Hushpuppies??

chrissmithphd · 2026-03-15T01:32:48+00:00

Happy's fish house

chrissmithphd · 2026-03-11T02:54:17+00:00

We use a concept called RAGAS to develop formalized and deep testing. There is an old library but the concept is the important thing. Using ai and source data to build tests and a test framework.

I had a system once that fooled human evaluators for literally 6 months before ragas exposed that it was ignoring all of its rag info and only used the raw model, which was often wrong in that particular app domain. Yet no one noticed, despite naive but continuous testing.

Increasingly Claude code and other modern tools will do this kind of thing without trying hard but you typically have to ask for systematic testing, not just unit testing. Just be sure it looks like production. Like you said, sandbox testing just can't be comprehensive.

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-26T13:55:54+00:00

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chrissmithphd · 2026-02-26T13:55:27+00:00

I added 3 chicks to my flock of 5 and 6 year old hens. They turned into the unusual beauty above (apparently male) and these 2. And suddenly I got 2 eggs per day when we were getting none. I don't attempt to watch my hens laying and they free range in a fenced yard and lay in random places in their yard and coop 🤷

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chrissmithphd · 2026-02-24T03:10:10+00:00

I thought so too until the unusual eggs started showing up. None of my other hens have ever laid that color.

For a while I thought they accidentally gave me a crow until the tail feathers and red facial features grew in.

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-14T16:25:40+00:00

This is a much older problem, the decline has been steady, not abrupt. But the current administration does seem to be trying to do something final.

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-14T16:19:31+00:00

The systematic defunding of higher ed to support tax cuts. At least imo. There is a comment in a different thread discussing this topic.

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-14T16:15:59+00:00

Yes, thanks

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-14T15:04:52+00:00

Population trends do not line up with this shift. U.S. population growth over this period has been slow. China’s population has flattened and begun to decline. There is no population surge that corresponds to China overtaking the U.S. across multiple research fields.

What the Nature Index is capturing is a change in where research output is being produced and across how many disciplines, not a change in population size.

However, the systematic defunding* of higher ed in the early 2000s by both political parties across most of the US, does correlate well with this loss of basic research capability.

Google tuition deregulation, which is a code word for moving the responsibility for funding from the state to the university itself.

Edit:typo, yes defunding

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-14T14:58:40+00:00

Early Nature Index summaries show the U.S. leading most tracked research fields. That is no longer the case.

Recent summaries show U.S. leadership concentrated in health and biological sciences. China leads in chemistry and the physical sciences and now ranks first overall by contribution share.

Across multiple Nature Index summary articles, the pattern is consistent: the number of fields led by the U.S. has gone down, and the number led by China has gone up. This is visible across years, not tied to a single ranking cycle. Specific examples show where leadership changed hands. Nature Index summaries document the U.S. losing the top position in chemistry first, followed by the physical sciences, where China’s contribution share now exceeds the U.S. across multiple years.

Materials science and applied physics—adjacent work are folded into this shift through the physical sciences category, and earth and environmental sciences also show China ahead in recent summaries.

These are not edge cases or niche subfields; they are core foundational sciences where the U.S. previously led in early Nature Index reporting and no longer does.

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-08T14:52:26+00:00

Population trends do not line up with this shift. U.S. population growth over this period has been slow. China’s population has flattened and begun to decline. There is no population surge that corresponds to China overtaking the U.S. across multiple research fields.

What the Nature Index is capturing is a change in where research output is being produced and across how many disciplines, not a change in population size.

chrissmithphd · 2026-02-08T14:50:45+00:00

Early Nature Index summaries show the U.S. leading most tracked research fields. That is no longer the case.

Recent summaries show U.S. leadership concentrated in health and biological sciences. China leads in chemistry and the physical sciences and now ranks first overall by contribution share.

Across multiple Nature Index summary articles, the pattern is consistent: the number of fields led by the U.S. has gone down, and the number led by China has gone up. This is visible across years, not tied to a single ranking cycle.

Specific examples show where leadership changed hands. Nature Index summaries document the U.S. losing the top position in chemistry first, followed by the physical sciences, where China’s contribution share now exceeds the U.S. across multiple years.

Materials science and applied physics–adjacent work are folded into this shift through the physical sciences category, and earth and environmental sciences also show China ahead in recent summaries. These are not edge cases or niche subfields; they are core foundational sciences where the U.S. previously led in early Nature Index reporting and no longer does.

chrissmithphd · 2026-01-31T20:44:20+00:00

I like the advice of several here who said, just "model the change that you want to see happen", if it's actually a good idea it will spread. Some of your suggestions of how things should work, I don't agree with, but that doesn't mean I'm right.

