kalid

59 ms·

1. 361.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   This is the tail wagging the dog. The plugins are going to be broken whether the update from 3 to 4 happens manually or automatically (and, if anything, discourages manual updating despite all the popups). Windows has had binary compatibili
2. 362.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   Having to complete something like this: http://www.newsmild.com/wp-content/uploads/upgrade-offer-boo... Unfortunately, I think years of popup dialog fatigue leads lots of people to just close the window.
3. 363.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   But that's exactly the point -- just manually update to firefox 4 and your problems will go away! Firefox 4 is only a few months old. Compared to previous firefox releases it's brand-new.
4. 364.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   Exactly. Does the app save an hour of an agent's time/sanity per month? If so, it's worth it.
5. 365.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   Hi, I'm really interested in developing tutorials / explanations that help merge intuition and rigor, theory and application. You can reach me at kalid.azad@gmail.com.
6. 366.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   Thanks for the pointer! I found Needham's book awesome, I've barely made a dent in it but love the visualizations. I don't think visualization is the only intuitive method -- you can have a general "sense", not sure how to put it more speci
7. 367.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   Yeah -- that may have been the original motivation, but repeating it as an "explanation" reinforces the notion that math is a bunch of rules (vs. models you can construct and manipulate in your head). 0 probably started as a placeholder sym
8. 368.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   Technically, 0^0 is an indeterminate form and has no specific solution. Accurate but unhelpful. Practically, 0^0 highlights the issue that most of us don't have a good conceptual model for what exponents really do. How would you explain to
9. 369.▲
   by kalid 15y ago

   For personal notes I like Notational Velocity ( http://notational.net/ ), saved as plain text files in my DropBox, and linked with SimpleNote ( http://simplenoteapp.com/ ) for iPhone syncing.
10. 370.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    I agree. The focus on "desugaring" and building up from the basics was key. Most of the time we're using "conveniences" without knowing what was made convenient!
11. 371.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    This is essentially a "Tu Quoque" -- other cities have bad parts, so how can we point fingers at Detroit? It's ok for both LA and Detroit to have bad parts. But I think it's disingenuous to pretend that Detroit's downfall is anywhere near t
12. 372.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Restaurant websites often have menus and photos (of course, sometimes impossible to get to when using your phone).
13. 373.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    How much is your car worth? * What you originally bought it for? * What you could buy that exact model year for today? From whom? * What you could buy a similar car for today? * What you could sell it for? To whom? In how
14. 374.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    I love clear, succinct explanations like this. Overly complex ("rigorous") definitions are one reason we often miss the big picture. Kudos.
15. 375.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    I think the mental confusion that arises shows how powerful branding can be.
16. 376.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Good point -- thinking out loud, it seems to me that automation would just drop the price of goods. Imagine Moore's law applied to food and transportation -- wouldn't grocery stores and fedex have to lower their prices to match competitors?
17. 377.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Thanks for the reply. Yep, I'm assuming that the benefits will get shared (which is not guaranteed) but I think capitalism and exising human charity will work. Here's my amateur economic analysis: If you can supply widgets more cheaply, you
18. 378.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    I'm probably missing something, but I don't see how driving the marginal cost of human necessities (food, shelter, clothing, health care, education) to zero is anything but a good thing. Is the world worse off because we have innumerable, s
19. 379.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Thanks for taking a look! My intuition for the dy/dx relations are "amount of growth" and "time needed to grow to the next increment". So for me, e is the amount you have after growing continuously for exactly 1 unit of time (integrate 1/x
20. 380.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    hi, thank you for the detailed comment! i have a writeup with more details on the common definitions (including the natural log one), if you google "better explained math intuition" (on a kindle currently). would love to know what you think
21. 381.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Hi all, thanks for the comments (writing from a train using a kindle so forgive lack of links) google "better explained math intuition" which is an article on developing the four common definitons of e. the problem with saying "e is the fun
22. 382.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Exactly. And ironically, we expect that to be the norm. "Oh, nobody gets imaginary numbers, let's just memorize it and move on." To me, that's a huge canary in the coal mine! Why aren't we stopping here and making sure we get it? It's lik
23. 383.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Thanks! I took several college courses using them and didn't "get" the concept until years after I graduated.
24. 384.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Thanks so much for helping share this! :) My goal is to get all these concepts out of awe (which I had too) into a real sense of "Ah, I get it!". It doesn't help anyone to memorize incantations. Two other insights I love: * e as continuous
25. 385.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    I think it'd be awesome to have some sort of "decimal" notation where 2 + 3i was encapsulated as a single entity, something like 2_3. We don't write 2 + .3 when we mean 2.3, and this distinction makes it seem like a complex number is "less
26. 386.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Thanks for mentioning this. I gauge the value of an explanation by the follow-up questions... if you really understand imaginary numbers, then suddenly you start asking about other dimensions, etc. and get to awesome discussions like this o
27. 387.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Yes -- things are hard, now, because we don't have the right models. Multiplication is hard when you're working with Roman numerals. Is it a problem with multiplication, or our thinking? What's funny is that we think it stops there. "Oh, we
28. 388.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Exactly -- facebook has turned into a giant, semi-awkward graduation party (here is your life!) where you can't really speak your mind.
29. 389.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Wow, awesome feedback, you must be in my head :). Yes, the idea was to focus on answers (what worked?) and then perhaps draw out the common questions (what is a good analogy for xyz?). For example, colorized equations seem to be an awesome
30. 390.▲
    by kalid 15y ago

    Funny you mention that, one of my taglines in progress was "turning huh into aha!". But seeing why a bad example is false can be useful too.