a lot of forgotten towels

scoring system is currently just being used for informational purposes. guests are being randomly accepted again, until exhaustion sets in. maximum capacity will remain a constant at 15.

this decision was made to get more data on whether this scoring system is a good metric or not on how people get along. my new hypothesis: no significant correlation between quality of message and quality of stay. remarkable people do stand out, but they are so rare that they end up being outliers. fact is, even though similar scores mean people will get along, there was a significant bias on my part by referring to the score verbally and also high expectations on high scoring people. that mistake has been corrected and people are being treated equally no matter what they score.

also, soon, well being metrics will be introduced, to assert which metrics add up to a good guess whether we'll connect or not. I will include subjective metrics (did I like them/love them/hate them) and objective metrics (helped out, trashed shit, cooked, cleaned). this will be mostly one sided as I do not survey my guests at all (usually), except how many people hit on them.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

quick update on the references experiment. references were hidden during this past week. I got 11 requests. distributions haven't changed. noticeable this week is the lack of good requests. here are the graphs, with cumulative data too. the 75% mark seems pretty stable by now, which is, in a way, depressing.

movie night tonight. I'll play A Universe From Nothing by Lawrence Krauss from the Atheist Alliance International. a remarkable lecture on the current scientific knowledge on the origins of the universe, and how it's very likely that everything came from nothing.

the house is somewhat empty these days so we're moving at a fast pace to redesign and fix our facilities and Mike has been cleaning all the forgotten clothes. I have no idea where we're gonna fit the 50+ towels left behind!

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

movie night tonight. probably just Kôkaku kidôtai (Ghost In The Shell) by Mamoru Oshii. no guests these days, just the regulars, so the house has been moderately boring. at least by our standards.

Mike is a DIY guru. he has built, mostly with his own hands, a big dining room, lounge, fire pit with barbecue and soon a love shack. he also built a shelter for the tents and did the whole electrical wiring. I must say all of this is not only a great pleasure and joy but quite overwhelming. Mike is one of the most generous honest people I have ever met.

our carrot harvest. ugly but fucking delicious!

movie night was alright. we played videos from freetheslaves (a lot of it was propagandish) and played La planète sauvage by René Laloux. critical thinking, again, was a key subject, and the new "hit on" statistics too.

plus, we found something like 50+ gourmet precooked meals in the dumpster, which by my estimates adds up to about 200€ of food. home made pasta, fancy risotto, a lot of chili com carne. fucking delicious.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

I have been running a new survey, informally. it is about how many hosts hit on their guests. I chose a very specific group: single women traveling alone, an easy target. so far sample size is 4 women, 72 male hosts and 9 female hosts. the data is astounding, but not significant yet. so, here's the preliminary data.

hitting on their guests:
committed male hosts: 88.89%
single male hosts: 70.37%
single female hosts: 16.67%
committed female hosts: 0.00%
guests hitting on hosts: 50.00%

EIGHTY FUCKING EIGHT PERCENT OF COMMITTED MEN! FOR FUCKS SAKE PEOPLE!

even if we disregard commitment 75% of male hosts will hit on their guests. it's not about "meaningful connections"! it's about home delivery of sex targets! THREE IN FOUR MEN THAT HOST YOU WILL HIT ON YOU IF YOU TRAVEL ALONE! and considering that an average male has a hit rate of about 1 in 10 women, by hitting on anything with a pussy, being a host will guarantee you will get laid. especially if you are a chauvinist. I won't say male chauvinist because some of my male guests have been hit on by their female hosts. there is something decidedly creepy about this whole thing.

I'm just as guilty of these accusations, as I have hit on some of my guests, and gotten laid consequently (my hit rate is a bit lower than average, I'd say about 1 in 20). now I have a different approach to this whole "female home delivery" thing, but I must say these numbers are a bit overwhelming and humbling.

there is a tremendous difficulty in keeping our crotches under control. we, as a species, clearly need to wear ice packs in our pants.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

update on the references experiment. in this period (15.10.2009-21.10.2009) references were visible. I got 17 requests. all predictions are confirmed, and there's a clear distinction between the curves. more and more, I seem to have found a very simple way of controlling the distribution of quality of requests. not only that, but the percentages of low scores continue to be remarkable. so, copy pasters are about 25% of requests and low scores combined are about 74.1%. almost 3 out of 4 people, even with references showing, make poor requests and copy paste. it's all about the free place to stay! ha!



sample sizes are 31 with references and 25 with hidden references.

