What is the best skill you possess that makes you stand above the average person?
Statistical modeling.
And yes, I am miffed about the use of the word “exponential” in this post’s title.
Same here; what’re the odds?
Likewise, so higher than we thought lol.
the base of my exponential function is 1
I got a PhD in philosophy. I have exponentially more experience applying for jobs and getting rejected than most people.
I was clearing out my Hotmail. I’ve a Msc in health psych. Well over 1k in reject emails. I may have a rival
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Math (I’m a graduate student). And “exponentially more experienced than the average” means nothing as exponential is a progression, not a comparison between two values.
What this person is trying to say is they are exponentially better at being technically correct.
Exponentially the best kind of correct by an order of magnitude.
Hey now you can’t determine orders of magnitude before you know the values
Exponentially correct is the worst kind of magnitude
This is one of my biggest pet peeves lol
serious questions then:
What’s a better mathy adjective to describe what OP meant by “exponential”?
Orders of magnitude maybe?
I’d go with “significantly”.
A simple “a lot” would do fine. “Orders of magnitude” as someone else suggested would work too.
5sigma from the average person.
My pet peeve with mathy stuff, “something is X times closer/smaller etc than something else”
If A is 1 away, saying B is ten times closer means what exactly? Is B 10 away? 9, 0.1?
I think what most examples are trying to say is that A is ten times the distance to B, but the way it is said if just annoying.“Ten times closer” is pretty unambiguously 0.1. What starts getting more confusing is “300% further” which is technically 4 but many understand as 3 (try replacing by 50%, 50% further is 1.5 not 0.5). Also “50% closer” being the same as twice closer while 50% further is only 1.5x further can get confusing too, and it gets even worse with “50% slower” - is speed now 1/1.5 (= it takes 50% more time) or 0.5/1 (= speed is reduced by 50%) ?
Most of the time it is pretty easy to know what the winter is trying to imply.
It gets really silly when using big numbers. e.g. a nanometre is 100,000 times smaller than a human hair.
So you’re asking people what they do for a living?
Doing something for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week makes you a lot better at that thing than other people.
Actually doing something for 40 hours a week is truly remarkable. People waste so much time, me included.
Man I’m so good at sleeping though. I get at least 5 hours a night, so that’s 40 a week! Woohoo!
/s
Where do you get an 8-day week? I want one (assuming it’s an extra break day not work day…).
But I don’t spend 40 hours doing the same thing. I do a bunch of different regular bullshit that you can’t really be “good” at, like sending emails and chatting with people on Teams.
Being comfortable enough with myself to answer this question honestly: nothing
By feel I can identify 20 lb, 24 lb, 28 lb, 65 lb cover, 110 lb cover, and 12 pt matte paper. I’m increasingly impressed by people’s business cards as a result, as it is often much, much heavier than 12 pt matte.
Using comparison I can distinguish 80 lb semi-gloss cover, 100 lb semi-gloss cover, 8 pt gloss, 10 pt gloss, and 12 pt gloss. (But then again, most people could, given multiple choices rather than a free-response question.)
Does it have a watermark?
In case you’re legitimately asking: No, it’s just cheaper and fancier versions of normal printer paper and cardstock (cover and cardstock are essentially the same thing). You just feel its texture, maybe shake it a little, figure out its weight.
lmao you became the guys from American Psycho
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Way to go! I used to hustle the lunch room with my Rubik’s cube and get people’s desserts by solving it in less than a minute. I only knew the inefficient layer-by-layer method, so it really was a race.
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I didn’t even know Rubik’s cubes had layers. What are they ?
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oh, my god. The middles don’t move ! you just blew my mind
magnetic cube?
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I feel like this about chess. I’m fairly confident I can beat everyone I know except for like 3 people. But I’m better than 12% of people on Lichess.
