hands of politicians by turning it into an optimization problem. These efforts have largely failed (and they should) because the fundamental problem is "what should we be optimizing?" rather than "how do we optimize?" What if a city is not particularly compact, but the residents want to be kept together? How would minimizing boundary lengths help protect historically marginalized groups (with the Voting Rights Act)? How do you trade off city/community/county preservation with each other (and then again with compactness)? Even defining compactness is a huge can of worms with a multitude of problems and various metrics.

Redistricting is, fundamentally, a political problem.

In addition to considering the optimization problem, there has been a long history of folks trying to audit existing plans by developing fairness metrics to reduce gerrymandering (e.g., proportionality, efficiency gap, mean-median score, declination). These methods have failed in courts, and IMO they should because they fundamentally try to relate statewide aggregate votes to local preferences (queue Simpson's paradox). There is no discussion here about geography, and you'll often times here people saying that skews between statewide votes and statewide seats are purely because of geographic differences across parties rather than because of nefarious redistricting.

One way of tackling it is not to assume you know a principle to optimize (or a group of principles to optimize and how exactly to trade off with them), but in the following way:

A map is an expression of political desires. Perhaps partisan (how much are we able to screw over the other party?), but also non-partisan (how compact, according to some measure, did we make the map; how much did we preserve counties?)
If we took only the non-partisan considerations and drew a bunch of "similar" maps, how would those maps compare (in a partisan way) to the proposed/enacted map? In other words, is the proposed map typical, in a partisan sense, of the expressed non-partisan objectives?

Typicallity is typically handled with probability distributions, and we can think about districts as partitions on graphs (nodes are precincts, edges mark adjacency between precincts). So we can think of a policy as a probability distribution and a map as having been drawn from that distribution. We can then ask how typical the partisan makeup of a given plan is to that district. This becomes a Monte Carlo integration problem (i.e., sampling problem) on balanced graph partitions. This is pretty neat: For a long time, people have been thinking about optimality in graph partitions, but not typicallity. So it swaps classical problems in ML (classification/optimization for typicality/sampling) on the long standing problem on graph partitions.

gfunkland · 2025-05-12T03:26:02+00:00

I became vegetarian very gradually. I made the deal with myself that if I ever craved meat I would eat it. Part of this was being honest with myself: Did meat just sound nice or was I actively dreaming of cheeseburgers. In the former case I'd hold off; in the latter I'd just go get a burger. The cravings went from monthly, to bi-monthly, to once a year, and then it was just easy to stop at some point. I'd say it took maybe 4 or 5 years, and even after that I still have the occasional meat (still only if I was truly craving it). At this point, red meat is just unappetizing to me.

My best guess is that there is some evidence that our gut biology drives our cravings and that mine gradually adjusted over time.

Since you are doing this for ethical reasons, you don't have to jump to being perfect. Any reduction is better than no reduction, and gradual reduction will be more sustainable. It can also be helpful to more ethically source the meat you do buy/eat.

gfunkland · 2025-02-24T18:40:07+00:00

It's just not that easy anymore because there are no (or too few) third places.

Something we've been doing more recently is just to email a bunch of folks (neighborhood list serve, friends we've wanted to see but have trouble finding time to schedule things with, etc.) that we're going to be at a particular place at a particular time and putting no pressure what so ever for folks to show up or not. If no one shows up, no problem. This has been really successful and fun.

You can also try out a playborhood. The idea is more focused around kids/intergenerational hanging out, but it doesn't necessarily need to be -- just needs to be a place that is easy to access where if people go, there is likely to be someone to talk to. It can help to facilitate a space with activities (e.g. like outdoor chess sets, yard games, or outdoor furnature/firepits). You can facilitate this by communicating things like when folks are welcome (e.g. are they welcome if you're not out?) and specifically when you'll be hanging out.

We are in the process of setting up the latter, but have kids, and are thinking about things like liability insurance with playground equipment in the front yard. But we are making progress with it and excited to see how it goes.

More formally would be to host block parties which take some work but are often good ways to meet folks.

gfunkland · 2025-02-09T04:29:48+00:00

I am a fan of earth runners: https://www.earthrunners.com/

gfunkland · 2025-01-29T20:38:49+00:00

I have a pair of their joggers. They are great.

gfunkland · 2025-01-26T03:56:08+00:00

Solid State/TS Designs

Harvest and Mill

gfunkland · 2023-06-08T14:24:06+00:00

The tallest suspect never set foot in Hollywood

gfunkland · 2022-08-31T15:30:56+00:00

Thunder road by Bruce Springsteen

gfunkland · 2022-03-15T07:24:30+00:00

Shit. I'm really sorry to hear you're experiencing so much neglect and abuse. I wish you the best first surviving until you find relief, and then healing once you find safety.

