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Devac  ·  310 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why do recipe writers lie and lie and lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions?

I almost always give time estimates the Fahrenheit treatment: multiply by 2 and add 30. Friend says they're gonna be 5 minutes late? Expect them in 40. Recipe claims onions need 10 minutes? BAM, Fahrenheited at 50 minutes! It's annoyingly accurate.

Devac  ·  336 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: April 26, 2023

I fucking hate how many boardgames now ship with a rules summary handout as a must-have for players. A thing even advanced players need because of how many moving parts there are. If I wanted to faff about with counters, switches, tokens, miniatures, modifiers, table+-sized maps, and multiple A4-size game sheets, I'd drop the pretence and play that old version of Battletech that begins with an orbital assault phase. Or one of those wargame simulations for ultimate hard-chargers that take a week to set up.

I've been gifted with a first volume of Philokalia by one of the Ukrainian fellows, and it's an odd book. Really difficult to get into, state-of-mind-wise, but I'm definitely going to get back to it when I'll finish the heap that's currently open.

The garden is coming along nicely.

Devac  ·  680 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: May 18, 2022

Apparently, when medication is right, you might not even feel it. I was legitimately afraid while psychiatrist was switching me to quetiapine, tossing black humour quips with my brother over the side effects list, that this is how I'll die -- after a long stoke-induced coma that'll happen when trying to reconcile in my chemically stunted brain evaporated libido with priapism... but it's been almost two months of them working like magic and leaving no side-effects beyond dull-ish short-lasting headaches at odd times. My manic episode was nonexistent, excess energy looking more like the (almost certainly misdiagnosed/misinterpreted) ADD I had since early teens if anything. Lower mood was hitting hard at first, but now it's just that instead of something where it made everything some raw-willpower effort aided by motivational tricks to get the brain and body going, often separately and on different gears. It's like I can stand beside my thoughts, qualify and analyze them enough so that therapy begins to help rather than cause more doubts.

Many of you here deserve thanks, but I'm gonna single out goobster for filling in so many, most unstated or yet unknown, gaps so early on. 'Simply' knowing the direction of future questioning is good 70% of learning.

And, hey, as a curative bonus, I stuck with Latin and Greek. Δίκα δὲ τοῖς μὲν παθοῦσιν μαθεῖν ἐπιρρέπει became somewhat of a mantra, because if you allow some customary wiggle room in translating poetry: "[justly,] to learn your lesson, you must suffer first."

Thank you, to all who reached out.

I had some more things and thoughts to add about the last drive to Ukraine, but it's not even clear to me where to start on that one.

Devac  ·  793 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: SpinLaunch conducts first test of suborbital accelerator at Spaceport America

    I can't come up with a better scheme to fuck over unworthy venture capitalists.

    Hey Devac, what/how do you want to do/scam?

That's a tad blatant steal, but sure.

OK, so we all know spinning is a good trick. Anakin does it, LHC does it, SpinLaunch does it. But that's their folly: too many moving parts!

Imagine this, a revolution in the field of ballistic coming in a shape of a cylinder under vacuum.

"How does it move the object?" you ask? Easy. Forget of the by-gone era of complex rotor with(out) a counter-balance or chemical propellant.

It'll utilize the tremendous power hidden in a svelte form factor of a cranked-up spring.

That's right, only TWO moving parts: crank and trigger.

And here's the opportunity for synergy™: Elon Musk already works on vacuum tubes with carts in them, all we need is convince him to forget about that silly electrical automobile gizmo and finance our Spring Theory research.

BTW, my working name for the device would be The Tosser™.

