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Ask HN: What did you learn last week?

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Re: Ask HN: What did you learn last week?

#21
I created 3 projects with Javascript. Maintained my C language project. Learn about infrastructure, aws and kubernetes. Continued my fintech and stock trading learning. Experienced an entrepreneur challenge with focus that is required to continue evolving a project, while facing people challenges.

Discussed with friends regarding economics.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn last week?

#22
post #9

I learned that Stable Diffusion can read! It's called a "typographic attack". https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/08/typograph... For example, this site lets you create variations on an image that you upload: https://47725.gradio.app/ Feed it an image of text (type text in a paint program and save as PNG), and it seems to understand some words. https://i.imgur.com/aXELmHo.png

For posterity, since it will die ~soon; that gradio app is a live version of this repo: https://github.com/justinpinkney/stable-diffusion

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn last week?

#23
I learned that my dad isn't my father. He didn't even know he wasn't my father. My mom passed away a few years ago and took this secret to the grave with her.

I took an Ancestry.com DNA to try to answer the question of: "what, in my ancestry, if anything, results in me not being able to tan well at all?" (compared to my mother/father). In doing so, I was also greeted with another surprise: my mother happened to do one of these tests herself! She showed up on my list of matches. This made it really easy to determine who all was on her side via the "shared matches" feature — you can see a list of names/usernames of people who have opted in to this feature and share some DNA with you.

This meant that it was very easy to distinguish who was on my (biological) fathers side.

I'm cool with it, though it's an itch I'm insatiably trying to scratch. Oddly enough, someone who I share a considerable amount of DNA with has an uncle who worked in the same town as my mother did the year I was conceived — otherwise, the entire family has no relation to the region my mom hung around in that year (or any prior year). However, for all my fruitful digging (and I'm usually very good at the finding-people-on-internet part), I cannot turn up any solid email address or phone number for the guy. Coincidentally, I can see his old law office from my patio, and he lives a few blocks away from my partner.

World is weird.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn last week?

#28
post #24

Pumkin pie is not made of pumpkin, rather butter nut squash… why???

This isn't strictly true...you can use either. Libby's for example is 100% pumpkin.

I think a lot of people use butternut squash because it's sweeter, more available, and has a nice texture.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn last week?

#29
Stereo Reconstruction

It's the algorithm(s) for how to compute a depth map when you have images from two cameras spaced some distance apart (for e.g., our eyes). It's gotten really good recently and it's fascinating on a technical level. Check out this YT video/playlist if interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hr6xpOU-uw

Also, great question! Should do it every week.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn last week?

#30
I learned not to trust any home services contractors' word. Have been left out to dry by 3 of them in one week after confirming appointments a day or two before.

On the flipside, I learned how not to paint walls, i.e. learned doing it the wrong way.

I learned a sump-pump advertised to pump 500 gal water per hour will take 3-4 days to pump the muck out of my swimming pool in 4-5 days, i,.e. not to trust those ratings.

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