ewintr's recent activity
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
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Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentSure there is. But there is a difference between exploring new books in the library and stumbling into a library for the very first time, slowy realising what kind of place it could be. The former...Sure there is. But there is a difference between exploring new books in the library and stumbling into a library for the very first time, slowy realising what kind of place it could be. The former you can repeat ad infinitum, the latter you can do only once.
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Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentNo, definitely not. It was not about the sites, it was about going on an adventure in a space that was unexplored. You cannot do that anymore because you cannot unexplore something. It is the same...Objectively, were janky 90s websites with questionable functionality really better than what we have today?
No, definitely not. It was not about the sites, it was about going on an adventure in a space that was unexplored. You cannot do that anymore because you cannot unexplore something. It is the same as a with popular tourist destinations. Once they were special, interesting and fun. Nowadays, they are not because both our frame of mind and the actual destination are changed by the influx and experience. There is no way to convert it back to that special, interesting and fun place.
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentFor the part that works... Yes, it works. But that is only a small part. It's nowhere near finished. Ah, yes, I can see that would work. For myself, I guess I just want to automate the steps that...Is the output of interest?
For the part that works... Yes, it works. But that is only a small part. It's nowhere near finished.
I followed a different tack.
Ah, yes, I can see that would work. For myself, I guess I just want to automate the steps that I am used to making myself. On one hand, I just want an app that tells me what to watch, on the other I want to be able to step in and follow the line of reasoning. I also find it interesting to discover how the process works in my head if I am searching without any help.
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentSort of. I currently use the LLM to peer through the IMDB reviews of the movies I watch for titles. Often when people discuss a movie, they compare them to other movies. Or follow other...Sort of. I currently use the LLM to peer through the IMDB reviews of the movies I watch for titles. Often when people discuss a movie, they compare them to other movies. Or follow other associative links. It's nice to extract those automatically. I'd like to add a step that tells me where I can view these other movies, for instance with a service like justwatch.com.
Another thing I'd like to do is let the LLM judge whether a review is a 'good' review, so I could that those suggestions more seriously. But I figured I should then first teach the LLM what I consider a good review. That probably means I need to fine-tune it myself, and for that, I need to create data myself and score some of the reviews already in my system. I haven't thought of a convenient way to do that yet.
If it all works, I would just open the program, and it would tell me to go see movie X on service/medium Y and I would have an enjoyable evening.
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
ewintr (edited )LinkI just canceled my Github CoPilot subscription because while it has helped me well in the past with some tasks that were very repetitive, but not repetitive enough to use copy/paste, I started to...I just canceled my Github CoPilot subscription because while it has helped me well in the past with some tasks that were very repetitive, but not repetitive enough to use copy/paste, I started to find its autocompletion more and more annoying. No CoPilot, that is not what I want. Let me type that again.
I canceled my ChatGPT subscription months ago because the novelty wore off, and I got tired of copy/pasting back and forth between my browser and the app I was actually using.
What I keep is my Kagi premium subscription because I find it helpful for more open-ended questions that don't work well in a search engine and my JetBrains AI-subscription to ask simple programming questions right from my IDE where it responds with knowledge of the project I am working on.
Also, I use Ollama + Mistral for my own project, where I keep track of the movies I watch to help me find other movies that I might find interesting. But that is not yet finished.
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Comment on Discord to start showing ads for gamers to boost revenue in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentAccording to Wikipedia Discord is eight years old already. At that point you are not a startup, but just a company with a shitty business model.Social-media startup Discord
According to Wikipedia Discord is eight years old already. At that point you are not a startup, but just a company with a shitty business model.
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Comment on The film fans who refuse to surrender to streaming in ~movies
ewintr Link ParentI think you are right, but as one of those weird people who actually buys that stuff, I can report that most of my 'normal' friends like that I do that. Because slowly I am building up a very...I think you are right, but as one of those weird people who actually buys that stuff, I can report that most of my 'normal' friends like that I do that. Because slowly I am building up a very personal collection of movies that I like, or find interesting for some reason, and my friends are eager to accept whenever I invite them for a movie night, because: 'You always show really good movies'.
No sane person has the time and energy to deeply dive into the whole catalogues of Netflix and friends if they just want something to watch that night. So everyone sticks to the mediocre stuff the algorithm recommends. In that world, a collector that can dig up something from even just a little under the surface can play a valuable role.
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Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~life
ewintr Link ParentThis seems to imply that brain work is not 'actual' work, which I don't agree with. It is definitely work. It is just that you cannot see it in action from the outside. Some people don't even...While my brain is working throughout the day,
I've always said the lowest paid people do the most actual work.
