A lot is theorized about how social preferences turn into policy. What translates an issue to a politician has to be somewhat abstract, after all, politicians are a mishmash of various beliefs and policy statements. But, models exist to simplify our world, and give a sense of coherence to it. I want to compare twoContinue reading “Median Vs Marginal Voter Theorem”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Some Informal Heroscape Balance Ideas
I’ve been playing Heroscape for the past few months, and a couple of cards/units are overwhelmingly under or overpowered, decreasing the viability of a diverse set of play-styles. I wanted to compile what I think makes the game a bit unbalanced. Are there any other tools you use to balance HeroScape when you play withContinue reading “Some Informal Heroscape Balance Ideas”
My Crusade Against My Girlfriend’s Cat Part 1
My girlfriend and her cat are currently living with me, because we’re overlapping the lease before I move out of the Midwest, so she can have cheaper rent, and I can fill a vacancy. Unfortunately, this has come with some growing pains as this cat is from hell. This cat has habits ranging from destroyingContinue reading “My Crusade Against My Girlfriend’s Cat Part 1”
A definitive ranking of all of Carly Rae Jepsen’s music
I am in the top 0.01% of Carly Rae Jepsen’s listeners. As a self-appointed professional, I wanted to briefly rank her Spotify music so that fans can find music that they’ll like by her. SS Tier Solo, Let’s Sort the Whole Thing Out, Your Type, Want You in My Room, Curiosity , Tonight I’m GettingContinue reading “A definitive ranking of all of Carly Rae Jepsen’s music”
Short Truths of A Bunch Of Ideologies
Ideology is a way of explaining the world through a particular lens. Most lenses overgeneralize one of their key insights, and that’s used to both spread and also discredit their general ideas. In principle, ideologies that seem better at predicting events through plausible means should gain in popularity over time. Here are some ideologies andContinue reading “Short Truths of A Bunch Of Ideologies”
A (not so) Brief Review of Madison, Wisconsin
Over the last year and a half, I’ve lived in Madison in a couple different places ranging from the East side to downtown. As someone originally from the Northeast, I wanted to provide a retrospective location check for those interested in the tradeoffs associated with moving there. Price: B Overall, I place Madison at aContinue reading “A (not so) Brief Review of Madison, Wisconsin”
Apologizing is Difficult: Some Lessons I’ve Learned
This week, I had a bit of a communications kerfuffle where I didn’t clearly communicate to my roommates my plan for moving. By failing to communicate clearly, I frustrated them and led to a situation where my girlfriend, who’s going to take over my lease is concerned that she’s unwelcome in my lease. I couldContinue reading “Apologizing is Difficult: Some Lessons I’ve Learned”
Some Tips to Improve Extemp Debate
I used to be successful at competitive parliamentary debate, winning the Dartmouth debate camp (parliamentary), and going undefeated at the New Haven Urban Debate league. I faced a lot of losses as well, and don’t feel naturally charismatic. Here’s a couple of things that I did that helped me improve: Overall, if you treat debateContinue reading “Some Tips to Improve Extemp Debate”
Why do people pretend to be minimalists?
I’ve heard many people with maximalist approaches towards owning things describe themselves as minimalists. Keeping up with the Jones’ is out of vogue, what’s in is appearing satisfied, Feng-shui and Buddhism. Despite the protestations of self-described minimalists, clutter continues to increase, and people feel the need for more. If people self-identify as minimalists, what siren’sContinue reading “Why do people pretend to be minimalists?”
I asked AI to improve my essay on AI 7 times. Here’s what I learned about GPT in the process
Recently, the fear of AI taking writing and other creative jobs has emerged bigger and badder than ever before. The worry that a smooth talking studio head will wheel-and-deal with a virtual Sam Altman, and emerge with a business model that requires negligible labor to produce movies. To understand the impact of something like aContinue reading “I asked AI to improve my essay on AI 7 times. Here’s what I learned about GPT in the process”