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benjbrooks commented on Ask HN: Share your personal website    · Posted by u/susam
benjbrooks commented on Human-agent collaboration for long-running agents   actively.ai/blog/human-ag... · Posted by u/gtmtg
benjbrooks · 5 months ago
disclosure: i'm an eng on this team

sales is a really interesting breeding ground for the first wave of vertical agents:

- success metrics are well-defined (did we get an email response? did we book a meeting? did we move a deal down the funnel?)

- enterprise sales is about getting a reasonably well-defined process working at scale. sales reps have to deeply understand enablement materials (what problems does my employer solve? what other companies have those problems?), qualify prospects relentlessly, and talk to lots of potential buyers.

- it's knowledge work (writing emails, preparing documents, communicating with counterparts over video call, etc.) that is mostly about aggregating information at scale. the really good sellers take rigorous notes and ask thoughtful questions.

Assuming they have the right information in context (hard work but not complex), LLMs are quite good at this work. And we think we're taking a pretty unique position in that we're not trying to replace top-of-funnel email drafting (this is somewhat trivial & also not that useful), we're making it significantly easier for sellers to find & utilize the information that enables them to do their jobs effectively.

benjbrooks commented on Best practices for dealing with human waste in the great outdoors   theconversation.com/how-t... · Posted by u/rntn
benjbrooks · 6 months ago
I summited Mt Whitney last fall, a trail that 1) is notoriously hard to get a permit for and 2) requires all waste to be packed out via Wag Bags.

I was surprised to see a dozen or so wag bags tossed to the side of the trail over the course of my trip. You’d think that visitors would either poop on the ground with no regard for others or pack out their waste, not take all the effort to bring the bag but leave the remnants. It really left a sour taste in my mouth (and smell in my nostrils).

benjbrooks commented on Getting AI to write good SQL   cloud.google.com/blog/pro... · Posted by u/richards
benjbrooks · 10 months ago
o3 has yet to fail me on complex, multi-table queries. Not a fan of BigQuery’s Gemini integration.
benjbrooks commented on Launch HN: mrge.io (YC X25) – Cursor for code review    · Posted by u/pomarie
benjbrooks · a year ago
would love to use this but def need soc2 to justify it to our security folks
benjbrooks commented on How to bike across the country   brooks.team/posts/how-to-... · Posted by u/benjbrooks
contingencies · a year ago
Route wise, did you deviate at all from the suggested route? Never felt the call of a fork in the road? I find value in small roads (less traffic) where feasible. Basically riding with wildlife rather than cars.

Rhythm wise, super surprised you did the whole thing without stopping! I used to do a half day (pre-dawn to late morning) then chillax at a place and explore. This gave time to recover, take in the area, balance cycling with walking, and time to maybe wash some clothes which means carrying less. Rest days can be best days. That's totally nuts you did the whole thing without stopping!

I'd be sketchy on those Utah areas too - no shade! Probably would have camped out at the lookout there, etc. Of course, not feasible if you're running out of water.

I'm getting old now (43) but have to mention one thing I never properly appreciated in my earlier travels and regret missing was the biology. iNaturalist is friggin' awesome. It has never been easier to get in to biology, and it adds a deeply fascinating dimension to travel. Looking at those instant pot meals, foraging would be one application!

Re. Diet, I was veg when I did most of my cycle trips too. Used to acquire bags of raw husked peanuts as easy protein. On later trips (Romania) deeply appreciated eating a steak!

So... any ideas for next trip? Europe? New Zealand? Around Australia? Back across Canada from "Europe"? https://maps.app.goo.gl/URwtvz9wxWHWYEb18

Good luck, don't be afraid to slow down, and keep it up. Once you have kids it becomes difficult to continue.

benjbrooks · a year ago
I was trying my best to finish quickly, initially in hopes of making the NYC Marathon. The "best" way to do the trip is probably to take everything in and have a few zero days, potentially bake in some time for wandering. I think part of me was worried that if I stopped, I wouldn't have the gumption to start up again.

Sounds like you had a great experience riding too! Did you go across the U.S.?

I think I'll pause the bike tour travel for the foreseeable future. I think I like running better :)

benjbrooks commented on How to bike across the country   brooks.team/posts/how-to-... · Posted by u/benjbrooks
RankingMember · a year ago
Hey man, nice one! Only critique of the write-up is I'm sure you have more pics and would love to see them interspersed or in a gallery at the end!
benjbrooks · a year ago
check out the map! https://map.brooks.team
benjbrooks commented on How to bike across the country   brooks.team/posts/how-to-... · Posted by u/benjbrooks
rd · a year ago
I'd love to do this one day! Curious - after reading, the part about wildlife scares me. Did you ever run into genuinely worrying situations with wildlife? Hearing about Black widow spiders alone makes me want to only do this with a van following behind me to sleep in at night!
benjbrooks · a year ago
i was a little worried about bears for the night or two i was in bear country but my fear of cars and weather was far more top of mind
benjbrooks commented on How to bike across the country   brooks.team/posts/how-to-... · Posted by u/benjbrooks
sour-taste · a year ago
Congrats! It was super interesting to read about the western express, when I did this a few years ago I did the astoria route: https://blaise.bike/

Did you look into different tires? 8 flats seems like a lot. I got exactly one running schwalbe marathon plus tires.

Overall what was your favorite part of the trip?

benjbrooks · a year ago
i didn't look into different tires. my hypothesis is that most of my flats can be attributed to all the weight being on the back tire.

favorite part was jumping into extended conversations with strangers. from a scenery perspective, coming down into Lake Tahoe from Eldorado was just absolutely stunning. same when I went past Bryce Canyon.

u/benjbrooks

KarmaCake day110January 24, 2023
About
former founder @ directai. runner.

contact: benjamin.james.brooks@gmail.com

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