Empiricism is an important virtue; it’s great to try things and find what works for you, and there’s a noble tradition of people doing that and blogging about it. We should be doing this more.
The problem is that experimenting on yourself can be pretty slow and tricky and inconvenient.
This post is about Taguchi arrays, which fix that by allowing you to get much more useful information from far fewer experiments. The method is commonly used in industry for process optimisation, but it isn’t complicated and is very easy to apply to DIY experiments. (Thanks to NightHawkInLight for making me aware of this!)
The default way kind of sucks
Suppose you’re wondering what will work best to improve your sleep. You’ve got one of those sleep tracker devices that gives you an integrated Sleep Quality Score, so you’ve got a clear metric to optimise. Let’s do some empiricism!
Now, what interventions to test? A lot of people say melatonin is good. Apparently 0.3mg is the ideal, but maybe 1mg works better, and it’s more commonly available. Other people swear by magnesium. You can get magnesium glycinate easily, but some say magnesium l-threonate is better, although it’s more expensive. You’ve heard exercising helps, but is cardio or strength better? And you’ve got some of those blue light blocking glasses, but they look kind of goofy. There’s a ton of things to test.
One thing at a time
The big piece of accepted wisdom here is to only change one thing at a time. If you change more than one thing and your sleep gets better, you won’t know which thing did it. Or, one thing you change might help and the other might make things worse, so they cancel each other out and you learn nothing.
Changing one thing at a time, we need at least 8 experiments:
Baseline
0.3mg Melatonin
1mg Melatonin
Magnesium glycinate
Magnesium l-threonate
Cardio
Strength
Goofy glasses
In principle we could do this in 8 days, just trying each thing once.
But that’s going to be really noisy. Just one measurement per item is hardly going to tell us anything; we should try each thing on more than one night to get more signal. Maybe do each one for two or three days? That’s 16 or 24 days, which is kind of a lot. Give each thing a week and that’s 2 months of experimentation.
And also, we care about finding a good overall setup, not just which individual things work. Probably there are some interactions here, like, what if magnesium works really well, but only if you also exercise? We’d never find out using this experiment.
Test everything?
To really know, we’d want to try every combination. So, 3 levels of melatonin (none, 0.3mg, 1mg), times 3 options for magnesium (none, glycinate, l-threonate), times 3 exercise options (none, cardio, strength), times 2 for red glasses (yes or no), means… 54 days, to try each thing once. That’s not great.
You go to an online Taguchi array generator like this one, add in your factors and their levels, and it spits out something like this:
Before you start, it’s a good idea to randomly shuffle the order of the rows, so secular changes or cumulative effects don’t bias things.
Then you go through the rows one night at a time. Each night you follow the protocol listed, and each morning you record your Sleep Score for that protocol.
Now to analyse the results. The genius of orthogonal arrays is that for any pair of factors, every possible combination of their levels appears the same number of times. This means that you can safely compare averages.
So if for example we want to know how magnesium glycinate compares with magnesium l-threonate, we can take the average of the sleep scores of nights we took glycinate, and the average of nights where we took l-threonate, and just see which is better. This is safe to do, because all the other variables are equally represented in those sets, so they won’t bias things. You can go through and check - the 3 glycinate nights have one of each of the melatonin levels, and one of each of the exercise levels, and two have glasses and one doesn’t, and the exact same is true of the L-threonate nights, and of the “no magnesium” nights. And this nice property is also true for all of the possible values of all other pairs of factors.
So using just 9 nights of experiments (just one more than the original 8 night experiment which told us very little), we get at least three nights of data to average together for each level of each factor, rather than just one! And we’re testing all possible combinations of levels for each pair of factors at least once. With just these 9 experiments, we can find out a huge amount of information, almost as much as we’d get from the full 54-day factorial experiment!
Limitations
Now, this works best for situations where you expect the result to be approximately a linear combination of the factors, with only simple interactions between pairs of factors. For example, if there were some major interaction between three factors, like if melatonin worked wonderfully but only if you do cardio and also don’t wear light-blocking glasses, this wouldn’t catch that. But real life experiments tend not to have much of that kind of thing.
And of course if you have a situation like, magnesium only starts to help with sleep on the third night in a row you take it, this won’t detect that. But that’s a problem with using ‘sleep score on the same night’ as the metric, not an issue with Taguchi methods.
I hope that this easy to use experimental design method gets widespread adoption. It really lowers the bar for getting useful information from DIY experiments. Try it for yourself!
At a conference/festival last year, there was a Shibari workshop on the schedule for some reason, although the topic of the event was prediction markets. This led to the following exchange (all names changed):
Adam (who at the time was basically a stranger to me): Hmm, “Shibari”… What is that, some kind of Jewish ritual?
