What is the best skill you possess that makes you stand above the average person?
Statistical modeling.
And yes, I am miffed about the use of the word “exponential” in this post’s title.
Same here; what’re the odds?
About 50/50. Either you are or you aren’t.
But what are the exponential odds?
50^2 / 50^2
I’d approach it logically.
If 50/50 = you are / you aren’t
Then
(50/50)^2 = you are are / you are aren’t / you aren’t are / you aren’t aren’t
Applying the locig gates AND : 25%. OR : 75%. XOR : 50% NAND : 75% NOR: 25% XNOR : 50%
The results average at 50/50.
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Likewise, so higher than we thought lol.
I got a PhD in philosophy. I have exponentially more experience applying for jobs and getting rejected than most people.
I was clearing out my Hotmail. I’ve a Msc in health psych. Well over 1k in reject emails. I may have a rival
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Math (I’m a graduate student). And “exponentially more experienced than the average” means nothing as exponential is a progression, not a comparison between two values.
What this person is trying to say is they are exponentially better at being technically correct.
Exponentially the best kind of correct by an order of magnitude.
Hey now you can’t determine orders of magnitude before you know the values
Your statement is cromulent.
Exponentially correct is the worst kind of magnitude
This is one of my biggest pet peeves lol
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Orders of magnitude maybe?
I’d go with “significantly”.
A simple “a lot” would do fine. “Orders of magnitude” as someone else suggested would work too.
5sigma from the average person.
My pet peeve with mathy stuff, “something is X times closer/smaller etc than something else”
If A is 1 away, saying B is ten times closer means what exactly? Is B 10 away? 9, 0.1?
I think what most examples are trying to say is that A is ten times the distance to B, but the way it is said if just annoying.“Ten times closer” is pretty unambiguously 0.1. What starts getting more confusing is “300% further” which is technically 4 but many understand as 3 (try replacing by 50%, 50% further is 1.5 not 0.5). Also “50% closer” being the same as twice closer while 50% further is only 1.5x further can get confusing too, and it gets even worse with “50% slower” - is speed now 1/1.5 (= it takes 50% more time) or 0.5/1 (= speed is reduced by 50%) ?
Most of the time it is pretty easy to know what the winter is trying to imply.
It gets really silly when using big numbers. e.g. a nanometre is 100,000 times smaller than a human hair.
So you’re asking people what they do for a living?
Doing something for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week makes you a lot better at that thing than other people.
Actually doing something for 40 hours a week is truly remarkable. People waste so much time, me included.
Man I’m so good at sleeping though. I get at least 5 hours a night, so that’s 40 a week! Woohoo!
/s
Where do you get an 8-day week? I want one (assuming it’s an extra break day not work day…).
But I don’t spend 40 hours doing the same thing. I do a bunch of different regular bullshit that you can’t really be “good” at, like sending emails and chatting with people on Teams.
Since the Reddit blackout I decided to learn how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. My best time for solving one so far is 82 seconds. I know it’s no world record but the average person can’t solve a Rubik’s cube so I’m way more experienced.
Way to go! I used to hustle the lunch room with my Rubik’s cube and get people’s desserts by solving it in less than a minute. I only knew the inefficient layer-by-layer method, so it really was a race.
It was my eldest that got me going actually. He came home from school with the old shit cube he had, did 3 turns on it and said “There, I solved it Dad.”
I said “Did you fuck. Who sorted that for you?” and he told me a kid at school was just asking everyone if they had a cube and to bring it in to school, so he did and the kid solved it for him.
I thought “If a 12 year old can do it, so can I” and used it to help with my Reddit withdrawals.
I’ve finally got a magnetic cube now and just have it in my pocket. I’m trying to improve my F2L speed where you put the corners in and the 2nd layer at the same time. I really like doing the last layer with algorithms, it’s like magic.
I didn’t even know Rubik’s cubes had layers. What are they ?
When you look up how to solve them, it’s a white cross (so the white would be the first layer), making sure your middle tile of the cross pieces match the middle of the sides (red green blue orange), then you put the corners of the bottom (white) layer in, matching the colours. The middles don’t move so you then put in the corners of the middle layer, completing 2 layers.
