estevez's comments

estevez | 11 years ago | on: The Best Programming Font: M+

Yeah, I can see where one could get confused. I use a version of Source Code Pro that's been patched to work with vim-airline[0], which is why it's "for Powerline". On OS X I think you can get the font name from the "Family" column of the Fonts pane, or via Quick Look in the Finder.

[0]: https://github.com/bling/vim-airline

estevez | 11 years ago | on: The Best Programming Font: M+

To install multiple fonts on Arch and Ubuntu I just copy them into `~/.fonts` and run `fc-cache -v`.

edit: On OS X the directory is `~/Library/Fonts`.

estevez | 12 years ago | on: Ask HN: How many of you contribute to Wikipedia?

I've been an active editor since 2011, primarily on the topics of computational biology and African American history.[1] I started by inserting citations, then by incorporating a couple of term papers I had collecting dust, before finally graduating to major rewrites of (relatively) popular articles.

Thankfully, in computational biology articles PR flacks and wiki-lawyers are at a minimum. The extent of my experience with the former extends to over-enthusiastic academics promoting their particular software. I recommend it to students, not only as a way to get some use out of old term papers, but also as a way to sharpen one's writing skills. Because it's an important vehicle for outreach there's the potential for recognition as well.[2]

I'd have to say that one of the highlights of my editing career has been receiving an email from the descendant of an article's subject thanking me for telling their story.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Estevezj

[2]: http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fj...

estevez | 14 years ago | on: Announcing Wolfram Alpha Pro

I remember coming across a group of other students who were getting into a argument about a tricky calculation required for a chemical analysis pre-lab. After this had gone back and forth for maybe 5 minutes, I pulled out my laptop and settled it in about 15 seconds, which was pretty fun.

estevez | 14 years ago | on: Lake Vostok Reached

We've found microbes almost everywhere, and they make up the vast, vast majority of life on this planet.

In Lake Vostok's case, the first reports were in 1999,[1] and yeast and fungi have been isolatef from ice cores collected at depths more than 3500 m below the surface.[2] Exciting stuff, no?

*: Posting from school, so sorry if these aren't free.

[1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/286/5447/2144.short

[2]: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/279/1728/474....

estevez | 14 years ago | on: Facebook Is Using You

I think the article's main point succeeds on the merits: while we have a variety of statutory and regulatory mechanisms in place to make sure that things like credit reports are compiled in a fair manner we have no such mechanisms for the likes of LexisNexis, ChoicePoint, Facebook, Google, etc., etc.

I don't think its unreasonable to want some assurances that my creepy neighbor can't purchase my web history or FB data. Less facetiously, at the very least, I should be informed when an adverse decision has been based upon this information and should have a chance to review it periodically.

estevez | 14 years ago | on: ShareLaTeX

Sweave support? You could hand off to an EC2 instance and include n hours of computation time in tier x.

estevez | 14 years ago | on: MusicForProgramming();

Music for 18 Musicians is usually my first choice whenever I want an hour of uninterrupted productivity. The piano and mallot lines are like a rhythmic propulsion system.

estevez | 14 years ago | on: Harvard, Princeton Targeted in Asian Discrimination Probe

>Correlation does not imply causation.

Precisely my point. By my reading it appears that the only empirical evidence for race-based discrimination (an extraordinarily grave accusation) is something that could just as easily be explained by factors other than racism.

But this is no defense of those elite institutions, mind you. I'd even go so far as to make an exception and tax the staggering returns on their endowments.

http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/09/harvard-endowment-rises-t...

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