Devac  ·  974 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: July 28, 2021

Got a new challenge. After discovering that going full-on work-to-rule hasn't impeded my output and most of my routine stuff being fixed, it should occupy my time nicely. The current plan is to finish vol 1 and then take on a concept a day from vols 2 and 3 while going along with the rest. There're already caveats like watching Shakespearian plays instead of reading them, but there's a lot that's been on my list for years now, and it's often easier for me to tackle them as a part of something greater than individually. I'm on the fence about omitting the ones I read already, but it's better to handle those as they come along. Definitely gonna do Homer; so far I'm of the mind that the worst English translation of Iliad beats the snot out of the best Polish one. Though, in a year from now, I hope to read it in Greek.

I've been thinking a lot about my future lately, in no small part because of problems with people at work. Not with the adviser, mind you, if I got to work solely with him and his group, my satisfaction would be soaring. Regardless, should I stay with academia, I owe it to myself to leave abroad if only to avoid devolving into the "big fish in small pond" mindset present among all too many folks. Though, really, it occurred to me that the main reason against leaving academia is that in the end, I'd honestly rather focus on finding ways, any ways, of powering through all the necessary suck than go back to trying to find other kinds of work. Let's face it: I kept failing incessantly even when the economy wasn't one gigantic pig's breakfast. Terminal degree isn't gonna change that, so there's no point in pretending otherwise.

My medications seem to continue working fine, but I don't like the quasi-introspective state they put me under at times. Definitely won't go along as easily with another dosage tweaking, too. It's dissonant. Material occupying me at downtime should be "has it really been so long since I got any?" not "I don't even think with the language that molded so much of me anymore -- is there any aspect left that's still German?" Worse, I keep spiraling into those odd decision-paralysis states where I keep, for example, re-editing or re-drafting everything for so long the purpose of doing it becomes moot. They got even worse, and this comes from someone who's been sitting on reviews of Durant, GEB, Diplomacy, and others for years now. Those unfortunate among you to be in private correspondence with me no doubt noticed it's even moreso either a stream of overemoted consciousness riddled with mistakes or nothing at all. Apologies, as this is by no means an excuse but an explanation.

Devac  ·  989 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Life Advice: Become a Billionaire

    Log scaling is really poor, but as the NYT reminds us, we’re talking about really extreme levels of wealth here. Sure, you only gain a few more points of happiness between an income $75,000 and $160,000, but Jeff Bezos is sitting comfortably at a net worth of $211,000,000,000. Our intuitions just don’t apply very well here.

The model doesn't have to apply here, it's ladders and ladders of extrapolation ahead of any data. At, what, six orders of magnitude of difference is like administering WAIS IQ test to a nonlinear being existing outside time.

A tangent, one I've been on and off procrastinating my PhD over for a while now:

Fluffy: Quantum physicists measure the smallest gravitational force yet

Meaty: Measurement of Gravitational Coupling between Millimeter-Sized Masses; PDF; Nature paywalling the same thing

The reason those measurements are not just necessary but are looked into with bated breath is because this is the closest we can hope to get to testing gravity on quantum scales in the foreseeable future. Or, to be precise, mesoscales -- it's a long road to quantum. Just because Newton's model works at scales in the article doesn't mean it'll keep doing so (EDIT: or that it should have been assumed it would do so without a need for testing), and very serious basic physicists know it has to be tested at all intermediate distances and masses. Yes. Newton's gravity. It's still hawt and exciting, exactly because it finally gets thorough, reliable, repeatable tests at lower end of the parameter space.

I'm saying it because while I absolutely can appreciate and play with likely-false hypotheses... even neo-rationalists should know the need for rigour. Ho-ho, I too can be cheeky about imagined opponents!

No binding promises are made, but I'll try to dissect this soon-ish rather than later-ish.

Devac  ·  1170 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: January 13, 2021

It's been a rotten couple of months, rife with personal failure everywhere I looked. My research is moving at a snail's pace. The social life is somehow more pathetic than back when the only person I casually spent time with was my dormmate.

