PROBLEM(S): I (well, the nonprofit I lead) am trying to solve for the general problem of municipal public policy but, as you might expect, it's a series of discrete, linked problems. Some of these problems have thousands of people focused on a solution; in other areas, it's virtually greenfield. SOLUTION: The space doesn't lack for good research and policy recommendations, but it has historically lacked (on the right…
I'd love to see an example. What kind of public policy? What problems?
Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
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Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#732PROBLEM(S): I (well, the nonprofit I lead) am trying to solve for the general problem of municipal public policy but, as you might expect, it's a series of discrete, linked problems. Some of these problems have thousands of people focused on a solution; in other areas, it's virtually greenfield. SOLUTION: The space doesn't lack for good research and policy recommendations, but it has historically lacked (on the right…
What is the nonprofit?
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#733Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked on this problem for about a month straight a couple years ago (but didn't have any significant success). It's extremely draining on you; don't forget to take breaks. <3
What was your problem? (OP has deleted their comment.)
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#734Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey your profile doesn’t have a contact link but I have a few ideas that can solve this today. Reach out when you get a chance!
TIL that the email in the profile isn't public access. Probably should have realized that before. My email is Shared404 (at) protonmail.com, I'd love to hear your ideas.
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#735I have a bunch of tasks I have to complete by a certain deadline — these include things like engineering sprint tasks, drafting a design document, completing an assignment, etc. I have to get these tasks done in between my regular schedule of meetings, lunch breaks, and rests. I want to get a program to tell me when I should work on what depending on a task's due date and priority. If something comes up, I want my schedule readjust to accommodate the interruption.
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#736I am building a database for human movement. Right now each exercise or pose or movement is indexed by its name - Downward dog, squat, handstand, etc. But this gets confusing when multiple names apply to the same movement. The true identifier is the motion of your limbs in space. I want to encode that motion/position so that if you try and upload L-sit handstand and also L-sit, it tells you that you are try to upload…
What is your motivation here? I like the idea, but I'm curious what sort of things you are hoping to accomplish. For instance is human deformity important? Do you want to take into account mild to severe birth defects or dismemberment? How about things like severe burn scars or other medical conditions which can limit maneuverability?
Then a year later you could submit new footage of a flow. The software would upload all movements into the database and recognize that that angle had increased. You now have increased movement.
Now lets say someone is missing an arm for instance. When their body is in a pike position, the database should still recognize the pike and index it against other pikes (both that user and the global range of pikes). So the database is going for similarity, not exactness. Relating similar movements though making them distinct is what I believe will be one of the hardest parts of this challenge.
I believe a large part of health and fitness is understanding our own bodies and the movements we can perform. Whether its a total of 25 possible movements or 500 possible movements, exploring and training those movements is always cathartic.
I am building this for a yoga/bodyweight training workout tracking app that I have made, but was having trouble indexing all of the motions for. Though I think if it works properly, the applications could be greater than the app.
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#737I am building a database for human movement. Right now each exercise or pose or movement is indexed by its name - Downward dog, squat, handstand, etc. But this gets confusing when multiple names apply to the same movement. The true identifier is the motion of your limbs in space. I want to encode that motion/position so that if you try and upload L-sit handstand and also L-sit, it tells you that you are try to upload…
In case you weren't aware, exrx.net has a huge database of exercises and which muscles/joints they affect.
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#738I am building a database for human movement. Right now each exercise or pose or movement is indexed by its name - Downward dog, squat, handstand, etc. But this gets confusing when multiple names apply to the same movement. The true identifier is the motion of your limbs in space. I want to encode that motion/position so that if you try and upload L-sit handstand and also L-sit, it tells you that you are try to upload…
Are you aware of HASC? http://hasc.jp/
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#739If you repeatedly add 2 and then divide by 2, you approach the number 2. If you repeatedly flip a coin to either add 2 or divide by 2, what distribution do you approach? If you have a distribution, what random processes are identities for that distribution? Which are stable? Which will reproduce the distribution from any starting distribution? It’s related to matrix kernels, but it’s hard to generalize to continuous…
I would guess that you still get to 2—because the more times you add 2, the greater the impact of dividing by 2, and the more times you divide by 2, the greater the impact of adding 2. Is that the case?
Indeed, the distribution looks highly discontinuous and fractal. It's a very intriguing question. I suspect thinking in terms of rings (abstract algebra) would be helpful.
[0] "somewhat higher" - I think this is because the sequence "add two then divide by two" gives you back your input when you start with 2, while "divide by two then add two" does when you start with 4; the distribution should peak between these two "stable" points. Exactly where the distribution peaks probably depends on your histogram bin width.
Re: Ask HN: What weird or hard problems are you trying to solve?
#740I am trying to reinvent the web. Replacing HTML/JS/CSS with a language called ALFI. It is stupidly simple in its design but still very powerful. Similarly to HTML you use it to create widgets, place them, and define their behavior. It is humanly readable like HTML but line-based instead of markup-based. Instead of nesting it uses references. This allows it to be streamed. A big difference is that the language itself…
Have you considered developing a WebExtension?