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Watercooler Wednesday

Ben Halpern on June 12, 2024

Hey folks!

I figured I'd kick off a new weekly thread for folks to chat about... Whatever.

New hobbies, interests, games, kids, parents, whatever.

Let's keep this chat light and positive and see if it can become a nice weekly check-in.

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Ben Halpern

I'll start...

One thing I have going on in my life is that I'm helping my friend turn part of their property into a little golf hole. It's an activity of literally watching grass grow, so we'll see if we can get it in decent shape by the fall at least.

I'm also looking forward to traveling to Paris to speak at dotjs later this month. 😄

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Jess Lee

Totally forgot you were doing that! What's your talk about?

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Ben Halpern

The Multi-Armed Bandit Algorithm

In probability theory and machine learning, the multi-armed bandit problem is a problem in which a decision maker iteratively selects one of multiple fixed choices when the properties of each choice are only partially known at the time of allocation, and may become better understood as time passes. A fundamental aspect of bandit problems is that choosing an arm does not affect the properties of the arm or other arms.

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Vincent A. Cicirello • Edited

@ben Looks like the conference you're speaking at is on JS. I'm intrigued with how your talk on multi-armed bandits relates. Anything more about your talk that you can share?

I have some interest in bandit problems, which is why this got my attention. Some of my past research involves bandit problems, such as this old paper of mine from 2005:

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Binat

I posted my first DEV.to post! 😀

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Ben Halpern

Awesome!

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Thaísa Vieira

Congrats! This first post on DEV always will have a special place in your heart.

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Anita Olsen • Edited

That is SO true! I love mine! I got to share some of my old poems! Aweee =)

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Thaísa Vieira

OMG, that's so cool! I'll check out your poems!

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Anita Olsen

Awww, thank you! ♡

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Thaísa Vieira

I love to write poems and other things like fantasy but it has been a long time I don't write anything.

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Anita Olsen

That is awesome! Me as well! Aw, it has been a long time for me as well :/ But it is never too late to pick it up again! :D

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Thaísa Vieira

It's a pleasure to find someone with the same interests as me. I need to find time and inspiration again.

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Anita Olsen

Congratulations! A badge is on its day to you!

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Thaísa Vieira

That's an awesome idea, I'd love to join every week. I'd like to share my interest in portable videogame consoles, recently, my boyfriend gave me a Miyoo Mini Plus and we love to spend hours playing things like Knights of the Round from SNES. What's your favorite SNES game for 2 players?

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Ben Halpern

Donkey Kong Country and Mario Kart come to mind personally when I think multiplayer SNES.

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Thaísa Vieira

Both are special to me but Donkey Kong Country was one of my favorites and most played game ever from my childhood. Also, it helped a lot with my relationship with my mother, when she had deep depression and panic syndrome she spent all night waking up playing with me, afraid of sleep. At that time I didn't understand why but I found it cool cause I had the opportunity to have the best company to play videogames every night.

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Tyler V. (he/him)

Been watching a lot of YouTube videos about portable retro consoles lately! They're such neat devices, and it's incredible how many options there are out there.

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Thaísa Vieira

Yes, I love to carry them with me. My inner child feels so great about bringing a videogame everywhere.

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Ava Nichols

I'm going bowling for the first time this weekend, wish me luck.

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Thaísa Vieira

Good luck, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun.

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Fraser Young

Good luck

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Jess Lee • Edited

I'm thinking about buying a second computer that I can leave at the office so I don't have to carry my macbook back and forth. I'm not doing much coding these days, but am doing more design work than usual. Currently thinking about an iMac, mostly because they're so attractive 😂, but also because it'll overall be cheaper than a MacBook Pro when I factor into needing a new monitor. Just started looking into this so suggestions welcome!

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Thaísa Vieira

Great, Jess! Buying a computer is always an adventure for me and I like to spend some hours watching reviews on YouTube to know more about what I wanna buy and if will fulfill my needs and expectations.

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Chris Jarvis

Thought that said water color Wednesday and we were gonna paint. I'm tired and need sleep,

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Thaísa Vieira

Watercolor Wednesday sounds like an event in pre-school and I'd love to join some painting activities and have a specially reserved hour to sleep after. When I was in pre-school I hated the sleep time in the afternoon and now is just what I wish for every day.

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Chris Jarvis

My son is taking an online art class this week. Makes me want to do some art too. We got him a water color dvd last year time for him to use it.

Check out the making stuff channel on VC slack. Members share stuff we make. It's even the focus of our December challenge.

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Thaísa Vieira

I'm sure your son will have much fun in art classes and I believe creativity with art is contagious. Also, I love art class materials like crayons (the smell is so good) and papers with different textures and I'd love to share some scratches. When in high school I created a cartoon character for a school project, but things grew and became a small success even in other classes.

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IamDaGod

Umm not much.. well i am a die for anime fan and... DEMON SLAYER SEASON 4 is airing (ik its now old news) and so i literally dropped attack on titan in season 2.. well watching one piece and naruto along with demon slayer rn..