JakeTheDog's recent activity
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Comment on Has anyone read Thinking in Systems: A Primer? Best next read? in ~books
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Comment on Let's talk 'underconsumption core' in ~life.style
JakeTheDog Link ParentWould you mind sharing how you instructed your kids? I don't doubt it's possible, just wondering approach is most effective here.Would you mind sharing how you instructed your kids? I don't doubt it's possible, just wondering approach is most effective here.
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Comment on How do I recover from burnout? in ~health.mental
JakeTheDog Link ParentDuring your time off I would strongly suggest you engage with intensive language learning. Grab a grammar book, download LingQ, sign up for intensive language courses (min 4hrs per week), and find...During your time off I would strongly suggest you engage with intensive language learning. Grab a grammar book, download LingQ, sign up for intensive language courses (min 4hrs per week), and find a local speaking group. They’re often free and volunteer basis. You’ll find a community there for sure, and it will help you integrate.
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Comment on How do I recover from burnout? in ~health.mental
JakeTheDog Link@chocobean already mentioned this but I think it's worth it's own top-level comment: volunteer and do something with meaning. I learned about this from a pretty decent podcast about work called...@chocobean already mentioned this but I think it's worth it's own top-level comment: volunteer and do something with meaning. I learned about this from a pretty decent podcast about work called WorkLife. In this episode I link below they talk about burnout. The punchline here was that the "antidote for burnout wasn't less work, but more meaning". Hence the solution for one of the guests/case study's on the podcast was a burnt-out teacher that started a volunteer weekend tutoring program.
https://www.ted.com/talks/worklife_with_adam_grant_burnout_is_everyone_s_problem?subtitle=en
I felt something very similar recently. I'm in a field I'm passionate about, but this job has lost all meaning this past year. I became demotivated and started falling behind. I was also thinking of volunteering earlier this year but unfortunately I have a language barrier that I have not yet overcome. After a lengthy job search I found a role that fits me even better and honestly the conditions couldn't be any better. The day after I signed, my mood instantly improved. At first I thought I should take a month or two off to take a break and reset, but honestly, I can't wait to start my next job. I'm actually already brainstorming the next potential projects just for fun.
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Comment on Does anyone really know you? in ~life
JakeTheDog Link ParentFor sure. I should have also acknowledged the genetic predisposition that we have to certain perspectives and behaviors. They're more or less immutable and likely shape our identity. I suppose the...For sure. I should have also acknowledged the genetic predisposition that we have to certain perspectives and behaviors. They're more or less immutable and likely shape our identity. I suppose the polygenecity and complexity of it further obscure a concrete answer to who we are, though.
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Comment on Does anyone really know you? in ~life
JakeTheDog (edited )LinkI really enjoyed that article, but I think this part should have been emphasized a lot more: I’d argue that those closest to you may actually know you better than you. Our “life story“ is...- Exemplary
I really enjoyed that article, but I think this part should have been emphasized a lot more:
Do we really know what we’re like? An outside view of you that seems strange might not be wrong; it might be right, in fact, because it’s an outside view.
I’d argue that those closest to you may actually know you better than you.
Like the main character in the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” you may find that the passage of time has rendered you unknowable: your life story is so long that people wonder who you are and where you’ve come from.
Our “life story“ is ultimately a narrative that we tell ourselves, such that we are the protagonist of our story as we tell it. Memories are highly fallible. We can forget or misremember or completely make up (even unintentionally) life events.
Viewership is basically passive; if passively acquiring knowledge about someone counts as really knowing them, then Google really knows you.
I would flip this around and bring in the heuristics of “actions speak louder than words” and “past behaviour predictions future actions”. Google, social media, and now too AI chatbot and other data collection corporations get to see a side of you that you wouldn’t normally want to express to the world and may even actively suppress—hence the anxiety and jokes about viewing one’s browser history.
Ultimately I don’t think any of this matters. Not only do we lack an omnipresent perspective, but “who we are” is not static. A person is not so much an ‘it’, but rather a ‘being’. A verb, not a noun. Even if you were to be known, by yourself or others, you’ve become a different being in the next moment—either day to day or in the wake of a chaotic situation. Are you the same person, before, during, and after witnessing a horrific accident? The birth of a child?
I think the futility of being “truly” known by others is what gives a lot of people anxiety and can cause people to behave poorly. It’s the mechanism of insecurity. We want others to think we’re smart, funny, strong, pretty etc. Often to degrees that are untrue and unwarranted. But I don’t think the pursuit of being known is a good thing, and is perhaps unhealthy.
All that is to say: I’ve found relief in being content not knowing exactly who I am, in observing the reflections of myself in others, in realizing that my decisions today shape my actions tomorrow, and in letting go of any ideals of who I ought to be.
