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yackback

39 karma · joined December 18, 2021

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yackback··on How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?
The NYC version has a wikipedia page[0]. The record is Kate Jones, in 22 hours, 14 minutes, 10 seconds.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subway_Challenge

yackback··on iMessage with PQ3 Cryptographic Protocol
RCS is unencrypted unless you use Google's closed garden Google Messages' extensions.

Apple is apparently working with GSMA to add encryption to the standard though. (They probably wouldn't add RCS otherwise.)

yackback··on GPT-4
ChatGPT won't really help you improve your writing. It's got a terribly standard and boring voice. Most of the time generates 5 paragraph essays that make it super easy to sniff out. It might give you a couple common words it found in its training data to use, but you should stick to your elongated thoughts. Reading your writing out loud and editing will be just as good if not better than ChatGPT. Your comment here is pretty good. The first reply you made sounds... soulless.
yackback··on It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO
I'd estimate there's been a total of about 5 minutes of scenes with zombies in the last... 3 episodes?
yackback··on Discord, or the Death of Lore
Also related: companies that think because they have a slack thread discussing a design they have documentation. Hard to find that thing 3 or 4 months later.
yackback··on Show HN: Briefsky – a free Dark Sky clone for multiple weather APIs
Relative to the prediction side (which Dark Sky is arguably most known for): Every day, NOAA collects billions of data points (20 TB) of data about the planet's weather, and throws it into their supercomputers to make a forecast. NOAA has the 49th and 50th fastest computers in the world. In fact, the two major applications of the original supercomputers were nuclear physics and the weather.

They make it all available at https://www.noaa.gov/nodd/datasets, but as noted - since the data is so incredibly large and NOAAs already running stats on it... you can't really outcompute them.

[There are very very few CS applications with both a) more computing power and b) more real world impact than predicting weather and hurricanes. Maybe cancer research.]

20TB source: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/data-dive-five-noaa-databas...

yackback··on I just learned: Docker edits firewall rules for you
The docs, always the first place to look: https://docs.docker.com/network/iptables/
yackback··on Ask HN: What are some blog posts that you have enjoyed going through?
I know that by god my entire user history is turning into this type of comment, but you should read Baudrillard's Simulation and Simulacra.
yackback··on The Twitter Advertiser Exodus
Twitter will survive, and several other large technology companies will suddenly realize they only need about half the people they have to make money.
yackback··on “When we all have pocket telephones”
Simulacra! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation
yackback··on Ask HN: Have you stopped reading most news?
Bellingcat
yackback··on Notes against note-taking systems
The key is come up with something, then stick to it. Too many people spend months or years chasing perfection that doesn't exist.
yackback··on Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around
You will hate the following at first because your hormones will be out of wack, but once you do it for a bit you will be much much happier. Also, this comment will work best if you aren't working during this time, but if you need to for financial reasons, adapt and follow the advice anyways (for example: only use the internet for work, the rec league meets evenings. And only work 40 hours.)

1. Get off your computer. Take a break, go outside. Literally. Take a walk. It will increase your attention span and help you in numerous other ways.[1]

2. Get off the Internet. Completely. It is incredibly hard, but it is necessary. The Internet is the place that will only cause you stress during this part of your life. To quote a 2011 article from psychology today[2]: > A growing body of evidence shows that video games and other electronics induce the fight-or-flight syndrome, putting the body in a state of stress. Studies show sustained increases in blood pressure and pulse, even hours after playing a video game. It doesn't have to be a violent game, or even an action game-or even a game at all! Over time, internet surfing and texting will similarly put the brain and body in a state of stress, just from the high level of visual and cognitive stimulation.

3. Learn to pay attention. Start each day by telling yourself you'll do something productive. My suggestion is to read a book, clean up, or any _hands on_ hobby but the important part is - it will be hard - to focus. If you feel yourself getting distracted and wanting to check HN or Reddit or anything else that isn't what you are doing, break it up with something physical. Cleaning up? Do a jumping jack when you want to check reddit. Now go back to cleaning. Reading a book? Stand up for 10 seconds. Then go back to reading. Attention is a survival skill, and once it is mastered it will bring much more happiness than Hacker News. You will actually accomplish things.

4. Pick a sport or something you like to do, and find people in your area who like to do it too. Join a casual ultimate frisbee league, or some other sport of yours. Talk to people. It will be hard just like everything else, because the internet has given you a lack of social skills. But you have to, because otherwise it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and you'll just communicate even less in person. Once you learn what real in person interaction feels like again, you'll like it way more than the internet too.

5. After you've done the last 4 for a while (a couple months) and you've began to feel the positive effects, then you should begin using the internet and social media in moderation again.

Humans didn't evolve to receive information at the quick pace computers give it to us, and the long hours you work, in addition to the lack of in person interaction you mention, has created the brain fog you experience. Luckily, the brain has also evolved to change itself. (Did you know brain cells are the fastest replicating cells in the body? It's why brain cancer is the most deadly of them all.) A clean break from all this, then a gradual reintegration is the way.

Edit: I will also second the person who said to study philosophy.

1: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201306...

2: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201103...

yackback··on The YouTube Rabbit Hole Is Nuanced
Another criticism of NYTs coverage about something, this time San Francisco: https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1494090713482633217
yackback··on Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?
Why does the notebook need to be in good connection? Use mosh.