30 December 2024

Yeah, this is a common occurrence in the learning process of using LLMs to code. It's not that simple.  You still have to have coding skills.

We don't need fewer engineers in the AI era - we need engineers who can debug AI-generated code.

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I've been reading about the H-1B visa controversy going on. Here's a thread that shows why the H-1B visa system needs to be overhauled and reduced.  On the other hand, tech CEOs may be facing this when looking for new hires:
So if you were a young American looking for a job in tech today, would you want to make sacrifices to be an expert only to get mediocre pay? How about if you were a bright immigrant from a poor country, and this was a way to make more money than you ever could back home, and even send remittances?  The difference in commitment and dedication to the job is why tech CEOs want H-1B hires. I'm convinced Americans could do the job, and they should be properly compensated.  And it's clear that Americans do want the job – they're just being ignored.

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29 December 2024

Apple analyzes your photos in the Photos app. This is to provide you with a feature you didn't ask for. You can turn Enhanced Visual Search off, however.

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Cancer risk can actually decreased past the age of 80. This is because older cells express NUPR1 protein, which induces a functional iron deficiency.  This restricts cell growth, even cancerous growth.  NUPR1 may be present to prevent ferroptosis, which is iron-induced programmed cell death.  The interactions are complex, and this has implications for proposed therapies that are dependent on leveraging ferroptosis.

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Can LLMs Accurately Recall the Bible.  This is a nice lesson in how well you can rely on LLMs to look up information. If you can't trust it on the Bible, how can you trust it for other information?
And here is an app (Chorus) that lets you compare the responses of a few of the top LLMs, to see how closely they agree.  Sometimes the errors are glaring. 

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Some Chinese scientists identified proteins associated with brain aging. Interestingly, levels of these proteins seems to peak at three distinct ages: 57, 70, 78 years. However, the protein elevations decrease back to baseline after surging. If the spikes reflecting brain aging, wouldn't you expect the levels to stay elevated?  Could these protein level changes indicate something else? 

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28 December 2024

We knew that AI was going to derail efforts to get tech companies to net zero on their carbon footprint.  But it's also decreasing the quality of power by introducing harmonic distortion in the AC current.  This could cause problems for some older appliances.  Proximity to data centers is a major factor, and this is important since Hillsboro is going to be site of at least one data center.

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Mathematician Reveals Strange New Enigmas for Time Travelers.  Apparently if you are able to travel back in time, your memories will be erased when you return to the present. A lot of the predictions about what will happen with time travel seems like speculation.

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Geoffrey Hinton ups his prediction that AI will render humanity extinct in the next thirty years. I personally don't think so. We're already seeing some degradation of AI quality.  Google has inadvertently revealed some progress with Jarvis, its next LLM model.  They've done poor jobs lately that I'm not that excited about what they've done. Gemini has been a disappointment.

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But there is an AI song maker. I haven't given it a whirl, but I think this will be good mainly for making political short videos by the meme makers. Nothing likely to generate catchy tunes that make the top 100, but at least you own the rights.

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A new federal report shows that Oregon's homelessness rate increased by 18% compared with the year before.  It's interesting when you compare Vermont and New Hampshire, virtually the same region of the U.S. Vermont has a relatively low homelessness rate compared with Oregon, but NH is doing much better per capita, and the contrast is conspicuous especially compared with New York, Connecticut, and Maine.
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26 December 2024

The REM Speed Stick is a new way for the cool kids do urban travel.  It is not am anti-perspirant.

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Not just me, thenAcademic writing is indeed getting harder to read. All those scientists are using those five-dollar words.

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Just what we need – more ways for people to become mentally ill. Psilocybin usage is associated with higher risk of mental illness.  It's "rapidly growing in popularity" and sparking a “psychedelic renaissance”.  Oh boy, we have enough crazies as it is.

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Star Trek Discovery has been declared non-canon. I never watched it, and don't really care. There's really no Star Trek in it anymore. It looks like a Disney-approved science-fiction knock-off populated by token DEI characters.

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25 December 2024

Merry Christmas!

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Not goodOne-third of all adults don't know how to delete personal data on their devices, and give them up for recycling with identifying data intact.

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There's a charter school in Arizona that will be taught 100% by AI.  Humans will be around just to handle troubleshooting issues with the computers, but not to supplement teaching. Some are saying that's it likely to be better than existing public school education.

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Tired of those crappy Forbes.com product reviews that always shows up near the top of searches? Apparently Forbes is, too, so they're firing the freelancers who write it.

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Is Apple still squabbling with NVIDIA or are they collaborating? Hard to tell in this article.  It would be nice if they collaborated, although competition is still good.

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AI has had its razzle-dazzle phase. Now developers are looking to pursue more meaningful AI pursuits, than just creating eye-candy and toys for entertainment.  About time.

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Could dark matter be fermions pushed into the fifth dimension?  It's an interesting theory and that's what some are positing.

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You can recreate Windows famous Pipes screen saver in your browser.  Nostalgia!

