Teaching Robots to Walk
This is an excellent demonstration of artificial intelligence, robots made from tree branches learn to walk through use of deep learning reinforcement (DRL), via BoingBoing. Here’s the abstract from the research paper: We present a study in the creative design...
Why Am I Scared to Ride a Bike?
For the most part, I’ve stopped biking in Seattle. The density of vehicles and aggressiveness of drivers has surpassed my comfort level. I appreciated Vreni’s visual guide to why biking has become so dangerous and how it could be made...
How Fighting Your Health Insurer is Rigged in Washington State
Six Independent Review Organizations Rule with Insurers in 80 to 89% of Cases
Molina Healthcare Fined $600,000 by Washington State
IMPORTANT: If you’ve had serious problems with Molina, please fill out this short survey to help me gather information about the company’s harms. You can read more about this below. On May 2nd, 2019, Washington State’s Office of the Insurance...
Possible Type D Killer Whale
Scientists have video of an elusive, potentially new species of Orca, the Type D Killer Whale
IRS Free File Provides Free Tax Software for Most Americans
70 Percent of Taxpayers Qualify for IRS Free File If you have an adjusted gross income that’s less than $66,000, you are eligible to use IRS Free File and gain access to free tax filing software from major vendors. The...
Carol Brown Just Took the Bus Out of Town
After listening to parts of the Flight of the Conchord’s Live special from London, I’m having trouble getting “Carol Brown just took the Bus Out of Town” out of my head. The video from their series is quite funny and...