In case anyone is curious, Alan Watts has shaped much of my thinking here. And I’m forever grateful for it, as it seriously relieved much of my anxiety in this domain as I experienced it in my youth and early 20’s.
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CloudFlare beats patent troll Sable, forcing them to dedicate all its patents to the public
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Comment on How to setup a local LLM ("AI") on Windows in ~tech
JakeTheDog LinkI've run local llama models and, while it was fun, I found the middle-sized models to be the least useful. I have a 4070 SUPER, which gives pretty good performance with a quantized model but at...I've run local llama models and, while it was fun, I found the middle-sized models to be the least useful.
I have a 4070 SUPER, which gives pretty good performance with a quantized model but at only 12GB you can't fit much on there. I'd like to try splitting some larger models across GPU and CPU to use RAM but I'm skeptical that the tok/sec performance will be worth the extra 'intelligence'.
As I see it the best two use cases are 1) the largest, most 'intelligent' models run from a server to help with the complex tasks that we need help with and 2) the smallest, most narrow task-limited models to run locally on devices like a phone (e.g. the two most recent 1B and 3B llama models) for manifest what we all expected Siri to actually be years ago, a decently-competent assistant. The middle ground is worst of both worlds. And to be honest, I find the 20 bucks/month to be worth the extra features of a service, like with Anthropic's projects organization and artifacts feature and also having an app on my phone. In the long term, maybe 5 years, I'm hoping I could run something beefy locally.
Although I must say, it was really cool to see and interact with an offline LLM, watching my GPU spin up after asking questions. Sort of felt like my computer was alive.
I'd be happy to hear of contrary opinions though. I'm torn between the value I'm getting and the price I'm paying overall (20 bucks a month each) for Perplexity and Anthropic pro. But considering I use both at least 5 times a day, and how much I've learned personally and professionally, and the amount of work I've accomplished with them, it still feels worth it.
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Looking for interesting or unconventional wedding ring jewelers/designers
I'm in the market for wedding bands. Rather than settling for a traditional plain gold wedding band, I want to explore the more artistic options. Jewelry has rarely ever worked for me, either I...
I'm in the market for wedding bands. Rather than settling for a traditional plain gold wedding band, I want to explore the more artistic options. Jewelry has rarely ever worked for me, either I take it off and forget about it or lose it, hopefully something ultra unique will help make it an exception. Ideally something under 1000 Euro/USD. Of course I'm shopping around my city and neighboring ones as well, since you never know where you'll find a hidden gem.
Ideally I would find an artisanal jeweler in Europe. But as an example of what inspired me is this Patrick Adair: https://patrickadairdesigns.com/ I first found about him when I saw videos of how he made rings from superconductor coils/cables. He uses a very wide range of materials and I find almost all of his work aesthetically pleasing, even if I wouldn't wear most of them.
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Comment on Any other 3D Printers here? in ~hobbies
JakeTheDog Link ParentYeah? In you experience does it perform just as well with e.g. PLA? I bought the P1 for size, enclosure and drybox/enclosed AMS. But it seems like a damn good premium-entry-level printer for those...Yeah? In you experience does it perform just as well with e.g. PLA? I bought the P1 for size, enclosure and drybox/enclosed AMS. But it seems like a damn good premium-entry-level printer for those who just want to print for fun.
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Comment on Any other 3D Printers here? in ~hobbies
JakeTheDog Link ParentRegarding the waste: huh, that’s rather counterintuitive but indeed, my country does burn most of its waste and the rest of what you said makes sense. I guess I’ll just keep up with reducing...Regarding the waste: huh, that’s rather counterintuitive but indeed, my country does burn most of its waste and the rest of what you said makes sense. I guess I’ll just keep up with reducing prototype mass.
I’ll consider PC in the future as well. I think my plan will be to use enhanced PLA from PolyMaker until something fails and then switch to PC… I don’t have a garage so if do have to use ASA I’ll have to make one of those “Bento Box” boxes closure filters.
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Comment on Any other 3D Printers here? in ~hobbies
JakeTheDog Link ParentFor posterity, I’ll add that the P1 series is also an excellent option. Essentially the same performance as the X1 minus a few bells and whistles, for a few hundred bucks cheaper (can buy the...For posterity, I’ll add that the P1 series is also an excellent option. Essentially the same performance as the X1 minus a few bells and whistles, for a few hundred bucks cheaper (can buy the multimaterial system with the difference). At least that was my calculus.
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Comment on Any other 3D Printers here? in ~hobbies
JakeTheDog Link ParentCould you elaborate on that? I thought the problem is the creation of new plastic and the filling up of landfills with said plastic. // Regarding nylon, what was your application? I want to get...PLA in landfill is another word for carbon sequestration, and isn't hurting anything
Could you elaborate on that? I thought the problem is the creation of new plastic and the filling up of landfills with said plastic.
