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johnrob

4,405 karma · joined June 8, 2007

A fun way to follow football games: http://www.replayray.com/
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johnrob··on Two kinds of AI users are emerging
I’ve done this in pure Python for a long time. Single file prototype that can mostly function from the command line. The process helps me understand all the sub problems and how they relate to each other. Best example is when you realize behaviors X, Y, and Z have so much in common that it makes sense to have a single component that takes a parameter to specify which behavior to perform. It’s possible that already practicing this is why I feel slightly “meh” compared to others regarding GenAI.
johnrob··on Anthropic Economic Index report: economic primitives
Until AI is used to generate new revenue streams (i.e. acquire new customers), I don’t think the economic impact is going to impress. My two cents.
johnrob··on Useful patterns for building HTML tools
Next evolution: UX should allow end users to build the prompt, and then the tool is generated and deployed at a random URL. Tool also keeps original prompt, so any user can customize into a new (random URL) tool page.
johnrob··on IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off
Cheap depends on how we define the cost. In relative terms, food is more expensive than ever:

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

johnrob··on IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off
Invest in making food/shelter cheaper?
johnrob··on Ticker: Don't die of heart disease
If you start exercising in your 20s, and never stop, it will be so much easier to maintain fitness in 40s 50s etc. The challenge is that the benefits are not yet visible in your 20s (when you’ll probably be healthy and at a proper weight regardless). Gotta lay that foundation for older age though!

EDIT - I misread the comment. It’s never too late to start, just be careful for injuries as that will block your ability to exercise.

johnrob··on Optimism associated with exceptional longevity (2019)
Research focuses on trends. You are a sample of 1, however, so anything is possible. Create your own path!
johnrob··on How I use every Claude Code feature
As fascinating as these tools can be - are we (the industry) once again finding something other than our “customer” to focus our brains on (see Paul Graham’s “Top idea in your mind” essay)?
johnrob··on Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)
This definitely has that “toy” feel to it that a lot of eventually mainstream ideas have. It can’t work! But… could it?
johnrob··on OpenAI’s promise to stay in California helped clear the path for its IPO
If I am understanding things correctly, OpenAI could leave in the future - but CA can’t retroactively block the conversion in that case.
johnrob··on Simplify your code: Functional core, imperative shell
Functions can have complexity or side effects, but not both.
johnrob··on How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods
If you don’t have one, try an Instant Pot which can pressure cook (in addition to rice cooker features). Dry beans can be ready to eat in an hour.
johnrob··on Tau² benchmark: How a prompt rewrite boosted GPT-5-mini by 22%
Isn’t programming the clearest form of writing? Perhaps it’s the non programmers that need to “catch up”.
johnrob··on Generative AI as Seniority-Biased Technological Change
LLMs are good at creating single use documents, like a pitch deck used for one prospective customer (never to be used again). But for long lived documents, on which future work builds atop, the bar is higher and the value of LLMs is more grey.
johnrob··on Interview with Geoffrey Hinton
Businesses fall into 2 categories:

B2C (sell to people)

B2B (sell to B2C companies)

If the “C” is broke, it seems like there won’t by any rich people. In other words, if the masses are poor and jobless, who is sending money to the rich?

johnrob··on Tao on “blue team” vs. “red team” LLMs
Humans are good at sifting valid feedback from bad feedback. But we are bad at spotting subtle bugs in PRs.
johnrob··on Show HN: Ten years of running every day, visualized
Have you tried non-running (indoor) cardio as a regular replacement? Jumping jacks, squats, jump squats, mountain climbers, even jogging in place. I do cardio everyday but running is only every 4th day. Of course, if you have access to equipment there’s always stationary bike and other machines like an elliptical.
johnrob··on Show HN: I AI-coded a tower defense game and documented the whole process
I see 100x used quite a bit related to LLM productivity. It seems extreme because it implies one could generate a year’s worth of value in a few days. I would think delivering features involves too much non coding work for this to be possible.
johnrob··on The last six months in LLMs, illustrated by pelicans on bicycles
Well, the most likely single random sample would be a “representative” one :)
johnrob··on Being fat is a trap
Societal norms are the problem. We’ve normalized unhealthy food. Big business has figured hit that if they make processed/refined foods easily accessible, you will buy them. Nobody wins here except shareholders, and only those shareholders in good health who don’t have to compete to get access from doctors who are overbooked with patients who have manifested a chronic illness that is statistically correlated with the aforementioned food.
johnrob··on Working with Git Patches in Apple Mail (2023)
You’ll also want to familiarize with “git apply -3 <file name>”, for when a diff can’t be applied cleanly. It will try “harder” to merge (three way method) and if it still fails it invokes the conflict merge “UX”:

<<<<<<<<<

=========

>>>>>>>>>

johnrob··on Working with Git Patches in Apple Mail (2023)
Once I discovered how git apply can take diff files (or patch files) as input, I stopped using git stash in favor of plain old files. Easier to list and browse the contents of prior edits, also you can grep the files as method of search. I’ve even found myself copying and editing the diffs before applying.
johnrob··on Orphan tsunami of 1700–Japanese clues to a parent earthquake in America (2015)
Great article from The New Yorker about this, also from 2015: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big...
johnrob··on Hallucinations in code are the least dangerous form of LLM mistakes
I’m not sure it’s possible to have the full reasoning in your head without authoring the code yourself - or, spending a comparable amount of effort to mentally rewrite it.
johnrob··on It's not a crime if we do it with an app
Interesting that if people took their health more seriously, the food companies mentioned here would struggle to survive regardless of pricing power. Total addressable market would plummet. I suppose one way to accept the status quo is that these companies are self levying a vice tax.
johnrob··on Things we learned about LLMs in 2024
It would be quite useful if that were the only phone available.
johnrob··on Introducing S2
This is a very interesting abstraction (and service). I can’t help but feature creep and ask for something like Athena, which runs PrestoDB (map reduce) over S3 files. It could be superior in theory because anyone using that pattern must shoehorn their data stream (almost everything is really a stream) into an S3 file system. Fragmentation and file packing become requirements that degrade transactional qualities.
johnrob··on Amazon S3 Adds Put-If-Match (Compare-and-Swap)
Yes, definitely. Good point (I was knee jerk assuming the A is always chosen and the real “choice” is between C and P).
johnrob··on Amazon S3 Adds Put-If-Match (Compare-and-Swap)
I’d wager that the algorithm is slightly eager to throw a consistency error if it’s unable to verify across partitions. Since the caller is naturally ready for this error, it’s likely not a problem. So in short it’s the P :)
johnrob··on AWS Lambda PR/FAQ After 10 Years
Glaring grammatical error in the PR headline? :)

Amazon Web Services Launches AWS Lambda

Easily run any code as an AWS-operated scalable, secure, and reliable cloud services

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