ybalkind (u/ybalkind)

ybalkind commented on I genuinely don't understand why some people are still bullish about LLMs twitter.com/skdh/status/1... · Posted by u/ksec

ybalkind · 9 months ago

I feel like we'll laugh at posts like this in 5 years. It's not inaccurate in any way, it just misses the wood for the trees. Any new technology is always worse in some ways. Smart phones still have much worse battery life and are harder to type on than Blackberries. But imagine not understanding why people are bullish about Smartphones.

It's 100x easier to see how LLM's change everything. It takes very little vision to see what an advancement they are. I don't understand how you can NOT be bullish about LLM's (whether you happen to like them or not is a different question).

ybalkind commented on 75% of the time we spend with our kids in our lifetime will be spent by age 12 1000hoursoutside.com/blog... · Posted by u/gmays

WheatMillington · 3 years ago

I don't think I'm necessarily having the same experience as you.... my advice to people who aren't sure if they want kids, is DON'T. It's bloody hard, you sacrifice A LOT. Don't have kids unless you're very sure it's what you want.

I have 2 kids under 6 and I feel like I just don't have any time for any of my hobbies any more. I leave for work first thing, come home in the afternoon, and haven't had any time for myself until the kids are down at 7.30, and I'm utterly wasted. Weekends are just chaos, yeah we can divide and conquer but that only goes so far.

As for enjoying hanging around with kids.... I don't know what age that starts, but I'm 5 years and counting.

Honestly I'm exhausted, and I'm not gonna lie, I have some regret about having kids when I see the child free people around me, and how they're spending their 30s.

ybalkind · 3 years ago

My experience of having kids is very similar to yours. But I will say that I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. My kids are now 8 and 4, no more diapers or waking up at night. My wife and I are getting better at managing parenting responsibilities and lifts. My life is getting more balanced again. And I'm feeling a shift closer to what the comment above yours describes, although I'm not entirely there yet. To be fair though we have 4 grandparents to help plus a nannie so not representative of most people.

ybalkind commented on Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working alexanderell.is/posts/msc... · Posted by u/otras

wiz21c · 4 years ago

I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly supportive)) it's a totally different story. If you want to be able to learn the courses correctly (that is, you don't just try to barely pass the courses, you look for A grades), then you're in for a ride. Your brain has slowed down by a factor of at least 2. All in all, where a student spend 3 days on a task (praticals, studying), you spend about 8. So it's very difficult to do that with a full time job. Such an effort makes me tired very quickly.

But, as the author said, doing something you choose, something that makes a better you, something where what you do is valued (instead of "soft skills") is extremely enjoyable, although exhausting and stressful... I'd do it again, but at maximum 35 years old :-)

ybalkind · 4 years ago

When did you start noticing this? I'm 39 and dont feel this at all. I have less motivation and energy for lots of things. But that stems from a jadedness and pickiness. It's different to what you describe. I feel my mental faculties are as strong as ever, and my gut feel is that they're not declining anytime soon.

ybalkind commented on Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency wired.com/story/signal-mo... · Posted by u/josh2600

PragmaticPulp · 5 years ago

The founding organization owns 85% of the total market cap of a coin? That should be raising red flags for everyone involved.

There is no valid reason for the vast majority of what is supposedly a currency to be owned by the company that created it. Imagine if PayPal launched but required everyone to transact in fractional shares of PayPal to get anything done. Oh and by the way, those shares are majority owned by the founders, but they’ll sell you some so you can send them to your friends.

This is ridiculous.

ybalkind · 5 years ago

Can you spell out why is that fundamentally bad? I'm asking in good faith not to be oppositional, apologies if its a stupid question. But if you were buying shares in a company it would not matter if most the shares were held by the company (as long as there is enough liquidity to sell your shares in future). Why is it different with the currency? I get that its making the founders rich so perhaps they have greedy intentions, but why does this inherently undermine the validity of the currency?

ybalkind commented on Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative baserow.io/... · Posted by u/punnerud

ybalkind · 5 years ago

Another alternative (not self-hosted or open source) is Fibery.io More powerful than Airtable, and has some Notion-like capabilities.

ybalkind commented on RSS as a Facebook alternative thenewleafjournal.com/aro... · Posted by u/dgrin91

ybalkind · 5 years ago

RSS being awesome is the one thing that everyone on HN seems to agree about. Every couple of years I give it a try but for some reason I'm struggling to get into it. Something prevents me from checking my Feedly feed. Seems uninteresting even though I populated with sources I like.

Can someone set out a "getting started" guide? Like does it help to have good categorisation? Are there some tricks that make a big difference (adding email newsletters perhaps?)? Is there a recommended App or workflow that brings out the best in RSS?

ybalkind commented on I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money bennettnotes.com/post/my-... · Posted by u/_davebennett

ybalkind · 5 years ago

Easy for everyone to point out that its unhealthy to be money focused. But that's missing the point. The author is clearly aware of this problem. The question is how to get out of this cycle..

ybalkind commented on Tab, Coca-Cola’s Diet-Soda Pioneer and a ’70s Icon, Is Going Away wsj.com/articles/tab-coca... · Posted by u/uptown

ybalkind · 5 years ago

I just drank a Tab. Can still on my desk https://imgur.com/a/hFo0Gl7

I'm in South Africa.. I generally chose it over the other diet Cola drinks.

ybalkind commented on Zoom Call with Israelis Lands a Gaza Peace Activist in Jail nytimes.com/2020/04/10/wo... · Posted by u/psim1

onyva · 6 years ago

You want to know what happens to Israelis who are “suspected” of talking to Palestinians, or foreigners who arrive or leave Israel and are suspected of having done that?

ybalkind · 6 years ago

Yes, I want to know. Please enlighten and provide sources?