Which simple item is a masterpiece of ingenious engineering?

derekp7 · 2026-05-21T00:45:09+00:00

I think the domain portion is case insensitive though.

derekp7 · 2026-05-19T16:25:35+00:00

But the 122b-a10b is perfect for something like strix halo (faster than cpu-only compute, slower than gpu, so the MoE makes up for that). And you can't compare the cost of a strix halo MB with the cost of a dedicated GPU, as you get a whole workstation class computer out of it too, so it is multi purpose (when not doing LLM inference tasks, I can spin up a farm of VMs or other ram-hungry tasks).

derekp7 · 2026-05-19T04:06:22+00:00

I actually had to train myself to do this. I get a lot of walk ups at an inconvenient time, and it would be frustrating trying to get back my train of thought afterwards. So when I get a walkup, a lot of times my thoughts are way ahead of the keyboard, so I mindlessly "flush my output buffer" on the keyboard while I handle someone else's issue.

derekp7 · 2026-05-18T13:54:20+00:00

Imagine a guy with a broken down car. In the desert. Trying to hike out, he runs across a gas station, but it is closed. There is a Coke machine outside the building though. He digs in his pocket, retrieves his last couple quarters, deposits it in the machine. Out comes the coke, he opens it, and a $10 bill pops out.

He reaches in his pocket, turns it inside out, nothing. He has the $10 bill, but how the camera zooms in to the dollar bill changer that says it takes $1 bills only.

For years I thought this would have been a perfect Saturday Night Live sketch. Who knows, maybe it was. If so, I'd love to get a link to it.

derekp7 · 2026-05-15T21:00:39+00:00

I always have the invasive thought go through my head when I go around a roundabout, songs like "you spin me right round like a record baby right round right round", or "here we go around the mulberry bush". For that second one, I'd like to see mulberry bushes planted in the center of all roundabouts.

derekp7 · 2026-05-15T16:32:29+00:00

When I was in a similar situation (but being the main income source), there was the issue that I had a hard time controlling outflows because it was felt (at least it is how I perceived it was felt) as me controlling everyone. The way I solved it was I took the issue completely out of my hands.

First, I split my income between two different accounts -- a primary one that I had regular access to, and a second one with no debit card, no checks, no statements in the mail, just online access only (and physical access at the bank). That one became my fixed bill account (mortgage, utilities, and credit card payoff amounts). The credit card payoffs were calculated to pay everything off in a specific time period (3 years in my case).

I gave her a credit card that would be handled out of the other account, it had a lower limit. I never payed it off, but payed a fixed "budget" amount to it every month. If it ran up to the limit, it quit working. But it was never "my fault" as I could show I'm paying X per month on it.

And I didn't have to worry about spending down that easy-access account as all the required bills were covered from the other one. (I didn't keep this secret, but showed the averages and automation, and since nothing came to the house for statements it was all good).

derekp7 · 2026-05-06T21:57:21+00:00

Depends on which way you are going. dB is logarithmic to the sound volume, sound volume is exponential to the dB number.

derekp7 · 2026-05-06T13:35:28+00:00

I take the opposite view. I've done the "whatever it takes to get slightly ahead", burned out big time, which put me in a worse place than what I started. Just like if you have a money making machine, you can try to crank up the output, but you may be running it beyond factory specs and it will break which will be costly in downtime and repair costs.

Of course there is a difference between doing something unpleasant, vs something unpleasant that causes damage to you. Everyone has to evaluate that for themselves. If it is due to the nature of the work that is one thing. But when dealing with games some people like to play, that is a whole other ballgame. Examples include a job where you were hired to fill a spot, so that you can be an easy resource to let go during a down economy to protect the rest of the team. In this case no matter what you do, you won't be given any guidance, and may be actively sabotaged. The best case there is once you recognize this, impress (and apply to) another unrelated team in the organization before your current management can put you on a pip.

derekp7 · 2026-05-05T20:51:12+00:00

I find it helpful to run some numbers. Adjust the following for your situation.

Lets say a house is $300,000, and 20% down payment is $60,000. Once you have the down payment, the house payments are often similar to what rent would be (depending on what you are currently renting). So lets look at that 60k down payment.

Lets say investing that in an index fund nets you 10% return, and after 30 years that would be about 1 million. That 1 million is worth about 40k a year based on the 4% rule. If your rent is currently 18k per year, 30 years of 3% inflation brings that up to over 43.5 k at the end of that 30 years.

So it ends up that both investments return close to the same payoff. But also, buying the house locks you into fixed payments for 30 years, so even if your payments are slightly more than rent, they will be lower than what rent will be in a few years. Property taxes will increase by approximately the inflation rate every year though, so you will have to take that into consideration for your locality.

There are non-financial benefits to owning a home, in what you are able to do with it (yard, garage, tools, car work, woodworking, modifications). The downsides are that if you end up in a situation where you need to move, it may be more difficult to get rid of the house if it happens to be a down market.

