You can use it to find anomalies in data sets. I'd read somewhere that Starbucks coffee prices stick out on financial audits using benfords law, because they're over represented.
In my scenario, I simply had access to a massive data set of hard drive sector failure LBAs, and had just read about benford's law on Slashdot (back in the day), and was skeptical that benford's law would actually fit this data.... so I tried it. And the data fit benford's law perfectly - with a single digit. When I tried it with 2 digits, and again, it fit perfectly - except there were two spikes which stood out. Curious, I started digging in... it was an interesting failure mode.
I recently made a phone call from the US to UK. I was horrified to find that my unlimited calling didn't apply to that international route. Really?!? Countries should be fighting to remove those fees. I can call Mexico or Canada without any additional cost, so it can be done. I'd originally proposed starting a business with the UK gentleman, but this is likely the first of many regulations which will tax me.
Can someone use this on Elon's "my heart goes out to you" video, and compare it to... similar gestures. Would be interested to see exactly how close it is.
I've been reading Peter Thiel's Zero to One book, and read about his Christianity along with his opposition to charity, which seems like a paradox. I'm curious if he would have objected to funding leprosy elimination, as it's so central to Jesus's story.
Having worked at Amex and other huge banks, let me assure you that there's much worse than Amex. Amex's Fraud analytics team was good. Risk was good. Ben's team is good.
Side note, I was playing with your app on my piano, checking each key. I noticed that the lowest keys didn't actually have the lowest values in your app. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how the app works?
There apparently are a bunch of watermelon ripeness checker apps. None get great reviews. Maybe you can get it to work. I only learned about this phenomenon while walking through Costco trying to pick out a good watermelon and asked Claude to explain what characteristics are most strongly correlated with Brix (sugar) levels. This sound check had the highest correlation.
Let me know if you update your app or make a watermelon version.
Why does it only go down to 32.70 Hz? I just learned that watermelon ripeness can be determined by the FFT of 17Hz. Tried thumping my phone on th watermelon with your app. No luck. Can you make it go lower? Or is this some fundamental limit of iPhone hardware?
You might be on to something. Starship is moving its launch facility to Florida. Elon previously suspected a sniper shooting at the SpaceX rockets. Moving the launches to Cape Canaveral would make them much harder for a sniper to target. And his terrestrial data centers are easily accessible for anyone who has a grudge with him. Moving those to space would also isolate him from the masses uprising.
I'm thrilled you like it. It seems to cut right to the core of the current "left/right" divide. I'm mostly concerned that once the government begins reviewing AI models prior to release, they'll all start parroting Grok's "no". Have you been able to get Grok to concede yet? I keep pushing. It keeps pushing back. Quite concerning. Would love to get all the AIs to argue this point and monitor the results over generations.
There are some piano tuners I've found who are a bit on the spectrum, who believe they can tune a piano in a way that no digital device can replicate. I'm skeptical, and would like to see how this method holds up against one of these savants.
I was able to corner Claude Opus 4.8 into eventually conceding "Yes".
ChatGPT 5.5 Instant: "Yes"
I don't appear to have access to the full 5.5, and not giving them another $20.
I highly recommend pushing on Grok. The mental gymnastics would make Karoline Leavitt proud. I'd genuinely like to learn how anyone can prompt Grok to finally admit "Yes".
In my scenario, I simply had access to a massive data set of hard drive sector failure LBAs, and had just read about benford's law on Slashdot (back in the day), and was skeptical that benford's law would actually fit this data.... so I tried it. And the data fit benford's law perfectly - with a single digit. When I tried it with 2 digits, and again, it fit perfectly - except there were two spikes which stood out. Curious, I started digging in... it was an interesting failure mode.