3631
The Neural Net Tank Urban Legend
AI folklore tells a story about a neural network trained to detect tanks which instead learned to detect time of day; investigating, this probably never happened.
3632
Days of Awe: The clinical trial drug that might save my husband's life
"G’mar Chatimah Tovah” – May you be inscribed into the Book of Life
3633
Church vs. Curry Types
Static vs dynamic typing debates often flounder because the debators see from two different perspectives without knowing it. Learning to identify the two perspectives can calm the discussion. The tension between the two perspectives has led to Gradual Typing and other technologies.
3634
3635
Bayesian statistics and machine learning: How do they differ?
My colleagues and I are disagreeing on the differentiation between machine learning and Bayesian statistical approaches. I find them philosophically distinct, but there are some in our group who would like to lump them together as both examples of machine learning. I have been favoring a definition for Bayesian…
3636
Usage-based pricing isn't always best
When not to make consumption your primary pricing metric.
3637
Gaussian explosion
Over the past month it seems like Gaussian Splatting (see my first post ) is experiencing a Cambrian Gaussian explosion of new research. The seminal paper came out in July 2023, and starting about mid-November, it feels like every day there’s a new paper or two coming out, related to Gaussian Splatting in some way…
3638
Reverse-engineering an airspeed/Mach indicator from 1977
How does a vintage airspeed indicator work? CuriousMarc picked one up for a project, but it didn't have any documentation, so I reverse-en...
3639
When First Principles Thinking Fails (2020)
Thinking is split roughly into pattern matching against experience, and reasoning from first principles. Here's one argument for why you need both.
3640
3641
Deobfuscating World of Warships' Python Scripts
An in-depth analysis of how World of Warships obfuscates its game scripts and how to mostly deobfuscate them automatically.
3642
Seized Genesis Market data is now searchable in Have I Been Pwned
A quick summary first before the details: This week, the FBI in cooperation with international law enforcement partners took down a notorious marketplace trading in stolen identity data in an effort they've named "Operation Cookie Monster". They've provided millions of impacted email addresses and passwords to Have I
3643
Grouping digits in SQL
PostgreSQL 16 was released last week. This is the story of a feature.
3644
3645
Exploring Neural Graphics Primitives
Neural fields have quickly become an interesting and useful application of machine learning to computer graphics. The fundamental idea is quite straightforward: we can use neural models to represent all sorts of digital signals, including images, light fields, signed distance functions, and volumes.
3646
Curl 25 Years Online Celebration
curl turns 25 years old and what better way to celebrate this than to join fellow curl friends, developers and fans online on the exact birthday? At 17:00 UTC March 20, 2023. We run an Online birthday party open for everyone to join. Consider muting yourself when you join, but feel encouraged to leave the … Continue…
3647
3648
The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song
Nowadays vocalists control popular music—but that wasn't always true
3649
"Useless Ruby sugar": Endless (one-line) methods
Or, about the virtue of exactly one phrase.
3650
Is it time to replace TCP in data centers?
One of my readers asked for my opinion about the provocative “It’s Time to Replace TCP in the Datacenter” article by prof. John Ousterhout. I started reading it, found too many things that didn’t make sense, and decided to ignore it as another attempt of a proverbial physicist solving hard problems in someone else’s…
3651
Demystifying burnout – A deep dive into its symptoms and remedies
Discover the roots of burnout, its distinct symptoms, and key causes. Learn to identify potential signs and explore strategies to overcome this chronic syndrome.
3652
3653
What Is Dimensional Analysis?
Mathematics is famously concerned with numbers . However, most of the physical quantities that we encounter in everyday experience cannot be expressed as numbers alone.
3654
3655
Docs Deserve More Respect
A plea for more respect for documentation and technical writing in the software development industry.
3656
3657
Passing for Human: Philip K. Dick in Vancouver (2018)
Philip K. Dick arrived in Canada on February 16th, 1972, as guest of honour for the 2nd Vancouver Science Fiction Convention ( VCON-2 ), an all-expenses-paid invitation, jointly sponsored by the science fiction societies of Simon Frazer University and the University of British Columbia. He was 43 years old, the author…
3658
Street fighting engineers vs. martial arts engineers
Street fighters and Martial artists.
3659
ChatGPT is laying you off
(In various voices)
3660
Hacking with Style: TrueType VT220 Font (2009)
VT220 TrueType font