kacey's recent activity
-
Comment on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and US influencers bash seed oils, baffling nutrition scientists in ~food
-
Comment on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and US influencers bash seed oils, baffling nutrition scientists in ~food
kacey Link ParentFair enough — the box of oat milk I’d looked at had gums, but I’d imagine all the recipes are a little different.Fair enough — the box of oat milk I’d looked at had gums, but I’d imagine all the recipes are a little different.
-
Comment on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and US influencers bash seed oils, baffling nutrition scientists in ~food
kacey Link ParentI think oat milk tends to use gums for creaminess. And sorry to ask to clarify; you’re referring to people who are finding it difficult to find off the shelf oat milk that doesn’t use oil pressed...I think oat milk tends to use gums for creaminess.
And sorry to ask to clarify; you’re referring to people who are finding it difficult to find off the shelf oat milk that doesn’t use oil pressed out of seeds (eg pumpkin, rapeseed, sunflower, etc.), right?
-
Comment on Sleeping on the floor in ~life.home_improvement
kacey LinkI’ve been sleeping on a shikibuton (a few inches of eucalyptus batting + a couple inches of latex foam) for a couple years. It took some getting used to, but I’ve come to like it: for whatever...I’ve been sleeping on a shikibuton (a few inches of eucalyptus batting + a couple inches of latex foam) for a couple years. It took some getting used to, but I’ve come to like it: for whatever reason, it’s much easier to stay cool during the summer and warm during the winter, and I like how easily it can be deep cleaned. If shipping weren’t prohibitive, I’d totally recommend pulling the trigger (but intercontinental shipping is rather pricey …)
I’ve been meaning to pull the trigger on a tatami, but it’s been hard to justify the price + floor space for it. It does seem like a nice improvement in comfort, though, and would be a neat piece of furniture on its own.
One advantage to your foam solution is that the stuffing doesn’t get shoved to the sides of the shikibuton — I have to strategically slap mine every once in a while to avoid dents in the middle. I really like that the natural fibres are biodegradable, though.
-
Comment on Piglets will be left to starve in a controversial art exhibit in Denmark – Marco Evaristti aims to raise awareness of the suffering caused by modern pig production in ~arts
kacey LinkDisagreed with most of the comments here; this is a genuine critique: the artist is pointing out that people are drawing arbitrary lines for how much animal suffering is permissible, and react...- Exemplary
Disagreed with most of the comments here; this is a genuine critique: the artist is pointing out that people are drawing arbitrary lines for how much animal suffering is permissible, and react strongly when their implicit values are made explicit. It’s fine to starve tens of thousands of piglets so one can enjoy a slice of nutritionally inessential bacon, but starving three for art — to make people confront their own implicit choices — is a step too far.
… but just saying, that artist also makes a lot of weird points. It kinda seems like he’s just trying to be provocative, and not hold any long term stance?
-
Comment on Are most jobs not what you thought they would be? Expectations vs. reality. in ~talk
-
Comment on Are most jobs not what you thought they would be? Expectations vs. reality. in ~talk
kacey (edited )Link ParentI just realized how poignant it is that the quoted speaker dislikes giving blood. At least in countries where you aren’t compensated for it, blood donation is a selfless act that saves lives. Many...I just realized how poignant it is that the quoted speaker dislikes giving blood. At least in countries where you aren’t compensated for it, blood donation is a selfless act that saves lives. Many people seek it out and feel fulfilled by doing so, even if the process is unpleasant.
I’m not sure fulfillment and enjoyment are synonyms in this context, though.
-
Comment on Are most jobs not what you thought they would be? Expectations vs. reality. in ~talk
kacey Link ParentDisagreed. Every generation has strived to make their children’s lives better. Imagining — and then striving — towards a better world is not childish; it’s what adults do to ensure the next...I also view the constant complaining about that fact a bit childish.
Disagreed.
Every generation has strived to make their children’s lives better. Imagining — and then striving — towards a better world is not childish; it’s what adults do to ensure the next generation has a brighter future. I’d imagine that most of us know we won’t live to see it, but it’s worth doing regardless.
We’ve sent humans to the moon and have convinced sand to write poetry. We can splice DNA, level mountains, and split the atom. Building a world without backbreaking labour as its beating heart is well within grasp, if we’re willing to reach for it.
