bitshift's recent activity
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Comment on Need advice about work in ~life
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Comment on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson finally explains his decision to bid $3.2B for parking meters before walking away in ~transport
bitshift Link ParentIf you're in the mood for a longer (21 minute) video, Stand-up Maths did a fun video with Climate Town on the Chicago parking meters which goes more into the numbers (as is appropriate for that...If you're in the mood for a longer (21 minute) video, Stand-up Maths did a fun video with Climate Town on the Chicago parking meters which goes more into the numbers (as is appropriate for that channel!).
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bitshift Link ParentIt's a reverse proxy. Your favorite web server routes traffic to Heavy (localhost:8000 or wherever), and Heavy routes the filtered traffic to your application (localhost:3000). The README goes...It's a reverse proxy. Your favorite web server routes traffic to Heavy (localhost:8000 or wherever), and Heavy routes the filtered traffic to your application (localhost:3000). The README goes into a bit more detail about my specific setup, but that's already most of it.
If you had multiple apps that needed different configs, you'd run multiple instances of Heavy on different ports. At least for now; I've been thinking about adding multi-site support.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bitshift Link ParentI know this feeling! I love when loose ends get connected and you have one of those, "Oh, this is that" moments. It happens a few times in the Tintin series, where he's exploring the bad guys'...I remember one time when I was mapping some new rooms in an unexplored area, and realized that they matched some already mapped rooms, and I got to update my map to show the new loop. It's kinda hard to explain, but it was a fantastic experience.
I know this feeling! I love when loose ends get connected and you have one of those, "Oh, this is that" moments. It happens a few times in the Tintin series, where he's exploring the bad guys' hideout and uncovers a secret passage that leads back somewhere we the reader had seen before.
Out of curiosity, do you remember which game it was that had the cave minigame?
But for now I am teaching myself pixel artwork.
Enjoy! I've always found pixel art to be fun because it's so forgiving. The medium forces everything to be abstract, and at least for me, that removes the pressure of having to produce a realistic drawing.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bitshift Link ParentSounds like an interesting project. Are you emitting machine code yourself, or are you compiling to an intermediate target (like Go, or WASM, or LLVM IR…)?Sounds like an interesting project. Are you emitting machine code yourself, or are you compiling to an intermediate target (like Go, or WASM, or LLVM IR…)?
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bitshift LinkI've been working on adding ML support to Heavy, my anti-bot firewall project. "Anti-bot" is not 100% correct: determining whether web traffic originates from a real human is impossible-ish. So...I've been working on adding ML support to Heavy, my anti-bot firewall project.
"Anti-bot" is not 100% correct: determining whether web traffic originates from a real human is impossible-ish. So Heavy aims for the lesser goal of answering, "Would this request increase server load?" and blocking only those requests. This lets some bots in, but only those that behave themselves.
My plan is to use classical ML techniques to do that. Segmenting traffic with random forests looks promising, but I've been getting bogged down translating the logic from Python to Rust—I must resist the urge to squeeze every ounce of performance out of the machine! I've made some solid progress, though. There are trees where none grew before.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bitshift Link ParentThat NNUE link is pretty neat, thanks! I knew neural networks were being used in chess engines, but that was my first time reading about practical details. Out of curiosity, how are you liking...That NNUE link is pretty neat, thanks! I knew neural networks were being used in chess engines, but that was my first time reading about practical details.
Out of curiosity, how are you liking Zig? I saw you were using it for generating WASM; I've been itching to try Zig but haven't yet found the right place to use it.
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Comment on No, artificial intelligence is not conscious in ~tech
bitshift Link ParentSorry about the wording! I didn't mean to imply that folks making that claim are incorrect.Sorry about the wording! I didn't mean to imply that folks making that claim are incorrect.
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Comment on No, artificial intelligence is not conscious in ~tech
bitshift Link ParentI wonder if LLMs are perceived differently at all across cultures. I don't have evidence for this claim, but a while back I read somewhere that "machines defeat humans" in sci-fi correlates with...I wonder if LLMs are perceived differently at all across cultures.
