Hacker News: hackernoteng

New comment by hackernoteng in "Solving the out-of-context chunk problem for RAG"

hackernoteng — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:42:54 +0000

I experience worse IR performance adding title/headers to chunks. It really depends on the nature of the documents. The only successful RAG systems I see are ones specifically tuned to a single domain and document type. If your document collection is diverse in domains or formats, good luck.

New comment by hackernoteng in "Hanlon's Razor: Not Everyone Is Out to Get You"

hackernoteng — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 14:54:37 +0000

Sometimes though, they really are out to get you. And sometimes, they tell you they are really out to get you.

New comment by hackernoteng in "Combined Covid-flu vaccines are coming: Moderna jab clears major test"

hackernoteng — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 12:37:29 +0000

No thanks!

New comment by hackernoteng in "Waymo One is now open to everyone in San Francisco"

hackernoteng — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 01:23:11 +0000

I dont get why anyone cheers shit like this. It just takes jobs away from more people. You will just get more homeless and drug addicted people. And more rich techies. And it will make no difference to the rider - they get where they need to be either way. It's just another bit wealth transfer from poor to rich. Yet this is cheered.

New comment by hackernoteng in "[dead]"

hackernoteng — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 13:16:33 +0000

The only real problem with the plan is will just be take advantage of. People will get meaningless easy degrees just to get a green card. I guess it's tied to employment but im actually not sure how that works. I think it should be tied to only certain types of degrees from accredited schools.

New comment by hackernoteng in "Implementing Semantic Search in Postgres in 15 Minutes"

hackernoteng — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 16:24:55 +0000

semantic search doesn't really work. Looks nice in little POCs. With real world data it's sort of a mixed bag. Embeddings are just to general, and documents within a narrow domain (finance, medical, etc.) are all "similar"

New comment by hackernoteng in "Why "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" matters (2011)"

hackernoteng — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 11:29:50 +0000

this book is at the top of the list of near every list of best programming books of all time. its worth reading. is it an easy read? no. its sort of like the Illiad. Not an easy read. But worth it for anyone who wants to be considered well read.

New comment by hackernoteng in "Why "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" matters (2011)"

hackernoteng — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 11:26:47 +0000

well worth reading even for veteran senior engineers. worth re-reading every few years too.

New comment by hackernoteng in "If Ray Kurzweil Is Right (Again), You'll Meet His Immortal Soul in the Cloud"

hackernoteng — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 10:49:47 +0000

He has an immortal soul, but it wont be in the cloud...

New comment by hackernoteng in "Is Red Meat Healthy? Multiverse Analysis Has Lessons Beyond Meat"

hackernoteng — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 13:39:50 +0000

All I know is I feel amazing eating lots of leaner red meat. The nutrient content is very high (B-vitamins, zinc, etc.) and hard to get elsewhere. I probably eat 5 lbs of red meat per week. Im in my 50s, fit, and have healthy bloodwork.

New comment by hackernoteng in "Is Red Meat Healthy? Multiverse Analysis Has Lessons Beyond Meat"

hackernoteng — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 13:38:07 +0000

lot of these "studies" have included "processed meats" not fresh meat...

New comment by hackernoteng in "Is Red Meat Healthy? Multiverse Analysis Has Lessons Beyond Meat"

hackernoteng — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 13:37:05 +0000

you can also buy leaner cuts of meat. for example flank steak, etc. stuff that needs marinated or slow cooked, and has less fat. also grass fed steaks tend to have less fat (they aren't force-fed corn and soy to fatten them up)

New comment by hackernoteng in "OpenAI pulls Johansson soundalike Sky’s voice from ChatGPT"

hackernoteng — Mon, 20 May 2024 17:18:54 +0000

The Sky voice was obviously flirtatious sounding. It was actually very cringy and embarrassing for OpenAI, and it seemed really like a jump the shark moment TBH

New comment by hackernoteng in "VCs aren’t your friends"

hackernoteng — Thu, 16 May 2024 13:50:53 +0000

They might not be my friends, but they did pay 90% of my salary for the past 22 years...

New comment by hackernoteng in "Ask HN: Why does everyone need to be an "Engineer" these days?"

hackernoteng — Thu, 09 May 2024 17:58:54 +0000

I remember a time when software programmers did NOT want to be referred to as "engineers" as that had more of a ops-guy connotation, like someone who sets up servers and runs cable. They wanted to be called "software developers". I even remember when it was fashionable to be called "systems analyst".

New comment by hackernoteng in "Rule of Thumb: Anything that looks fancy is not worth you time"

hackernoteng — Wed, 08 May 2024 15:02:06 +0000

The SEO has ruined the internet. Now every recipe web site has 5000 words of narrative before the actual recipe (at least now they all have "jump to recipe" buttons). I really dont care to read 5000 word essay on your families history how your grandma made it every summer, etc. They all do this because the AI/SEO wont return their site I guess?

New comment by hackernoteng in "Report suggests touchscreen Macs are coming"

hackernoteng — Sun, 05 May 2024 17:32:04 +0000

of course it is... they have run out of good ideas. just make Siri actually useful by backing it with an LLM with personal memory and you own the market.

New comment by hackernoteng in "AI copilots are changing how coding is taught"

hackernoteng — Sat, 04 May 2024 12:40:33 +0000

Technology always has a weakening effect. AI copilots will make us lazier and produce more buggy code. It can increase productivity for certain boring tasks (generate a bunch of empty classes, etc.). It can increase productivity for early on in projects. Otherwise it's just a crutch.

New comment by hackernoteng in "Ask HN: Which book your reading and why?(Non-fiction Only)"

hackernoteng — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:59:47 +0000

Recent reads: Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck East of Eden by John Steinbeck Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro AntiFragile by Nassim Taleb (an almost annual re-read)

When I read fiction, I go as far away from modern tech or sci-fi as possible, for balance. I hate sci-fi.

New comment by hackernoteng in "AI-Driven Power Demand Is Set to Jump 900% in Chicago Area, Exelon CEO Says"

hackernoteng — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:37:04 +0000

Go long uranium and fossil fuels. There is no other way to generate enough electricity for these data centers, and also for this push for electric vehicles. The green energy stuff isn't going to cut it for a long time.