Tear Down the Burren
I love the Burren. It hosts something like seven weekly sessions in a range of styles and the back room has hosted many great acts including many of my friends. It's a key space in the Boston folk scene, and it's under threat from developers who want to tear it down. But after thinking it through, and noting that this puts me on the other side from many of my friends, I think the project should go ahead. The proposal...
2 days ago
Seasonal Patterns in BIDA's Attendance
We've been keeping attendance statistics for BIDA since 2011, and looking at the online chart I noticed some patterns in the moving average that looked seasonal: How seasonal is it? First, here are the raw attendance values: This excludes special events (family dances, double dances, bonus dances, Spark in the Dark) and our new 4th Sunday afternoon series. To make it a bit clearer, let's add a moving average: A seven dance sliding window, where the dances are weighted 1,2,3,4,3,2,1....
4 days ago
Contra Dances Getting Shorter and Earlier
in which I have opinions about AI via Thing of Things January 22, 2025 This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, travel, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Overall this was a pretty good year. Highlights … via Victoria Krakovna January 15, 2025 What's neglected by "magnificent" philanthropy, and by Singerian global poverty focus The post The ugly sides of two...
13 days ago
Kitchen Air Purifier Comparison
Ask! People! Out via Thing of Things January 20, 2025 This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, travel, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Overall this was a pretty good year. Highlights … via Victoria Krakovna January 15, 2025 What's neglected by "magnificent" philanthropy, and by Singerian global poverty focus The post The ugly sides of two approaches to charity appeared...
15 days ago
Maximally Eggy Crepes
All Grants Fund, Rethink, EA Funds Animal Welfare Fund via Thing of Things January 17, 2025 This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, travel, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Overall this was a pretty good year. Highlights … via Victoria Krakovna January 15, 2025 What's neglected by "magnificent" philanthropy, and by Singerian global poverty focus The post The ugly sides...
17 days ago
Beards and Masks?
In general, you're not supposed to wear a beard with a respirator mask (N95, P100, etc), at least not in a way where you have facial hair under the seal: But how much worse is the fit? A P100 with a beard is going to filter less well than a P100 without a beard, but does it do as well as an N95? Or is it hopelessly compromised? And is stubble as bad as a full beard? Does length matter?...
18 days ago
Tax Price Gouging?
In the aftermath of a disaster, there is usually a large shift in what people need, what is available, or both. For example, people normally don't use very much ice, but after a hurricane or other disaster that knocks out power, suddenly (a) lots of people want ice and (b) ice production is more difficult. Since people really don't want their food going bad, and they're willing to pay a lot to avoid that, In a world of pure economics,...
19 days ago
Call Booth External Monitor
This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, travel, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. This was a pretty good year – our first year wit… via Victoria Krakovna January 15, 2025 Effective altruism, subcultures, mental illness, life advice, policies, short stories, fun via Thing of Things January 15, 2025 What's neglected by "magnificent" philanthropy, and by Singerian global poverty focus The...
20 days ago
Voluntary Salary Reduction
Not everything is gendered via Thing of Things January 13, 2025 What's neglected by "magnificent" philanthropy, and by Singerian global poverty focus The post The ugly sides of two approaches to charity appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise January 13, 2025 This post contains javascript content and must be viewed on site. via Harris Lapiroff January 6, 2025
22 days ago
Mini Go: Gateway Game
Not everything is gendered via Thing of Things January 13, 2025 What's neglected by "magnificent" philanthropy, and by Singerian global poverty focus The post The ugly sides of two approaches to charity appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise January 13, 2025 This post contains javascript content and must be viewed on site. via Harris Lapiroff January 6, 2025
23 days ago
Incredibow
I have been interviewed by The Weekly Anthropocene. It’s sort of a grab bag of all the topics we talk about on this blog—some effective altruism, some general life advice. I really enjoyed getting to talk to Sam Matey, who’s a very smart guy. Check it out! via Thing of Things January 6, 2025 The lives of people who worked admirably hard toward a goal I find pointless The post Two missionary memoirs appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise January...
