🙅 THE BAD IDEAS THREAD
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Yes, that's the definition of how to calculate the mean. However, you're actually expressly forbidden to calculate the mean of numbers like grades.
The requirements for the numbers going into a mean-calculation are:
a) need to have a zero point
b) need to be equidistantWho ever told you that did you a huge disservice. The mean is just the centroid/center mass of a probability distribution.
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You're acting as if I avoided this topic.
I'm acting as if you're trying to save face by
as you get called out on your bullshit.
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Sure, and there's nothing wrong with using a
n old shoecondom or aglass bottlelithium battery cell as a hammer either, but it's not the best tool for the job.Come on, you've got to come up with more analogous examples.
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lithium battery cell
Are they the ones that burst into flames when exposed to changes in pressure?
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Does this advertisement count as a bad idea? (Sound required)
SlipDoctors Business Opportunity under $10,000 – 00:32
— Greg Email
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Best line in the article:
This is quite possibly the worst way you could store this data in a database. No, seriously. They had better ways of doing this over thirty years ago. You have created a horrible problem that is only starting to rear its ugly head. It will only continue to get horribly worse, costing your company more and more money to maintain.
Now, we have a little more insulting words for the hapless programmer that decided varchar(max) was a good way to store that data:
Billy Madison - Everyone is now dumber – 00:36
— BklynZoo
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Are they the ones that burst into flames when exposed to changes in pressure
Not as far as I know, they are pretty stable in that respect. They change their dimensions slightly during normal charging so they are designed to cope with that.
The fires are due to the fact that various failure modes can produce hydrogen and oxygen which is then ignited with the heat, you then have a metal fire with added fuel and oxidiser.There are some 'safe' lithium chemistries such as IMR which generally fail with vigorous venting of the electrolyte but no fire.
Lithium cells are almost magical for handheld devices the energy density is amazing and the price isn't much more than NiMH these days.
Edit: Some chemistries produce hydrofluoric acid (<1%) in the venting gases, just to make the fire more exciting for everyone involved.
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@Rhywden said:
You're acting as if I avoided this topic.
I'm acting as if you're trying to save face by
as you get called out on your bullshit.You know, this accusation of "moving goal posts" just underlines your lack of comprehension.
"I don't understand something? Quick, accuse him of moving the goal posts!"
It's almost a reflex for you guys by now. It's a bit tiring.
You: "But what about this topic here?"
Me: "Yes, I already covered that earlier."
You: "You're moving goal posts!"
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Who ever told you that did you a huge disservice. The mean is just the centroid/center mass of a probability distribution.
Doesn't make my points invalid. A centroid still needs a frame of reference (i.e. the zero point) and also still needs equidistant coordinates.
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You know, this accusation of "moving goal posts" just underlines your lack of comprehension.
Bullshit. All of your nonsense has been refuted by multiple people. And you kept grasping at straws to keep your objection alive.
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Yes, your point is invalid. The zero point is arbitrary and therefore completely irrelevant. The centroid of the unit circle is 0, and the centroid of a circle centered at (x,y) is (x,y).
Now let's quote what you actually said:
The requirements for the numbers going into a mean-calculation are:
a) need to have a zero point
b) need to be equidistantSo b is clearly wrong as well.
And now the coordinates don't need to be equidistant, since the mean is defined on Riemanian manifolds!
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Just because a zero point is arbitrary it does become irrelevant? What kind of nonsense is this?
How exactly do you measure a velocity then? Quick, tell Einstein that you've just rendered his Theory of Relativity irrelevant!
The requirement is that a zero point exists. Where this point actually lies is not as important.
And now the coordinates don't need to be equidistant, since the mean is defined on Riemanian manifolds!
Which results in equidistant points. Pray tell, how much sense does a mean over non-equidistant points make (unless you weigh them, which in effect... makes them equidistant again)?
I think you lost track of what the mean is actually supposed to stand for.
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Just because a zero point is arbitrary it does become irrelevant? What kind of nonsense is this?
Here's am example: find the average temperature in Canada today. According to you, this us meaningless!!! because there is no such thing as zero temperature (we can never reach absolute zero). But the Fahrenheit scale has a zero. And so does the Celsius scale . They even disagree!
Modulo the units you express the average is, the mean will be the same temperature.
Do you know what a manifold is? It's a geometric object (a space) which does not necessarily have equidistant coordinates.
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According to you, this us meaningless!!! because there is no such thing as zero temperature (we can never reach absolute zero). But the Fahrenheit scale has a zero. And so does the Celsius scale . They even disagree!
Wat.
According to ME? THIS is YOUR statement:
The zero point is arbitrary and therefore completely irrelevant
I think you should look up the difference between "arbitrary" and "irrelevant" because you seem to be confusing the two.
I'm a bit of a loss as to how someone can talk about Riemannian manifolds and get the concept of arbitrary zero points so abso-fucking-lutely wrong.
You also didn't answer the question: How useful is a mean over non-equidistant points?
Oh, and just because we cannot reach something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist as a frame of reference.