This seems to imply that brain work is not 'actual' work, which I don't agree with. It is definitely work. It is just that you cannot see it in action from the outside. Some people don't even recognize it happening in their own head.
Whether one type of work is harder than the other, or one should be paid more than the other, is worth a discussion, but both are 'actual' work, I think.
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Comment on Are we watching the internet die? in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentYou think that they will not spider your blog and take your data regardless whatever robots.txt or other terms you put on there?You think that they will not spider your blog and take your data regardless whatever
robots.txtor other terms you put on there? -
Comment on Learning new programming languages with limited time: Rust, golang, or otherwise? in ~comp
ewintr LinkIf a message "A better C" interests you, you should check out Zig. It aims to be a modern take on C that also plays very well with existing C libraries. I haven't used it myself. When I was...If a message "A better C" interests you, you should check out Zig. It aims to be a modern take on C that also plays very well with existing C libraries.
I haven't used it myself. When I was checking it out it was still a immature and people warned me back then that it would be very hard to learn it of you don't already know C, which I don't. I plan to return to it someday though.
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Comment on The DVD biz has circled the drain for years. In 2024, it goes down the tubes. in ~movies
ewintr Link ParentThe issue could not be with the disc itself, but with the DRM implementation on the player. The Blu ray protection scheme has an option to force a player to update. This is used when there are...The issue could not be with the disc itself, but with the DRM implementation on the player. The Blu ray protection scheme has an option to force a player to update. This is used when there are keys found or decrypted. When you insert a new disc it will contain an instruction to invalidate the leaked keys and take the next one from the list. (My memory is a bit hazy on the details, I took a deep dive in this a couple of years ago.)
What could happen, and what I strongly suspect happened to me, is that this update mechanism can be buggy and then the old key gets invalided, but the new ones are not properly installed/downloaded (again, hazy) and then you can have discs that don't play well anymore.
I had two players (to circumvent the idiot region encoding) and it happened on both of them:
- I had a multi region disc that played fine in both players
- I bought a new disc that also played fine
- But once that new disc played in a player, the old disc would not play fine anymore
The nasty thing is that it does not outright refuse to play, instead the image is distorted just enough to make it unwatchable.
The Arch wiki has more information: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Blu-ray#How_it_works
Anyway, after ruining my two players I bought a copy of MakeMKV and now I just rip every disc I get.
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Comment on What is the "bible" of your hobby or activity? in ~hobbies
ewintr Link ParentAngry is not the same as dogmatic and he moved more and more to the dogmatic. His advice can be useful. Back in around 2013 his presentations on Clean Architecture sparked something in my coder...Honestly, this makes me want to read it more. I'm not a programmer by trade but some of my best lessons learned in programming have come from more experienced angry software engineers
Angry is not the same as dogmatic and he moved more and more to the dogmatic.
His advice can be useful. Back in around 2013 his presentations on Clean Architecture sparked something in my coder brain and I have no problem to admit that I even adopted a form of that design in my current gig in a finance startup. Because it made sense.
But it does take experience to see what is useful from his writings and what is not. I remember some examples he gave where he would literally create a new function for every operation that required more than one line of code. If tildes supported emoji I would put a facepalm Picard here.
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Comment on Service jobs now require bizarre personality test from AI company - 404 Media investigation of Reddit post trend in ~life
ewintr Link ParentExcept that the algorithms and the "AI" that support this process just as biased as what hiring managers are doing right now. If this company wants to convince me that the result is data-driven...The execution may be imperfect, but I think the bright side of these évaluations is that more companies are trying to make data-driven decisions instead of making "gut decisions." Given the vast amount of research examining the biases in hiring, any impartiality is probably to be lauded, not decried.
Except that the algorithms and the "AI" that support this process just as biased as what hiring managers are doing right now. If this company wants to convince me that the result is data-driven and impartial, it should back that up with a lot of solid scientific evidence. Otherwise, it's just snake-oil.
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Comment on Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer in ~books
ewintr LinkHa, it got me fooled for a while. I did not look at the site and just started reading thinking it was a column, or an article. I hadn't realize it was fiction and even googled for the app. But now...Ha, it got me fooled for a while. I did not look at the site and just started reading thinking it was a column, or an article. I hadn't realize it was fiction and even googled for the app.
But now I know and now I have a new site with some good stories. Nice treat. Thanks!