about 1 month ago
Maximizing Communication, not Traffic
J. P. Morgan as the vanguard party via Thing of Things January 3, 2025 Developing skills and mellowing with age The post Handling emotions better over time appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise January 2, 2025 Narrative via Home January 1, 2025
about 1 month ago
Orange and Strawberry Truffles
Growing up my dad would make chocolate truffles, flavored with a range of alcohols and fruit extracts. These are tasty, but I've been interested in making ones that have less of a liquor flavor. This time last year I made some with freeze-dried raspberries, which I think came out well. I continue to like those a lot, but this year wanted to try some additional flavors. The first new flavor I tried was strawberry: freeze-dried powder from strawberries instead of...
about 1 month ago
Playing with Otamatones
I have a survey for readers of my blog! via Thing of Things January 1, 2025 Narrative via Home January 1, 2025 Why do we treat pets so differently from other animals? The post You don’t have to treat pets as family members appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise December 29, 2024
about 1 month ago
Approaches to Group Singing
by me! via Thing of Things December 30, 2024 Why do we treat pets so differently from other animals? The post You don’t have to treat pets as family members appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise December 29, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 1 month ago
Fireplace and Candle Smoke
by me! via Thing of Things December 30, 2024 Why do we treat pets so differently from other animals? The post You don’t have to treat pets as family members appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise December 29, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 1 month ago
Two Weeks Without Sweets
I recently tried giving up sweets for two weeks. In early December I attended a conference, which meant a break from my normal routine. After a few days I realized this was the longest I'd gone without eating any sweets in 2-3 decades. After getting home I decided to go a bit longer to see if anything interesting happened. Would my focus be better? Better sleep? Would I feel healthier? Would I stop missing them? While I started by accident,...
about 1 month ago
Boston Solstice 2024 Retrospective
If you were there, it would be great if you could fill out the survey so we can make it better next year! For the first time since 2017 we were in a real venue, Connexion in East Somerville. They donated the space, because they want to support this kind of thing, which was really generous of them. If they'd charged us normal rates it would have been ~$10/person, and if you'd like to make a contribution to the venue...
about 1 month ago
How Much to Give is a Pragmatic Question
I was recently talking to someone who had recently started thinking about effective altruism, and was trying to figure out how to work it into their life. They were established in their career, it paid well, and their background wasn't obviously a good fit for direct work, so they were naturally considering earning to give. This prompts a question of how much to give. "How much?" is a question people have struggled with for a very long time. Donating 10%...
about 1 month ago
Non-Obvious Benefits of Insurance
All ethics is a special case of animal welfare science via Thing of Things December 18, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Robin's Farm Sledding Route
All ethics is a special case of animal welfare science via Thing of Things December 18, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Robbin's Farm Sledding Route
All ethics is a special case of animal welfare science via Thing of Things December 18, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Good Reasons for Alts
All ethics is a special case of animal welfare science via Thing of Things December 18, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
No Internally-Crispy Mac and Cheese
All ethics is a special case of animal welfare science via Thing of Things December 18, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Preppers Are Too Negative on Objects
only the most up-to-date discourse takes here on Thing of Things via Thing of Things December 16, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Elevating Air Purifiers
only the most up-to-date discourse takes here on Thing of Things via Thing of Things December 16, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Comparing the AirFanta 3Pro to the Coway AP-1512
Art appreciation is a skill via Thing of Things December 15, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Mini PAPR Review
A standard respirator, like a disposable N95 or an elastomeric P100, uses the power of the wearer's lungs to move air through a filter. An unpowered device has a lot of advantages in simplicity and reliability, but it can also be tiring, limits filtering capacity to what the wearer can tolerate, and requires a good seal on the face to prevent air intrusion during inhalation. An alternative approach is a Powered Air-Purifying Respirator (PAPR), which typically uses a battery-powered fan...
about 2 months ago
Why Isn't Tesla Level 3?
