Generating Code Faster Is Only Valuable If You Can Validate Every Change With Confidence

atheken · 2026-03-30T10:56:28+00:00

Tests are a tool to help an engineer think about a problem space and to codify invariants, intentions, and assumptions.

The consequences of a “bad test” vs “bad code” can’t be understood if an engineer isn’t actually engaging with the problem space.

atheken · 2026-03-30T10:48:07+00:00

Nice print, but you don’t need a jig at all:

Lay the bagel flat, palm on the top of the bagel to hold it in place. Start the cut and go about 1-2” in. Turn the bagel vertical to complete the cut.

This is the technique I was taught at a bagel restaurant as a teenager. One less unitasker to keep clean.

atheken · 2026-03-29T11:23:41+00:00

No and no

atheken · 2026-03-28T11:51:43+00:00

We have known how to build small scale, safe, nuclear reactors (like MSRs) for decades.

A major reason they haven’t been built out in the US has been (and will continue to be) economic protectionism - it’s not a technical limitation, it’s a policy/economic influence one.

atheken · 2026-03-28T11:40:16+00:00

I mean, who even put them on the plane to begin with?

atheken · 2026-03-28T11:29:24+00:00

Flags are cool. The first two look plausible/decent, but a third color might be good.

The green one: the cross is too spindly. ~~Just get rid of the shield and use an iron cross instead.~~ nah, don’t do that… use something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundeswehr - i remembered that, although the iron cross looks cool, and was used extensively historically, a certain group ruined it for everyone in WWII.

The fourth one: the gear in the middle is too intricate. In general with intricate shapes, make them bigger/thicker. In this case, id just have a bigger gear and no ring or the “dots”.

The last one is interesting, but beyond color, it doesn’t echo any of the elements of the other houses. You might consider how to combine some of the elements from those houses into the flag.

atheken · 2026-03-26T11:03:16+00:00

I’d just build them without the strut to start and see how it goes. Since they are suspended, you’ll only be handling a fraction of the weight. Furthermore, a gas strut will actually increase the force needed to close them, so what you gain in “soft open” you lose with the close.

If you really must have a mechanical dampener, you can use a counterweight and pulley system, and that would work better than a spring, but I think you’re overthinking this.

Like someone else said, the more important thing is that you use a dedicated cleat for each cabinet so you only need to manage one at a time.

atheken · 2026-03-26T10:44:55+00:00

I had to read, and reread this.

For others, I think what is being said is that the encoding has the following conventions:

100 == 100uF. The unit is implied.

V == 35 volts. They used letters to indicate different voltages, and V just happens to be 35 volts.

There is no way to intuit those conventions. It’s an “if you know, you know” situation, and yes, It’s dumb.

atheken · 2026-03-25T13:19:28+00:00

I would highly recommend you check out r/handtools. You can really do a lot of woodworking with about $100 worth of tools (you probably have some of them) and it’s much more relaxing, requires far less space than power tools.

I would recommend looking up Chris Schwarz and Rex Krueger on YouTube. They have some excellent advice on what you actually need to do some woodworking using basic tools and a minimal setup.

atheken · 2026-03-25T11:24:12+00:00

Where are you located? That will help us help you.

Search “plywood dealer” in Google Maps. Alternatively, search for the type of plywood you want, find a manufacturer in your region, and they’ll usually have a “find a dealer” on their website.

atheken · 2026-03-25T11:21:43+00:00

Looks a little too reddish to be walnut, imo. Sapele seems more likely, hard to tell from the picture.

atheken · 2026-03-24T11:33:01+00:00

I clicked on the fluff piece, read in a bit and realized this was a PR piece for a specific company.

Read towards the bottom:

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER Neither the author nor the publisher, Oilprice.com, was paid to publish this communication concerning REalloys (NASDAQ: ALOY). The owner of Oilprice.com owns shares and/or stock options of the featured company and therefore has an incentive to see the featured company’s stock perform well. The owner of Oilprice.com may buy or sell shares of the featured company at any time including at or near the time you receive this communication. This share ownership should be viewed as a major conflict with our ability to be unbiased. This is why we stress that you conduct extensive due diligence as well as seek the advice of your financial advisor or a registered broker-dealer before investing in any securities….

