A list of the most recently updated pages.
Jun 3, 2020 | » | 12. A Fitness Manual for Random Walkers and Other Investors
8 min; updated Jun 6, 2023
Exercise 1: Have a regular savings program. Start investing early because compound interest and time are you greatest resource. When it comes to setting saving accounts' interest rates with regard to the interest rate that banks enjoy from the fed , banks are downwards-flexible and upwards-sticky. Depositors lose the tune of $100b when interest rates are rising. One is better off with special accounts such as Marcus by Goldman Sachs (1.... |
Jun 4, 2023 | » | Star Trek: Year Five (2019 - 2021)
6 min; updated Jun 5, 2023
Star Trek: Year Five. Brandon Easton; Jody Houser; Jim McCann; Collin Kelly; Jackson Lanzing. idwpublishing.com . www.hoopladigital.com . memory-beta.fandom.com . 2019. Star Trek: Year Five (2019 - 2021). Credits: idwpublishing.com Snapshots SPOCK. They Lloyd Zeta hypergiant is the single most massive stellar object ever detected by Starfleet. And according to calculations by both the Vulcan Science Academy and Starfleet, within the next five minutes… it will explode, emitting a high-yield gamma ray burst that will effectively sterilize this entire sector.... |
Mar 3, 2021 | » | LLMs: Stochastic Parrots 🦜 and How (Not) to Use Them
10 min; updated Jun 4, 2023
was written in a period when NLP practitioners are producing bigger (# of parameters; size of training data) language models (LMs), and pushing the top scores on benchmarks. The paper itself was controversial because it led to Gebru being fired from Google, following disagreements with her managers on conditions (withdraw, or remove Google-affiliated authors) for publishing the paper. A lot changed since mid-2021, when I initially wrote this page.... |
May 28, 2023 | » | Relational Model Versus Document Model
7 min; updated May 29, 2023
A relational data model uses tables that consist of rows and columns. A row can be uniquely identified by a table + ID combination. A column entry can reference another row in another table through a shared key. One goal is to avoid duplicating data. However, to answer a real-world query, we end up paying th cost by joining results from multiple tables. That said, with proper indexing and prior research, combining results is pretty fast.... |
May 29, 2023 | » | Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2021 - 2022)
6 min; updated May 29, 2023
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Tom King; Bilquis Evely; Matheus Lopes. www.dc.com . www.hoopladigital.com . dc.fandom.com . 2021. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Credits: dc.com Justice RUTHYE. If a child, which I was at the time despite my many protests to the contrary, could claim the weapon with a simple tug… what was it that prevented Krem from rescuing it? I had meant to ask him, and even had the question on my tongue when Supergirl and I eventually found the filthy man and he was begging for his life with tears in his eyes.... |
May 29, 2023 | » | Query Languages for Data
3 min; updated May 29, 2023
Query Languages for Data If you have a list of animal species and you want to return only the sharks in the list, a relational algebra expression would be \( \text{sharks} = \sigma_{\text{family = “Sharks”}}(\text{animals}) \). SQL queries follow the structure of relational algebra closely: SELECT * FROM animals WHERE family = 'Sharks'; … while an imperative query would be: function getSharks() { let sharks = []; for (let i = 0; i < animals.... |
May 28, 2023 | » | Identity Access Management
6 min; updated May 28, 2023
(Based on the table of contents in https://auth0.com/intro-to-iam) Authentication refers to granting the user (or an application acting on behalf of a user) credentials to access a given resource. I don’t know the difference between SAML, OAuth, and OpenID. I’ve seen OAuth used when granting apps access to other apps, e.g., granting Netlify and OAuth token for accessing a Github repository. Of the authentication methods, I’m familiar with Single-Sign On (SSO), and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).... |
May 27, 2023 | » | East of West (2013 - 2019)
6 min; updated May 27, 2023
East of West. Jonathan Hickman; Nick Dragotta. imagecomics.com . www.hoopladigital.com . imagecomics.fandom.com . 2013. East of West. Credits: imagecomics.com Snapshots The things that divide us are stronger than the things that unite us. Soon, the Union found itself fighting a war on two fronts – righteousness and tyranny, and the resulting quagmire suited their hypocrisy. Conflict drug on until finally reaching a protracted lull a decade later.... |
May 2, 2020 | » | On Learning
11 min; updated May 27, 2023
Mental Attitude While Learning Distinguish Mere Facts From Conclusions or Opinions Discriminate between mere statements of facts, necessary conclusions which follow therefrom, and mere opinions which they seem to render reasonable. There’s no need to perform an experiment to verify that the atomic weight of oxygen is 16. That the sum of the angles of a plane triangle equals two right angles is not a mere fact, but an inevitable truth.... |
Dec 24, 2019 | » | Investing in Kenya
14 min; updated May 7, 2023
Areas to Consider Capital Markets The Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) runs the Central Depository System (CDS) that facilitates holding and trading of shares at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE). A Central Depository Agent (CDA) is a Stockbroker, an Investment Bank, or a Custodian Bank, who has been authorized by the CDSC to open accounts in CDS on behalf of investors. In 2006, an Automatic Trading System was introduced so that orders are matched automatically and executed by stockbrokers on a first-come first-served basis.... |
