SideburnsOfDoom (u/SideburnsOfDoom)

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Climbing catfish filmed scaling waterfalls science.org/content/artic... · Posted by u/MaysonL

neom · 2 days ago

They seem to all be fish that live in fairly fast flowing waters, my guess was they are able to use rocks+suction system to hold in place for stuff, they probably don't even really have a concept they are climbing a wall, it could just feel like a particularly intense rapid?

SideburnsOfDoom · 2 days ago

I would say that these are not sharply defined categories, there is more a like a smooth continuum from "fast-flowing stream" to "rapids" to "small waterfall" etc.

And this is a good environment in which evolution could progressively improve rock-holding and climbing ability.

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Climbing catfish filmed scaling waterfalls science.org/content/artic... · Posted by u/MaysonL

pvaldes · 2 days ago

1) There are species of small "catfishes" (on Asia or Australia if I remember correctly) known to climb waterfalls in rainforests. We are talking about > 100m long fully vertical waterfalls.

2) In fact, they aren't catfishes. Belong to a big family of mainly marine fishes called gobies. Totally different orders. Should be named climbing gobies.

3) They do it for the same reason as Salmons do: to reproduce in freshwater.

4) But unlike salmons they don't swim or jump. They climb the slippery rock wall like a freestyle climber, using the suction cups in their belly that gobies have (pelvic fins transformed), and their other fins and tail to propel

5) Somebody filmed those fishes climbing.

SideburnsOfDoom · 2 days ago

The article says "Rochedo, Brazil" so South American rainforests, in this case.

These species are "restricted to fresh water in South America" source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudopimelodidae#Distribution

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Climbing catfish filmed scaling waterfalls science.org/content/artic... · Posted by u/MaysonL

DecentShoes · 2 days ago

Can you provide the bracketing??

SideburnsOfDoom · 2 days ago

A whole lot of "climbing catfish" were filmed in the act of scaling a waterfall.

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Climbing catfish filmed scaling waterfalls science.org/content/artic... · Posted by u/MaysonL

SideburnsOfDoom · 2 days ago

The original title is plural: "Thousands of climbing catfish filmed scaling waterfalls"

The word "catfish" can be singular or plural. I read it as "A catfish was filmed...". But there sure are a lot of those little fish.

SideburnsOfDoom commented on What is going on right now? catskull.net/what-the-hel... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

HankStallone · 6 days ago

It's annoying when it apologizes for a "misunderstanding" when it was just plain wrong about something. What would be wrong with it just saying, "I was wrong because LLMs are what they are, and sometimes we get things very wrong"?

Kinda funny example: The other day I asked Grok what a "grandparent" comment is on HN. It said it's the "initial comment" in a thread. Not coincidentally, that was the same answer I found in a reddit post that was the first result when I searched for the same thing on DuckDuckGo, but I was pretty sure that was wrong.

So I gave Grok an example: "If A is the initial comment, and B is a reply to A, and C a reply to B, and D a reply to C, and E a reply to D, which is the grandparent of C?" Then it got it right without any trouble. So then I asked: But you just said it's the initial comment, which is A. What's the deal? And then it went into the usual song and dance about how it misunderstood and was super-sorry, and then ran through the whole explanation again of how it's really C and I was very smart for catching that.

I'd rather it just said, "Oops, I got it wrong the first time because I crapped out the first thing that matched in my training data, and that happened to be bad data. That's just how I work; don't take anything for granted."

SideburnsOfDoom · 6 days ago

> I'd rather it just said ...

Yes, but why would it? "Oops, I got it wrong the first time because I crapped out the first thing that matched in my training data" isn't in the training data. Yet.

So it can't come out of the LLM: There's no actual introspection going on, on any of these rounds. Just using training data.

SideburnsOfDoom commented on What is going on right now? catskull.net/what-the-hel... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

dartharva · 6 days ago

What's going on is that your org's management is filled with morons. This is not in your control, and there is nothing you can do about it other than moving out.

SideburnsOfDoom · 6 days ago

Sadly, this time the nonsense is colonising orgs that were too sensible to fall for the last round of tech-scamming (Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, NTFs etc).

I don't want to move again and it's a terrible time to try, partly because of this nonsense. So where we are.

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Tiny microbe challenges the definition of cellular life nautil.us/a-rogue-new-lif... · Posted by u/jnord

kitd · 8 days ago

So, from my amateur perspective, Sukunaarchaeum + mitochondria = bacterium?

SideburnsOfDoom · 8 days ago

Well, no, because (from the article) "Archaea are similar to bacteria, but distinct in their structure, genetics, and metabolism."

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Modern CI is too complex and misdirected (2021) gregoryszorc.com/blog/202... · Posted by u/thundergolfer

qwertytyyuu · 8 days ago

Wait a CI isn't supposed to be a build system that also runs tests?

SideburnsOfDoom · 8 days ago

> a CI isn't supposed to be a build system?

No. "Continuous Integration" is the practice of frequently merging changes to main. In this sense, "integration" means to take my changes and combine them with other recent changes.

A build and test system like those described in this article is a way to make CI safe and fast. It's not CI itself, it's just the enabling automation: the pre-merge checks and the post-merge artefact creation.

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Modern CI is too complex and misdirected (2021) gregoryszorc.com/blog/202... · Posted by u/thundergolfer

SideburnsOfDoom · 8 days ago

The issue that I see is that "Continuous integration" is the practice of frequently merging to main.

Continuous: do it often, daily or more often

Integration: merging changes to main

He's talking about build tools, which are a _support system_ for actual CI, but are not a substitute for it. These systems allow you to Continuously integrate, quickly and safely. But they aren't the thing itself. Using them without frequent merges to main is common, but isn't CI. It's branch maintenance.

Yes, semantic drift is a thing, but you won't get the actual benefits of the actual practice if you do something else.

If you want to talk "misdirected CI", start there.

SideburnsOfDoom commented on Lab-grown salmon hits the menu smithsonianmag.com/smart-... · Posted by u/bookmtn

dzhiurgis · 9 days ago

Pizza at home is my pet peeve. Lots of work working the dough, lots of waiting, super messy. Needs expensive oven and tons of electricity. All of this work to get one of the cheapest meal available.

Now compare to a steak - add salt, 5 minutes on pan, rest. Better than $50 steak at most restaurants.

SideburnsOfDoom · 9 days ago

I get that pizza at home is a whole hobby, yes. And if you don't want to do it, it's all of those things that you say.

1) My pizza oven runs on gas not electricity. Not that this is better environmentally. Some run on wood.

2) I'm getting better results than I can get in a local pizza place. Cheap pizza is not great pizza. Home pizza making has a learning curve, it's more of a niche thing than e.g. cooking a steak or burger.

For grandparent post, Pizza is of course not a "dessert", it's a savoury main course. Full of white flour, cheese fats, and salt. So also not health food.