From bcc199f840d9109bcef21c9c3e0294b376128583 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: mehbark <terezi@pyrope.net>
Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 00:52:50 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] posts/law1: done

---
 site-src/law1.mdx     | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 site-src/res/main.css |  9 +++++++++
 2 files changed, 50 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 site-src/law1.mdx

diff --git a/site-src/law1.mdx b/site-src/law1.mdx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acdb6e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/site-src/law1.mdx
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+---
+title: Mehbark’s First Law 
+description:
+    Any curve will leave someone disappointed.
+    A 1% curve will disappoint people 2% short of their desired grade, and a 10% curve will disappoint people 11% short of their desired grade.
+    Even a 100% curve will disappoint some people because every score is now meaninglessly high.
+tags: post,short,law
+date: 2026-05-26 23:02:29 -4
+---
+
+export const gpa = <abbr title="Grade Point Average">GPA</abbr>;
+export const evs = <abbr title="Effort Values">EVs</abbr>;
+
+<p>{props.description}</p>
+
+## Why
+[Non-linear consequences](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7anye0FwcY).
+Point thresholds matter a lot in academics; the obvious example is {gpa}.
+For the grading scale that determines {gpa}, shown below, the only points that make a difference are 60, 70, 80, and 90.
+
+<iframe src="https://www.desmos.com/calculator/1gnsgvqw3a?embed" title="Graph showing a piecewise function that only increases at 60, 70, 80, and 90. The derivative everywhere else is zero." class="desmos" width="500" height="500" style={{border: "1px solid #ccc"}} frameBorder="0"></iframe>
+
+Only getting to the next “step” is valuable, so being just below is frustrating—*even if you were farther away before your grade was curved*.
+Objective outcomes aside, a high B feels worse than a low A even though we know they can be arbitrarily close.
+
+Height perception functions the same way.
+6′0″ is not a milestone in centimeters (182.88), and 180cm is not a milestone in feet (≈5′11″).
+In an alternate history where the meter was different (maybe a different Earth circumference), more or fewer people would meet that threshold.
+
+## More examples
+Grades are the most obvious example (hence the use of the word “curve”), but anywhere there are breakpoints, this effect might apply.
+
+A <span class="work-title">Slay the Spire 2</span> player [suggested](https://old.reddit.com/r/slaythespire/comments/1tnjfjp/just_let_me_sell_potions_at_the_shop/)
+that it should be possible to sell potions at shops.
+Being a few gold short of a valuable purchase is frustrating and often not strategically interesting (gold rewards are random within a range),
+but this proposed solution would create situations where you are just shy even after selling your potions.
+
+Competitive Pokémon has a truly staggering number of relevant breakpoints.
+Investing {evs} in a stat lets you survive, kill, or outspeed more often, but it is always at the cost of another stat, which means giving up surviving, killing, or outspeeding in other situations.
+
+I feel like I am missing some obvious example.
diff --git a/site-src/res/main.css b/site-src/res/main.css
index 160482d..b8c8e0a 100644
--- a/site-src/res/main.css
+++ b/site-src/res/main.css
@@ -380,3 +380,12 @@ footer > * {
         background-color: #fbf0c9;
     }
 }
+
+time {
+    white-space: pre;
+}
+
+.desmos {
+    margin-inline: auto;
+    display: block;
+}