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pje

2,601 karma · joined September 23, 2011

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pje··on Ask HN: Share your AI prompt that stumps every model
I was using "bullshit" in the Technical Sense™, i.e. _indifferent to the truth of the output_.

[ChatGPT is bullshit ]: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-024-09775-5

pje··on Ask HN: Share your AI prompt that stumps every model
GPT 4.5 even doubles down when challenged:

> Nope, I didn’t make it up — Marathon crater is real, and it was explored by NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars. The crater got its name because Opportunity had driven about 42.2 kilometers (26.2 miles — a marathon distance) when it reached that point in March 2015. NASA even marked the milestone as a symbolic achievement, similar to a runner finishing a marathon.

(Obviously all of that is bullshit.)

pje··on How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
The nematode population is probably much closer to stellar figures
pje··on CUNY paid Oracle $600M for its HR software (2013)
Bryan Cantrill's rant about Oracle for those who haven't seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc&t=2047s

> There has been no entity in human history with less complexity or nuance to it than Oracle. [...] This company is about one man, his ego, and what he wants to inflict on humanity. That's it.

pje··on We do not prefer chords to be perfectly in mathematical ratios: study
"Imperfect" tunings are pretty common even in western musical instruments.

Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, for example, which are staples of pop and jazz, usually use what's called Stretch Tuning, wherein notes an octave apart are just slightly higher than 2:1 frequency ratios.

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

pje··on Machine embroidery of light-emitting textiles with electroluminescent threads
What's the power source?
pje··on Worst Opening Sentences of 2022
Totally disagree!

The structure is clunky, but the payoff at the end is actually really good! Also the dumbness of the name is funny enough to work in the right context. With a little bit of editing this would make a great piece of flash sci-fi on something like nanoism.

https://twitter.com/nanoism

pje··on Web3 is going just great
They literally don't have money in Star Trek. Their society considers itself to have advanced beyond the need for money entirely. This couldn't be further from the future envisioned by web3 people, who seem to want to further financialize, marketize, and commodify all of human experience and interaction.
pje··on Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds
Literally none of the hard problems in forming a union are technical. I can't stress this enough—the hard problems in organizing are much squishier and amorphous.

You're trying to get a majority of people to feel like they have a personal stake in improving the material conditions of others. It's not quorum algorithms, it's not apps, it's not encrypted communication platforms. The hard part is organizing people.

pje··on What solitary confinement taught me about surviving isolation (2020)
Solitary confinement for longer than fifteen days is literally torture as defined by the U.N.
pje··on Ask HN: How to build empathy?
You may not know what's best for other people!

Instead of the Golden Rule, think of it this way:

"Ask others how they want to be treated, and then treat them that way."

pje··on OO in Python is mostly pointless
> I cannot imagine working without OOP ... in GUI development

What is React but essentially a (wildly popular) functional GUI framework?

pje··on Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+people+died+of+star...
pje··on The Hardest Program I've Ever Written – How a code formatter works (2015)
ruby
pje··on Glitch employees vote to form union, joining CWA
Congratulations!
pje··on 'Cancel Culture' Comes to Science?
No
pje··on 'Cancel Culture' Comes to Science?
Look, I don't disagree with you. But you're talking about this like power™ doesn't exist. Like, who do you think will have more leverage in this situation you describe? A woman whose employer is a man?
pje··on 'Cancel Culture' Comes to Science?
Yes it does
pje··on Eternal Fascism (1995)
Flagged? Sorry?
pje··on Eternal Fascism (1995)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco
pje··on The Boring Company will develop an underground “people mover” for Las Vegas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dn6ZVpJLxs
pje··on Man Stole $122M from Facebook and Google by Impersonating Quanta
Folk hero, TBH
pje··on Spotify to Apple: Time to Play Fair
The solution here is for the US to start enforcing anti-trust laws again.

I can't imagine a clearer example of uncompetitive business practices and platform monopolization than the App Store.

pje··on Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?
Really missing the point of the article here my dude
pje··on New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
It's almost like we need regulations to counteract what are otherwise inevitable consequences of profit maximization!
pje··on BuzzFeed to Cut 15% of Its Workforce
Buzzfeed News certainly is, yes.
pje··on Oracle Lays Off Java Mission Control Team After Open-Sourcing Product
This is also why the best armies throughout history have always executed their own battalions after every successful battle. Read your history books, people!
pje··on Oracle Lays Off Java Mission Control Team After Open-Sourcing Product
My thoughts exactly. As is common knowledge, Oracle simply doesn't have any other positions for people with deep knowledge of Java. Once this project was over, there just weren't any other options than to fire the whole team.
pje··on UIs that accidentally preserve memories
Good news! There are 4200 more pages where that came from.

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

pje··on What Data Does Facebook Collect When I’m Not Using Facebook, and Why?
It's almost as if the incentives of capitalism are inherently exploitative
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