cdb's recent activity
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Comment on Why America is slipping in the Olympics in ~sports
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Comment on Why America is slipping in the Olympics in ~sports
cdb LinkSeems like mostly a geography and culture thing to me. Just focusing on skiing, I feel like maybe it's a good thing that skiing is more expensive. There's a limited number of suitable mountains,...Seems like mostly a geography and culture thing to me.
Just focusing on skiing, I feel like maybe it's a good thing that skiing is more expensive. There's a limited number of suitable mountains, and they're already pretty crowded. Mostly talking downhill skiing. There's a limited number of places that cross-country skiing is even possible. They mention an increase in median age of skiers, but it doesn't seem to be correcting for increase in median age of the population, which seems to make up for the majority of the effect. Looking at the cost, the $30,000 figure quoted for competitive skiers seems like it has to be mostly travel, given that equipment and passes are probably only several thousand. Is that even a problem? Maybe travel should be expensive, given its impacts on the environment. What is even the solution, here, subsidize travel for young skiers?
Maybe we have bigger problems to use our collective funds on. I'm all for subsidizing local youth sports because of the community aspect, but I'm struggling to see why we should care so much about winter sports specifically.
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Comment on What are your food aversions? in ~food
cdb Link ParentI'm the same with natto. I like a lot of fermented foods. I like a lot of foods that are slimy. I just cannot agree with both slimy and strong fermented flavor at the same time. It's just too...I'm the same with natto. I like a lot of fermented foods. I like a lot of foods that are slimy. I just cannot agree with both slimy and strong fermented flavor at the same time. It's just too strongly indicative of spoiled food, which is exactly what natto is.
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Comment on Need a replacement for my old macbook pro, should I just get another one? in ~comp
cdb LinkI just bought a used M1 macbook pro a few months ago, and I think it's great. For the price ($600) it's probably better than any windows laptop. I bought a MacBook Air m1 when it first came out in...I just bought a used M1 macbook pro a few months ago, and I think it's great. For the price ($600) it's probably better than any windows laptop.
I bought a MacBook Air m1 when it first came out in 2020, kept it for a year, but sold it because I figured that it might have some compatibility issues with some things I was planning to do. I switched to a higher-end Lenovo yoga laptop. The display is great, the touchscreen is nice to have, but the battery life sucks, the daily use performance isn't nearly as good as the m1 air, and the fans frequently spin up while I'm not doing anything taxing. I also tried another Lenovo with a really nice OLED display and ARM chip, but gave that to a family member. I also tried an asus g14, which is a mid-high end compact gaming laptop, but I had a ton of issues with it. The HP I tried was fine, but just ok. After going back to mac, it really seems like if you want a good laptop experience, a macbook is the way to go. The M1 macbook pro in particular can handle all the tasks I need it to, including a lot of multitasking, coding, and some local LLM use. This is all while having a really nice display, great battery life, and reliable sleep. I guess this kind of sounds like an advertisement at this point, but I've tried a bunch of other options, all at the top of "best laptop" lists, and the mac has been the only reliably good one.
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Comment on Popcorn lung: how vaping could scar your lungs for life in ~health
cdb Link ParentI think the issue is, in part, the inability to talk about things in a complex manner. Any negative news about vaping seems to warn about all vaping, when vaping is just a delivery mechanism. Just...I think the issue is, in part, the inability to talk about things in a complex manner. Any negative news about vaping seems to warn about all vaping, when vaping is just a delivery mechanism. Just like how you could smoke a variety of things (tobacco, weed, crack, or other random chemicals from shady sources), you can vape a variety of things too. The source of the vapes doesn't seem like a common thing to include in news articles. As far as I know, the only lung injuries that have been reported and have investigations on the source have been from bootleg weed cartridges that have ingredients that no legitimate manufacturer would include.
In the case reported here, we don't know what this kid was vaping, but it's possible that a 14-17 year old might be getting vapes cartriges from sketchy sources. Not trying to be a denialist, but the surveys regarding prevalence of teen vaping suggest that over a million teenagers are vaping. If we're talking about a literal one in a million case of lung injury attributed to vaping, it should be worth looking into the details.
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Comment on AI hallucination cases - When lawyers use hallucinated legal content in ~tech
cdb (edited )Link ParentI think it depends on what you mean by "causing a problem." Is it a new potential source of non-existent citations? Yes. Is it a problem in that it's increasing the error rate overall? Need more...I think it depends on what you mean by "causing a problem." Is it a new potential source of non-existent citations? Yes. Is it a problem in that it's increasing the error rate overall? Need more data to say.
