gbrown

61 ms·

1. 571.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   I didn't read the whole article since I didn't want to sign up, but in general: maybe. Machine learning models are really good at things like prediction, but if it's valuable to do inference about the phenomenon (e.g., is the
2. 572.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   Depending on where the training data comes from, both ;)
3. 573.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   Sure, interpretation must be done with care, but that's one of the primary goals of statistics. I think the bigger distinction you're missing is the difference Breiman draws between algorithmic models and data models. If you use l
4. 574.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   Would you seriously contend that prohibition doesn't come with awful side effects? The cartels in Mexico and South America are big fans. We tackle smoking and alcohol abuse through education (and tax, to a certain extent). Meanwhile pr
5. 575.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   For me, markdown is meant to be readable even when not rendered. I could see how not having persistent graphs and tables might be an issue, but my own philosophy is to start fresh each time - I treat it like a templating language with some
6. 576.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   Thanks, that makes sense.
7. 577.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   So treat it like a basis expansion?
8. 578.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   Well said, that captures exactly the effect I was thinking about.
9. 579.▲
   by gbrown 8y ago

   Nothing in science is assumed with 100% certainty. I would argue that working from our best available theories (while always looking for ways to falsify them) is perfectly reasonable.
10. 580.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    That's precisely why we should be open to new theories and novel experiments... something which happens all the time in the scientific community. It's not a case for wild and uninformed speculation (as is happening all over this t
11. 581.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    People somehow feel uniquely qualified to speculate wildly about theoretical physics. It's bizarre in a forum full of technical-minded people.
12. 582.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    That's not impossible, but I tend to believe the experts when they say it's not likely (and have explicitly ruled out several such explanations).
13. 583.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    I'm not a physicist, but my basic understanding of the state of the science tells me you're simply incorrect. We can observe the effect of dark matter via gravitational lensing, and folks much smarter than me have devised studies
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    by gbrown 8y ago

    Perhaps we could call that thing: "dark matter" for now. In seriousness, we can observe the effect, and even map the distribution of the stuff.
15. 585.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    For those of us in an area without good broadband, it doesn't matter if you have plenty of hard drive space. If I sit down to play videogames one night a month and I have to sit through hours of updates, it's infuriating.
16. 586.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Meanwhile, rich parents work jobs with flexible hours and poor parents are hourly with potential catastrophic penalties for missing work. Theoretically, you're correct (from a parent preference perspective, at least). In practice, even
17. 587.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Crippling? I'm as information addicted as the next guy, but unless I'm missing something fundamental about RSS, the only effect is that you as a user will notice new posts a few hours late. That seems more than reasonable to me. I
18. 588.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    So a blog with content you like is verboten because your RSS feed wouldn't update instantly? That seems like an odd hill to die on.
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    by gbrown 8y ago

    It's amazing that they put so much attention to detail in the same movie where a botched docking maneuver causes an orbiting spacecraft to fall out of the sky, and in which a black hole opens the way for programing mechanical watches f
20. 590.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Also, liquid water is very convenient for complex chemistry.
21. 591.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Mars most definitely has an atmosphere... just not much of one.
22. 592.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    I prescribe you 20 hours of Kerbal Space Program as homework.
23. 593.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Any opinion on NiFi or other open source alternatives? I'm evaluating products in this space, but it seems pretty hard to tell without just giving them a try how well they'd integrate into my work.
24. 594.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    That depends on what you're doing and what kind of yield you're expecting. It's not going to completely replace the huge quantities of fertilizer we apply to conventional fields, but it helps. That's part of the reason w
25. 595.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Completely agree - it's a classic prisoners dilemma, and the solution is to regulate cooperation.
26. 596.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Ideally the reviewers will have different areas of expertise. A statistician, for example, won't be an expert in the underlying science, but can evaluate the study design and analysis.
27. 597.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    For me, endurance exercise is where I really need salt to avoid cramping. The more hours exercising, the more salt/calories I need to ingest. High intensity doesn't hit my body quite the same way. Just an anecdote, YMMV
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    by gbrown 8y ago

    https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2016/06/23/ci...
29. 599.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    As an interesting side note, in my area "road diets" were recently proposed, turning a four lane road into 2+turning lane+bike lanes. The planners had data indicating that this would lead to less congestion and higher safety... an
30. 600.▲
    by gbrown 8y ago

    Lots of that "compostable" stuff won't break down in home compost bins, and instead needs to be ground up and hot composted in a municipal setting.