This is a beautiful project but unfortunately the OSM data's out of date -- over a year old at this point. Based on https://github.com/StrandedKitty/streets-gl/issues/182 it seems like this might be abandonware.
Readit Newsjmkb commented on Streets GL – 3D OpenStreetMap streets.gl/#47.35245,8.50... · Posted by u/faebi
jmkb commented on PySkyWiFi: Free stupid wi-fi on long-haul flights robertheaton.com/pyskywif... · Posted by u/oumua_don17
The AT&T bill (IIRC it was all under a single account) for the 3G Kindles was eye-watering. I recall a few byte-shavings yielding something like a million dollars of savings.
Worth it, I reckon. You can't buy this kind of advertising:
jmkb commented on PySkyWiFi: Free stupid wi-fi on long-haul flights robertheaton.com/pyskywif... · Posted by u/oumua_don17
Decades ago, my partner used Google Voice for texting -- really handy, texts just showed up in the gmail inbox, and could be replied to from there. She didn't like cellphones, but usually carried one of the old "Kindle Keyboard" models with unlimited 3G data. The Kindle had simple web browser that could load the low-spec gmail interface, so in essence she had a fully functional SMS device, with no monthly charges.
Notification of incoming texts was the only problem. I jailbroke the thing and started trying to schedule network requests, thinking I'd add some kind of new message counter on the home screen. This proved hard. But it occurred to me that the best place for the counter would be right next to the Kindle's device name, at the top of the screen. And the device name could be updated from her Amazon account.
So I automated a web browser on the home server to log into Amazon and update the device name to "My Kindle (x)" where x was the number of unread Google Voice texts. The Kindle would update the name on the home screen in less than a minute. This worked for years!
(Eventually that Kindle was stolen. I wanted to update its name to something foul but the device disappeared from her account too quickly.)
jmkb commented on Using a 1965 Dutch rotary phone via VoIP raymii.org/s/blog/Using_a... · Posted by u/jandeboevrie
I grew up with rotary phones, and dialing (on a physical dial) really was fun.
Disassembling my first junk phone and playing with the rotary relay was even more fun.
But the best was learning to dial numbers by manually pulsing the switch on the handset cradle. Timing was tricky but luckily there was some leeway. (And it helped that phone numbers were shorter then.)
This has nothing to do with what search engine you're using. It collects data about what you type in the search/URL bar.
I guess it's time to stop searching from the url bar (sorry, "awesomebar") and create a local html file as the startup and new tab page, with search boxes for all your fav engines. Just like the good old days.
Cool amongst peers, sure, but chicks still never paid any attention to me, even after I started carrying around a DTMF tone generator and the knowledge of how to use it... ;)
I found that upgrading mine with a full keypad -- including the ABCD column on the right -- did wonders for my rep. And of course a switch to toggle oscillators, so I could send red box tones.
jmkb commented on NYC Lost 100K Homes in Apartment-to-House Conversions thecity.nyc/housing/2023/... · Posted by u/robg
Just to be clear, I find conversion of viable multifamily buildings into mansions generally repugnant.
The opposite process also happens, though... not just a 3- and 4-story residential buildings demolished for large residential towers (plenty of that in NYC) but single-family brownstones carved up into smaller dwelling units.
The map caption "Conversions Have Erased Some Gains in NYC's Housing Stock" would make a less deceptive headline. The map shows data from a defined timespan ("between 2010 and 2021") and shows that there's not a single community district that hasn't added housing units. The headline, meanwhile, refers to a vague "70-plus years" timeframe. That's long enough that you could probably find hundreds of buildings that have bounced between single- and multi-family several times.
And in fact the underlying research characterizes any building that was ever recorded as multifamily and currently isn't as a "loss." I fear it risks romanticizing the 20th century's cramped tenements.
(And again, just to be clear, I find conversion of viable multifamily buildings into mansions generally repugnant.)
Is he doing it in conjunction with d-Ream drummer and astrophysicist Brian Cox?
Are there any other famous scientist/musicians called Brian?
Brian Eno developed tape-delay audio tech, released a few mobile apps, is a founder of the Long Now Foundation... not a scientist but definitely a bit science-y.
jmkb commented on Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement theverge.com/2023/7/9/237... · Posted by u/Tomte
This is actually quite interesting, as it's drawing a distinction between training material that can be accessed by anybody with a web browser (like anybody's blog), vs. training material that was "illegally-acquired... available in bulk via torrent systems."
I don't think there's any reason why this would be a relevant legal distinction in terms of distributing an LLM -- blog authors weren't giving consent either.
However, I do wonder if there's a legal issue here in using pirated torrents for training. Is there any legal basis for saying fair use permits distributing an LLM trained on copyrighted material, but you have to purchase all the content first to do so legally if it's only available for sale? E.g. training on a blog post is fine because it's freely accessible, but Sarah Silverman's book is not because it's never been made available for free, and you didn't pay for it?
Or do the courts not really care at all how something is made? If you quote a passage from a book in a freelance article you write, nobody ever asks if you purchased the book or can prove you borrowed it from a library or a friend -- versus if you pirated a digital copy.
Eventually, I imagine a new licensing concept will emerge, similar to the idea of music synchronization rights -- maybe call it "training rights." It won't matter whether the text was purchased or pirated -- just like it doesn't matter now if an audio track was purchased or pirated, when it's mixed into in a movie soundtrack.
Talent agencies will negotiate training rights fees in bulk for popular content creators, who will get a small trickle of income from LLM providers, paid by a fee line-itemed into the API cost. Indie creators' training rights will be violated willy-nilly, as they are now. Large for-profit LLMs suspected or proven as training rights violators will be shamed and/or sued. Indie LLMs will go under the radar.
jmkb commented on In 1930, the 22M-pound Indiana Bell building was rotated 90 degrees mastodon.social/@Miriamm/... · Posted by u/rwmj
True, but radians or degrees are general more abstract.
"0.24 degrees per hour" (assuming 12 work hours per day) just doesn't really ring to me... and I have a mechanical engineering degree.
Picture an analog clock and it can be 0.008 hours/hour... about one percent of an hourhand's movement.