enso's recent activity
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life
enso LinkThis tool really validates the feelings that I've had most of my life since leaving high school. My entire map is Permanent DST. I've lived in several places and am not a morning person...This tool really validates the feelings that I've had most of my life since leaving high school. My entire map is Permanent DST. I've lived in several places and am not a morning person whatsoever, so sunlight then is wasted to me. All I really want is for it to be light as late after work as possible. This has gotten worse since moving to the midwest and having periods of the year where it's dark by the time I am off work and able to do anything.
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Comment on Update to Kagi Search pricing in ~tech
enso LinkI just went through and counted my google usage for the last week and found that I searched 88, 46, 72, and 53 times Monday to Thursday this week. I thought that my weekend usage might be lower...I just went through and counted my google usage for the last week and found that I searched 88, 46, 72, and 53 times Monday to Thursday this week. I thought that my weekend usage might be lower because I work on a computer for most of the day at work, which seems to be true sometimes. My searches per day on the weekend were 58 and 9. Assuming that this is an average week, that comes out to over 1500 searches/month.
While I do think that I get $25/month in value from the searches that I made and the results that come along with them, I can't help but think they are flighting an impossible uphill batter against Google and the rest of the free engines. If I was to be paying for a search service, I would want that to be my primary, go to engine for making searches and if I was unable to find what I wanted there I would move on to a different engine. I cannot imagine that I would have a good end user experience worrying about whether I would hit my cap all month.
Interestingly, not that I would ever want to have to think about this on a consistent basis while searching for things, as long as you are making less than 1700 searches a month it makes sense to get the Professional Tier and pay per search vs getting unlimited.
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Comment on Experiences with extended fasting in ~food
enso Link ParentI do think that many of my issues with it came from lack of electrolytes/hydration. I said in the OP that I was getting 1-2g sodium/potassium per day, but thinking back I probably actually only...I do think that many of my issues with it came from lack of electrolytes/hydration. I said in the OP that I was getting 1-2g sodium/potassium per day, but thinking back I probably actually only had 3g Na-K the first day and 1.5g Na-K each the second and third days combined. I am chronically semi-dehydrated and i was probably only having 1.5L of water a day as well.
Note that I usually only have 500mL-1L of fluids/day on a normal day so this is probably about even with normal intake.
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Comment on Experiences with extended fasting in ~food
enso Link ParentI had no issues with breaking out at all. Not that I think this was anything else but a coincidence, but I usually have at least one zit/pimple/cold sore at any given time and I didn't have...I had no issues with breaking out at all. Not that I think this was anything else but a coincidence, but I usually have at least one zit/pimple/cold sore at any given time and I didn't have anything come up when I went into the fast or for the days since then. Given I didn't have any issues going into it either.
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Comment on Tildes Video Thread in ~misc
enso LinkIts skiing season here in the US, so I've been watching some ameture ski films to stoke my own enthusiasm. The two that stand out are the classic G.N.A.R. and the urban skiing film Forrmula by the... -
Experiences with extended fasting
Recently I've been reading about the benefits of doing an extended water fast. There are apparently benefits when it comes to entering autophagy for cell repair, as well as increases in stem cell...
Recently I've been reading about the benefits of doing an extended water fast. There are apparently benefits when it comes to entering autophagy for cell repair, as well as increases in stem cell production in the a couple of parts of the body. I believe there is also some data to suggest that it increases sensitivity to insulin and does some lasting things to ghrelin and leptin levels. Many people also report clearer thinking, feelings of euphoria, and increased levels of focus after the first day of fasting.
After reading these benefits I decided to try a 72 hour water fast. Unfortunately, I did not feel almost any of the acute effects that were described in most all places that fasting is discussed. For both of the nights that I was fasted I woke up slowly and felt lethargic for a couple hours after waking. I had fairly severe brain fog throughout most of the second and third days. I was drinking electrolyte water, as is suggested (trying to hit 3g sudium/potassium and taking 250mg magnesium supplement/day), but when I drank that at a rate where I would be able to get all of the electrolytes in throughout the day I would have GI distress. I was only able to stomach about 1-2g of sodium/potassium per day
There were times where I felt the focus/energy that was described by other posters online, but it always came with an asterisk. I felt as though I was slightly detached from myself? Almost as through I was sitting inside my own mind/body and driving it as a third party. I will say that after the 18 hour mark I only felt hungry a couple of times. I did have a lot of thoughts about food, but those came from being very introspective about the fact that I was fasting more than anything else.