Many people who've used Tesla's "Full Self Driving" software are pretty excited about it: I can step into a Tesla today, press a destination, and go there without touching the wheel or pedals. Sure it won't be flawless but the fact is, I can. I can't do the same in any other consumer car, and the closest thing is a Waymo. The effort is there, I think its just a matter of time before we start seeing the legal stuff...
about 2 months ago
Second-Time Free
Effective altruism, psychology, policy, short stories, fun via Thing of Things December 9, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
EC2 Scripts
Effective altruism, psychology, policy, short stories, fun via Thing of Things December 9, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
about 2 months ago
Alternatives to Masks for Infectious Aerosols
This is a personal post: I'm not speaking for SecureBio or BIDA. I help organize a contra dance that requires high filtration masks (N95 etc) at half of our dances. When we restarted in 2022 we required masks at all our dances, before switching to half in 2023. We just ran a survey of our dancers, and while there are people who would like to not have to wear masks there are also a lot of people who are only...
about 2 months ago
Historical Net Worth
Hope you come! via Thing of Things December 6, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
2 months ago
Mask and Respirator Intelligibility Comparison
Hope you come! via Thing of Things December 6, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
2 months ago
Detection of Asymptomatically Spreading Pathogens
Cross-posted from my NAO Notebook. This is an edited transcript of a talk I just gave at CBD S&T, a chem-bio defence conference. I needed to submit the slides several months in advance, so I tried out a new-to-me approach where the slides are visual support only and I finalized the text of the talk later on. This does mean there are places where it would be great to have additional slides to illustrate some concepts Additionally, this was the...
2 months ago
Group N95 Alternatives
More ventilation. This is practical in a lot of cases, either by running the HVAC at a higher flow or with more windows. In our case, however, we're already at the limit of what is possible in this space with its physical layout and agreements with the city and neighbors. Commercial air purifiers. An air purifier (ex: the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH I got on the Wirecutter's recommendation a few years ago) removes particles from the air with filters. They're evaluated...
2 months ago
CCing Mailing Lists on External Communication
In my current work, and at various previous companies, I've done a lot of coordination with external groups. We generally use email for this: it's very standard and works well enough. One place where it doesn't work very well, though, is making it possible for others working on a project to read and find relevant threads. For example, if I write to our partner I can CC coworkers who are currently on the project, but what if my boss is...
2 months ago
First Solo Bus Ride
Our kids have been riding the bus since they were little, though less often since we started sharing a car almost four years ago. For a while the oldest, age 10, has been asking when they could start taking the bus on their own. A few days ago they did, and it went well! We worked up to it gradually, so they knew how to do it and we knew they knew how to do it. They had a background...
2 months ago
Commenting Patterns by Platform
How does the growth of Bluesky compare to Mastodon in 2022? What about Google Plus in 2011? I can't answer this globally, but (now that my comment archive is up to date) I can look at it for my immediate social network by looking at a proxy: how many of the replies people write to my posts are on each platform? Here's the full time period: I've included Facebook, Google Plus, LessWrong, and Mastodon because those are the four platforms...
2 months ago
Exporting Facebook Comments, Again
Let's talk about Nietzsche without having read him! via Thing of Things November 29, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
2 months ago
Importing Bluesky Comments
I'm so meta even this acronym via Thing of Things November 27, 2024 Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
2 months ago
Facets and Social Networks
It's rare that an author's interests will fully overlap with any given reader's. You can choose to post anywhere on a spectrum between: Narrow: pick a topic and make it your beat. People who care about that can follow you and pretty reliably see what they're looking for. Broad: write about whatever you like. Some readers will be willing to scroll past posts on uninteresting topics, others will decide the combination is too noisy to be worth it to them....
2 months ago
Filled Cupcakes
Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise November 25, 2024 Pay people for their work! via Thing of Things November 21, 2024 Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options. via Home November 21, 2024
2 months ago
Text Posts from the Kids Group: 2018
(Some of these were from me; some were from Julia. Ones saying "me" could mean either of us. Ones from others are labeled.) 2018-01-12 Since Lily started listening to "Heidi" a lot, her language has started sounding more nineteenth-century at times. My favorites: "When Fani opens my present, she will cry with joy and surprise." "I will crawl into bed, as happy as a lark." (This was accompanied by crawling across the entire room toward the bed, which she believes...