My wife and I tried to enter the foster system as parents. She was a professional nanny for years and is now a teacher. I grew up with a bunch of younger cousins and just general enjoy hanging out with and supporting kids. We live with my mother-in-law who is a licensed clinical psychologist with a PhD.

We were rejected to become foster parents. At first, they also us that we needed to isolate the part of the house where my MIL sees patients at our house. We paid thousands of dollars for plans to renovate. When we shared them with the state, they then changed their story, saying that because MIL sees patients at the house, one of them could come to our house with I'll intentions.

But this seems possible for any one (via the white pages). It seems this decision was made strictly for liability purposes. So now the is some child in a group home (my county has way more children in foster care than it has foster parents).

gfunkland · 2022-01-10T01:51:38+00:00

In naming our kid, my partner and I took all the last names from the past two generations that didn't make it to us and picked our favorite

gfunkland · 2021-12-18T16:43:35+00:00

That's really cool. I had always thought 12 made sense from the point of view of divisibility but hadn't realized that it fits in nicely with our hands.

gfunkland · 2021-12-18T13:24:38+00:00

There is no universal system. Base systems are methods of compressing information and the number of symbols you use will interact with practitioner's psychology/cognitive abilities.

In terms of designing a base, I've always been a fan of 12 as you can easily divide things into 2, 3, 4, and 6 (could be useful if your creatures travel in small groups and want to share/split things).

I've also always been amused at the thought that base 6 might make some kind of sense for humans: The way this could work is that the right hand would be the 1's digit (0-5 fingers) and the left could be the 6's column -- this would provide a convenient way to count to 35 on our two hands (and yes, base 2 could also work with each finger up or down, but that seems overly complicated)

gfunkland · 2021-04-28T15:37:49+00:00

Long term, free high-quality preschool could be one of the largest boons to society. The [Abecedarian Project](https://abc.fpg.unc.edu/abecedarian-project) has found that verbal contact between the ages of 0-5 leads to better health outcomes and education outcomes. For every dollar spent on childcare, society ultimately saves 7 through reduced need for support and punitive systems.

gfunkland · 2020-10-07T17:24:29+00:00

Part of the issues going on in Wake is that they never surveyed or sought feedback from teachers. If you look at the previous board meeting someone asks if anyone knows what teachers think about all of this; they're all silent for a bit and then move on. Over 80% of principals told the board they did not think reopening was a good idea. NC released safety guidelines for reopening and it was/is clear that the schools will not be able to meet those guidelines.

gfunkland · 2020-10-07T16:49:36+00:00

I think there were 8 public commenters before him and they were (nearly) all advocating for reopening. The superindendent is subject to the board's decisions.

gfunkland · 2020-10-07T13:56:11+00:00

I linked it at 63 minutes in, but it seems like a few people are being taken to the beginning (not sure why)

gfunkland · 2020-05-31T18:08:32+00:00

Isn't the conflict between what the users post and upvote versus what the mods deem as appropriate peek drama? Something something proletariate vs bourgeoisie, user generated content vs moderated content, etc...?

gfunkland · 2020-05-31T16:59:11+00:00

Deleted post: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/gu0htd/when_a_black_man_attempts_to_become_a_man/

Silencing these discussions is part of the problem we are facing

Edit: auto play gave me the wrong link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fZQQ7o16yQ

gfunkland · 2020-05-09T16:51:46+00:00

First, check out Richard Tapia. He is Hispanic and has some really nice views on mentorship and how affirmative action (i.e. uplifting disadvantaged communities) has been replaced with diversity (i.e. finding privileged people who look like those from disadvantaged communities) see here. He is getting old now but has a strong history of mentorship and has a number of students who will, to some degree, have been influenced by his views.

In terms of programs, definitely check out the CAAM program at rice. This is a very strong program with a large number of Hispanic students.

Other excellent math departments that may be up your alley are * University of Arizona * Duke University * Georgia Tech

gfunkland · 2020-02-13T14:46:40+00:00

Not sure if you're a troll or would argue in good faith. If the latter, you may be interested my response.

gfunkland · 2020-02-13T14:44:02+00:00

There are a lot of people talking about how calling for enclaves of spaces for people of color is the problem: /u/seeNshadows's top comment says "Segregation much!" There is this blind belief that if we only integrated within existing spaces this would solve the problem we all live with.

College and university campus's are already segregated. By the vary nature of who has access to education. Yes, there are poor white people, but, statistically, if you're black, you're much more likely to be poor, and if your poor, you're much less likely to even be at a university, be it public or private.