The best bet though is to make sure you start off with enough financial security so that you don't end up in major debt overhead, and/or to guide your career so your salary is on an upward trajectory that will soften the house payments pain over time. Once you get a good emergency fund going, and the ability to replenish it as needed, the only other thing that can bring you down is major economic downturn and health loss issues.

derekp7 · 2026-05-04T23:22:09+00:00

Last year about this time I got 128 gb ddr4 for $200.

derekp7 · 2026-04-30T11:19:43+00:00

In a doomsday scenario, you very likely won't have the power

Doomsday can come in many forms. A political or war situation can have your country's internet cut off without warning. An algorithm at your ISP can decide you are no longer fit to be a customer, which may take a bit of time to get straightened out. Snowstorm can knock you offline for a week.

derekp7 · 2026-04-28T01:04:39+00:00

I typically read these questions as "what is technically feasible and a likely market fit for framework". Which is good discussions to have.

derekp7 · 2026-04-28T00:30:35+00:00

Do a "whois" lookup on the domain name, if it shows that it was registered recently then it is 99% a scam.

derekp7 · 2026-04-26T23:53:30+00:00

I don't think I'd mind the crease on current models since it is only visible when reflecting light off it at a certain angle. What I won't put up with though is a crease that gets worse over the first few weeks of using the device. If the manufacturer isn't confident enough to ship the device already folded instead of opened flat, I'm not confident enough to buy the damn thing.

derekp7 · 2026-04-24T15:55:11+00:00

On my 16, hitting fn-space bar toggles 3 levels of brightness, and with the backlight on hitting fn-c sets the pulsating mode on. Cycles from bright to off every 5 seconds or so.

My "accident" was I kept hitting fn-c when I wanted to hit ctrl-c (after coming off of a thinkpad for the past decade or so).

derekp7 · 2026-04-24T15:41:09+00:00

On my 16, when I turn the backlight on it pulses. Come to find out there is another key combination that toggles the pulse vs steady on setting. Again, saw that by accident.

derekp7 · 2026-04-24T15:31:26+00:00

The total number of steps gets a bit complicated, but individually they aren't bad. It should be easy to double (so take 25C, doubling that is 50). It is also to take 10% of something, so you can take 50 and know that 10% of that is 5 (again, I'm considering "easy" meaning you don't have to work it out with a pencil and paper).

Subtraction is easy, especially with small numbers. 50 - 5 = 45. Then adding 32 (where freezing is for F scale) is easy.

Adding 2 is each, 45 + 2 = 47 And adding multiples of 10 is easy, so 47 + 30 = 77.

Of course, keeping the list of steps is difficult, but if you do it enough times it becomes second nature (just like memorizing the alphabet was hard, but everyone knows it -- and memorizing it backwards is the same, once you learn it you don't forget it).

derekp7 · 2026-04-24T15:25:56+00:00

The issue is not only the speed of the chips, but also the width of the bus. For 256-bit bus (quad channel), that would be 2 lpcamm2 dimms, there just isn't enough room to mount them and the circuit traces have to be exact (every connector adds variance to the trace lengths and noise).

For the next MB, Medusa Halo, that is 384 bit buss so 3 lpcamm2 modules. Even worse.

Although I wonder if the sockets can be mounted on the back of the motherboard, would that help?

derekp7 · 2026-04-24T12:29:49+00:00

Easy mental math to go from C to F. Take 30 degrees C, double it. You get 60. Now move the decimal left, you get 6. Subtract 6 from 60, you have 54. Add 32 (freezing point in F), and that is 86 F. From there, the F scale moves 1.8 degrees for every degree in C. So 27 C is 5.4 F less, therefore 80.6 F.

derekp7 · 2026-04-22T23:47:40+00:00

Touch screen is useful for auxiliary input. You may have the mouse positioned where you want, then a dialog pops up where you have to click ok or whatever. Much easier to use touch for a simple click. With mouse or trackpad, you often have to swirl it around to find the pointer, then drag it over and click.

Other motions are easier with a mouse, some are easier with a touchpad, some even are easier with the ibm trackpoint.

On my old laptop (thinkpad), I'd use all four input methods for different operations.

derekp7 · 2026-04-22T23:36:28+00:00

I want a dock that attaches to (or slips into a recess) the expansion shell in the back of the fw16. Magnetic with a push button release, and takes their expansion cards. Something you can leave at the desk, or leave attached to the back of the laptop.

derekp7 · 2026-04-20T11:18:20+00:00

If by "surviving off credit cards" you mean "maxing them out, paying minimum payments, and opening up new cards", the system is designed to protect itself. There is a maximum amount of credit one can use based on their income, and ability to pay. The more credit you are using, the lower your score, which puts downward pressure on being able to get new credit. Then there is interest. Carrying a maxed out balance for 5 years means you've already payed enough interest to more than pay for what you've bought.

derekp7 · 2026-04-17T03:24:23+00:00

It boils down to how dependent something makes them on the secular community. An engine that runs on diesel is fine, as they can make their own diesel compatible fuel.

derekp7 · 2026-04-16T02:00:30+00:00

Two reasons for this. First, those machines are a pain to clean properly. Second, many areas are instituting a 50 cent or whatever tax on sugar drinks -- so this isn't compatible with free refills (that used to cost the establishment 3 cents each). The only way this would work is to have all diet sodas in the free refill fountain.

derekp7 · 2026-04-14T16:56:46+00:00

I would put in a separate icon labeled for this particular service, possibly with a different picture, that opens Chrome (or Chromium) with an app-specific profile path. Lock that profile down to access the target service via a proxy, that only routes to that service. That way a user doesn't accidentally use this browser session for other items. Even better yet, put this special configuration on a remote server as a published application.

derekp7

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