2 months ago
Secular Solstice Songbook Update
A lot of people play fiddle. Basically nobody starts by learning chords before learning melodies. But that's actually how I learned. I started with chords. One of the nice things about learning to play violin this way is that you can go busking even… via Anna Wise's Blog Posts November 15, 2024 I have some stuffies and I just have a bunny. Bunny is a rabbit. Woof is a seal. My favorite stuffie is bun bun. I play with my...
3 months ago
Trying Bluesky
Recently a bunch of my friends, primarily in the contra dance world, have decided to give Bluesky a try. I think a lot of this is a post-election reaction to Musk and X (Twitter), but since I'm not on Twitter I'm mostly seeing the Facebook side. Regardless, I'm happy to see energy for migration: I'm pretty unhappy with FB [1] and if we can get critical mass on a better platform that seems good. Playing with Bluesky it seems fine....
3 months ago
Boston Secular Solstice 2024: Call for Singers and Musicans
2024 election takes via Thing of Things November 6, 2024 There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10,...
3 months ago
Dance Differentiation
2024 election takes via Thing of Things November 6, 2024 There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10,...
3 months ago
Contra Musician Gender II
In the comments of yesterday's post on the most booked callers and bands, several people were interested in the gender composition of the bands. I looked at this in 2018, covering four years of data (2014 through 2017); what does it look like now? I took my stats for 2023 and 2024 [1] and attempted to annotate the gender breakdown of the bands. This is a fraught endeavor: gender is not always obvious. In cases where it seemed unclear I...
3 months ago
Festival Stats 2024
2024 election takes via Thing of Things November 6, 2024 There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10,...
3 months ago
Personal AI Planning
2024 election takes via Thing of Things November 6, 2024 There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10,...
3 months ago
Force Sequential Output with SCP?
2024 election takes via Thing of Things November 6, 2024 There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10,...
3 months ago
Signaling with Small Orange Diamonds
2024 election takes via Thing of Things November 6, 2024 There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10,...
3 months ago
Advisors for Smaller Major Donors?
Open Philanthropy (OP) is the largest grantmaker who is moving money to the things I think are most valuable, including (disclosure!) my work at the NAO. There's been a lot of discussion in the effective altruism community about where this leaves smaller donors, and where they might have a comparative advantage. For example: OP recently announced that due to changes in Good Ventures' (GV) strategy that they'd be recommending less funding in several areas. This seems to have included work...
3 months ago
Trading Candy
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, had a complicated relationship with her father. via Thing of Things October 31, 2024 There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking...
3 months ago
Updating the NAO Simulator
There's a common narrative that Microsoft was moribund under Steve Ballmer and then later saved by the miraculous leadership of Satya Nadella. This is the dominant narrative in every online discussion about the topic I've seen and it's a commo… via Posts on October 28, 2024 Direct action when abortion was illegal via Thing of Things October 24, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via...
3 months ago
Substituting Talkbox for Breath Controller
Direct action when abortion was illegal via Thing of Things October 24, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via...
3 months ago
Is the Power Grid Sustainable?
When I was growing up most families in our neighborhood had the daily paper on their lawn. As getting your news on the internet became a better option for most folks, though, delivery became less efficient: fewer houses on the same route. Prices went up, more people cancelled, and decline continued. I wonder if we might see something similar with the power grid? Solar panels keep getting cheaper. When we installed panels in 2019 they only made sense because of...
3 months ago
Making a Pedalboard
Direct action when abortion was illegal via Thing of Things October 24, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via...
3 months ago
Appealing to the Public
Let's say you run a non-profit, and you and some of your co-workers are there for EA reasons. The EA Forum is going to be hosting a Marginal Funding Week and you're trying to decide whether to post an appeal. How do you decide whether you're ready to raise funds from the EA community? At a high level, I think you should go ahead if you can explain what you'd do with the money and are willing to share the...
4 months ago
Sleeping on Stage
In favor of liking things, especially if the thing is Kamala Harris via Thing of Things October 18, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable...
