Disqus - Latest Comments for shandrew

Re: Your guide to generative AI and ML at AWS re:Invent 2023

shandrew — Sat, 25 Nov 2023 17:20:10 -0000

https://partyrock.aws/u/a/N...

Re: Build AI apps with PartyRock and Amazon Bedrock

shandrew — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 06:07:02 -0000

Different models have different safety bounds--have you tried changing the model to one of the Jurassic ones?

Inspired by Jeff, I wrote more about my experience with PartyRock: https://dev.to/aws-builders...

Re: New – Amazon EC2 M2 Pro Mac Instances Built on Apple Silicon M2 Pro Mac Mini Computers

shandrew — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 17:31:45 -0000

How does Github charge for the minute for its MacOS cloud for Github actions, but EC2 requires a 24-hour minimum?

Re: Amazon S3 Glacier is the Best Place to Archive Your Data – Introducing the S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval Storage Class

shandrew — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 20:11:33 -0000

Broken link: https://aws.amazon.com/stor...

Re: null

shandrew — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:48:17 -0000

Jeff, what's the Lego budget for a Chief Evangelist at AWS?

Re: The Day the Moon Blew Up

shandrew — Thu, 19 May 2016 16:55:23 -0000

Bill, does your videographer get to drive your Porsche 959 (2:18)?

Need more camera help? :)

Re: Craig's Blog: Greenbox

shandrew — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 03:17:19 -0000

They usually only retain 30-60 days of spam/trash, so the potential savings there is low. Also consider that they may do a fair amount of deduplication.

Despite the small savings in power, it's still likely a good idea for storage costs, especially since some folks may actually desire auto-expiration of their email.

Re: Craig's Blog: Greenbox

shandrew — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:09:59 -0000

I don't think consolidation is needed; deleting data will reduce the need for as much future storage, and with the sorts of storage that mail providers use, deleted space can definitely be reused.

As for quantity, let's say that a "greenbox" saved an average of 10 MB (raw) per email user, and such a checkbox were available on gmail/yahoo/hotmail, and somehow you got everyone to sign up.

10 MB/user * 1 Billion users of G/Y/H
large disk in a large storage server is roughly 6W/TB

10 MB/user * 1 Billion users of G/Y/H * 6 W/TB = 60000 W = 60 KW

I doubt these numbers could get to a megawatt, but even if it did, that's a tiny amount worldwide.

More likely you'd want to see the productivity gains from having an auto-expiring mailbox vs the losses from not having old emails around for the rare search, if your goal was maximizing our well-being.

(also, for Gary Chou, a watt is a unit of power, not energy, so over the course of a year, you'd save 1 megawatt-year or 8760 megawatt-hours)

Re: Big Skinny Wallet

shandrew — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 16:33:23 -0000

The big skinny wallets are great! I've used two of them for many years now. I chose the conventional model instead of the one that has two stacks--the two-stack version was too wide for my preferences. The conventional models use the space efficiently as well, taking up a minimal amount of space beyond what your wallet contents use.

Their wallets are very tough and long lasting. The construction quality is excellent for the price. I'd recommend the leather models if you can spare the extra millimeter of thickness.

I've never had a problem with cards or bills falling out. There is a slight texture that keeps things in place but not so much so that they're difficult to remove by hand.

Re: GGS Glass Screen Protector

shandrew — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:38:30 -0000

I use these on some cameras as well, but you should also note the downsides.

- The extra layer of glass causes extra glare which will make the screen more difficult to see in some lighting conditions.
-Many cameras, especially DSLRs, already have a protective layer on top of the LCD that can be inexpensively replaced (find parts on ebay, or have a shop do it for you)

Re: John Carmack coded Quake on a 28-inch 16:9 1080p monitor in 1995

shandrew — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:57:06 -0000

This video resolution wasn't all that unusual back then. Most unix workstations had 18-21" monitors and many could drive 1600x1200 (similar pixel count to 1920x1080). I (as a poor college student then) used a powermac with a video card that drove 1600x1200 with 16-bit color, with a 20" trinitron attached to that, and a cheap monitor attached to the internal video.

Re: The Flirty Blog a Fun and Fearless Lifestyle Resource: The Ultimate Silicon Valley Landmarks Tour for geeky tourists: Part 1

shandrew — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 06:02:05 -0000

A couple more neat spots (but without much to see currently):
On San Antonio Rd (MV), currently a produce stand, is the original location of Shockley Semiconductor, the building where Silicon Valley started.

