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vowelless

3,900 karma · joined August 5, 2012

Current: Quantitative finance, NYC

Previously:

- UAV/Drone startup funded by ONR/DOD/DARPA. Semper Fi.

- kernel development at "big tech company".

- CS from "top school".

- Immigrant from the Middle East; former refugee. Proud American.

submissionscomments
vowelless··on What is the Fourth Dimension? (1884)
Yes, he is related to Geoffrey Hinton
vowelless··on GM's Cruise alleged to rely on human operators to achieve "autonomous" driving
Where are these remote assistant human drivers located (country), and how have they been screened for temporarily “driving” vehicles in those cities (do these humans have American licenses? ). How is all this regulated?

Basically, I am curious if these remote assistant drivers are located in foreign nations without American licenses. And if so, how did you get them cleared to be able to “drive” cars on Americas roads?

Thanks

Ps: I took a cruise once in Austin and it needed remote assistance.

vowelless··on ChatGPT can help yield more accurate stock trading predictions – study
… compared to GPT 1 and GPT 2 and BERT…
vowelless··on Ask HN: What are the foundational texts for learning about AI/ML/NN?
I strongly second this. Abu Mostafa has videos and homework for this course too. This course was the one that made a LOT of fundamental things “click”, like, why does learning even work and what are some broad expectations about what we can and cannot learn.
vowelless··on Turkish Magician Built a $600M Nasdaq-Listed Scam Based on Lies
Why did you mention Andrei Jikh?
vowelless··on A 3400-year-old city emerges from the Tigris River
The two books by Paul (host of that podcast) are fantastic. I cannot recommend them enough.
vowelless··on Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer
Well, how much do you make? Compare your comp with the numbers on levels.fyi to see if you fit in the expected band.
vowelless··on iPhone lidar with applications for the geosciences
Does anyone know if comma.ai can use the lidar to improve its self driving car algos? In general, is this lidar sensor long range enough to help cars drive?
vowelless··on Mapping and Seizing the Oligarchs' Assets
Should the world seize the assets of Silicon Valley billionaires over the US invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan and other actions in MENA?

Probably.

vowelless··on Doctors call out Spotify for letting Joe Rogan spread ‘false and harmful’ claims
What if the person continuously says “smoking isnt bad for you. It’s actually great for you” on their podcast that is delivered by Spotify to hundreds of millions?

What about they say something even more egregious like “seatbelt laws are against freedom and they do more harm than good and so we should stand up against them?”

I dont care either way. But i think its not clear.

vowelless··on Poll: How much time on average do you exercise in a week?
I started to do this recently. It is amazing how motivated I am to walk/run because I want to know whats next in the book.
vowelless··on Sorry, but you're already living in the “Squid Game”
Might I suggest doing some introspection?

Perhaps I “completely missed” the meaning of it. I hardly saw much discussion about the flaws of Korean society (and thus dont presume anything about it with my own biases — I didnt get the visual it was a “hellhole”). What I saw was a horrible father/son in gambling debt (his choice to gamble), a pretentious trader who overlevered and lost peoples money (his choice to be greedy), a bunch of thieves, and a crazy old rich man (clearly a sadist). I didnt see abject poverty that arose due to capitalism. I am trying hard to see how the free market got these people to be like that. Feel free to explain if you would like.

Then I saw these people constantly choose to be inside a messed up totalitarian system so that they could get cash. They were societys degenerates who were driven by so much greed that they joined this quasi commie / authoritarian system to get even more cash.

Maybe you are saying that for degenerates, a normal free market is a “hell hole” and thus they need this game. Ok, fair enough. But that doesnt tell us much about capitalism.

vowelless··on Sorry, but you're already living in the “Squid Game”
It showed greedy, flawed people who _chose_ to leave a possibly capitalistic system (they actually dont discuss the outside world too much) and participate in a totalitarian hell hole as they are enticed with cash. Not out of lack of options, but due to messed up promises by the dictator in charge and their own greedy nature, or bad choices (like gambling debt, crashing a overlevered portfolio which is hardly poverty).

It is reminiscent of communist revolutions of the past where people choose to overthrow a system to establish a totalitarian system so that they can get some gain out of it.

vowelless··on Sorry, but you're already living in the “Squid Game”
Lol absolutely not. They participate out of free choice.

