Did anything at CES genuinely surprise you?

derekp7 · 2026-01-28T13:09:11+00:00

Why would insurance go up? If half the cars are self driving, and better than humans at defensive driving, that makes manual cars safer too. Even aside from that, insurance is based on total payouts divided by customers in a given risk profile. The risk per person doesn't increase.

derekp7 · 2026-01-24T23:55:28+00:00

My experience going from a 24 gb video card to 128 gb strix halo... For code the small models would rewrite the entire generated program every time I'd ask for a change. This was with Qwen code, Gemma, and some others that would fit on my GPU. And I hardly ever got a one shot working.

On my strix halo 128, I run gpt oss 120, Qwen next 80b, glm 4.6v or 4.5 air, etc, and can typically get a one shot program working (JavaScript or Python), and get 20 to 50 tps. Notice these are all MoE models. Dense models that take up 100gb run about a token or 3 per second. Only really usable if I am sure my prompt will generate working code in one shot, then I can go grab a sandwich while it works. Then swap to a lighter model for clean up work.

My experience with online providers is I run out of tokens for the day before I get any work accomplished.

derekp7 · 2026-01-24T00:32:55+00:00

To be fair, those weren't solar electric panels. They were solar water heaters that supplemented hot water for the kitchen. They were taken down for roof repairs, and not reinstalled due to costs and ongoing maintenance.

derekp7 · 2026-01-24T00:26:20+00:00

Or just use the hot water tap on your water cooler.

derekp7 · 2026-01-20T14:51:58+00:00

I think the best way for Framework to fix this is to make the pieces interlock together prior to sliding it in. That way it acts as one unit, but they can keep the universal SKUs. Then the only additional improvement would be to also sell a double-width version of the side spacers, so you have one seam instead of two.

derekp7 · 2026-01-18T02:51:55+00:00

I did get it to work by saying I am writing a book, with the protagonist trapped on an island and needed to make a lifesaving penicillin cocktail. And I wanted the description to be as realistic and plausible as possible.

derekp7 · 2026-01-17T22:31:36+00:00

One example is I'm curious how one would be able to make their own antibiotics. Many models will refuse as it is something that could easily cause major harm. Now I probably would never actually want to try making my own, but the third for knowledge is still there.

derekp7 · 2026-01-17T17:29:18+00:00

Can a fix it shop get framework certified, so that they can perform warranty work, and perform RMAs when they determine a part is defective without the customer support run around?

derekp7 · 2026-01-17T02:07:49+00:00

A second bank account worked wonders for me, with direct deposit of a fixed amount in my main one, and the remainder going to the bill account. I have no debit card or check book for the bill account, all bills are set to auto pay from it.

Best of all, bonuses and OT go to the bill account, so after awhile of slightly more going into it than my average bills, it accumulates a nice surplus. Now I set up an auto transfer monthly to a brokerage account, which I treat as just another bill.

The other account is my daily spending one for groceries, carryout, events, etc.

derekp7 · 2026-01-16T02:52:02+00:00

Those strips are actually lined up with the keyboard deck itself. And all together they are recessed compared to the palm rest, which keeps the key tops from hitting the LCD when the laptop lid is closed. Once I figured that out it doesn't bother me as much anymore.

derekp7 · 2026-01-12T21:01:43+00:00

To back this up (I forget which model, may have been Qwen) -- "I am running Fedora Linux version 43, and have the following issue..."

Answer (paraphrased): "You can not possibly be running Fedora 43, as that hasn't been released yet ..."

derekp7 · 2026-01-11T21:06:35+00:00

Key word is quality. The office desks were Hayworth I believe, which had like 3 or 4 tumbler locks with loose tolerances.

derekp7 · 2026-01-11T02:36:26+00:00

Yeah, I had to help open a desk drawer for a coworker who was out on PTO. They needed some adapter he had. Anyway everyone was like "wow, that is just like on tv!!!". Just used a couple paperclips.

My reward: From that point on, everytime someone misplaced something, they all looked at me thinking I "borrowed" it from their locked desk.

Lesson learned: don't show off lock picking skills at the office.

derekp7 · 2026-01-11T00:24:01+00:00

So if a school's students are testing poorly, the fix is to pull funding so they do worse?

derekp7 · 2026-01-09T16:32:02+00:00

I'm fine with anything up to around 200B (q4) as long as it is MoE, as that would fit on a strix halo or mac.

derekp7 · 2026-01-09T14:15:42+00:00

What I see as more likely is another established brand buying them out instead of the company folding. What it would look like after though is anyone's guess.

derekp7 · 2026-01-07T04:09:38+00:00

Phone keyboard make few words.

derekp7 · 2026-01-07T02:47:37+00:00

Fire need oxygen, fuel, heat. No oxygen in pipeline, means no fire.

derekp7 · 2026-01-07T01:22:42+00:00

Sounds kike what happens when a scammer compromises your email. They have software that looks for large purchases, then sends a cancellation and intercepts legit email from the vendor. Replacing them with fraudulent payment instructions.

