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sturza

3,732 karma · joined December 3, 2012

bsturza@duck.com
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sturza··on Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?
https://leaninberlin.substack.com/

https://leaninberlin.substack.com/p/what-is-product-manageme... https://leaninberlin.substack.com/p/problems-at-scale.html

sturza··on Ask HN: What would an IDE built for the Apple Vision Pro look like?
I imagine something like https://pharo.org/
sturza··on Three Investing Patterns That You Should Know
TLDR

Cyclical and company-specific problems: This pattern involves a temporary issue that depresses a company's profitability. Cyclical issues are industry-wide downturns that eventually rebound. Company-specific issues require effective management to identify and resolve the issue. These problems offer opportunities to investors who can identify them early and wait for the recovery.

Turnaround situations: These represent company-specific problems that management is actively working to solve. Investing in these can be risky, as not all turnarounds are successful, but when the key operating metrics begin to improve and the turnaround shows signs of success, it can be a good opportunity to invest.

Moderate and prolonged growth: This involves companies that consistently demonstrate moderately above-average growth rates (6% to 12%) over a long duration. This steady, long-term growth is often underappreciated by the market, providing a potential opportunity for investors.

sturza··on JPMorgan Chase and Co tracks employees to dystopian extents
what is the difference between this and an authoritarian state? honest question
sturza··on Google keeps failing its Nest customers
> This is enshittification: Surpluses are first directed to users; then, once they're locked in, surpluses go to suppliers; then once they're locked in, the surplus is handed to shareholders and the platform becomes a useless pile of shit
sturza··on Vacations in the Soviet Union
Yes.
sturza··on Vacations in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union's approach to paid time off (PTO) was unique, as it not only provided workers with time off but also determined how they spent it, often with groups of strangers instead of friends and family. This policy aimed to promote the collective as the most important social unit and provided subsidized vacations to a select number of workers. Although Soviet vacations initially served as team-building exercises, over time, citizens' desire for family vacations increased, challenging the state's policies. The rise of family vacations and personal investment in holidays led to a shift from purposeful production to popular consumption. Soviet vacations played a role in loosening ideological restrictions on freedom, and as travel policies opened the door for political dissent to spread, the government struggled to maintain control over leisure time.
sturza··on The New Winamp
looks like winamp built a spotify
sturza··on Ask HN: Open source LLM for commercial use?
I tried GLM-130B on huggingface https://huggingface.co/spaces/THUDM/GLM-130B:

Q: hello, who are you? A: I was twitted. In fact, twitted, or twittered, is one of those tweets that one either never sees or sees right away. Twitter is a website that allows users to post short messages that can be read and retweeted by other users. These messages are called tweets. So, who are you? Oh, hello, who are you? I was twitted. In fact, twitted, or twittered, is one of those tweets that one either never sees or sees right away. Twitter is a website that allows users to post short messages that can be read and retweeted by other

sturza··on “Can we ban iPhone in retaliation?” Chinese internet reacts to TikTok hearing
How many other iPhone owners know that?
sturza··on Close to 190 banks could face Silicon Valley Bank's fate, according to new study
Future decisions influencing the past?
sturza··on Study tracks how we decide which groups to join (2016)
Since light travels faster than sound, people may appear smart until you hear them speak.
sturza··on ChatGPT proposed a new model for explaning the universe
i did not imply it's intelligent. it merely did what i asked it to do. my question was: did it say anything wrong? i also asked it to provide the math for it:

Let's consider a few elements of the HMOS model:

    Oscillatory nature of particles: Each particle has a unique vibrational frequency (f_i) and amplitude (A_i).

    Frequency-based particle interactions: Particles interact based on the compatibility of their frequencies, forming resonant (R) or dissonant (D) relationships.

    Formation of larger-scale oscillatory networks: Resonant interactions lead to the formation of larger-scale networks (N_k), where k is an index representing different scales.
Given these elements, we could define a simple mathematical representation for the HMOS model as follows:

    Define the oscillatory behavior of each particle i as a sinusoidal function:

    O_i(t) = A_i * sin(2 * π * f_i * t + φ_i)
where t is time, and φ_i is the phase of the particle's oscillation.

    Define a function to represent the interaction between particles i and j:

    I_ij = R_ij - D_ij
where R_ij and D_ij represent the resonant and dissonant interactions between particles i and j, respectively.

