Viewing profile — embwbam

Amazing! Sorry I meant if the boats turned more slowly I think it would encourage more planning (and the enemies wouldn’t turn on a dime either) In that mac game, there was a trade…

This brings back some memories! I used to play the Ancient Art of War at Sea on my dad's Mac Plus as a kid. Having never sailed, it was fun to learn about tacking while trying to b…

I don’t play much, but some people who play the “commander” format build decks that are carefully balanced against each other. My buddy and I had a blast collecting most of the Lor…

There are other RPGs with light rules that are WAY more fun than D&D. I've been playing "Blades in the Dark" recently, where the players run heists in a victorian ghost industrial …

You’ll never be blown too high. Rocks can be dangerous, but only in certain places and only if you make bad decisions: there are many safe locations around the world. It’s probably…

One can take many good ideas from less wrong, yudkowsky et al without adopting a rationalist identity. Sure, it attracted wackos and they made a cult or two. But that could happen …

I work remotely, and my schedule is flexible. I live in Squamish BC all summer which is great for wind. In the winter we are in UT but my friends take lots of kiting destination va…

Not sure if you were looking only for indoor hobbies, but I picked up Kiteboarding recently, and it is the most outrageously fun thing I've ever done. It's like being a kid and jum…

I have heard that phrase a million times and never understood it until your example. Thank you

A lot! Maybe it's obvious, but I've long thought that religion's primary function is to help people process death (and other suffering). Now that life isn't constant suffering, man…

I’ve been athletic most of my life. At 42 I feel much older than at 32. Chronic injuries add up! Be careful out there everybody

The adaptive optics system for the DKIST solar telescope actually deforms each point of the mirror at 60Hz or something to do wavefront correction!

Evolution doesn't care at all if we get to the top of the food chain. I think that we, as the dominant species on the earth, mistakenly assume that we are the most evolved since we…

For anyone else who discovers they are a fast metabolizer of coffee: try eating a big breakfast before drinking coffee to slow absorption. I wanted to be a coffee drinker for YEARS…

What about the book made the difference? I'm 100% convinced that it's better to do as you say, and forget about the accounts, and also unable to resist the temptation to check them…

I work for the National Solar Observatory, creating Level 2 data for the DKIST Telescope’s observations of the sun. (For example, an image of the Temperature that lines up with the…

The plastic straw thing makes me sad. We spent our societal outrage on those instead of single-use plastic bottles. Sigh. I think they're a distraction.

#2 is true of everyone. I'm not arguing against the kind of empathy you're describing, I just think we should extend it to all sorts of criminals. The murderer and rapist in the ce…

Any modern trumpet players you love?

People process caffeine super differently. I’m pretty sure caffeine makes me crash 4-6h later which is great for falling asleep

Time crystals are neat! A normal crystal is one that has a definite repeating pattern in space. A time crystal is similar, but instead of repeating in space, it repeats in time. ht…

Woah, that's a very cynical take! He made them obtuse on purpose? You're not wrong that I found the Sequences extremely challenging, and didn't get through all of them. But I thoug…

I don’t identify with the religious zeal around bayes theorem, but can you elaborate on your criticisms of Yudkowsky? I’ve loved Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and rea…

My girlfriend had a poorly aimed egg thrown at her late at night in Marseille on a kebab run for wearing a short skirt in a Muslim neighborhood. Seems pretty rough to me!

How much are you missing out by buying bond funds? Why would there be much of a difference?