Me: No, it’s-
Barbara: EVERYONE SHUT UP! Ok. Nobody tell this man what shibari is.
Everyone: …?
Barbara: We’re playing 20 questions.
Thus began what was by far the best game of 20 questions I have ever witnessed. There were… appreciably more than 20 questions.
[literally ten minutes of questions later]
Adam: Ok, so! Shibari… is a Japanese social export, it’s an activity somebody does, it’s in some way artistic, it does not involve drawing, it does not involve writing, it involves an inorganic object and an organic object, and… the organic object is a human, right?
Everyone: Right
Adam: And the inorganic object…
Barbara: Well…
Chris: The inanimate object
Adam: The inanimate object, which, oh, which is organic, which suggests that it’s clothes… Is the inanimate object clothing?
Everyone: No
Me: To clarify, the inanimate object is always organic in terms of ‘organic chemistry’, but might or might not be, like, made from biological material
Adam: Ok. And so, you have an inanimate object, and you have a person… The person does not have to do anything during the… shibari activity. You are doing a manipulation to the inanimate object, with the person, for purposes that are fun… Is it for the entertainment of a group?
Barbara: Could be? …
Adam: So it could be for the entertainment of a group, but it could be for the entertainment of the individuals?
Everyone: Right
Adam: Ok. The inanimate object - the equipment - right? It is not specialised, but is a common object, correct?
Everyone: yeah
AI
Adam: Does it have anything at all to do with AI?
Everyone: [laughter] No
Adam: I had to check. In this setting, everything turns back to AI at some point
Me: I would say no
Frank: Not yet!
Me: Right, not yet. But yeah, 'No’ is definitely the answer to that one
George: I trust Rob Miles on this
Barbara: As an expert in shibari?
Frank: As an expert in AI Shibari. I think that’s what it’s called.
Chris: Oh, yeah it kind of is!
Can one shibari by accident?
Adam: Ok. Is it something that one might do without knowing that it is shibari?
Everyone: [cacophony of disagreement]
Me: Interesting question!
Frank: Very interesting question.
Barbara: It’s totally plausible that someone would do something that would qualify as shibari without knowing the Japanese artform
Me: Yeah, and they might also have seen things about it but not know the name of it
Chatting during shibari
Adam: Does it involve talking?
Everyone: No, not necessarily
Adam: God Dammit. Agh, I thought it might be… talking using some prop or something
Barbara: For me it always involves talking, but it’s…
Adam: One doesn’t have to?
Barbara: It’s just 'cause I don’t stop talking
[laughter]
Adam: And it doesn’t involve betting markets in any way?
Everyone: No
How technologically advanced is shibari equipment?
Adam: Ok. Is the object technologically difficult to make?
Everyone: No
One guy: Yes
Everyone: What? No it isn’t!
Adam: Is it only available in an industrialised economy?
Everyone: No
That one guy again: Yes!
Everyone: NO!!!
The guy: No, you’re right, I’m sorry… But it is difficult to make
George: Every object is difficult to make!
Barbara: Maybe you’re confused about what shibari is
Ed: Yeah, you should be up there with Adam
Adam: Would it have been available before industrialisation?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Ok. Um… is it a stick?
Everyone: It’s not a stick
No cheap tricks allowed
Adam: I feel like I’m gonna get close to covering everything…
Me: I feel like we were very close just now, when you were like “Well what could this object be?”
Adam: Ok so the object is important. It’s… before industrialisation… Does it begin with a letter before-
Everyone: No, no, we’re not doing that. N/A
Adam: Ok so it starts with an N and an A…
[laughter]
What is this dang object?
Adam: Ok… so… is the object artificially pigmented?
Everyone: Can be, but not necessarily
Adam: Is it commonly painted?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it commonly dyed?
Everyone: Yes
Adam: Ok, is it something that it’s very common to dye in other purposes?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: Does it involve a vegetable, of some kind?
Everyone: …No?
Adam: Does it involve a plant?
Everyone: [confusion about what 'involve’ means]
George: The object can have… some relation to a plant
Me: eehhh, that’s more confusing than helpful. We already said that it can be biologically derived
Adam: But it would have been available before industrialisation?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: So it’s got to be something that is… around. Is it something that requires human modification to make into the form we know and love?
Everyone: Yes
Adam: Uh.. does this processing require specialised skill?
Everyone: Yeah, some skill for sure
Adam: Would I be able to do it? Like, without training?
Everyone: Probably not
Ed: On a long enough time horizon you’d figure it out, but the answer is basically no
Adam: Like, you throw me in with the tools to make it and say “come out in an hour”, could I…
Everyone: No, probably not
Adam: But other people would be able to make it in an hour?
