First Post!
hey guys look I made a blog isn't this awesome...
Recent Posts
Black Phone 2
Finally saw Black Phone 2 like an hour ago.
Originally the plan was to watch the first movie in preparation for the second then go watch that one when it came out, but after seeing the first movie it kind of got put on the back burner. Really wasn't a fan of the first one if I'm being honest, it just felt too cheesy. But the movies about to get out of theaters so it was time to rip the band-aid off.
Anyways, the movie rocked. Actually jumpscare city. They got me so bad it was humiliating, there were multiple points I was just tensed up waiting for the jumpscare to come and get me.
Easy 4 star movie, enjoyed it a lot. Girlfriend said there were a bunch of homages but idk man it was pretty scary and thats good enough for me.
Chocolate & Coffee Festival
Went to the Chocolate and Coffee festival yesterday (Saturday). It was packed, the parking lot for the expo center was completely full, we had to park in the Northrop Grumman parking lot nearby and walk.
The actual festival was okay, there were a bunch of people and stalls but most of them seemed low-effort. My personal favorite was the Weird Brothers Coffee booth. They had a barrel aged coffee that I tried it was weird as hell. The coffee smelled like whiskey and had a whiskey-ish after taste as well, it was actually really cool. They also had one that they artificially flavor and that one was okay as well, it was served cold though so it was harder for me to gauge the taste.
Chocolate-wise, there really wasn't much. There was this one booth selling chocolate bars they sourced from Nicaragua for like $20 a bar, it tasted like normal chocolate to me so it was pretty ridiculous. I ended up just getting a pack of aeropress filters for my moka pot. Which led to a much different tasting coffee when I tried it, I think it's because the filter makes the pressure cap raise before the actual coffee starts pouring out of the spout but idk.
It was $20 a person to get into the event though, so factoring that in the whole event was just okay. I probably wouldn't go back, but it was fun as a one-time thing.
Thanksgiving + AI
Been like 10 days since my last post, nothing much has happened since. Worked for 4 days then just prepared for my mock trial in my Law and Ethics class.
Thanksgiving in a few days which rocks, my favorite part of the whole thing is getting to eat the leftovers for like a week afterwards. I hate turkey though, maybe it's just my family but it's always so dry and hard to swallow. Big fan of cornbread and cranberry sauce (jelly) though.
Recently I've kind of reached this point with AI where I'm so sick and tired of the fear mongering and the god-like praise I just dgaf anymore. I'm not sure what it was like when other technologies blew up that simplified everything, but man this is something else. The argument that AI can think creatively is dumb imo. As long as these models are trained on pre-existing human creations then it will never be able to stray from the limits we as humans have. Also I like AI as much as the next guy but can we stop saying they'll take our jobs like it's inevitable? If companies were not soulless and actually cared about humanity like they all claim to do, they would view AI not as a cheap alternative to a human worker, but as a tool that strengthens one. Companies like OpenAI or Anthropic trying to subtly hint in their marketing that their products are "Junior level SWE's" are very blatantly trying to de-humanize the workforce and create this rivalry of man v machine. Mark my words this is how the robot uprising starts...
Christmas Break
Did 3 finals, 2 on Monday 1 on Tuesday and they were pretty light.
Studied like it was gonna be D-Day but I had good professors this semester so all the exams were pretty fair, but my robotics class was something else. Took a Robotics course with the hopes of getting to tinker with robotics and get some "real-life" code application practice but day one the professor is like
"Yeah we won't be touching a robot lol did u guys seriously thought we would?"
Like ummmm yes man the course description literally says it takes place in the robotics lab and we use robots, how about you update the description instead? Anyways the course was pretty stupid, he would go off about equations, theorems, and concepts all fundamental to understanding the movement of robots and how to conceptualize them. Which is fine and stuff but we would learn an equation, not even know how it applies or what it does, then move onto another equation with random variables. It was a horrible learning experience. We were also supposed to get 8 assignments, of which we only actually ever got 3, and 2 projects (we got 1). The saving grace was the exams tbh, the midterm and final were super light math wise as long as you knew the formulas. Everyone in the class was stressing but I lowkey destroyed that exam. Pulled out with an A+ on the midterm and am pretty confident I'm getting the same on the final. I think where everyone messed up was trying to understand the concepts and the reason why certain variables were in the formulas. I just opted to read all the slides and then try to do the assignments without any references, once I got it down I just stopped and called it. I really enjoyed the material in the class so I'm pretty disappointed in the experience, but I guess it is what it is.