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I came here looking for BAD IDEAS, not this GPA nonsense.
<INB4 Them: You can use flags. Me: But that sounds like work!
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I came here looking for BAD IDEAS, not this GPA nonsense.
Agreed. Could someone Jeff this crap please?
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Whoops, got that the wrong way around.
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I had a very bad idea this morning, while washing a sink full of very dirty dishes, for yet another dumb, stupid, pointless website (as if the world didn't have enough of these already): reallygrosskitchensponges.com, where one would post pictures of ... well, you get the idea. I have no idea what gave me the idea of making a website about it, although the source of the specific items to post pictures of should be fairly self-evident.
I have absolutely no intention of implementing this bad idea, so if you feel like registering the domain name, I won't stop you (although common sense should). But if you do, I ask two things of you. Don't tell me about it. And, whatever you do, don't give me credit for the idea.
Filed under: No, I didn't check whether the domain already exists.
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That reminds me - I need to get a new sponge...
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I think you should look up the difference between "arbitrary" and "irrelevant" because you seem to be confusing the two.
:frystare.svg:
If it doesn't matter what the zero point is, then it doesn't matter what the zero point is.
Since you can pick any zero point, it doesn't matter which you pick. To wit, expectations are linear operators. Adding a constant scalar to your data/random variable just shifts the mean by that scalar. So picking a bigger (in real terms) zero point just decreases the mean by a constant amount. The measurements are equally meaningful, and so are their means.
Are you a sophomore or something?
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Or maybe we just live in a messier and more nuanced
worldcountry than you do.In germany, they decide at age ten whether a child is headed for university or vocational school, and send them to a completely different secondary school based on that.
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In germany, they decide at age ten whether a child is headed for university or vocational school, and send them to a completely different secondary school based on that.
Traditionally.
Some parts of Germany recently decided to do that two years later.
And you could get to the higher-level secondary schools by having really good marks later on (with some other conditions).
Not to forget, the strictness of that selection varies a lot depending on where you are (Bavaria is a lot stricter than, say, NRW).
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Since you can pick any zero point, it doesn't matter which you pick.
Of course it matters. For the Celsius scale, the freezing point (actually it's the other way around - the phase-change from solid to liquid) was picked as its zero point arbitrarily. It was simply convenient but it's not something that's inherent to Thermodynamics. That's why we also have the Kelvin and Fahrenheit scales.
Again, you can pick any zero point you want. But then you have to stick with it. That's why any measurement also has to give the unit as a reference.
There are quite a lot of arbitrarily chosen zero points around - length and time would be prime candidates. As soon as you measure a length, you just chose a zero point.
Using your logic, Random Access Memory means that someone throws a dice to determine whether you can write or read. No? It's the same with "arbitrary" and "meaningless". Not equal in meaning. Not by a long shot.
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/me applies a thick layer of anti-tiger baconnaise before taking a deep breath and plunging in.
So if it's ok to pick an arbitrary zero-point, why can't 50% of the points on a midterm exam be the arbitrary zero-point for the grading scale?
I'm not trying to troll you, I just want to understand the limitations.
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@boomzilla said:
Or maybe we just live in a messier and more nuanced
worldcountry than you do.In germany, they decide at age ten whether a child is headed for university or vocational school, and send them to a completely different secondary school based on that.
It would be pretty cool if we at least had options like that. But our school systems would probably just fuck it up.
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Bad idea: telling kids that after 20 years they can't run in your public park.
How can you boot a kids' running club from practicing in a public park?
In Granada Hills, there lies a rather scenic plot of land known as O'Melveny Park.
This reminds me of when I lived in Salem, MA, and a friend who lived near a park told me his city councillor had called the police because she didn't like people doing things in "her" park.
I think those kids should have ignored the city, and in particular, the demand for a fee. Bring video cameras, and invite city employees, including cops, to arrest a bunch of teenagers while being recorded. Boom! Instant PR nightmare, and the city folds like a cheap suit.
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I think those kids should have ignored the city, and in particular, the demand for a fee.
And get shot dead? Awesome idea!
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And get shot dead? Awesome idea!
On camera? Not hardly--that's the point.
Besides, LA's a sanctuary city. All they'd have to do is have one kid who looked Spanish suggest he's not here illegally and the cops would probably emulate a Benny Hill skit running away.
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Bad idea: attacking someone when you're both wrong about what he did and don't understand the rules you claim he broke.
Gizmodo Reporter’s Attempt to Smear Ted Cruz’s Gun Use Goes Embarrassingly Awry
If you don't know anything about guns, maybe don't write about guns.
The first rule has an implicit "this doesn't apply to a gun you picked up and cleared yourself, as long as you're holding it" rider. Rules 2 and 4 don't apply to to a gun with the action open that isn't physically capable of being fired. In fact, carrying an open shotgun like that is quite common. (that wouldn't necessarily apply to a different design, say a semi-auto.)
Doubling down when you're told you're wrong is, well, double bad.
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/me applies a thick layer of anti-tiger baconnaise before taking a deep breath and plunging in.
