Ask Chaos Anything!

[Kaymyth]

Wait, you bear the title 'Webmaster'. As Master of the Web, and presumably head of the Elders of the Internet, does this not give you control over, and access to, all human knowledge anyway?

 

Oh, and I realized why telepathy would be such a great thing - you'd get to find out all the Cosmere things.

 

Edit:

Does the Award system work? Does anyone actually have any awards?

 

Some people petitioned here for @Kaymyth to get a Forum Mom award. And @TwiLyghtSansSparkles a 'Forum Crazy Big Sister Who Loves Pugs Too Much' Award

 

I...I thought my prize was just getting to put "Forum Mom" in my member title and actually have justification for it...

[Eerongal]

Oh god he's turned into a spambot!

*clicks Flag as Spammer*

 

Just been playin' the long con all these years. And you suckers bought it!

[Quiver]

If you be 'Most Ancient' before you can be a 'Knight Radiant', does that mean that all Knight Radiants are old people?

[Chaos]

Oh, I know how to use spoilers (and it is on the toolbar - under the special bbcode thing).

 

What I meant was, you know how you have the spoiler box:

Like this

You have a thin box which expands out when you click the 'Show me' button.

 

What I thought I saw was a spoiler box, but there was text inside the box before you click the button. The text that was there said something like 'This contains spoilers for Stones Unhallowed', and was replaced with the actual spoiler text:

Stones Unhallowed is about Szeth.

 

Is this (or was it at any point) a feature? Or was I either mistaken, or has someone used some crazy web knowledge to combine some BBcode into something really cool?

 

And I guess, while I'm here, does the test bbcode do anything other being an alias for bold?

 

Edit:

And another suggestion: Smart Alec

I'm not familiar with such an ability on the boards. I think that's how Reddit is, though. 

 

Edit:

Does the Award system work? Does anyone actually have any awards?

 

Some people petitioned here for @Kaymyth to get a Forum Mom award. And @TwiLyghtSansSparkles a 'Forum Crazy Big Sister Who Loves Pugs Too Much' Award

It's a thing that exists, but I don't want to do anything with it until the site update. I'm not sure if that addon is supported yet in the new one...

Also yes, awards vanished because of site upgrades long ago and I did something bad. Sue me  

 

Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?

I do say "Caw!" a lot. We have an understanding.

 

Why do you hope there is no afterlife?

I don't know, I think the idea of existing forever is strange. Things should end eventually so that new things can grow. Maybe it's because I've been suicidal before and have had that powerful desire (at one point) to simply have things end and be definitive.

Afterlifes are scary and weird. I don't think they are real, though, but are merely a product of our desire to not end. But we do. It's important to know that, and understand that it is okay. People shouldn't act good now because they'll have a good afterlife, they should act good because they are good. The former is selfish, like donating solely because you want tax deductions. 

 

If you be 'Most Ancient' before you can be a 'Knight Radiant', does that mean that all Knight Radiants are old people?

I actually just reform your body and remake you into your new title. I'm still holding the power of creation right now. This entire timespan of 17S has really just been a few minutes to me.

That's almost as crazy as the time dilation that MBI has, but MBI has far vaster time dilation. Six years for like... maybe two weeks of in game time? Maybe?

[Chaos]

Do she got a booty?

Who's booty?

[Quiver]

Who is that in your avatar image?

 

It's been bugging me forever.

[Lightsworn Panda]

Would it be too much to ask for the passwords, coding information and site editor of 17th Shard?

 

Edit: Quiver, I'm fairly sure Chaos' picture is a picture of the Lord Ruler.

Edited June 14, 2015 by Lightsworn Panda

[Chaos]

I've decided upon my Epic's name! It would be Transcendence.

The godlike telepathic power would allow me to read minds of everyone on the planet, and grant me with expanded mental capacity to process it. I have access to thoughts, memories, and also muscle memory. This means Transcendence has access to literally all of humanity's knowledge or skills at any moment.