I'm just glad it's winter break. Pretty boring semester all things considered, I'm really excited for my classes next semester though, especially compilers.
Japan
Just got back from Japan the other day, was a lot different then I remember but I still had fun. The Japanese definitely do model trains right because the prices there were insane and there were a bunch of stores no matter where we went.
I did get homesick after a while though, really couldn't wait to get back and sleep in my own bed, pet the cat, etc. Met some cool people over there though and made some good memories.
The semesters starting in 2 days I think? Wednesday the 21st is my first day of classes I'm pretty sure, still need to double check. Not an insane semester for me though, so I can focus on trying to find a job for after graduation. It's weird to think about how in 6 months I'll be done with school since that's all I've really ever done in my life. But I'm excited for the next step and the adventures and memories that come with the new experiences.
But yeah that's why there were no blog posts for a month, I wasn't in the country. Will update cat photos soon! Happy new year to the .1 people who read this!
Status Update (Samsung, Apple, AI, Chicago)
Hello everyone,
been a while since I've last written a blog post. Not much has really happened since then to warrant one so I haven't really bothered. I've pretty much completely disconnected from social media at this point, I'm taking instagram, twitter, reddit, facebook, everything. It's a lot quieter these days and things happen that I just don't know about all the time. Like the McLaren F1 lego set that apparently has been out?? I was in the mall with the missus and we went to the lego store (because all the fun kids stores are gone and legos the only one left) and saw the set. Priced crazy ($229.99), but it was cool to see. Much nicer than the Ferrari. Still on the job hunt, maintaining an optimistic approach and avoiding the doom & gloom of people saying we're cooked. Only a matter of time until I'm working :)
The Samsung event was a snore, the earbuds were cool but no trade-in really killed the thought of upgrading for me. The built-in privacy screen was very interesting though, I can easily see that becoming a standard The full privacy screen is whatever, who cares. But the blinding only notifications or certain apps is so smart. Engineers at Samsung did a great job with that one.
The Apple event was also a strong step towards affordability. The Macbook Neo really stands on top of other laptops in that price range. I saw a few people complain that they put the iPhone 16 pros chip in the laptop but can we be fr for a second guys. If you saw the spec sheet and thought 'wait they put the iPhone 16 pros chip in the laptop?' then the laptop isn't something you'd buy anyways holy shit. I was at a dinner last night with some family and one of my cousins said 'did you guys hear about the new macbook thats $500? I'm totally getting that shit it is soo cheap'. Yup, that's exactly what everyone other normal person was thinking when it was announced. Shit if that macbook came out when I was starting college I would've pounced no questions asked. Instead I overpayed for an Asus G14 and spent hours tweaking and trimming the system so I could TRY and get 8 hours of battery life. Admittedly, it's lasted me 4 years but damn it could've been a lot easier. The 17e was alright as well, too expensive still if you ask me. Not really a proper successor to the SE's. Magsafe was a nice addition though. I have no comments on the XDR displays, as they are not within the realm of purchasing for me (using a $200 Asus monitor I got on sale from microcenter rn).
I read this article from a professor at the university of San Diego discussing technological singularity and the lead up to it, it was super interesting. It was very much accurate and when I learned it was published in the 90's I was so surprised. Real scary stuff this AI.. If you want my opinion, I think AI is not going to replace humans fully until we get biological super intelligence. I feel like humans have this inherit distrust of things that aren't themselves. For example, if Tesla made a self-driving car that was "fully coded with AI", who the hell is hopping in that car putting it on auto pilot??? Not me. But the assurance of knowing a team of qualified professionals went through a painstaking trial & error process and that each line of code had thought and purpose put into it's placement is much more reassuring. But once we get implanted super intelligence and the human mind is accelerated and enhanced that is when innovations and breakthroughs are going to take place.
I would bet money that that's what the big AI companies know and are pushing for beneath the covers. But unfortunately humans are predatory and greedy by nature. We are not good natured and those that are will not be in the room making decisions. Therefore I'm pretty sure that 2022 was a sort of tipping point for humanity and all of history before then will be regarded as the golden age. But hey I could be completely wrong and life could get fucking awesome in a few years. Who knows!
In happier news, I'm going to Chicago for a few days and am excited for that! I also got a new phone case so that's been cool too.
No cat photos this time, will post more soon though!