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aworks

329 karma · joined November 21, 2021

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aworks··on Websites Should Be Printable
In the early 90s, I would print out usenet posts so I could read them on the commuter train. Seemed a good idea at the time and I probably read them with more attention than my current online practices.
aworks··on Show HN: Swurf – Swipe through the real web
There are more sites related to LLVM IR than I need to see but overall, this is a fresh browsing experience. Reminds me of reading random pages back in 1994.
aworks··on Local Wikipedia: Wikipedia, but only for things a half hour walk from you
I bought many a book and saw various authors at Printers Inc., although apparently more than 25 years ago.

Had some meaningful conversations at the Cafe (which I assume finally closed as well). I never liked the Starbucks across the street.

aworks··on The plight of the public potty
Didn't realize the Rogers Park, Chicago Target had a restroom. Good to know, as an old guy.
aworks··on AI Can Write the Code. Who Verifies It?
Depends. Back in the day, I worked on development tools for a commericial avionics flight management computer. The headcount for embedded hardware/software verification was greater than for development.

That was never true for software development in other domains I worked in i.e. Fortune 500 enterprise tools, compiler/design tools, networking, and semiconductor.

aworks··on How the Claude Code team does code review
Crossing the Chasm...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm#/media/File...

aworks··on Redesigning source control at Anthropic
Due to the pace of app changes, people on reddit seem to think Spotify is a constant "green rain"
aworks··on Nearly 200 people under observation after Irkutsk lab worker dies from plague
I preferred the Nuclear War scenario book. Same style of narrative mixed with expert insights. The first several days of the scenario were riveting, after that less so. This one tries to describe the impact of social media and influencers, which I found inconclusive.

She also reports that Bush rode in the back of a laundry truck on the day of 9/11 to avoid detection getting to the Doomsday plane. Single source attribution, though.

aworks··on RSS Feeds for Last.fm
I've been using xiffy last.fm feeds for awhile and am satisfied with the combo.
aworks··on Previously unheard recordings of John Coltrane, captured by Frank Tiberi
And the recordist, Frank Tiberi, is a jazz saxophonist and has played with the Woody Herman big band (with whom I saw in the 70s). Also teaches at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
aworks··on Alan Kay: Shannon gave us a way of dealing with noisy channels [video]
Alvin Lucier wrote other highly interesting, if unconventional works, although similar to John Cage's 4'33", this is the one that achieved meme status as conceptual art.
aworks··on Meta bans ads for Virginia Woolf play in Spain
I wanted to parenthetically say that I recently saw Job, set in the Bay Area. The show was provocative and contemporary. I don't remember if I saw an ad for it...

"Jane, an employee at a big tech company, has been placed on leave after video of her emotional breakdown at work went viral. Her employers tell Jane she must be evaluated by crisis therapist Loyd before she can be reinstated to the job that gives her life meaning."

https://www.writerstheatre.org/events/job

aworks··on Meta bans ads for Virginia Woolf play in Spain
Is this an EU or Spain issue? I regularly attend at a theatre in Chicago that has socially "sensitive" plays. I often see their ads on Facebook.
aworks··on How Hacker News ranking works: scoring, controversy, and penalties (2013)
For those of us scanning Hacker News by RSS, this additional feed is helpful

https://hnrss.github.io/#reply-feeds

aworks··on Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco
Likewise with my Jeep Gladiator. I traveled, hauled and camped with it more than I ever expected.

The bed is only 5 feet long but I'm thinking of taking out part of the back seat for even more room .

I also used 4x4 in 4H mode more than I thought on bad roads even though I didn't go truly off-road that much so no need for 4L. I did take advantage of the higher wheel clearance and the more rugged suspension and the 8-speed manual shifting is useful going down mountain roads.

aworks··on How to buy a good car for $1000
My dad put electrical tape over the check engine light in my car...
aworks··on Apple Watch Series 12
Hah. I read that as pressing the "Digital Clown."
aworks··on Young Americans have never witnessed a functioning foreign policy
Hardly any losses except for the violent deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis over a decade.
aworks··on Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo
Which reminds me of being at the SFO baggage claim. A security dog went straight for a person's bag. The security officer opened it up and found an old, stale sandwich. The person said they had forgotten their mother had stashed it there.
aworks··on Because It's Not Fun Enough: why languages fail
I'm retired now but it never occurred to me the vocational languages I enjoyed most were all respectable or false starts (or obscure): FORTRAN, Pascal, Icon, Ada, Tcl.

And in hindsight, I only grudgingly accepted the immortals, although I recognized at the time they would be widely adopted: C, C++, Java, Javascript, and Python.

Is awk still respectable? Is it even a programming language?

aworks··on A World of First Drafts
This mentions a piece by the guitarist Michael Hedges, dedicated to the minimalist composer Steve Reich. Interesting...
aworks··on Let the AI Cook
Excessive prompts as ceremony. That's an interesting idea.
aworks··on NASA still maintains some of the Voyager spacecraft code from the 70s era
It would also be an interesting job, even if off the beaten track.

As a hiring manager, if I saw this on a resume interspersed with various web development work, I would be intrigued.

aworks··on Russia is starting to lose ground in Ukraine
That's fair.
aworks··on AI eats the world (Spring 26) [pdf]
"Chat is a terrible UX General use needs ‘apps’"

I'm old so my computer career has gone: punch cards => calculators => command-line => GUI => touch screen => voice => chat. Chat seems to be the best blend of expressiveness and utility, with a dose of magic thrown in.

aworks··on Russia is starting to lose ground in Ukraine
I hope Peter Zeihan lives a long life.
aworks··on America's Most-Spoken Languages After English and Spanish
The three surprises for me: NV/Tagalog, AL/Korean, KY/German.

The first two are presumably recent immigration.

Kentucky in particular surprises me despite my German ancestors settling in Indiana during the 19th Century. I had assumed Kentucky had been English immigrants from colonial Virginia/Carolina.

aworks··on Someone Shared a Real Monet Painting as AI and Asked for Critiques
This is why John Cage's 4'33" mentioned above is genius. If you listen to the composition with sincerity and seriousness, you get the full, unadulterated (non-silent) experience as opposed to an interpretation.
aworks··on The language debate is back!
Codex has used Power Shell, C# and Python and I[m mostly none the wiser. Ok.
aworks··on ABC News has taken all FiveThirtyEight articles offline
Companies have a long history of mis-management of their acquisitions (and mis-managing their portfolio of projects outside their money-making expertise).

As you suggest, it's good that the alumni seem to be doing fine, although Harry Enten's commentary on CNN is not as thougtful as he was on 538 podcasts.

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