Aside from TAing, the thing closest to giving me any fulfillment these days, I've effectively taken myself off everything. Team conferences and coursework get 'brain on autopilot' treatment (nobody noticed), my thesis stuff is on pause for literature review (nobody objected, and it's true anyway), and I'm gonna use this break to see if SSRIs will do anything in this setting beyond their current 'vision is kinda blurry, and I yawn all the fucking time'. Though, really, I don't think it's a chemical problem.

Devac  ·  1172 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What books are you reading hubski?

Swapping between these:

A.A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine empire

H. Zinn, A People's History of the US 1492-Present

H. Kissinger, Diplomacy

Devac  ·  1212 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: December 2, 2020

There are 168 hours in a week.

I sleep through about 40 of those.

By the guidelines/handbook, my current workload should be 54 hours (20 on thesis, 20 on coursework, 7 hours per TAed course).

Working out takes me around 10 hours.

All the minutia is probably another 10. I shop once a week at most, and most of my cooking devolved into big pots of stew or soup that last me days.

The leftover 54 hours should be my free time then. Hell, let's even high-ball and subtract another 20 for miscellaneous internet stuff, Hubski included. That's still 34 hours, almost exactly five per day, yet I can barely remember when I spared an evening to enjoy a book, you know? But I know where that time goes: work. Good? Maybe. Hell, by my adviser's assessment, I could likely compose the thesis and defend in about two or three semesters from now. Said my stuff is already more advanced than many he'd seen in their fourth year. So the time wasn't wasted, simply made me lose whatever touch I began to develop.

It's dawning on me that I mistook a job for a lifestyle, and this is just stupid enough to have my name smeared all over itself. And it's not really OCD or anything like that, one look at my room should make such notions laughable, but it's far from a surprise to anyone I get excited and obsessive.

Devac  ·  1267 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 7, 2020

Month into pneumonia/bronchitis of a lifetime (narrowly avoided hospitalization), still feeling like crap and it's genuinely difficult for me to focus on anything for more than 20 minutes, if that. Fortunately, academic year for my undergraduate group starts at 14th, the PhD students have their own organizational problems but we already had classes. Due to covid surge we're returning in Poland to a bunch of restrictions and stricter regulation on masks, and thank god for that.

Keep on keeping on, hubski!

Devac  ·  1352 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: July 15, 2020

Duda got reelected. Shit times will remain a steady course.

Work on last week's project keeps going onward, though had to slow down after I got peer review feedback on a paper from last April. It's funny how the author's deadline for augmenting their work is much, much stricter than the reviewer's. That said, it's nothing but mild grumbling from me since it literally replaces hobby physics with work-related physics. Counting it as a win, even though I'd rather get a week's rest more before chasing terms.

Health-wise, I feel a bit better with every passing day. On their own, changes are imperceptible but seen from a long-term perspective astound me.

Devac  ·  1415 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: May 13, 2020

I'm scheduled for heart surgery in two months, though they'll likely move me farther down the line as a rather low-priority patient (young, otherwise healthy, manageable/stable via medications). Nothing open, they want to get through one of the blood vessels and zap the naughty bit of tissue into submission. There's a very high chance it'll get rid of my worsening arrhythmia that's been exacerbating the problem with one of the valves for the last couple of years. Best case scenario, I'll be off two meds almost simultaneously and start seeing quality of life improvements within a week. It's not without its risks, absolutely, but beats alternatives with the fervour of an amphetamine-soaked monkey.

Work goes pretty damn well. Changing carrot for the stick solved most of my TAing problems, got myself up to speed enough to start contributing to the grant project, and passed two out of three exams for this semester early. I'm stuck in my own research, but that's hardly a surprise. Lucky breaks have their limit, and I've been on a hot streak since February. Honestly, the worst part is that I got to the point (one of many to come, no doubt) with the math where the only viable strategy is to go back to basics and keep trying various methods, new and old alike, until something moves. I'm yet to get to the desperation of hungover Putnam taker, but throwing half-random, half-educated shit at it and methodically checking what sticks could spell most of my summer. am_Unition - that's how "theorist's rigour" looks up-close when you're out of options.

