satellites

Even if Anthropic invents a godlike frontier model that can do anything, it feels like they won't have a moat for very long before competitors like DeepSeek offer something almost as good for a fraction of the price.

Cursor was the first AI coding tool I used that had a "wow" factor and got me to switch over from typing out most of my code to having AI write most of it. But then when I used Claude Code for the first time, I never went back to Cursor.

I can see the value in a world where you still want to be a bit more hands-on with your code, but that didn't feel worth paying for anymore. Now if I want to be hands-on I actually prefer a minimalist editor with no AI features at all, while agents run in my terminal.

Japan has had high-speed trains since the 1960's and have had zero passenger fatalities. They must be doing something right.

Even the discs themselves can be works of art now. Even though vinyl discs are less practical than CDs they're a subjectively fun art experience.

No, but I believe there's 4k version of the PS4 that came out towards the end of that console's lifecycle. I'm satisfied with my regular 1080p PS4 though.

Heavy dose of nostalgia. That clicking sound is so satisfying.

Paywalled but I remember hearing about that elsewhere. In a nutshell they started holding kids back if they don't pass the grade. Is that accurate?

Honestly seems smart. Letting kids pass even if they're failing does a disservice to everyone involved: the teachers who are trying to get through to them but can't, and the kids themselves who enter the adult world at a huge disadvantage.

I originally mentioned "grades don't matter" in my comment but removed it cause I wasn't fully informed on how it works.

But wow... that is truly insane and worse than I could have imagined. If I had kids I wouldn't even consider raising them in Oregon schools.

It's sadly true that Oregon schools are underperforming, but the idea that spending money on public land is somehow removing money from schools is an uninformed trope. Public funds are usually earmarked for specific uses; it's not just one big slush fund.

Fun! Just sunk a couple hours into it. Super addicting and deeper than it looks. But the difficulty spike at around layer 30 is insane.

A more apt analogy would be if self-driving cars fully take over, such that most people don't even know how to drive, let alone how an engine works.

Instead of driving you're telling a piece of nondeterministic software where you'd like to go and then watching the result as a passenger.

Probably about $20-30 per hour but varies by city

Haha. Most cities have rehearsal spaces for rent. The more expensive ones let you store your gear there indefinitely, like a storage unit, and cheaper ones let you rent the space hourly but you haul your gear in and out for the day.

I'm near a major city in the US. While live music as an industry is under attack from corporate behemoths like Ticketmaster pricing out small working artists, the local scene for musicians just looking to jam is alive and well. If you live within an hour of any major city in the US you can easily find people to play music with. I think the distinction between live music as a business and live music as a hobby is important; the headlines are talking about the former. (Not to downplay the problems that working musicians are facing. I feel for them).

For tabletop gaming, it definitely depends on the game. There certainly are salty regulars who have been playing their specific game for decades and who lack social grace with newcomers. But there are also nicer folks who enjoy teaching newcomers and building a community. It all comes down to having good event organizers. Sounds like the ones you heard about didn't manage expectations or toxic personalities well, which is a bummer.

To be clear I've absolutely experienced salty cringe behavior from stereotypical neckbeard gamer types at these events. But I've also met really nice people that I ended up hanging out with independently. Each meetup seems to attract a different crowd so I had to try a few before finding a group that was the right vibe for me.

I'm 32 now and met some of my current best friends when I was 26. My parents are 60 and just moved to a new country and within a year they met a dozen new people they now hang out with all the time.

It sounds cliche but it's literally true that there's always time to meet new people no matter what phase of life you're in.

Related: when I was 25 I had a depressive existential crisis and felt like my life was basically over. It's common, and therapy was a lifesaver. If you feel like you might be depressed then talking to someone can really help. Take care of yourself as best you can!