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MichaelAO

4,118 karma · joined June 23, 2012

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MichaelAO··on No science, no startups: The innovation engine we're switching off
Reading The Economics Laws of Scientific Laws rocked my world on this topic. Tldr is that the basic to applied science pipeline proposed by Francis Bacon and now assumed as physical law is a fiction that legitimizes the state, wastes taxpayer money, and retards science.

More science will happen with less government funding (see crowding out effect). This is why it's important to look not just at the intention of a policy, but at the actual outcome.

This author has the tail wagging the dog. I'd rephrase it... more startups, more science.

MichaelAO··on Show HN: AG1 for Your Teeth
Thanks!

Our current probiotic blend includes Lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus reuteri, lactobacillus paracasei, lactobacillus salivarius, salivarius thermophilus, streptococcus salivarius K12, S. salivarius M18.

Would love any recommendations or ideas. We also include L-Arginine on this front.

MichaelAO··on Show HN: AG1 for Your Teeth
Thank you! Definitely recommend still brushing and flossing while using Peak. We do 3 sprays and brush just like we’re using traditional toothpaste. We’ll clarify on the site!
MichaelAO··on Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
In university I made a Muon imaging system that kind of worked: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTar-wghXFB/

Started with a single detector: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSz_rZ1h_sN/

MichaelAO··on Happy Teacher's Appreciation Week to All the CS Teachers
Why are you afraid of privatization? The government monopoly hasn't exactly been stellar.
MichaelAO··on Ask HN: Teaching kids how to think?
Core knowledge. Create an environment that encourages a love of reading as soon as possible and help them develop core knowledge about the world around them. This includes both language and facts/concepts about everything from ancient history to the solar system.

Domain-specific background knowledge is incredibly important. It turns out (for the most part) there are no general purpose cognitive skills... it's all domain specific. A student that knows about baseball will comprehend an article about baseball much better than one that doesn't have the core knowledge of what a run, base, double, home run, etc. means. Decoding strategies be damned.

Helping your young child develop said background knowledge will put them in a fantastic spot as they enter school. They'll 'get the joke' - it's a bit like velcro for the brain. Nothing sticks for the students that enter school without the cognitive velcro that is domain-specific background knowledge.

I know this sounds completely contrary to the progressive education philosophies that domain our culture about teaching kids how to think vs what to think... no memorization, etc. It surprised me too.

Check out the work of cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham, Natalie Wexler (The Knowledge gap is a great book) or E.D. Hirsch for a deep dive.

MichaelAO··on Autodesk Fusion 360 becomes almost useless for hobbyists
We have our older students at dexter.school use Onshape. It's a good web-based analog to Solidworks: https://www.onshape.com/
MichaelAO··on Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
"The average homeschooled kid is much more likely to miss social cues, stumble through a difficult interaction with feckless ineptitude, or even parrot their parents own myopic stereotypes or falsehoods."

Curious if this is something you have direct experience with/referencing a study or if you're just repeating the commonly held trope. I work at a school that has welcomed a large number of former home schoolers and I find your comment contrary to my experience with dozen of home school kids.

Additionally, describing public schools as a place where empathy, listening, and conflict resolution happens is counter to my experience working with public school districts. Genuinely interested to learn where you're coming from with your comment.

MichaelAO··on What Comes After Zoom?
As an educator, Zoom is clunky and not designed for the use case. We built an interactive live streaming platform during COVID-19 that we've found powerful. A few keys features have been moderated chat, the ability to invite students to join via video, embedded quizzes, and various screen sharing layouts.

Check out a stream today to see it in action: https://dexter.live/

MichaelAO··on Ask HN: What did you make during lockdown?
We built a free educational live streaming platform that connects kids with the best teachers: https://dexter.live/
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
That makes us so happy to hear, thanks for sharing. Sending a screenshot of this to the stream host now : )
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
Thanks for the suggestion!
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
Just deployed time zones. Thanks for the suggestion!
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
Thanks! We use MomentJS Timezone to localize to your machine. We'll add something to make that more clear.
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
No, we're using Agora's API for streaming. Twitch's API works well however we want to try to keep as much in-house for the exact reason you mentioned above in controlling the viewer experience.

We'll also be implementing their Cloud Recording functionality but that's WIP.

Yes, we used Firebase to build real-time polls and ChartJS to display said data.

Not a problem, if you want to continue the thread more long-form shoot me an email -> bryant(at)dexterlearning.com

(had to post for Bryant... HN throttled his comments/responses)

MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
Agreed. It has been so interesting teaching via live stream (versus in the classroom). We've experimented with things like POV cameras and streaming in strange places (like a state park for an astronomy stream). Agreed with p5.js - we have a STEM Coding stream/course starting on Monday hosted by Dr. Chris Orban (https://u.osu.edu/stemcoding/)
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
Just redeployed - good call looks way better.
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
A big consideration was moderated chat. When we initially embedded a Twitch iframe on our LMS (streamed from Streamyard) - we had little control over who was participating. A cool side effect of it being on one platform is that our streamers can now invite students to join via video with a single click.
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
Fixed. Facepalm. Thank you!
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
We haven't had time to optimize for mobile. Most of the users are kids watching on a computer at home, but it's on the list!
MichaelAO··on Show HN: A free educational live stream platform for kids
I work at a school with a campus in Texas and due to COVID-19, we created an interactive live streaming platform to connect kids with the world's best teachers in a fun and safe way. All of our live streams are free and open to the public.

We were previously using a combination of Streamyard + Twitch, but had to make our own for various reasons. I'll see if our CTO will give a debrief of the tech stack on this thread.

If you're a scientist, engineer, or artist interested in streaming on the platform let me know! michael@dexterlearning.com

MichaelAO··on Getting started with linear algebra
Check out Better Explained for a good intuitive guide to linear algebra (among other things): https://betterexplained.com/articles/matrix-multiplication/
MichaelAO··on Do electrons think? (1949)
Interesting interview with Basil Hiley (collaborator with David Bohm) on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wayQn0uVIvE
MichaelAO··on Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?
Alan Kay's 'Normal Considered Harmful' is a good place to start (more about computing in general): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvmTSpJU-Xc
MichaelAO··on Death of a Biohacker
You're probably aware of John C. Lilly, if not worth reading some of his work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Lilly#Exploration_of_h...
MichaelAO··on Ask HN: What is your favourite tech talk?
Richard Hamming, "You and Your Research" (June 6, 1995): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zDuOPkMSw
MichaelAO··on Molyneux's problem
Good point. If you haven't already, check out this talk by Donald Hoffman: https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_hoffman_do_we_see_reality_a...
MichaelAO··on Game Theory: Open Access textbook
This youtube channel has proven invaluable to me: https://www.youtube.com/user/JimBobJenkins

His book is also great (http://gametheory101.com/textbooks/), but mostly a reiteration of the videos.

MichaelAO··on Tezos founders push for legal bailout from Swiss foundation
The Bitcoin Uncensored interview with Arthur Breitman is interesting to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsY5wXj4Xm8
MichaelAO··on Philosophy of Ghost in the Shell
Thanks for the feedback. Just made font smaller.
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