4 months ago
Start an Upper-Room UV Installation Company?
In favor of liking things, especially if the thing is Kamala Harris via Thing of Things October 18, 2024 A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable...
4 months ago
You're Playing a Rough Game
A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 Thinking about replacability is hard via Thing of Things October 3, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via Home...
4 months ago
Moonlight
A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 Thinking about replacability is hard via Thing of Things October 3, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via Home...
4 months ago
Examples of How I Use LLMs
A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 Thinking about replacability is hard via Thing of Things October 3, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via Home...
4 months ago
Parental Writing Selection Bias
A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 Thinking about replacability is hard via Thing of Things October 3, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via Home...
4 months ago
A Triple Decker for Elfland
A discussion I have with myself a lot The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise October 10, 2024 Thinking about replacability is hard via Thing of Things October 3, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via Home...
4 months ago
Thinking About a Pedalboard
Thinking about replacability is hard via Thing of Things October 3, 2024 This post was inspired by a week of working from Ambitious Impact’s office in London, and chatting with several of the startup charities there. While my experience is in the for-profit world, I think it’s applicable to entrepreneurs working on impact-driv… via Home September 27, 2024 Lessons learned from the first 10 years The post Advice for getting along with your kids appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise...
4 months ago
Switching to a Yamaha P-121 Keyboard
The keyboard is a bit of an awkward instrument to travel with. It's quite large, to the point that you have to give up at least one seat in a typical car. What makes this especially frustrating is that I don't actually use the whole 88 keys: The very lowest notes tend to be boomy, while the higher notes are just not very useful in playing the kind of music I play. I use a bit over five octaves (B0-D6,...
4 months ago
Chevy Bolt Review
One thing I like about renting cars when I travel is that it's an opportunity to get a sense for a car that's a lot more detailed than what you'd get with a test drive. Traveling to DC for work a few days ago, I took the opportunity to rent a 2023 Chevy Bolt. This is the second time I've rented an electric vehicle, and overall it was the inverse of my experience renting a Tesla: With the Bolt, everything...
4 months ago
Source Control for Prototyping and Analysis
Some thoughts on principles via Thing of Things September 23, 2024 Lessons learned from the first 10 years The post Advice for getting along with your kids appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise September 16, 2024 If you're a kid like me, most kids have probably never heard of contra dancing before. You're probably wondering: contra dance -- what's that? Contra dancing is in some ways similar to square dancing. It's a group dance with a caller and… via Lily...
4 months ago
Editing at the Take Level
Some thoughts on principles via Thing of Things September 23, 2024 Lessons learned from the first 10 years The post Advice for getting along with your kids appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise September 16, 2024 If you're a kid like me, most kids have probably never heard of contra dancing before. You're probably wondering: contra dance -- what's that? Contra dancing is in some ways similar to square dancing. It's a group dance with a caller and… via Lily...
4 months ago
Switching to a 4GB SD
When I initially switched the computer portion of my rhythm stage setup over to a Raspberry PI I went with a 32GB SD card because that's recommended. But I don't need very much space for what I'm doing and a bigger SD card makes copies slow: the cheap cards I've been using take me over an hour to write with my Mac's card reader. I recently made some changes to my setup, removing support for bass whistle on the PI...
5 months ago
Becket First
And not owning slaves via Thing of Things September 20, 2024 Lessons learned from the first 10 years The post Advice for getting along with your kids appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise September 16, 2024 If you're a kid like me, most kids have probably never heard of contra dancing before. You're probably wondering: contra dance -- what's that? Contra dancing is in some ways similar to square dancing. It's a group dance with a caller and… via Lily...
5 months ago
Electric Mandola
And not owning slaves via Thing of Things September 20, 2024 Lessons learned from the first 10 years The post Advice for getting along with your kids appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise September 16, 2024 If you're a kid like me, most kids have probably never heard of contra dancing before. You're probably wondering: contra dance -- what's that? Contra dancing is in some ways similar to square dancing. It's a group dance with a caller and… via Lily...
