tinyanon

Karma: 467

tinyanon 12 Aug 2021 21:28 UTC
4 points
in reply to: gbear605’s comment on: Obesity Epidemic Explained in 0.9 Subway Cookies
I agree getting told to eat less is not helpful advice. Here is the Facebook post, which I don’t think your steelman applies to.

tinyanon 12 Aug 2021 21:24 UTC
−5 points
in reply to: Logan Zoellner’s comment on: Obesity Epidemic Explained in 0.9 Subway Cookies
>Furthermore, the curves that you present are way too steep. The average American puts on about 1 pound/year,
Because they’re already in their higher weight state. The graph was a hypothetical 1980 person being moved to 2010 and upping their intake. When we see studies putting people in metabolic wards we find that a 500 calorie a day surplus corresponds to a 1 lb a week weight gain, which is consistent with my curves
>There’s pretty strong evidence that the rise in obesity is not primarily behavioral
How are you defining behavioral? The body is pretty efficient at turning extra calories into weight, a disease can’t make you gain 20lbs by processing the food more. It can make you lose weight by processing the food less. The only mechanism a contaminant would have to raise your weight is by influencing your behavior so you spend less calories or intake more. There is no other mechanism by which a contaminant would work. It /must/ include an intermediate behavioral step

tinyanon 12 Aug 2021 17:53 UTC
3 points
in reply to: jbash’s comment on: Obesity Epidemic Explained in 0.9 Subway Cookies
Fair point that I didn’t include as much detail as I could.

My belief is that most people react to “the average weight went up over 20lbs between 1980 and 2010” with “wow that’s a lot, there must be something really weird going on we need a complex thesis with a scary name” but react to “the average calorie budget per day went up 200 calories” with “wow that’s it? I’d expect it to be more given, ya know, everything”.

My post was mostly just meant to put the magnitude of the change in perspective for them.

It would have taken me a lot longer than the 20 minutes I spent on the post if I wanted to find sources on the prevalence of low-satiety foods sedentary entertainment to talk about how they’re more common. I was trying to nail an effort:usefulness sweet spot

tinyanon 6 May 2021 3:10 UTC
4 points
on: Thoughts on Ad Blocking
Aren’t those types of ads usually pay per click? I’ve never purposefully clicked an ad* on a site so it’s really no different to them if I use an ad blocker

*Not counting things like the front page of steam where I’m coming for the ads specifically

tinyanon 3 May 2021 22:34 UTC
6 points
on: Why I Work on Ads
I’ve always felt weird about my contribution to ads. Half the projects I’ve worked on at Microsoft were ads and I’m currently waiting to hear back from hiring committee at Google about working on some different ads for them instead.
I guess the part I’m not sure about is, are the people who purchase something in response to an ad better off? The only purchase that stemmed from an unsolicited ad I saw was bugging my mom for some Heelys as a kid; but every time I’ve let an “almost ad” like a friend talking about something convince me to buy something it has always felt like it made my life 0% better and was a waste of money. I generally notice friends spending a lot of money on things that they grow bored of so quickly and get very little enjoyment out of. I wonder if ads are pushing behavior that makes people less happy in the end.
Edit: I have had a coworker suggest the most moral thing I could do was stay on the team and intentionally sandbag. I’m still not sure if she’s right.

tinyanon 21 Apr 2021 13:34 UTC
6 points
on: On Sleep Procrastination: Going To Bed At A Reasonable Hour
For me, five hours laying in bed and three hours of sleep is much closer to eight hours sleep than it is three hours. There have been some studies on how much sleep you can replace with meditation and I don’t remember the exact conversation rate, but you did say low barrier to entry on comments. When I’m stressing at being unable to sleep, as long as I relax everything and meditate I wake up feeling as good as if I didn’t have insomnia issues. Note that it took me a lot of practice to be able to relax everything, you often don’t notice some of your muscle tension. It’s also an interesting thing to note that I sometimes have rapid involuntary eye movements while doing things which makes me think something sleep like is happening.

tinyanon 7 Apr 2021 16:34 UTC
1 point
on: Open and Welcome Thread—April 2021
I’m finding myself wishing for more resources on picking where to live. I’m in an uncommon situation: Single. Enough money to not need to work anymore unless I’m in a high cost of living place so I want to take a few years off. The only area that I have lots of friends in I already know isn’t right for me due to seasonal depression. Finding the right place to live through my own research will be long having to visit places for long enough to see what they’re like but there just doesn’t exist super great resources for researching things ahead of time unless I’m missing something.
In related news: I hear Atlanta has a decent dance scene. Anyone live in the Atlanta area have comments?