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Comment on A 2024 plea for lean software in ~comp
ewintr Link ParentIt is not just that the problem is so vast, everything is so interwoven that it has become impossible to move away from the existing ecosystem. I played around with various...We can do so much better but the problem is so vast.
It is not just that the problem is so vast, everything is so interwoven that it has become impossible to move away from the existing ecosystem.
I played around with various minimal/retro-style/alternative systems, like phones, laptops and workstations. And while it can be fun, there is no way you could ever use something different than the mainstream options in your daily life, because otherwise your life instantly becomes incredibly hard.
You cannot work in isolation, you have to connect and interoperate with others. That means you have to import or wrap their mess for a part in your system. Since you are working with a niche system, you either can't do that, because no-one has written that software, or you can use something that is of barely tested hobby quality.
So no-one is seriously going to do that because you just invited a bunch of problems in your life with no immediate benefit and those around you don't have the patience to put up with your struggles.
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Comment on Geert Wilders’ hopes of becoming Dutch PM dim after centrist party quits talks in ~news
ewintr LinkIt is way too early to say anything about Wilders' chances to become prime minister. This round of negotiations failed, but that does not mean they will fail next time. A different combination of...It is way too early to say anything about Wilders' chances to become prime minister. This round of negotiations failed, but that does not mean they will fail next time. A different combination of parties looks even less viable at the moment. Anything can happen.
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Comment on Any other developers also strongly resistant to adding secondary data stores to their software? in ~comp
ewintr Link ParentYou are not necessarily storing the jobs in two places, but they will have to agree on some things. If Redis has a job that says 'Foo the Bar' and your SQL database says 'There is no Bar', then...disagree with the multiple sources of truth unless you’re using it as a cache. That’s a whole other can of worms. If it’s used to back jobs then that’s the only place the truth is stored. Unless you’re arguing against using SQL and Redis simultaneously to back jobs, which I agree with.
You are not necessarily storing the jobs in two places, but they will have to agree on some things. If Redis has a job that says 'Foo the Bar' and your SQL database says 'There is no Bar', then you still have an issue.
I’ve spent a lot of time at early startups cleaning up terrible technical decisions made during the MVP phase that anchored the companies during time in which they needed to be fast. I’m not saying this is necessarily that bad of a decision, but just that that line of thinking has risk too.
I agree, but this applies to every decision you can make. You can cut corners if necessary. But if you forget to let the system mature with the rest of the company, you are in for unpleasant surprises.
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Comment on Any other developers also strongly resistant to adding secondary data stores to their software? in ~comp
ewintr Link ParentYou can't make a statement like that without specifying the scope of the queuing functionality. I have written queues that are as simple as an array and some functions around it. Or a Go channel...You can't make a statement like that without specifying the scope of the queuing functionality. I have written queues that are as simple as an array and some functions around it. Or a Go channel and a type. I have also worked, for instance, on a system where RabbitMQ was the main form of communication between over a hundred microservices. You really cannot compare the two.
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Comment on Any other developers also strongly resistant to adding secondary data stores to their software? in ~comp
ewintr Link ParentAs with everything in software engineering, it really depends. I am a big fan of using the right tool for the right job too, but often my conclusion is that it is not worth it to buy a new tool,...I'm a big fan of using the right tools for the right job as opposed to shoehorning something into a place that it doesn't belong.
As with everything in software engineering, it really depends. I am a big fan of using the right tool for the right job too, but often my conclusion is that it is not worth it to buy a new tool, just for this bit of functionality. Some developers really underestimate the cost of setting up yet another service, connect it and maintain it and underestimate how simple writing a few lines of code can be.
Having multiple data stores means multiple sources of truth. You now have a job queue, congratulations! You now have a whole new range of potential bugs and opportunities for complicated debugging sessions too.
It could be worth it, of course, if this queuing functionality is important and integral to the system then I am all for it. Otherwise, maybe think again. Comparing myself to my peers, I am more on the frugal side with taking on dependencies. But honestly, I never really regretted that.
One thing that keeps rubbing me the wrong way, although that battle is clearly lost, is the misappropriation of the word 'decentralized'. In the old days, decentralized meant that you could publish a website without asking permission from anyone. Just connect your computer to the internet, fire up a web server and bam! Now you have a voice and everybody can hear you.
With web3 there is no such thing. Technically it might not be owned by a single entity, but for me as a regular user there is no difference. I can't connect my laptop to the internet and start publishing things on the chain. I can't start a new chain. I can't do anything. Unless I agree to ask a bunch of third parties to do that on my behalf, and those parties are definitely not neutral in the sense that my internet provider is.