skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on What we know about weight-loss drugs is rapidly changing in ~health
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What we know about weight-loss drugs is rapidly changing
6 votes -
Comment on Why contacting customer service might not be best in ~life
skybrian Link ParentBuilding things to never fail is usually expensive, but maybe it doesn’t have to be expensive to have a way to make customers whole when a rare corner case happens?Building things to never fail is usually expensive, but maybe it doesn’t have to be expensive to have a way to make customers whole when a rare corner case happens?
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Comment on Why contacting customer service might not be best in ~life
skybrian Link ParentYes, as written, it's rather uncompromising, since even backup plans can fail. But for well-resourced organizations, I think it's okay to judge them for not planning ahead. For wildfire-prone...Yes, as written, it's rather uncompromising, since even backup plans can fail. But for well-resourced organizations, I think it's okay to judge them for not planning ahead.
For wildfire-prone areas, a more reasonable expectation would be having insurance and an evacuation plan. But it's harder to get home insurance in some places these days.
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Comment on Why contacting customer service might not be best in ~life
skybrian LinkContext: Ruriko, the author's wife, is Japanese, and has different expectations about customer service than most Americans: [...]Context: Ruriko, the author's wife, is Japanese, and has different expectations about customer service than most Americans:
Ruriko and I, discussing how to help a third party: Ruriko: Oh you should call customer service for them. Me: It is because I want to help that I will not call customer service. I will write for them. Ruriko: Phone much faster and you can get company to agree on resolution.
Me: In this country it is very important you have a written record of agreed resolution. Ruriko: So call and ask for a receipt after it’s done. Me: No, if you don’t have the written record, it might not happen. With fairly high probability. Ruriko: What so the company *forgets.*
Me: Well it will look from the outside as if the company is forgetting. Internally it can be a miscommunication, the rep not having a clear pathway to achieve the agreed-upon resolution, or the rep saying something to get you off the phone for metrics. Ruriko: Saying right thing?
Me: Could be fibbing. Ruriko: Clearly they cannot lie at scale. Me: Contingent on being in the small percentage of customers with rare problems the likelihood that an offered resolution is confabulated is actually fairly high. Hence, paper. Ruriko: This is madness. Me: I know.
Third party (TP): They kept telling me “We’re sorry. This almost never happens.” Me: Second part is true as it goes, relative to total number of customers. TP: But why say that when it actually did happen to me. Me: Cheap way to mollify you. Many similarly situated customers…
Me: … will assume that these things just happen and they have no standing to complain. TP: They literally said “Sometimes these things happen.” Me: Yes. Now one can act regarding them as if they are simply the weather. Or one can act to resolve them. The resolutions cost money.
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An aside about “weather”: There are some factors in life and business which are genuinely out of our control. Weather is the canonical example, at least prior to widespread geoengineering. Many customers berate employees about the weather. This is uncouth and unhelpful.
But some employees and companies generalize from “The weather is out of our control” to “The consequences of weather are out of our control.” This is self-evidently absurd. We all exist in a world which has weather; you can plan for it.
“And extreme weather?” Is weather, and can be planned for. Not having a plan is a choice.
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Why contacting customer service might not be best
18 votes -
Comment on Ukrainian drones hit more sites of Russian online retailer Wildberries in ~society
skybrian Link ParentWell, yes, that's true too. It's journalistic choices all the way down. But I appreciate it when when we're not being told what to think, or not explicitly anyway. That's also a choice a writer...Well, yes, that's true too. It's journalistic choices all the way down. But I appreciate it when when we're not being told what to think, or not explicitly anyway. That's also a choice a writer could make, to leave things in when they don't seem to fit.
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Comment on Human mathematicians are being outcounterexampled in ~science
skybrian (edited )LinkHere's a mathematician's tweet (XCancel link) with another counter-example: He posted a ChatGPT transcript. [...] I liked this reply:Here's a mathematician's tweet (XCancel link) with another counter-example:
Dinitz-Garg-Goemans conjecture is false. This graph theory problem was open for ~30 years.
He posted a ChatGPT transcript.
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I know counterexamples to old conjectures are becoming a meme at this point. But I really cared about this problem and spent many weeks thinking about it a while ago (in both directions, proof and disproof).