5 months ago
Keyboard Gremlins
I had a great time playing Amherst last night with Cecilia, except for the keyboard gremlins. I just got a new keyboard (more on that later!) and it worked great when I tried it at home. At the dance, however, there were strange crackles. Even weirder, when I played the highest notes on the piano, I got a very small amount of phantom bass, maybe four octaves down. It got louder and quieter, as I turned the keyboard up and...
5 months ago
Pollsters Should Publish Question Translations
All the writing advice I have via Thing of Things September 5, 2024 Life for an American family in 1860s China The post Two 19th-century missionary memoirs in China appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise August 24, 2024 You’ve started a project or company. Great idea, great team, you’re cranking away. Build a prototype, work on acquiring the key partnerships, figure out launch planning, get a few initial users… simple enough right? via Home August 19, 2024
5 months ago
August 2024 Time Tracking
In favor of philosophical argumentation via Thing of Things August 22, 2024 You’ve started a project or company. Great idea, great team, you’re cranking away. Build a prototype, work on acquiring the key partnerships, figure out launch planning, get a few initial users… simple enough right? via Home August 19, 2024 About eight years ago, I was playing a game of Codenames where the game state was such that our team would almost certainly lose if we didn't correctly guess...
6 months ago
Apartment Price Map Discontinuity
I think Olympic women’s sports should be open to anyone assigned female at birth whose testosterone levels (whether exogenous or endogenous) fit within appropriate anti-doping guidelines. via Thing of Things August 16, 2024 Getting to "good enough" The post Relaxing my standards on housekeeping appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 31, 2024 overall direction • people management • project management • technical leadership • example divisions of labor via benkuhn.net July 21, 2024
6 months ago
Restructuring Pop Songs for Contra
One of the things I like about playing for contra dances is that you have a lot of freedom about what to play. As long as you meet the minimum requirements for danceable music (108-122bpm, contra phrasing) you can do almost anything. And then if you're a bottom left corner band you might want to play some pop covers. While lots of pop music has a tempo in the right range, it's much less common for it to have the...
6 months ago
FarmKind's Illusory Offer
While the effective altruism movement has changed a lot over time, one of the parts that makes me most disappointed is the steady creep of donation matching. It's not that donation matching is objectively very important, but the early EA movement's principled rejection of a very effective fundraising strategy made it clear that we were committed to helping people understand the real impact of their donations. Over time, as people have specialized into different areas of EA, with community-building and...
6 months ago
Simultaneous Footbass and Footdrums II
Abigail Shrier's bad book via Thing of Things August 7, 2024 Getting to "good enough" The post Relaxing my standards on housekeeping appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 31, 2024 overall direction • people management • project management • technical leadership • example divisions of labor via benkuhn.net July 21, 2024
6 months ago
Dragon Agnosticism
I'm agnostic on the existence of dragons. I don't usually talk about this, because people might misinterpret me as actually being a covert dragon-believer, but I wanted to give some background for why I disagree with calls for people to publicly assert the non-existence of dragons. Before I do that, though, it's clear that horrible acts have been committed in the name of dragons. Many dragon-believers publicly or privately endorse this reprehensible history. Regardless of whether dragons do in fact...
6 months ago
If You Can Climb Up, You Can Climb Down
A few weeks ago Julia wrote about how we approach kids climbing: The basics: Spot the child if they're doing something where a fall is likely. Don't encourage or help the child to climb something that's beyond their ability to do on their own. If they don't know how to get down, give advice rather than physically lifting them down. Don't allow climbing on some places that are too dangerous. I was thinking about this some when I was at...