So if it's ok to pick an arbitrary zero-point, why can't 50% of the points on a midterm exam be the arbitrary zero-point for the grading scale?
I'm not trying to troll you, I just want to understand the limitations.
There's no one hindering you from choosing the zero-point to be the limit for "passing grade" - negative numbers then could represent by how much you missed the target, postive numbers could represent progress beyond the required minimum.
The current zero point is simply an agreement so that everyone can have the same frame of reference and can easily draw comparisons and conclusions (whether those are actually valid is the point of contention).
You are perfectly allowed to choose your own metric and zero / reference point. It's just that you a) have to convince your target audience to accept it and b) it has to be understandable (i.e. useful).
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Best line in the article:
Best part of the comments on the article:
OTOH, every good programming forum needs someone who is willing to put the smack-down on time sinks, help vampires and idiots. More than one or two such people can make the forum into a battlefield, but without someone like that, the emperor will keep walking around naked, oblivious to why he's always feeling a draft.
I'm guessing that WTDWTF is comprised nearly entirely of people who are like this.
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Bad idea: telling kids that after 20 years they can't run in your public park.
How can you boot a kids' running club from practicing in a public park?
In Granada Hills, there lies a rather scenic plot of land known as O'Melveny Park.
This reminds me of when I lived in Salem, MA, and a friend who lived near a park told me his city councillor had called the police because she didn't like people doing things in "her" park.
I think those kids should have ignored the city, and in particular, the demand for a fee. Bring video cameras, and invite city employees, including cops, to arrest a bunch of teenagers while being recorded. Boom! Instant PR nightmare, and the city folds like a cheap suit.
Over here in Germany we have something called the unwritten law. This would cause the city to most likely lose any court proceedings even if they did have a law banning jogging because they were not doing anything about it for 20 years.
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Making a hash table in powershell:
$hash = @{ [int16]9= "a" ; [int32]9="b" ; [double]9= "c" ; "9"= "d" ; [char]'9'="e" }Name Value ---- ----- 9 a 9 d 9 e 9 b 9 cI wished my coworker good luck.
$hash[9]returnsb, interestingly enough. Usually you'd have to type$hash["9"]but that returns d.
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can make the forum into a battlefield,
some parts of WTDWTF do feel like a battlefield right now....
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Using animal sacrifice instead of a seat belt:
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/weird-news/man-who-landed-freeway-sign-had-animal-sacrifice-p/npGRK/The family of a man whose body was ejected onto an overhead freeway sign in a car crash said they performed a lamb sacrifice five days earlier to protect him from harm.
Richard Pananian, 20, was ejected after his car hit a pickup truck on a California highway Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Pananian was not wearing a seatbelt, police said.
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That's... a bizarre ending to an accident.
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Using animal sacrifice instead of a seat belt
But he normally used one, according to the article the sacrifice was to deal with something else (added wikilink to the quote; also that is excessive comma use in a sentence).
It was very unusual for Pananian to not wear a seatbelt, a cousin told the Times. The story also quoted Armen Kardashian as saying his cousin was a car enthusiast who even had a racing safety harness in his driver’s seat.
Kardashian said Pananian was suffering from undisclosed health problems, so the family performed an Armenian Church ritual, called a matagh, to keep him out of harm’s way, according to the Times.
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@dkf said:
can make the forum into a battlefield,
some parts of WTDWTF do feel like a battlefield right now....
This forum was perfectly civilised discoursing until a certain vulpine turned up.
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I think those kids should have ignored the city, and in particular, the demand for a fee. Bring video cameras, and invite city employees, including cops, to arrest a bunch of teenagers while being recorded. Boom! Instant PR nightmare, and the city folds like a cheap suit.
That reminds me of a danish left-wing movement in the seventies. They dressed up as santa clauses, stormed into a toy-store and started handing out presents to all the kids.
And here's the lesson the kids learned that day: the next thing that happens is that the angry police shows up, starts to beat the nice santas with their evil nightsticks, and take away the presents from the kids.
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That is a fantastic scheme for getting that association in kids heads.
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No it wasn't. Don't start that shit.
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I didn't specify whose definition of perfectly civilised to which I was referring. But there's a definite battlefield feeling that wasn't there before.
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Same feeling as when intercourse took issue with blakeyrat.
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Yes, that's pretty much the same feeling I have at present, and I don't think I'm alone, which in itself is a bad idea.
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Using your logic, Random Access Memory means that someone throws a dice to determine whether you can write or read. No? It's the same with "arbitrary" and "meaningless". Not equal in meaning. Not by a long shot.
But RAM doesn't let you access random locations in memory. It lets you access arbitrary locations in memory.
Just like saying "pick some random number x" is different than saying "pick some arbitrary number x" at the start of a proof.
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Getting it on in a shopping centre. In front of your kids
Wife gave husband oral sex at Westfield shopping centre as their kids watched
Akeela claimed her hormones were everywhere due to pregnancy.
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All the classiest people go to Westfield.
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3 posts were merged into an existing topic: The "Wario Belgiums a Librarian with Guacamole" Topic
Centroid - Wikipedia