-
Comment on Are most jobs not what you thought they would be? Expectations vs. reality. in ~talk
kacey Link ParentI think I explained myself very poorly, because I agree with most of your points! Notably, I wasn’t talking employment or a job, I was defining labour in general — I don’t think the current...I think I explained myself very poorly, because I agree with most of your points! Notably, I wasn’t talking employment or a job, I was defining labour in general — I don’t think the current hierarchy (rich people owning companies owning managers that own employees) is either humane or necessary, but it is self perpetuating (until it eats itself). I agree that massive amounts of productivity are consumed in a net loss to society (eg industries designed around human exploitation), but I disagree strongly that that labour is inessential: we shouldn’t work people to death, but every additional human working to push society forward — or even lighten another person’s life — should be supported. Imo at least.
Fulfilling jobs do not exist.
[…]
What is to stop them from exploiting your joy for the work?Again answering a rhetorical question (apologies, this is a bad habit), but my answer is “bosses not existing”. Imo — the current social order is a flawed artifact of history at best, and an actively harmful construction of the ruling class at worst. We don’t need oversight to help each other and perform work.
I would argue that our economy means that laboring is the necessary means for most people to enjoy such a privilege
I would argue that we should blow up the economy in order to facilitate the goals you list. My point was that discourse in this area conflates expending energy to do anything with gainful employment, which is a false equivalence that leads to the conclusion that you can either work to death or play video games. In reality, working yourself to death is a consequence of how we’ve defined work, so doing so in a humane fashion — ie no bosses, with a guaranteed of quality of life regardless of participation level — is possible.
-
Comment on Are most jobs not what you thought they would be? Expectations vs. reality. in ~talk
kacey (edited )Link Parentimo because (1) until the AIs do everything, labour will still be necessary, (2) fulfilling and useful jobs exist (eg centred around community contribution and humane work conditions), (3) the...why should you enjoy it?
imo because (1) until the AIs do everything, labour will still be necessary, (2) fulfilling and useful jobs exist (eg centred around community contribution and humane work conditions), (3) the alternative to enjoying labouring is seemingly drowning oneself in hedonistic consumption, which also doesn’t sound great (in the long term if not the short).
Still an imo, but I think most of the problems with “work” vs “fun” derive from being forced to perform the former whilst suffocating under hierarchical oppression from upper classes, whereas the latter is (generally) undertaken in a self-directed manner. People have often related how “fun” hobbies become “like work” when external factors either change the context to become stressful, or control the activity so that it no longer becomes theirs. For example, playing a video game is fun, but feeling responsible for playing an MMO to keep up with your guild partners might not be.
Anyways. It’s been good food for thought for me, at least.
-
Comment on Monster Hunter: Wilds reviews – Top Critic Average: 90 in ~games
kacey Link ParentOut of curiosity, may I ask if you’ve tried the light bowgun? I’m not well versed myself, but it seems like it lends itself well to a more agile and long range play style. That wouldn’t change the...Out of curiosity, may I ask if you’ve tried the light bowgun? I’m not well versed myself, but it seems like it lends itself well to a more agile and long range play style.
That wouldn’t change the length of the fights, though, which are admittedly often lengthy (albeit shorter if you have a group).
-
Comment on New EV batteries are making electric cars cheaper and safer in ~transport
kacey LinkLithium iron phosphate batteries are often also used in static, whole house battery systems too for much the same reason: they’re extremely difficult to set on fire, are cheaper, and specific...Lithium iron phosphate batteries are often also used in static, whole house battery systems too for much the same reason: they’re extremely difficult to set on fire, are cheaper, and specific energy density is not a concern.
It’s definitely a neat piece of tech! Good to hear that the Chinese auto makers capitalized on it.
-
Comment on Help finding shoes in ~life.style
kacey LinkI’m not sure if the style fits your tastes, but Jim Green makes some excellent quality, durable, leather boots, for a reasonable price. I have a pair of the barefoot African Rangers that I hope...I’m not sure if the style fits your tastes, but Jim Green makes some excellent quality, durable, leather boots, for a reasonable price. I have a pair of the barefoot African Rangers that I hope will last a decade+.
