Minimal Personalization
My phone vibrates when it wants to notify me. My screen goes blank when not in use. My desktop background is a dark solid color. This text is in your browser's standard font and size. If there's an...
View ArticleReverse RSS Feed
When I come across writing I like I add it to my rss reader. This is great, because later posts the author writes I will see automatically. But sometimes people have been writing for a long time and...
View ArticleNatural Harm
A: Life begins at conception. From that point on the embryo is a person and has the same moral status as a child. B: What do you think of diseases that kill small children? A: They're horrible and we...
View ArticleApache doesn't cache htaccess configs
When I previously suggested that Apache improve performance on .htaccess files by caching them and then watching for changes with inotify, Chris wrote: just invalidate its cache This is very sensible,...
View ArticleEfficient .htaccess
In Apache you can put configuration files in each directory: .htaccess files. Every time someone requests a page, however, Apache needs to check for a .htaccess file in that directory, reading and...
View ArticleDonation Matching
Giving money to effective charities is one of the ways we can have the biggest positive impact in the world. If you've been thinking about giving to GiveWell's top-rated charity, the Against Malaria...
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Updated Boston Apartment Price Maps
In June 2011 I made a map of Boston-area apartment prices. I've made an updated version: $/room, $/bedroom. As before the data comes from the (awesome) site padmapper, which means it's pretty close to...
View ArticleBitcoin: Public and Anonymous?
You hear both "bitcoin is anonymous" and "all bitcoin transactions are public". What's going on? If I send 10 BTC (bitcoins) to wikileaks can people find out that I did it? First there's network and...
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2012 in pictures
Every year I go back over all the pictures I've seen that year and representative ones. I've been doing this since 2004. Some previews below; full set here. Comment via: google plus, facebook
View ArticleRecording and Consent
I was recently at an event which was mostly recreational singing. The organizers announced that no one was to be recorded (audio, video, photos) without their consent. The organizers emphasized that...
View ArticleVisual Support
When I'm in a group where people are talking about something, often my preferences for who would speak are not the same as who actually speaks. When the thoughtful people are shy, uncertain, or...
View ArticlePaying With Donations
If I plan to donate $X this year, it doesn't actually matter that it comes directly from me. What matters is that it's money going to the organization of my choice that they wouldn't otherwise get. So...
View ArticleDebt Relief Is Bad Means Testing
Forgive student loans! End foreclosures and let people own their homes free and clear! Allow the free coinage of silver! The idea of reducing debt, either outright through forgiveness or indirectly...
View ArticleMusic: Concerts and Dancing
People experience traditional music by creating it, dancing to it, and listening to it. Generally people have preferences among these, but I think listening is probably the most popular. What brings...
View ArticleAsymmetrical Visiting Costs
Traveling is both expensive and unpleasant: my house is more comfortable than a bus or plane, and much cheaper. If people visit each other with similar frequency, then this all balances out, when...
View ArticleSimple Satisfying Dances
Some events will draw both people who have danced before and want "real" contras, and people who are new and just want to have fun. These are very difficult to call for, because of the mixed...
View ArticleUnlinking Stereo Channels III
Success! I can now display eight independent mono channels to the user while internally representing that as four stereo channels. Before I was struggling with how to extract the underlying equations...
View ArticleAdjustible Rate Everything
When I wrote about inflation before, people pointed out that inflation is different from swapping currencies because debts aren't updated. Imagine I lend you 10 credits to buy a house. If we decide...
View ArticleWhy Does Inflation Matter?
If we switched to a new currency, decidollars, where every price was numerically 10x higher but wages were also 10x higher, that would be a bit annoying as we adjusted our expectations, but would it...
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Unlinking Stereo Channels II
I have stereo channels I want to unlink. Simple linear interpolation turns out not to be the answer, so I need to determine the relationship between gain, pan, and the output levels experimentally. I...
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