Tag: facebook

Exploring TestMySearch.com’s Virtual Shopper System | August 15 2025, 04:27

As part of the TestMySearch.com project, I am creating a “virtual shopper” system that simulates the behavior of a real user in an online store: it starts with an abstract goal (for example, “something bright and sexy for the gym”), turns it into a specific search query, performs the search on the site, and depending on the results, may either continue browsing or, with a certain probability, reformulate the query if the findings do not match the original goal; the system then evaluates the pages for their alignment with the initial idea, opens product cards, randomly changes parameters such as color or size, makes decisions about adding to the cart and placing an order, and may also leave the site, which allows generating many sessions similar to real ones overnight for testing search, filters, and recommendations even before live users arrive.

The system is fully automatic. That is, the browser in the video opens by itself, the search field appears by itself (i.e., independent of the site), the system itself concocts the text based on that very initial goal, then the facets and search results are displayed, which may also be in a form unpredictable to the system — but it still understands what is what, and makes decisions about whether to rephrase the query, select a facet or click on a search result. There is a certain probability that the virtual user will leave the site. If the query is reformulated, for example, this virtual user does not repeat queries that have already led to empty or irrelevant results, so within the session there is “memory”.

From Miniare to Miniature: The Evolution of Book Illustration | August 14 2025, 14:52

How interesting, the word “Miniature” turns out not to derive from minimus (Latin), meaning “smallest”, but from miniare, meaning “to color with cinnabar or red lead”.

The word is connected to the practice of book illustration in the Middle Ages. You have probably seen images of medieval manuscripts with dense black text and a large, decorated initial letter. In the earliest bound books, they were not so ornate—just a big letter, colored red to stand out. In Italy, the verb miniare referred to the stage of painting red initials, usually left until last, and the art of illustration itself was called miniatura.

Over time, these initial decorations became increasingly complex, evolving into fully developed scenes with little figures, animals, and buildings. But, of course, since the scenes had to fit into the corner of a page, they were very small. And therefore, because a miniature in a book was like a tiny painting, the meaning of the word expanded—it came to denote any small version of something larger.

Dreamlike Realities: Exploring the Surreal Art of Nicola Pucci | August 14 2025, 12:58

Nicola Pucci. Some of his paintings feel like snapshots from a dream. He has a very interesting technique, strong stylistic consistency, and a wild imagination.

Nostalgic Games of Paper Battles and Guesses | August 14 2025, 12:45

I remembered how many hours I spent in class playing various games on paper like “Battleship”. So much paper was used up in childhood for all that! Everyone knows Battleship, but can you recognize the games in the attached pictures? There were more games, but I think I only played these. There was also a game where you see who can make more words from the letters of one long word, but that’s really for introverts 🙂

The 55 mph Speed Limit: Energy Crisis and State Autonomy in the U.S. | August 13 2025, 01:32

It turned out that the 55 mph speed limit in the USA was the result of the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, which was adopted in response to the OPEC oil embargo, causing sharp price increases and oil supply disruptions. It was believed that by limiting speed, fuel consumption would be reduced. It worked, but a reduction of 2.2% was predicted, though the actual savings were only about 0.5–1%.

If a state did not comply, it would lose federal funding for the repair and construction of roads. In 1987–1988, Congress allowed states to raise the speed limit to 65 mph on certain rural interstates, and in 1995, the federal “national maximum” was abolished altogether and authority was returned to the states.

Before the national speed limit was introduced, Montana had no set speed limit. Instead, the law stated that a person should drive at a “safe and reasonable speed,” which was essentially determined by a police officer. There is a tale about a NASCAR driver who was stopped for driving about 120 miles per hour on Highway 2 and was not fined because for him 120 mph was considered “safe and reasonable.”

After the imposition of the 55 mph speed limit, Montana resisted as much as it could. The speed limit was a national law, but the consequences for its violation were determined by the states. Montana lowered the speeding fine to $5 and made sure the violation did not go on the driver’s record. It became common practice to put $5 bills over the sun visor and drive at any speed you liked.

There’s even a song from those times, “I Can’t Drive 55” (Sammy Hagar).

By the way, slightly off topic. My Tesla Model Y costs more in taxes (annual registration) than a gasoline car does because there is a special charge, introduced in 2020, to compensate for state revenue lost from the fuel tax — since electric vehicles do not refill with gasoline, and the state under-collects. The amount of this charge is fixed and equals 85% of the equivalent fuel tax a gasoline car driver would have paid given the same average distance and fuel consumption. As a result, electric vehicle owners pay about $128.14 a year (data for 2024–2025). Gasoline car owners pay significantly less. The last time I was stopped by the police in Washington for having an expiration of one and a half years, I had to park the car and urgently arrange payment – it was a few dozen dollars. After paying, I continued on, but with a fine of a couple hundred dollars.

The Crucial Difference Between “Honoree” and “Gonorrhea” | August 13 2025, 00:46

There is a big difference between “honoree is coming” and “gonorrhea is coming”

The main thing is not to confuse them

Exploring Muscadines: A Native Grape with a Rich History | August 12 2025, 20:40

At our supermarket, they sell muscadines – a type of grape that is twice the size of regular ones. The green variety of muscadines is called scuppernong. They have thick skin and seeds a few millimeters in size. Muscadines are a native grape variety, known since the 16th century. Typically, muscadines and scuppernongs are used for making wine, but they are also sold fresh.

I hadn’t seen them before, and probably neither have you.

Exploring Must-Have Russian Books for Science and Art Lovers | August 10 2025, 14:01

Can you recommend some interesting books to bring (or order) from Russia to the USA, considering my interests (popular science, primarily local non-translations from English, as I can read the originals in English, and perhaps drawing) and various other intriguing things (see part of my collection)?

The Art of Illusion in Pricing: Dishwasher Capsules and Subscription Models | August 09 2025, 13:06

An interesting marketing tactic: three different types of dishwasher capsules are sold at the same price: good Complete, premium, and premium plus. Identical packaging, identical prices, but of course, a different number of capsules. For example, platinum has 59 capsules, while the plus version has 47. It seems such odd numbers hardly register in the buyer’s mind, but not every buyer fundamentally thinks about whether it’s important for them to save money. However, if you compare the extreme versions, the platinum plus version is simply twice as expensive as the complete version.

Another interesting example – a subscription to LLM (Chatgpt, Gemini) for $200 a month. It would seem, what fool would pay a couple of hundred for something barely better than the basic for $20-30. But it’s a very sensible decision when you have a market of hundreds of millions of users: most of them are organizations. For an organization, $200 a month is not much different from $20 a month, both are negligible for the budget. Well, okay, even multiplying by hundreds and thousands of subscriptions, there are those who place themselves among slightly more premium clients at a small price for them.