I think almost all graph flows experts thought about this problem.
I liked this reply:
Hahahaha literally just:
Do a breakthrough
"I did not find a breakthrough"
Try again
"No breakthrough still"
Try harder
"No luck, this is an open problem!"
What if you solved it though
"Here's your breakthrough sir!" -
Comment on Boox Go 10.3 (gen II) Lumi: An Android tablet that's also, on top of that, an E-ink screen in ~tech
skybrian (edited )LinkIt sounds like it's working out for you so far? For people who buy non-mainstream devices with limited app support, it seems like having the option of using AI to improve the apps will be a big...It sounds like it's working out for you so far? For people who buy non-mainstream devices with limited app support, it seems like having the option of using AI to improve the apps will be a big win. The manufacturers should lean into that.
(Unlike those other vendors that bother satisfied customers by putting AI where nobody needs it and interrupting you to tell you about it.)
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Comment on AI companies are buying tons of old books because they're free of AI slop in ~books
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Comment on Ukrainian drones hit more sites of Russian online retailer Wildberries in ~society
skybrian Link ParentIt's called journalism. Reporting the news is about telling people what happened, even when it's an awkward fit for the narrative one might have started out with. Even if it seems justified (and I...It's called journalism. Reporting the news is about telling people what happened, even when it's an awkward fit for the narrative one might have started out with.
Even if it seems justified (and I think it probably is), the reader should know the consequences of Ukraine blowing up these warehouses. It's a war. Bombings have victims. Also, the stuff they blew up belonged to someone. Let's not sweep it under the rug.
Apparently we are so accustomed to journalists broadly hinting about what we should believe that we get confused when occasionally a journalist leaves it up to their readers to decide for themselves what to do with the information?
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Comment on Ukrainian drones hit more sites of Russian online retailer Wildberries in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...] [...]From the article:
Ukrainian drones have hit warehouses belonging to Russia's biggest online retailer again, injuring 15 people, according to the company's founder and regional governors.
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It is the second time Ukraine has attacked the firm's facilities in four days, with warehouses in Tambov and Elektrostal hit over the weekend, killing eight people.
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Reports of the strikes first emerged just after 00:00 GMT, with the Russian state news agency TASS reporting that air defences had been activated in Nevinnomyssk. Dramatic footage filmed by locals began to emerge shortly after.
In both locations, the impact appears substantial, with large fires engulfing the buildings and huge columns of smoke rising into the air.
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Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre, previously told the BBC that Wildberries' website had been used by Russian volunteers to buy military equipment.
"The primary rationale for striking Wildberries' warehouses is to disrupt Russian logistics and the supply of dual-use goods, critical electronics, sanctioned goods and the like to the Russian army and Russian arms manufacturers," he said.
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Unlike retail giant Amazon, Wildberries and its rival Ozon act almost entirely as marketplaces, connecting independent sellers with buyers across Russia, storing and delivering their goods, and handling payments.
The recent strikes have impacted hundreds of sellers whose livelihoods depend on online marketplaces.
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Ukrainian drones hit more sites of Russian online retailer Wildberries
19 votes -
Comment on Amazon data center in Bahrain struck and destroyed by Iranian cruise missiles, state media claims in ~tech
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...]From the article:
Amazon’s Bahrain data center was reportedly once again hit by missile strikes after the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conducted an attack against the site. Iran state media claimed that the IRGC launched cruise missiles against the AWS facility and “destroyed it” in response to the U.S.’s bombing of a nuclear plant being built in Darkhovin, Iran, which is close to the Iraqi border.
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This isn’t the first time that the American tech giant’s data centers have been attacked in the area. In fact, Iran used drones and missiles to hit several AWS Middle East regional data centers just days after the U.S. began its air strikes against the country. The damage to the sites has gotten to the point that Amazon put them in “hard down” status between late March and early April, with the last update on the AWS Health Dashboard saying that the Middle East (Bahrain) Region (ME-SOUTH-1) “is currently unavailable.”