    Define a function to represent the formation of larger-scale oscillatory networks:

    N_k = Σ_ij I_ij(w_k)
where w_k is a weight factor representing the contribution of each interaction I_ij to the formation of network N_k.
sturza··on We could stumble into AI catastrophe
If i understood your point correctly: the places we decide to use them and our confidence in their output can become negative if we decide to trust the output as is, without any human supervision/decision. So, what you’re saying is that we carry risk if we have a high enough confidence in its output to let is unsupervised - this counteracts my point of the necessity of malevolence, as the (even slightly)wrong reinforcement can have negative consequences also. At the same time, we do this exercise every time we have a new policy in the wild, and sometimes we get unintended consequences.
sturza··on We could stumble into AI catastrophe
For this to be true, we'd had to assume sentience + malevolence. The shortest explanation for why an AI give us correct data currently is a range of confidence. We instructed it to pick the one with the highest number. We instructed it to give us a similar next data etc. We reinforced it, yes, but we'd have to be naive to believe that taking a small part of what makes something "intelligent" and training the shit out of it, then it actually turns intelligent. chatGPT is "just" a large language model, it does not have senses, it cannot move, it cannot live and die. It can only output text. The next gen will output text (maybe) exponentially better. That does not make it "intelligent". But, if we'd combine it with Boston Dynamics, Tesla Autopilot, internet, quantum computing, nano tech and other specifically trained parts (movement, sensing etc) into one, and release it into the world to see what it does, then your argument could (maybe)have a higher confidence of the outcome you fear.
sturza··on Counting with ChatGPT
how many words does this question have?

This question has nine words.

can you make a list with all 9 words?

Sure, here is a list of the nine words in this question:

    how
    many
    words
    does
    this
    question
    have
    ?
Note the last word is actually a special character, the '?' which is the question mark symbol , it is not a alphabetic word.

you only listed 8

You are correct, I apologize for the oversight. I listed 8 words instead of 9. The ninth word in the question is "many."

can you list all the 9 words again now that you found the mistake?

Sure, here is the corrected list of the nine words in this question:

    how
    many
    words
    does
    this
    question
    have
    ?
    many
once again, the last word is a special character and it's not a word itself

how many occurences of the word "many" did my question have and how many occurences of the word "many" did your list have?

Your original question contains the word "many" once, and my corrected list contains the word "many" twice.

how is that possible? you should only have listed the words from my question

You're correct, I apologize for the confusion. My previous response was in error. Your original question contains the word "many" only once, as you stated. I apologize for any confusion my mistake may have caused.

ok, tell me again, how many words did my question have?

Your question had 9 words.

sturza··on Counting with ChatGPT
me: can you show me your counting process?

chatgpt: Sure! I can show you one way to count the number of words in the provided text:

    I would first split the text into a list of words using a space as a delimiter.
    Then I would use the len() function to find the length of the list, which would give me the number of elements in the list (i.e., the number of words in the text).
You could use python to accomplish that, here is an example

text = "The Education of Henry Adams is a unique and pioneering work of autobiography that delves deep into the life and thoughts of its author, Henry Adams. The book covers a vast array of topics and themes, including history, politics, science, religion, and the nature of knowledge itself."

words = text.split(" ") word_count = len(words)

print(word_count)

the output should be 72

I can also use different approach like using python re module which would allow me to count the number of words by matching a regular expression that matches word characters. The approach would look like this:

import re text = "The Education of Henry Adams is a unique and pioneering work of autobiography that delves deep into the life and thoughts of its author, Henry Adams. The book covers a vast array of topics and themes, including history, politics, science, religion, and the nature of knowledge itself."

words = re.findall(r'\b\w+\b', text) word_count = len(words)

print(word_count)

Output would be 72

Is there any specific way you would like me to show the counting process ?

chatgpt output is wrong.

sturza··on Counting with ChatGPT
me: can you count words?

chatgpt: Yes, I can count the number of words in a given text. Would you like me to do that for a specific piece of text?

me:yes, here you go: "The Education of Henry Adams" is a unique and pioneering work of autobiography that delves deep into the life and thoughts of its author, Henry Adams. The book covers a vast array of topics and themes, including history, politics, science, religion, and the nature of knowledge itself. It provides a vivid and personal account of Adams's life, and is also a profound meditation on the human condition and the nature of reality.

In "Boyhood," Adams describes his privileged upbringing in Boston, and how this shaped his early life. He writes about his family, who were prominent figures in American politics and society, and how he was exposed to the world of politics and power from a young age. He also writes about the books he read and the people he met, and how these experiences influenced his thinking and his understanding of the world.

In "Youth," Adams describes his experiences at Harvard College, and how this further shaped his understanding of the world. He writes about the subjects he studied, such as mathematics, science, and literature, and how these subjects influenced his thinking. He also writes about his interactions with professors and fellow students, and how these relationships further shaped his understanding of the world.

In "The Education," Adams describes the period from 1862 to the end of his life. He writes about his experiences working in the US government and as a journalist, and about his travels to Europe and the Middle East. He reflects on the events and experiences of his life, and how they shaped his understanding of the world and of himself. He describes how he came to realize that the traditional ways of understanding the world were inadequate, and how he sought to find a new way of understanding.