I want to believe that I did something wrong and thats the reason that I was not able to get the experience that it seems most others do; I would be willing to give it a second shot, but I want to try and figure out what could be improved.
Has anyone else here tried a 3+ day extended fast? What were your experiences?
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway Thread: Holiday 2022 in ~games
enso Link ParentThanks a ton! You’re incredibly generous:)Thanks a ton! You’re incredibly generous:)
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway Thread: Holiday 2022 in ~games
enso Link ParentWould I be able to claim Superhot? Also lucky number 44 for the random :) Thank you so much for doing this!Would I be able to claim Superhot? Also lucky number 44 for the random :)
Thank you so much for doing this!
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Comment on Magnus Carlsen withdraws from Sinquefield Cup in ~games.tabletop
enso LinkWall Street Journal report on Hans's online cheating https://www.wsj.com/articles/chess-cheating-hans-niemann-report-magnus-carlsen-11664911524 Text of the Article Chess Investigation Finds That...Wall Street Journal report on Hans's online cheating
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chess-cheating-hans-niemann-report-magnus-carlsen-11664911524
Text of the Article
Chess Investigation Finds That U.S. Grandmaster ‘Likely Cheated’ More Than 100 Times An internal report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal alleges a previously unknown pattern of likely widespread cheating by Hans Moke Niemann, the player whose September victory over Magnus Carlsen has rocked the chess worldWhen world chess champion Magnus Carlsen last month suggested that American grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann was a cheater, the 19-year-old Niemann launched an impassioned defense. Niemann said he had cheated, but only at two points in his life, describing them as youthful indiscretions committed when he was 12 and 16 years old.
Now, however, an investigation into Niemann’s play—conducted by Chess.com, an online platform where many top players compete—has found the scope of his cheating to be far wider and longer-lasting than he publicly admitted.
The report, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, alleges that Niemann likely received illegal assistance in more than 100 online games, as recently as 2020. Those matches included contests in which prize money was on the line. The site uses a variety of cheating-detection tools, including analytics that compare moves to those recommended by chess engines, which are capable of beating even the greatest human players every time.
The report states that Niemann privately confessed to the allegations, and that he was subsequently banned from the site for a period of time.
The 72-page report also flagged what it described as irregularities in Niemann’s rise through the elite ranks of competitive, in-person chess. It highlights “many remarkable signals and unusual patterns in Hans’ path as a player.”
While it says Niemann’s improvement has been “statistically extraordinary.” Chess.com noted that it hasn’t historically been involved with cheat detection for classical over-the-board chess, and it stopped short of any conclusive statements about whether he has cheated in person. Still, it pointed to several of Niemann’s strongest events, which it believes “merit further investigation based on the data.” FIDE, chess’s world governing body, is conducting its own investigation into the Niemann-Carlsen affair.
“Outside his online play, Hans is the fastest rising top player in Classical [over-the-board] chess in modern history,” the report says, while comparing his progress to the game’s brightest rising stars. “Looking purely at rating, Hans should be classified as a member of this group of top young players. While we don’t doubt that Hans is a talented player, we note that his results are statistically extraordinary.”
Chess.com, which is in the process of buying Carlsen’s Play Magnus app, is a popular platform for both casual players and grandmasters alike. It has more than 90 million members and also hosts big tournaments for elite players with lucrative prize money.
Hans had the fastest and biggest increase in his score over time in comparison to his peers and other notable players, when considering all of their known Classical OTB games played from age 11-19.
Niemann didn’t respond to requests for comment. When he addressed the controversy last month, he said that he had dedicated himself to over-the-board chess after he was caught cheating, in order to prove himself as a player.
The controversy erupted in early September at the prestigious Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, where Niemann upset Carlsen while playing with the black pieces, which is a disadvantage. Carlsen then abruptly quit the tournament. Though the Norwegian didn’t accuse Niemann of impropriety at the time, the chess community interpreted his action as a protest.
The pair met again in an online event weeks later, and Carlsen quit their game after making just one move. Days later, the world No. 1 publicly confirmed his suspicions of Niemann.
“I believe that Niemann has cheated more—and more recently—than he has publicly admitted,” Carlsen wrote in his first public statement on the matter on Sept. 26. “His over the board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do.”
