Simon Farnsworth
@simon.farnz.org.uk
It's not just new construction that costs on a geographic basis; it's also ongoing maintenance.
Chances of weather damage per km per year do not change with the user count, for example.
Chances of weather damage per km per year do not change with the user count, for example.
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
It's not just new construction that costs on a geographic basis; it's also ongoing maintenance.
Chances of weather damage per km per year do not change with the user count, for example.
Chances of weather damage per km per year do not change with the user count, for example.
Geographic coverage requirements; the cost of fulfilling that need is set by the area covered, not the number of people in that area.
This affects telecoms, electricity and water.
This affects telecoms, electricity and water.
November 10, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Geographic coverage requirements; the cost of fulfilling that need is set by the area covered, not the number of people in that area.
This affects telecoms, electricity and water.
This affects telecoms, electricity and water.
When you say "IG debt', do you mean investment grade debt, or Instagram debt?
Both expansions fit in this case :-(
Both expansions fit in this case :-(
November 9, 2025 at 6:59 PM
When you say "IG debt', do you mean investment grade debt, or Instagram debt?
Both expansions fit in this case :-(
Both expansions fit in this case :-(
Deutsche Bank here isn't an investor; it's lending money to investors, and if the DCs become low-value, the risk is that the investors go bankrupt, and DB loses the repayment stream.
November 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Deutsche Bank here isn't an investor; it's lending money to investors, and if the DCs become low-value, the risk is that the investors go bankrupt, and DB loses the repayment stream.
The problem financially is that you'd be taking a huge hit if you do that. As AI infrastructure, it's worth (say) $100m/year; as a server farm, it's worth $1m/year, and as electricity generation, it's worth $10k/year (since DCs import a lot of electricity as well).
November 6, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The problem financially is that you'd be taking a huge hit if you do that. As AI infrastructure, it's worth (say) $100m/year; as a server farm, it's worth $1m/year, and as electricity generation, it's worth $10k/year (since DCs import a lot of electricity as well).
Even then, DNSSEC works on delegated trust, not zero trust. You trust the root, who delegates trust to TLD operators, who delegate trust onwards.
November 6, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Even then, DNSSEC works on delegated trust, not zero trust. You trust the root, who delegates trust to TLD operators, who delegate trust onwards.
If it's not a compiler-detected break, then it's all just maintainer vibes, and wanting coolness from your peeps.
What counts as major/minor/patch when not compiler-detected is a case of what the maintainer feels is major/minor/patch
What counts as major/minor/patch when not compiler-detected is a case of what the maintainer feels is major/minor/patch
November 4, 2025 at 8:12 AM
If it's not a compiler-detected break, then it's all just maintainer vibes, and wanting coolness from your peeps.
What counts as major/minor/patch when not compiler-detected is a case of what the maintainer feels is major/minor/patch
What counts as major/minor/patch when not compiler-detected is a case of what the maintainer feels is major/minor/patch
Some of them do, yes. After all, we had two generations on the hop where your war record (from either big war) made you worthy of deference, and they've had nothing to replace that.
November 2, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Some of them do, yes. After all, we had two generations on the hop where your war record (from either big war) made you worthy of deference, and they've had nothing to replace that.
And to continue the analogy, you have people saying that you can't count chords as "music" because you need more than one string to play a chord.
Meanwhile, harpists exist.
Meanwhile, harpists exist.
November 1, 2025 at 3:24 PM
And to continue the analogy, you have people saying that you can't count chords as "music" because you need more than one string to play a chord.
Meanwhile, harpists exist.
Meanwhile, harpists exist.
I know one who got awful GCSE grades - highest was a D in Maths. Not stupid at all, just severely dyslexic and disinclined to pay attention at school because he knew he'd do badly at exams and coursework.
Still a clever man who's great at his job, though - and uses spreadsheets to handle the maths.
Still a clever man who's great at his job, though - and uses spreadsheets to handle the maths.
October 31, 2025 at 10:40 AM
I know one who got awful GCSE grades - highest was a D in Maths. Not stupid at all, just severely dyslexic and disinclined to pay attention at school because he knew he'd do badly at exams and coursework.
Still a clever man who's great at his job, though - and uses spreadsheets to handle the maths.
Still a clever man who's great at his job, though - and uses spreadsheets to handle the maths.
When the incentive is to reduce this year's spend, you train people to save £10k this year at the cost of £100k next year.
And it's even better if you succeed in saving £1k from this year's budget, making someone else spend an extra £100k next year - no pain, all gain for you.
And it's even better if you succeed in saving £1k from this year's budget, making someone else spend an extra £100k next year - no pain, all gain for you.
October 30, 2025 at 10:00 AM
When the incentive is to reduce this year's spend, you train people to save £10k this year at the cost of £100k next year.
And it's even better if you succeed in saving £1k from this year's budget, making someone else spend an extra £100k next year - no pain, all gain for you.
And it's even better if you succeed in saving £1k from this year's budget, making someone else spend an extra £100k next year - no pain, all gain for you.
It leads, of course, to long term pain. You saved money for the first 20 years of someone's life - but they're now a drain on the state for 50 years, instead of a net contributor.
Worked OK when the limiting factor was number of workers; hasn't worked for a long time now.
Worked OK when the limiting factor was number of workers; hasn't worked for a long time now.