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Definitely. I use Rubik’s cubes as paperweights
I picked up cubing half a year ago as a middle aged dad. I set myself a goal of being able to solve it in under 30 seconds. I’m averaging around 40s now so I’m slowly getting there. It’s a fun little hobby and I always carry my cube around with me and practice as often as I can. I just finished learning all 21 PLL algorithms and I’m quite proud of myself 😄
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I’ve just got the Tornado V3 Pioneer, and I’m loving it. Just using that cube cut off some time in itself. Have you started doing F2L and cross directly in bottom yet? I averaged 55ish with 2-look OLL and PLL with F2L and cross in bottom. It takes a long time to get really fast with F2L so that’s a ongoing thing I’m trying to optimize.
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Socializing with cats, befriending them.
I too consider myself better at this than the average person. I often find myself slow blinking at random cats in the street.
I wish I had this skill! I love cats and dogs and wish I could talk to them and pet them every time I see them.
Having gone through conscription military, I have leveled up some very important abilities.
Looking busy: I can find convincing ways to spend time without actually doing anything important.
Wasting time: When nobody is looking, I can find creative and fun ways to pass the time. (this ability is maxed out)
Also gained a few special perks.
Forest fun: Who needs movies, games or the internet when you have an axe and some wood. Even pine cones, rocks and sticks will be enough to keep you preoccupied in creative ways.
Day dreaming: Who needs the forest, when you can build countless universes in your mind.
Oh, and I did learn to shoot and keep my rifle in working order. I guess that’s nice too. Didn’t get to level that anywhere near as much, but that’s ok.
To add on to your ‘looking busy’ skills…In Moving Pictures, sir Terry Pratchett points out that if you have a determined fast walk and a piece of paper in your hand, you can go anywhere. I used to use this technique to get breaks in the office. I’d just grab a piece of paper and quickly walk the length of the building with a determined expression.
And if you walk fast enough, the paper can also be completely empty.
Kind of the same as “wearing a yellow jacket and acting like you belong”… Add in the piece of paper and the determined look, that’s how you get handed the city keys
Some time in the 90s several computers of an office were stolen that way. Some guys just parked a van right in front of the front door and started loading the van with computers. Those machines weren’t cheap back in those days, so these guys just got away with some pretty nice loot. All you have to do is walk in with a determined look and everyone will assume you’re simply doing your job.
Smooth criminal !
I want to join in here too with the exceptionally good driving. I, like everyone else here, am totally a very much better driver than the average person on the road. Exponentially much better, even!
One friend of mine says the same all the time… In fact, he’s the worst driver I’ve ever driven with! In reality, I am much better and even exponentially better than the average driver.
I like to think people learn from me just by hearing my cry of “come onnnnn!”
All you have to do in order to be a better than average driver is to be alert to what’s going in around you. I do that, and I drive fast. I’m an exponentially better driver than most.
Not littering.
Pole dancing! I’ve taught professionally for like 15 years.
Btw this instance is about to be exposed to amazing pole fitness content, prepare yourselves.
Where to subscribe?
Statistics.
That word does not mean what you think it means.
I have a lot of experience reconstructing whale skeletons for museums and such. I do it as a hobby with a friend of mine who is the marine mammals recovery coordinator for the state of North Carolina.
Based Lego.
Haha I think I would describe it more like erector sets than lego but yes it is very similar. We put the whales in the ground for ~18 months and then pull them out and out them together piece by piece
Maybe not better than an average person, but the last 10 years of my life taught me lots of handy life skills, like owning up to my mistakes, having more self esteem, showing confidence in tough situations, standing up for myself, having better people skills and to know when not to get involved and when to speak up.
Most of these are basic human skills, but the combination of these can make a huge difference. I landed jobs thanks to them, I made friends and removed toxic people from my life. I have less issues with adult responsibilities and in general I am less stressed.
Again maybe not exceptionally more experienced than an average person, but compared to my old self its a huge difference.
Isn’t it kind of amazing how much better your life can be with the addition of those “soft” skills?