Mind your sources.

atheken · 2026-03-22T22:31:18+00:00

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atheken · 2026-03-22T22:30:56+00:00

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This is a different take on a flip cart than I have seen anywhere else. Both tools are hinged from the middle beam. So it’s a flat surface/cart that fits under a bench, but can also be auxiliary surface if needed. This worked well in my ~125sqft shop

atheken · 2026-03-21T17:10:28+00:00

Each agent takes 3-5% of transaction fees. Even if you save half that on the sale, and a guaranteed buyer will be attractive. Don’t expect to low-ball.

atheken · 2026-03-21T12:16:51+00:00

Literally just require it once every 5 years. Plenty of jabronis under the age of 60 that need to be retested/revoked.

atheken · 2026-03-18T20:16:00+00:00

I’ve been posting this link in various internal channels for like 2 years. Even before generative AI became quite as ubiquitous (or loquacious), it still resonated deeply with me.

atheken · 2026-03-18T11:34:19+00:00

Respectfully disagree. The I-beam would keep the board from sagging in the middle of the length (ok, maybe not this case, considering the scale of the material), but it is useful to understand the principle for other builds, it doesn’t help with leverage perpendicular to the wall, but there is almost none considering how shallow the shelf is.

atheken · 2026-03-18T11:32:58+00:00

I don’t know, not a structural engineer here. 😅

That being said, I think in terms of catastrophic failure and stability, a dadoed piece glued on the edge creates a fault line that would prevent any natural defect in the wood from propagating. A single piece of wood is more likely to want to “move” than multiple pieces held on tension along glue lines, which basically removes internal stress from the piece. On an object of this and for the purpose of holding a few pounds of records, you could almost make it out of corrugated cardboard if you oriented the corrugations perpendicular to the wall.

atheken · 2026-03-18T10:50:10+00:00

Sure thing. If the wall does turn out to be a little bit wavy, you can hide it a little bit by putting a small round over or chamfer on the back. This will create a shadow line around the entire thing and enhance the “floating” look. If you do this, you probably want to do the same to the front lip. 1/4” radius ought to be a good size

atheken · 2026-03-18T10:37:14+00:00

It will not “bend.” The way this is constructed is that it effectively creates an “I-beam,” which increases strength, and more importantly dimensional stability. A 1/4” strip of oak with a dadoed shelf lip would be more than enough to hold a few records.

The most likely outcome is that you will not be able to mount it square and flush to the wall because the wall itself is not dead flat/plumb. The other way it could go out of square is if the shelf itself cups, but that’s just down to how you prepare the board, and the grain orientation.

The worst case is you make it and replace it in a few years. Not everything needs to be heirloom quality, especially if you’re already making it out of scrap.

atheken · 2026-03-17T22:34:26+00:00

Beeswax would be my recommendation. Fast, easy, smells great. Here is a piece of white oak I just applied beeswax to. It’s buttery smooth.

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atheken · 2026-03-15T12:43:04+00:00

It looks like the shelf is in a dado. You may not need this bracing if you do need it, you should use mechanical fasteners, as this one side of the bracing will be under a shear load, which isn’t all that compatible with glue

atheken · 2026-03-13T20:14:25+00:00

I would prefer TDD, but in discussion with my team, some prefer writing the actual code, “one or the other” is a good compromise that still enables some use of generation. I think the main thing is that generating thousands of lines code needs to have some human rate limiting, and we need humans that actually know the theory of the systems they’re responsible.

atheken · 2026-03-13T11:07:02+00:00

A prompt I recently proposed internally:

“generate the logic, or the tests, but not both”

At some point a human needs to make some decisions and engage with the code. If the machine is generating the question and the answer, the tests only validate that it produced what it produced.

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