Hacker News: mkatx

New comment by mkatx in "The unexpected effectiveness of one-shot decompilation with Claude"

mkatx — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 20:08:05 +0000

So instead of reverse engineering.. an llm/agent/whatever could simply produce custom apps for everyone, simply implementing the features an individual might want. A more viable path?

New comment by mkatx in "Mullvad: Shutting down our search proxy Leta"

mkatx — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 02:50:57 +0000

Damn.. I just learned about this.

New comment by mkatx in "Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business"

mkatx — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 04:52:56 +0000

Aw shit.

*drawing-board

New comment by mkatx in "My 16-month theanine self-experiment"

mkatx — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 21:54:04 +0000

Look into something like flexwatt tape. Maybe run it during the day when your not sleeping. In my mind, they probably use something similar inside heated blankets with some kind of limiter/thermostat.

Do your research though!! I'm not sure if flexwatt tape could ignite your mattress, but you would definitely want to know for sure yourself beforehand!

There are ways to control heat though; I'm familiar with using flexwatt tape with reptile enclosures, hooked up to a thermostat with a probe in the habitat for temp control. Maybe some math, like desired_temp = watts_supplied * feet_of_fw_tape, where the watts_supplied is the independent variable you adjust based on the required feet_of_fw_tape for your mattress to get the dependent variable desired_temp. Probably include a fail safe, but I'm no electrician, proceed at your own risk.

They do sell self contained fire extinguishers you can hang on your ceiling that deploy automatically at a certain temperature, ideally putting out fire sources they are hung above. Nice to have around for things like this.

New comment by mkatx in "Inheriting is becoming nearly as important as working"

mkatx — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 22:42:26 +0000

I do agree that changing policy is a separate, yet complimentary, step. But maybe the poor are disproportionately audited because the IRS doesn't have the funding to effectively target the rich and succeed? Maybe with better funding, they could successfully extract more tax dollars from the rich, incearsing the ROI of funding the agency?

I don't think further funding the agency is a completely nutty idea. Although if you truly believe the agency is broken, and that being broken isn't related to their funding, then I could understand your perspective. I lean more towards the idea that at least some, maybe even most, of the issues they have might be due to a lack of funding. That makes more sense to me than most of the criticisms I've heard of the IRS, which seem to mostly be on partisan idealism framed as otherwise.

New comment by mkatx in "20 years of Google Scholar"

mkatx — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:14:16 +0000

You mean public, documented API's? Everything is/has an API.

New comment by mkatx in "Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation [pdf]"

mkatx — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 23:33:56 +0000

Yeah. My favorite professor this semester constantly says "hey, if you rely to much on the robot, and can't do this yourself, you won't get a job." I know some people are just here for the paper, but that makes me feel better when I'm having a hard time finding a new role..

New comment by mkatx in "All the data can be yours: reverse engineering APIs"

mkatx — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 21:01:22 +0000

I feel the same way about monetizing my api reverse engineering skills. I taught myself to program by reverse engineering api's, and it's what led me to pursue computer science. I'm pretty good at it, but I can't seem to find a role to flex my skills.

New comment by mkatx in "Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation [pdf]"

mkatx — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 20:21:09 +0000

This is one big point I've subscribed to, I'd rather write the code and understand it that way, than read and try to understand code I did not write.

Also, I think it would be faster to write my own than try to fully understand others (LLM) code. I have developed my own ways of ensuring certain aspects of the code, like security, organization, and speed. Trying to knead out how those things are addressed in code I didn't write takes me longer.

Edit; spelling

New comment by mkatx in "Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation [pdf]"

mkatx — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 20:17:14 +0000

Yeah, as a cs student, some professors allow use of LLM's because it is what will be a part of the job going forward. I get that, and I use them for learning, as opposed to internet searches, but I still manually write my code and fully understand it, cause I don't wanna miss out on those lessons. Otherwise I might not be able to verify an LLM's output.

New comment by mkatx in "It's legal for police to use deception in interrogations. Some want that to end"

mkatx — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 01:51:31 +0000

Can confirm, 100% Texas right there. It is still worse for non-white men though, but even that won't save you here.

New comment by mkatx in "Fisker EVs Hired an IT Spy Who Funneled Millions to N. Korea's Missile Program"

mkatx — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 21:53:37 +0000

I see that, yes. But they will still create legislation against those means.

New comment by mkatx in "Fisker EVs Hired an IT Spy Who Funneled Millions to N. Korea's Missile Program"

mkatx — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 21:50:06 +0000

Wait, the ones who are getting a great deal on labor costs are the ones complaining about the source of that great deal?

I'm not so sure..

New comment by mkatx in "Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses"

mkatx — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 23:22:29 +0000

So where do you sign up to be part of the "select external audiences access to Orion"?

New comment by mkatx in "The origins of the steam engine (2023)"

mkatx — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 03:32:28 +0000

Ha! Same.. but I also just got done reading this..

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41460276

New comment by mkatx in "Knockknock: Simple, secure, and stealthy port knocking implementation (2012)"

mkatx — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 07:00:17 +0000

Not to argue any of your other points, except.. you could get a lot more than 3 tries with a rotating proxy or a botnet.

New comment by mkatx in "Just use fucking paper, man"

mkatx — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 19:08:51 +0000

I get it, but had to move away from paper.. the simple fact that you cannot move stuff around without erasing stuff leads to disjointed notes.

For when I need to write by hand, I moved to a reMarkable digital tablet. For notes, I've been experimenting with obsidian/logseq, and it's been going good. For task management , I gotta recommend Super Productivity, it's just fantastic.

I just couldn't live the sticky note life anymore...

New comment by mkatx in "I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)"

mkatx — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 06:18:55 +0000

As I understood, kurzgesagt is produced by scientific consensus from a large number of scientists.

As a big fan, I'd be interested in hearing more about the controversy and misinformation.

New comment by mkatx in "Professional poker players know the optimal strategy but don't always use it"

mkatx — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 17:05:57 +0000

I love poker, and I'm solid on the math foundations, but I still suck..

Any book/other resource recommendations for brushing up on this stuff?

New comment by mkatx in "Congress accidentally legalized THC six years ago"

mkatx — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:29:22 +0000

You are mostly correct. But there are definitely common instances where hemp that is strain specific to be low in THC is sprayed with outside sourced thca. I have found this to be the case for most brands I see in texas, unfortunately. That and added synthetic terpenes imo bastardize the legal hemp industry as it is.

It's this exactly that turned me off, especially after a sales person misinformed me that their products where definitely not sprayed with anything, when the flower brand website itself told me otherwise.