HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

samirillian

834 karma · joined April 10, 2016

submissionscomments
samirillian··on Triplet of 'ghostly' galaxies hints at what dark matter is and isn't
the Milky Way is pretty ghostly have we considered that we may lack dark matter
samirillian··on How do we prevent mathemathics from devolving into the Medieval Era of secrecy?
I do think they can happen together like malnutrition and obesity. Pursuit of recognition, intellectual property, remuneration, war machines, etc, will naturally drive new strategies for academics to compete with capital-intensive AI research. One strategy will surely be new types of silo-ing, whether that will kill the post-enlightenment spirit of math we’ve come to love is still an open question
samirillian··on Worst-case glacial lake flood scenarios in a transboundary Himalayan basin 2022
Source?

I remember them referencing global cooling on science Friday on NPR as late as 2005

samirillian··on Newfoundland has a hard bread shortage, but why do they eat it?
> Proper hard bread couldn’t be home baked.
samirillian··on Incentives are for losers
I mean, tautologically, I guess all the good parts of prosperity and none of the bad. Not a proof of correctness but a list:

1. Wealth gotten by one’s own work, or by wise management 2. A lender never a borrower 3. Desires generally satisfied 4. Leaving an inheritance for children/future generations

I tend to think of the Kulaks that Trotsky wanted to work with but that Stalin sent to Siberia

samirillian··on Incentives are for losers
I agree,

I also think it’s more like delayed gratification. Good incentives are for good people bad incentives are for fools. The further you can push back short-term incentives in favor of long-term, the better your life will be. Like we all “know” that love is better than coffee but in the morning many of us would/do choose coffee. Food, drugs, porn all short-term pleasures are “less good” than prosperity, but we often choose the quick dopamine hit over the long, difficult road

samirillian··on 'Crush this lady': how eBay harassment campaign led to $56M payout
No they just loudly say “It would be a shame if an unfortunate accident should occur to these bloggers”
samirillian··on Earthquake scientists reveal how overplowing weakens soil at experimental farm
The one straw revolution guy planted root vegetables among fruit trees in orchards I wonder if that would make a difference
samirillian··on The Passion of Will Self
Such an irony/nominative determinism around his name. The self cannot will its way out of the tangled mess, cannot will to be the good Christian he dissociatively admires.

“it is not in the individual gift to will belief. Self has tried to believe – and cannot.”

samirillian··on Golden Ratio using an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle
At least by analogy with sound, it doesn’t make sense to me to use the golden ratio. If you consider the tonic, the octave, the major fifth, you have 1:1, 2:1, and 3:2. It seems to me that the earliest ratios in the fibonacci sequence are more aesthetically pleasing, symmetry, 1/3s, etc. but maybe there is something “organically” pleasing about the Fibonacci sequence. But Fibonacci spirals in nature are really just general logarithmic spirals as I understand it. Would be interested to hear counterpoints.
samirillian··on Developing a food-safe finish for my wooden spoons
Wood is rigid and won’t melt or scratch
samirillian··on My Father's Instant Mashed Potatoes
I like how decades after the “Sokal Affair”, slatestarcodex is creating its own impish simulacrum of English departments in the 90s. The author would do well to note Frederic Jameson’s own definition of simulacrum: a copy of which there was never an original. Case in point: restaurant mashed potatoes (which the author blithely considers “Real”) are nothing at all like home-made, which Michelin-starred chefs like Dave Chang will readily attest. They are riced, not mashed, then mixed with as much butter as humanly possible. Restaurant mashed potatoes represent their own decadent, post-industrial, post-modern..simulacrum.
samirillian··on How Charles M Schulz created Charlie Brown and Snoopy (2024)
I never enjoyed peanuts but I know Bill watterson the creator of Calvin and Hobbes was a big fan, so there must be something there
samirillian··on Mixing Is the Heartbeat of Deep Lakes. At Crater Lake, It's Slowing Down
Common problem in man-made lakes. When you create a lake by damming a river it creates perfect conditions for lamination, deep narrow and filled with agricultural runoff. When they pull the plug on these dams all the de-oxygenated water flows out the bottom, basically just dumping unbreathable water into the river killing off the more sensitive fish, eg trout die catfish live, and smelling like a million firecrackers.
samirillian··on How Israeli actions caused famine in Gaza, visualized
Do you think what Israel is doing is right?
samirillian··on Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians
Holy crap you’re totally right
samirillian··on New study shows plants and animals emit a visible light that expires at death
You’re all made of stars you gotta let that shit shine okay?
samirillian··on Meta exposé author faces $50k fine per breach of non-disparagement agreement
I don’t take a position on this because I don’t know it but I think you’re (willfully?) misunderstanding the point. I don’t think all ethical problems can be legally defined. Something may be legal and wrong or illegal and not wrong. If she was indeed forced out for reporting sexual harassment, then what ethical responsibility does she still bear towards that company, regardless of what they ask her to sign as she leaves? The point isn’t that she’s right or wrong for sure, it’s that the problem is complex and legalities cannot account for all situations.
samirillian··on Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah
Oh interesting, well maybe I’m wrong. I mean the nerves thing stands but yeah maybe it is that easy
samirillian··on Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah
Can you do this? Like, I’ve killed every animal I’ve shot at so far (legally, while hunting) and I know I couldn’t make that shot. The nerves alone Jesus. I’m always surprised and dubious when I hear this claim repeated. A blood vessel in a human from 200 yards. After a few trips to the range. Really.
samirillian··on Axial twist theory
Is it possible that lefties twisted in the opposite direction
samirillian··on What is it like to be a bat?
Ive wondered if to a bat a bat is more like a whale, swimming through the air, calling out at a rate and pitch sort of matching the distance its electrical signals travel. To them they aren’t moving fast at all, or maybe to them maybe humans are like ents, plodding along so slow talking like ents.
samirillian··on Dull Men’s Club
Yes.
samirillian··on Alephic Writing Style Guide
Well if this makes money good for you lol
samirillian··on Alephic Writing Style Guide
Which is also mentioned in Strunk and White but I doubt they read it
samirillian··on Alephic Writing Style Guide
> Just as Borges' Aleph represents the convergence of all points in the universe, Alephic stands at the intersection of AI, code, and marketing expertise.

C’mon isn’t it obvious.

samirillian··on Pixels in Islamic Art: Square Kufic Calligraphy (2020)
The problem is I don't think the first one says anything, which, however stylistic, is still the point of a script. If it doesn't actually make a meaningful expression then it's not a script. What word has 20 s's in it?
samirillian··on Why do LLMs have emergent properties?
*Do
samirillian··on Pixels in Islamic Art: Square Kufic Calligraphy (2020)
Just to clarify I don’t think that first image is Kufic script, whereas the second is the shahada (author calls it the shada)

I’m not sure about the 2 kinds of scripts claim, I think there are a few more than that.

samirillian··on Britain's Latest True Crime Thriller: Who Killed the Sycamore Tree?
What kind of tree is this? I know a lot of trees get called sycamores
Page 1 of 17Next →