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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 3rd, 2024

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  • It’s impressive, just not particularly useful,

    I will have to disagree with this. I have found LLMs to be remarkably useful in a variety of circumstances because they are pretty good at regurgitating API documentation and man pages in a relatively small context (effectively making them a very efficient google search).

    For example, last week I accidentally deleted a partition from a USB drive. I asked an LLM how I might recover my data using GNU/Linux tools and it pointed me in the direction of ddrescue (and subsequently, gddrescue) and showed me how I could use the recovered disk image to recover my lost files.

    I was already aware of ‘dd’ as a tool for disk management, but was wholly ignorant of ddrescue or gddrescue because I haven’t had a data recovery use case in over 15 years. It was a fairly simple affair, and it was much easier than asking StackOverflow.


  • I dunno if I’d say I’m “unimpressed” with AI. I certainly find the technology itself fascinating. I worked with machine learning for years before consumer generative AI became mainstream and it’s profoundly impressive what decades of research and development have yielded. I genuinely do admire the painstaking work that underappreciated computer scientists have put in to make such things possible.

    That said, “AI” is the new “blockchain” insofar as virtually every company on the S&P 500 has decided this is the new be-all-end-all feature that must be integrated into every aspect of every project. I don’t need AI to be part of my OS. I will open a new tab in my web browser if I decide I have a task for it. Granted, I am not a representative sample of a typical computer user (I use GNU/Linux btw).

    To say nothing of the unethical manner in which these models are trained, using works produced by actual writers, artists, programmers, etc. Obviously profiting from their works while offering zero compensation (and actively taking work away from them by offering AI as an alternative to their craft).



  • Problem: Receiving antennas can be geolocated using signal interference.

    I’m not sure that’s what the wikipedia article says. It only seems to refer to this method being able to locate transmitting antennas (or “radio sources”). Something like an FM, AM, or shortwave radio antenna would not be able to be located by that radio simply listening to the airwaves passing through it; reception on those media is passive and doesn’t require the radio to broadcast any kind of signal.

    Not an expert, but I am a licensed ham radio tech.






  • About 10 years ago, I read “Creativity, Inc” by Edwin Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. It detailed the ideas and events that lead up to the advent of feature 3D animation and filmmaking. I found it to be an inspiring story that mixed a passion for computer science with the desire for compelling storytelling. I was independently studying animation at the time, and it definitely lit a fire in me, as it was written by and for computer nerds who would like to make art.

    I’ve always been more technically-oriented than artistic, so it was nice to see a book written from a similar perspective. I spent most of my young adulthood working on my technical skills so I could get a decent job, but around the time I read this book, I actually started putting time into creative endeavours in my free time as well.



  • Yeah, I think I’ve only bought one or two PS5 exclusives since I got mine around October 2020. Demon Souls remake and Horizon Forbidden West (though the latter is now available on Steam).

    That said, I still think I’ve gotten a good amount of value out of the console by reaping the Patient Gamer™ rewards by picking up many of the major PS3/PS4 titles during good sales. I didn’t play many video games during the PS3/PS4 era, so I missed out on quite a few major releases. I’ve accumulated a pretty great digital library with some fantastic games for a relatively small amount of money (which, like my Steam library, I’ve only actually played a fraction of).

    As an aside, probably my favorite PS5 exclusive has just been the free Astro Bot game. The haptics in the DualSense controller are frankly cool as hell, and I hope more games utilize them going forward.


  • I know you asked for TV recommendations, but, if your friend is open to other ideas, they could also look into home theater projectors. I got a super cheap projector on sale a few years ago and being able to watch TV and movies on a 150 inch screen is absolutely bitchin’. I later upgraded to a higher quality projector cause the cheap one crapped out after about a year (and replacement bulbs were impossible to find due to the supply chain issues during early covid). Spent about the same amount on the high quality projector that I would have spent on a much smaller TV.

    Though there’s obviously drawbacks to projectors:

    • They generate a lot of heat. In the hottest months of the year, I don’t like turning it on
    • You will initially blind yourself a lot by accidentally looking at it when it’s turned on. After blinding yourself a dozen or so times you’ll develop the muscle memory to avoid it.
    • You gotta replace the bulbs periodically, but they last for thousands of hours. My current bulb has about 5000 hours on it and still doesn’t need to be replaced.
    • Contrast is really weak compared to a TV. Need to close the curtains and not let sunlight into the room if you want to be able to see the picture clearly
    • Need a big surface to project the picture onto, ideally a screen, but a blank wall works just fine.

    When we moved into our house a few years ago, I saw there was an elevated alcove in the living room with a big, blank wall on the opposite side of the room. I knew right then that it would be perfect for a projector.

    Movie night kicks ass. Every re-watch of Lord of the Rings is like watching it in the theater again. And Superbowl Sundays are epic on the big screen.

    I have an Epson 2250 and it’s worked nicely these past few years.





  • And then locations and buildings come to fuck up that way of remembering it, because la biblioteca está allí, not la biblioteca es allí.

    True that. I guess maybe it’s because a building’s location isn’t necessarily part of its essence. Or how it feels more natural with respect to a person, e.g.: “yo estoy en la biblioteca” makes sense cause a person moves from place to place. I guess technically buildings can be moved but it’s still a bit confusing.



  • Also, Spanish has two main verbs for “to be”. There’s “ser”, which is used for things that are inherent (e.g.: “Yo soy de Mexico” means “I am from Mexico”). But then there’s also “estar”, which is used for the current state of things, or a temporary status (e.g.: “Yo estoy enfermo” means “I am sick (in my current state)”).