The act of summoning knowledge or information is not instantaneous--general queries take time, though if I focus upon specific people, it is laughable easy, and nearby people I do have instant knowledge of. But it is more of "hey get me some kata stances" and if I hadn't grabbed it and archived it specifically, there is delay.

I don't have invincibility, but you can't assassinate me because I'd know you are coming. Earthquakes, natural disasters would get me. Long range missiles might be challenging, but I figure I would constantly be querying myself and making sure I know everyone's thoughts regarding me. But given that I don't have direct offensive abilities, I would hide.

The name Transcendence does not just come from my own knowledge. I can send thoughts, but I cannot control people. Unless they give themselves to me. In exchange for their service, they can transcend themselves, and have access to this immense knowledge. They don't get the increased mental capacity, so I generally need to query information for them. But they have access to this vastness. But, what I gain is mental slaves who I have absolute control over.

With no offensive abilities, it is much more advantageous to keep my identity hidden. I stay in the shadows and try and bribe people into becoming Transcendent, and then I exert my will through them.

Who is that in your avatar image?

 

It's been bugging me forever.

It's a character from Guild Wars, my MMO series of choice. This is Shiro Tagachi, the villain of actually my least favorite of GW1's campaigns. It requires a bit of explanation as to why he's my avatar, as he's been it since before 17S existed.

You see, back in... 2006, when Guild Wars Factions came out, I lived with my dad in the middle of nowhere. We had dialup. Surprisingly, Guild Wars 1 worked okay on dialup, actually, as much of that game was instanced. That was nice.

Anyway, Shiro's plotline was pretty terrible. He came back from the dead, brought affliction, blah blah. In the final battle with Shiro I kept DCing because dialup was also awful, but I managed to get credit for the mission. The end cutscene had someone explain that they need an especially bad place for him in the afterlife, since he already left it once. So that person said Shiro was going to "a place of eternal torment."

Naturally, I assumed this to be a dialup modem. It makes sense. It basically is eternal torment.

From there I began to say that random disconnecting was Shiro's fault. Later when I got better internet, when routers randomly need to be rebooted, I also blame Shiro. He is a convenient scapegoat for all networking problems.

His powers have grown over the years. If a snowstorm takes out the internet, I blame Shiro. His mythology that I have invented is extensive now. There's the Anti-Shiro, god of networking, but Shiro erased his name. Shiro can turn into a cat, and for some reason, I have memory of Matt Damon/Jason Bourne being part of Shiro's mythology. I don't really know why.

Shiro's my avatar in penance, so he takes pity upon me and does not destroy my internet.

That, or I liked the wallpaper at the time, and I might just think it's so weird if I change it now.

 

If you could have one liquid other than blood as your blood, what would it be?

Dr Pepper. I basically already have that done. 

 

Would it be too much to ask for the passwords, coding information and site editor of 17th Shard?

You can download the software at your leisure, though it's paid. But no, you don't get access

[Haelbarde]

I've decided upon my Epic's name! It would be Transcendence.

{stuff}

Is awesome.

 

It's a character from Guild Wars, my MMO series of choice. This is Shiro Tagachi, the villain of actually my least favorite of GW1's campaigns. It requires a bit of explanation as to why he's my avatar, as he's been it since before 17S existed.

 

{story}

And now those references on MBI make a lot more sense.

 

That, or I liked the wallpaper at the time, and I might just think it's so weird if I change it now.

Changing avatars is the weirdest things. It feels odd when you change your own, and when someone else does it, it's almost like 'Who are you, and what did you do with him.'

 

---

Guess I should ask a question.

 

Could you see yourself changing your avatar in the foreseeable future?

[Curiosity]

Do you like macaroni and cheese? 

[Young Bard]

Back to mathematics.

 

Adapting Zeno's Arrow Paradox to calculus. Assume that instead of two infinitely close points in time, you have two infinitely close points on a line (which is what modern calculus is based on). Assuming Zeno's Paradox is correct, that makes calculus impossible.

 

P.S. Yes, this is a blatant attempt to pay back maths professors for giving me all those headaches in high school.

[Chaos]

Could you see yourself changing your avatar in the foreseeable future?

