"The Intent is Clear"
Sigh
Outside the Asylum
Trying to be a little less insane than everyone else.
Latest posts
Screeps: How One Steam Developer Made a Million Dollars Selling a Remote Access Trojan
A friend invited me to play Screeps a few years back, and I fell in love with it immediately. Unfortunately, turns out it's evil.
Using Rule 107.1c to Steal US Government Secrets
I've discovered a critical national security flaw in the Magic: The Gathering rulebook. Following the principles of responsible disclosure, I have written up a guide to the vulnerability.
Hire me!
I figured I would put together a brief overview of my skills and experience for those who might want to hire me for something. If that's you, feel free to reach out! https://outsidetheasylum.blog/hire-me/
Generating Short, Memorable, and Secure Passwords
Can we have our cake and eat it too?
Humans are Insecure Password Generators
And They're Currently Being Cracked
Hack me and win $100!
I try to stay ahead of scams, and appreciate knowing what to look out for. I'm now offering $100 to anyone who manages to fool me in a significant way.
So This is How Scientific Accuracy Dies; With 869,000 Subscribers
How can some Youtube channels get so popular while having absolutely no idea what they're talking about?
Beating Four Dead Horsemen
In which I enter a debate 12 years after it stopped being relevant
Running Team Events
Team events have a lot of subtle challenges that individual events do not. I attempt to compile a guide to everything you need to know to run them.
A Chiller Twitter
Making Twitter a bit less psychically harmful.
Random Walk Calculator
For all the times in your life when you've desperately needed to know the outcome of a particular random walk.
In Defense of Lawyers Playing Their Part
A response to Michael Huemer, who recently argued that defense attorneys should recuse themselves from cases where they believe their clients are guilty.
Parker Dimensional Analysis
Trying to figure out why people have so much trouble with certain kinds of math.
The Confidence Game
I present a new, definitely-intentional tool for helping judges practice their ability to tell valid reasoning apart from confident nonsense.
Twitter Blocking Script
I put together a quick script to mass block people on Twitter, since all the old tools to do this have stopped working.
On Duct Tape and Fence Posts
From computer security to writing the MTG rulebook, there are some failure modes that everyone tends to fall into.
Judge Calls in the 21st Century
A modest proposal to reform the system of summoning judges to assist players in need.
Tournament Simulator
A tool to help with top 8 math, designing prize structures, cEDH tournament structures, etc.
Don't Go to TCG-Con
I explain why you shouldn't go to TCG-Con.
The Duality of Machine
In which I am grumpy about bad philosophy of mind.
An Actually Intuitive Explanation of P-Values
Academic science revolves largely around one number, the "p-value". This number has been the cause of a huge amount of confusion, so I spent a week trying to figure out what it actually means. I think I've mostly figured it out, and have written up an explanation for laypeople.
Surviving cEDH
I ran my first cEDH event this past weekend. It was ...interesting.
An Actually Intuitive Explanation of the Oberth Effect
The Oberth effect is an aspect of orbital mechanics that has been bugging me for the better part of 5 years, and I think I may have finally figured it out.
Handling Counterfeits in a Tournament
Counterfeits are a delicate subject. People tend to have strong feelings about them, and when something goes wrong, players often get upset. I try to go over the reasoning behind the counterfeits policy and touch on some best practices.
Strange Loops
Loops are another one of those areas where Magic's rules and policy intersect in an awkward way. I don't have all the answers here, but I provide the ones I do have.
Understanding Subjective Probabilities
Does it make sense to talk about the probability of a future event that's more complicated than a die roll or coin toss?Traditional entry-level math education leads people to many misconceptions in this area, which can cause problems when trying to accurately predict the real world.
The Worst Crime
I contemplate what's the worst thing a judge could do.
Prediction Markets Are Not Polls
Prediction markets have been growing in popularity lately, and I address a common point of confusion.
Draft Bracket Printer
I threw together a simple draft bracket printer, for running ODEs, top 8 drafts, cube drafts, or whatever else you might need such a thing for.
One Ring to Confuse Them All
A guide to rules and policy interactions with The One Ring.
Stop Trying to Make CR Backups Happen
Stop Trying to Make CR Backups Happen
Negotiation Assistant
Negotiation Assistant
Teaching Magic
Teaching Magic
Rational Agents Cooperate in the Prisoner's Dilemma
Rational Agents Cooperate in the Prisoner's Dilemma
The Economics of Organized Play
The Economics of Organized Play