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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: November 4th, 2023

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  • Pretty amazing. In a realm where rigorous training often overshadows the joy of sports, Courtney Dauwalter stands as a symbol of unconventional success, proving that embracing life’s richness can coexist with athletic excellence.

    She doesn’t appear to take herself too seriously. The article mentions that she was a biology teacher previously - which I assume isn’t the whole story. I’m interested in what kind of base fitness she had, e.g., was she also a D1 track athlete (or something comparable?) previously?

    Doubly impressive and surprising if she went from no athletic background to ultra marathons, but I doubt that’s the case.

    Regardless, winning three marquee 100 mi races in a single year is bewildering.

    I’ve done 100 milers and tbh had no desire to do another 100 mile race in the same year. Doing 3 at a world class level is bananas.


  • I have a 40% ortholinear kb because it’s more ergonomic. My fingers are never have to travel more than 2 keys away from home row. There are enough built in layers that I never feel like I’m missing a key. All keys are remappable. Beyond that I think it looks neat - folks always ask about it when they see it. When using a mouse and keyboard, my arms are kept at a reasonable distance apart (overall hands are closer together), so I can work or game longer without feeling like my shoulders or back are strained.


  • ChatGPT user Chase Whiteside noticed that his account history contained private conversations that were not his own. These included login credentials and details from a pharmacy employee troubleshooting an application. OpenAI investigated and believes Whiteside’s account was compromised by an external group accessing a pool of identities. This underscores the lack of security features on ChatGPT like two-factor authentication. Previous incidents have shown ChatGPT can also divulge private information if included in its training data. An interesting aspect was the candid language used by the pharmacy employee to express frustration with the poor security of the application they were troubleshooting. This highlighted the risk of including private details in conversations with AI systems.




  • This article discusses reactions from some Fox News commentators to the possibility of Taylor Swift endorsing President Biden in the 2024 election. Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, and others on Fox News urged Swift not to get involved in politics. Some speculated that Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce was engineered by Democrats. Hannity drew a connection between Swift and George Soros, noting Soros’ son helped fund the sale of Swift’s song catalog. However, not all at Fox News were negative - sports analyst Jay Glazer praised Swift as a “genius” and saw nothing problematic about her or the NFL. In summary, several Fox News personalities strongly discouraged Swift from supporting Biden, while at least one commentator admired her musical talents.


  • Second video summary:

    The video discusses how disposable vapes reflect the priorities of contemporary capitalism. It explores how industries are increasingly designing products and services to cultivate addiction and eliminate consumer choice. This includes tactics like the razor and blade model, restrictive patents, and subscription services that lock customers into long-term relationships. While governments regulate some addictive products, they often fail to curb exploitative practices that undermine competition. Disposable vapes exemplify how corporations have optimized business models around addiction and behavioral manipulation.

    Something interesting this passage highlights is how companies in diverse industries from vaping to software to insulin have adopted similar strategies originally used by industries like tobacco and gambling. These strategies are designed to establish captive customer bases through addiction, lack of alternatives, and high switching costs.


  • First video summary: The video discusses vaping and analyzes its health effects compared to smoking cigarettes. It explains how vapes work on a technical level by heating liquid that contains nicotine. Nicotine is highly addictive as it affects the brain’s reward system and causes a rapid release of dopamine. Newer vapes use nicotine salts which allow for higher nicotine levels without throat irritation, potentially increasing addiction risks. While vaping may be less harmful than smoking, it still delivers nicotine which can have long term health impacts and is particularly concerning among youth. An interesting point was how nicotine salts allowed vapes to satisfy nicotine cravings more effectively like cigarettes, fueling their rise in popularity.