Glad you liked Transcendence; I fully intend to make a book with that being a big part of it.

 

I'm going to say probably not. I might change my avatar someday, but it would have to be something I really liked.

Do you like macaroni and cheese?

Yep! You know how to make the best mac and cheese? Get some bowtie pasta, boil those. Then when it is done, add milk, butter, and like a pound of cheese. Stir like mad and you have the cheesiest, best mac and cheese. It's really easy and you can make six meals from one prep. It's great.

Back to mathematics.

 

Adapting Zeno's Arrow Paradox to calculus. Assume that instead of two infinitely close points in time, you have two infinitely close points on a line (which is what modern calculus is based on). Assuming Zeno's Paradox is correct, that makes calculus impossible.

 

P.S. Yes, this is a blatant attempt to pay back maths professors for giving me all those headaches in high school.

You know you're talking to a collegiate math professor, right? I dunno, calculus is easier than precalculus. Calculus has well-defined rules that you apply, and is narrow in focus. You're really just doing three things: limits, differentiation, and integration. That successfully sums up all lower level calculus. Really people just have a difficult time due to lack of algebra proficiency. Calculus requires you to be skilled at that level of abstraction and pushing symbols around. But, again, algebra is intensely logical and has a small, finite number of possible things you can even do. Calculus I and II are my favorite courses to teach.

Anyway, onto that arrow paradox. Wikipedia answers that one itself. It's a pretty dumb paradox, honestly.

Your matter regards what it means for points to be "infinitely close" to one another. This is one of those things that regular language has difficulty in dealing with. It really requires the precision of mathematics, or else people get it wrong. (If any of you were reading the Religions topic, this is why I told Twilight that some truths do require math to explain, and this is one of those. The razor-sharp precision of mathematics is essential for these purposes, and other languages pale in comparison.)

All of these paradoxes are solved with modern calculus, which perhaps to your dismay is very rigorously proven, and is true forever. Hell, I can derive for you all the results. Mathematical proof makes the matter done. However, in the 1600s, when calculus first was developed, they did not have our level of rigor, and didn't prove things. They merely used it for the results. And the results are amazingly powerful: what's the rate of change of the volume of a sphere with respect to its radius? It is exactly the formula for a sphere's surface area. That is not coincidental, and describes the deep relationships of rates of change in the universe.

Anyway, I'm being philosophical, when what you really need is to know what it means by "infinitely close." The answer really comes down to the definition of a limit, which makes this meaning precise.

The definition of a limit doesn't involve points, though. Let's consider just the real number line, so all points will just be x-values. If you have two points that are not equal, they are not "infinitely close"--there is distance between them. It's easy to describe the distance between two points: you subtract them and take the absolute value. So the distance between 2 and 3 would be 2 - 3 = -1, so take the absolute value, you get 1. |2 - 3| = 1. Even if you pick two ridiculously close numbers, like .0001 and .0002, there is a nonzero distance between them.

So just points by themselves can't be infinitely close. They are either equal or not equal. Instead, consider points given by a function, which let's assume to be defined on the real line. This function draws a path, and what we really want is to know how points along that path approaches other points.

The definition of the limit, though it looks complicated, has very simple origins. If you want a point "really close" to another, you want the distance between them small. How small? Really small. This is accomplished with defining an arbitrary variable epsilon (used because the e stands for "error" here), and I want the distance between the height of the function, f(x), to be really close to a limiting value L.

In other words, we want |f(x) - L| < epsilon. But I don't want it for just one epsilon, I want it for every epsilon, so we'll just say that epsilon > 0. Any will do.

Since we are now in 2D, epsilon dealt with the y-values, but we also need to restrict the x-values that correspond to where we are going to (let's say we are approaching in x to a point a). So let's say we have a delta > 0, and we want | x - a | < delta.

What's happening here is really this image:

We're drawing a little box around this function. Epsilon can be really small, like a billionth, trillionth, or quadrillionth, so we can effectively zoom in this box as close as we want. That's the essence of the definition. "Infinitely close" means "we can get this function arbitrarily close to this single value."