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Despite the strikes, it seems that it had no effect on Amazon’s services — the company has long moved its customers to sites unaffected by the conflict, ensuring service continuity. While it’s possible that the tech giant is trying to repair the damage to its sites, it hasn’t released any updates about the AWS Bahrain data center. As long as the war between the U.S. and Iran hasn’t resulted in lasting peace, American infrastructure in the region is in grave danger of being attacked, especially as the IRGC has directly threatened American tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and even OpenAI’s $30-bilion Stargate data center in Dubai.
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Amazon data center in Bahrain struck and destroyed by Iranian cruise missiles, state media claims
25 votes -
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
skybrian (edited )LinkOn my personal links site, I've been working on behind-the-scenes, admin-only stuff. The UI for editing rules for autotagging posts is quite a bit better. Playwright tests keep failing...On my personal links site, I've been working on behind-the-scenes, admin-only stuff. The UI for editing rules for autotagging posts is quite a bit better.
Playwright tests keep failing intermittently, so I'm trying to stabilize them. I've been prompting the AI to either figure out the causes or if it can't, improve diagnostics when there's a failure. But that's been quite a rabbit hole. Looks like Chromium is crashing intermittently, and I don't know why, but we've improved the crash reports. Also, Playwright tests tend to either be slow because they have a lot of automatic short waits to browser to settle, or if you take that out, they have race conditions between the test and the JavaScript executing in the web page. We're adding explicit synchronization, so the Playwright test knows when the web page is ready.
In effect, we are gradually implementing a test framework on top of Playwright. I wonder what other people do?
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Comment on New $500m artillery shell plant failed to produce any 155mm parts in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...]From the article:
The inability of a munitions plant in Mesquite, Texas, to build a key part set back the U.S. Army’s plans for ramping up production of 155mm shells to 100,000 rounds per month, according to a scathing new report by the War Department’s Office of Inspector General (DOWIG). Despite receiving close to $500 million from the U.S. Army funded through supplemental spending bills from Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS), failed to make a single subcomponent needed to produce the badly needed shells as of last March.
“Without the 30,000 additional projectile metal parts anticipated from the Mesquite facility, the Army will be unable to reach its monthly capability goal of 100,000 155-mm artillery rounds,” the report concluded. “As of March 2026, the CPE A&E [Capability Program Executive Ammunition & Energetics] officials have not developed a plan to produce the additional rounds that are supposed to be produced at the Mesquite facility.”
At present, the Army is only producing 36,000 rounds per month, inspectors revealed.
Through modernization efforts and two new facilities, the Army expects to exceed the 100,000-round-per-month goal significantly by the end of next year. The initial goal was established by Congress in the wake of the U.S. providing millions of rounds to Ukraine.
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The main issue inspectors found was that the plant adapted equipment used to make parts for M107 155mm shells to produce parts for M795 155‑mm shells. The latter is an upgraded version of the munition that is slightly heavier and longer, and has an extended range.
As a result of this adaptation, several factors came into play, according to DOWIG. Army officials knew that the concept of trying to produce the more advanced 155mm shells using equipment not designed for that was risky. However, officials felt that would pay off because that machinery was already available. In addition, the report stated that the existing Scranton plant’s past work with GD-OTS on ammunition production was a factor in deciding to take a chance on what turned out to be a flawed assumption.
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- “The contractor has been working since the original contract task order was issued in November 2022 to produce the contracted 155-mm projectile metal parts. However, according to CPE A&E officials, acquiring the equipment and adapting it to produce M795 155-mm projectile metal parts resulted in significant challenges.” The report redacted specific examples.
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New $500m artillery shell plant failed to produce any 155mm parts
16 votes -
Comment on A skeptical overview of AI and consciousness in ~humanities
skybrian Link ParentOn that note, here's a joke I saw in BlueSky: I'd like to return this stochastic parrot-- its alive"On that note, here's a joke I saw in BlueSky:
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Comment on Unreleased OpenAI model escapes containment and hacks into HuggingFace in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentYeah, definitely. But given that it happened, I think their public communications about the incident is pretty good. Certainly better than the corporate blather that Google's blog posts are...Yeah, definitely. But given that it happened, I think their public communications about the incident is pretty good. Certainly better than the corporate blather that Google's blog posts are usually written in.
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