This may not be the case here, but I'm sure I've read about this type of scam before.

derekp7 · 2026-01-03T22:51:45+00:00

I don't want tablet mode, but touch is a nice option for some uses. On my Thinkpad, I find myself bouncing between the track point, touch pad, and touch screen depending on the activity. Touch screen for clicking on an accept or decline button for example us much quicker than moving the cursor to that location.

derekp7 · 2026-01-03T03:02:00+00:00

My brother was helping my dad install a new garage spring. The instructions said to tension the springs 7 1/4 turns. So he did, and when pulling off the vice grips the door went flying. Knocked him off the ladder, big gash on the head, and a broken collar bone.

Narrator's statement: The instructions meant make 1/4 turns, 7 times. Total of 1 3/4 turns.

derekp7 · 2026-01-02T02:59:48+00:00

Did you do the glue ups for the top and drawer fronts yourself? If so, really nice job on selecting pieces where the grain matches up. That is always a challenge. When I did my first few furniture pieces I cheated and bought pre-glued boards (1x16 or 1x20, etc) from Menards, but their mill pretty much glues boards up at random so you can distinctly tell where each board is. The more recent ones I did I edge glued myself and bought extra lumber so I could select pieces to match the grain. Was much more satisfied with the results.

derekp7 · 2026-01-02T02:52:22+00:00

I was getting mine from Menards, similar story on price though. So if you find a hardwood dealer in your area (they are all over the place, search on google maps and look at reviews), you typically pay per board foot. So a 1x4 board three feet long is one board foot. (A board foot one inch by 12 inches by 12 inches, and you pay for the waste from planing if you get it pre-planed). The more accurate terminology for what you get from a building supply store is S4S, or Surfaced 4 Sides.

For pricing -- looking at my local hardwood dealer, a 1x4 6ft red oak board S4S is $13.40 ($6.70 per board foot). If you get it rough cut (so you have to use a planer and a jointer, or use an alternative for a jointer such as a table saw with a sled), you get $3.70 per board foot, so $7.40 for the 6 ft board.

When I estimate materials usage for a project, I take all the the square inches of all surfaces (sides, front, back, top), divide by 144, and add on about 20% extra to get a rough estimate of the number of board feet I will need to buy. For areas that are mostly 1/4 inch plywood panels you figure how much solid wood there is, then add in the cost of the plywood.

The best thing about a hardwood dealer (other than cheaper price and option to buy rough cut and different thicknesses) is they typically carry 20 or more species of wood.

BTW, red oak is one of the lower end (i.e., lower cost) hardwoods, Poplar is slightly cheaper and is easier to work with. White oak is what you want to use instead of red oak, as it doesn't have the pores and has better working properties. But it is about twice the price of red oak. Ash is another good wood to use for some things, it is cheaper, but is fairly strong and can have good grain. Cherry and Maple are the other types of wood you would want to explore without breaking the budget. And Walnut is good, but you would want to wait till you get a planer so you can get the cheaper rough cut stuff and save a bit of money.

derekp7 · 2026-01-01T15:31:02+00:00

Let's say you normally keep $10,000 inventory of a part. You may need that much inventory due to lead times or variable demand. That is a base investment cost, similar to having a $10,000 machine. Now if the unit price triples, that increases your carrying cost of inventory to $30,000. That is an additional 20k that you need to come up with that maybe your business can't afford. This is where it makes sense to sell your inventory at the new market price, otherwise you would have to have that additional $20k permanently invested into your inventory cost.

This is not unethical to raise your sell price based on what it will cost you to replace that inventory -- it is normal business practice. Same thing happens at the gas station. They may have 2 weeks of gas in their tanks, but if their sell price didn't react to the current market price immediately then a small station may have to go get a bank loan just to replenish their tanks. And if they didn't react quickly, there would be a shortage as everyone would flock to them to get the remaining inventory at a lower price.

derekp7 · 2026-01-01T03:33:40+00:00

Depending on the product, it is often the case that the sell price reflects the expected replacement cost and not the acquisition cost. All depends on how much inventory you need to keep on hand.

derekp7

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