Maybe it's the facemask and social distancing making everyone bored out of their mind, but I've been getting noticeably more attention from women over the last couple of weeks. Dunno, maybe the world is ending for real, but it's no less flattering and ego-boosting.

Played a bunch of Paranoia over the weekend, currently plan on redoubling my efforts pitching mk's Wayfarers to the group. It's a slow process, but they were equally sceptical about other stuff I brought to the table they ended up loving (e.g. Dark Heresy, Neuroshima, Teenagers from Outer Space). I understand their resistance to mechanics on a superficial level, but that's about it.

Twylos is tight and better written than most mainstream settings I've seen to date. There's stuff to do and places to be for player characters. Enough detail to paint the picture without oversaturating readers with pointless trivia, and guilds/organisations/cities (and, by extension, their people) have understandable allegiances and motivations. Or, at the very least, ones that don't collapse after asking 'why?' a couple of times. Lastly, there aren't legions of established NPCs/author avatars that only let you do anything because they can't be bothered with chaff. Essentially, the opposite of Forgotten Realms on all of those points. As a mildly-seasoned GM who likes getting his hands dirty, I loved it.

Also, come on:

    Velanieh

    A home. Sadly, my friends, Velanieh is empty. Barren of Master like one’s elderly nursemaid, these halls no longer ring with the sounds of laughter, gay parties, her lovely voice. Look elsewhere.

It feels like a real place, with its own flavour and tone. Probably my biggest complaint would be about a few low-contrast maps that were a chore to read.

Really, I should have started by introducing them to Twylos instead of showing the player's handbook first. It's definitely not bad in and of itself, and I'd have to actually playtest it to have anything resembling critique, but the "GURPS-y AD&D" comparison is inevitable and not always favourable. Hopefully, I'll get to share something post-game sooner rather than later.

Devac  ·  1471 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 18, 2020

Highlights from the week:

- One of my students sent out their solutions to everyone in the group, including me.

- Discovered that my adviser has a bitchin' live-streaming setup at home.

- Started teaching chess to flatmate's gf, and she's turned out to be a scarily fast learner.

- Went through what was supposed to be three weeks of reading material in five days, currently considering going nuclear (heh).

- LaTeXifying ~80 pages of homework was tensor-laden murder.

Devac  ·  1635 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What If We Really Are Alone in the Universe?  ·  

So, the final formula is:

  Power = (p ^ m) * F * (c / λ) * π * r²

where:

p - Pogson's ratio [] (dimensionless)

m - magnitude [] (dimensionless)

F - flux [J / (s * cm² * Hz)]

c - speed of light [cm / s]

λ - wavelength [cm]

r - Earth's radius [cm]

π - pi [] (dimensionless)

Checking units:

  Power = ([] ^ []) * [J / (s * cm² * Hz)] * [cm / s] * [1 / cm] * [] * [cm²]

Power = [J / (s * cm² * Hz)] * [1 / s] * [cm²]

Power = [J / (s * cm² * Hz)] * [Hz] * [cm²]

Power = [J / s] * [(Hz * cm²) / (Hz * cm²)]

Power = [J / s] = [W]

No problems here.

Using our values:

p = 2.512

m = 4

F = 3.64E-27 [J / (cm² * Hz * s)]

c = 3E10 [cm / s]

λ = 5.5E-5 [cm]

r = 6E8 [cm]

pi = 3.14

we obtain:

  Power = (2.512 ^ 4) * 3.64E-27 * (3E10 / 5.5E-5) * 3.14 * (6E8)²

Power = 8.94E7 [W]

So… pretty close and the difference comes down mainly to rounding. Other than that, under your assumptions, I see no problems with reasoning or method. Sorry for taking so long to respond, though.

    Hey, what're you up to just after January 28th of 2024? Asking for a friend.

You need to double it, that's when Centaurs would get your message.