When Niemann addressed the suspicions last month, he said the only instance in which he cheated in an event with prize money was when he was 12. He said he later cheated as a 16-year-old, in “random games,” and that they were the biggest mistakes of his life. He also said he never cheated while live-streaming a game.
“I would never, could even fathom doing it, in a real game,” he said.
The Chess.com report contradicts those statements. It says several prize-money events are included in the 100-plus suspect games and that he was live-streaming the contests during 25 of them. It adds that he was 17 years old during the most recent violations, which subsequently led Chess.com to close his account. A letter sent to Niemann included in the report notes “blatant cheating” to improve his rating in various games, including in one against Russian chess star Ian Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen’s most recent challenger for the World Chess Championship.
Niemann in 2020 confessed to the allegations in a phone call with the platform’s chief chess officer, Danny Rensch, the report says. The report also includes screenshots of subsequent Slack messages between the two in which they discuss a possible return to the site, which is permitted for players who admit their wrongdoing.
Niemann last month questioned why he was banned from the Chess.com Global Championship, a million-dollar prize event. Shortly thereafter, Rensch wrote a letter to Niemann explaining that “there always remained serious concerns about how rampant your cheating was in prize events” and that there was too much at stake. The letter added that Niemann’s suspicious moves coincided with moments when he had opened up a different screen on his computer—implying that he was consulting a chess engine for the best move.
“We are prepared to present strong statistical evidence that confirm each of those cases above, as well as clear ‘toggling’ vs ‘non-toggling’ evidence, where you perform much better while toggling to a different screen during your moves,” Rensch wrote.
Chess.com has historically handled its bans privately, as it did with Niemann in 2020. The platform deviated from that over the last month with Niemann, the report says, after he publicly addressed his communications with Chess.com and his ban from the site’s Global Championship. The report said Chess.com felt “compelled to share the basis” for its decisions.
The report says that Chess.com uses a variety of cheat-detection tools, including: analytics that compare moves to those recommended by chess engines; studies of a player’s past performance and strength profile; monitoring behavior such as players opening up other browsers while playing; and input from grandmaster fair play analysts.
Computers have “nearly infallible tactical calculation,” the report says, and are capable of beating even the best human every single time. The report says dozens of grandmasters have been caught cheating on the website, including four of the top-100 players in the world who confessed.
Identifying violations in over-the-board games remains a major challenge. The main reason is that grandmasters who cheat require very little assistance. For a player operating in elite circles, a couple of subtle moves in critical spots can be enough to tilt the balance against a world champion. That makes definitively proving allegations of cheating difficult unless a player is caught in the act—by using a phone in the bathroom, wearing a small earpiece or receiving signals from someone in the audience.
Niemann first crossed 2300 in the ELO rating system used by chess in late 2015 or early 2016, as an obviously gifted preteen. It took him more than two years to push that number above 2400 and another two to begin flirting with 2500—grandmaster territory—in late 2020. He achieved grandmaster status at the age of 17 in January 2021 and began his drive toward the rarefied atmosphere of the super grandmasters. This made him a relatively late-bloomer compared to some of his peers.
In the ELO system, the fastest way to make large jumps is to win a lot and beat people who are rated above you. Over the next 18 months, Niemann picked up more than 180 ELO points. Data collected by chess.com measuring the strength of his play shows a rise steeper than any of the top young players in the world.
“Our view of the data is that Hans, however, has had an uncharacteristically erratic growth period mired by consistent plateaus,” the report says.
The report also addresses Niemann’s postgame analysis of the moves from his game against Carlsen, which top players say showed a lack of understanding of the positions he had just played. It says Niemann’s analysis seems “to be at odds with the level of preparation that Hans claimed was at play in the game and the level of analysis needed to defeat the World Chess Champion.”
Magnus Carlsen said that when he played prodigies in the past, they exerted themselves with great effort. Hans Niemann, on the other hand, appeared to play effortlessly.
In a private conversation after the game, the report says, Carlsen said it was unlike any game he’s ever played. Carlsen said that when he played prodigies in the past, they exerted themselves with great effort. Niemann, on the other hand, appeared to play effortlessly.