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The Black Spatula Project. This is great. It's based on the wacko Seattle activist/scientist who published a study on a now-delisted journal, stating that black plastic spatulas were toxic, only to have the conclusion based on a math error. Nonetheless, she insisted that despite the mistake, the study's conclusion "still stands".  Huh?  Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Now a group wants to debunk other fake-science studies, and out them.

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How about that – all sugoi's today!

24 December 2024

Happy Christmas Eve!

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Everyone's talking about Vertex's new non-opioid pain medication, VX-548 (suzetrigine), which prevent pain signals from reaching the thalamus. It doesn't eliminate pain, only cuts it by half.  It's action is on peripheral nerves.

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Drinking >4 cups of caffeinated coffee daily was inversely associated with HNC, oral cavity, and oropharyngeal cancers.
Drinking 3–4 cups of caffeinated coffee was inversely associated with hypopharyngeal cancer.
Drinking decaffeinated coffee and drinking between >0 to <1 cup daily were inversely associated with oral cavity cancer.
Drinking tea was inversely associated with hypopharyngeal cancer.
Daily tea consumption of >0 to ≤1 cup was inversely associated with HNC and hypopharyngeal cancer.
but drinking >1 cup was associated with laryngeal cancer.
That last line – whuuut????  These kinds of results make me think the whole thing is kinda bogus. Whatever, I'm not changing my habits.

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Did quantum physicists discover negative time? Well, you have to read the article. It's how you define it.

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Two disturbing healthcare insurance postings:
The whole industry needs an overhaul. How do these guys sleep at night?

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Saturn is losing its rings.  But don't worry – it will take about 300 million years for them to disappear.

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22 December 2024

If ChatGPT produces AI-generated code for your app, who does it really belong to?  Copyright is rapidly becoming meaningless in the age of generative AI. If you want to be a creative, you're going to have to do it for some other reason than making money. It'll be harder to claim copyright of visual art. Creative writing will still be difficult to profit from, since AI can't yet create compelling stories people will want to read. But code is going to be difficult to protect, after many years of filling StackExchange, StackOverflow and Reddit with free content.

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The journal that published the rubbish black kitchen utensil study has been delisted from Web of Science. They should delist the authors, too.  The lead author is from Seattle. Super embarrassing for a Chinese researcher to make a glaring math error, no?

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Lithocholic acid is a sirtuin activator, and slows down some aspects of aging. Seems to do it be AMPK activation. Lithocholic acid worked in nematodes, fruit flies and aging mice

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78% of Japanese feel anxious about something.  Ehh, don't we all?

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Lilly's Zepbound is now approved for obstructive sleep apnea.  Great! When you lose weight, your throat doesn't close off at night.

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What is it about Dems and the need to build mass transit systems?  Portland wanted to con Vancouver to pay for a light rail extension.  Vancouver said no. Who feels safe riding these things anymore? And I wouldn't trust sitting down on one of the seats. You might get scabies, or find a new smelly stain on your clothes when you stand up again. Remember, keep Portland crap in Portland.

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Biden abandons mass student debt cancellation plans. This made my day. This would have fed inflation, and transferred someone else's debt onto the rest of us.

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Washington senator Noel Frame did a public service by revealing the Dem party's plans to raise taxes. She details how to use Animal Farm-speak to advance their cause.

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Cal Tech scientists created a synthetic neural network inside cells, that enable binary classification.  Paper here. The synthetic protein acts as a perceptron model, which is why they called in perceptein

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Heart muscle can regenerate. Scientists need to figure out why it only happens to some people and not all. And how to trigger it to happen.

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The FDA is halting trials of Moderna's RSV mRNA vaccine. They should have done this for the COVID-19 vax, too, and they still can. But they won't. Shows you how politicized science is now.

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21 December 2024

100% clinical complete response in rectal cancer? Wow, this caught my eye.  But it's dostarlimab, and it's for dMMR+ rectal cancer, and unfortunately, only a small minority are eligible for this treatment.  But still, if you're one of them, this is great!

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Britannica didn't fade away with the demise of the paper encyclopedia.  It transformed itself into an AI education company.  Intel needs a leader like this, who can foresee the future and adapt accordingly.

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a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/537315/how-to-make-your-tech-devices-batteries-last-longer" target="_blank">How to make your batteries last longer. Don't let them stay depleted, and don't let them stay plugged-in fully charged. Aim to keep them around the middle.

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21 Portland restaurants closed last year.  All those jobs lost. The tax base reduced. More unemployment burden. And the collateral damage to nearby businesses, who won't see as much traffic. But not to worry – we have a new crop of Democrats who will solve the problem, I'm sure.

But here's what thriving in the Pacific Northwest:
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Microplastics are everywhere. Now you must watch out for polymer tea bags. Ugh. The price of convenience.

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Well, you reap what you sowIn Seattle, it's hard to find primary care physicians now.  Gee, I wonder why. No don't blame the AMA or AAFP.  They not the main factor in medical school or medical residency enrollment. For many smart folks, it's just not worth the sacrifice you must make, now that most physicians are salaried employees and not in control of medicine anymore. This is thanks to Obamacare, which radically changed the economics of medicine. And, no, AI isn't going to replace human physicians. Not by a longshot.

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