October 30, 2025 at 9:43 AM
It leads, of course, to long term pain. You saved money for the first 20 years of someone's life - but they're now a drain on the state for 50 years, instead of a net contributor.
Worked OK when the limiting factor was number of workers; hasn't worked for a long time now.
Worked OK when the limiting factor was number of workers; hasn't worked for a long time now.
It doesn't help that Parliament tends not to look much beyond the next General Election, while the cut services have to be looked at over 10 or even 25 years to see the savings.
Short term cut, long term costs that are someone else's problem.
Short term cut, long term costs that are someone else's problem.
October 30, 2025 at 9:03 AM
It doesn't help that Parliament tends not to look much beyond the next General Election, while the cut services have to be looked at over 10 or even 25 years to see the savings.
Short term cut, long term costs that are someone else's problem.
Short term cut, long term costs that are someone else's problem.
Nah - the gas fitters, plumbers and sparkles I know weren't stupid at school and aren't stupid now. Just not GCSE and A-Level shaped clever.
October 29, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Nah - the gas fitters, plumbers and sparkles I know weren't stupid at school and aren't stupid now. Just not GCSE and A-Level shaped clever.
And with the cover of "but I was thinking about the ordinary person in XXX seeing such an unrepresentative sample of their locality", to provide a fig leaf over the overt racism.
October 28, 2025 at 11:48 AM
And with the cover of "but I was thinking about the ordinary person in XXX seeing such an unrepresentative sample of their locality", to provide a fig leaf over the overt racism.
It's Librum, solidus, denarius, just translated from Latin to English.
October 28, 2025 at 8:58 AM
It's Librum, solidus, denarius, just translated from Latin to English.
Hard thing about "representation" in the UK; we are unbalanced, so representative for Carlisle is way too white for Manchester, and representative for London is too non-white for Salisbury.
You can't be representative of day-to-day life for one person without being unrepresentative for another.
You can't be representative of day-to-day life for one person without being unrepresentative for another.
October 28, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Hard thing about "representation" in the UK; we are unbalanced, so representative for Carlisle is way too white for Manchester, and representative for London is too non-white for Salisbury.
You can't be representative of day-to-day life for one person without being unrepresentative for another.
You can't be representative of day-to-day life for one person without being unrepresentative for another.
Catering at events for my previous job had a neat trick; the spread out on the serving counter was 25% vegan, 25% veggie, 50% meat. But it was replenished continuously as it was eaten, and the supplies were balanced to what we actually ate - with a continuous flow of vegan food.
October 26, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Catering at events for my previous job had a neat trick; the spread out on the serving counter was 25% vegan, 25% veggie, 50% meat. But it was replenished continuously as it was eaten, and the supplies were balanced to what we actually ate - with a continuous flow of vegan food.
Add in the uneven distribution of non-whites, so that an accurate representation of big cities is much browner than many people's local experience, and you're set for indefinite culture wars where there is no "right" representation of British people.
October 22, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Add in the uneven distribution of non-whites, so that an accurate representation of big cities is much browner than many people's local experience, and you're set for indefinite culture wars where there is no "right" representation of British people.
None of the "practical skills" in my CS degree have been useful since.
But I still apply the stuff I learnt in theoretical classes, and the thinking techniques day-to-day in my job as a software engineer.
Someone who did well in an English degree would be able to do the same, too.
But I still apply the stuff I learnt in theoretical classes, and the thinking techniques day-to-day in my job as a software engineer.
Someone who did well in an English degree would be able to do the same, too.
October 16, 2025 at 9:21 AM
None of the "practical skills" in my CS degree have been useful since.
But I still apply the stuff I learnt in theoretical classes, and the thinking techniques day-to-day in my job as a software engineer.
Someone who did well in an English degree would be able to do the same, too.
But I still apply the stuff I learnt in theoretical classes, and the thinking techniques day-to-day in my job as a software engineer.
Someone who did well in an English degree would be able to do the same, too.
I have. All of their papers explain how the LLM works; the thing that is hard is why that specific computation produces a useful output as assessed by humans.
October 5, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I have. All of their papers explain how the LLM works; the thing that is hard is why that specific computation produces a useful output as assessed by humans.
That article says that we know how they work, we just don't understand why what they do is useful, and hence we don't know how to apply focused changes to an LLM to make it useful in more areas.
October 5, 2025 at 9:16 AM
That article says that we know how they work, we just don't understand why what they do is useful, and hence we don't know how to apply focused changes to an LLM to make it useful in more areas.
4. (seen today) Like in the example below, nobody is willing to correct the public when our "gut feelings" or "impression of the situation" are disconnected from reality.
Fine if it's about "what beer do I drink", not good when it's about "what policy should the country have".
Fine if it's about "what beer do I drink", not good when it's about "what policy should the country have".
Impression so far (and NB that I already thought this in a fuzzy way and I’m *still* a bit stunned by the gap): the public discussion is SO far off the reality as to be useless (and, inevitably, damaging) even before you look at its glaring racism.
So that’s horrible.
So that’s horrible.
October 2, 2025 at 8:36 AM
4. (seen today) Like in the example below, nobody is willing to correct the public when our "gut feelings" or "impression of the situation" are disconnected from reality.
Fine if it's about "what beer do I drink", not good when it's about "what policy should the country have".
Fine if it's about "what beer do I drink", not good when it's about "what policy should the country have".