November 2015 News
This is the November 2015 edition of the Gwern.net newsletter; previous, October 2015. This is a collation of links and summary of major changes, overlapping with Changelog; brought to you by my donors on Patreon.
Writings
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Nothing completed (due to work on researching Craig Wright for Wired)
Media
Links
Genetics:
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Everything Is Heritable:
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Recent Evolution:
Politics/religion:
Statistics/AI/meta-science:
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converting all-cause mortality reductions to life-expectancy increases
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“How to visualize data with cartoonish faces a la Chernoff” (on Chernoff faces)
Psychology/biology:
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“Species-characteristic Responses to Catnip by Undomesticated Felids”, et al 1976
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“Meditation and Its Regulatory Role on Sleep”, et al 2012
Technology:
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“Carnegie Mellon Denies FBI Paid for Tor-Breaking Research” (If the FBI is harvesting any de-anonymizing data security researchers collect using subpoenas, this seems like a serious attack on academic freedom and research integrity.)
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“DagCoin: a cryptocurrency without blocks”; in an entirely different direction, Bitcoin-NG splits blocks from mining (Bitcoin is just the first, not necessarily the universally ideal. We’re in a Cambrian explosion of financial cryptography and should be open to new approaches.)
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“Air Force cadet sentenced to 3 years after buying modafinil, molly, & LSD on Silk Road 2”
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‘man sort’: ‘–random-sort’ misleading (use
shuf
if you need random sorts on the CLI)
Economics:
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“As Coasts Rebuild and U.S. Pays, Repeatedly, the Critics Ask Why”/“Should the Northeast Bury its Power Lines to Prevent Outages?”/“Having your cake and eating it too: The maturity structure of US debt”
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“Ricardo’s Difficult Idea”/“The Real Winners and Losers of Globalization: Globalization has radically changed global income dynamics. So who has won and who has lost?”
Philosophy:
Books
Fiction:
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A Perfect Vacuum, Lem (review)
Nonfiction:
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Do No Harm, Marsh (elegantly written and moving neurosurgeon memoir on the theme of iatrogenics; I did disagree with his comments on the cost-benefit of operating in one case, though)
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Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money, Popper (review)
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The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, MacGregor
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Drop Dead Healthy, Jacob (review)
Film/TV
Anime:
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Hanamonogatari/Tsukimonogatari (disappointments, coming after Second Season. Neither had a particularly compelling story—Hana was interesting but could not support that many episodes and Tsuki’s ending with Tadatsuru was bafflingly idiotic and incompetent an anticlimax with apparently the whole thing being mostly wasted time on developing yet another one of the worst & overused archetypes in anime)
Music
Touhou:
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“Night Sakura of Dead Spirits” (彩音 〜xi-on〜; Quartet -カルテット- {C88}) [classical]
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“Desire Drive” (あかみ/彩音 〜xi-on〜; Quartet -カルテット- {C88}) [classical]
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“敢闘 -little bravery-” (漉餡; 水古譚 -suikotan- {C88}) [orchestral]
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“蒼月夜 (Instrumental ver)” (漉餡; 水古譚 -suikotan- {C88}) [orchestral]
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“夕暮れ色のカップ” (夕暮れ色のカップ; 喫茶白玉楼 {C88}) [classical]
Doujin:
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“City Cycle” (tigerlily; AD:PIANO VIVACE {C88}) [classical/instrumental]
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“‘Love’” (en;Dolphin Records; 夏と原稿用紙 {C88}) [acoustic]
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“You again my love” (CYO Style feat. henohenomoheji; CY {201311ya}) [pop]
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“Shoulda Known Better” (DJ Noriken; HARDCORE SYNDROME 9 {C88}) [hardcore]
Vocaloid:
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“NEW YEARS[Long Version]” (Miku; ATOLS; ATOLS/MIKU 0 {VM28}) [trance]
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“YUMEGIWA LAST BOY” (Ia; FLARE; VOCALO COVERS {201311ya}) [electronica/Jpop]