Everyone: Yeah, with the right skills
It’s not a weapon
Adam: Does it involve a weapon of any kind?
Everyone: No.
George: How creative are you allowed to-
Everyone: The answer’s no
What shape is the object?
[long pause]
Adam: Well… does anyone else have any questions?
Barbara: You’re asking such good questions though!
Ed: Yeah you’re doing a good job
Danielle: I think you should ask more questions about the shape of the object
Everyone: Oh, great suggestion
Adam: Ok, is it spherical?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it cylindrical?
Everyone: Yyeeaahh, sort of, yeah.
Adam: So it’s not a pure cylinder but it’s cylindrical-ish?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: Is it an ovaloid?
Everyone: No.
Adam: Is it an ellipsoid?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it uh… hmm… But it’s longer than it is wide?
Everyone: Yes!!!
[scattered applause, we’re close now]
Adam: Is it a plank of wood?
Everyone: No!!!
Barbara: It still isn’t that!
Frank: No, his previous guess was stick
Adam: Yeah, a plank of wood requires processing and I couldn’t make it… like it fits a lot of the other questions
Barbara: No you’re right, that’s fair, I’m convinced. It is a plank of wood.
Where is the object?
Adam: Could I find it inside a building or outside a building?
Everyone: Yes…
Adam: Wait. I mean. Ok, can you find it in a bathroom?
Everyone: Not really
Adam: Can you find it in a kitchen?
Everyone: Probably not
Adam: Can you find it lying on the ground?
Everyone: Yeah possibly
Adam: Is it something that people commonly use?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: Is it something that people would pick up if they saw it lying there?
Everyone: Nah
It’s really not a weapon
Adam: Is it something that is dangerous at all?
Everyone: Can be, but not especially
Adam: Is any part of it sharp?
Everyone: No
Adam: Can any part of it fragment?
Everyone: [???]
Adam: Like, is it brittle?
Everyone: No
Adam: So it’s firm?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it flexible?
Everyone: Yes!!
Adam: Ok! Is it a pool noodle?
Everyone: [laughter]
Adam: Which is cylindrical, flexible, and organic, dyed but not painted…
Everyone: No, we’re so proud of you, you’re doing great
Me: But we did say “pre-industrial”
Pinning down the object
Adam: Ok ok. Is it a solid?
Everyone: Yes
Adam: Is it any of the solid hybrids, like a colloid or a gel?
Everyone: No
Adam: Does it retain its shape after being bent?
Everyone: Uh… yes?
Adam: So it doesn’t spring back with any force?
Everyone: No, it doesn’t spring back
Adam: Ok… so… Is it Japanese in origin, or is it found around the world?
Everyone: [assorted contradictory statements]
Me: The origin of the practice is Japan, but the origin of the object is all over
Adam: Is the object put on a person?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Is the object… um… is the object rope?
Everyone: YES!!
[scattered applause]
Me: The object is rope!
Adam: Ok!
Me: Now bring it home
Bringing it home?
Adam: Are things hung upon the rope?
Everyone: Uuuuummmmmm. Ambiguous? No.
Adam: Is the rope itself… does the rope look good?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Ok! Is this putting-on… a mark of esteem?
Everyone: No?? ???
[laughter]
Adam: So the object is a rope, and you’re putting the rope on somebody
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: You’re… putting rope on somebody!
Everyone: Yeah!
Adam: Is that… is that not the practice?
Everyone: No, no, it is, it is!
[confused cheering. Are we done?]
We’re not done
Chris: But, no, come on, there’s more to it!
Ed: You’re missing something critical!
Chris: You’re so close!
Adam: Ok. Do you… hang someone?
Everyone: [strongly conflicting opinions]
Barbara: Only if you’re doing it extremely wrong
Adam: Ok. But you can tie knots?
Everyone: YES!
Adam: Ok! Do you tie… is it a bracelet of some-
Everyone: No!
Adam: So it’s not an adornment of any kind…
Everyone: Well…
Where on the body?
Adam: Is it put on your neck?
Chris: No
Danielle: Well, can be…
Adam: On your head?
Everyone: Can be
Adam: On a limb?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: It’s on a limb
Me: Not exclusively
Adam: On an arm?
Everyone: Can be
Adam: On a leg?
Everyone: Can be
Adam: On… uh… I’ve run out of limbs…
What does it mean?
Adam: Ok, it’s rope, you put it on somebody, it’s Japanese in origin… does it… signify something?
Everyone: Not really
Adam: Hmm. Do you tie the rope in a loop?
Everyone: …Yeah??
