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joelthelion's comments
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Could this hurt Trump's campaign?

Note that as bad as this is, it only affects some statistical methods used to analyze fMRI scans, not fMRI as a whole. fMRI is an amazing tool.

I think once again we are seeing the failure of the "publish or perish" model of academic research.

I think the lesson is that a lot can be accomplished without modern languages and practices.

So we shouldn't worry too much if we're not using the latest trendy framework and instead focus on the software we are building to make it great.

joelthelion  ·  3072 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The problem with reinforced concrete

They mention a couple potential alternatives in the article.

Sorry, this comment is private.
joelthelion  ·  3073 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The problem with reinforced concrete

I disagree. I don't think rebuilding everything every 50 years is very sustainable, especially considering the very high CO2 emissions when making cement/concrete.

So of course using plain concrete is no solution, but looking for better solutions is very much needed IMHO.

It might be a bit early to say "the dust has settled", but good analysis nevertheless.

For as far as I can remember, the European Union has been governed by dogmatic technocrats with no concern whatsoever for ordinary people. I'm not saying they didn't do a lot of good things, which they did. But at some point you need to look beyond growth numbers and check that ordinary people are actually benefiting from your policies.

joelthelion  ·  3075 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Inside a Potato Gun Explosion at 20,000 fps

Really cool, thanks for sharing!

joelthelion  ·  3084 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Bitcoin's mempool is over 20 MB

I really wonder where bitcoin is going:

- The community is divided over the block size issue

- One of bitcoin's biggest forums, the bitcoin subreddit, exploded due to censorship issues, making community division even worse

- Gavin Andressen, one of the only really trusted bitcoin developers, lost a lot of credibility when he announced Craig Wright was Satoshi

- The halving is due in less than a month

All in all an extremely complex situation, I find it hard to foresee anything at all in this mess. Maybe at least hubski could be a good reddit replacement for discussing bitcoin?

joelthelion  ·  3085 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Multi-scale Multi-physics Heart Simulator UT-Heart

This is pretty cool, and looks pretty realistic, too (I did my PhD in the domain). The problem with simulations like these is that they often look cool but fail to accurately reproduce the actual motion of the heart.

Now if this simulator can be tuned to reproduce the heart of individual patients, it would be a great tool for studying the impact of various interventions and deciding on the best course of action.

joelthelion  ·  3088 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Copper is key in burning fat

Of course not ☺️

joelthelion  ·  3088 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Copper is key in burning fat

If you get diabetes from obesity, it's too late to reverse that condition, so it's a bit similar. Same thing if you get a heart attack or a stroke. Anyways, it was just an example. My point is that the fact that there is an existing way to fight obesity doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make that process easier.

joelthelion  ·  3089 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Copper is key in burning fat

You could apply the exact same reasoning to lung cancer research. Just because many people could avoid getting lung cancer by not smoking doesn't mean we shouldn't look for a cure.

Note that I am not defending all the fat people who make up excuses for being fat. But I'm all for making it easier to lose weight and stay fit.

joelthelion  ·  3089 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Copper is key in burning fat

I agree with you, but we also know for a fact that it's harder for some people to lose weight than for others. This might be part of it and that's why I think that's why this research is relevant and exciting.

joelthelion  ·  3089 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Microsoft Finds Cancer Clues in Search Queries

Maybe for more cureable diseases it would be justified, though?

joelthelion  ·  3089 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Copper is key in burning fat

Very interesting results. It's important that this study was performed using a mouse model, so it has yet to be confirmed in humans. But still, very interesting.

Note: there is a link to the original publication at the bottom of the article: http://www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nchembio.2098.html

joelthelion  ·  3089 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Traffic-weary homeowners and Waze are at war, again.

That's why I was suggesting a large parking lot at the entrance of the neighborhood, so that people can still use their cars for longer errands. Not sure how realistic that is, though.

joelthelion  ·  3090 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Firefox 48 Beta, Release, and E10S

The difference is that this is a pretty big change that is likely to break things, so they won't activate it for all users as they download the release like what is normally done. Fingers crossed!

joelthelion  ·  3091 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Traffic-weary homeowners and Waze are at war, again.

One solution to this problem could be to make residential areas car free. You could have a large parking lot at the entrance and everybody walks/bikes inside the neighborhood. Would require a huge cultural revolution, though. But I can say I'd appreciate living in such a neighborhood. And my kids would, too.

joelthelion  ·  3093 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Swiss vote against Basic Income 77% – 22%

They voted against a > $2000 basic income , not necessarily against the idea itself. I think the results might have been different if the organizers had been a bit more reasonable.

joelthelion  ·  3093 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Swiss vote against Basic Income 77% – 22%

The Swiss have referendums like this every few months. That's why the turnout is usually low, especially when there is little uncertainty like this time.

joelthelion  ·  3094 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A few thoughts after using Hubski for fifteen minutes

Google's PageSpeed Insights suggests a few easier fixes for page loading times:

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhubski.com%2Fpub%2F206645

Won't solve everything, but should be far easier to implement than the large changes you're envisioning.

joelthelion  ·  3094 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A few thoughts after using Hubski for fifteen minutes

Hum, weird. I'll try it for a few more days and report back.

joelthelion  ·  3094 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A few thoughts after using Hubski for fifteen minutes

While we're at it: could you increase the lifetime of a session? I think logging in every month or so should be enough, no need to do so every day.

joelthelion  ·  3094 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A few thoughts after using Hubski for fifteen minutes

No worries, hubski is great already. I'm also a programmer so I know these performance issues can be tricky. But I'm sure you'll solve them eventually ☺️

joelthelion  ·  3095 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: FAA to trial British anti-drone system

    Finally, a directional radio frequency (RF) inhibitor from Northamptonshire’s Enterprise Control Systems disables the UAV.

Would this work against an autonomous UAV?

joelthelion  ·  3095 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Weak U.S. employment report dims prospect of Fed rate hike

You're right, it's probably too early to draw conclusions.

joelthelion  ·  3095 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A few thoughts after using Hubski for fifteen minutes

Regarding the slowness of the site, I meant the time it takes for servers to answer your requests. I like the fact that content is slow :)

    Takes me one? I click the link and it pops up with the external link and the comments page. Maybe it's a setting?

I mean from the feed page, I click on one link, and it brings me to that post's page. Then I can click on the link that will bring me to the external site. On reddit, clicking a link brings you right to the external site. Or am I missing something?

Edit: suddlenly it's working as you described. Weird.

Edit2: figured out why. It's because I was opening links in new tabs.