Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Because he knows his own human biases can creep into his decision making, Koon will often randomly select which of the solver’s tactics to employ in a given hand. He’ll glance down at the second hand on his watch, or at a poker chip to note the orientation of the casino logo as if it were a clock face, in order to generate a percentage between 1 and 100. The higher the percentage, the more aggressive the action he’ll take. “I’ll say: OK, well I just rolled 9 o’clock. So that’s 75 percent. That’s a pretty aggressive number.” In that instance, Koon might choose the largest of the solver’s approved bet sizes for his hand, whereas if the second hand had pointed to 3 o’clock, or 25 percent, he might have checked.
— Keith Romer, "How A.I. Conquered Poker," The New York Times Magazine
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
This, Hawking’s final theory, is that the law of physics evolved in a Darwinian fashion
— Bit of an email explaining a book*
Monday, January 17, 2022
That's sort of like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.
— Bill Clinton on China trying to crack down on the internet, via H.R. McMaster, "Joe Rogan Experience #1763 - General H.R.McMaster"
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Not all little girls grow up to be queen Victoria.
— K*
Saturday, January 15, 2022
So many linguist in one (our !) family ! ????
— Sid responding to K's text "Horchata" and L's text "porchata"*
Friday, January 14, 2022
C.D.C Says Cloth Masks Are Not as Effective as Others
— New York TImes headline
Thursday, January 13, 2022
David Foster Wallace, I really like the thing he says about this, which is, "the key to life is to be unborable," and I do really like you saying that it's a skill.
— Lex Fridman, "Donald Knuth: Programming, Algorithms, Hard Problems & the Game of Life | Lex Fridman Podcast #219"
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Better angle
— Steph sending me photos of license plates
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
To the former owner of this manuscript who craftily sewed up the holes in the vellum: thank you.
[Cistercian missal, 12th/13th century. Case MS7]
— @newberrylibrary
Monday, January 10, 2022
Christopher Elbow
— Lily reading chocolate box
Sunday, January 9, 2022
I see what they did there.
— Lily skeptical of "Monet, Rodin, and Boston" Boston MFA exhibit title
Saturday, January 8, 2022
He correctly credited the spirit of the times for much of what he had been able to do.
— John Milton Cooper, Jr., Woodrow Wilson
Friday, January 7, 2022
Are you Ben?
— Pavement employee when I made my order in person
Thursday, January 6, 2022
And no matter who wins the history wars of the future, the horrific attack on the Capitol will likely bore schoolkids one day, quizzed on Bunker Hill, the Compromise of 1850, the Battle of the Bulge and Jan. 6, whatever that was. Our trauma will be their homework.
— Jon Grinspan and Peter Manseau, "It’s 2086. This Is What American History Could Look Like," The New York Times
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
The fact that we conclude that the universe has the laws it has is a consequence of the fact that we have consciousness the way we have consciousness.
— Stephen Wolfram, "Stephen Wolfram: Complexity and the Fabric of Reality | Lex Fridman Podcast #234"
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
For example, what they're doing with video games. They control what type of video games and how many hours a day kids can be on video games, operating in that way because they believe that's good for the society, and that's very controlling. In the United States, I think probably most parents would say, leave it to me and it's a matter between me and my kids. The same thing has to do with data. In other words, in the United States, who controls the data? Does the company control the data? Do you individually control the data? And so the inclincation would be to figure that out, but nobody would say that the government is going to control the data, becuase of our inclination of really anti-government control. In China it would be that the government will control the data because that's going to be best for the society and it depends who you trust, but that's, so that difference in philosophy is very much at the heart of that.
— Ray Dalio, "Ray Dalio: Money, Power, and the Collapse of Empires | Lex Fridman Podcast #251"
Monday, January 3, 2022
Because we've not really had a major, like a world war, or something like that in a while, and obviously we'd like to not have world wars. There's not been a cleansing function for rules and regulations. So wars did have some silver lining in that there would be a reset on rules and regulations after a war. So World Wars I and II there were huge resets on rules and regulations. If society does not have a war, and there is no cleansing function or garbage collection for rules and regulations, then rules and regulations will acumulate every year, 'cause they're immortal, theres' no actual, humans die but the laws don't.
— Elon Musk, "Elon Musk: SpaceX, Mars, Tesla Autopilot, Self-Driving, Robotics, and AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #252"
Sunday, January 2, 2022
We're so lucky to have those creatures in the world.
— Lily on a squirrel
Saturday, January 1, 2022
Ellen shrewdly advised her husband to exploit the offer, and she urged him to consult with other university presidents, especially Daniel Coit Gilman at Hopkins, as a bit of self-advertising.
— John Milton Cooper, Jr., Woodrow Wilson
Friday, December 31, 2021
Whisky barrel chips.
— Kelly
