SeaGully (u/SeaGully)

SeaGully commented on If you get the chance, always run more extra network fiber cabling utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/spa... · Posted by u/hggh

bhouston · 9 months ago

Yeah, we got a new house built 4 years ago and one of the biggest regrets is not enough ethernet outlets (running fibre in the house isn't practical yet) and power outlets in various places. It is really hard to think of all the places you would want them ahead of time unfortunately and as each has a cost you don't want to incur it unnecessarily.

But my biggest regrets were:

- Only a single ethernet port in the basement. Then the kid wanted a gaming station and we moved where the TV was. I should have put like 4 down there.

- No ethernet ports in the garage, I should have put in one for an AP.

- 4 ceiling APs instead of just two in the main part of the house. I over-estimated how much coverage I would get from ceiling APs and thus I have some APs hidden under furniture to ensure 100% house coverage.

- Lack of multiple circuits in the garage, even better a separate sub-panel with 6 outlets. I took up wood working and with a single circuit and 2 outlets was insufficient. That cost me $1200 for the sub-panel.

- Multiple outlets on the back and side of the house - I would have done two at the front on each side and two at the back on side each and one on each side of the house. I have a single outlet at the front and back and that is just not sufficient for lights, decorations and patio devices.

SeaGully · 9 months ago

For anyone else reading personally ceiling APs can't be overstated. My father-in-law is crazy about internet, but I've realized he was crazy like a fox when we did our to-the-studs renovation. He treated APs like a fire alarm or a CO monitor: one per room.

My brother-in-law thinks he's crazy, and obviously it only really works if it is practical to run the wire and you can afford the number, but for my relatively small house it is insane how little I think about my internet. It is one of those quality of life things I never would have realized with having someone come and do it for me.

I guess the only thing is some of the ceilings get a little crowded with lights + fire alarm + CO alarm + HVAC in/out + AP, so for small rooms it can be a challenge to figure out where to put things. But in that case I mean ... you don't need one per room. My father-in-law is crazy like a fox ... but he's also a little crazy like a crazy person.

SeaGully commented on The Lost Art of Research as Leisure kasurian.com/p/research-a... · Posted by u/altilunium

ravenstine · 9 months ago

This is why my brain kind of short-circuits when I'm asked the question "do you like to read?"

I know what most people actually mean by that, but my gears start turning because not only do I know that I read more than any of my ancestors. Reading is like breathing to me.

I guess I do it out of leisure in a sense, but it's a way of life in many respects. Perhaps I don't read much fiction, but not a day goes by that I'm not cracking open an encyclopedia (aka Wikipedia), reading blog posts, investigating research papers, and reading some eBook I've stripped the DRM from on my Kobo.

And I'm an oddball – so if I'm reading that much, then surely there are plenty of people out there reading stuff.

I do sometimes wonder whether Gen Z and Alpha are even reading anything outside of school anymore, but that's probably more of that doomsday crap I'm prone to slipping into as I gradually become an old man.

SeaGully · 9 months ago

The boom of Romantasy seems to be attributed at least partially to GenZ. So depending on how you classify reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Romantasy GenZ is definitely still reading.

SeaGully commented on Introduction to Stochastic Calculus jiha-kim.github.io/posts/... · Posted by u/ibobev

EGreg · 10 months ago

I remember studying stochastiv calculus

And I remember noting that the standard deviation in regular statistics was that “quadratic variation” was slightly different than how variance is calculated. Off by one or squared or whatever. I made a note to eventually investigate why. Probably due to some stochastic volatility.

SeaGully · 10 months ago

The other guy gives a solid explanation so don't use mine as a replacement or to assume the other is wrong.

To me there are two ways to approach the problem I think you are thinking of (sample variance I think).

(1) The sample variance depends on the sample mean which is sum(x_i) / n. Given the first n-1 of n samples, you would then know the final value (x_n = n * sample_mean - sum(x_i)_(n-1)) so at the very least n-1 could be understood as a "degrees of freedom". There are only n-1 degrees of freedom. Other higher sample moments can be roughly understood with the same degrees of freedom argument. This could be wrong though, it was just something I remember from somewhere.

(2) The more mathematically inclined way is that biased_sample_variance = sum((x_i - sum(x_i) / n)^2) / n. The mean of the biased_sample_variance (across many iterations of a set of samples N), is not the population variance, but (n - 1) / n * population_variance (i.e. it is biased). So you multiply the biased_sample_variance by (n / (n - 1)) which gives the unbiased sample_variance equation: sum((x_i - sum(x_i) / n)^2) / (n - 1). The math is rather fun in my opinion, once you get into the swing of things.

I sure do hope I understood your question correctly.

SeaGully commented on Ask HN: What's your favorite text-based adventure game? · Posted by u/ranuzz

SeaGully · a year ago

During the pandemic I decided to work through Zork, and ended up completing the first three Zork games with minimal "looking things up" (actually, much to my chagrin I had to look up something precisely once per game, and in each case it was a small puzzle right near the and of the game, almost perfect!).

I'll go ahead and second Planetfall though, which I saw someone else mention. For anyone else curious, I would put it on the "easier than Zork" side and is a rare text adventure I completed without any look-ups. I really really liked it. Save often. RTFM (in particular you'll want to look up the list of allowed verbs any time you get stuck). Those are the two helpful hints I would give to anyone thinking to themselves that they might want to try a classic text adventure.

Actually maybe more helpful would be to play something like Space Quest which has the same sensibility as text adventures (in that they often feel cruel to the user intentionally...) but is somewhat more accessible. Space Quest in particular shares a lot of DNA with planetfall all the way down to starring space janitors.

SeaGully commented on France's oldest treasure hunt has been solved goldenowlhunt.com/... · Posted by u/femtozer

k2xl · a year ago

Could o1 have helped the hunters finally reach it?

SeaGully · a year ago

My experience with using LLMs for things like MIT Mystery Hunt is touch and go.

On most of them I've tried it doesn't seem to do much, but I do now use them to try and get crossword clues where I know bits that are often too abstract for crossword solvers.

e.g. "a word that is six letters, is related to royalty, and has a state abbreviation in it" (this isn't a real clue, just an example of a clue that an LLM is much better suited than something like Nutrimatic or a crossword solver)

I would be curious to hear if / how others us LLMs for abstract riddles/puzzles like that though.

SeaGully commented on France's oldest treasure hunt has been solved goldenowlhunt.com/... · Posted by u/femtozer

SeaGully · a year ago

Reminds me a bit of Alkemstone. I went snooping about old games magazines from the early 80s and there was an advert for the prize for that game (it really is just a maze with a series of clues). The ultimate solution was to be a location of the Alkemstone (presumably a fake gem) which one would exchange for the prize.

I think the guy who created it died long ago and the legal office which was meant to verify the prize is also maybe defunct (?). I'm also skeptical the "stone" would be wherever it was meant to be at this point anyways (similar to a number of the boxes from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(treasure_hunt) are theorized to be now inaccessible or destroyed).

Anyways, people are still trying to solve it. Last I heard someone claimed that they and their friends had paired all the clues in some way and were close to solving it, but they were very cagey about it. That was over a year ago I think.

https://bluerenga.blog/2021/07/27/alkemstone-all-the-clues/