tinyanon 13 Feb 2021 20:07 UTC
2 points
in reply to: asdfrty6’s comment on: Recruiting for esports experiment
I actually think the fun part explains it even more. I have a buddy I game with all the time. I always end up better then them. They ask for help. I point out something I’ve identified as a fundamental in the game (the equivalent of aiming/positioning in FPS games, or building workers in RTS games) and some little practice method that I went away and did for 2 or 3 hours one day to get better at that fundamental. Then, every time, they say “that would make it not fun” and just spam some games. Because there’s a fun inefficient way to practice they just do that instead of the less fun efficient way to practice.
Just to clarify, we’re still talking about getting above 3500 when the average is 2500 and pro is 4500? So, getting to the top 20-25% or so of the game? What do you find to be the limiting factor on the people stuck below 3500? It’s my impression that when we’re talking about that sort of rank for a game we’re still talking about people who haven’t gotten down the basic fundamentals and haven’t gotten to the point higher level strategy is super important. For the equivalent rank in sc2 you can still just pick any random strat you want and work on your fundamentals. It wasn’t till around top 2% I felt the need to learn actual strategy instead of just “spend all your money as fast as possible”. Tons of top20% players would be like “I spent all week practicing this new strategy I saw someone do in the last tournament” but still be floating tons of minerals because practicing spending money faster is boring.

tinyanon 13 Feb 2021 19:36 UTC
6 points
on: Recruiting for esports experiment
Some general thoughts from a former masters SC2 player, who has also been decently highly ranked at many other games
There was a famous starcraft caster who was constantly being asked how to become a starcraft caster by people who said it was their dream. He told them all “Go record yourself trying to cast 100 games then send me a message”. Literally only one person took him up on that, and now they’re a famous starcraft caster.
My prediction is that people willing to do the work can get good insanely quickly and people who aren’t won’t. I think “most people say they are willing to do the work but aren’t” explains the vast majority of the phenomenon you call out. You can train a dedicated person to be good really fast but most coaches find 95% of their clients are people looking to get good quick with no work. I think being willing to put in that effort is a far more important variable than raw intellect. If you have someone willing to spend 1000 hours deliberately practicing aiming but isn’t smart enough to keep up with the pros when it comes to thinking presciently and can only handle a few very common scenarios then I expect them to get to an obscenely high ranking (much like how “never stop building workers” usually gets you to the diamond equivalent in any RTS game without having to practice any other skills)

tinyanon 11 Feb 2021 20:30 UTC
8 points
in reply to: Ericf’s comment on: Covid 2/11: As Expected
I do have limits to how far I’d go. The impression I have in my head is that the two ways to jump in line are 1) malfunctions where they have to give them away or throw them away 2) areas where the demand is so low that they’re having to choose fairly lax rules or throw them away. My hope is that there’s a way to get a vaccine that wouldn’t have gone to anyone truly in need without having to do anything particularly illegal

tinyanon 11 Feb 2021 19:06 UTC
1 point
on: Covid 2/11: As Expected
So, we know a small number of people have jumped ahead in the vaccine line by being at the right place at the right time when a freezer broke and there weren’t enough eligible people.
How would one maximize their chance of jumping in line if they were limited to the continental united states? What city would you spend your time prowling for unused vaccine?
Edit: I could get to 30 BMI in about two weeks. Creatine + an overreaching block + stuffing myself on wings should get me that last 15lbs

tinyanon 2 Jan 2021 21:46 UTC
8 points
on: Feature request: personal notes about other users
Prediction: The two most common notes would be “Note—Not jacobjacob” and “Note—Not Jacobian”

tinyanon 27 Nov 2020 2:17 UTC
2 points
in reply to: supposedlyfun’s comment on: Small Habits Shape Identity: How I became someone who exercises
<3

tinyanon 27 Nov 2020 0:50 UTC
26 points
on: Small Habits Shape Identity: How I became someone who exercises
I took a bit to try and remember where all my identities came from and an interesting thing to note is how quickly external validation can change your identity.
1. As a kid my only socialization was my mother, all she complimented was academics, I saw myself as the smart kid, studying was easy
2. My first romantic success was related to depression commiseration, I started to see that as my identity, suddenly I became way more depressed, most things got harder (especially whenever I’m actively dating)
3. I was an awful wrestler, then my one-trick-pony move started getting referred to by a nickname with my name in it, suddenly I found training easy and actually got good
4. Once I cooked for other people and got praised for it I was able to cook complicated meals in the depths of my worst depressions when I can’t get out of bed for literally anything other than cooking
I guess what I’m saying is yall need to compliment me for starting a side project this month so I actually stick to it instead of laying around reading Reddit all the time
What links here?
- adamShimi's comment on Small Habits Shape Identity: How I became someone who exercises by adamShimi (27 Nov 2020 14:09 UTC; 2 points)