Its a warning that people could choose to participate in a centralized, communist totalitarian system if they are encouraged to do so. It reminds us of the communist revolutions from the early 1900s and a lot of the leftist rhetoric from today.

vowelless··on Sorry, but you're already living in the “Squid Game”
Its shocking and gore, portraying a totalitarian sub society with hints of communism. It reminds us of North Korean. But for some reason, westerners think its a “critique of capitalism”.

Edit: to clarify, the “hints of communism” here refers to the game on the island, not south korea. These people willingly left capitalism to join this weird commie authoritarian style game to make money.

vowelless··on 20 years after 9/11: Will we ever stop taking our shoes off at airports?
Finger prints for passports is not a thing.
vowelless··on 20 years after 9/11: Will we ever stop taking our shoes off at airports?
> For example, guns. Very few people die because of mass shootings.

Adjusted for how armed Americans are, gun violence in this country is tiny. And seeing what an armed citizenry can do against the full American force (Afghanistan), an armed population is a necessity against tyranny in America.

vowelless··on Alcohol-free beer is fizzing
This might be an unpopular opinion, but non alcoholic beer tastes like crap. Ive tried to “quit” alcohol in the past and tried drinking NA beers: Lagunitas NA IPA (disgusting taste), Odoules (meh), and Athletic Brewing (one flavor was drinkable).

Heineken 0.0 was the best tasting NA beer but still, it just felt like I was drinking sugar for no reason.

vowelless··on Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules
I thought that there was American government pressure to remove Al Qaeda/ISIS propaganda from social media sites. If not, then I hope the american gov takes a stronger stance against terrorism.
vowelless··on Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules
The benefit is complying with local laws. Not all countries have “first amendment style free speech”. Note the speech restrictions in the Indian constitution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_expression_in_India

The farmers protests were allegedly detrimental to the sovereignty and security of India and so it makes sense to ban those kinds of hastags.

FWIW, the American government also requests removals from social media sites.

Edit: perhaps this comment is unnecessarily controversial / inflammatory. I just wanted to suggest that there are other interpretations of free speech law and that it makes sense for a corporation to comply with those laws if they want to operate in those countries. I personally dont agree with those laws, which is why I fortunately moved to the US.

vowelless··on The Ultimate Guide to Inflation
As usual, an amazing article by Lyn Alden. I love her work. One of my favorite articles of last year was this: https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/
vowelless··on [dead]
~not worth it~
vowelless··on Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
Being in a relationship. I can't imagine spending the last year without being with my partner.

My social circle changed radically too. People I used to meet in person are not the same set of people I would be in zoom calls with regularly.

vowelless··on Parler’s de-platforming shows the exceptional power of cloud providers
> them there was an "insurrection" (nothing of the sort happened of course)

Even if this was an insurrection, I don't see how that means you need to clamp down on freedom of speech.

vowelless··on Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler
For years these platforms have been getting rid of Islamist content. And thats a good thing. How is this any different? Is it because it is so close to home? Probably.
vowelless··on We Don't Sell Ads (2012)
People should be aware that Brian Action is also the founder and chairman of Signal Foundation.
vowelless··on Quitting a New Job
> This is after he went to a robotics company because it seemed different.

> He may also have felt out of place with people who know computers, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. If all you know is webcrap, you may feel way over your head in a robotics company.

I agree with you, but that is worded really harshly. I was surprised to see it come from you, of all people. I usually love to read your comments.

vowelless··on The Elements of Statistical Learning [pdf]
Probably the most recommended stats book out there. And for a reason. Certainly not an intro book. But, at some point, anyone interested in stats, ML, should go through it once.
vowelless··on Glucose metabolism responds to perceived sugar intake more than actual intake
How did you acquire a CGM, if you don't mind me asking?
vowelless··on I Miss Working from the Office
Not sure about the OP, but people are now scheduling meetings earlier and later in the day in my company. Previously, I would never have 8am meetings as I would only get to the office by 930. People just knew not to schedule before then. But now, the big boss starts working and slacking at 730 and often schedules stuff for 8am. And we do video calls all the time, so have to be presentable for those meeting.

On the other hand, research schedules are all over the place and people invariably end up scheduling syncups at 6 or 6:30. Pre-pandemic, I would be at a local pub with coworkers at that time!

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