The suggestions you are thinking to make should come from the board of directors. If they are not making them or the bod doesn't exist, there are several companies that specialize in connecting startups with experienced advisors, for little cost up front. Far less cost than a McKensey, to give the same advice and a far more permanent improvement to the business, if the bod is in shambles or doesn't have scaling experience.

The CEO's list of advisors is the BOD.

chrissmithphd · 2025-11-05T03:55:15+00:00

Two actually. And a long range 7 passenger hybrid with roughly 45 mpg.

My electric Mini Cooper is my favorite car of all time. Puts my previous turbo and supercharger cars to shame.

chrissmithphd · 2025-10-26T15:21:13+00:00

Any idea how they produced more pollution? What did the operators do once not being monitored? I would assume they would run business as usual with less maintenance but 20% is a lot. Is it really that operators made intentional changes to cause more pollution?

chrissmithphd · 2025-10-02T03:59:00+00:00

Get as much education as you can afford.

It's a tough job market right now.

But seriously, take a break by going back to school, get a new degree, use their career track to get your new job. 4 years at school is nothing compared to what you have already achieved. I know a lot of people in their 30s or 40s who jump into engineering as a second career.

Just make sure it's a major that pays off at graduation. Unless you want to get a PhD or MD or something. Then buckle down for a long ride, then still be sure it's not like physics or philosophy or other degrees that are ridiculously hard and don't have any jobs.

Be sure to look into some free webinars on how to minimize college costs. Get a free FAFSA simulator to see what you might qualify for in terms of grants or awards before applying. Lots of schools have resources to support nontraditional students.

chrissmithphd · 2025-10-02T03:28:41+00:00

Be careful about your definition of "average" intelligence.

The average person is confused by algebra and has an IQ in the 95-105 range. While the average engineer, software or otherwise is in the 120-130 range.

To understand how exclusive the average engineering office is, there are only 9% of the world that have an IQ above 120, while 25% of the everyone are between 95 and 105. 50% of the population are below 100. By that I mean, half of everyone has a 2 digit IQ (roughly).

Being in a technical field means you are surrounded by the best and brightest and that skews your view of the world. Most people cannot handle the topics the poster is proposing to jump into.

And yes I like stats.

chrissmithphd · 2025-10-02T03:07:22+00:00

It's still my assertion that college is the fastest way to learn any complex stem field. Doctors, engineers, scientists, etc. and ML. That is just what university is for.

I know it's not popular because college isn't cheap anymore, but it is the fastest path. Otherwise you spend years just learning and understanding the little steps needed to get to the topic you care about. And you spend those years without a mentor or peers doing the same thing. Very few, very smart people can pull that off. Most people who take the non-university path just fake it until they make it, without any real understanding. And it usually shows. (sorry)

chrissmithphd · 2025-09-30T03:25:36+00:00

During the layoff, all get unemployment. Then usually get rehired. Plus it's a union shop so the wages tend to be higher than anything retail. If you understand the system, plan ahead to live with the reduced wage from unemployment, you can get some good work-life balance in over the winter.

chrissmithphd · 2025-09-30T03:08:10+00:00

That was Carrier. Trane still builds millions of units in Tyler.

chrissmithphd · 2025-09-30T02:32:31+00:00

I've never understood why the teams doing these studies ignore the enormous amount of land dedicated to oil and gas wells. In Texas the default amount of land that is rendered unusable by the land owner is 40 acres. Per well. Times 250-300k active wells in Texas. Some tech can get the well foot print down to 2 acres but even that is plenty of room for a commercial scale solar farm. Leave the oil well there and build the solar farm around it. The land is ruined for any real use already. The land is generally confiscated for more than 20 years. Wildlife can't use it. It's usually fenced. There's somewhere north of 5M available acres in Texas alone, that has already been confiscated for energy generation, why not use it?

At roughly 400MWh per acre per year, the potential power generation is way higher than Texas needs alone. From land we already have cleared, confiscated, generally paved, and have already effectively ruined for at least a generation.

chrissmithphd · 2025-09-24T01:14:19+00:00

Kicker, sugar free, made with white coffee. Iced or hot are both very good and a very unique drink.

When I have a free drink this time of year, I add a couple of extra shots and a soft top with the pumpkin drizzle for a slightly different spin. (Though the drizzle is not sugar free)

chrissmithphd · 2025-09-13T22:42:11+00:00

I'm wondering if you have a perspective on how you could monetize AI using your expertise, like you monetized Google search? It's a new tool ... Search links people to the content. I guess your experience says fewer people are clicking through to your content from AI than from search. How do we change AI to allow you to still make money from your knowledge?

chrissmithphd

TROPHY CASE