The main thing I'm trying to say is that without knowing the base-rate of things, that fact that this list exists or whether this list gets longer doesn't mean the situation is getting worse. Like you say, the overall benefit can't really be determined from looking at this list. I'm trying to say that the way human brains work is if we report on things like "bad list has many items" then there is a narrative and perception that this mean things are getting worse.
I also see the potential for bias here. This site links to a paid service for verifying citations. There's an incentive to magnify the perception that this is a serious issue.
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Comment on AI hallucination cases - When lawyers use hallucinated legal content in ~tech
cdb Link ParentI wonder if the narrow scope of focusing only on recording the number of cases where AI is used and was wrong is ripe for a base-rate fallacy interpretation. If we see this database getting...I wonder if the narrow scope of focusing only on recording the number of cases where AI is used and was wrong is ripe for a base-rate fallacy interpretation. If we see this database getting larger, one might assume this is an increasing problem. Without comparing it to the prevalence of AI use overall or comparing with the amount of incorrect references and arguments without AI use, it's hard to say if this is a problem that is getting better or worse.
I mean, I highly suspect that AI use without proper review would result in errors, given that hallucination is a real and common thing, but I can't see this as evidence AI is causing a problem here without more information.
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Comment on A case for increasing computer literacy (but also a rant) in ~tech
cdb LinkWhat's not clear to me from this suggestion is: what's the benefit to the user? I'll go with the popular car analogy. It's a tool that serves a specific and important function. People need it to...What's not clear to me from this suggestion is: what's the benefit to the user?
I'll go with the popular car analogy. It's a tool that serves a specific and important function. People need it to "just work" to go about their daily lives. Although they use it almost every day most users don't really know or care about its inner workings. Although some level of knowledge and tinkering used to be necessary to keep them operating well on a daily basis, nowadays knowing how to tinker with them is either a profession or a hobby. What's wrong with that? I think it's great that we can derive most of the benefits from computers without forcing some of these time-consuming activities on users, and the door is still open to pursue further understanding if people choose to.
This is coming from someone who did tinker with computers growing up in the 90's, has some IT experience, has surely built more computers than 99.99% of the population, and has most of a master's in comp sci (I'm gonna finish soon, I swear). I have machines in use running Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS, and other flavors of Linux. I think they are all fine, and people should just use whatever is most convenient for them in the moment.
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Comment on I'm annoyed with mundane revisionist history in ~talk
cdb Link ParentI was about to say that if people are obviously incorrect, the silver lining is that at least you can be pretty confident you're talking to a person, because AI models most often get things like...I was about to say that if people are obviously incorrect, the silver lining is that at least you can be pretty confident you're talking to a person, because AI models most often get things like this right these days, assuming you ask the question correctly. Sometimes I get mad about people posting things that don't survive a simple google check, but I have to remind myself that this is part of interacting with other humans. If I wanted agreeable all the time I could just talk to an LLM. So I did ask an LLM and it told me that DVDs were a major selling point.
Here's a quote from wikipedia that it referenced:
Former Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida acknowledged that Sony had been "awfully unprepared" for the transition from the original PlayStation, noting the company's limited experience in managing generational console launches. Due to a lack of launch software, much of the early consumer interest centred on the console's ability to play DVDs. According to Yoshida, in Japan, the best-selling title during the launch period was not a game, but a DVD of The Matrix (1999).[64] He remarked that while standalone DVD players were still expensive at the time, the PlayStation 2 offered comparable functionality at a significantly lower price point, contributing to its immediate commercial success.
So, I think for this topic it ends up being a fine-grained detail regarding wording. Was the PS2 popular because it was a DVD player? I feel like there is a spectrum of interpretation for this statement that could put you on either side of it. Did people buy it solely to be a DVD player without caring about gaming? Probably not in most cases. Did the DVD functionality heavily contribute to the purchase decision? Probably in most cases. So for me, I would prefer to move on to the next point, because this one doesn't seem worth it to fight over.
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Comment on 2025 NFL Post Season 🏈 Weekly Discussion Thread – Freetalk in ~sports.american_football
cdb LinkRooting for the Seahawks. The Patriots have had enough success in the past few decades. It's not fair that they haven't experienced a significant amount of time feeling bad about their team. Plus,...Rooting for the Seahawks.
The Patriots have had enough success in the past few decades. It's not fair that they haven't experienced a significant amount of time feeling bad about their team.
Plus, Sam Darnold has a fun underdog story. High draft pick by a bad team like the Jets, then bounced to another bad team at the Panthers, spend a year as a backup on a good team like the Niners, experience success on the Vikings only to be told they don't want him anymore, then win the superbowl with a new team the very next season on his 5th team in 8 seasons? It's an interesting narrative. Anything that makes teams question their questionable QB development practices sounds good to me.