I don't have evidence for this claim, but a while back I read somewhere that "machines defeat humans" in sci-fi correlates with societies' experiences with slavery. The southern US had a very shameful past here, and one of the lasting effects (so the theory goes) is a fear of slave rebellions. So when American authors wrote sci-fi, they fell into that pattern. Deep down, we know our society is playing with fire by building on top of [noun], and we live in constant fear of karmic justice.
Contrast with Japan, which had a very different experience with slavery. Not that they didn't have slavery, or that Japanese authors don't write dystopias, but culturally their fictional robots seem to be much more benevolent—whereas ours became Skynet.
All that to say, I'm wondering to what extent we're in a language/cultural bubble. For example, are the horrors of technology as prominent a topic in other language forums?
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Comment on No, artificial intelligence is not conscious in ~tech
bitshift Link ParentSome people claim they don't have internal monologues. We don't know for sure, but animals probably aren't thinking thoughts in English language—sensations or pictures, maybe. There's also a...Some people claim they don't have internal monologues. We don't know for sure, but animals probably aren't thinking thoughts in English language—sensations or pictures, maybe. There's also a question of how continuous that internal dialogue needs to be; if you can't form new memories I imagine your internal dialogue would have to restart all the time, but I think most of us would agree that still "counts" as consciousness even if each dialogue disappears immediately without being continued.
Not claiming to have a better definition of consciousness! Just saying that language and dialogues are evidence of consciousness but might not be a necessary component of it.
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Comment on Sweden may oppose Tesla's supervised self-driving tech in Europe over speeding concerns in ~transport
bitshift Link ParentThank you for being the first person to reply with concrete reasons! "A feature that lets you break the law" sounds strange on the face of it, but laws are imperfect systems. Technically, swerving...Thank you for being the first person to reply with concrete reasons!
"A feature that lets you break the law" sounds strange on the face of it, but laws are imperfect systems. Technically, swerving over a double yellow line to avoid an obstacle is also breaking the law, but we accept that. It's why you need discretion, both from law enforcement and from drivers.
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Comment on To pay rent in Medieval England, catch some eels in ~food
bitshift Link ParentUnagi (freshwater eel) and anago (saltwater) are two of my favorites. Not all sushi places have anago, but I almost always add a piece to the rest of my order it if it's on the menu.Unagi (freshwater eel) and anago (saltwater) are two of my favorites. Not all sushi places have anago, but I almost always add a piece to the rest of my order it if it's on the menu.
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Comment on Accessible forms of poetry for journaling? in ~creative
bitshift LinkOooh, I feel that. I've always been more visual that aural, and I remember struggling with meter in class. Not only would I get the stresses of syllables wrong, but I would get confused how many...My only real experience with the medium is from school, and thinking back to that time only reminds me of how confused I was while guessing if a foot was stressed or unstressed.
Oooh, I feel that. I've always been more visual that aural, and I remember struggling with meter in class. Not only would I get the stresses of syllables wrong, but I would get confused how many syllables there were. Which seems like a really basic thing—just count them!—but the sounds of the words were too vague and subjective to my ear.
If it's any comfort, abilities can change over time, or at least they did for me. I occasionally write haiku and enjoy it now. Haiku are especially fun because they're short, and because there's an additional constraint that doesn't have to do with the words themselves (namely, that you must find a nature/seasonal metaphor for your topic).
I like idea of using constraints to further my grasp on the thought I'm trying to express
You might look into constrained writing, which is kind of poetry-adjacent, and see if any particular constraints appeal to you. There might be something more approachable than writing traditional verse.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bitshift Link ParentOut of curiosity, is this something you're building for your own use? Just wondering what your motivation is.Out of curiosity, is this something you're building for your own use? Just wondering what your motivation is.
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Comment on Arch User Repository compromised, 1500+ packages affected in ~tech
bitshift Link ParentI wonder if differences in orphaned status would have influenced which packages got infected? I would assume the "simple" package name would be more likely to be installed, less likely to be...I wonder if differences in orphaned status would have influenced which packages got infected? I would assume the "simple" package name would be more likely to be installed, less likely to be orphaned, and thus less likely to be taken over and infected. Whereas specialized versions of the package (
-qt, etc) might have the opposite trend? Just a guess, haven't counted.On the subject of getting good: this article had a few tips on how to review AUR packages, written following a different AUR incident in 2025. Some of it is basic stuff, but I learned/was reminded of at least a couple things.