Interestingly, the function doesn't even need to be defined at x = a. The function can still be approaching a value, even if it isn't defined anywhere. (This is actually the whole point of the definition, because we want to eventually deal with derivatives, where the thing we are taking the limit of is not defined at this a value.)

There's some important logic in defining this, though. The formal definition is:

Let f(x) be defined in an open interval about x = c, but not necessarily at x = c. Then, we say the limit of f(x) as x approaches x equals L if and only if:

For all epsilon > 0, there exists a delta > 0 such that if | x - c | < delta, then | f(x) - L | < epsilon.

Ta-da, you now have the power to do all derivatives, and do a ton of calculus. But all the definition really requires is the distance between the x values and the y values to be small. How small? As small as you want it to be.

In practice, when you use this definition, you let epsilon be arbitrary, then delta depends on epsilon. That way your proof works for every possible epsilon value, so you are done.

Limits have all the properties of real numbers that you would like. Arithmetic works as you'd expect, and basically, they are extremely nice to deal with.

Limits also let you deal with the dumb Zeno paradox about infinite sums. Precision, it helps!

[Lightsworn Panda]

Err... When did Kurk Ascend to being a Mod? And who did you spike to give him his powers?

[skaa]

What cool features are you adding to the forums in the next version?

 

(Yes. I like spoilers.)

[Joe ST]

Err... When did Kurk Ascend to being a Mod? And who did you spike to give him his powers?

 

Recently. and that's classified. but mostly we take spikes from our large stockpile, so we don't tend to know who they're from. 

[Chaos]

Err... When did Kurk Ascend to being a Mod? And who did you spike to give him his powers?

Right here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/1683-i-would-like-to-announce-part-2/?p=274000

You wouldn't recognize the ones we destroyed for this, though. Let's just say we showed them what our black magic looks like. (Answer: it's Hemalurgy.)

What cool features are you adding to the forums in the next version?

(Yes. I like spoilers.)

Now's a fine time to discuss things a bit more! Our current version of IPB is 3.4, and this new one is 4.0. It's a big rewrite to much of everything and restructuring on the backend. But it isn't all backend stuff. Let me try to think of it all.

The big headline feature is that there's responsive design to the site. It's the same skin and features regardless of if you're in desktop, tablet, or phone. No more neutered mobile site! It's so much more slick on mobile now, and you have all the features of desktop stuff. And this really does work on all pages, like individual member profiles. It's really cool.

There are now Q&A forums. We will be making a subforum exclusively for cosmere questions, and people can vote on the best answer and such. That'll be a huge boon.

There are a lot of features for mods and admins that you guys don't really care about, but are very cool.

Minor things that are nice quality of life improvements:

1. You can now undo up or downvotes. Thank Harmony.

2. You can now tag users in posts, and users (if your notifications are set correctly) will get a notification.

There are also some alterations that are... well, let's say they are not strictly better than what we currently have, but are merely different. Remember, this software is a ground-up change so things are... different.

Search is different. It is debatable better, but I'm not totally convinced. That said, I still need to see how it all looks with all our data. The editor is also very different. It's supposedly a much better visual editor, but you know me, I'm a big fan of the coding layout, where you see all the BBCode. And it's... it's not the same. Maybe I'll get used to these. I mean, we'll have to, because the benefits outweigh the downsides.

That's the software side, but we're going to have some cool stuff that we are doing too. Do you think the logo and background are dated? Yeah, we agree, and the new stuff is nice

[Kaymyth]

Err... When did Kurk Ascend to being a Mod? And who did you spike to give him his powers?

 

What do you think happens to all those trolls we don't have?

[Lightsworn Panda]

2. You can now tag users in posts, and users (if your notifications are set correctly) will get a notification.

 

Oh, now that's interesting. That'll be really useful in SE and replying to posts. Will it just be an "@", or will there be specific coding, and if so, what does it look like?

[Haelbarde]

There are a lot of features for mods and admins that you guys don't really care about, but are very cool.