tinyanon 26 Oct 2020 5:35 UTC
30 points
on: Babble challenge: 50 ways of solving a problem in your life
Problem: I’m depressed and bored. Covid took away dance/bjj and I need physical touch/play. I at least need something to be fixated on. Single with no roommates and not close to family. All my friends have disappeared into their relationships. My job isn’t fulfilling and I’m not even sure if I need any more money to make it the rest of my life so idk why I’m still in it.
1. Join an MMO, I was happy when I had a good community in a guild
2. Ignore covid, find a bjj gym that’s already open
3. Move to NZ where covid is over
4. Host secret dance nights. Though I don’t have enough floor space
5. Treat online dating like a full time job till I find something fulfilling
6. Move back to FL, set up mat room for bjj, train with old friend
7. Try and reconnect with family
8. Road trip. I’d really prefer to do this after covid so I can see what places are normally like to pick my next city to live in
9. Take up outdoor rock climbing. Why is it so cold here
10. Take up rock hounding. Why is it so cold here
11. Dedicate myself to the side project idea L said he’d buy if I made
12. Dedicate myself to babbling side project ideas every day until I find something I like even better
13. Go back and get a ML PhD
14. Dedicate myself to finding a really big signing bonus that doesn’t require much vesting to finish up the last of the money I need
15. Quit, let myself be really bored for a while so I find inspiration
16. Find some sort of online community outside of an MMO
17. End it all
18. Become a monk
19. Donate everything to light a fire under my ass to earn it back
20. Come up with some cool series to write for LW, live off the validation in the comments
21. Become a game dev
22. Become an indie game dev
23. Start learning a solo dance, replace swing dancing with zoom dances
24. Learn parkour
25. Write a book
26. Survey everyone I can access both in person and online how they’re staying social to get more ideas
27. Dedicate myself to wood working
28. Dedicate myself to fixing my house up to increase the sale value
29. Hang out at parks and try and start as many conversations as possible
30. Find some sort of social game that involves talking to strangers at the park
31. Bike through the parks, trying to start at least one conversation a day but mostly just bike
32. Learn an instrument. Busk in the park
33. Set up Bob ross painting stations in the park. Let strangers join
34. Start dating my ex who would probably still date me, even though I don’t think enough issues have fixed for it to work and it would cause drama
35. Bike through the whole city and note the areas with the most people who look receptive to conversations
36. Switch careers to psychotherapy. Get my social needs fulfilled from comforting my clients. Yes I know it doesn’t work like that, but no pruning
37. Become twitch streamer
38. Try and obtain monk like contentment without becoming a monk
39. Switch to using kink based online dating sites, possibly find better matches?
40. Learn tarot cards, give readings in the park
41. Read in the park
42. Get a cat
43. Get a bonded pair of cats
44. Start a life project to gamify everything I can
45. Play a lot of video games to numb the pain
46. Start an only fans
47. Restart competitive programming
48. Hand out baked goods at the park
49. Really try and push for wings & liftin’ nights to happen as often as possible
50. Try and really optimize my health to see if that affects my mental health
51. Antidepressants
52. Antianxieties
53. Prune this list, because boy does it need it
Retrospective: More useful than I thought it would be. Partially because it increased my resolve for the things I had kinda sorta considered now that I feel like I’ve finished considering my alternative options

tinyanon 17 Sep 2020 21:36 UTC
1 point
in reply to: lincolnquirk’s comment on: Open & Welcome Thread—September 2020
I feel happy pulling up kattis and doing some algorithm questions so there is definitely joy to be had chasing technical questions. Ben doesn’t seem to be disputing that but is offering two other things you can chase.
Rather than competing for an A+ on a hard problem, I could try to solve an easy problem as quickly as possible
I don’t know if this is different person to person but for me gamifying a problem can make me care more about something but it can’t make me care about something I don’t care about at all
So don’t look for hard problems—important ones are ultimately more fun!
This has been in my head for months because everyone* gives a variation of this advice and it feels like it’s missing the hard part. It started when I saw a clip on Reddit of Dr. K from Healthy Gamer saying something along the lines of “If you don’t know what you want to do, get a piece of paper and write down everything wrong with the world. In 5 minutes the paper will be almost full” and… What? No? I mean, things are problems in that they make people’s lives worse. But I notice very very little actually changes how I feel. So why would I expect anything I do to change how someone else feels if nothing they do can change how I feel? There are only two axis that actually change how I feel about life: lonely VS belonging and bored VS engaged. I don’t really have a reason to expect other people are very different except that people in worse life situations also have an unsafe VS secure axis. So the problems are “loneliness” and “listlessness”. Everyone acts like there are important problems everywhere. You see people saying ideas for side projects are a dime a dozen but here I am where I actually have the funds to quit and make something I thought had value and just nothing I can think of that seems to have any value.
*Everyone except one friend on Paxil who assures me the solution to my problem is Paxil and one friend who is convinced LSD is the solution to all problems. I remain unconvinced.