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Comment on Most and least expensive US supermarkets in ~food
cdb LinkNot a big fan of this analysis. It's a single data point each store from a single point in time in a single year. Seems like a big discount on an item or two (or coincidental lack thereof) might...Not a big fan of this analysis. It's a single data point each store from a single point in time in a single year. Seems like a big discount on an item or two (or coincidental lack thereof) might make a difference in some rankings.
Ultimately, it seems like generally the stores that are more complete have the highest prices, aside from slightly specialty stores like Trader Joes and Whole Foods, which makes sense. More variety in items and range of quality, higher prices. Costco or Aldi may be cheap for some items, but I can't get all my grocery shopping done there and need to supplement with another grocery store. I usually go for a Chinese or Mexican grocery store or a discount grocery like Food4Less rather than something like Safeway though.
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Comment on The downfall of OnePlus will be studied | The "enthusiast brand" arc in ~tech
cdb (edited )Link ParentMy understanding is that catering to the enthusiast market in order to eventually capture some of the mainstream market was always the business plan for Oneplus, given that enthusiasts are too...My understanding is that catering to the enthusiast market in order to eventually capture some of the mainstream market was always the business plan for Oneplus, given that enthusiasts are too small and fickle of a group to build a sustainable and profitable business on. Unfortunately for that type of business plan, it seems like there are way fewer android enthusiasts these days. /r/android used to be full of discussion on modifications and new products, and now traffic seems way down with most discussions being competing sides calling any opinion they disagree with "fanboyism." I just checked, and google trends search interest for "XDA Developers" peaked in 2011 and has been below 5% of its peak for about ten years now. The Oneplus One was released near the end of what I would call the heyday of XDA (2010-2014), and it seems like the enthusiast market has been shrinking since then as major Android manufacturers worked to improve their software and get out of the users' way.
It seems that even though the major players have taken steps to lock down their hardware as their software has improved, there isn't that much demand for a brand that allows for more customization. Phones are getting closer to being generic appliances both in reliability and how they're viewed by users. There just isn't as much to gain from tinkering as there used to be, so although maybe some smaller kickstarted project could exist to fulfill niche demands, I don't see any room for a major player in this space.
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Comment on Will your AI teammate bring bagels to standup? in ~tech
cdb LinkNo, AI will not bring bagels to standup, because the AI knows that standups are intended to be less than 15 minutes, and adding bagels into the mix will waste a significant amount of setup time. I...No, AI will not bring bagels to standup, because the AI knows that standups are intended to be less than 15 minutes, and adding bagels into the mix will waste a significant amount of setup time. I asked Copilot. It also suggested making food available in some other location after the meeting. So maybe AI would order bagels, but not to be served at the meeting.
Although I'm sure some differently worded prompt could get you the opposite answer.
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Comment on What are your favorite home remedies or comforts when you're sick? in ~health
cdb LinkAside from plenty of fluids, especially hot water or soup, I like THC+CBD gummies at night, and coffee during the day. Ibuprofen is good for aches and pains, although that's not really a home...Aside from plenty of fluids, especially hot water or soup, I like THC+CBD gummies at night, and coffee during the day. Ibuprofen is good for aches and pains, although that's not really a home remedy.
The main ingredient in cold medicine that actually does anything for you is usually diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or some other antihistamine, which is mainly to put you to sleep. The other ingredients that purport to help with cough (dextromethorphan) or nasal congestion (phenylephrine) are not really supported by scientific literature. Cannabis helps with sleep and also helps me ignore the discomfort a bit.
The coffee doesn't really help that much, although the caffeine is good for headaches. It's mostly just because if I'm sick enough to take the day off from work, I often forget to drink coffee, but I'm still addicted to caffeine. If I don't have at least a bit of caffeine by mid-afternoon, the mild withdrawal can result in feeling a little worse if I'm already sick. Breaks from caffeine can wait for another day.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
cdb LinkI'm not sure if this counts, but something that really stuck in my mind was the continuous running water all around Rome. After arriving at the airport, I went to the restroom and saw that the...I'm not sure if this counts, but something that really stuck in my mind was the continuous running water all around Rome.
After arriving at the airport, I went to the restroom and saw that the water was already flushing the urinal. After finishing my business, I looked around for a lever or button or something to shut off the water, but couldn't find one. Turns out all the urinals were just constantly flushing. I thought that was a little weird but moved on with my life. Then it turned out that there were tons of fountains all around the city that just constantly flow into a drain, which made me realize that the urinals weren't broken. They just had that much water to spare. It was mind-blowing for someone like me from California, which is usually in drought conditions (although apparently not this month).
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Comment on Scientists cast doubt on the discovery of microplastics throughout the human body in ~health
cdb Link ParentTo me, the takeaway is that any news article regarding the results of a single study should usually be ignored. There's a lot of variation in quality of studies, and it takes time to build a...To me, the takeaway is that any news article regarding the results of a single study should usually be ignored.
