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zdwolfe

69 karma · joined March 20, 2013

https://twitter.com/zdwolfe
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zdwolfe··on AI-powered open-source code laundering
I find it odd that any LLM could be considered open source. Sure the weights are available to download and use, but you can't reasonably reconstruct the output model as it's impractical for an individual to gather a useful dataset or spend $5,000,000+ of GPU time training.
zdwolfe··on We put a coding agent in a while loop
Yes, and so far I haven't been able to combat it.
zdwolfe··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2025)
I'm working on a dumb tool to picture-in-picture show rendered GPS data as a mini-map with a forward- and backward-looking trail on top of GoPro footage (to memorialize cool bike rides).
zdwolfe··on Texan used Apple AirTags to discover plastics in Houston aren't being recycled
Thanks for these stats, it changes how I think about aluminum packaging/cans.
zdwolfe··on PaperMC/Paper: The most widely used, high performance Minecraft server
I much prefer Fabric server to Paper. Paper has a couple game-breaking differences in advanced redstone, and Fabric in general has more mod compatibility. There are options to disable the redstone differences, but it's a bit annoying.
zdwolfe··on PaperMC/Paper: The most widely used, high performance Minecraft server
I use this extensively, it's so wonderful
zdwolfe··on Show HN: Ambiphone, no-nonsense ambient music and white noise
This is perfect. I've tried many noise apps in the past and I'll be using this for a long time I'm sure.

Feature request: Deep-links so I can share or bookmark a 'preset'.

zdwolfe··on Show HN: Inbox Zero – open-source email assistant
This is really cool but I will never trust an app like this to have access to my emails.
zdwolfe··on Show HN: AI Generated SVG's
Seems to not be working. I tried the same prompt twice. My trial credits were used but there was no image generated, nor do they appear in My Images.
zdwolfe··on Blender 16yo winner of UK young animator of the year
Wow, that was cool. Felt like the intro to a game I'd want to play.
zdwolfe··on Show HN: Hacker News user blogroll
Looks cool, thanks for making this.
zdwolfe··on Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?
https://zdwolfe.medium.com/ tech and personal musings when I find time to write about them.

My favorite is Schrödinger's Microservice, which was fun to write https://zdwolfe.medium.com/schr%C3%B6dingers-microservice-c4...

zdwolfe··on Show HN: YouTube Full Text Search – Search all of a channel from the commandline
Not OP, but I too wrote something nearly identical with whisper so I could creep on old EthosLab videos. Here's the gist:

from pytube import Channel

import whisper

channel_yt = Channel(channel_url)

video_yt = channel_yt.videos[0]

video_yt_stream = video_yt.streams.filter(mime_type="video/mp4").filter(res="720p").first()

video_yt_video_file_path = video_yt_stream.download()

audio = whisper.load_audio(video_yt_video_file_path)

model = whisper.load_model("tiny")

transcript = model.transcribe(audio)

zdwolfe··on Ask HN: What would be your stack if you are building an MVP today?
Neat, I am working on something similar with almost all the same tech you mentioned (CDK, R53, TS, APIGW+Lambda), and a Dockerized dev env with everything set up. It's meant to be a boilerplate I copy for new side projects. DM me on twitter (same username) if you'd like to compare notes or collaborate.
zdwolfe··on Ask HN: Is there a recommender system for blog posts or articles?
https://readsomethinginteresting.com/
zdwolfe··on Show HN: Readwise Reader, an all-in-one reading app
This is amazing, thank you. Been a user of Readwise for a while because it's the best highlight aggregator out there. Now that there's a reader with highlights + Obsidian.md highlight export, I can get rid of a whole stack of other apps I had glued together (https://github.com/zdwolfe/reading).
zdwolfe··on Falsehoods programmers believe about time
Is this link correct? I get a 404.
zdwolfe··on I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone
Thanks for referring to Fairphone. I didn't know they existed and am considering getting one.
zdwolfe··on Ask HN: What's your web routine? which sites etc. do you frequent besides HN?
Many folks in this thread are recommending which specific subreddits and blogs they like, but I thought I'd comment on the "how" of my web routine that I found useful.

I use feedly.com to follow HN, blogs, subreddits, and news outlets. I split up "Backlogging" and "Reading" as separate activities, which I think promotes focus when reading.

To "backlog", I browse through my feedly feed of HN/Reddit/blogpost titles, marking the ones that sound interesting to "Read Later".

Then later I read through those "read later' posts, saving the best ones in lists and highlights/notes for the future.

As for specifics,

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/

2. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/

3. https://martinfowler.com/

4. https://refactoring.fm/

zdwolfe··on A few things to know before stealing my 914
This was a joy to read.
zdwolfe··on Would senior engineers be interested in working reduced hours or part time?
Yes I would rather work 4/5 days and get paid 4/5 as much.
zdwolfe··on Dsq: Commandline tool for running SQL queries against JSON, CSV, Parquet, etc.
This looks incredible! Definitely adding it to my toolbelt. Thanks!
zdwolfe··on Show HN: Evil Wordle
Thanks, I hate it. [Cool game!]
zdwolfe··on The Pragmatic Pragmatic Programmer
I agree they're omnipresent practices, but still good reading for new-ish devs. Probably about half of my comments on young FAANG peers PRs are "greatest hits" from Code Complete and Clean Code like variable naming, etc.
zdwolfe··on Log4Shell Log4j vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) – cheat-sheet reference guide
This might be a stupid question, but is it possible to airgap all classes running in the JVM from the network except for those you trust?

For example, I want to block all classes from opening sockets except those in my.company.domain.* packages.

zdwolfe··on Processing billions of events in real time
Works for me
zdwolfe··on macOS Monterey
Wow, I didn't realize that was a common problem, and didn't realize it was related to external monitors. Thanks for the link!
zdwolfe··on Awk: The Power and Promise of a 40-Year-Old Language
I really love that quote "..A good programmer...", do you have a source?
zdwolfe··on Todo-or-die – Provides procedural macros that act as checked reminders
I've done this before with flaky tests and it was a useful pattern. Something like:

@DisabledUntil(...)

to give the team some time where failures are ignored to de-flake the tests but keep stuff moving.

zdwolfe··on How many American children have cut contact with their parents?
From the years 2012-2019 I hardly talked to my parents or siblings at all. I would fly back home to visit one of the two sides of my family during the holiday season, but that was it.

Looking back at those years, I (unconsciously) fit neatly into the mold suggested by this article (an emphasis on personal happiness, rejecting relatives that hold clashing beliefs, resentment from divorce, etc).

Ironically due to COVID lockdown in the last 18 months I found both myself and my wife rekindling relationships virtually (video games, discord/zoom calls, random BS texting, snapchat) with uncles, cousins, siblings, and parents that we hadn't really talked to in years. It's honestly been wonderful.

If you feel the article speaks to you, I encourage you to give estranged relatives a shot, or at least think about it. It's easiest to maintain momentum not talking to someone at all, but you might be missing out.

One thing that worked for me to break the ice was to start a group SMS chat with parents and siblings and just share random goings-on, pictures, etc.

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