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sambe

2,396 karma · joined June 10, 2009

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sambe··on A possible new back end for Rust
Doesn't Nim do that?
sambe··on A possible new back end for Rust
Why phrase it as "other than to prove it can be done" if you already know there are good answers? I think the following obviously do apply:

1) much easier for Rust community to contribute to the compiler from end-to-end.

2) lower coordination cost with LLVM giving complete, Rust-focussed control over code generation/optimisation. Think about e.g. fixing noalias.

3) lower maintenance cost for LLVM integration/fork.

It's also obvious that this needs to be weighed against the loss of LLVM accumulated technology and contributors. This is easy to underestimate (although I think 2)/3) are also easy to underestimate).

sambe··on Learning to See in the Dark (2018)
"How can I train the model using my own raw data?

Generally, you just need to subtract the right black level and pack the data in the same way of Sony/Fuji data. If using rawpy, you need to read the black level instead of using 512 in the provided code. The data range may also differ if it is not 14 bits. You need to normalize it to [0,1] for the network input."

The Sony and Fuji training code looks mostly the same - they haven't bothered to pull out common code and re-use.

sambe··on Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health
Are you sure? I had read elsewhere that it always goes through the battery, and a sibling comment says there is insufficient power from the charger alone (not really sure how that's possible either though).
sambe··on Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health
Why is it not possible to completely save the battery when on AC? i.e. charge the battery to 100% (or something close) but power the laptop directly via the charger.
sambe··on Twitter removes two Bolsonaro tweets questioning virus quarantine
It's worse than that. He's making a reasonable argument that the public will be put in the way of greater harm by letting the economy collapse. I'd find it pretty hard to say whether he's right or wrong.

However, even if you think he's wrong, this is not an argument being made in bad faith. Censorship is a simply bad way to handle it.

sambe··on Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020
Or maybe they factored in 8 years worth of service?
sambe··on Clinical characteristics of 50k patients with 2019-nCoV infection
Politicizing how?
sambe··on Learning from Turing’s silver hoard (2016)
This is a terrible analysis. Neither of the investing mistakes he supposedly made are applicable to his case. Nor was his method "intended to wring the last cent of profit out of a good trade over capitalizing more safely on his market prediction". He feared seizure! Losing a large proportion or all of your capital is not "the last cent".
sambe··on Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time
I can't believe the state-of-the-art thinking was genuinely that it's a time management problem. Surely some self-awareness of the mental battle goes a long way to quashing that quickly. I'm not thinking "I estimate this will take 1 hour". I'm thinking "I don't want to do this", and there's a tension between inevitability and the unpleasantness.
sambe··on What is Rust and why is it so popular?
I don't recall seeing the community arguing strongly for re-writes. I see people who want to do rewrites for fun/education. For example, just because they love the language and prefer to work in it. In some cases people make the case for re-writing sensitive libraries in Rust, but I think a) they are not in general arguing confrontationally; b) they tend to have a point technically speaking. The missing piece is whether it makes sense long-term, with different pools of potential contributors etc.
sambe··on Miscarriage can lead to 'long-term post-traumatic stress'
Definitely, but I still find others don't agree (or at least don't enthusiastically agree).
sambe··on Miscarriage can lead to 'long-term post-traumatic stress'
I find quite a lot of people do not agree that it's important to talk about it, for whatever reason. My guess is that overcoming the social stigma around showing your emotions/sharing problems is mostly to blame. Perhaps most people in my social group actually have had such problems and don't even feel comfortable in the meta-conversation.

I often say things like "people should talk about this kind of stuff more because it would help them through it". I obviously mean it in a general sense (very much not trying to get specific people to talk about specific problems). Responses vary from an insincere "yeah..." to the rather odd "you can't tell people what to do".

sambe··on Miscarriage can lead to 'long-term post-traumatic stress'
Depending on which source you use, you can find numbers quite a bit higher than that - especially if you include unknown/unconfirmed early-stage pregnancies. This source seems to hit the lower end of the range:

https://expectingscience.com/2015/08/26/lies-damned-lies-and...

but is mostly quoting numbers conditional upon having detected a heartbeat. That first check is pretty terrifying. My anecdata matches yours: lots of miscarriages in immediate social groups.

sambe··on Adult site leaks data of cam models
This is terrifying for the models. One of the worst leaks to date, surely?
sambe··on AMD’s third shoe drops at CES 2020: 7nm Zen 2 mobile CPUs
I think the article mostly means getting the most from the CPU, specifically at idle, via things like BIOS/OS power management (as opposed to purchase options).
sambe··on First Woman to Beat a Man at World Darts Overwhelmed by Response
At one point I played a lot and also got a single 180. Probably several dozen bounce-backs from the wire but not a single split dart. Always found it strange that people say this happens often.
sambe··on AI-powered Lego sorting machine built with Lego bricks
I guess someone could consider made-from-Lego to be part of the fun rather than a weakness.

