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alanbernstein

3,144 karma · joined April 1, 2016

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alanbernstein··on How is music possible
If you squint hard enough, you might see the music/art directly in the structure of their civilizations
alanbernstein··on Butlerian Jihad
Plot armor refers to important characters being invulnerable. What you're describing is just plot (or "internal logic" that underlays the plot). You might think of it as "contrived plot" but that's generally how scifi works.
alanbernstein··on Show HN: Let your AI agents paint big arrows, boxes and text on your screen
A guide doesn't answer arbitrary questions, though
alanbernstein··on Show HN: Let your AI agents paint big arrows, boxes and text on your screen
I don't disagree. But the existing tech solution - scrubbing through YouTube tutorial videos until I cobble together the bits of knowledge I need - is also quite overengineered, isn't it?

Obviously I'd prefer to ask specific questions to my expert human friend sitting at the next desk over, but sadly they don't exist.

I just hope there is a future where this tech exists without such big downsides.

alanbernstein··on Show HN: Let your AI agents paint big arrows, boxes and text on your screen
Right, maybe the next step is that Blender comes with a local-gui-tutorial-llm packaged with it?
alanbernstein··on Show HN: Let your AI agents paint big arrows, boxes and text on your screen
Valid points, but this sounds extremely useful for learning complicated GUI applications like 3d modeling or media editing apps.
alanbernstein··on 3D-printing platform rapidly produces complex electric machines
3d printers are also CNC. My impression is that people often use the term to mean CNC mill. Much like "drone" implies "quadcopter" despite the existence of other very different types of "drone".
alanbernstein··on macOS Golden Gate Is a Buggy Mess
What would you say the letters NS stand for? Perhaps "Not Standforanything"?
alanbernstein··on macOS Golden Gate Is a Buggy Mess
What does the NS prefix mean?
alanbernstein··on Show HN: Jigsaw Haiku
Thanks!

Another suggestion: more feedback when two pieces click together - I'm currently dragging it around to check if they're connected. For example, they could lose the outline that separates them, or change outline color to be the same.

alanbernstein··on Λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study
If you appreciate when keyboard interaction gets added to a GUI, then you might think of a graphical language as the opposite, as it essentially removes keyboard interaction from what is normally a text-based system.
alanbernstein··on Show HN: Jigsaw Haiku
Neat. Doesn't work well in android Firefox for me.
alanbernstein··on Programming is Art
No, because it doesn't make sense to experience it in that context. I think of it as more like poetry . For example: https://www.norvig.com/spell-correct.html
alanbernstein··on Turn satellite imagery into a paper globe you fold yourself
Clearly the classic of polyhedral globes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map

alanbernstein··on An internal OpenAI Astra model solved 10 major open math and CS problems
Not that I disagree, but I think this is how many people feel about AI output in fields they care about.

It's also a funny historical mirror to an earlier phase of math proof culture: in a previous era, cryptic result dumps were quite common.

alanbernstein··on The Complete Homemade Juggling Beanbag Guide
Aluminum chain mail!
alanbernstein··on The Complete Homemade Juggling Beanbag Guide
These look nice. I met someone with juggling balls made of aluminum chain mail, I immediately thought it was the best material for the purpose. She said she made them herself, then shared the instructions with me. It was a great COVID project. Now I have three juggling balls, and a bunch of leftover rings that I use occasionally for small repair and mounting tasks.
alanbernstein··on Costco is the anti-Amazon
No, not if you're matching the volume of items between the two scenarios.
alanbernstein··on Costco is the anti-Amazon
Right, 100 trucks delivering 100 single items to 100 homes, or 100 consumers each making 1 trip to buy 100 things. It really depends on the details too much to simplify it so far.
alanbernstein··on Calvin and Hobbes and the price of integrity
I suggested it to my young kids and it became an instant favorite.
alanbernstein··on The worst job interview I ever had
Do you experience many "life challenges" at work?
alanbernstein··on I want to live like Costco people
Is the super-consumption aspect of it really so different than any other big box store?
alanbernstein··on Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license
In steam deck desktop mode, the touchpad-as-mouse makes it just bearable enough to use. I can't use desktop mode with a wireless Xbox controller with no touchpads. It's really the missing input type that makes the steam deck a complete tv-docked PC.
alanbernstein··on Neanderthals ran 'fat factories' 125k years ago (2025)
As they say, history rhymes
alanbernstein··on Neanderthals ran 'fat factories' 125,000 years ago (2025)
You might enjoy Hominids by Robert Sawyer
alanbernstein··on Ti-84 Evo
Ti89 emulator on my android. Muscle memory from high school and college use is strong.
alanbernstein··on Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in the same photo (2010)
And yet, anything beyond one lifetime is entirely out of reach...
alanbernstein··on AI Will Be Met with Violence, and Nothing Good Will Come of It
The tearing down of those institutions IS the ebb.
alanbernstein··on Filing the corners off my MacBooks
The most material is removed at the corners of the lid-lifting notch. Those are IMO the most offensive pointy part on the body.
alanbernstein··on Dune3d: A parametric 3D CAD application
It has been one of the main complaints about openscad for some time
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