I'd care about them

 

1. You can now undo up or downvotes. Thank Harmony.

2. You can now tag users in posts, and users (if your notifications are set correctly) will get a notification.

These things are both awesome! Like Lightsworn said, great for SE for when you want to call out an inactive.

 

Search is different. It is debatable better, but I'm not totally convinced. That said, I still need to see how it all looks with all our data. The editor is also very different. It's supposedly a much better visual editor, but you know me, I'm a big fan of the coding layout, where you see all the BBCode. And it's... it's not the same. Maybe I'll get used to these. I mean, we'll have to, because the benefits outweigh the downsides.

Sounds ominous. I like the editor as is (mostly... sometimes it wreaks havok on the neat code when switching between views...).

 

Is it pretty much this? Or is it (going to be) modified? Is there a plaintext mode, or is that what you're saying is absent... (RTE are nice and all, but properly formatted code is superior, and sometimes necessary when the RTE can't figure out what you want)

 

EDIT:

Dug around on the CKEditor site. Is the editor a form of that? Will it come thing things like Tables, or Latex/Math support?

Edited June 18, 2015 by Haelbarde

[Chaos]

Oh, now that's interesting. That'll be really useful in SE and replying to posts. Will it just be an "@", or will there be specific coding, and if so, what does it look like?

Nope, you just would say @Whoever and it happens. It's nice! I can definitely see it useful for book discussions and theories to summon in a particular expert on the topic.

 

I'd care about them

 

These things are both awesome! Like Lightsworn said, great for SE for when you want to call out an inactive.

 

Sounds ominous. I like the editor as is (mostly... sometimes it wreaks havok on the neat code when switching between views...).

 

Is it pretty much this? Or is it (going to be) modified? Is there a plaintext mode, or is that what you're saying is absent... (RTE are nice and all, but properly formatted code is superior, and sometimes necessary when the RTE can't figure out what you want)

 

EDIT:

Dug around on the CKEditor site. Is the editor a form of that? Will it come thing things like Tables, or Latex/Math support?

The usual BBCode view is gone. I know, it is sad. However, you can paste in BBCode and it will render exactly the same, but when you edit it, the BBCode is not there. There is a Source view, but it contains the HTML view. The reason I suspect that this current editor is finicky is because it translates BBCode to HTML, and back and forth. What is actually stored in the database is HTML.

So, the HTML view exists, but I've been advised that it is obviously a bad idea to let people arbitrarily paste HTML. So... that will probably only be a mod-only thing, unfortunately.

The thing you linked to is exactly what the editor looks like, though I can customize the toolbars on desktop, tablet, and mobile respectively.

It is a CKEditor thing, and supposedly I can just add plugins to it. I'm not sure how well they'd work, but I can totally take a look, especially if there's something you would like in particular.

[Peng the Just]

When can we expect this awesome update?

[Chaos]

When can we expect this awesome update?

July I think, 100% by the end of summer. Art takes a while.

[Mistdork]

July I think, 100% by the end of summer. Art takes a while.

 

Who's doing this art?

 

I actually just reform your body and remake you into your new title. I'm still holding the power of creation right now. This entire timespan of 17S has really just been a few minutes to me.

So, you have time dilation powers too? How does this work in the context of the theory of relativity? D:

[Titan Arum]

After getting your MA in mathematics, why did you A] decide to stay on as a non-tenure professor and  (hahaha, writing b] created an emoji so I'll keep it there because why not) B] remain at the same university? Was it because of a joy of teaching? Was it because you loved the university you were at and wanted to stay forever? Was it for some other valid reason? Do you hope to one day get your PhD and/or become a tenured professor?

 

The context behind my questions: I always wanted to get a PhD in Economics because I love teaching economics to undergraduates and I also enjoy conducting economic research. However, after working as a Research Fellow following my Masters, I realized that the research side of academia in Economics can be prone to corruption due to the perverse incentives created by the publication bias (What's your opinion on this, by the way?).

 

While at this job, I witnessed multiple professors (including the one I worked for) using unethical data analysis practices, including but not limited to data mining and changing initial hypotheses after the fact, all in an attempt to get significant and positive results so that they could get published in a prestigious journal. This sickened me and I decided that despite my love of teaching, I could not continue on and get a PhD and join the ranks of the economics academia.