combined data yields 37.50% for copy pasters and a total of 73.22% low scorers. there is no significant difference between the low scoring percentages of both references and no references: scores <= 5 are 72% and 74.1% from no references and references respectively. the only thing that changes is the distribution, as seen in the picture.

in practice, this method allows to detect a clearer decision threshold, as the blue graph shows two very distinct peaks, whereas the red one has more average hard-to-decide-on requests. this means that, in all numerical glory, the best way to decide whether someone will be a good guest or not, is to hide all references in a puzzle, and remarkable people will stand out.

test will continue, as even though it might seem I'm on to something, I still need to tune this system. my guess for a good metric is the "you" vs. "me" metric, but that will require some development.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

tonight's movie night will be about slavery, mostly from Free The Slaves.

humans expected: 1

movie night was pretty good, though the exodus was strong. of the 13 attendants, in the end we had what, maybe 8. a lot of people asleep or simply leaving. my comment is the same as the one about Burma VJ, see older posts.

now, the choice for the topic was driven by having so many unitedstatians in my house, allowing for actual direct discussion of these topics. I was interested in basic issues like economy, education or health care and how these issues were perceived by "natives". because the US are still an exception on what is referred to as basic human rights, claiming "market" and "competition" are the end all be all of solutions.

so, instead of really boring everyone to death with a chomsky lecture (I'm sorry, he's a low talker!), I chose just to play Michael Moore on Capitalism: A Love Story, which just moderately bored people into a comatose state. still looking for a good pirated version of that movie for a good screening.

the following discussion was, in fact, quite remarkable, with constant quitters as the night went on, with only three last standing. topics ranged from politics to a lot on religion and reason, cosmology and existentialism, and we flexed a lot of brain muscle, up to 4h30.

in context, due to my pet peeve with religion, and because one of the guests was openly catholic and a follower of the bible, I played:
Darwin v Adam & Eve from Euphobia1
the banana man video
and to explain how the banana is no issue, an excerpt from QualiaSoup's movie on Evolution (the bit about bananas)

that banana man clip is so fucking homo erotic, praise the lord.

movie nights continue, despite the tremendous effort required to keep entertainment out of the house. I'm now a minority in my own home on this, so authoritarian behavior has been the only way of maintaining the meaningfulness of the house. it's a terribly hypocritical role for a house like this. I guess hypocrisy is just a consequence of complexity. sometimes, it does feel like mindlessness is constantly trying to take over. but it will never.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

a correction of the previous post: since we didn't get lucky, it will be an interview of Michael Moore about his movie, not the actual movie! also, probably some Chomsky.

movie night tonight will be, if we get lucky, a screening of Michael Moore's new film Capitalism: A Love Story. Michael is also a big contributor to Democracy Now and doesn't mind people stealing his films. so thank you Michael!

due to the big storm last night, we are having some shelter issues that need to be worked out before the screening. hopefully it will all be solved by 22h.

humans expected: 1

forgotten goods today: prescription glasses

Jamming in the newly built lounge. Awesome.

Chaman is a craftsman from Peru, doing mostly macramé and drawings and some mayan divination (dreamspell). but today, out of the blue, he showed me his paintings, mostly about european castles. he's also a pro dumpster diver bringing new stuff almost every day.

all pictures used with permission, contact [email protected]

Mike doing fire poi

short movie night tonight due to other plans. will play the absolutely mind blowing lecture Henry Markram builds a brain in a supercomputer, and will leave the video requests up for the rest of the guests.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

update on the references experiment.
in the period from 8.10.2009 to 14.10.2009 I got 9 requests. the curve hasn't changed at all, and in fact, the graph seems to be more pronounced. as before, only really nice requests or really shitty ones. references are back on and I'll collect data for another week. current sample size is 25 (no references) and 14 (with references). I will refrain from conclusions regarding total requests as data is inconclusive so far.



as can be seen on the graph, the copy pasters are 52% of the total requests. if you add all shitty too (copy pasting plus some minimal effort in the message, i.e., scores <= 5), you end up with the remarkable 72% total. that number is unambiguous: most people don't give a shit where they stay, they just want a free place to stay. also, exceptional people are higher than expected, all the way up to 16% (scores >= 8), and nice people totaling 28% (scores > 5). note these percentages are for fake no references, my own developed method. sample size is too small for the with-references data and I expect these percentages to be less pronounced (meaning, less copy pasters, less exceptional people, more average requests).

on a lighter note, party on friday organized half by my fellow crazy norwegian Chris. starts at 20h I expect.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

movie night was pretty good. we also played Estamira by Marcos Prado due to some surprise visits that were interested. also, we recycled one stereo (works but very low power) and one CRT computer monitor (works perfectly). so, for now, movie nights are less exuberant but still working out great.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

very often in discussions we refer to the "monogamy gene". it has been isolated not only in rats, but in human males.