There's a lot of variation in quality of studies, and it takes time to build a consensus. Making any kind of conclusions on whether a study is valid or not requires a careful reading. For example, in the study about microplastics in bottled water, when skimming through the study I didn't find anything wrong with the methodology. I'm an analytical chemist, and while this isn't my field of study I feel qualified to understand these studies. After reading the criticism about this article, it turns out the issues are detailed in the supplemental information from the appendix, which I usually don't read when I'm just skimming articles in my spare time. So, it's probably better to wait for people working in the field to summarize things as we progress in knowledge.
Plus if you discuss the validity of a given study on the internet, there's an assumption that you're advocating one way or the other for the broader discussion the study relates to, which is hard to get away from.
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Comment on Scientists cast doubt on the discovery of microplastics throughout the human body in ~health
cdb Link ParentAs the OP article suggests, we're still working on reliable methods for detection, identification, and quantification of microplastics, with contamination and selectivity being the biggest...As the OP article suggests, we're still working on reliable methods for detection, identification, and quantification of microplastics, with contamination and selectivity being the biggest hurdles. If the microplastic quantification isn't reliable, then any studies showing negative effects wouldn't be reliable.
I think a similar recent example is PFAS, which for a time had many news articles about detection.
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Comment on Data centers are now hoarding SSDs as hard drive supplies dry up in ~tech
cdb Link ParentIs there a specific price point you're hoping for? Anecdotally, I check slickdeals pretty often, and it seemed like there were some pretty good deals over this past summer. I went and looked up...Is there a specific price point you're hoping for? Anecdotally, I check slickdeals pretty often, and it seemed like there were some pretty good deals over this past summer.
I went and looked up some price trends, and it seems like the lowest prices were observed in Aug/Sep of this year, with the average close to 18 month lows as well, although it seems like prices are trending up since Oct.
https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/internal-hard-drive/#storage.ssdm2nvme.4000
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Comment on 2025 NFL Season 🏈 Weekly Discussion Thread – Week 9 in ~sports.american_football
cdb Link ParentPeople keep calling this injury cursed, seemingly attributing it bad luck. While luck is always a factor, to me this was largely a clear failure in training/coaching. You don't stick your arm out...People keep calling this injury cursed, seemingly attributing it bad luck. While luck is always a factor, to me this was largely a clear failure in training/coaching. You don't stick your arm out like that to break your fall if you know how to fall.
It seems like no one is really learning from the mistakes of others. While the injury is different, Tua is a good example of someone who had to learn falling skills to avoid injury. It's silly that others aren't learning from his example and learning proper falling skills. Hopefully Jayden and others will see this incident as a possibly controllable aspect of the game and learn how to better protect themselves.
I'd also put learning when to slide and when to dive in the same bucket. It seems like a lot of QBs slide way too late and get rocked as a result. When i see these kinda of seemingly preventable incidents I think about a Tom Brady rant I heard about how young players aren't learning the skills to protect themselves and their teammates.
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Comment on How do you survive time change? in ~life.pets
cdb LinkI vary feeding times daily so today wasn't exceptional. My dog gets fed breakfast at roughly the same time on weekdays (sometime between 7-8am), but otherwise he doesn't have a fixed feeding time....I vary feeding times daily so today wasn't exceptional.
My dog gets fed breakfast at roughly the same time on weekdays (sometime between 7-8am), but otherwise he doesn't have a fixed feeding time. He gets his breakfast on weekends after we wake up (whenever that is), and he gets his dinner after we eat our dinner (whenever that is). He also only gets fed if he goes to his dog bed in the dining room, where he goes when given the "spot" command.
So, while he might get a bit antsy during time changes, he'll go to his spot whe he's hungry rather than bothering me. Also, he's used to having some variation to his mealtime, so it's not strange for him to wait a few extra hours for a meal.
I guess the economics answer is that things that are limited in supply and high in demand should be expensive. That way those who really want to do it can, and those who don't prioritize it won't consider it worth it. There is an element of inequality with this thought, but I would say that it's more of a vacation than a right. I'd say the same thing about concert tickets. Limited availability of a recreational activity means it's ok to be niche and expensive. This isn't milk and bread.
Maybe you missed the last sentence of my previous comment? I'm all for doing sports and subsidizing them for kids. I just don't think they need to involve traveling to the mountains or building a bunch of giant freezers (ice rinks) in cities where it doesn't get very cold in the winter. Might make sense in some areas where you can learn to skate on a local pond in the winter, but I don't know if it's really needed to push winter sport culture if the climate isn't supporting it.