Adam: I’m wondering, is it the casting of ropes upon people, like uh…
Chris: It’s not a lasso, no
Frank: I like the idea of shibari as, like, a carnival game…
Barbara: I’m unclear on what the win condition is here…
Ed: I feel like there is a really important component that we haven’t got yet
Everyone: Yeah, when he gets that component, he’s won
Are people into shibari?
Adam: Hmm… Did you find yourself fired by enthusiasm to do it upon being told about it?
Several people: Yes
Me: Personally no, but…
[laughter]
Adam: So it has mixed appeal?
Barbara: That is absolutely correct
Can one shibari… too hard?
Adam: Is it um, does it involve the tying of knots?
Everyone: YES
Adam: Ok. Are there knots that are peculiar to shibari?
Everyone: yeah
Adam: Is the learning of knots, or the tying of knots upon other people the important part?
Everyone: Uh… yes?
Adam: Do you tie someone up and they attempt to escape?
Everyone: Uh, not necessarily, but like, often.
Me: Yes is closer than no, I think
Adam: Ok, you tie rope on someone. Do you have to use some sort of special rope for it? Can you use any rope?
Barbara: You can use any rope, but some are better than others
Adam: So you wouldn’t want to use any rough ropes, or…
Danielle: No, you do, that’s actually preferred
Adam: You prefer rough ropes?
Chris: Some do
Frank: It depends
Danielle: Natural fibers tend to be rougher
Adam: Does it chafe?
Danielle: It can, but ideally not
Adam: Would you do it even if you were injured in the process of doing it?
Frank: No
Barbara: You would not want that to happen generally
Adam: Uh… Does it look cool?
Everyone: Yes!!
Origami?
Adam: So you’re tying knots that look cool… is it like an origami for knots?
Everyone: [confused disagreement]
Ed: It’s not about the knots
Chris: It’s totally about the knots!
Frank: It’s all about the cones…
Adam: Like, in origami you fold paper in ways that look cool, maybe you tie knots in ways that look cool?
Everyone: [loud disagreement]
Diagnosing the problem
[long long pause]
Chris: Ask the question in your heart!
Adam: …Neckties?
Everyone: No?
Barbara: I keep thinking “But, he already has it”, and then he asks a question that makes me say “No, he doesn’t have it at all”
Frank: I think there’s a question you want to ask, but you’re not…
Everyone: Yeah
Chris: Yeah, ask the question that you don’t want to ask
Danielle: I don’t think he has the question…
Adam: Would it cause any gratification in someone?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Would it… Would it cause sexual gratification?
Everyone: Yes!!
Adam: Is it a practice… under the category of kink?
Everyone: Yes!!!
Adam: Is it tying somebody up for bondage purposes?
Everyone: YEAH!!! [Pandemonium, hollering, applause, Adam is lifted above the cheering crowd]
After the hearty congratulations were done, I wandered off, elated from the experience, and I bumped into a group of friends.
“Friends!” I said, “I just had the funniest experience. This guy didn’t know what 'shibari’ was, so we-”
“Shibari?” a friend interjected, “What is that, like, a Jewish building?”
“OK EVERYONE SHUT UP” I said.
I love everything about this but I am BAFFLED by why two different people in the predictive markets sector think Shibari is Jewish.
Oh, I know this one!
Firstly, a lot of people in and around prediction market spaces are Jewish, so people in these spaces have lots of experiences of words they don’t know turning out to be a Jewish thing.
Secondly, if you say “shibari” out loud, it sounds a lot like “Shabbat”, especially if you say it quickly, so they’re probably thinking “I feel like I’ve heard that word before … something Jewish?”
At a conference/festival last year, there was a Shibari workshop on the schedule for some reason, although the topic of the event was prediction markets. This led to the following exchange (all names changed):
Adam (who at the time was basically a stranger to me): Hmm, “Shibari”… What is that, some kind of Jewish ritual?
Me: No, it’s-
Barbara: EVERYONE SHUT UP! Ok. Nobody tell this man what shibari is.
Everyone: …?
Barbara: We’re playing 20 questions.
Thus began what was by far the best game of 20 questions I have ever witnessed. There were… appreciably more than 20 questions.
[literally ten minutes of questions later]
Adam: Ok, so! Shibari… is a Japanese social export, it’s an activity somebody does, it’s in some way artistic, it does not involve drawing, it does not involve writing, it involves an inorganic object and an organic object, and… the organic object is a human, right?
Everyone: Right
Adam: And the inorganic object…
Barbara: Well…
Chris: The inanimate object
Adam: The inanimate object, which, oh, which is organic, which suggests that it’s clothes… Is the inanimate object clothing?
