Caratacus by Dirk Ehlert (@DETUNEde)

They might as well say there's no proof nuking someone triggers war because every use in the past resulted in world peace.

No Evidence US Strikes Send a Message to Rivals

All these "no evidence" claims that keep coming out are arguments from ignorance.  Not having evidence does not automatically mean false.  It doesn't mean true either.  It's just unknown, unproven either way.

This kind of blind reading of data without logic or interpretation is what gives quants / scientists / statisticians a bad rep.

Finally getting a new phone after 4 years... this one promises 10 times my current battery life!

Death is only natural... That is, until you find a cure. Then they'll kill you to have it.

For those curious what it's like seeing with retinal occlusion... (aka RVO, RAO, CRVO, etc)

The first time your eye goes out, everything is white.  This happened for my left eye in the spring of 2012.



Sometimes...[More]

Nandemonaiya Cover by Dion and Raon Lee (@raon_leee)

Cutting thru a city grid is the same distance as going around the perimeter. There is no time saved from zigzagging through the middle if you never actually travel diagonally.

Found the SuperYo yoyos I used to have in 4th grade. Now to figure if I liked Sonic Spin more or Renegade.
http://yoyoexpert.com/forums/index.php?topic=44265.0;prev_next=prev

Chiisana Boukensha by Masato Coda

Blissful Solitude Ambient Mix compiled by Fluidified

Good article on why most Blockchain startups don't really have value and are more rails for other tech like AI, etc.
https://medium.com/@jamie247/99-of-blockchain-startups-are-bullshit-4cf11a549895

Oie ni Kaeritai (Cover) by Blake Robinson

Rather than wear VR/AR headsets, it's more interesting to me to try to bring VR literally into the real world using 3D projection mapping.  No one has to wear any fancy goggles; anyone walking by can see exactly what you see and step into the same world you're in.  Imagine walking by your favorite supermarket one day to find that it's been transformed into massive crater in the ground.  Forget the supermarket.  Imagine if the giant castle before you started to collapse as a monster emerged from within.  Best of all, everyone around you can see it and hear it with you.  Contrast this with VR or AR currently where everyone else around you only sees you running around with a headset, playing more or less with an imaginary friend world.

No, 3D projection mapping is not just a big movie screen.  Below is an example of 3D projection done literally on a castle to make it appear like it is moving, crumbling, transforming... Yes, the example...[More]

So I don't forget in the future.  If there is buzzing from the piano keyboard via headphones or speakers, it is likely from the MIDI cable plugged in.  Removing that or having your recording play from a USB thumb drive instead will fix the buzzing.

This pertains at least to me with the Yamaha P155.

This was inspired by a dream I had that was mildly unsettling.  In the dream, you were in a house with a few old-school moving pictures on the wall - the kind that required a handcrank to animate except the owner found a way to keep the pictures moving on their own for a long time, to the point the owner had long passed away and the pictures were still moving.  Over time, the mechanical devices keeping the pictures moving start to wear out, and the pictures start to slow down.  What becomes odd is that if you look closely enough, you start to notice that every so often, a frame goes missing or blacks out, as if the universe flickered and the camera captured a moment of nothingness.

Of course, that dream could have been a lot of other things, such as mechanical issues with the camera that shot the footage, but what it got me wondering was 1) if the universe was a simulation with a frame rate, 2) whether we could capture the flickers in between the frames to prove it.  This...[More]

Imagine having no sight, no hearing, no senses. The world exists but you wouldn't know it. Your body depends on this place outside your reality, but you aren't even aware of having a body, of its actions from your thoughts, of others who see you and perhaps try to interact with you. God probably thinks we're in a coma.

I only just now realized I have a rooftop in NYC. What terrible timing...

The average is not a real number. If one fish is fresh water and the other salt, optimizing for the average kills both.

Let Me Tell You a Story by Blake Robinson

This is a long piece but one I've been thinking through for a long time.  I've gradually come to see people as being in one of three Tiers when it comes to their motivations, mindset, and ability to make things happen.  Before I begin, I want to make clear that this is not about one group of people being better than another.  It also has nothing to do with social status, quality of character, etc.  For sake of discussion, we assume everyone is well-intentioned, honest, and overall good people.

What I will define, however, are three Tiers representing mindsets, each by definition superior to the next in terms of influence and outcome, in terms of being able to identify what they actually want and then make that happen.  Again, it is not the "person" that is better or worse. It is recognizing where you are and where everyone else is, the power dynamics and where influences originate. Was it your idea or did it come externally and if so from who?...[More]