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Regarding nylon, what was your application? I want to get into light payload robots. I’ve been doing my research and it seems like enhanced PLA (like PolyMaker PolyMax PLA or the other Pro PLA), not PLA with CF or GF, seems like a viable option for many parts since it can in some dimensions be even stronger and more resilient than all the other materials (assuming no extreme heat or chemicals or UV for prolonged time, which would be rare anyways).
How do you like ASA and PC? I don’t want any styrene fumes in my home and PC seems not the best to print with, but I suppose it has good rigidity which is a plus? I haven’t considered it seriously. I thought I’d use PCTG as my go to engineering filament, since it’s PETG but better, but i was surprised at how flexible it still is under loads. I suppose proper part design can overcome that.
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Comment on Any other 3D Printers here? in ~hobbies
JakeTheDog LinkI splurged on a Bambu P1S + AMS not too long ago and it's been worth every penny. I spent a really long time learning how to get the best prints, but I have to say, the Bambu is super reliable and...I splurged on a Bambu P1S + AMS not too long ago and it's been worth every penny. I spent a really long time learning how to get the best prints, but I have to say, the Bambu is super reliable and the preset filament profiles are really well optimized. I almost never have to fiddle with anything, and if a print fails, it's because I fiddled too much or forgot to clean the plate or something. The two mods I've made is to the part cooling fan duct, since the original appears to be really bad, and a CHT nozzle for better melting which let me speed up printing (30mm/s^3 for PLA and 20-25 for PCTG, in most cases). With a drybox and filament dryer, I'm all good to go, and I don't want to fiddle with anything any more.
I bought it mainly because I wanted to get into robotics. That has been on hiatus since getting into printing as a hobby in itself. I've taking the time to learn as much as I can about CAD, including the theory of design, especially for FDM manufacturing, proper slicing and also 3D sculpting in Blender. At times it's been overwhelming but now I'm pretty confident in designing almost anything I want, both functional or artistic (and sometimes a blend) in a reasonable amount of time and with pretty good results on the first print. I occasionally still look for tutorial snippets on how to do something more efficiently.
Most of my prints so far have been small functional items around the house and some nice decorative items, about 2/3 of my own design but I regularly look at online repos for existing parts or inspiration. I very often find out someone has already made a design, and sometimes it's better and sometimes I want it a bit more bespoke. At any rate, I want to get back into the robotics very soon, which requires more studying of motors and other electrical components.
I gotta say though, using LLMs like Perplexity has dramatically improved my learning and troubleshooting rate. I think I've used it a few dozen times a day on average since getting into the hobby.
One thing I will say, and maybe ask people here for their comments on, is I was rather surprised and disappointed with the fairly large amount of waste. If I had any other printer that wasn't printing as reliably as the P1/X1, which I hear is the case, I probably would have spent my money on another hobby. Even with almost zero failed prints on most projects, the iterative design process of drafting even just segments of the project can seriously stack up. Thankfully, I found a recycler in Europe that will accept 'failed' prints and melt it back into recycled filament, that you can then buy again. But, they only accept unmodified PLA and PETG. My failed silk or PLA+ prints have to be trashed, and same with PCTG.
I've been following lots of great YouTuber's in this space (especially the English-speaking German ones, the Germans seem to be really systematic and rigorous about it) and one interesting thing I learned recently was that PLA is actually a really robust material. Unless it's exposed to a lot (some is still fine) of direct sunlight/UV, soaking in water or chemicals, it's the way to go. Most modified PLA can also give some flex to reduce catastrophic failures of normally brittle PLA. I mention this because I thought I'd need to get some nylon eventually, something the P1S is supposed to handle rather well, but I probably won't need to.
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Comment on The GLP-1 compounding loophole in ~health
JakeTheDog Link ParentAs a researcher in biomedical science, let me tell you, this is not really the case. The majority of funding is privately funded. For two reasons. First, most of public research is in basic...Yeah but a lot of drug development is done with taxpayer dollars, using facilities built using tax breaks and by people who go to public universities with public grants.
As a researcher in biomedical science, let me tell you, this is not really the case. The majority of funding is privately funded. For two reasons. First, most of public research is in basic science, that is, finding out the fundamentals of how e.g. biology works. Maybe a body of work will lead to some new potential drug targets in the future, but at best it just points in the general direction. Clinical work for drug development is rare and not nearly at the scale of private R&D. Second, simply put, private/industry pharma just doesn't trust much of public academic research, it's just not rigorous. This is mainly due to incentives and lack of standards. Academia rewards pushing forward the leading edge with publications and grants (and fame), peer-review also isn't what you think it is (mostly opinion based). Companies that want to sell drugs on the other hand, have merciless regulators to answer to, e.g. FDA. A pharma company can't p-hack their way into approval the way an academic can to get a Nature publication, the former will lead to destroying a company while the latter may get a slap on the wrist.