Everyone: No
Me: To clarify, the inanimate object is always organic in terms of ‘organic chemistry’, but might or might not be, like, made from biological material
Adam: Ok. And so, you have an inanimate object, and you have a person… The person does not have to do anything during the… shibari activity. You are doing a manipulation to the inanimate object, with the person, for purposes that are fun… Is it for the entertainment of a group?
Barbara: Could be? …
Adam: So it could be for the entertainment of a group, but it could be for the entertainment of the individuals?
Everyone: Right
Adam: Ok. The inanimate object - the equipment - right? It is not specialised, but is a common object, correct?
Everyone: yeah
AI
Adam: Does it have anything at all to do with AI?
Everyone: [laughter] No
Adam: I had to check. In this setting, everything turns back to AI at some point
Me: I would say no
Frank: Not yet!
Me: Right, not yet. But yeah, 'No’ is definitely the answer to that one
George: I trust Rob Miles on this
Barbara: As an expert in shibari?
Frank: As an expert in AI Shibari. I think that’s what it’s called.
Chris: Oh, yeah it kind of is!
Can one shibari by accident?
Adam: Ok. Is it something that one might do without knowing that it is shibari?
Everyone: [cacophony of disagreement]
Me: Interesting question!
Frank: Very interesting question.
Barbara: It’s totally plausible that someone would do something that would qualify as shibari without knowing the Japanese artform
Me: Yeah, and they might also have seen things about it but not know the name of it
Chatting during shibari
Adam: Does it involve talking?
Everyone: No, not necessarily
Adam: God Dammit. Agh, I thought it might be… talking using some prop or something
Barbara: For me it always involves talking, but it’s…
Adam: One doesn’t have to?
Barbara: It’s just 'cause I don’t stop talking
[laughter]
Adam: And it doesn’t involve betting markets in any way?
Everyone: No
How technologically advanced is shibari equipment?
Adam: Ok. Is the object technologically difficult to make?
Everyone: No
One guy: Yes
Everyone: What? No it isn’t!
Adam: Is it only available in an industrialised economy?
Everyone: No
That one guy again: Yes!
Everyone: NO!!!
The guy: No, you’re right, I’m sorry… But it is difficult to make
George: Every object is difficult to make!
Barbara: Maybe you’re confused about what shibari is
Ed: Yeah, you should be up there with Adam
Adam: Would it have been available before industrialisation?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Ok. Um… is it a stick?
Everyone: It’s not a stick
No cheap tricks allowed
Adam: I feel like I’m gonna get close to covering everything…
Me: I feel like we were very close just now, when you were like “Well what could this object be?”
Adam: Ok so the object is important. It’s… before industrialisation… Does it begin with a letter before-
Everyone: No, no, we’re not doing that. N/A
Adam: Ok so it starts with an N and an A…
[laughter]
What is this dang object?
Adam: Ok… so… is the object artificially pigmented?
Everyone: Can be, but not necessarily
Adam: Is it commonly painted?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it commonly dyed?
Everyone: Yes
Adam: Ok, is it something that it’s very common to dye in other purposes?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: Does it involve a vegetable, of some kind?
Everyone: …No?
Adam: Does it involve a plant?
Everyone: [confusion about what 'involve’ means]
George: The object can have… some relation to a plant
Me: eehhh, that’s more confusing than helpful. We already said that it can be biologically derived
Adam: But it would have been available before industrialisation?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: So it’s got to be something that is… around. Is it something that requires human modification to make into the form we know and love?
Everyone: Yes
Adam: Uh.. does this processing require specialised skill?
Everyone: Yeah, some skill for sure
Adam: Would I be able to do it? Like, without training?
Everyone: Probably not
Ed: On a long enough time horizon you’d figure it out, but the answer is basically no
Adam: Like, you throw me in with the tools to make it and say “come out in an hour”, could I…
Everyone: No, probably not
Adam: But other people would be able to make it in an hour?
Everyone: Yeah, with the right skills
It’s not a weapon
Adam: Does it involve a weapon of any kind?
Everyone: No.
George: How creative are you allowed to-
Everyone: The answer’s no
What shape is the object?
[long pause]
Adam: Well… does anyone else have any questions?
Barbara: You’re asking such good questions though!
Ed: Yeah you’re doing a good job
Danielle: I think you should ask more questions about the shape of the object
Everyone: Oh, great suggestion
Adam: Ok, is it spherical?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it cylindrical?
Everyone: Yyeeaahh, sort of, yeah.
Adam: So it’s not a pure cylinder but it’s cylindrical-ish?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: Is it an ovaloid?
Everyone: No.
