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wackget

2,845 karma · joined January 18, 2020

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wackget··on The death of web development education
Out of interest, how do you know that Anthropic has ingested your books? Is there a way to prove it? And how do you calculate the compensation figure? Finally, why just Anthropic? Did OpenAI not do the same?
wackget··on Asking Authors About Their Own Papers
I'm not familiar with the world of academic publishing, so I want to ask: how is the industry making sure that submissions aren't at least partially AI-generated?

Is it standard practice for authors to have to defend their submissions via interview like this? If not, why not?

Does the vetting process vary with the quality of the publisher?

As an outsider, it's extremely worrying that anyone would even attempt to submit an AI-generated paper for publication in an academic journal. At that level I would have assumed literally everybody should know better than to even try.

wackget··on A coffee shop owner used AI to make a menu poster. Then came the angry DMs
> "Endeladyze said she felt terrible that she had upset her customers, but she was also frustrated at the idea that she should have been paying a real artist. Making these signs was a job only she had done herself or with employees in the past, never hiring outsiders."

This seems like the wrong attitude to take after experiencing such a backlash. If she'd made the signs herself for years then why resort to using AI to produce what is so obviously a generic slop result?

The article says she paid $150 for printing and $200 for a stand. Why not throw another $200 towards an artist?

wackget··on A coffee shop owner used AI to make a menu poster. Then came the angry DMs
The actual saying is "The customer is always right in matters of taste."

It is misquoted on a criminally large scale.

wackget··on I've operated petabyte-scale ClickHouse clusters for 5 years
What kind of systems are generating enough useful analytics data to ever scale to petabytes in the first place?

It's difficult (for my bird brain, at least) to imagine a scenario where such volume of analytics data would ever be necessary.

wackget··on I've operated petabyte-scale ClickHouse clusters for 5 years
Yeah that's cool but your blog won't load on my hardened Firefox:

- Uncaught TypeError: navigator.sendBeacon is not a function

- Uncaught (in promise) ReferenceError: WebAssembly is not defined

Not sure why a blog entry needs WebAssembly but I'll give it a pass.

wackget··on Twitter Viewer – View Twitter Without Account
I wholeheartedly agree on every point. I've felt this way for years. It's scandalous.

Many companies also rely on socials as their only effective means of customer service. If you have a problem or want to provide feedback but you don't use social media then you are SOL.

wackget··on The Size of the World Wide Web
> "size of the World Wide Web (The Internet)"

The WWW is not the internet.

wackget··on Semaglutide linked to lower predicted dementia risk
Most of the time when people try to define healthy food vs. junk food in a fair and unbiased way, the line gets drawn at "whole foods" vs "processed foods".

A typical burger meal is definitely processed food because the meat is processed mechanically and mixed from different sources (usually with added fat); the bun is made from refined flour and refined oils; and the fries are thinly-cut potatoes blanched and fried in more refined oils. (Not to mention a whole bunch of chemical additives which are the norm rather than the exception; and "hyperpalatability" tweaks which means the food is formulated to taste unnaturally good.)

You could perhaps argue that a home-made burger meal made using whole cuts of meat, a lean wholemeal bread dough, and potatoes roasted in animal fat could count as a healthy/whole food meal, but it would taste different to the typical hamburger meal we all associate with fast food.

Fast food also has an enormous marketing industry behind it which pushes it in unhealthy volume, with maximum convenience, and at (until recently, at least) affordable prices.

wackget··on uBlock Origin is giving up the fight to keep ads off Facebook
Apple will never, ever add anything even close to that kind of functionality. This is a company which took SEVENTEEN YEARS before it allowed iPhone users to have gaps between app icons on their home screens.

If you have ANY hope of Apple letting you have enough control over your device to visually block ads in apps then you are stratospherically shit outta luck.

wackget··on US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects
> We are building lots. Of everything.

Did you read the headline?

Do you know what article you're commenting on?

wackget··on Almost no skill required to cook a steak
Why does this article use backticks instead of apostrophes?
wackget··on I'll be stepping back from leading product for X
Yeah, my experience of Twitter has improved dramatically since I deleted my account and disavowed it completely. I don't even visit the domain. If I need to visit a link, I'll change the domain to xcancel.com instead.

Now THAT is an improved web experience!

wackget··on New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year
I'd happily drive a Chinese car but I've yet to see one which has physical buttons for controls. They all seem to have gigantic tablet displays. I categorically refuse to buy a car where I can't adjust the climate controls while keeping my eyes on the road.
wackget··on Web Security is Too Hard
1. Why is this website blocked when I try browsing it using Brave?

2. Why on earth would you want a financial product from a WAF?content delivery company?

wackget··on Delayed Gratification – Proud to Be 'Last to Breaking News'
But then how do you make knee-jerk reactions on social media to vilify those who hold politically opposite views to yours?
wackget··on Turn And Face The Strange
Wow. Opinions on LLMs aside, the CEO writing an article like that makes me think fly.io is a deeply unserious company.
wackget··on Quality non-fiction books are the antithesis of AI slop
> Decries AI for producing slop

> Uses AI to produce website

wackget··on EU Commission: addictive design Instagram and Facebook in breach of the DSA
Replace "Facebook" with "heroin" in your argument and see how ridiculous you sound.
wackget··on PostHog FOSS
What the actual fuck is going on with web development nowadays?