Devac  ·  1688 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: August 14, 2019

The bar/cafe owner handed me a bunch of cash last Saturday, roughly 1.5 rent's worth, saying I earned it. Not gonna say 'no' to money, but it feels weird. Even offered to hire me, but it's almost guaranteed to be impossible to balance it with studies. It's funny how, out of all the places, this is apparently where I'm this mythical 'good fit'. We agreed to keep the option open, though highly unlikely.

I'm still waiting for news from my 'first pick', got in on all the other theoretical physics programmes. Waiting is killing me, the fact I have my places secured elsewhere doesn't seem to do anything to alleviate it. Maybe it's this that sucks out all of my enthusiasm, though I suppose it just adds on a bunch of other crap.

Devac  ·  1744 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: June 19, 2019

I had an interview with a bank for a statistical model validation/analyst position. It was strange, to say the least. Out of at least forty questions they asked me, maybe five were about anything math-related (and kinda basic), everything else was Basel III or CRD IV or differences between them. Feels like that ratio should be reversed, but whatever. Anyway, I only skimmed those, and it was clear I'm muddling through something half-remembered, so it's unlikely I'll ever hear from them again. At least the coffee was good.

My flatmate threw a nice bit of contract work in my direction over the weekend, which was actually a fun little project. I'm looking into getting more of those throughout the summer, seems like a better option than alternatives.

Other than that, I'm taking some time off to do reviews before entrance exams. Don't think that I need to do more of those, but it's a good excuse to avoid seeing other people. I've been a lot more anxious lately, but I can't put my finger on any 'why' other than doing well on admissions. Maybe I'm a lot less stress-resistant than I thought, dunno.

Devac  ·  1787 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: May 1, 2019

I've been refreshing what little I learned about JavaScript by writing utility bookmarklets. It's nothing you wouldn't find on the Internet already (open current page's copy on archive.org, list all outbound/inbound links, rotate/blank/whatever all images etc.), but now there's at least some purpose behind it, which makes all the difference. Much to my surprise, it's actually a lot of fun.

The recent weeks were hectic, and the few days I got now are my island of downtime until graduation, which is likely to happen sometime in the middle of June. Can't wait for that, though it's a paradise compared to the idea of going through job search bullshit while applying for doctoral programmes on top of it. At least I decided it's physics instead of maths, and I'm not moving from where I am; six relocations in four years were enough.

That uni place that's supposed to coach me for job interviews changed from "talk to us, we're listening and it's completely about finding a solution through dialogue and exercises" to "shut up, will ya? here's a thirty-minute-long diatribe on why we think you're Civil Service material, disregard your objections about complete lack of relevant skills or background this instance!" within three weeks. At least it's a decent excuse to meet people from humanities campus, which is a very different place, but I don't know if I'm going to continue to bother myself with that thing for much longer.

Devac  ·  1842 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 13, 2019

As it turns out, my university offers various types of job interview coaching and similar stuff, but I only found about them very recently because of how goddamned well hidden is that place, both physically and on the web. Even if I was studying on that campus (humanities, 20 minutes on bus from sciences) I'm not sure if I'd ever wander behind all those other buildings to discover it. Their SEO is even worse than physical location.

Anyway, the first meeting concluded with some general remarks on my overall outlook, which they guesstimated as 'good' due to a relative lack of experience with STEM students – though at least they were upfront about it – and some tips on body language. I came off as too aggressive and both people conducting my mock interview felt closely scrutinized. I guess it can't hurt to give it a try, but I doubt much can be accomplished over a few sessions every two weeks or so.

I have a new RPG group formed from a bunch of people who wanted to try it, but for whatever reason couldn't play. There are surprisingly many of those, three people reached out the same day I put it on student announcements board, and I love the enthusiasm. They seemed stoked about Warhammer Fantasy, but I'm OK with whatever at this point. Can't wait for Saturday.

Devac  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: August 9, 2017