6 months ago
Cat Sustenance Fortification
The importance of liberty via Thing of Things July 30, 2024 Giving up control over choices that don't belong to me The post Children’s appearance is overemphasized appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 27, 2024 overall direction • people management • project management • technical leadership • example divisions of labor via benkuhn.net July 21, 2024
7 months ago
Ball Sq Pathways
The nuance is in the post, guys via Thing of Things July 18, 2024 non-trust is reasonable • trust lets collaboration scale • symptoms of trust deficit • how to proactively build trust via benkuhn.net July 13, 2024 Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024
7 months ago
Krona Compare
The nuance is in the post, guys via Thing of Things July 18, 2024 non-trust is reasonable • trust lets collaboration scale • symptoms of trust deficit • how to proactively build trust via benkuhn.net July 13, 2024 Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024
7 months ago
Turning Your Back On Traffic
non-trust is reasonable • trust lets collaboration scale • symptoms of trust deficit • how to proactively build trust via benkuhn.net July 13, 2024 Effective altruism, rationality, metascience, economics, social justice, fun. via Thing of Things July 10, 2024 Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024
7 months ago
Stacked Laptop Monitor Update
non-trust is reasonable • trust lets collaboration scale • symptoms of trust deficit • how to proactively build trust via benkuhn.net July 13, 2024 Effective altruism, rationality, metascience, economics, social justice, fun. via Thing of Things July 10, 2024 Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024
7 months ago
Child Handrail Returns
non-trust is reasonable • trust lets collaboration scale • symptoms of trust deficit • how to proactively build trust via benkuhn.net July 13, 2024 Effective altruism, rationality, metascience, economics, social justice, fun. via Thing of Things July 10, 2024 Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024
7 months ago
Spark in the Dark Guest Spots
non-trust is reasonable • trust lets collaboration scale • symptoms of trust deficit • how to proactively build trust via benkuhn.net July 13, 2024 Effective altruism, rationality, metascience, economics, social justice, fun. via Thing of Things July 10, 2024 Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024
7 months ago
A Second Wetsuit Summer
Effective altruism, rationality, metascience, economics, social justice, fun. via Thing of Things July 10, 2024 Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is...
7 months ago
AirBnB Baking
Helping kids learn to climb things that are at the edge of their ability The post Coaching kids as they learn to climb appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise July 10, 2024 The dispute over a concept via Thing of Things July 8, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is in the LLM...
7 months ago
Summer Tour Stops
The dispute over a concept via Thing of Things July 8, 2024 Keeping donations high as our income rose and fell The post Still donating half appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise June 23, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is in the LLM and generative AI case when compared to "… via...
7 months ago
Sample Prevalance vs Global Prevalence
The dispute over a concept via Thing of Things July 8, 2024 Keeping donations high as our income rose and fell The post Still donating half appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise June 23, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is in the LLM and generative AI case when compared to "… via...
7 months ago
Travel Buffer
Against Sandwich Memeing via Thing of Things July 5, 2024 Keeping donations high as our income rose and fell The post Still donating half appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise June 23, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is in the LLM and generative AI case when compared to "… via Posts on...
7 months ago
Cross Robin
what a weird fish via Thing of Things June 25, 2024 Keeping donations high as our income rose and fell The post Still donating half appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise June 23, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is in the LLM and generative AI case when compared to "… via Posts...
7 months ago
Kingfisher Summer Tour 2024
Parenting is different from what you expect via Thing of Things June 25, 2024 Keeping donations high as our income rose and fell The post Still donating half appeared first on Otherwise. via Otherwise June 23, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is in the LLM and generative AI case when compared to...
8 months ago
Text Posts from the Kids Group: 2019
(Some of these were from me; some were from Julia. Ones saying "me" could mean either of us.) 2019-01-05 Anna: I was kicking Lily over and I tripped on a balloon. Me: You were doing what? Anna: (pause) I was accidentally kicking Lily over and I tripped on a balloon. 2019-01-08 Anna asks me to give her pictures of different objects. Then she colors them blue. Blue every time, everything is blue. This one was "a mama frog and a...
8 months ago
Juneberry Puffs
ONE WEIRD TRICK to protect yourself against cults via Thing of Things June 18, 2024 There've been regular viral stories about ML/AI bias with LLMs and generative AI for the past couple years. One thing I find interesting about discussions of bias is how different the reaction is in the LLM and generative AI case when compared to "… via Posts on June 16, 2024 Topics that come up a lot The post Conversations I often have about parenting appeared...
8 months ago