in online dating, how many people are in the pool? let's guess.

per https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/, 37% of US adults age 30-49 have ever used online dating (including 5% now, 5% in the past year).

King Co (Seattle) has 722k residents age 30-49. 5% is 36k across all prefs & apps.

(note: only 23% of age 30-49 are single. 5% overall implies ~22% of singles.)

anyway, one gender, one app? try (36/2)*0.3 or ~5k people. maybe it's 50-200% of that.

so, the pool is very roughly 3k - 10k people.

#sociology

when the community notices something that you've cared about for like 15 years: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34570065

🙂

have kids born after 2015? they'll be the LLM-native generation.

today's 7-year-olds won't remember writing without LLMs.

what's that mean? OpenAI will appear in Microsoft products, then Google Pathways in Docs.

like spellcheck, they'll be default-on. #LLM natives will type a prompt, only they won't think of it as a prompt. it won't *be* a prompt. it's just writing.

type an idea or question, then choose a length/depth & tone. or see 3 LLM versions of a paragraph, pick the best. edit. repeat.

anyone seen a K-12 school that requires a class on critical thinking?

does it use the media that kids will actually encounter as adults? think political misinformation on the Web, quasi-science and scams on Instagram and TikTok, and YouTube videos pushing "gateway" conspiracy theories.

bonus if it emphasizes probabilities more than all/none or us/them. maybe integrate forecasting (Metaculus?) so they experience being wrong and re-evaluating.

(related: https://www.bangkokpodcast.com/teaching-critical-thinking-in-thailand-season-3-episode-14/)

#edpolicy #k12

"The camel is a valuable animal in the cybersecurity field due to its ability to store large amounts of data in its hump. Camels are able to cross vast distances with little water, which makes them ideal for carrying large amounts of data across networks. In addition, their long eyelashes protect their eyes from sand and dust, making them perfect for working in dusty environments such as data centers."

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34502939#34503933

I'm impressed at the tolerances and collision avoidance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWzY3SRATr4

(more: https://bumblebeespaces.com)

PSA: iOS 16 (unintentionally?) removed the setting that makes Siri always respond silently.

it's back in 16.2 (!). you'll have to flip it on again. Settings → Siri → Prefer Silent Responses

I've had minor knee pain that comes and goes - a few weeks with occasional pain, a few months without. I attributed it to cycling.

it didn't go away, so I saw a physical therapist. he gave me a short exam, said my quads were tight, and said I should do these two stretches 1-2x/day.

36 hours and 3 stretch sessions later, gone.

(more: https://myrehabconnection.com/5-simple-quad-stretches/ or search for: flexor stretches)

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30835/w30835.pdf

"We used the results to examine the cost-effectiveness of investing in water treatment for point-of-collection chlorine dispensers or a large-scale program providing coupons for free chlorine solution. We estimate a cost per expected Disability-Adjusted Life Year averted due to water treatment of around USD 40 for both"

"approximately 45 times lower than the widely used threshold of 1x GDP per capita per DALY averted."

(thx to GiveWell for support. #effectivealtruism)

updated SawSafely.org with coverage of angle grinders: http://sawsafely.org/#angle-grinders

"the tool that injures the most people every year goes largely unnoticed by the majority of workers employing it"

hopefully it helps more people realize that this is possible, even when used well: https://youtu.be/IIQu1e8DGUw?t=277

#woodworking

visiting the wood shop for a few hours, then I'll begin what has become my New Year's Day tradition: updating https://simpleoptout.com with changes to 100+ privacy policies.

if anyone wants to help visit a zillion privacy policies, find in the page for "third-party" and "opt-out" (with hyphens, spaces, or no separator…), and update https://github.com/troy/simpleoptout, DM me or send a pull request 😀

#privacy