onyxleopard's recent activity
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Comment on Escape from the box: new technology and old tactics have made buying a car a death march of deception in ~transport
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Comment on What are some great time savers on CLI that you would recommend? in ~comp
onyxleopard (edited )Link ParentIf you want to have the flexibility to use both macOS/BSD default utilities and GNU versions of utilities on macOS, I recommend homebrew's coreutils package: $ brew info coreutils ==> coreutils:...If you want to have the flexibility to use both macOS/BSD default utilities and GNU versions of utilities on macOS, I recommend homebrew's
coreutilspackage:$ brew info coreutils ==> coreutils: stable 9.5 (bottled), HEAD GNU File, Shell, and Text utilities https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils Conflicts with: aardvark_shell_utils (because both install `realpath` binaries) b2sum (because both install `b2sum` binaries) ganglia (because both install `gstat` binaries) gfold (because both install `gfold` binaries) idutils (because both install `gid` and `gid.1`) md5sha1sum (because both install `md5sum` and `sha1sum` binaries) uutils-coreutils (because coreutils and uutils-coreutils install the same binaries) Installed /opt/homebrew/Cellar/coreutils/9.5 (476 files, 13.5MB) * Poured from bottle using the formulae.brew.sh API on 2024-03-31 at 17:53:44 From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/c/coreutils.rb License: GPL-3.0-or-later ==> Dependencies Required: gmp ✔ ==> Options --HEAD Install HEAD version ==> Caveats Commands also provided by macOS and the commands dir, dircolors, vdir have been installed with the prefix "g". If you need to use these commands with their normal names, you can add a "gnubin" directory to your PATH with: PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/coreutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH" ==> Analytics install: 51,020 (30 days), 189,834 (90 days), 617,850 (365 days) install-on-request: 38,553 (30 days), 144,563 (90 days), 462,610 (365 days) build-error: 12 (30 days)The GNU versions are installed with
g-prefixes, but, as the caveats section says, if you add thegnubindirectory to yourPATHahead of/usr/bin/, then you can access the GNU versions with their normal names (sort,ls,head, ... instead ofgsort,gls,ghead, ...).E.g., sorting sizes of files/subdirs in current directory:
# macOS default utilities $ stat -f '%z' * | sort -nr | numfmt --to=iec | head 1.8G 97M 2.8M 1.5M 1.5M 825K 697K 438K 281K 249K # GNU utilities $ gstat -c '%s' * | gnumfmt --to=iec | gsort -rh | ghead 1.8G 97M 2.8M 1.5M 1.5M 825K 697K 438K 281K 249K -
Comment on OpenAI releases Sora: Creating video from text in ~tech
onyxleopard Link ParentBecause that would mean ceding the control over the hardware to the client. That’s more in line with Apple’s vision of personal computing than Google’s. It’s the “thick” vs. “thin” client models...Because that would mean ceding the control over the hardware to the client. That’s more in line with Apple’s vision of personal computing than Google’s. It’s the “thick” vs. “thin” client models at odds, and it’s not clear which model will succeed long term nor if they can coexist.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
onyxleopard LinkI wrote a script that prompts OpenAI's multi-modal gpt-4-vision-preview model to (lossily) convert PDF pages to Markdown via OpenAI's API. GitHub repo here: https://github.com/zyocum/pdf2mdI wrote a script that prompts OpenAI's multi-modal
gpt-4-vision-previewmodel to (lossily) convert PDF pages to Markdown via OpenAI's API. GitHub repo here: https://github.com/zyocum/pdf2md -
Comment on OPML is underrated in ~comp
onyxleopard LinkThis blog post discusses the resurgence of personal blogs and the "small web" as an alternative to larger platforms. It promotes the use of RSS feeds and OPML (a markup language intended for...This blog post discusses the resurgence of personal blogs and the "small web" as an alternative to larger platforms. It promotes the use of RSS feeds and OPML (a markup language intended for organizing and annotating a collection of feeds) to share feed subscriptions across devices. Sharing one's OPML files can also serve as an alternative recommendation system based on transparent human curation rather than algorithms. It also promotes smaller digital communities. Since OPML files are XML, they can be styled with XSLT to display feed lists in a readable format on the web.
