oddsockmachine

That's a wonderful video, thanks for sharing

I'm dealing with the same nonsense. I get LLM-generated reviews of my work, documents, and plans which are not grounded in reality or nuance. Regularly have to explain why the AI is wrong. I was told I should run my docs through the LLM to make them read better. But they're not even being read by humans at this point.

Observations so far:

- "micro" level code is adequate. A new feature typically works as expected, and code is well documented. But macro level everything's wacky: no architectural consideration, lots of duplication, dead end paths, dead code. Nobody ever took the time to understand the context surrounding a change and figure out the most appropriate way to integrate it.

- there's no consideration for infrastructure, or how the code is run (my world). Last week we ddos'd ourselves after someone implemented a 1/s poll that runs on every open browser tab, worsened when the frontend's reconnection logic fired 1/s with no exponential backoff.

- zero critical thinking... First thing everyone did during that incident was to ask their LLM of choice why the platform was down. Investigating by hand (and my findings thereof) was dismissed, because surely Claude knows best.

I'm too old for this stuff.

I'm already seeing this in the company I recently joined: 80-90% of code is generated/prompted. Big PRs, very little review or oversight. Absolutely nobody considering long-term architecture (and IMO nobody capable of such). In general, there's very little critical thinking involved at any stage, just throw error messages back into the LLM, rinse and repeat. I'm hoping there's a world where people with skills are useful in getting these projects back on track, but perhaps as a society we're learning to accept this reduction in quality.

Hi, it appears that the email address you listed on the careers page (hello@) is undeliverable. Is there another way to get in touch?

Your point about orphaned records resonates with me, but for a much simpler (or stupider) "use case". I took a domestic flight earlier this year and foolishly showed my British passport as ID. I had returned to the country the day before, it just happened to be in my pocket. My green card was clipped to the front of it. After checking the identification page, the TSA agent flipped through the pages of entry stamps, visas, etc. There, they found all my old US work visas, which have long since expired. The agent was convinced that, since I have expired visas, I must be here illegally and would have to "come with [her]". I pointed out that I have a valid green card, so I'm here legally, and that of course every visa in the book has expired because - well that's what they do. It took 30 minutes, multiple staff being called over, supervisors, etc before I was allowed to continue. At every step, the presence of the expired visas was a mark against me. Never got an apology or recognition that they were wrong, just eventually told I could be on my way. I truly fear that overzealous thugs will use any "evidence" to prove their presuppositions, like your orphaned records. (I've naturalized since then, and carry my passport card around religiously, for all the good it may do...)

I tried launching something similar 15 years ago, admittedly as a noob to both tech and business. Here's hoping you succeed, it's sorely needed!

This is wonderful! I'm working on a large spatial audio art installation for Burning Man this year (https://oddsockmachine.github.io/ and https://www.instagram.com/oddsockmachine/). In mine, most of the audio moves around the space, but I'd love to borrow concepts from this and have the listener move through the audio field. (That'll have to go on the biiig backlog for version 2!)

Your writing is very reminiscent of Aldo Leopold's in 'A Sand County Almanac' (which is an equal delight to read)

I think you mean Cunningham's Law...

Also the museum in Alameda CA, which does a good job of walking you through the history of the ban.

I'd love to hear more about your boat!

Might not count as the great plains, but Mark Sheppard's New Forest Farm in Wisconsin is a good demonstration of a similar approach in a different context.

https://newforestfarm.us/about/

SF Bicycle Coalition is suggesting that it's fine: https://twitter.com/sfbike/status/1239658920718643200

If you implement "middle out" grasshopper rubbing, you can triple production

"enjoy acting sustainably long-term, so they spread that joy and sustainability to others"

This sounds great, can't wait to check it out. After taking a Permaculture Design Course, I fell in love with the ideal of living a better, more "luxurious" life that has not only a lower impact on the planet, but a positive impact. I'm on my way down that path, but still figuring out how to make it replicable.

Thanks, I'll see if I can try some in person

Do you have a source for any good bone conduction headphones? I have a damaged eardrum that stops me hearing low frequencies.

Recently tried a demonstration at SF's Exploratorium which involved biting a metal bar, and the result was incredible!

Most bone conduction headphones I find when searching (eg AfterShokz) appear to rest against the bones around the ear, so I'm not sure if they're as effective.

Thanks for sharing this, it's great to see your process.

I'm working on something vaguely related, a grid-based synth-controller/sequencer with a bunch of i2c shift registers and laser cut hardware. I've been thinking about building a pressure-sensitive hex-layout keyboard next, you've given me a bunch of ideas and inspiration.

Without giving away too many spoilers, you might enjoy "The Expanse" books/series

Exposed earth typically emits carbon dioxide. It's not "emit" in the way a breathing mammal would, more that the carbon in the organic material is oxidized at a greater rate because it's exposed to the atmosphere.

Before deforestation, carbon would be pulled from the atmosphere by trees, turned into plant material, fall to the ground as dead leaves or whole dead trunks and be sequestered into the soil as they broke down and were buried.

Also c90adventures - a very low budget but hilarious series of long distance rides.

Samsara - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsara_(2011_film) A non-narrative film, with stunning visuals. I feel it shows some of the best and worst of humanity, but in a non-pushy or judgemental way. It just leaves you to make your own conclusions.

I was thinking more the first Iron Man movie

This happened to me when it was time to move on from my first real job. A recruiter, who I spoke to briefly and had no interest in moving forward with, contacted my current manager and said he'd help fill my role after I left. My manager had no idea I was looking to leave at that point. After confirming with me that I was indeed planning to leave, the manager wished me well, then ensured neither the recruiter nor their company would ever work with one of the largest engineering companies in Europe. That felt righteous and worked out for the best, but could really have left me in the lurch.

Exactly what I needed, thank you!

I'm in the early stages of setting up a co-operative consultancy; I've found many people (eg potential partners) responsive to such an idea. The only downside has been needing to present as a traditional, hierarchical organization to potential clients.

Non Violent Communication (by Marshall Rosenberg) provides some good scaffolding to ensure people can communicate in such a way that their criticism isn't taken as hurtful. Useful in many situations in life, not just company meetings.

Thanks for recommending this. I saw this in the cinema and it was the only time I've ever felt the need to walk out of a film, it's that powerful/horrific.

I experienced this recently. Crashed my bike, and broke my wrists. Had about a month where I could only type with one finger at a time, or gently use a touchpad. I thought it would be fine, since I could take my time and think things through fully in my head before typing the code. Instead, I found it so difficult - as if I could only think as quickly as I could type.