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Comment on Arch User Repository compromised, 1500+ packages affected in ~tech
bitshift Link ParentI was actually thankful to see that! I review PKGBUILD diffs when updating packages, but I sometimes wonder if I really know what to look for. This is so obvious, I definitely would have caught it.I was actually thankful to see that! I review PKGBUILD diffs when updating packages, but I sometimes wonder if I really know what to look for. This is so obvious, I definitely would have caught it.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bitshift LinkI've been working on a project called Heavy, which is my take on protecting web servers from abusive scrapers. If you've heard of Anubis, Heavy is kind of similar, though in general my approach is...I've been working on a project called Heavy, which is my take on protecting web servers from abusive scrapers. If you've heard of Anubis, Heavy is kind of similar, though in general my approach is more permissive towards "good bots".
I just finished adding a README to the project. For some reason I find READMEs really difficult to write—too often my tone ends up sounding weird and clunky, and I just get frustrated with the process. (If any of you have tips, I'm all ears.) But this time, I'm pretty proud with how it came out!
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Comment on Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing in ~health
bitshift Link ParentContent warning for queasy/distressing philosophical stuff, but we've already studied this, kind of. When epilepsy patients have significant portions of the brain disconnected (up to an entire...Content warning for queasy/distressing philosophical stuff, but we've already studied this, kind of. When epilepsy patients have significant portions of the brain disconnected (up to an entire hemisphere), the isolated half of the brain does appear to enter a dormant state.
From the abstract:
This broad-band EEG slowing resulted in a marked decrease of the spectral exponent, a validated consciousness marker, reaching values characteristic of deep anesthesia and the vegetative state. When compared with a reference pediatric sample across the sleep–wake cycle, the spectral exponent of the contralateral cortex aligned with wakefulness, whereas that of the isolated cortex was consistent with deep NREM sleep.
According to Dr. Google, dreams can happen during NREM sleep, but the dreams are less frequent, more conceptual, and less vivid. But take that with a grain of salt, because we don't know—we can't know—if this is in fact sleep.
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Comment on GOG apologies for emailing Nazi runes to its followers in ~games
bitshift Link ParentI like extending the benefit of the doubt, just in general. But the repetition really stands out to me. If it were just three symbols, I don't know the meanings, and I would have assumed they just...I like extending the benefit of the doubt, just in general. But the repetition really stands out to me. If it were just three symbols, I don't know the meanings, and I would have assumed they just grabbed some random Unicode symbols. But then they doubled one of them, and they doubled the only one you would double if you were a literal Nazi.
It's like if they had used the initials "NAZ" somewhere, I might think huh, that could be something or it could be nothing, I hope the Internet isn't getting outraged over nothing. But follow it with an "I" and okay—that's undeniably something.
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Comment on Just published my first game in ~games
bitshift LinkCongrats on the release! Minesweeper on a sphere plays differently than on a rectangular grid. When I'm on a rectangular grid, it feels like there are more opportunities for logical deduction...Congrats on the release!
Minesweeper on a sphere plays differently than on a rectangular grid. When I'm on a rectangular grid, it feels like there are more opportunities for logical deduction along these lines:
- This digit "1" means there's a total of one mine in squares A, B, and C.
- This other digit "1" means there's one mine in squares A and B.
- Because the latter is a subset of the former, square C cannot contain a mine.
I run into those situations fairly often on rectangular grids, but after playing a few games on your orb, I haven't noticed any corresponding situations. Don't know if that's because there's no edges, or if it's because most tiles have 6 neighbors instead of 8, but something about the geometry doesn't provide as many logical footholds.
(Now I'm curious about hexsweeper, and about rectangular-grid-but-it-wraps-toroidally-sweeper!)
Related: Hank Green recently made a video on the Jevons paradox as it applies to AI (33 minutes). And also about our civilization's use of electricity. And also other things.
In general, the Jevons paradox makes me cautiously optimistic about being able to find tech work in the future. Not only are there lots of unsolved software problems remaining, but the pool is growing, and not just because AI creates problems that need to be solved. (I hope.)