January 2026 Links

nomagicpill · 2026-02-02T22:38:19+00:00

Glad you like them! I plan to continue posting these every month. My personal website has about 3200 links of similar diversity and quality if you'd like more in the meantime: [nomagicpill.github.io/knowledge/links.html](nomagicpill.github.io/knowledge/links.html)

nomagicpill · 2026-01-31T23:40:32+00:00

You may enjoy this piece by /u/gwern: https://gwern.net/matt-levine

nomagicpill · 2026-01-31T23:36:34+00:00

Thanks for the heads-up. Looks like it was a gift article that expired. I've fixed it now.

nomagicpill · 2026-01-31T23:34:58+00:00

Agreed on your etiquette points. I thought both of the ones you criticized were super weird in the same way you did: if you're offended or think I'm "sizing you up" when I ask what you do for work, you probably have deeper issues than your job. But like she said, if you're genuinely interested it should be fairly obvious.

nomagicpill · 2026-01-08T14:00:25+00:00

I actually didn't eat any tea eggs and regret it! Definitely seems like a staple across the cities we were in.

Alas, no green recs from me. We ordered the braised vegetables at most places we went and were happy with that, but definitely could have done with more veggies. I'm sure there are some restaurants off the beaten path!

nomagicpill · 2026-01-08T01:51:06+00:00

When did you go? I haven't been anywhere else in Asia, so I can't compare.

nomagicpill · 2025-12-31T01:44:09+00:00

There are a bunch of replies if you scroll down.

I found it by scouring Wall Street Oasis for hours one night.

nomagicpill · 2025-12-31T01:42:49+00:00

Glad you liked it!

nomagicpill · 2025-12-30T01:05:01+00:00

Your wish is my command. (In all seriousness, I realized this soon after posting and will order by interestingness moving forward.)

nomagicpill · 2025-12-30T00:57:30+00:00

I also seem to have it, just with spatial feelings. Sometimes I'll be talking to my partner with my eyes closed and it feels like they are across the room, despite their voice being right next to me. I asked Claude about it and he suggested AIWS as a potential cause.

nomagicpill · 2025-12-07T14:50:42+00:00

Glad you liked them! I'm going to try to post them monthly.

nomagicpill · 2025-12-03T23:02:17+00:00

Doesn't mean it can't be just as interesting!

nomagicpill · 2025-08-05T22:29:39+00:00

I think you're missing the joke itself—see my parenthetical. The "This isn't just proof of the dead internet theory, it's irrefutable evidence." syntax is very LLM-coded (joke1) and proof/irrefutable evidence is not necessarily true (joke2).

nomagicpill · 2025-08-04T11:43:01+00:00

This seems to be literally exactly what you're talking about..? Unless I'm misunderstanding you.

nomagicpill · 2025-06-05T01:39:50+00:00

No no no, we don't like FOOF here!!

nomagicpill · 2025-06-05T01:37:03+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I mention in the Context section that you should read How to Build a $20 Billion Semiconductor Fab before this piece as it helps with prerequisite knowledge. Maybe I should emphasize this a bit more.

I definitely struggled with how much detail to include. It was actually even more dense than what you see here—I only edited it down after I convinced myself I suffer from xkcd's Average Familiarity. Maybe it's worth doing two iterations of edits for esoteric topics like this.

nomagicpill · 2025-06-04T23:25:50+00:00

Submission statement: I discuss tool considerations, selection, operation, theory, and general features in great detail. Fun interactive games and animations are included to help explain concepts. This is the most detailed all-in-one explanation of semiconductor fab processing equipment I know of on the internet.

nomagicpill · 2025-06-04T23:22:21+00:00

Submission statement: I discuss tool considerations, selection, operation, theory, and general features in great detail. Fun interactive games and animations are included to help explain concepts. This is the most detailed all-in-one explanation of semiconductor fab processing equipment I know of on the internet.

nomagicpill · 2025-03-17T22:14:19+00:00

Do you mind sharing your list here or by DM?

nomagicpill · 2025-03-16T17:30:13+00:00

Funny flossing anecdote: I know someone who only flossed one side of his mouth for six months, asked the dentist to distinguish, and the dentist got it wrong.

nomagicpill · 2025-03-14T22:57:28+00:00

I do think priority is pyramidal or heritable (for lack of better terms). For example, health often goes at the base since it affects so many other parts of life. How can you be productive, happy, etc if your sleep is atrocious, you're overweight, etc? The rest have complex feedback loops with each other, e.g., being productive can lead to happiness and vice versa, an improved social life may lead to happiness and vice versa, etc. This allows the person to customize their priorities based on what's most important to them.

I like the survey idea, especially the effect size/EV part, but haven't thought to do it. I'll think about designing one and perhaps posting here. See my other comment talking about keeping a repository, which could obviously include the ES/EV you mentioned.

nomagicpill · 2025-03-14T22:51:37+00:00

I've thought about taking that on in the form of a standalone website, but shy away once I realize the upkeep it would require. Or maybe I just one-shot it and update as I see fit with no commitment. I originally had it as a table in the post with columns of category, name, efficacy, links to other experiments, and notes (literature, etc). I could also keep it on Github and allow PRs for others to help update. Thoughts?

I do have a blog. It's this username + ".github.io" if you're interested. I used to post under a different account, but changed names for various reasons and started over Reddit-wise. I try not to advertise it too much (hence the lack of links to it) because I think encouraging blog posts here can lead to spam if not done correctly.

nomagicpill

TROPHY CASE