-
Comment on Resigning as Asahi Linux project lead in ~comp
kacey Link ParentNah, I think I can be annoyed at the Rust leadership folks leading in such a way that they burn out and take a decent chunk of their project’s credibility with them. I am, however, hundreds of...Nah, I think I can be annoyed at the Rust leadership folks leading in such a way that they burn out and take a decent chunk of their project’s credibility with them. I am, however, hundreds of times more annoyed at the Linux kernel devs for their behaviour and lack of foresight which could ultimately doom the project to corporate ownership within my lifetime.
(edit) To clarify: getting Rust into the kernel in any capacity has never been a technical challenge. The issue has always — clearly — been the maintainers. Not understanding that, and failing to have a plan for dealing with it, is annoying. That said, Rust + an acceptable community is (imo) the best proposal anyone has come forward with for keeping the Linux kernel owned by humans rather than megacorps, so the kernel maintainers should be seeing the writing on the wall and helping see it through.
-
Comment on Resigning as Asahi Linux project lead in ~comp
kacey Link ParentYup, agreed. I think the kernel maintainers have more to lose, and should be taking efforts like this more seriously (Rust was purpose built to enable more people to contribute to complex,...Both sides have good points, but those good points are being hidden by what it looks stubbornness and lack of communications skills
Yup, agreed. I think the kernel maintainers have more to lose, and should be taking efforts like this more seriously (Rust was purpose built to enable more people to contribute to complex, non-GC’d codebases), but marcan has made some missteps too.
As perhaps a separate note, it also sounds like the stress of being a public figure in charge of a popular product in the general population was also causing him a lot of stress (eg getting stalked, dealing with overwork), which couldn’t have helped matters.
The whole situation sucks. Everyone loses, now.
-
Comment on Overfitting to theories of overfitting in ~science
kacey Link ParentNo worries; my apologies for calling you out inappropriately! I'm just being overly sensitive, it seems. Makes sense! I suppose my (ancient 😅) education predated that graph, and my cohort seemed...I really didn't think I was coming off as that much of a hater, so sorry if my comment was worded that way. I'm working on my masters in CS, and I think it makes sense if CS people take statements more literally, due to the nature of their work. What you said is a lot more derogatory than anything I said, so I'd prefer not to go in that direction. However, maybe the fact that I didn't think I was perpetuating any harmful stereotypes is illustrative?
No worries; my apologies for calling you out inappropriately! I'm just being overly sensitive, it seems.
My reading of this article is that the main point is that bias-variance tradeoff is not really a good rule, because it's not always true. While this is technically correct, my understanding from masters level ML coursework is that this is usually taught to illustrate certain concepts, not serve as a rule. The author is correct that there is no inherent tradeoff based on the math, but whether it should be taught or not is a different story. If you understand bias-variance, even a cursory exploration of ML techniques will show you that the amount of actual tradeoff can vary a lot depending on the situation. He calls it a boogeyman, but the reason that boogeyman exists is because it seems like most ML learners go through a phase of thinking that if fitting is good, more fitting is better.
Makes sense! I suppose my (ancient 😅) education predated that graph, and my cohort seemed to grasp the concept of overfitting well enough -- but the entire field has been flipped on its head in the meantime. So I've really no notion of what a modern learner's experience is like.
Best of luck with your degree, btw! Hope grad school is treating you well.
-
Comment on Resigning as Asahi Linux project lead in ~comp
kacey Link ParentI think that's missing a lot of nuance, but yeah, that sounds like Marcan? IMO: I'm annoyed by both sides. If a coworker called something I'd worked on for years "cancer", then moved to block any...I think that's missing a lot of nuance, but yeah, that sounds like Marcan?
IMO: I'm annoyed by both sides. If a coworker called something I'd worked on for years "cancer", then moved to block any contributions I was trying to make, I'd want nothing to do with them. For an organization which is literally slowly dying (aging out) due to its community being so toxic that no one -- except for corporations -- will put up with them, facilitating all of this heated bickering is absurd.
-
Comment on Overfitting to theories of overfitting in ~science
kacey Link ParentPlease note that I'm not involved in anything machine learning related, I just like math and dislike overly broad statements 😅 I had upvoted this post a while back because it's nice to see...Please note that I'm not involved in anything machine learning related, I just like math and dislike overly broad statements 😅 I had upvoted this post a while back because it's nice to see educators in technical disciplines share their experiences, but your comment made me go back and properly read it to understand whether it truly "deserved" my updoot.