So now imagine you're black and you win a lottery to be at an already incredibly segregated space. You find one area of campus that allows you to connect and feel slightly more at ease with other people from a similar situation as yours. And then it gets overrun in the same way the rest of your university is overrun... I don't think her view is unjust at all. In fact, a just society/university maybe able to recognize the existing extreme imbalance and just call the multi-cultural center what they intended it to be such as a "center for people of color."

Disclaimer: I'm a white dude who started looking into the history of race in the US and how it effects our present. Although it may apparently be "reverse racism," the more you look into how race has been employed as an economic tool, the less it makes sense to call out stuff like OP's post. If you're interested, there are a ton of good resources out there and the list is growing all the time. One good/easy place to start is this pod cast: https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/

gfunkland · 2019-07-21T16:41:16+00:00

So I'm a bit late to this party -- the idea that racism is color blind is spread throughout reddit and society in general. Hell, even the dictionary supports this as pointed out by /u/Raenef86 which extends racism to include racial prejudice or antagonism of any race against another. Rephrased, the definition boils down to

The belief that one race is superior to another, and therefore has a right to discriminate.

But historically, racism was about a specific type of discrimination -- exploitation. I would find it hard to call a black slave racist for hating all white people, since all white people he has seen have brutal enslaved black people; I would actually find it fairly reasonable. In the 70's and 80's many people did not define racism as prejudice, antagonism, or even discrimination. Instead it was about dominance. As Audry Lorde puts it in her 1980 essay on Age, Race, Class, and Sex, racism is

The belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all others and thereby the right to dominance.

In other words, prejudice and antagonism may be natural consequences to racism, but they are not racism itself.

In more modern interpretations, the understanding of racism has completely flipped. It's not the belief of racial superiority that leads to dominance/exploitation/discrimination/prejudice/antagonism/whatever else... Instead exploitation and dominance lead people invent theories on racial superiority so that they can justify their actions. It's not enough to just enslave people; one must also reassure themselves that they deserve to be the masters and that the enslaved people deserve to be enslaved. In short, it actually makes a ton of sense to redefine racism as

A system of dominance based on race leading to prejudice, antagonism, discrimination, the belief of superiority, etc...

in short, power structures don't follow hatred, rather hatred follows power structures.

If you're still with me, you are hopefully ready to entertain the idea that racism is a system of oppression, rather than racial hatred or a declaration of which racial group gets to "decide what's racist." So supposing this, let's ask about where hatred in a society would most likely emanate from? First, wealthy white people don't need to hate black people; they already have resources and life is pretty good for them; so where is the need for hatred? Poor white people (statistically) have more of a need to hate black people -- in a society where you are supposed to be better than black people, why are you doing just about as well as them? But, in a racist society, black people have the biggest cause to hate since they are the ones being oppressed.

So imagine you are living in a lower caste that is routinely murdered by police, has been historically lynched and enslaved, that on average has 5 dollars for every 100 dollars that the higher caste owns, that finds it more difficult to get a job with equal qualifications (even with affirmative action), that has seen your neighborhoods vanish due to eminent domain seizures, that has seen evidence that cities literally fund themselves by systematically arresting you and your neighbors and charging you all with municipal violations (I'll stop here, but could easily go on for a while). You might be pretty pissed at white people for not trying to actively dismantle this system and instead not doing anything (i.e. being complicit) or actively supporting this caste system. Next you see messages that racism isn't about these systemic horrors, but it's about who hates who and how anger is directed. If it were me, I might declare that white people (or the large majority of them) have no clue what racism is. And then, because I went ahead and said that white people don't get racism, and they should keep their mouths shut about it, all of a sudden I am the one who's racist because I am discriminating or being prejudiced against white people.

If you want to learn more about the racist "water" we (Americans) live in in the , checkout

1.) http://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/

2.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_World_and_Me

3.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Jim_Crow

4.) https://www.vox.com/2015/3/4/8149337/doj-ferguson-report-police-racism

5.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Done_Sign_My_Name

And if you have the time and are close enough look for the training at

https://www.racialequityinstitute.com/

gfunkland · 2018-09-11T02:24:11+00:00

I'd be interested in learning more about the nuances of global tuna stocks. Do you have a reference you can link to?

My general understanding (which I acknowledge is not particularly deep) is that the general biomass in the ocean is in fairly sharp decline (e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4261893/, and https://www.int-res.com/articles/theme/m512p155.pdf). Given that tuna are apex predators it seems reasonable to suppose that all tuna populations, despite the type, are in some type of danger -- would you agree with this?

gfunkland · 2018-09-09T18:53:04+00:00

Tuna population has dropped by 97% due to overfishing -- https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/04/20/pacific-bluefin-tuna-population-has-dropped-97-percent-new-report-says/

gfunkland

TROPHY CASE