tinyanon 14 Sep 2020 18:08 UTC
1 point
on: Open & Welcome Thread—September 2020
I’m so bored of my job, I need a programming job that has actual math/algorithms :/ I’m curious to hear about people here who have programming jobs that are more interesting. In college I competed at a high level in ICPC, but I got into my head that there are so few programming jobs with actual advanced algorithms that if your name on topcoder isn’t red you might as well forget about it. I ended up just taking a boring job at a top tech company that pays well but does very little for society and is not intellectually stimulating at all.

tinyanon 25 Aug 2020 23:34 UTC
18 points
on: On Suddenly Not Being Able to Work
Most relatable post of all time. I had actually been doing really good this year minus a depressed period right at the start of covid; then now I’m relapsed since a month ago when stand up was cancelled removing the only structure in my day. I’ve been calling mine “adult onset akrasia” because before I was 18 I just was constantly working and extremely high achieving and then I just… broke. I have a lot of theories as to things that contribute in my case. Since it got even worse when I moved from college to my final job there will be some things in the list that match up with getting my first job (jr. year HS) and some when I moved to my post-college job.
- After you start working you no longer really take more than 1 week in a row off ever, but I think continuous time off is very important and spreading a month of time off throughout a year doesn’t really do the same thing. For me I would only ever start cool side projects on my third week off forward
- Grades/medals in sports were discrete rewards to chase. An X% higher bonus that means nothing other than enabling you to donate a bit more to charity in your life feels so intangible
- The bar is just so much lower. It feels like 5 hours a week of work would be enough to keep my job (dev at the chillest of the top tech companies)
- The work isn’t interesting. I don’t think improving our product really improves people’s lives much. There’s no math/algorithms in it so it’s not fun to code. I miss ICPC :( Though I’m probably not making a good case why anyone should DM me job offers here lol
- Too continuous. In school you eventually hit a point where you’ve finished everything. At work if you finish early the start date for the next thing just moves up
- Less factored goals. The further you get in life the less you have a list of 1000 questions that take 5 minutes each and the more you have one 5000 minute question that just feels like like an overwhelming cloud of fog
- Discovered Reddit, got a smartphone. Distractions too close. No longer resting in solitude bouncing around possible solutions to hard questions on a school bus. Now I’m reading stuff I don’t even care about any time I have 30 seconds without someone interacting with me

tinyanon 17 Jul 2020 16:39 UTC
11 points
in reply to: snog toddgrass’s comment on: My Mating Plan ala Geoffrey Miller
I think there are a few reasons this post got a comment like Rafael’s but your others didn’t.
Any community that is about dating seems to attract the kind of people needed to turn it into /r/theredpill. So I see the need to post places like here although they need to be more infrequent as not to turn this place sour in the same manner. This is perhaps the inflection point where it has hit too many posts in too short a time.
There does seem to be more risk of violating “do no harm” here than your other posts. You mention trying to seek out a positistion teaching GRE materials where you could flirt with someone you have some level of authority over and seeking out black women who often have insecurities over how they are viewed in regards to what is conventionally considered attractive in America. Seeking out a power imbalance can put you in positions where you hurt someone.
Signaling does have a use. Leaving the article the same, but adding 1-4 additional sentences with signaling stuff just showing you know pick up artist type stuff can hurt people and that isn’t your intention would change the entire tone. People here don’t know you in person and we can’t pick up on body language so sometimes you really do just need to type out the virtues you had hoped people would assume you had. You did have more signaling of that in your first post. The way you talked painted a picture of a honest confused guy whereas these more fleshed out plans paints a serial pick up artist even though I know that isn’t your intention.
Personally, I did just want to call out that you should question the potential power balance of the GRE teaching situation and other than that don’t have many comments. There are some things I think aren’t optimally effective, but I generally think this stuff needs to be discovered through experimentation and too much borrowed power is bad for both people in the relationship. I left my advice on your first post vague when I could have given you a flowchart for a reason. I stick to calling out potential areas you may regret rather than optimizing the actual plan.

tinyanon 10 Jul 2020 17:24 UTC
8 points
in reply to: Adam Zerner’s comment on: Kelly Bet on Everything
I just don’t feel anything. I do have a certain logical appreciation that if I made a billion dollar company it would be impressive, I’d probably improve people’s lives with it, and I could buy more stuff (mostly donate I guess? I don’t have much else I need...) but I don’t feel anything. Those are the words I feel flowing through my head but I don’t feel any of the wordless feelings that make up my system 1.
Hell, I don’t even feel anything thinking about the pleasure I’d get from getting a peach from my kitchen and there’s a 95% chance the peach is good and ripe today. I just do it because I know I’ll have good feels once I actually have the peach. Which is enough to make me do something low effort like get a peach but not start a company.
Edit: If anyone was curious, the peach was indeed delicious