minor inconveniences that are not struggles

[Tasty]

Ghostbusters has a ghost BJ, so that's not an automatic quality killer.

[Joe Molotov]

I saw a preteen wearing a Kony 2012 hoodie today. 

[VomKriege]

I saw a preteen wearing a Kony 2012 hoodie today. 

African charities shipping back to downtrodden countries merch of the losing option in neo-imperialist contests.

[TVC15]

I had to see an improv troupe open for another act on Friday and I still feel like I have the gay AIDS. Improv troupes are the fucking worst.

[chronovore]

i made the mistake of buying premade pasta sauce

supermarkets are disgusting

What's wrong with pre-made pasta sauce?

[Madrun Badrun]

Struggling with a class assignment.  Its for a machine learning class and I'm in the machine learning group.  Feel kind of embarrassed.  Doesn't help that I haven't done real math in years. 

[shosta]

Struggling with a class assignment.  Its for a machine learning class and I'm in the machine learning group.  Feel kind of embarrassed.  Doesn't help that I haven't done real math in years.

what's the assignment?

[Madrun Badrun]

Its on gradient estimators

[TVC15]

You can do it. We believe in you!

[benjipwns]

I don't know, this seems like it may be his one weakness finally.

[shosta]

Its on gradient estimators

if there's anything in particular with that you need help on, let me know

[Madrun Badrun]

Sure, can you tell me what a gradient is?  Also what an estimator is?  And finally what a gradient estimator is?

[TVC15]

Uh, can I change “believe in” to something like “are like totally agnostic or whatevs about”?

[Madrun Badrun]

Too late.  Your sentiment is on the record.

[shosta]

Sure, can you tell me what a gradient is?  Also what an estimator is?  And finally what a gradient estimator is?

Hopefully this is in jest Picture a mountain terrain, aka a function f: ℝ² -> ℝ. There are classes of problems where we're less interested in knowing what f is and mostly interested in what ∇f is, its gradient. What is a gradient? Pretend you are standing at some arbitrary point (x, y) on the mountain. The gradient of f at that point is the direction one would walk in to get to the top. You could take any path to the top of course but the path that always follows the gradient is the shortest such path (to the local maximum). This is also actually equivalent to saying that the gradient is always perpendicular to the level curves (e.g. the elevation lines on a topographical map.) So if you have the gradient (even if you don't have the original function), you can always "get to the top", optimizing the value of the function.

Estimators are approximations of functions. The functions are messy (because of error and observation), the estimators are clean...er. A regression is an estimation of a continuous function (like a line or a quadratic). A classifier is an estimator of a discretely valued function (e.g. the set of objects seen is either a person, a cat, or a dog). A Kalman Filter is an estimator for a vector valued time varying function + process noise using only sensor measurements with known (or guessed ) statistical error. Monte Carlo is an estimator for a single value! Etc.

So a gradient estimator is...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

a class of techniques you are learning for figuring out how to optimize any function at any given point without knowing what the actual function is. thus you don't even have to estimate the function, just its slope.

[close]

Why are gradient estimators important? For Stochastic approximation, aka approximation of time varying processes. Think of a physics simulation. A program simulating physics takes states and then applies a derivative to it to change its position, temperature etc. For a really complicated simulation, if you have an estimation for how it will change at any point in the state space, you can simulate it despite not knowing the underlying (complicated) mathematical model.

[Madrun Badrun]

Thats a well-informed answer.  Whats your background?

[shosta]

Thats a well-informed answer.  Whats your background?

unemployed recovering alcoholic

[TVC15]

Thats a well-informed answer.  Whats your background?

unemployed recovering alcoholic

Me too! For the moment. Hopefully.

[Madrun Badrun]

I'm guessing engineering given the mention of Kalmen filters and alcoholism. 

[shosta]

I'm guessing engineering given the mention of Kalmen filters and alcoholism.

Nope! Just the alcoholism. No "background".

[chronovore]

I'm guessing engineering given the mention of Kalmen filters and alcoholism.

Nope! Just the alcoholism. No "background".

You write well, in any case.

Congrats on being in recovery. It changed both my parents lives for the better.

[Raist]

Sure, can you tell me what a gradient is?  Also what an estimator is?  And finally what a gradient estimator is?