Adam: Is it an ellipsoid?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it uh… hmm… But it’s longer than it is wide?
Everyone: Yes!!!
[scattered applause, we’re close now]
Adam: Is it a plank of wood?
Everyone: No!!!
Barbara: It still isn’t that!
Frank: No, his previous guess was stick
Adam: Yeah, a plank of wood requires processing and I couldn’t make it… like it fits a lot of the other questions
Barbara: No you’re right, that’s fair, I’m convinced. It is a plank of wood.
Where is the object?
Adam: Could I find it inside a building or outside a building?
Everyone: Yes…
Adam: Wait. I mean. Ok, can you find it in a bathroom?
Everyone: Not really
Adam: Can you find it in a kitchen?
Everyone: Probably not
Adam: Can you find it lying on the ground?
Everyone: Yeah possibly
Adam: Is it something that people commonly use?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: Is it something that people would pick up if they saw it lying there?
Everyone: Nah
It’s really not a weapon
Adam: Is it something that is dangerous at all?
Everyone: Can be, but not especially
Adam: Is any part of it sharp?
Everyone: No
Adam: Can any part of it fragment?
Everyone: [???]
Adam: Like, is it brittle?
Everyone: No
Adam: So it’s firm?
Everyone: No
Adam: Is it flexible?
Everyone: Yes!!
Adam: Ok! Is it a pool noodle?
Everyone: [laughter]
Adam: Which is cylindrical, flexible, and organic, dyed but not painted…
Everyone: No, we’re so proud of you, you’re doing great
Me: But we did say “pre-industrial”
Pinning down the object
Adam: Ok ok. Is it a solid?
Everyone: Yes
Adam: Is it any of the solid hybrids, like a colloid or a gel?
Everyone: No
Adam: Does it retain its shape after being bent?
Everyone: Uh… yes?
Adam: So it doesn’t spring back with any force?
Everyone: No, it doesn’t spring back
Adam: Ok… so… Is it Japanese in origin, or is it found around the world?
Everyone: [assorted contradictory statements]
Me: The origin of the practice is Japan, but the origin of the object is all over
Adam: Is the object put on a person?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Is the object… um… is the object rope?
Everyone: YES!!
[scattered applause]
Me: The object is rope!
Adam: Ok!
Me: Now bring it home
Bringing it home?
Adam: Are things hung upon the rope?
Everyone: Uuuuummmmmm. Ambiguous? No.
Adam: Is the rope itself… does the rope look good?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Ok! Is this putting-on… a mark of esteem?
Everyone: No?? ???
[laughter]
Adam: So the object is a rope, and you’re putting the rope on somebody
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: You’re… putting rope on somebody!
Everyone: Yeah!
Adam: Is that… is that not the practice?
Everyone: No, no, it is, it is!
[confused cheering. Are we done?]
We’re not done
Chris: But, no, come on, there’s more to it!
Ed: You’re missing something critical!
Chris: You’re so close!
Adam: Ok. Do you… hang someone?
Everyone: [strongly conflicting opinions]
Barbara: Only if you’re doing it extremely wrong
Adam: Ok. But you can tie knots?
Everyone: YES!
Adam: Ok! Do you tie… is it a bracelet of some-
Everyone: No!
Adam: So it’s not an adornment of any kind…
Everyone: Well…
Where on the body?
Adam: Is it put on your neck?
Chris: No
Danielle: Well, can be…
Adam: On your head?
Everyone: Can be
Adam: On a limb?
Everyone: Yeah
Adam: It’s on a limb
Me: Not exclusively
Adam: On an arm?
Everyone: Can be
Adam: On a leg?
Everyone: Can be
Adam: On… uh… I’ve run out of limbs…
What does it mean?
Adam: Ok, it’s rope, you put it on somebody, it’s Japanese in origin… does it… signify something?
Everyone: Not really
Adam: Hmm. Do you tie the rope in a loop?
Everyone: …Yeah??
Adam: I’m wondering, is it the casting of ropes upon people, like uh…
Chris: It’s not a lasso, no
Frank: I like the idea of shibari as, like, a carnival game…
Barbara: I’m unclear on what the win condition is here…
Ed: I feel like there is a really important component that we haven’t got yet
Everyone: Yeah, when he gets that component, he’s won
Are people into shibari?
Adam: Hmm… Did you find yourself fired by enthusiasm to do it upon being told about it?
Several people: Yes
Me: Personally no, but…
[laughter]
Adam: So it has mixed appeal?
Barbara: That is absolutely correct
Can one shibari… too hard?
Adam: Is it um, does it involve the tying of knots?
Everyone: YES
Adam: Ok. Are there knots that are peculiar to shibari?
