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johncearls

166 karma · joined November 28, 2018

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johncearls··on ASML says it sold 'absolutely nothing' in Europe in 2026
I had the same experience. I was very excited to try a Doner in Istanbul, because one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle was a Doner place (The Berliner). They didn't seem to know what I meant. I got something they insisted was a Doner, but not really the same sort of thing.

Not sure if the Seattle place is really Americanized or I need to save up and try one in Germany.

Plenty of great Turkish food btw, but obviously Doner's are not really a local thing.

johncearls··on AWS says it can't restore some data from mideast facilities struck by Iran
I can confirm this. In fact, they require you to physically be in the UAE (no VPN from the states) to access health related data on UAE citizens. Writing this from Abu Dhabi.
johncearls··on Pentagon weighs pulling nearly a third of U.S. forces from Europe
What if you are an American who is not interested in projecting power across the globe? What if you would like to stop spending 1/3 of your budget on the military?

I take no pride in being an Empire or hegemon. I know this will be ugly and disorderly and could almost certainly be handled better, but as an American, I am looking forward to the day when problems 5000 miles away from my home are no longer treated as my problem.

johncearls··on Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco
But how much of what you own is do you actually "need."

People are welcome to do with there money things that simply make them happy. That is a good and proper use of money.

This would be a very boring life indeed if people were only allowed to own things that others decided they need.

johncearls··on Google Maps changed to show Lake Ontario as Lake America
I'm not your buddy, pal.
johncearls··on 'Pervert glasses': Backlash against Meta's smart glasses grows
I love mine.

Being able to snap a pic without getting too far out of the moment, like when I am at a museum or in a beautiful place is great.

Even better is being able to snap a picture of my grandchildren without distracting them. As soon as I pull out my phone, they are grabbing for it. Some of my favorite pics were taken by my meta glasses.

johncearls··on Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake
Free Luna!
johncearls··on Drone Autonomy (2021)
My understanding of the Shahed's is that they are relatively simple. They can be programmed with a certain destination and then have some basic image recognition that allows them to "choose" exactly their target based on computer vision, e.g. the shape of a building or radar station. So in that sense, they are autonomous. To my mind, they are more cheap precision missiles (more like a tomahawk) than an autonomous drone.

Predators are a whole different beast. They are semi-autonomous airplanes, that can be controlled by satellite or AWAC or whatever. Almost certainly with the ability to loiter or escape if they lose contact with their controllers

johncearls··on We Think the SpaceX IPO Is Overvalued
On a tech site, pessimism like this make me sad. I'm a nerd. I have been dreaming of a future where humanity finally takes its place among the stars since I was young enough to have dreams.

I am looking forward to buying a little piece of it. I plan on putting a couple thousand into the IPO. I view it like buying into D.D. Harriman in "The man who sold the moon." I plan on taking those shares and forgetting about them for a couple decades. Maybe leave them to my grandchildren. This is the longest of plays and I hope it works out.

Maybe SpaceX will fail, but this is the first time since I was a boy that there is any real hope that humanity will step into that future, and I want to be part of it. Maybe Musk is suckering in dreamers like me, but I'll bet on a better future. This is it. This is our shot. Godspeed.

johncearls··on If AI writes your code, why use Python?
Whitespace forcing proper indentation practices has always been one of my favorite aspects of python. I TA'd a data structures in C++ class and the lack of proper indentation making code unreadable was my biggest pet peeve. I always made the student fix their indentation before I would help them debug it.

I know that is mainly a beginner coding issue, but never having to deal with that issue was always one of the biggest advantages of python.

That said, I believe a lot of the stuff that was added in 3 and beyond (to make it more typesafe, accounting for unicode, etc) has made it a lot less readable over time. You can argue that it has made Python a better and safer language, but the pseudocode aspect has gotten worse. I kinda miss that.

johncearls··on Why U.S. dominance at sea is shrinking
Interestingly, I read or heard something that said that a fatal flaw in hypersonic in regards to naval combat was that hypersonic speeds create plasma and that the plasma made optical sensors and remote control useless. They need to slow down in order to hit naval vessels, which makes them vulnerable.
johncearls··on South Carolina to Reboot Giant Nuclear Project to Meet AI Demand
But that was a great quarter. You should have seen the bonuses.
johncearls··on Research Finds Vaccines Are Not Behind the Rise in Autism. So What Is?
I can't read the article. Could someone please point to the research that they are referring to?
johncearls··on Annual 'winners' for most egregious US healthcare profiteering announced
Madison is exceptional for a midwestern city. It has a large and excellent state university. Epic is based there and most of FAANG has outposts there to draw the CS talent. Additionally, it is the state capitol which means a lot of companies providing services to the state. Aside from all that, it is a pretty picturesque location for the Midwest, with the two big lakes and surrounded by rolling hills. Something you won't find in Urbana-Champaign for comparison.