Hopefully this is in jest Picture a mountain terrain, aka a function f: ℝ² -> ℝ. There are classes of problems where we're less interested in knowing what f is and mostly interested in what ∇f is, its gradient. What is a gradient? Pretend you are standing at some arbitrary point (x, y) on the mountain. The gradient of f at that point is the direction one would walk in to get to the top. You could take any path to the top of course but the path that always follows the gradient is the shortest such path (to the local maximum). This is also actually equivalent to saying that the gradient is always perpendicular to the level curves (e.g. the elevation lines on a topographical map.) So if you have the gradient (even if you don't have the original function), you can always "get to the top", optimizing the value of the function.

Estimators are approximations of functions. The functions are messy (because of error and observation), the estimators are clean...er. A regression is an estimation of a continuous function (like a line or a quadratic). A classifier is an estimator of a discretely valued function (e.g. the set of objects seen is either a person, a cat, or a dog). A Kalman Filter is an estimator for a vector valued time varying function + process noise using only sensor measurements with known (or guessed ) statistical error. Monte Carlo is an estimator for a single value! Etc.

So a gradient estimator is...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

a class of techniques you are learning for figuring out how to optimize any function at any given point without knowing what the actual function is. thus you don't even have to estimate the function, just its slope.

[close]

Why are gradient estimators important? For Stochastic approximation, aka approximation of time varying processes. Think of a physics simulation. A program simulating physics takes states and then applies a derivative to it to change its position, temperature etc. For a really complicated simulation, if you have an estimation for how it will change at any point in the state space, you can simulate it despite not knowing the underlying (complicated) mathematical model.

He posted some maths stuff. Ew. Mods pls.

[VomKriege]

What is this ? EXCEL ?

[Beezy]

Finally tried mint chocolate chip ice cream. My stomach almost rejected it immediately. I don't wanna hear about this nasty ass flavor combo ever again.

[hungrynoob]

what an absolute waste of matter you are. /jk

[Tasty]

Mint chocolate chip is the best usage of the flavor "mint."

It's almost as good a flavor combo as pineapple on pizza.

[hungrynoob]

In the uk we have these mint aero chocolate bars which are amazing, they have a yogurt based on the bar. I buy it thinking it will be similar to the bar, as in, a lot of chocolate, and a lot of mint. The yogurt is a bubbly mess of 98% mint and 1% chocolate and the rest is unknown, its fucking gross.

I have fallen for this more than twice.

[toku]

Mint chocolate chip is the best usage of the flavor "mint."

It's almost as good a flavor combo as pineapple on pizza.

favorite ice cream flavor

[CatsCatsCats]

Mint chocolate chip ice cream is ril ril gud, what I do hate is when you have like a mixed bag of candy and the peppermint flavor of some hard candy bullshit taints the chocolate

[chronovore]

You said "taint"…

[hampster]

Finally tried mint chocolate chip ice cream. My stomach almost rejected it immediately. I don't wanna hear about this nasty ass flavor combo ever again.

Was it a version with green or white colored ice cream Personally, I find the versions with green ice cream much better.

[Beezy]

Finally tried mint chocolate chip ice cream. My stomach almost rejected it immediately. I don't wanna hear about this nasty ass flavor combo ever again.

Was it a version with green or white colored ice cream Personally, I find the versions with green ice cream much better.

This one:


They were half off at the Walgreens nearby, so I picked up a bunch of flavors.

[Corporal]

Ew. That looks like frozen spunk.

Or Gorgonzola ice cream.

Well, at least you got it for half off, I guess.

[Valkyrie]

Seems like I'm the only one in the world who hates anything mint flavored. 

[Forgotten A. Turnbuckle]

Why doesn't logitech make a mouse that's both wireless and shaped/feels exactly like the G500s?

The braided cable on this and other mice I've used can be a pain in the ass.  It'll bunch up or whatever and add resistance when I try to move it sometimes.  I've tried a mouse cable bungie but didn't really like that.

I tried the G903, but that felt uncomfortable as all hell.  Like I was being forced to use a claw grip.
I just got a MX Master 2S, but don't like the way it feels and the buttons on the side are placed stupidly.