Here's a start comparing numbers, but there's more information out there.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30231735/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9440766/Again, just to be clear, I'm not shilling for Big Pharma, there's plenty of shady practices in drug pricing and I agree in the US they are overpriced, and that is also a big fault of the insurance companies, but developing medicine is an expensive and largely privately-funded endeavor.
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Comment on The GLP-1 compounding loophole in ~health
JakeTheDog Link ParentAlthough it doesn't justify the $12k/year price tag, especially given the customer base, it should be pointed out that a single/double digit costs per dose (as are the manufacturing costs in your...Although it doesn't justify the $12k/year price tag, especially given the customer base, it should be pointed out that a single/double digit costs per dose (as are the manufacturing costs in your first source) probably wouldn't cover the billions it costs to develop a drug (wiki link), and the investment into future drugs.
Just commenting for balance, since it's really weird you and the source don't factor that in. Although yes, semaglutide is not a new drug per se.
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Comment on Nvidia RTX 50 graphics card family TDPs 'leaked' by Seasonic in ~tech
JakeTheDog Link ParentI agree with everything you said but I would caution against Furmark. It's generally claimed to put an exceptionally unrealistic heavy load on the GPU and in some cases could cause damage....I agree with everything you said but I would caution against Furmark. It's generally claimed to put an exceptionally unrealistic heavy load on the GPU and in some cases could cause damage. Something like 3dmark is often sufficient if one just keeps an eye out for artifacts, and then actually play a game for an extended period. Afterburner is convenient enough that you can back off the tweak and get back into playing after a graphics crash pretty quick!
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Comment on Nvidia RTX 50 graphics card family TDPs 'leaked' by Seasonic in ~tech
JakeTheDog Link ParentNothing directly*, and some nuances are chip-generation specific. I would read about overlocking first. But it’s pretty straightforward and not as complicated as it sounds if you just stick to the...Nothing directly*, and some nuances are chip-generation specific. I would read about overlocking first. But it’s pretty straightforward and not as complicated as it sounds if you just stick to the basics. The first thing would be to familiarize yourself with your BIOS, and make sure the firmware is updated. You don’t want to use any “indirect” OS software for tweaking your memory or CPU. For the GPU I recommend MSI Afterburner (OS software is fine for GPU tuning). There’s plenty of support online for every mainstream chip under the sun.
The overall formula is the same: find a starting point that others found works for your chip, run a stress test for stability, and from there make minor adjustments. Tweak until failure and then back off a bit. Keep in mind every chip is a bit different in terms of stability i.e. the “silicon lottery”. In my case most people report -30 mV undervolt for the ryzen 7600 but I won the lottery with mine (I could push -60 mV but not stable under extended loads).
*EDIT: actually overclock.net is an excellent forum for information and user’s experiences.
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Comment on Nvidia RTX 50 graphics card family TDPs 'leaked' by Seasonic in ~tech
JakeTheDog Link ParentTry undervolting your card with e.g. Afterburner. I was able to reduce power consumption by about 25-30% on my 4070 Super (from 1.1V to 0.970V) with negligible impact on frame rate. I even did the...Try undervolting your card with e.g. Afterburner. I was able to reduce power consumption by about 25-30% on my 4070 Super (from 1.1V to 0.970V) with negligible impact on frame rate. I even did the same on my Ryzen 7600 (-50mv and 80W power limit) for another 25% power consumption cut and actually gained performance because it was no longer thermally throttling and stays boosted indefinitely.
The added benefit is a much cooler (15C cooler CPU and 5-10C cooler GPU under max load) and quieter rig.
Undervolt is the new overclock.
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Comment on I’ve stopped using box plots. Should you? in ~design
JakeTheDog LinkI agree with much of what the author has to say, but they overlooked what I think is a good solution: box + dot plot (or "jittered strip plot" in the author's terms). To me this is the best of...I agree with much of what the author has to say, but they overlooked what I think is a good solution: box + dot plot (or "jittered strip plot" in the author's terms). To me this is the best of both worlds. You show the raw data pattern but also get the summary statistics (median, quantiles, outliers, skew) on top.
Cédric Scherer is someone I respect in the data viz world. Here he has a tutorial/blog post on something similar, a "raincloud plot". I find it overkill but I think he tackles the issue even better: Visualizing Distributions with Raincloud Plots
I really enjoyed An Introduction to Systems Biology by Uri Alon. Yes, it’s specific to biology, but the concepts are from the domain of physics (Uri was originally trained as a physicist). So there’s a lot to take away for the everyone. The unique perspective here is from nature: system architectures and features that have been optimized over millions of years to be robust and efficient.
He teaches in a highly accessible manner, with optional mathematical descriptions. Technically it’s a textbook but it reads like any other pop sci book—it’s actually not that dry (though it is dense).
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9780429283321/introduction-systems-biology-uri-alon