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ipython

5,858 karma · joined August 20, 2014

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ipython··on Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?
Well, unless you’re multihomed, you’ll always only have one cable coming in.

It’s what you do with that cable that matters :)

Even the telco provided router/ap combo units usually have a built in switch, so you don’t even need another device in most cases.

ipython··on Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?
> the best way to speed up your Wi-Fi is to not use it.

So true!

Other tips I’ve found useful:

Separate 2.4ghz network for only IoT devices. They tend to have terrible WiFi chipsets and use older WiFi standards. Slower speed = more airtime used for the same amount of data. This way the “slow” IoT devices don’t interfere with your faster devices which…

Faster devices such as laptops and phones belong on 5ghz only network, if you’re able to get enough coverage. Prefer wired backhaul and more access points, as you’re better off with a device talking on another channel to an ap closer to it rather than tieing up airtime with lots of retries to a far away ap (which impacts all the other clients also trying to talk to that ap)

WiFi is super solid at our house but it took some tweaking and wiring everything that doesn’t move.

ipython··on McKinsey wonders how to sell AI apps with no measurable benefits
Do you have any examples of the types of tasks you’ve found the most success with using ai ?
ipython··on Bob Ross paintings to be auctioned to fund US public broadcasting
Let’s compare MrBeast with Mr Rogers…
ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
Yes, the book has a clear point of view. That said, it's not subtle at all, and they're very clear about their bias. I'd rather a clearly defined bias than one that is hidden from view or some half-hearted attempt at "bothsiding" the argument.

I felt they had some very good points, though, and I don't see any progress on the major blockers to any sort of large scale extra-planetary colonization. I hadn't considered the issues with procreation discussed in the book, for example--that's kind of a huge issue if we want to have any sort of self-sustaining population outside of this earth!

ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
Even a relatively inhospitable earth is much, much more livable than the celestial bodies we can reach in reasonable time. Even living 100% underground would be easier than trying to establish bases on the moon or Mars, with a hope that we could find a way to clean up the mess that we created.

If we find some faster-than-light travel mechanism and a star group that includes a planet like our own, then perhaps there's a way out of here.

On the other hand, why not try to achieve something like ... getting along better here? We could find ways to create more clean energy here on Earth, clean up existing messes, better harness the 3/4 of the globe covered by water, etc.

Plus we have a lot of societal issues to try to address. How would living on another planet solve distinctly human problems like war, conflict, need to pollute the natural environment of a new planet, etc? Why not look at how we can improve our own self-governance? After all, if we do escape this rock, it's not like we're magically going to become more altruistic, compassionate, etc. We'll still suffer from the same problems we do here, just with even more stressors like "my body boils over if I dare step outside unprotected". Sounds super depressing to me.

ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
Who will design and execute this “seriously”? Given the current state of our government (shutting down as I type), I don’t foresee any “serious” projects from the feds any time soon. Even when there are serious people - everything will get politicized. So nasa is out.

Ok so maybe a multibillionaire. Perhaps Elon musk? Yikes. Or Bezos? Maybe.

The EU is kinda busy increasing their defense spend, preparing to engage in Ukraine so I don’t see them super excited to do this.

China or India perhaps?

Also, why shouldn’t it be completely closed loop? If you’re designing to address the myriad of scenarios that can unfold in space, I’d say you’d want that experience under your belt. Its already easy mode doing this exercise on earth you might as well give yourself a little challenge to capture lessons learned.

ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
Which manufacturing processes are easier w/o an atmosphere? We've placed objects in planetary orbits for 75 years now. If there was an obvious economic benefit to a manufacturing process outside of 1G, then we'd have had a business actively exploiting that opportunity for profit.
ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
OK great, how much do you think is necessary to spend? In the 1990s the billionaire Ed Bass spent $150 million to operate Biosphere 2 with an expected mission time of two years. Even after spending $150 million in 1993 dollars, the experiment shut down after only 6 months. [0]

So let's say we spend a little more money ($150 million would be approx $335 million today, so maybe $0.5 - 1 billion). That's a lot of money but still a LOT less than establishing a moon base. And by doing it on Earth we can solve for more closed-loop system problems here without also coping at the exact same time with an environment actively trying to kill the participants and a multi-month lead time for any resupplies/"oops"es.