When people talk about low cost of living in the Midwest they generally mean more depressed areas. I live in a very low cost of living rural (15k ppl) community in Illinois, with half an acre on a lake in a 3000 sq foot house where the mortgage is only 250k. Of course, if I ever lose my remote job, I'd never be able to find work. Most of the people here work at one of 2 medium-sized factories or the hospital. The median household income is only $40k.

The town I live in is a far more common case for the rural Midwest.

johncearls··on Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy call remote work a 'Covid-era privilege.'
This is very clearly an attempt to get government employees to quit. They are not shy about stating that. It is hard to fire civil servants, and this is an attempt to get around civil service protections.

Whether you agree or disagree that we need to downsize the government drastically and whether this is an ethical way to achieve that goal is a personal opinion. One every American has a right to have.

This has nothing to do with the standard "WFH is good or bad style" conversations on here regularly.

johncearls··on Nicotine patches as a possible treatment for long covid and me/cfs
As a former smoker, who used patches and gum and such to quit, this doesn't seem surprising. The nicotine patch is far less satisfying than cigarettes. Cigarettes come on strong, immediately, and that feeling is amazing.

Patches are a slow release and the effect comes on very gradually.

There's no cue/craving/response/reward feedback with patches(Tiny Habits helped me quit too if anyones trying).

If I get irritated and have a cigarette, there is immediate relief and satisfaction. I can't immediately put on a patch and get that. Probably takes thirty minutes to really come on.

Not saying there is no addictive potential, but they are off by an order of magnitude or two.

johncearls··on Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun
There isn’t any symbolysm. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is s*t.

- Ernest Hemingway

johncearls··on Nurses Say Hospital Adoption of Half-Cooked 'AI' Is Reckless
One of Peter Lee's arguments in his AI in medicine book[1] is that the GenAIs (GPT4) actually excel at empathy. He gives a pretty compelling example where the GPT is able to empathize very well with a young girl who is having a medical issue. Empathy is part of the training set.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/AI-Revolution-Medicine-GPT-4-Beyond

johncearls··on Ozempic will disrupt big tobacco, candy companies, and alcohol brands
And my cholesterol goes back up when I stop taking statins. I don’t get this very common argument.
johncearls··on BowFlex files for bankruptcy amid declining interest in cardio equipment
Is that you CommanderTaco?
johncearls··on Plasma proteomic profiles predict future dementia in healthy adults
Interesting. I created Biological Age profiles using multi-omics and we found that GDF15 was also one of the strongest proteomic aging factors.

- https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glz220

johncearls··on EU strikes deal to regulate ChatGPT, AI tech
And irony of ironies, Bayer, a German company, purchased Monsanto and is currently stuck with the bill from all the people harmed by glyphosate.

Reality is stranger than fiction.

johncearls··on Productivity has grown faster in Western Europe than in America
Do you think it might simply be that the subset of Europeans that interact with international clients tend to be well-educated and highly effective.

As a scientist, I interact with a number of Europeans. That happened less frequently when I was waiting tables.

johncearls··on Which vector database should I use? A comparison cheatsheet
No good deed goes unpunished.
johncearls··on U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline, study finds
A link to the study referenced if you are interested: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2101084119
johncearls··on The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss
Apparently there is now.
johncearls··on Plant-based meat analogues weaken gastrointestinal digestive function in mice
A fellow fan of Peter Attia I see. His latest podcast had a protein expert on that went into great depth about the virtues and drawbacks of different protein sources. Highly recommend to people who are interested in the topic.

https://peterattiamd.com/donlayman/

johncearls··on Ask HN: What technology is mocked today but will be common within 20 years?
I'd go with weight loss peptides or nucleotides (so injectables), but yeah, this is coming hard.
johncearls··on Benefits of the Danish transfat ban for coronary heart disease mortality
Okay, I'm confused. If I'm reading the paper right, it wasn't an 11 percent reduction caused by eliminating transfats. The total reduction was 11 percent, of which 11 percent was attributable to trans fat with the rest attributable to lower smoking, statins, etc. The headline seems way off. Am I reading the paper wrong?
johncearls··on Ask HN: Longevity for your parents, what to do?
I do longevity/healthy aging research and sleep, nutrition, and exercise are by far the most important factors in healthy aging. Everything else can be considered a rounding error to those three. It's a little disheartening in fact when ones job involves looking for therapeutics to extend healthspan.
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