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bitmasher9

1,637 karma · joined December 23, 2023

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bitmasher9··on High Diesel Prices Bankrupted 16 Trucking Companies in Just 30 Days
$30-$40 billion sounds like scrapping by to me. For an entire industry, one of the most important in the country.
bitmasher9··on The work by Valve's Timur Kristóf on improving old AMD GPUs on Linux
Yes, but the debugging process is the most fun part for me.
bitmasher9··on The new Firefox design is here
I do it sometimes for highly related work (referencing on tab against the other) that will be a longer running task (30+ minutes).

It means that both tabs get maximized and minimized at the same time, and the two tabs are always side by side. Which means if I need to jump to another task, like answering a message or joining a video call, I can get back to my work faster. It’s a small thing that helps with context switching.

I do it when I consider both side of the Split View one unified context I am working on. I do it not only with browser tabs, but sometimes terminal tabs. I most commonly do it with IDE tabs.

bitmasher9··on When did Google get so weird?
You can buy keywords for cheaper than ever, by making a a few reddit posts and upvoting them/commenting.
bitmasher9··on Unknown number of Texas voter registrations went unprocessed due to DPS error
American Democracy started from a place of very strict voter requirements (white, male, adult, landowner) and is trending towards fewer voter requirements.

The registration process is mostly a legacy system to ensure only qualified individuals vote, left over from a time when the bar was much higher.

bitmasher9··on How did AMD Ryzen get 50% faster in two years?
Great points all. I will say that the loading time decrease was probably the single biggest innovation of the PS5, as it standardized SSD loading.
bitmasher9··on How did AMD Ryzen get 50% faster in two years?
I didn’t mean to imply that we should target ps5 as an exclusive platform, but ps5 is a good hardware spec to target, as there are several platforms that can match it and it has a wide install base.
bitmasher9··on How did AMD Ryzen get 50% faster in two years?
> Every game should be targeting the switch 2 and steam deck in terms of power.

I think PS5 is a perfectly reasonable spec to be targeting, which was the higher end of mid range about 5 years ago, and still significantly out performs Switch 2 (which significantly out performs steam deck). I’m sure the GTA sales will demonstrate that the install base at this spec is wide enough for broad commercial success.

bitmasher9··on GPT-6 Sol and Luna
GPT would charge more if they could. Both companies need way way more revenue. GPT simply made a calculation that they can earn more money by charging less than their competitors.
bitmasher9··on I don't want to read what you didn't write
If you input 300 bits into an LLM, and it outputs an additional 700bits of new information, I’d still rather you tell me those 1000bits than read ann llm’s output of 1000bits.

The primary reason is that human language is becoming a proof of work, that speaking out loud or writing directly indicates that the idea is important enough for a human to express. This is more costly than llm output, which is often just botspam.

bitmasher9··on I said no and Apple said yes
Other companies claim to care about the consumer, they deserve scrutiny too.
bitmasher9··on Bill to Ban Private Equity from Owning Medical Practices
No way. I think most people realize “they are offering me $5M because they know they’ll make a good profit on this business. That means it’s worth more.”
bitmasher9··on Bill to Ban Private Equity from Owning Medical Practices
* Most small brick & motor businesses do not turn a profit in their first 2 years. So you’ll need a significant amount of runway, in a business where raising capital isn’t guaranteed.

* There’s probably more cost in medical supply, equipment, and certification than you’d expect. There’s standards for security of the medications.

* Most veterinary clinics have staff. That’s payroll expenses.

* Any new business will need marketing. You’ll probably want a large sign/billboard, a decent website, and social media.

* Just leasing office space and furnishing it is surprisingly expensive.

bitmasher9··on Show HN: Share your AI Setup, Learn from others
I prefer OpenCode over Codex/Claude/Pi
bitmasher9··on Neovim have a ~$800k Bitcoin donation sitting untouched since 2023
The idea of taxing people for not working an hour sounds incredibly dystopian.
bitmasher9··on Canada welcomes EU proposal to become 'associate member'
The focus towards the north (Greenland/Canada) is one potential successful post-climate-change strategy.

Control over the opened trade routes and natural resources as the northern oceans thaw will be a highly contested global issue, the type of issue that can lead to war.

Of course, this is a more charitable interpretation of long term plans than might be warranted.

bitmasher9··on Claude is only available to people over 18 years
I think the key here is “a trusted third party” more than “bank”.

Also, I’d rather a company know “he has an account at Bank of America” than “His full government name is Bit Masher and his driving license number is 9”

bitmasher9··on Amazon pilots ad services in ChatGPT
It looks like the old saying is true. The smartest minds in all of tech are working overtime to get you to click on advertisements.
bitmasher9··on What will our economic future look like?
I once saw a receipt for a cross-country train ride in the late 1950s and was shocked at the price. It was significantly slower and more expensive than a similar plane ticket today.
bitmasher9··on Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
Yeah, I know most of the gold that goes to Europe from the US usually gets refined in Switzerland.

I have no idea what portion of the total cost that is to move gold from US to Switzerland. I imagine it’s less than the insured carrier service.

bitmasher9··on Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
I’m not sure 100% sure, but I imagine the cost of transporting to Europe is probably higher than the cost of refining to the European standard.
bitmasher9··on Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
One important detail here.

When you buy gold, you purchase based on the amount of gold, not the total amount of alloy. This is true in both markets. This difference in standard is practically not a big deal because you very rarely physically move the gold, as moving gold requires a lot of security and is a risk.

bitmasher9··on Mark Cuban: Why US hospitals "don't know their costs"
Exactly.

Either assign an equal portion of your insurance to all procedures, or use the amortization techniques insurance uses to assign a malpractice risk to the procedure.

bitmasher9··on Doctors are finally learning to manage antidepressant withdrawal
I’m happy for your extreme good response to the drug. I’ve witnessed this type of response in my close circle once, and it is life saving medication in these situations.

I think it’s important to highlight that not every person has the same response to these medications. I think it’s absolutely something anyone struggling with depression should try, but there should be expectations about how long to stay on a medication before moving on.

bitmasher9··on France reaches 94.9% fiber coverage in 2026
Over the last 10 years I’ve moved 5 times. Each time having a fiber connection with at least symmetrical gigabit has been a hard requirement. Looking forward I’m considering moving again for very fast networking where I can begin to stream videos in 4k 60fps to small groups from my home, as well as offering a semi-permanent home for mid sized files (500mg-50gb).

The ability to download/upload large files without worry, and the decreased latency, are well worth the handful of neighborhoods I’ve declined based on this requirement.

Congratulations to France, for helping to make sure the future is more evenly distributed.

bitmasher9··on Credit Card Rewards Became a $9.2B Wealth Transfer
Most true not qualifying are either

1. People with proven bad credit.

2. People asking for a lot of money without proven good credit.

3. People asking for more specialized credit, such as lines for businesses or lines for high earners.

bitmasher9··on New Worlds: We are living in the future of J.G. Ballard or William Gibson
Gibson stands for style over substance.
bitmasher9··on Sticky wage norms and the real wage cost of unexpected inflation
Why are tech wages lower in Scandinavian countries than in the United States?
bitmasher9··on Google buys crashed airline Spirit's data at auction, because AI
Are all of the messages public and crawlable?
bitmasher9··on Israel creates fake think tank in likely attempt to dupe AI chatbots
You don’t think plenty of books are either written by LLMs, or with LLM based research?
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