Then we can take those lessons learned and apply them to the much harsher environment of the moon. In other words, it's a lot cheaper and faster to learn some lessons here on Earth first before having to tackle all that plus things like keeping yourself alive.

[0] https://www.npr.org/2025/07/07/nx-s1-5442529/biosphere-2-ear...

ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
What's the future for humanity if the moon is colonized? What does the moon provide us that the Earth does not?

One interesting (admittedly small in scope, but huge in impact) thought experiment is the following- let's say that the doomsayers are correct. The Earth has been destroyed and inhabitable, leaving just our extra-planetary outposts. How do we supply the necessary high-tech manufacturing capability to survive?

Have we spun up all of the supply chain to reproduce the state-of-the-art technology required just required to sustain life on that celestial body? As an example, even with all our experience on Earth, we have exactly one physical location on our entire planet that can crank out the most advanced chips used in our modern technology we take for granted. That build-out took massive investment of deca-billions of dollars plus a massive, deep supply chain to build, even with all the advantages we have here on Earth (things like, oh, breathable air, access to vast carbon energy storage, access to millions of humans and existing factories... just as a start...)

Are we expected to replicate all of that on our next celestial body? If not, how do we expect to replace failing parts and continue progress?

What about even more basic concerns about things like... literal population growth? We understand ... a little... about how very healthy adult human bodies react to prolonged periods in zero-g (hint: not well, where "prolonged" == 437 contiguous days [0]). What about pregnant women? Babies? Spaceflight crews are required to exercise two hours every day to counteract muscle and bone atrophy [1]. How is that expected of say... an infant?

Don't get me wrong, I find spacefaring fascinating. I idolize the Apollo era. But we haven't even scratched the surface of how we can sustain any sort of population off this planet. We need to find ways to get along here, because ... this is all we've got, folks.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_longest_spacefligh... [1] https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/07/16/muscle-an...

ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
Stepping stone to… what exactly?

We couldn’t even handle a closed source experiment on earth (see biosphere 2), why would one on another celestial body fare any better?

ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
What does a moon base get us, though?

It was cool to get bragging rights by being the first to land and come back - in the ultimate show of “soft power” against the Soviet Union. But a permanent moon base? We can’t even fund the ISS.

ipython··on Boeing has started working on a 737 MAX replacement
Mars isn’t exactly habitable either. Not to mention the myriad of issues we face even getting there, let alone thriving.

Read the book A City On Mars recently which had a lot of interesting concerns not widely discussed in the pro space colonization community : https://www.acityonmars.com/. Highly recommended.

ipython··on Claude Sonnet 4.5
I'm curious what you would have expected it to reply given the input you provided?
ipython··on Slack has raised our charges by $195k per year
Just wait till they learn about Broadcom!
ipython··on Scammed out of $130K via fake Google call, spoofed Google email and auth sync
It's so frustrating reading this, because this blog has about 75% useful information, with 25% just left there unsaid.

> On iOS, Gmail doesn’t let you view full headers

True! But Gmail on desktop does provide full headers. Why not post them so the rest of the community can step in and help out?

ipython··on I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens
Congratulations to us. Enshittification has come to museums.

As tfa states, physical exhibits - especially interactive ones - require extensive maintenance. Expensive maintenance is, well, expensive. Must cut costs. And here we are.

Reminds me also of the apocryphical story of a McDonalds mba. They needed to cut a few million dollars and noticed that removing ten sesame seeds from the bun of a Big Mac will do it. Ok, great, but repeat enough times and soon customers will notice.

ipython··on Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah
If you read the linked pdf, “attack someone online” is a separate subcategory (27%)
ipython··on Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah
TBH I think as a society we have become so desensitized to violence because the only exposure we have to it is glamorized in movies and TV.