May 16, 2022 | » | Swamp Thing
18 min; updated Apr 17, 2023
The Swamp Thing. Image from dccomics.com Motifs Love and Loyalty Their master gone, the un-men pause, uncertain of what to do… They must among themselves for a moment – and, at least, a decision is reached. For all their existence, they have followed their master blindly – wherever he might lead… And there seems no good reason to change that situation now. [Liz] He’s kept her safely shut away for years.... |
Apr 16, 2023 | » | Dark Night: A True Batman Story (2016)
6 min; updated Apr 16, 2023
Dark Night: A True Batman Story. Paul Dini; Eduardo Risso. www.dc.com . www.hoopladigital.com . dc.fandom.com . Jun 15, 2016. Dark Night: A True Batman Story (2016). Credits: dc.com Snapshots DINI. Now you’d think that one invisible kid might find comfort in another one’s company. But at that age, the last thing a nothing kid wants to be is lumped in with another nothing.... |
Apr 15, 2023 | » | Catwoman: Lonely City (2021 - 2022)
4 min; updated Apr 16, 2023
Catwoman: Lonely City #1 variant cover by Cliff Chiang Catwoman: Lonely City. Cliff Chiang. www.dc.com . www.hoopladigital.com . batman.fandom.com . 2021. aims to handle a Gotham without Batman. Maybe there’ll be fewer super-villains as there is no Batman. There’s an arms race between villains and heroes. I expect more systemic villains that skirt legality such that they can’t be imprisoned.... |
Apr 15, 2023 | » | The Sheriff of Babylon (2015 - 2016)
9 min; updated Apr 15, 2023
Sheriff of Babylon (2015 - 2016). Credits: dc.com The Sheriff of Babylon. Tom King; Mitch Gerads. www.dc.com . www.hoopladigital.com . dc.fandom.com . 2015. Snapshots KING. I decided to do something set during my time at Baghdad. In terms of goals,I wanted to write something that wasn’t political or didn’t feel like homework, that wasn’t about whether it was good or bad to be there; I just wanted to write about what it was like to be actually there then.... |
Apr 8, 2023 | » | Batman: Year One (1987)
6 min; updated Apr 15, 2023
Batman: Year One. Frank Miller; David Mazzucchelli. www.dc.com . www.hoopladigital.com . dc.fandom.com . 1987. Accessed Apr 8, 2023. Batman: Year One (1987). Credits: dc.com. Miller and Mazzucchelli also did Daredevil: Born Again (1986) together. In 1986, DC embarked on a reinvention of its characters' origin stories to match the times. However, Batman’s origin story didn’t change as it already captured the fears, frustrations and hopes of a readership coping with the realities of 20th-century urban life.... |
Mar 30, 2023 | » | Intro to Design Patterns
3 min; updated Mar 30, 2023
What Are Design Patterns? Arriving at designs that are specific to the problem at hand but general enough to address future problems and requirements is hard. New designers tend to be overwhelmed by the options available. Expert designers do not solve every problem from first principles; they reuse design patterns. I’ve also encountered the “you aren’t gonna need it” (YAGNI) school of thought that aims to minimize writing code that anticipates too far into the future, as such guesses usually don’t pan out.... |
Mar 24, 2023 | » | Superman: Birthright (2003 - 2004)
13 min; updated Mar 25, 2023
Superman: Birthright: The Origin of the Man of Steel. Mark Waid. Image Credits: dc.com Superman: Birthright. Mark Waid; Leinil Francis Yu; Gerry Alanguilan; Dave McCaig. www.dc.com . www.hoopladigital.com . 2003. Accessed Mar 24, 2023. Snapshots JOR-EL. For the thousand orbits, a shining planet circled a celestial font of heat and light. The people of that world grew tired of war so they achieved a united society.... |
Sep 11, 2022 | » | Y: The Last Man
7 min; updated Mar 23, 2023
Issues #18 to #23 didn’t have moments that made me think/pause. Mostly free-flowing; similar to how Monstress is turning out. Maybe the series is tapering out? Or the novelty has faded. All the more impressive that Sandman kept me hooked through +70 issues. Will give it one more shot by reading Book 3 (#24 - #36). Snapshots [Christopher] I don’t get it. I mean, off the record, I understand fighting for equal pay and all that garbage… But I thought you feminists were pacifists, too.... |
May 2, 2020 | » | Health Ethics
3 min; updated Mar 22, 2023
Harden, a liberal behavior geneticist, is publishing a book, “The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality”. Watch this space as it casts doubt on prevailing social justice thesis that environmental factors, and not genetics, influence behavior or social outcomes. Check back in Sept 2022 (one year from now). Faster Human Trials In 1986, AZT (AIDS treatment) showed 1/145 deaths compared to the placebo’s 16/137. 6,000 AIDS patients were offered AZT, helping it get to the public much faster.... |
Sep 17, 2021 | » | The Lathe of Heaven
4 min; updated Mar 22, 2023
Premise: Orr can have “effective” dreams that retroactively change reality for everyone else, except those who are aware of him dreaming. See for a refresher on the plot. Notable Plot Points Prodded by Haber to dream of the end of overpopulation, Orr dreamt of a plague that killed 6B people. But Orr tries to convince himself that the world that was was fiction in his head, so he didn’t really kill anyone.... |