Hasse Walum at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues looked at the various forms of the gene coding for a vasopressin receptor in 552 Swedish people, who were all in heterosexual partnerships. The researchers also investigated the quality of their relationships.

They found that variation in a section of the gene called RS3 334 was linked to how men bond with their partners. Men can have none, one or two copies of the RS3 334 section, and the higher the number of copies, the worse men scored on a measure of pair bonding.

Monogamy gene found in people

it is old news, but just making sure we get our [[citation needed]] for all those things thrown out there.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

tonight will be skeptic night, screening a show of James Randi's amazing work in advancing critical analysis of paranormal phenomena, James Randi in Australia Testing Dowsers. not much more because no projector means more neck pain/eye strain.

still no lamp for the projector, movie night might happen but uncertain. also, hopefully, some re/building is in order. plus shaman has been recycling so much electrical stuff I have a lot to do. our lounge is growing!

humans expected: 2?

thank you Layla. I love you.

movie night was alright. the main point was the both views and where they contradict each other. we ended up not using the projector, the lamp seems to be fucked up. that would explain why it was so cheap. so movie nights will continue, but probably using a laptop until I fix/get another lamp.

humans expected: 5

update on the references experiment. references were turned on during this test period.
on the period between 200.10.03 to 2009.07.10 I got 14 requests, in fact lower than when I had hidden references, which contradicts the initial hypothesis of lowering rates of request. it was a common case of confirmation bias. we might be seeing just seasonal change (i.e., colder weather, less people requesting).

what's interesting, and confirmed my hypothesis on "play it safe" guests are the distributions of scores obtained. by hiding references I effectively am "pushing" the distribution to be more contrasting as demonstrated by the graph below. meaning: I do not get average requests. I get either very good or very bad. and very good requests mean very nice people.

sample size is 30 (14 visible references, 16 invisible references). I will continue to log and map these and publish weekly.

again I should mention that the score is correlated with the quality of stay and mainly a measurement of both intelligence and selflessness. this is still not formalized in numbers but hopefully it will in the future.

current threshold for accepting guests is 6 or greater and has led to a much nicer mood in general.

movie night was alright despite the delay, not much talking afterwards. tomorrow's movie night theme has been changed to gender and sex differences instead of the anarchist night. the anarchist night will be postponed due to more planning required, as I hope to have some guests just for the occasion.
we will play two lectures on gender:
Lise Eliot: Pink Brain, Blue Brain

Lise Eliot talks about Pink Brain, Blue Brain. Based on research in the field of neuroplasticity, Eliot zeroes in on the precise differences between boys and girls' brains and explains the harmful nature of gender stereotypes.

Ask a Scientist: Sex and War

Why is it that humans, nearly unique in this regard, have a natural inclination to band together and kill off members of our own species? The fact that chimpanzees, our closest evolutionary relatives, are the only other animals known to exhibit such organized warlike behavior is a big clue.

I've seen them both and they're very interesting and shatter a lot of nonsense fed to us every day so I'm hoping to have a thought-provoking night.

also, base schedule is now changed. on mondays and wednesdays hatch doors will open only at 22h due to my new schedule. guests might open the door anyway.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

technical issues, not enough audience, we moved this movie night to tomorrow and went urban exploring instead. got two elevator motors that not only look awesome but I'm sure have a lot of copper and magnets too! recycling is in order.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

forgotten goods today: kookai white shirt

movie nights this week. tuesday (tonight) we will play The King of Kong by Seth Gordon, a tip from David. on thursday we will host an anarchist night on the skinhead movement, more on that soon.
lounge is tested to be rainproof so no problem there.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

no regular updates until monday. I will be at the lock the target festival in porto. the house will be open anyway as there are some guests there.

movie night tonight. candidate is a movie about hippies in Goa in the 60s.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

update on the no references experiment. I have gone back to the old profile (with references) and will extract data for another week. some interesting data:
16 requests between 2009.09.24 12:00 and 2009.10.01 11:00, 2.29 per day
distribution of scores:

score | count
8     | 3
7     | 1
6     | 0
5     | 0
4     | 0
3     | 2
2     | 3
1     | 7

it is remarkable how there are no average requests. only very good or very bad. soon I might have more conclusive data once I do a week of regular profile visits.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