The top layer is the yellow one, opposite the white layer.
oh, my god. The middles don’t move ! you just blew my mind
Definitely. I use Rubik’s cubes as paperweights
I feel like this about chess. I’m fairly confident I can beat everyone I know except for like 3 people. But I’m better than 12% of people on Lichess.
Yeah it just goes to show that hobbies are like icebergs.
I picked up a guitar in Covid and managed to learn basic chords and songs in the first year of playing it every single day. I’m 4 years in now, and I feel less advanced than I felt back then.
I think it’s because when you’re learning a new technique, you fucking suck at it, but when it’s in counterpoint to other techniques that you can do to a high level, it sounds worse than just one technique being played badly, plus you’ve trained your ears over the time you’ve been playing, so you can hear the bad bits better.
Guitarists that have been playing for decades have more of these techniques down so they sound better, but that’s just to people who have struggled with those techniques themselves. To the uninitiated guitarists are just guitarists, some play country and some do that wiggly wiggly guitar solo thing.
Guitar playing is an Iceberg with a big bit sticking up, chess and rubix cubes are smaller icebergs, but you’ve got to mine it all the way down before you can climb to the top.
I picked up cubing half a year ago as a middle aged dad. I set myself a goal of being able to solve it in under 30 seconds. I’m averaging around 40s now so I’m slowly getting there. It’s a fun little hobby and I always carry my cube around with me and practice as often as I can. I just finished learning all 21 PLL algorithms and I’m quite proud of myself 😄
I’m 39 and right there with you, although I can’t seem to get under 80 seconds for a solve yet. I’ve been cubing for a couple of months and have got the 2 look pll and oll down nearly now, just a couple of algorithms I’m struggling to remember. Love doing the last layer though, it’s like magic.
I’m at a point now where I’m solving faster than I was (it was around the 3 minute mark a couple of weeks ago but I’ve just got a RS3M) and it is starting to feel “easy” now.
I also have one in my pocket most of the time, it’s another hobby my wife hates lol “Do you HAVE to bring that thing with you?” YES I DO
I’ve just got the Tornado V3 Pioneer, and I’m loving it. Just using that cube cut off some time in itself. Have you started doing F2L and cross directly in bottom yet? I averaged 55ish with 2-look OLL and PLL with F2L and cross in bottom. It takes a long time to get really fast with F2L so that’s a ongoing thing I’m trying to optimize.
I’ve been eyeballing the Tornado V3 Flagship myself. I do the cross on the bottom, but advanced f2l means adding the f2l while doing the cross and I’m not that good yet. I feel like this week I’ve just started getting a real feel for pairing up the blocks, and that’s lead to quicker solves. It’ll be a few more weeks of practicing to get it intuitive but I’m definitely on the right path.
By feel I can identify 20 lb, 24 lb, 28 lb, 65 lb cover, 110 lb cover, and 12 pt matte paper. I’m increasingly impressed by people’s business cards as a result, as it is often much, much heavier than 12 pt matte.
Using comparison I can distinguish 80 lb semi-gloss cover, 100 lb semi-gloss cover, 8 pt gloss, 10 pt gloss, and 12 pt gloss. (But then again, most people could, given multiple choices rather than a free-response question.)
“Look at that subtle off-white colouring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my god, it even has a watermark.”
Does it have a watermark?
In case you’re legitimately asking: No, it’s just cheaper and fancier versions of normal printer paper and cardstock (cover and cardstock are essentially the same thing). You just feel its texture, maybe shake it a little, figure out its weight.
Being comfortable enough with myself to answer this question honestly: nothing
Socializing with cats, befriending them.
I too consider myself better at this than the average person. I often find myself slow blinking at random cats in the street.
I wish I had this skill! I love cats and dogs and wish I could talk to them and pet them every time I see them.
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Having gone through conscription military, I have leveled up some very important abilities.
Looking busy: I can find convincing ways to spend time without actually doing anything important.
Wasting time: When nobody is looking, I can find creative and fun ways to pass the time. (this ability is maxed out)
Also gained a few special perks.
Forest fun: Who needs movies, games or the internet when you have an axe and some wood. Even pine cones, rocks and sticks will be enough to keep you preoccupied in creative ways.
