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Topics:
#books #crafts #education #film #living #music #numbers #numbers, #politics #python-
Algorithms
After a few months of more or less diligent study I finished “consulting” three great resources for learning about algorithms: Algorithms Illuminated book series by Tim Roughgarden, Introduction to Algorithms, by Corben et al. and the Stanford course CS 168: The Modern Algorithmic Toolbox. I was not diligent enough to do the homeworks and solve all the proposed problems but I followed all the arguments and most proofs.
The most important thing one learns from such resources is how and where to look for a good algorithm if the need arises. But for me the most surprising thing have been the data structures.
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The burden of knowledge
Some people argue that most easy great ideas have been plucked already and great discoveries are more and more difficult to come by. My take on this is that over the past century there has been a decreasing number of marketable innovations. These days is very difficult to sell ideas and one usually needs to buy - hire the person/team that holds the IP. I recently found a paper that formalizes this idea using the concept of knowledge burden.
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The problem with bubbles
For some time I have accepted that each of us is somehow trapped inside a (filter) bubble, an echo chamber that reflects over and over our own opinions. The same happens for everyone else and their opinions become as distorted and far from reality as ours. There is here a dangerous relativism, because, even if there are bubbles and echo cambers, some of them can still be mainly truthful representations of the world and others simply wrong.
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I do not care about AI alignment
For the past few months I have had a love-hate relationship with the rationalist movement. Their capacity to produce extremely insightful analyses on very diverse subjects is particularly exciting. But I am bothered by their hubris. It is clear that they have the capacity to accumulate, assimilate and analyze new ideas. But I am not convinced that “reason can be the only source of knowledge”. As it is impossible for one person to completely understand most facets of most problems, a healthy dose of (reasoned) trust is necessary. Also, I am bored by their fascination with the AI alignment problem.
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War and peace
Eight weeks ago it became glaringly apparent that we do not understand the Russians. And that, while most people in the western world do not want it or believe it, we are in a state of war with the Russian Federation.
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What's in a rating?
I often use the average ratings of books/movies from Goodreads/IMDB in order to decide what to read/watch next. Unfortunately, if there are not enough ratings, the average rating is often inflated, and it seems to decrease with the number of ratings. Plots of two datasets of books and movies show that the story is slightly more complicated.
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Dulce et decorum
Since last week some verses are rattling around in my head. Initially I felt that they did not properly honor the resistance of the Ukrainians. Today, reading some refugees’ testimonials, I am convinced that these words are still relevant, even after more than 100 years.
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
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Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. -
Thoughts about modern architecture
If asked about traditional Romanian architecture one often thinks about something like this:
Most houses in Romanian villages actually look like this:
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WORDLE updates
In a previouis post I discussed my approach to “solving” the game of WORDLE. In the meantime I have discovered quite a few excellent works about the subject, the game has been sold to NYT and even more clones can be found, some quite interesting.
These are a few closing observations.
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Barış Manço - Gülpembe
Originally posted October 2020.
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Evolution and identity
A recent study investigates the relation between evolution acceptance and evolution knowledge using largish numbers of students (mostly enrolled in biology related university programs) from many European countries. The authors are European researchers from many universities, supported by EU funding.
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Can WORDLE be always solved?
In the past months the Twitter has been overtaken by stacks of colored boxes. It is the fault of a new words-game: WORDLE. Free and with a minimalistic design the game has received a well deserved attention.
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Geographic centers of Romanian counties
For those lacking travel destinations I have a map with geographical centers (centroids) of each Romanian county. For the moment only latitude and longitude to be checked in Google Maps.
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The bilingual brain
Have you ever felt that people change vocal timbre and tone when changing language? If you are like me, you have also gotten sometimes annoyed because people seem to get warmer when changing to their native language or logical and assertive when speaking in their second language. After listening to the course Language and the Mind (chapter 23 on bilingualism) I learned that similar phenomena have been documented by several noted researchers and used as useful tools to further explore the intimate link between language and the mind.
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Vaccine efficacy redux
In a previous post I analyzed the data from the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines trials. Recent data from the romanian authorities allows us to estimate values for the vaccine efficacy which are significantly lower than what was measured in the trials.