So I'm back to my wired mouse. 

Any recommendations for something different?
I only use it for work so I don't want any crazy gaming mouse or anything.
But most of the best mice for actual office use are also gaming mice.  I just don't like the ones with 20 buttons or some stupid crap.

[Brehvolution]

Mint chocolate chip is the best usage of the flavor "mint."

It's almost as good a flavor combo as pineapple on pizza.

favorite ice cream flavor

It makes a great milkshake. Maybe the only one that you can chew.

[Forgotten A. Turnbuckle]

The best ice cream I've ever had is at this little gas station in a town of about 200 people in BFE, Michigan.

COW TIPPIN’ - Fields of caramel-filled chocolate cups in sweet, vanilla ice cream, near a river of caramel.
It sounds pretty basic, but those carmel filled chocolate cows feel divine biting into them.  Way better than Moose Tracks (and I love Moose Tracks)

[I'm a Puppy!]

Got invited to a business dinner yesterday. I typically don't like business dinners, but I dislike eating alone even more so I agreed. But one guy showed up that I just can't stand because he's the antithesis of me. Arrogant as hell, selfish, condescending, back-biting, but he's not rude about it. You just sorta have to put up with it, and let him talk about how great he is and how there'd be no company without him, and everyone is an idiot should be grateful and respectful of him. I spend an hour eating suffering through this and we finally finish dinner. I get up to leave and drive the 20 minutes to my hotel and my coworker, who knows I can't stand this guy and can't stand him himself, says, "Hey Antithesis, your hotel is pretty close to Puppy's. Why don't you ride with him so you don't have to take an Uber." 

Dude was like "Great idea! Let's go Puppy."

I'm totally gonna have to find a way to get back at him for that.

[Corporal]

So, I got one of them googly phones. Namely, a Xiaomi Mi A1, one of those Android One smartphones where it's just vanilla Android without any bullshit. Supposedly. Four Gigs of RAM, 64 Gigs of Flash, a snapdragon 625 may not be the hottest SoC on the market but it's still plenty for what I'll be doing with it, and a good camera and screen.

And since my dad has the tech skills of a two months old toddler, he tagged along and got the same phone so he could leech off my "expertise".

So far, so, uh, kinda good.


Spent much of my time today playing whack-a-mole with the google assistant. My last name rhymes with google, so when I answer the phone or casually mention my name in a conversation, the google assistant on both phones pops up and starts farting around. With both of us, and both our phones. We must have some AI compatible voices or something.

Disabling the assistant doesn't work. It's still there, it just pops up a mournful message that you can enable it with just one click. Every single time, with no way to disable it. Which is only marginally less obnoxious than the assistant itself.

Long story short, I've resorted to installing the Nova launcher and then disabling the google app in the settings. Ain't nobody got time for this bullshit. I don't have enough patience, especially with my old man worshipping every single of my taps from a safe distance in the background.


I'm kinda bummed out by Android 7 though: one google widget on top of the home screen that cannot be disabled or removed. Swipe right to get to the fucking full screen google prompt. Hold the middle button for barely more than a femtosecond to get a popup with a google and/or google assistant and/or google now prompt. Say anything even remotely resembling "google" anywhere within earshot of the phone to get another popup with the fucking assistant. If you want to nitpick, and by now I do, then Chrome as the default browser is yet another google search page. WHY NOT JUST MAKE THE ENTIRE GUI A GOOGLE SEARCH, GOOGLE.


Also, at least in theory these damn things should already be updating to Android O. I need to check why the OTA updater is still stuck on Android 7. Then again, this year they should get uplifted to Android P, and I just know that two updates in rapid succession will make my poor pa burn this incarnation of heretical witchcraft.

[Beezy]

Seems like I'm the only one in the world who hates anything mint flavored. 

I'm fine with mint as gum, candy, and tea. That's about it.

[Forgotten A. Turnbuckle]

Got my girlfriend a 256GB iPad Pro and case for her main Christmas gift.
What did she get me?  A pillow and tickets to see some Acapella competition in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend (about a 5 hour drive).

This is what I get for agreeing to watch Pitch Perfect with her and enjoying it.
 