At the Rooster T Feathers comedy club (SNV) is the location where the first Pong machine was installed.

Re: http://docs.couchbase.org/membase-manual-1.7/membase-bestpractice-addremove.html

shandrew — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:40:23 -0000

"You can read more about Rebalancing Here" links back to the section immediately above.

Re: Upgrading the camera bag…

shandrew — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:49:10 -0000

The 24-70 is notorious for softness and lack of durability:
http://www.lensrentals.com/...

good thing you chose the 24-105!

Re: Thermapen

shandrew — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:55:45 -0000

get a coin, turn the opening, pry out cover, pry out battery, put in new battery, close cover, lock it closed
5 minutes, < $1 replacement cost every couple of years (if you use it a lot)

This applies to my older model; no idea if it's still the same.

Re: http://doodleofboredom.com/post/7678760969

shandrew — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:52:38 -0000

For a while this was my favorite movie poster.

You have infected my brain.
Congratulations.

Re: http://evilmartini.com/post/7946263965

shandrew — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:58:32 -0000

Hello Sir/Madam,
Please provide your contact information. I am interested in investing in your ${TECHNO_BABBLE} -> Goat Entrail conversion code.

Especially if it uses Big Data.

Re: The Science of Sport: Tour de France: Andy throws down the gauntlet

shandrew — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:01:09 -0000

Indeed, the main tactical fault was thinking that Contador would be in top form. If we had the 2010 Contador, he and Evans could have shared the load and cut down most of Andy's lead. I don't think anyone expected Contador to be this weak after the attacks he was pushing on the prior stages.

Frank Schleck appeared as if he had taken the day off during his post-race interview. I wonder if he could be a winner tomorrow.

Re: DNA Lounge: 1-Jul-2011 (Fri) Wherein we go wide-screen.

shandrew — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:14:00 -0000

Make the big icons and their descriptions clickable; they should go to the menu.

Re: Feathery Friendly Sunday: Northern Mockingbird

shandrew — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:45:30 -0000

Mockingbirds aren't so bad until they decide the multi-tune car alarm is the most alluring mating call.

Re: How To Sanitize A Hard Drive

shandrew — Sun, 29 May 2011 20:22:55 -0000

The best way to sanitize is to start out correctly. If this sort of thing is critical for you, you should be encrypting the entire drive in the first place. If drive is encrypted to begin with, you can make the data on the drive useless simply by deleting the key several times over.

The new mid-range Intel SSDs encrypt their data by default!

Re: Dance Photography (Steps 5-9)

shandrew — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:55:26 -0000

On digital cameras color sensitivity for the red, green, and blue channels varies a lot more than on film. If you blow out/clip one of RGB in part of the photo, you get bad colors, and it's very difficult to fix the error. So, it's critical to look at the three color histograms, especially under strongly colored theater lighting. On many cameras the single histogram only tells you what's going on in one channel!

Re: HTTPS Is More Secure, So Why Isn’t the Web Using It?

shandrew — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:58:28 -0000

HTTPS without authentication would solve most of these problems. In other words, the connection would be encrypted, but the site's certificate would not be validated with cert authorities. In this case:

- Small websites wouldn't need to buy a cert
- Small websites wouldn't need a separate IP address or use SNI

In this case, just as with plain HTTP, browsers would not be verifying that the site has a valid cert, but would at least have an encrypted connection from browser to server. From there it's simply a matter of the browser displaying to the user a third type of connection that is more safe than plain HTTP but less safe than HTTPS with a CA-signed cert (currently browsers display scary warnings for unsigned/self-signed certs that make it look like they are more dangerous than plain HTTP).

On the performance end, if properly implemented and if low-grade encryption is sufficient, HTTPS can use as little as 2% additional CPU and network resources; see the Gmail SSL presentation from Velocity 2010.

Re: 25' Cable Auger

shandrew — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:26:58 -0000

A plunger and this sort of auger are the tools I recommend for home plumbing use (no dangerous chemicals, please!); I wrote up some instructions here: http://shandrew.livejournal...

My only complaint is that on mine (similar to the one pictured) it is a bit difficult to start the auger back into the reel if you've removed it entirely.

There is indeed potential to break things with this, or even a plunger, so you need to be cautious and know a good plumber. Some houses have corroding pipes and improper joints between pipes which might get knocked apart by the pressure.

Finally, to prevent clogs, keep all hair and grease out of the drains!

Re: A Lunar New Year Song

shandrew — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:10:20 -0000

That is awesome! I sang it.

Koum Si!