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On drones, helicopters and Blackbird
In a previouis post I discussed the physics of hovering drones and helicopters. My interest in the physics of propellers was reignited by video discussing the possibility of a wind-powered vehicle to move faster than the wind (in the downwind direction).
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The interviewer's solution
Recently the “secretary problem” came to my attention. It is extremely interesting given that it can have practical applications for many real life decisions and the solution seems counterintuitive to me.
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Quantifying self, browser edition
Some time ago I modified a Chrome extension to track the time spent on individual web pages. During the past year data for 80K visits to different pages on 3982 domains has been registered, together with the time actively spent on them.
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Politics on the Appalachian Trail
Inspired by the observation
Out of the roughly 2200 miles, 445.6 are in red states, not counting the 20 miles on the border between West Virginia and Virginia. Dare I go county by county in the blue states and get a 2021 political map of the AT?
— Codruța Morari (@CodrutaMorari) November 24, 2020I have decided to play a bit more with
Read moreplotly.express.choropleth. -
Vaccine efficacy
As far as I understand the numbers for the phase III trials for Covid-19 vaccines can be interpreted as follows.
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My preferred party - The New Greens
In two weeks there will be elections in Romania. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it is easy to choose the best out of multiple bad choices. Still, it is unpleasant not to have a party or, at least, a candidate one could wholeheartedly trust and support.
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On drones and helicopters
After playing a bit with a DJI Mavic Air drone I started to wonder what are the differences between the physics of drones and helicopters. One particular question is which one would be better to hover with given weight. Also how long can a drone and/or helicopter fly (hover)?
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The Reagans
Some thoughts concerning the documentary The Reagans from Showtime.
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Votes lost by Biden in 2020
Upon discovering some data stores pertaining to the 2020 American presidential elections I could not resist playing with the data and with python visualization tools.
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A library of 3D models
Some time ago I got access to a 3D printer. After learning to use the Blender software I put together several decorative 3D models. Some are even printed.
Tiles for a (imperfect) Penrose tiling
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What to do for education with 50M dollars?
Recently I saw the new Raspberry Pi 400 personal computer and wondered how could be used in education.
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The Distance Between Me and Me - Nina Cassian
The Distance Between Me and Me is a documentary featuring a poet somewhat emblematic for the communist Romania. As a collection of scenes with communists and their own words the film is quite entertaining, but not if you look for historical objectivity.
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Copy in Python
While there are probably thousands of book and web pages dealing with the issue after yet another take I just need a short reminder: there are three ways to copy an object in Python.
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Listen to them
In the past few months I have been seen more and more examples of virulent racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ reactions in the Romanian press. My unpleasant surprise was to find such attitudes in a part of the Romanian society which I thought shared my ideas on politics and society. One can find many educated, well-paid, westward-looking young people showing a profound misunderstanding concerning the problems of minorities (of all kinds). It is really sad to read on channels I used to trust climato-sceptic, anti-feminist and anti-“cancel-culture” articles, or to hear that people I thought to be the future of Romania expressing homophobic or anti-vaccination ideas.
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The Social Dilemma
Some thoughts concerning the documentary The social dilemma streaming on Netflix.
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Quantity has a quality of her own
By talking to a few hundred senators Cicero was able to start a war. Luther has done it by nailing a piece of paper to a door and Hearst with a journal with maybe 100000 readers. Radio and television have been considered big revolutions in opinion forming. It is thus reasonable to wonder if the changes caused by social media are something new, different from the past. On the one hand the past shows a more or less gradual increase in the speed and strength of information dissemination and opinion-forming. The present follows this quantitative rule but, on the other hand, it could also be qualitatively different.
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Voters and pyramid of ages
Some Fermi estimates of population structure suggest that 2020 is a turning point in Romanian politics.
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Good to eat
Breakfast: egg-avocado toast
- buttered toast
- spreadable cheese
- half avocado mashed
- tomato slices
- feta cheese
- bacon rashes
- fried egg
Stack the ingredients in this order.
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Frenchies?
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maggie and milly and molly and may
…
went down to the beach (to play one day)
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