Everyone: yeah
Adam: Is the learning of knots, or the tying of knots upon other people the important part?
Everyone: Uh… yes?
Adam: Do you tie someone up and they attempt to escape?
Everyone: Uh, not necessarily, but like, often.
Me: Yes is closer than no, I think
Adam: Ok, you tie rope on someone. Do you have to use some sort of special rope for it? Can you use any rope?
Barbara: You can use any rope, but some are better than others
Adam: So you wouldn’t want to use any rough ropes, or…
Danielle: No, you do, that’s actually preferred
Adam: You prefer rough ropes?
Chris: Some do
Frank: It depends
Danielle: Natural fibers tend to be rougher
Adam: Does it chafe?
Danielle: It can, but ideally not
Adam: Would you do it even if you were injured in the process of doing it?
Frank: No
Barbara: You would not want that to happen generally
Adam: Uh… Does it look cool?
Everyone: Yes!!
Origami?
Adam: So you’re tying knots that look cool… is it like an origami for knots?
Everyone: [confused disagreement]
Ed: It’s not about the knots
Chris: It’s totally about the knots!
Frank: It’s all about the cones…
Adam: Like, in origami you fold paper in ways that look cool, maybe you tie knots in ways that look cool?
Everyone: [loud disagreement]
Diagnosing the problem
[long long pause]
Chris: Ask the question in your heart!
Adam: …Neckties?
Everyone: No?
Barbara: I keep thinking “But, he already has it”, and then he asks a question that makes me say “No, he doesn’t have it at all”
Frank: I think there’s a question you want to ask, but you’re not…
Everyone: Yeah
Chris: Yeah, ask the question that you don’t want to ask
Danielle: I don’t think he has the question…
Adam: Would it cause any gratification in someone?
Everyone: Yes!
Adam: Would it… Would it cause sexual gratification?
Everyone: Yes!!
Adam: Is it a practice… under the category of kink?
Everyone: Yes!!!
Adam: Is it tying somebody up for bondage purposes?
Everyone: YEAH!!! [Pandemonium, hollering, applause, Adam is lifted above the cheering crowd]
After the hearty congratulations were done, I wandered off, elated from the experience, and I bumped into a group of friends.
“Friends!” I said, “I just had the funniest experience. This guy didn’t know what 'shibari’ was, so we-”
“Shibari?” a friend interjected, “What is that, like, a Jewish building?”
“OK EVERYONE SHUT UP” I said.
I love everything about this but I am BAFFLED by why two different people in the predictive markets sector think Shibari is Jewish.
I think it would be better for discussions of decision-making in general, and decision-making by young people in particular, if we reframed decision-making from “avoiding regret” to emphasizing that: -It’s okay to change your mind at any point, and -Your feelings at the latest/most recent part of your life are not more important than your feelings at any previous part of your life.
If someone says “You’ll regret that in 20 years!” – first of all, they don’t have any possible way to know that, but secondly, what they’re really saying is “I expect you to get 20 years of happiness out of that decision.” 20 years of happiness is nothing to sneeze at. If you get married and 10 years later, you decide you don’t want to be married anymore, and you get divorced, then, okay. You get to make that choice, and you got to be happily married for 10 years.
This whole cultural attitude is based on the assumption, not only that changing your mind is impossible or shameful, but that your life is a linear process of working your way towards a True Final Form, and that if you undergo any changes between [past age] and [final age], that means your [past age] self was not your True Final Form and should have been considered too young to make decisions. It’s the underlying premise that at some point in your lifetime, your self-identity (sometimes synechdoche’d as “the brain”) stops changing (spoiler: it doesn’t), and then and only then are you your True Self; then and only then should you truly be allowed to make your own decisions, because your selfhood is fixed and your decisions will be free of regret.
It doesn’t work like that. The self is constantly changing. Just go with it.
