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    1. New groups added, more work still happening on rearranging, moving topics, etc.

      Alrighty, after the discussion last week, I've finally added the new groups, and everyone will have been mostly auto-subscribed to all of them. I'm still working on some of the details like adding...

      Alrighty, after the discussion last week, I've finally added the new groups, and everyone will have been mostly auto-subscribed to all of them. I'm still working on some of the details like adding descriptions, and there will be some awkward pieces and interface aspects since we're still in the transition phase before I get those larger changes to subscriptions/etc. in (which I really hope will be soon), but it should mostly be fine.

      If you want to change your subscriptions quickly, use this page: https://tildes.net/groups (linked from a button at the bottom of the home page's sidebar)

      First, here are the new groups:

      New top-level groups (everyone auto-subscribed)

      New sub-groups (auto-subscribed only if you were subscribed to the parent group)

      Some of this will be a little experimental and I'm not totally sure how it's going to work out (splitting ~science into the branches of science especially), but we'll see what happens. The names and such aren't necessarily 100% final either.

      Since we now have some real sub-groups that people other than me can post in, I made a small behavior change to how sub-groups work until those larger changes are ready. Previously, subscribing to a group would automatically include all posts from its sub-groups in your home page as well. That is, if you subscribed to ~tildes, you would also see all posts from ~tildes.official, regardless of whether you subscribed to it or not.

      Now, your home page will only include posts from groups (and sub-groups) that you are specifically subscribed to. So if you want to see topics from ~games but not ~games.tabletop, you should subscribe to ~games and unsubscribe from ~games.tabletop. However, if you visit ~games directly, posts from ~games.tabletop will still be included in the list there, regardless of whether you're subscribed or not. I know this isn't ideal, but it's not permanent and should be fine for now.

      I'm going to get back to working on updating these groups and moving some of the older topics around now, but let me know if you have any questions or thoughts.

      And as usual, I've topped everyone's invites up to 10. You can get your invite links here: https://tildes.net/invite

      51 votes
    2. What personal goals are you working towards?

      Inspired by similar topics such as "what are you reading" and "what creative project are you working on", and being obsessed with structured self-development, I thought I'd start this. As the...

      Inspired by similar topics such as "what are you reading" and "what creative project are you working on", and being obsessed with structured self-development, I thought I'd start this.
      As the title says. Share what your goal is, why you want to achieve it and how you will go about it (the steps/behaviors). You can include a timeline/target date which hopefully will instill a sense of accountability and increase motivation.
      I'm also hoping to get some inspiration and/or tips for my own life goals.

      If this gains interest I might post this once a quarter for follow-ups and new goals.

      I'll share mine in a comment below.

      25 votes
    3. Former nail biters --- how did you quit?

      I'm sitting here reading about Jeremy Renner's failed app and new Amazon store and filing my nails down. I've mostly stopped biting, but I still do every so often. So if you've quit, how the hell...

      I'm sitting here reading about Jeremy Renner's failed app and new Amazon store and filing my nails down. I've mostly stopped biting, but I still do every so often.

      So if you've quit, how the hell did you do it? The bad tasting nail polish stuff doesn't taste bad enough for me... is there an Allen Carr for biters?

      22 votes
    4. What did a fictional character say that stuck with you?

      Always loved some of the quotes from Harry Potter - Sirius Black and Dumbledore having the better ones. "If you want to know what a man’s like, judge him on the way he treats his inferiors, not...

      Always loved some of the quotes from Harry Potter - Sirius Black and Dumbledore having the better ones.

      "If you want to know what a man’s like, judge him on the way he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
      — Sirius Black

      35 votes
    5. Dan Tepfer (Human - Computer Duet) - NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

      Video Link I decided to post this as a text topic since IMO the video description is really important to understanding this performance: Aug. 29, 2019 | Colin Marshall -- Dan Tepfer has...

      Video Link

      I decided to post this as a text topic since IMO the video description is really important to understanding this performance:

      Aug. 29, 2019 | Colin Marshall -- Dan Tepfer has transformed the acoustic piano entirely with his new project, Natural Machines. Watch the keys and you'll see this Disklavier — a player piano — plucking notes on its own. But it's not a prerecorded script.