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OPML is underrated
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Comment on RSS users - how do you use, organize and maximize your enjoyment of RSS? in ~tech
onyxleopard LinkI subscribe to Feedbin as a service to keep my feeds synced across devices. I then consume feeds through the Reeder iOS and macOS apps. -
Comment on Know a good mix? Drop it here. in ~music
onyxleopard LinkThere are a lot of mixes hosted on this site. I am partial to some of DJ Doboy's Vocal Editions (vocal trance mixes) (also on YouTube here).There are a lot of mixes hosted on this site. I am partial to some of DJ Doboy's Vocal Editions (vocal trance mixes) (also on YouTube here).
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Comment on Introducing Mozilla Monitor Plus, a new tool to automatically remove your personal information from data broker sites in ~tech
onyxleopard Link ParentI guess the analogy would be a professional cleaning service. You can clean yourself, but some people would rather pay a company to handle cleaning on some schedule. And, ideally, Mozilla’s...I guess the analogy would be a professional cleaning service. You can clean yourself, but some people would rather pay a company to handle cleaning on some schedule. And, ideally, Mozilla’s service will keep up to date on what needs “cleaning” better than you or I could without spending a lot of time.
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Comment on Tips on building keyboard-centric workflow in ~tech
onyxleopard LinkOn macOS, I find both Hammerspoon and Alfred to be indispensable tools to customize a keyboard-centric interface with the OS. Also, know that for any application that has a "Help" menu, you can...On macOS, I find both Hammerspoon and Alfred to be indispensable tools to customize a keyboard-centric interface with the OS. Also, know that for any application that has a "Help" menu, you can type shift-command-? to open the help menu and then search any menu bar items textually.
Another neat tool that attempts to make everything in the GUI accessible via your keyboard is Homerow. Homerow lets you search elements in the GUI via text search and then gives you text anchors that you can type in order to move the mouse to the element you want, and optionally click the element with or without modifier keys. While this is very useful when using software that doesn't provide its own keyboard shortcuts or keyboard-centric affordances, it doesn't allow for consistency—every different app/context may require using different, novel combinations of keystrokes to do something. I still find it useful, but it doesn't allow you to necessarily learn workflows by recalling commands, nor to totally customize the keystrokes.
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Comment on State of EVs in Fall 2023? in ~transport
onyxleopard Link ParentThat is the way that Tesla went with the roadster, S and X, and finally the Y and 3. It’s also the way that Rivian is going with their R1 vehicles coming to market first, and then (presumably)...That is the way that Tesla went with the roadster, S and X, and finally the Y and 3. It’s also the way that Rivian is going with their R1 vehicles coming to market first, and then (presumably) smaller and lower cost R2 vehicles coming once their plant in GA gets going.
What’s interesting to me is that the other American manufacturers are so slow to commit to real volume in EVs. The only thing I can point to here is possibly supply constraints and dealers being reluctant to sell them. I do think if nothing changes on that front that Tesla and Rivian and foreign makes are going to spell the end of the likes of Ford, GM, etc. Or maybe those companies will retreat to making cars for collectors or hobbyists or something.
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Comment on Desk setup / Battlestation Thread. in ~comp
onyxleopard LinkSaw this got bumped and decided to contribute. This is my Thunderbolt 4 enabled setup with my laptop driving a 5120x1440 32:9 ultra wide display via a dock at full resolution and 48-120 Hz dynamic...Saw this got bumped and decided to contribute.
