hashmush (u/hashmush)

hashmush commented on AI is different antirez.com/news/155... · Posted by u/grep_it

sebmellen · a month ago

In a sense, LLMs emergently figured out the deep structure of language before we did, and that’s the most remarkable thing about them.

hashmush · a month ago

I dunno, it seems you have figured it out too, probably before LLMs?

I'd say all speakers of all languages have figured it out and your statement is quite confusing, at least to me.

hashmush commented on Curl: We still have not seen a valid security report done with AI help linkedin.com/posts/daniel... · Posted by u/indigodaddy

jacksnipe · 4 months ago

Something that really frustrates me about interacting with (some) people who use AI a lot is that they will often tell me things that start “I asked ChatGPT and it said…” stop it!!! If the chatbot taught you something and you understood it, explain it to me. If you didn’t understand or didn’t trust it, then keep it to yourself!

hashmush · 4 months ago

As much as I'm also annoyed by that phrase, is it really any different from:

- I had to Google it...

- According to a StackOverflow answer...

- Person X told me about this nice trick...

- etc.

Stating your sources should surely not be a bad thing, no?

hashmush commented on Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI kapwing.com/blog/what-its... · Posted by u/justswim

rahimnathwani · 5 months ago

Sorry, I wrote this in a hurry. Of course I would have included an ORDER BY clause.

hashmush · 5 months ago

The one without that clause was still fun to think about, so no harm done!

hashmush commented on Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI kapwing.com/blog/what-its... · Posted by u/justswim

rahimnathwani · 5 months ago

Me, too.

But, sadly, OP is right.

When doing a technical screen I'll sometimes pick a skill the person claims to have, and ask them the simplest possible non-trivial question I can ask.

For example, let's say you list 'SQL' as one of the skills on your CV. I might show you a SQL statement like:

  SELECT id, start_date FROM employees;

(EDIT: I meant SELECT id, start_date FROM employees ORDER BY id;)

I'll tell you id is an auto-increment field, and ask whether the result would show the newest employee at the top or the bottom.

You have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. If you get it wrong, I'll tell you the answer. Getting it wrong wouldn't disqualify you.

Then I'll ask you how to get it in the opposite order.

I am expecting you to immediately say 'add DESC'. If you can't answer that question in under 2 seconds, you probably haven't written enough SQL to justify listing it as a skill on your CV.

You would be surprised at how many people fail simple tests just like this one.

(I won't use this particular one again.)

hashmush · 5 months ago

> You have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.

What is the right answer? Doesn't it depend on the DB? Postgres at least shows rows ordered by last updated time (simplified, I know).

I would be fine if it was "... near the top or bottom" though.

(Or maybe this comment is the correct answer?)

hashmush commented on Show HN: Seven39, a social media app that is only open for 3 hours every evening seven39.com... · Posted by u/mklyons

dailykoder · 6 months ago

Fun fact: If you don't open a social media account, then you will most likely not spend hours on their apps. Sounds really fucking crazy, but it's true. I tested it myself!

hashmush · 6 months ago

You know what? I've noticed the same thing with eating snacks etc., if you don't buy any, you won't eat any. It's amazing!

hashmush commented on Show HN: I made a site to tell the time in corporate corporate.watch... · Posted by u/steadycourse

TheSmoke · 7 months ago

every week I search at least once “which week is it” — kudos :)

hashmush · 7 months ago

Uhm? The site doesn't show what week it is..? It's currently week 9 of 2025, but the site shows W7 of Q1. (Maybe that's what you meant? Searching for the current week in the quarter?)

hashmush commented on When your last name is Null, nothing works wsj.com/lifestyle/null-la... · Posted by u/impish9208

kstrauser · 7 months ago

Hey, that's also relevant to me! I've checked my local laws, and where I live, your legal name is the one you consistently present yourself as. If you're Joe Frank Smith, and you go by Frank everywhere, that's your legal name.

I've gotten so tired of having this argument. Inevitably some clerk will insist on calling me by my first name, "you know, your legal name". No. My middle name is my legal name. It's what my mom, sisters, wife, friends, teachers, coworkers, doctors, and everyone else call me. My first name is an aka at best, except the only people who insist on using it are ones wrong about the law, so I'm not even really "known as" it.

I once closed a bank account 10 minutes after opening it because they insisted that my debit card be printed as "Joe Smith", not "Frank Smith". I told them I'd absolutely refuse to touch it because that's not my name. I find it interesting that it's mostly local orgs who are a pain in the neck about being wrong about this. You'd think a small local bank would know local law better than a huge multi-national, but the giant bank I opened a business account with was totally fine putting Frank Smith on my accounts. Go figure.

(Somewhat related: That's made me super sympathetic to trans people who want to be known as something other than what's written on their birth certificate. Yeah, I get it. It's nails on a chalkboard when someone calls me Joe, so if you don't want people calling you Tammy anymore, I'm on your side.)

hashmush · 7 months ago

Sweden has a sensible solution to this (im sure others do too). When you register a name you specify which part is the tilltalsnamn (lit. name of adress). In your case, the names would be disambiguated as Joe Frank Smith and Joe Frank Smith.

Not all systems use that piece of information, but most do.

hashmush commented on Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 elitefourum.com/t/many-of... · Posted by u/grep_it

ipaddr · 7 months ago

Having the lights on during the day doesn't help.

Having data on every single thing someone does would be handy for all future crimes. Why don't we push for that level of surveillance. Because we are trying to balance with privacy.

hashmush · 7 months ago

It absolutely helps. It tells everyone that the car is on!

Anecdote: coming from a country where this is mandatory, visiting a country where it's not, I almost got run over because I assumed a car was parked when I glanced left before crossing the road.

Of course, might not prove that one or the other is safer, but it did show me how often I subconsciously use headlights as an indicator of off (=> stationary => safe) vs. on (=> potentially moving => potentially a "threat")