 

Instead, I made a compromise with myself. I now conduct research for a USAID contracting company where I get to teach/mentor junior staff on technical economic approaches. I get to do what I love, but something in the back of my head still nags me because I know not all universities and professors act the way I was exposed to and that maybe I'd be very happy at a small liberal arts college where teaching was a priority and you do research that you are simply passionate about. 

Edited June 18, 2015 by Titan Arum

[Chaos]

Who's doing this art?

 

So, you have time dilation powers too? How does this work in the context of the theory of relativity? D:

Will (Shivertongue) creates the original artwork for the site. He's an admin, but recently is very busy and doesn't post much.

 

After getting your MA in mathematics, why did you A] decide to stay on as a non-tenure professor and  (hahaha, writing b] created an emoji so I'll keep it there because why not) B] remain at the same university? Was it because of a joy of teaching? Was it because you loved the university you were at and wanted to stay forever? Was it for some other valid reason? Do you hope to one day get your PhD and/or become a tenured professor?

 

The context behind my questions: I always wanted to get a PhD in Economics because I love teaching economics to undergraduates and I also enjoy conducting economic research. However, after working as a Research Fellow following my Masters, I realized that the research side of academia in Economics can be prone to corruption due to the perverse incentives created by the publication bias (What's your opinion on this, by the way?).

 

While at this job, I witnessed multiple professors (including the one I worked for) using unethical data analysis practices, including but not limited to data mining and changing initial hypotheses after the fact, all in an attempt to get significant and positive results so that they could get published in a prestigious journal. This sickened me and I decided that despite my love of teaching, I could not continue on and get a PhD and join the ranks of the economics academia.

 

Instead, I made a compromise with myself. I now conduct research for a USAID contracting company where I get to teach/mentor junior staff on technical economic approaches. I get to do what I love, but something in the back of my head still nags me because I know not all universities and professors act the way I was exposed to and that maybe I'd be very happy at a small liberal arts college where teaching was a priority and you do research that you are simply passionate about.

Well, it is an MS in Mathematics. Do they even have Masters of Arts in Math? xD

A great question though! The answer comes down to a few things. It mainly stems from me really disliking math research. I could never find an area that I liked, and the work never appealed to me. For this reason, I got my Master's (which in math, you don't do a research thesis for your Master's, which was a huge plus) instead of my PhD. After teaching and making quite a lot more money than a GTA, I can't go back to a TA stipend. I also just really have no interest in doing research for at least another four years, then being a postdoc, and basically being miserable.

I enjoy teaching and am passionate about mathematics, so it seems like a good place for me. It also helps that I generally find the work easy. (Mathematics and getting a Master's was kind of the lazy, easy path for me, which sounds ludicrous, but it totally was.) I'll be an adjunct professor at some university for a while. Eventually my plan is to be a fantasy author full-time, and I think doing this will give me sufficient free time to do that.

Why did I stay at MSU? I'm not sure how many places I applied to nearing graduation, but I remember that I planned to stay here that summer for my very easy summer job, so I hadn't applied to much. I applied to be a director of MSU's math learning center, as the two co-directors were retiring simultaneously. I am told that they were impressed with my interview, but the positions went to more experienced people. Fortunately, a week later, they offered me a position being a supervisor in the math learning center, which in exchange for being in there ten hours a week, it counted as a class. I also got enough classes so I was essentially full-time. It was a sweet deal, and this next year I am guaranteed full-time. I continued here because I didn't have much money to move and had no other job offers. They needed me to make my decision rapidly, so I accepted rather than waiting for another potential job. I think it will look very good to have a lot of teaching experience, so I'll be staying for this year, and possibly the next. I do want to move into a bigger city, as this one is getting old.

I have no real opinion upon research, as I have no experience in that regard. There is certainly a lot of pressure to publish, but I think that scholarly research will correct any mistakes, given enough time. My university certainly likes research, but my department seems pretty relaxed, for the most part, and makes teaching an extremely high priority.