This is my Thunderbolt 4 enabled setup with my laptop driving a 5120x1440 32:9 ultra wide display via a dock at full resolution and 48-120 Hz dynamic refresh rate:
Highlights:
- Display: Samsung Odyssey G9 49"
- Laptop: Apple M1 Max MacBook Pro
- Keyboard: Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad
- Dock: Razer Thunderbolt 4 dock
- Mouse: Razer Viper Mini SE
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Comment on How I think about LLM prompt engineering: Prompting as searching through a space of vector programs in ~comp
onyxleopard Link ParentI sort of see it the other way around—fine-tuning is a short-term solution, and actually understanding the "program space" of a model and selecting an optimal program to solve your problem is much...Prompt engineering is a short term problem.
In fact, I am kind of surprised no one has fine tuned an LLM to solve this problem.
I sort of see it the other way around—fine-tuning is a short-term solution, and actually understanding the "program space" of a model and selecting an optimal program to solve your problem is much more valuable than spending the resources to tune a foundation model on a narrower problem space. I would think the more generalized a model is, the less fine-tuning should be necessary.
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Comment on How I think about LLM prompt engineering: Prompting as searching through a space of vector programs in ~comp
onyxleopard LinkIn this short piece, Chollet analogizes autoregressive, transformer-based, generative LLMs to program databases, and prompt-engineering to query optimization. I think this is a good analogy and it...In this short piece, Chollet analogizes autoregressive, transformer-based, generative LLMs to program databases, and prompt-engineering to query optimization. I think this is a good analogy and it helps frame the finicky nature of fiddling with LLM prompts.
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How I think about LLM prompt engineering: Prompting as searching through a space of vector programs
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Comment on How do you keep track of your subscriptions? in ~tech
onyxleopard LinkI use this app. It lets you enter details about subscriptions and get notifications when recurring payments are about to be charged. It also gives you your aggregate monthly total spend. You have...I use this app. It lets you enter details about subscriptions and get notifications when recurring payments are about to be charged. It also gives you your aggregate monthly total spend. You have to enter, modify, and delete the entries manually (so it’s only reliable if you are diligent about keeping it up to date), but I find having this data consolidated once I enter it to be convenient. Granted, you could get most of this app’s functionality with a simple spreadsheet and your OS’s built-in reminders/calendar apps.
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Comment on What is a simple tech tip that changed how you use your computer or other devices in a significant way? in ~tech
onyxleopard Link ParentThere is a system setting to disable virtual desktop reordering. (I don’t know why this is the default behavior.)There is a system setting to disable virtual desktop reordering. (I don’t know why this is the default behavior.)
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Comment on How a single flight plan with unexpected waypoint data caused a meltdown of the UK's air traffic control system in ~transport
onyxleopard LinkThis part was interesting to me: Ultimately, this seems like a namespace collision issue. The fact that we can't solve this by simply appending numerals to duplicate ADEXP waypoint names is...This part was interesting to me:
The software was incapable of extracting the UK portion of the ICAO flight plan, even though the flight plan was apparently valid (at least according to IFPS).
The procedure was very fiddly and failed for a silly reason.
Waypoint markers are not globally unique, but this is a known issue, so NATS should make sure their systems are robust enough to handle it. All other air traffic control authorities have to deal with this. NATS says the following about this in the report:
Although there has been work by ICAO and other bodies to eradicate non-unique waypoint names there are duplicates around the world. In order to avoid confusion latest standards state that such identical designators should be geographically widely spaced. In this specific event, both of the waypoints were located outside of the UK, one towards the beginning of the route and one towards the end; approximately 4000 nautical miles apart.
When waypoints with the same name are widely spaced, this makes flight plans unambiguous, because successive waypoints in a flight plan cannot be too far apart. They also mention possible actions they will take:
The feasibility of working through the UK state with ICAO to remove the small number of duplicate waypoint names in the ICAO administered global dataset that relate to this incident.
Waypoint names are clearly chosen to be short and snappy. Here's a sequence from some flight plan I found: KOMAL, ATRAK, SORES, SAKTA, ALMIK, IGORO, ATMED, etc. It's clear that the system has been designed so these names can be communicated quickly, e.g. over radio, and that pilots and air traffic controllers can become familiar with those on the routes they usually fly. Changing the name of a waypoint can be a scary operation. Uniqueness is obviously desirable, but it has to be balanced against other considerations. Including this suggestion in the initial report feels like NATS is trying to shift the blame onto ICAO.