It is odd to claim a first whilst also crediting you. He seemed to emphasize the universality in several places (I guess you didn't explicitly state this?).

sambe··on AI-powered Lego sorting machine built with Lego bricks
He mentions this in the video which is titled "World's first UNIVERSAL lego sorting machine" - emphasis mine. It seems the emphasis was shifted to AI by someone else.
sambe··on Tesla Cybertruck vs. a Ford F-150: It's All About Friction
Is it really a better comparison though? What is being compared? Seems like a legitimate design decision.
sambe··on Toshiba device tests cancer types from a drop of blood
It doesn't have to instantly and directly kill somebody to be bad in aggregate.

This kind of analysis has been done, most memorably for breast cancer screening. The conclusion I recall was that it did more harm than good a few years ago (opportunity cost of unnecessary spending, pain and complications of biopsy, unnecessary mastectomy, psychological damage, etc. etc.). The follow-up tests and analysis also have an error rate and no treatment is zero cost.

sambe··on Apple Missed Its Chance to Fix Credit Cards
The post incorrectly claims you must pay by mail or phone. It also doesn't mention the security aspect of changing card numbers.

Whilst 1-3% cashback is may not be unusual in the US, ~0.2% is typical in the UK (maybe ~1% with Amex). Some countries have hardly even heard of cashback cards, I think. Looking e.g. here:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/best-cash-back-cards/

suggests that the US market is also not as generous as commentors make out. Most high-cashback cards are quite specialised, often even changing month-to-month. There is only really one exception at 2% on all purchases.

sambe··on Save .org
I guess it makes sense to renew now for as many years as you can?
sambe··on Twitter lets you use 2FA without a phone number
I don't understand. I already have authenticator app ticked, and this doesn't appear to be the new default - I have it in the authenticator app already too. If I untick SMS, it says this will disable 2FA. What gives?

EDIT

Looks like a bug. Deleting the phone number gives no such warning, and 2FA continues to work.

sambe··on Apple’s iPhone Software Shakeup After Buggy iOS 13 Debut
I'm on 13.2.3 and a lot of the worst things seem to be fixed. That said, I still find some of the design changes odd and unintuitive (e.g. new editing gestures, new Music/Mail layouts). Mail is still infuriatingly slow at almost everything. I think you could probably call it stable (for my usage).

Note that there were also some... "interesting" iCloud sync design choices. You need to upgrade all devices (including macOS) to be sure of proper syncing in some cases, with odd behaviour ensuing if you don't.

sambe··on Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible
This is not one of those "oh, that's annoying, i'll have to remember that and learn to work around it" issues. It's more like "I want to immediately stop using this software but have no choice". Its driving me crazy - Slack is all text input. Don't break text input dummy!
sambe··on Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
I didn't say otherwise. The grandparent stated that he had a choice to leave, the parent implied that he did not because he was in prison. That is not true - the grandparent was correct.

As I said, framing it as that simple of a choice may lack some nuance in describing the pressure he was under. But it is factually true that he was not forced to stay in the conditions which are being criticised. Some would also say that the nature of the conditions was somewhat of his own doing, since the relationship with the embassy is well documented to have deteriorated greatly over time. I can't vouch either way, and it seems people are downvoting normal conversation so I doubt it will be productive to continue.

sambe··on Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
He could leave the embassy at any time, which is where the purported damage was done. He is now in prison, where he cannot leave it any time. Melzer visited him recently in prison, thus your quote. It seems pretty clear. The parent may be lacking in nuance for his situation, but it is correct.
sambe··on A Pragmatic Approach to Thorny People Problems
The effect is extremely similar though, don't you think? If not worse, for e.g. shadow banning.
sambe··on Base64 encoding and decoding at almost the speed of a memory copy
Their numbers are surely wrong? Firstly, AVX2 jumped from 1% to 5% in a month. Secondly, it looks to have been on every Intel processor this decade.
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