i think im going to take another break from tumblr, and this one might be permanent (or i might start over on a new account), dm me if you want my discord
i think im going to take another break from tumblr, and this one might be permanent (or i might start over on a new account), dm me if you want my discord
i think im going to take another break from tumblr, and this one might be permanent (or i might start over on a new account), dm me if you want my discord
i think im going to take another break from tumblr, and this one might be permanent (or i might start over on a new account), dm me if you want my discord
you have to be reasonable. have to see it from their perspective. but you can’t be a doormat. nobody else will stand up for you but you. count five things you see. let your emotions happen. but only inside. don’t fight them. but also don’t be impulsive. don’t react, plan. listen to wise mind. practice your coping skills. call a friend. but don’t trauma dump. ask for help. but make sure you know exactly what you need. use your words. but don’t feel entitled. understand that people have a lot going on. don’t form expectations those are just premeditated resentments. but also don’t go it alone. keep it together. have a cry. but only at the right times. it’s okay to break down sometimes. but girl wash your face. take charge of your life. but make peace with the things you can’t control. breathe. not that loud, you’re making people uncomfortable. don’t make other people responsible for how you feel. but don’t keep it all stuffed inside. not seeking help will kill you, you know. but if you keep being so self-centered and selfish you’ll drive everyone off. cut off people who don’t treat you right. show yourself some self-respect. but don’t have main character syndrome. understand that the center of the universe is not you. stop thinking about yourself so much. but go to therapy and work on yourself or nobody’s gonna love you. overcome your trauma. but know and accept yourself. stop being so infantile. but stop acting like you’re too old to change. take responsibility. stop apologizing so much. you have to guard your own peace. but if you’re not worried by what’s happening right now there must be something wrong with you.
one of the funny things about having two irl friendgroups, one from tumblr and one from people i grew up with at one point or another, is that i have inverted the usual age correlation for relationship styles - my tumblr friends who range in age from late 20s to early 40s skew polyamorous, and my mid 20s friendgroup skews monogamous
i bring this up only so one could imagine the posts i could make about it - “well based on my lived experience, monogamy is okay for young people but you really have to settle down into polyamory once you become a functional adult”
i was going to respond to a bad post on my dash and debating “this is genuinely bad and harmful” vs “getting into fights online makes me a worse, less compassionate person” and then i remembered i have actual responsibilities and obligations unrelated to posting so:
the idea that men, or people perceived as men, should accept being preemptively treated as sexual predators (and it’s an act of oppression for them to resist), is gender essentialism. when it’s targeted towards trans people and/or used to paper over the fact that trans people are overwhelmingly more likely to be the victims of sexual violence than perpetrators, it’s transphobia. this is pretty basic stuff and it’s embarrassing to see fellow trans people perpetuating this kind of rhetoric.
Season 2 Martin going home and sprucing up the parts of his living room he knows are visible through the front window after he learns Jon was caught attempting to spy on Tim’s house
Season 2 Martin dragging his bookshelf into direct view of the window making sure only the most complicated books are prominently displayed, most of which he checked out from the Magnus Institute that day.
Season 2 Martin knowing his living room TV is visible from the window, googling “what is the smartest documentary ever” while the TV is idling on the Netflix home page
Yet another AO3 bot situation - please spread the word!
Hi, it’s me again, the person who wrote that viral post about fanfiction plagiarism! Today I’m here to warn you about abuse perpetrated by bots who have stolen AO3 usernames.
There’s currently an epidemic of bots going around leaving (apparently random) horrible, hateful comments on people’s fics. This isn’t the first time bots have invaded AO3, but the big problem with this wave is that they’re using real AO3 usernames to do it.
I learned about this when another writer contacted me after receiving the following comment on their story:
ALT
Now, while that is my username, I DEFINITELY did not leave this comment (and anyone who would leave something like that on a fic should be slapped! What an awful thing to post). This fic is in a completely unrelated fandom that I have never participated in, nor has that author participated in any of my fandoms, so the probability of it being some intentional fandom drama thing to make me look bad is also low.
The writer whose fic the comment was left on enlisted the aid of some friends and tracked down other guest comments with unrelated usernames attached, which is pretty strong evidence that they are being left by bots at random.
The TL;DR: If you receive a cruel comment from a (Guest) with an actual AO3 username attached, it’s most likely from a bot. Please do not lash out at or dogpile the AO3 user who owns that name, and who in all likelihood has no idea that their name has been hijacked for evil.
If finding this kind of comment on a fic, even left by a bot, is likely to upset you, I would recommend changing your comment settings so that only users who are logged in can leave comments. To do this, edit your story settings, and under “Privacy,” select the radio button that says “Only registered users can comment,” as shown below.
ALT
Please spread the word to other AO3 users! And if you see mean guest comments on other fics, maybe let the author know that it’s probably from a bot and not a real person who thinks their writing is bad.
I’m 25 years old and no one told me being ambidextrous wasn’t normal? I thought me and everyone else was just out of practice with their submissive hand? But apparently most people straight up can’t do shit with it? Like at all?? My stepdad can barely eat cornflakes with his right hand and I’m out here swapping on accident?
I’ve never heard someone refer to their non-dominant hand as their “submissive” hand, like I guess that is the opposite of dominant but my chronically online self can’t stop thinking about it like. You’ve beaten the other hand into submission.
My left hand just likes being gagged and bound as my right forces it to call it “mistress” idk what’s so weird about that
Lex | androgyne | back on my goddamn bullshit like it's 2012
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