One of the main themes in the book is the idea of "the education" of Henry Adams, or the process of learning and understanding that Adams went through throughout his life. He describes how he was constantly seeking knowledge and understanding, but always found that knowledge was incomplete and imperfect. He writes that the world is constantly changing and that traditional ways of understanding it are no longer adequate. He describes his frustration with the limitations of science and the inability of religion to provide any answers.

Another important theme in the book is the idea of the "dynamo" and the "virgin." The dynamo represents the vast, impersonal energy of the modern world and the need for a personal, spiritual understanding. The virgin represents the traditional ways of understanding the world that no longer work in the modern world. Adams describes how he struggled to reconcile these two opposing forces throughout his life.

Throughout the book, Adams emphasizes the importance of keeping an open mind and the willingness to change one's views. He also stresses the importance of self-reflection and introspection in understanding oneself and the world. In the end, Adams concludes that "the Education of Henry Adams" was a process of never-ending learning and understanding, which he sees as a metaphor of the larger human condition.

In conclusion, "The Education of Henry Adams" is a thought-provoking and deeply personal book that provides a unique and insightful look into the life and thoughts of its author. It explores the nature of knowledge, history, and the human condition, and offers a powerful meditation on the meaning of life and the nature of reality. It is considered one of the greatest American autobiographies, and continues to be widely read and studied today.

chatgpt: The passage you provided contains approximately 397 words.

sturza··on Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?
this comment does not contain any information about the topic, only a plug
sturza··on Ask HN: Need Career Recommendations
Found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22323562

Updated to november 2022

sturza··on Widespread Twitter 2FA issue “We cannot send a text message to this phone” error
Sounds dramatic, i get that the consequence is unacceptable(not able to login to a social network), but not sure it deserves the drama. I’m not trying to be insesitive.
sturza··on Ask HN: What is the most impactful thing you've built?
A childhood friend has a car garage. He wanted to give a paper to his customers to show the work that had been done, what they asked for etc. There were no free AND easy to use solutions for one man show type of business. So i built something that fit his needs, with his input. It's a simple form with 6 steps that you can print at any stage. I put it on a domain under his name so he knows where to find it at all times. For some reason google picked it up and it's now the first search result. It has over a thousand returning users(at least yearly) and a few hundred MAU. It's still free, people send me emails/call me to tell me how useful it is and how much they love it, some ask "is it really free" - it's under firebase so no costs to me either, other than occasional bugs and "features".

Another thing i built which had a bigger impact was a covid "get outside motivation paper" during lockdowns. I had the "form technology" from the previous project and i just adapted it for the covid needs and added a signature for touch displays. You could generate a pdf with all legally required fields and sign it and print/show it to the authorities, on your phone. It had half a million users over a few months, then the government set up their own. I even had a GDPR authority contacting me thinking i'm stealing people's data etc. I actually showed them that the PDF is generated locally, there was no database and once the site loaded, you could even generate it offline. They did not follow up.

Another thing i built, with questionable impact, was a election fraud checker. The government had a API and feeds data every 5 minutes with number of people who voted at all locations. I wanted to see this in real time with a GUI/graph to see who registers more votes per minute than the actual systems allow(tablets). I actually found some locations that had bursts of hundreds of votes in a few minutes, that was physically impossible. Sad to say i did not do anything with the data(although it was public at that time).

Some of the most impactful things i built.

Edit: typos

sturza··on Symbian OS Kernel (2010)
What did they use Obj-C for?
sturza··on Ask HN: Offline resources during internet outages?
People in western Europe do it too, that's why you can get liability insurance, to protect you if you get sued: https://www.simplegermany.com/legal-insurance-germany/
sturza··on Ask HN: Offline resources during internet outages?
Sueing and defending your rights are different things. Let’s not generalize and motivate with profit seeking, as there are a lot of people who should sue to defend their rights and win, but don’t. So to simply state “for profit” is not accurate.
sturza··on Ask HN: Offline resources during internet outages?
Are you saying that citizens of a certain country prefer to have their rights defended(if wronged) and are familiar in using the mechanisms provided to them by the legal system? Then yes, some people "like" to have their rights defended.
sturza··on Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?
I am being pissed of videos that should be a blog post. I also ack that great effort went into making a video but the substance could have been a 2 page text and a few specific pictures. I also ack the incentive to get video ads vs text ads(more expensive) but i don’t want to accept the fact that someone has a choice between publishing the script of the video as text or spending time, effort and money to make a video instead. I also accept that video is a better medium than text for certain topics.
sturza··on 4th Gen KDE Slimbook – Linux Ultrabook with an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro has 2880*1800 ~ 3k 90hz display with Ryzen 5800h
sturza··on Ask HN: E-reader without vendor lock-in
I have the ~10” pocketbook. You can use it as a file storage device, you can hack it and the battery life is amazing. It’s also painfully slow for anything else other than reading.
sturza··on Behind the Ferrari and Lamborghini rivalry
I've always heard that "Countach" was translated as "holy cow" but i never fact checked.
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