      Here's how it works: Tepfer plays a note, and a computer program he authored reads those notes and tells the piano what to play in response. Tepfer can load different algorithms into the program that determine the pattern of playback, like one that returns the same note, only an octave higher. Another will play the inverted note based on the center of the piano keys. These rules create interesting restrictions that Tepfer says make room for thoughtful improvisation. In his words, he's not writing these songs, so much as writing the way they work. To better communicate what's happening between him and the piano, Tepfer converted these audio-impulse data into visualizations on the screen behind him, displaying in real time the notes he plays followed by the piano's feedback. We dive even deeper into this project in a recent Jazz Night in America video piece.

      Perhaps the trickiest part here, unlike a human-to-human duo, is that the computer plays along with 100 percent accuracy based solely on Tepfer's moves. He compares it to dancing with a robot that never misses a beat. Tepfer has to play in kind to keep the train on the tracks, but if he falls out of step, so does the computer. On the other hand, Tepfer has unlocked a new frontier of music available to acoustic piano players: He's essentially given himself more limbs to play the piano at once, and at times we see more than 10 keys pressed at a time or a sequence of notes played at seemingly superhuman speeds. It's a central idea to what innovative technology enables for us — that which is impossible for us to achieve on our own.

      edit: Nice related video from Jazz Night in America with Dan explaining some of how it works:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L6tzG3FkcU

      7 votes
    6. Programming Challenge: Convert between units

      Hi everyone! It's been a long time since last programming challenge list, and here's a nice one I've encountered. If you search for something like 7km to AU, you'll get your answer. But how is it...

      Hi everyone! It's been a long time since last programming challenge list, and here's a nice one I've encountered.

      If you search for something like 7km to AU, you'll get your answer. But how is it done? I don't think they hardcoded all 23 units of distance and every conversion factor between them.

      If you were programming a conversion system - how would you do it?

      First of all, you have input in format that you can specify, for example something like this:

      meter kilometer 1000
      mile kilometer 1.609344
      second minute 60
      ...
      

      Then you should be able answer queries. For example 7 mile meter should convert 7 miles to meters, which is 11265.41.

      Can you design an algorithm that will convert any unit into any other unit?

      Edit: Some conversion rates I extracted from wikipedia:

      ångström
      0.1nm
      astronomical unit
      149597870700m
      attometre
      0.000000000000000001m
      barleycorn
      8.4m
      bohr
      0.00846
      cable length (imperial)
      185.3184m
      cable length
      185.2m
      cable length (US)
      219.456m
      chain (Gunters)
      20.11684m
      cubit
      0.5m
      ell
      1.143m
      fathom
      1.8288m
      femtometre
      0.00000000000001m
      fermi
      0.00000000000001m
      finger
      0.022225m
      finger (cloth)
      0.1143m
      foot (Benoit)
      0.304799735m
      foot (Cape) (H)
      0.314858m
      foot (Clarke's) (H)
      0.3047972654m
      foot (Indian) (H)
      0.304799514m
      foot,metric
      0.31622776602m
      foot,metric (long)
      0.3m
      foot,metric (short)
      0.30m
      foot (International)
      0.3048m
      foot (Sear's) (H)
      0.30479947m
      foot (US Survey)
      0.304800610
      french
      0.0003m
      furlong
      201.168m
      hand
      0.1016m
      inch
      0.0254m
      league
      4828m
      light-day
      25902068371200m
      light-hour
      107925284880m
      light-minute
      17987547480
      light-second
      299792458m
      light-year
      31557600light-second
      line
      0.002116m
      link (Gunter's)
      0.2011684m
      link (Ramsden's; Engineer's)
      0.3048m
      metre
      1m
      m
      1metre
      km
      1000m
      mickey
      0.000127
      micrometre
      0.000001
      mil; thou
      0.0000254
      mil
      10km
      mile (geographical)
      6082foot (International)
      quarter
      0.2286m
      rod
      5.0292m
      rope
      6.096m
      shaku
      0.303 0303m
      span (H)
      0.2286m
      stick (H)
      0.0508m
      toise
      1.949 0363m
      twip
      1.76310
      yard
      0.9144m
      
      17 votes