[team filler]

Didn't notice the chocolate chip cookie I bought was vegan 


This shit taste horrible, brehs 

[chronovore]

Got invited to a business dinner yesterday. I typically don't like business dinners, but I dislike eating alone even more so I agreed. But one guy showed up that I just can't stand because he's the antithesis of me. Arrogant as hell, selfish, condescending, back-biting, but he's not rude about it. You just sorta have to put up with it, and let him talk about how great he is and how there'd be no company without him, and everyone is an idiot should be grateful and respectful of him. I spend an hour eating suffering through this and we finally finish dinner. I get up to leave and drive the 20 minutes to my hotel and my coworker, who knows I can't stand this guy and can't stand him himself, says, "Hey Antithesis, your hotel is pretty close to Puppy's. Why don't you ride with him so you don't have to take an Uber." 

Dude was like "Great idea! Let's go Puppy."

I'm totally gonna have to find a way to get back at him for that.

Wait until April Fool's day, connect his PC to a Raspberry Pi just sitting behind his existing computer. Put up a login screen which loops.

Bonus Points: capture their actual login, and then get to the real fuckery.

Alternately: Thoroughly dampen their office chair, let them land ass first in that at the beginning of the day.

You're never going to work with me, are you?

[chronovore]

Didn't notice the chocolate chip cookie I bought was vegan 


This shit taste horrible, brehs 

Vegans hate life, and all their food is designed to reinforce this mindset.

[hungrynoob]

Seems like I'm the only one in the world who hates anything mint flavored. 

what about toothpaste?

[archnemesis]

Seems like I'm the only one in the world who hates anything mint flavored. 

what about toothpaste?

There are other flavors (and no flavor). One of my kids can’t stand mint either.

[Valkyrie]

Seems like I'm the only one in the world who hates anything mint flavored. 

what about toothpaste?

There are other flavors (and no flavor). One of my kids can’t stand mint either.

Yeh, there are lots of toothpaste for adults too that doesn't taste disgusting. Mint mouthwash makes me wanna kms, so I use one made for cowards like myself.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Didn't notice the chocolate chip cookie I bought was vegan 


This shit taste horrible, brehs 

Vegans hate life, and all their food is designed to reinforce this mindset.

Strangely this explains a lot about my jewish friends now that I am acquainted with jewish food.

[Raist]

Mint is the plant of the devil. Anything based on it should be banned

[Forgotten A. Turnbuckle]

Dell just called to tell me my premium warranty with accident coverage on my laptop expires in 3 days. 
They said I could renew it for a year for $450, but they'd be willing to give me a %20 discount.

Yeah, no thanks.  Probably couldn't sell it for much more than that 
Normally I don't go for premium warranties on something like this, but I had good luck with them before with dell.

My brother spilled beer on an old inspiron laptop I had years ago.  I sent that one in thinking they'd fix or replace it with the same, but instead they gave me a brand new XPS which at the time was a huge upgrade.

I thought for sure my 2-year old would have dumped milk all over it by now, but nope.
Maybe I can get him to do it in the next 12 hours.
 

[TVC15]

Papa TVC hurt his back. Anyone want to try pointing my coccyx to try to fix it?

[Madrun Badrun]

Struggling with a class assignment.  Its for a machine learning class and I'm in the machine learning group.  Feel kind of embarrassed.  Doesn't help that I haven't done real math in years. 

So some of the questions weren't actually possible lol.  The revised assignment is better.   

[shosta]

rofl

[jorma]

After prepping all day for a colonoscopy, making sure that everything is neat for the camera team, i have decided that my long time dream of becoming a gay porn star is dead.

I'm peeing from my asshole, it's awful.

[skullstorm]

I feel like I'm gonna faint.

Also, I might be seeing things. TSwift is everywhere

[Tasty]

I feel like I'm gonna faint.

Also, I might be seeing things. TSwift is everywhere

Everything is Taylor. Taylor is everything.

[skullstorm]

Don't you mean Taylord

[Tasty]

Don't you mean Taylord

[Tasty]

Taylord of the House Swift, First of Her Name, the Fearless, Kween of the Swifties and the First Men, Breaker of Records, and Mother of Snakes. 🐍

[skullstorm]

  The dark priestess Taylord