The report also addresses the relationship during the saga between Carlsen and Chess.com, which is buying Carlsen’s “Play Magnus” app for nearly $83 million. The report says that while Carlsen’s actions at the Sinquefield Cup prompted them to reassess Niemann’s behavior, Carlsen “didn’t talk with, ask for, or directly influence Chess.com’s decisions at all.” Rensch had previously said that Chess.com had never shared a list of cheaters or the platform’s cheat detection algorithm with Carlsen.
Niemann, speaking at the Sinquefield Cup, shared his own views of Chess.com’s anti-cheating methods.
“They have the best cheat detection in the world,” he said.
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Velocipedia - Bicycles based on people’s attempts to draw them from memory
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Comment on I tried tightrope walking, and it was terrifying in ~hobbies
enso Link ParentThat sounds awesome! I know for slacklining when you get good you can start doing flips and acrobatics across it, but I Was never close to that level. If you ever find the name of what you’re...That sounds awesome! I know for slacklining when you get good you can start doing flips and acrobatics across it, but I Was never close to that level. If you ever find the name of what you’re talking about, let me know!
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Comment on I tried tightrope walking, and it was terrifying in ~hobbies
enso Link ParentI believe you’re talking about slacklining or highlining! I have only done slacklining out of the two of those and it’s a lot of fun. You basically strap a piece of ~1-2in webbing between a couple...I believe you’re talking about slacklining or highlining! I have only done slacklining out of the two of those and it’s a lot of fun. You basically strap a piece of ~1-2in webbing between a couple trees/anchors a few feet off the ground and try to walk across.
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Robinhood set to lay off 9% of their full time employees
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Comment on What did you do this weekend? in ~talk
enso LinkThis weekend was pretty lazy, but a needed recharge period. On Friday me and my partner went rock climbing with some friends and then played Pictionary for a little while. Saturday and Sunday were...This weekend was pretty lazy, but a needed recharge period. On Friday me and my partner went rock climbing with some friends and then played Pictionary for a little while.
Saturday and Sunday were maintenance days, we cleaned the apartment with our new vacuum and they gave me a haircut. Only real thing of note was we went to a local dog park for the first time since we moved here with a couple we have met around the area. That was a really good time and our dog enjoyed it as he hasn't been to a dog park since last summer.
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Comment on Is there any way to estimate how many people in a region currently have coronavirus? in ~health
enso LinkHere is a link that allows you to look at the probability that someone at an even of size N people will have covid at a county level. It allows you to change the ratio of tested:total cases...Here is a link that allows you to look at the probability that someone at an even of size N people will have covid at a county level. It allows you to change the ratio of tested:total cases between 5 and 10.
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America will sacrifice anything for the college experience
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Comment on Are there any sailors on here? in ~hobbies
enso Link ParentYeah just going out with friends and sailing around a lake/harbor whateverYeah just going out with friends and sailing around a lake/harbor whatever
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Comment on Are there any sailors on here? in ~hobbies
enso LinkI guess I'll start. I crew foredeck on a C&C 99 on a lake in the Southeast US. I have only been sailing for a couple years and only for maybe a year semi seriously. I have only done local regattas...I guess I'll start. I crew foredeck on a C&C 99 on a lake in the Southeast US. I have only been sailing for a couple years and only for maybe a year semi seriously.
I have only done local regattas on the lake, nothing that I've had to travel for or anything that big though. I would love to work towards crewing on larger/more experienced boats in larger regattas/higher wind conditions.
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Are there any sailors on here?
So if there are any sailors or prespective sailors on here some questions. What region do you sail in? Captain or crew (I guess also own or crew)? What kind of boat? What level do you sail at?...
So if there are any sailors or prespective sailors on here some questions. What region do you sail in? Captain or crew (I guess also own or crew)? What kind of boat? What level do you sail at?
This is a lot of questions I know, but I've gotten into sailing more and more over the last few years and I've found it's one of the main things that's kept me sane throughout the pandemic.
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This is something that I had a gripe with after moving from android to iOS as well, but I have found that entering the contacts app and searching from there is (intuitively) not the best way to navigate. Using spotlight search by pulling down on the home screen and searching their is not only faster, but gives the results that I am actually looking for. From that screen you can chose to text, call and (if available) facetime. If you need more information you can click on the profile photo and get their location (if shared), address, texts, emails, photos, etc. If you need to edit their contact card you can then click through to the contacts app and make changes there.
Typing this all out makes it sound more complicated than it is. It was a process adjustment as first, but I've found that I like it more than the android version of contacts. I can get more information in the same or less time with the same ease.