Day dreaming: Who needs the forest, when you can build countless universes in your mind.
Oh, and I did learn to shoot and keep my rifle in working order. I guess that’s nice too. Didn’t get to level that anywhere near as much, but that’s ok.
To add on to your ‘looking busy’ skills…In Moving Pictures, sir Terry Pratchett points out that if you have a determined fast walk and a piece of paper in your hand, you can go anywhere. I used to use this technique to get breaks in the office. I’d just grab a piece of paper and quickly walk the length of the building with a determined expression.
And if you walk fast enough, the paper can also be completely empty.
Kind of the same as “wearing a yellow jacket and acting like you belong”… Add in the piece of paper and the determined look, that’s how you get handed the city keys
Some time in the 90s several computers of an office were stolen that way. Some guys just parked a van right in front of the front door and started loading the van with computers. Those machines weren’t cheap back in those days, so these guys just got away with some pretty nice loot. All you have to do is walk in with a determined look and everyone will assume you’re simply doing your job.
Smooth criminal !
I want to join in here too with the exceptionally good driving. I, like everyone else here, am totally a very much better driver than the average person on the road. Exponentially much better, even!
One friend of mine says the same all the time… In fact, he’s the worst driver I’ve ever driven with! In reality, I am much better and even exponentially better than the average driver.
I like to think people learn from me just by hearing my cry of “come onnnnn!”
All you have to do in order to be a better than average driver is to be alert to what’s going in around you. I do that, and I drive fast. I’m an exponentially better driver than most.
Statistics.
That word does not mean what you think it means.
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The word in question is “exponentially”.
And in any case, no.
I have a lot of experience reconstructing whale skeletons for museums and such. I do it as a hobby with a friend of mine who is the marine mammals recovery coordinator for the state of North Carolina.
Based Lego.
Haha I think I would describe it more like erector sets than lego but yes it is very similar. We put the whales in the ground for ~18 months and then pull them out and out them together piece by piece
I am, without trying to sound arrogant, much better at cornering, roundabouts, and general driving than a large part of the population in Australia.
I can enter a roundabout, in a preselected gear, at appropriate revs and speed. Load up the suspension just right, so I’m released into my chosen exit, kissing the apex with a release of energy that feels so sweet, smooth and safe, that it’s a beautiful part of my life.
All within safe thresholds, and always when I know it’s safe. And the way others use roundabouts, it’s always safer than the general population.
You’re like an aussie Alan partridge
As a fellow Australian I think this is partly down to the equipment as well.
I can take a roundabout much faster and more confidently in my sports car with a low centre of gravity and performance tyres compared to an SUV with cheapo tyres like a large proportion of the population drives.
I’m guessing you also drive a car which is more performant than most on the road.
No matter what you drive, it’s still not hard to be better than all the people who stall traffic because they don’t realize they can squeeze through a gap about 4 feet wider than their car so we can actually pre fill the turn lane while the light’s red.
Nor is it hard to actually know to accelerate smoothly through a turn instead of braking through it.
Or to know how to just stay in your clearly marked turn lane during your turn (literally marked through the entire intersection) instead of cutting off the other two turn lanes (this happened to me yesterday).
None of these things are actually much harder to do in a large car than a sports car, just obviously your actual speed and acceleration should change based on your car, tires, and everything else. I use the same principles I use when driving a fun car to help drive safely when it’s a minivan.
found Daniel Ricciardo
I’m an American who knows how to properly signal when going through a roundabout. This automatically makes me more knowledgeable than 99.99999% of American drivers.
Not littering.
Maybe not better than an average person, but the last 10 years of my life taught me lots of handy life skills, like owning up to my mistakes, having more self esteem, showing confidence in tough situations, standing up for myself, having better people skills and to know when not to get involved and when to speak up.
Most of these are basic human skills, but the combination of these can make a huge difference. I landed jobs thanks to them, I made friends and removed toxic people from my life. I have less issues with adult responsibilities and in general I am less stressed.
Again maybe not exceptionally more experienced than an average person, but compared to my old self its a huge difference.
Isn’t it kind of amazing how much better your life can be with the addition of those “soft” skills?