Look at the sheer number of ancillary files in this repo:

    .agents
    .claude
    .config
    .cursor
    .dagster_home
    .depot
    .flox
    .github
    .husky
    .idea
    .interface-design
    .pi
    .posthog-code
    .run
    .semgrep
    .stamphog
    .vscode
    .zed
    agent-os
    bin
    cli
    common
    devenv
    docker
    docs
    frontend
    funnel-udf
    livestream
    nodejs
    packages/quill
    patches
    playwright
    posthog
    products
    proto
    rust
    services
    share
    terraform
    tools
    .cursorignore
    .cursorrules
    .dockerignore
    .editorconfig
    .env.development
    .env.example
    .env.local.example
    .env.services
    .envrc
    .git-blame-ignore-revs
    .gitattributes
    .gitignore
    .kearc
    .mcp.json
    .nvmrc
    .oxfmtrc.json
    .oxlintrc.json
    .stylelintignore
    .stylelintrc.js
    .test_durations
    .test_quarantine.json
    .watchmanconfig
    .worktreeinclude
    .worktreelink
    AGENTS.md
    AI_POLICY.md
    CHANGELOG.md
    CLAUDE.md
    CONTRIBUTING.md
    Dockerfile
    Dockerfile.llm-analytics
    Dockerfile.ml-mirror-image-scrub
    Dockerfile.node
    Dockerfile.playwright
    Dockerfile.recording-rasterizer
    Dockerfile.sandbox
    LICENSE
    README.md
    conftest.py
    dagster_cloud.yaml
    depot.json
    dist-workspace.toml
    docker-compose.base.yml
    docker-compose.dev-full.yml
    docker-compose.dev.yml
    docker-compose.hobby.yml
    docker-compose.multinode-clickhouse.yml
    docker-compose.playwright.yml
    docker-compose.profiles.yml
    docker-compose.sandbox.yml
    greptile.json
    hogli.yaml
    manage.py
    otel-collector-config.dev.yaml
    package.json
    pnpm-lock.yaml
    pnpm-workspace.yaml
    postcss.config.js
    posthog.json
    pyproject.toml
    pytest.ini
    tach.toml
    tsconfig.dev.json
    tsconfig.json
    tsconfig.kea-typegen.json
    turbo.json
    unit.json.tpl
    uv.lock

What percentage of those files are actually directly related to the source code of the software? 1%?

How can anyone in their right mind look at this kind of setup and feel good about it?

wackget··on CarPlay Is Additive
As a disclaimer, the three iPhones I've ever purchased have all been used. I keep them for as long as possible. I don't use iCloud. I don't buy apps. In fact, I don't give Apple any money as far as I know.

I wish a Linux phone was a viable option but they are years away from being truly usable and decades away from any hope of mass integration with cars.

wackget··on CarPlay Is Additive
It's difficult for me to admit - because I really dislike Apple, Google, and the other predatory monopolies - but I wouldn't buy a car without CarPlay either.

Like I said, it's not because I'm a fan of Apple. Honestly, fuck Apple. Fuck their stupid walled garden and their $99/yr developer fee and their planned obsolesence and their lack of a headphone jack and everything else. But fuck Google too. And especially fuck all the car makers with their crappy infotainment software.

The truth is, I put up with an iPhone and with CarPlay simply because it is slightly less shitty than all the other shitty options.

wackget··on Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation
Consumers need to fight back on this, and I don't just mean by protesting or complaining.

Consumers need to start buying more used media instead of buying new.

They need to use services like GOG.com instead of Steam, even if it's less convenient.

They need to decide that if they can't buy a DRM-free or a physical copy of something then they simply won't buy it, and be confident in that decision instead of caving in to FOMO.

It requires a mindset change which I fear will be too difficult for most -- which is exactly what Sony is banking on.

wackget··on Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)
First website where I've had to disable first-party JavaScript just to be able to read a text-based article. Even Firefox's reader mode was hijacked by their anti-ad-blocker script. Shameful.
wackget··on I moved my digital stack to Europe
That's cool but your text-based web page won't even display in my browser which doesn't support webgl.
wackget··on EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids
You might have the self-awareness and impulse control to stop yourself from getting addicted to these apps, but the majority of the world's population does not.

These giant companies pour millions upon millions of dollars into engineering their services to be as "engaging" (read: addictive) as possible with the specific goal of making users spend more time on them.

Against that, the average person has no chance. The power balance is hugely uneven.

A responsible government which actually cares for its people has a duty to protect them from abuse like that.

wackget··on EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids
This cannot be a genuine take from a real person.
wackget··on EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids
The modern-day cigarette is such a perfect metaphor for social media. A cabal of unfathomably wealthy companies spreading their harmful products across the world; making them as addictive as possible while actively burying the research which proves how harmful they are. I truly hope one day we'll look back on social media and smartphone use the same way we regard smoking.
wackget··on Website streamed live directly from a model
I would really, really love to know how much of our natural resources have been wasted in producing slop like this.
wackget··on The future of everything is lies, I guess: Where do we go from here?
For anyone who isn't aware, just ignore the above user and their obviously absurdly reductive take.
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