If we saw death up close and personal, perhaps we could become a bit more empathetic. I seriously wonder if, for example, we published the horrific photos of the aftermath of a school shooting, that would result in more honest discourse in this country on gun control.

ipython··on Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah
I was interested to see if he said that- here's a copy of that clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8XbWL0YOYo
ipython··on Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah
I was just at a conference today where one of the presenters referenced the "Trust barometer": https://www.edelman.com/trust/2025/trust-barometer

According to that study, 23% approved of the statement "I approve hostile activism to drive change by threatening or committing violence". It's even higher if you only focus on 18-34 year olds.

Full report here: https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2025-0...

ipython··on Ex-WhatsApp cybersecurity head says Meta endangered billions of users
I’m sure WhatsApp’s recent “secure by design” media and ad blitz is totally unrelated to these accusations …
ipython··on A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom
Even today though you’re still taught arithmetic without a calculator. My kids have spelling words even though we have spell check.

Why? Because otherwise they’d have no idea if the answer provided to them is “correct”. As the saying goes, garbage in garbage out. You type the wrong numbers into the calculator ? How would you know the answer is also wrong unless you knew “about” what the answer should be?

ipython··on We already live in social credit, we just don't call it that
Obligatory link to the relevant Black Mirror episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosedive_(Black_Mirror)
ipython··on Anthropic raises $13B Series F
Not to mention water for cooling. Large data centers can use 1 million+ gallons per day.
ipython··on A teen was suicidal. ChatGPT was the friend he confided in
> They desperately needed someone to clamp down on … It drove them insane.

> Whatever in their brains that needed to hold someone accountable, they did it, and it was soothing to them.

Now do Peter Thiel & Gawker.

ipython··on A teen was suicidal. ChatGPT was the friend he confided in
I’m not sure why you have such an axe to grind with the parents of innocent kids who were murdered while at school, then terrorized by mobs of idiots incited on purpose to sell overpriced supplements by yet another idiot.

It’s not the parents who set the award. If you don’t think as a parent who has gone through hell not just once when your kid was gunned down in cold blood but then proceeded to have total strangers harass them on a daily basis would push for the most punishing award possible, you are pretty out of touch.

If you feel that award was not proportional to the damage, why don’t you pick a bone with the judge or jury? They are the ones who ultimately decided the verdict after all.

ipython··on The Therac-25 Incident (2021)
Don’t worry we are poised to re learn all these lessons once again with our fancy new agentic generative ai systems.

The mechanical interlock essentially functioned as a limit outside of the control system. So you should build an ai system the same way- enforcing restrictions on the security agency from outside the control of the ai itself. Of course that doesn’t happen and devs naively trust that the ai can make its own security decisions.

Another lesson from that era we are re learning- in-band signaling. Our 2025 version of the “blue box” is in full swing. Prompt injection is just a side effect of the fact that there is no out of band instruction mechanism for llms.

Good news is - it’s not hard to learn the new technology when it’s just a matter of rediscovering the same security issues with a new name!

ipython··on A teen was suicidal. ChatGPT was the friend he confided in
It takes intent and effort to publish or speak. That’s not present here. None of the authors who have “contributed” to the training data of any ai bot have consented to such.

In addition, the exact method at work here - model alignment - is something that model providers specifically train models for. The raw pre training data is only the first step and doesn’t on its own produce a usable model.

So in effect the “choice” on how to respond to queries about suicide is as much influenced by OpenAIs decisions as it is by its original training data.

ipython··on How we exploited CodeRabbit: From simple PR to RCE and write access on 1M repos
This reply, while useful, only serves to obfuscate and doesn’t actually answer the question.

You can store the credentials in a key vault but then post them on pastebin. The issue is that the individual runner has the key in its environment variables. Both can be true- the key can be given to the runner in env and the key is stored in a key vault.

The important distinction here is - have you removed the master key and other sensitive credentials from the environment passed into scanners that come in contact with customer untrusted code??

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