I dug into the article proper, and I'm not sure I understand your concern? It looks like the author has two theses:
- "Model Complexity" is not a well defined term, so using it in a technical context is problematic: students could draw a lot of conclusions from it, including incorrect ones.
- One such incorrect conclusion is that model "size" is equivalent to model "complexity", which per the author's cited examples, has empirical evidence to the contrary: increases in parameter count decrease prediction error on the test set.
That seems reasonable on the face of it, but maybe you have some evidence demonstrating that model complexity has a well understood meaning in the general public which could motivate using that graph ...? And I didn't get the impression that the author is arguing against teaching about overfitting, just that said graph doesn't explain it in a way that sets students up for success.
[...] is this one of those situations where the kind of people who are attracted to computer science are often the kind of people who take every statement as an inviolable rule?
[...]
I wonder if it's the case where he is smart and all his students are smart, so he feels like he can skip the generalizations and go directly to the more advanced concepts.OK so moving away from article critiques, but I'm getting the vibe that you have a personal bone to pick with this author? Even if so, it'd be cool of you not to perpetuate negative stereotypes about "people who are attracted to computer science" and focus on the author instead of generalizing? I'm often proximate to colleagues who dunk on autistic people, and that statement sounds like a neighbour to the very common "all these autist CS nerds can't read the room" line. It's not terribly pleasant to encounter IRL, and I'd prefer not to see more of it in tildes.
Totally fair if I'm reading between the lines incorrectly; I'm sure you weren't trying to paint with such broad strokes.
-
Comment on Breakfast for eight billion in ~enviro
kacey (edited )LinkThat’s an excellent article; thank you. It’s always disheartening to me when people think of farming as something one does with a dozen hens and an acre of leafy vegetables (or else, a heard of...That’s an excellent article; thank you. It’s always disheartening to me when people think of farming as something one does with a dozen hens and an acre of leafy vegetables (or else, a heard of cattle on unproductive grassland). Civilization has grown strong primarily on a diet of rice, wheat, and potatoes, so romanticized notions of feeding the world alone with nut trees and goats would doom the poorest of us to starvation.
Flip side: although that article only mentions it in passing, just to underline it, we’re burning through non-renewable resources and massively affecting the ecosphere. I only learned this recently, but it shouldn’t have been surprising: by fixing more nitrogen than ever has been before (and dumping it into the ocean) we’re throwing enormous wrenches into the nitrogen cycle. Further, many aquifers that we’ve tapped for agriculture are drying up — that deep water took thousands of years to get where it is (or even longer in the case of confined aquifers), and we’ve pumped it dramatically faster than it can be replenished. Finally, we lean extremely heavily on phosphorus fertilization, which is nearly entirely sourced from mines (ie non-renewably). Problematically, we then dump all that phosphorus into the ocean (either via agricultural runoff, or by not capturing it from out sewage streams) where we’ll never get it back.
(the above is basically a digression on planetary boundaries; that Wikipedia article does a better job of motivating them than my paragraph, for anyone interested)
I suppose my thesis is that I’m concerned that there isn’t much education on this topic. Consequently, people aren’t concerned about known, extremely dangerous factors, and instead fixate on issues that can safely be deferred or ignored until we’re done addressing the immediate problems. To analogize, it often feels like people are worried about what colour they’ll paint the dressing room while the house is burning down, which as a resident of the house is concerning.
-
Comment on Looking for guidance: Cost of ADHD medication in ~health.mental
kacey Link ParentIn case it’s a helpful resource to folks, Brian David Gilbert wrote a good, comedic overview of a lot of this terminology.In case it’s a helpful resource to folks, Brian David Gilbert wrote a good, comedic overview of a lot of this terminology.
Yep, and I assumed that the sunflower seed oil was not being used for creaminess. When I make oat milk, I don’t add anything other than oats, and it tastes fine. I’d remembered that people often add gums for thickness in other recipes and drew an invalid conclusion.
Sorry? I don’t know why we’re having this discussion. I can delete my comment if you’d like.