Furthermore, I don't see why a flight plan can't include the same geographic waypoint several times; for example for leisure flights or military exercises. Taking off and landing at the same airport is definitely a thing (called a "round-robin flight plan"). It doesn't sound like the FPRSA-R algorithm would be very robust to that.
NATS officials are trying to spin this as:
An air traffic meltdown in Britain was caused by a "one in 15 million" event, the boss of traffic control provider NATS said, as initial findings showed how a single flight plan with two identically labelled markers caused the chaos.
"This was a one in 15 million chance. We've processed 15 million flight plans with this system up until this point and never seen this before," NATS CEO Martin Rolfe told the BBC, as airlines stepped up calls for compensation for the breakdown. Reuters
The system was put in place in 2018, so what Martin Rolfe is saying here is that this sort of thing only had a chance of occurring "once every 5 years", which is apparently an acceptable frequency for having a complete air traffic control meltdown.
Ultimately, this seems like a namespace collision issue. The fact that we can't solve this by simply appending numerals to duplicate
ADEXPwaypoint names is baffling to me. If the namespace is global, regardless if most human pilots don't encounter waypoints beyond their local airspace, then there should be a globally unique set of waypoint identifiers. Besides the waypoint naming standard being inadequate, it also amazes me that safety critical software is so low quality such that an exception being thrown would bring the whole thing down. That implies that the system isn't being analyzed for basic code quality issues. -
Comment on What are your best tips for productivity and project management? in ~life
onyxleopard Link ParentOne piece of advice I’d say is that, regardless of what project and time management tools you decide to employ, make sure you communicate with your professors/instructors if you think you’re at...One piece of advice I’d say is that, regardless of what project and time management tools you decide to employ, make sure you communicate with your professors/instructors if you think you’re at risk of not meeting a deadline. Most reasonable professors or instructors will work with you to accommodate your situation, but only if you are honest and inform them ahead of the deadline. If you are overloaded, and feel an impending deadline is at risk, they will likely be happy to work something out, but only if they understand your situation and you communicate well.
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Comment on Apple formally endorses right to repair US legislation after spending millions fighting it in ~tech
onyxleopard Link ParentYou mean the self service repair program they started last year? I guess I’m of two minds about self-repair. On the one hand, I’m not against it. On the other, there are some types of consumer...Keep an eye out for some new program related to device repair, recycling, refurbishment, or the like.
You mean the self service repair program they started last year?
I guess I’m of two minds about self-repair. On the one hand, I’m not against it. On the other, there are some types of consumer goods that I think most people just aren’t going to be equipped to self service. Should the vast minority of enthusiasts really get to dictate how companies design their products? I’d much rather the trade offs favor making the devices durable enough that they require less servicing overall. If Framework (or similar) brings a smartphone to market, I’m all for that. I just don’t think the market for that kind of thing is really as big as the vocal minority makes it out to be. I also think such devices would be more expensive, at scale, to manufacture.
We should just make it impossible (through regulation) to make predatory businesses like dealers unviable (i.e., unprofitable). I bought a new car last year direct from the company that makes them (Rivian). The buying experience was so much better than when I bought my first car from a local Toyota dealer (with financing through Toyota). Going through Toyota wasn’t even that bad, but this was also early 2010s. Now, dealers have more perverse incentives as car prices have sky-rocketed and the industry has become “financialized”. I really hope auto-makers can wrest control of the market from dealers and just sell directly to customers. I’m somewhat pessimistic, though because Ford is struggling with this even though they’ve been doing some good things. Dealers have outsize influence at the state and local government level, though, so it’s an uphill battle. The fact that it’s illegal in large parts of the US for car manufacturers to directly sell you a car they made is just bonkers when you think about it. It’s regulatory capture by profiteers that needs to be unwound.