mark_l_watson

5 ms·

1. 31.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   I use Kimi K3 and GLM 5.3 to find old bugs and improve old code, and would try Fable 5.1 if I could afford $50 for 1M output tokens (I am retired and all my research is self funded now) I like to start by prompting with “examine this code b
2. 32.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   and $0.15 1M input, $0.50 1M output I am a huge enthusiast of running local models, but when multiple quality USA vendors provide models like GLM 5.3-flash, I run locally just for the fun of it. For the purposes of comparing to Fable 5.1, I
3. 33.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   I have worked at three companies (Capital One, Google, and SAIC) where for high value work the cost of compute was no real concern. I understand the economics of spending big for huge payoffs, so this is a serious question: Does Fable 5.1 r
4. 34.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   but the article cherry picks. the article ignores Zitron’s economic arguments about data center costs vs. future profite.
5. 35.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   This article cherry picks: Ed Zitron mostly covers the costs of data centers, circular spending, and predictions of large the market for AI has to be to justify the data center expenditures. I was disappointed this article didn’t really cov
6. 36.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   Nice improvement. For me, uv is the ‘Quicklisp for Python.’ uv just let me enjoy using Python like Quicklisp just makes Common Lisp nicer to use. I have always been a Lisp devotee, but a few years ago when I started using uv, I then started
7. 37.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   I liked Prometheus so much that I purchased the movie.
8. 38.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   that would be incredible, Forever War was a great book re: Ridley Scott making another Alien franchise movie: if he is doing it because he really wants to do the movie then that is great; if he is doing it for business reasons to make money
9. 39.▲
   by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

   I tried Ornith-1.5-35B-A3B-MLX-4bit on a 32G M2-Pro mac mini with pi and OpenCode. I didn’t get very good results coding in Python, Racket, and TypeScript. I have seen several positive comments like yours so I was probably doing something w
10. 40.▲
    by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

    That is saying a lot if Ox Alpha is also small and relatively cheap computationally. I hope so; I love deepseek-v4-flash-0731 and use it frequently. Fast inference is good and fits with my dev style: I like to be in the loop, not let an age
11. 41.▲
    by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

    I have seen studies from MIT and Stanford that the majority or US startups are using much less expensive open weight models so consumers of their products are open model users whether they know it or not. These are often Chinese models. Not
12. 42.▲
    by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

    Yes, GPUs are much better for dense models. On Macs, MOE models run better, so I agree Macs are more limited and expensive. I have a Linux laptop with a 10GB 1080 GPU, dated, but I should add even more system RAM and try that.
13. 43.▲
    by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

    I loved the book The Infinite Game. Really changed how I looked at work, personal research, and being an author. Recommended!
14. 44.▲
    by mark_l_watson 1mo ago

    I run a lot of local models (I am always experimenting) on my 32G M2-Pro MacMini - I would love to upgrade. The financial aspects don’t work however: I can learn and experiment with what I have for local models, and I pay as I go on FireWor
15. 45.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    I have lower standards than you: I pay for deepseek-v4-flash-0731 tokens from a fast and reliable US vendor and I feel like working on one task at a time is fast and gets almost everything done I need.
16. 46.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    Yes! My main use of very strong models is in writing my own coding harnesses for small local models, tailored for my needs. I also use very strong models to get much smaller skill files and also writing tools for my harnesses. re: data cent
17. 47.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    I wrote my own AI coding harness in Racket, it works fine, meets my own needs. I did earlier versions in Common Lisp and Python but the Racket version is the most full featured.
18. 48.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    What you say is in agreement with someone I follow on X. My family has been traveling for two weeks and I have been looking forward to trying qwen3.8-37b when I get home. Now I might try Ornith-1.5-35B first even though I don’t see an offic
19. 49.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    You make a reasonable argument. I will take my chances and more people I talk with now seem more concerned about privacy.
20. 50.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    That is a really good question. My personal intuition is that LLMs do well with any language as long as you set up for fast syntax checking tools, access to either a REPL or very fast to run tests, etc. I usually use small local models, and
21. 51.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    Since 1982 I have spent much of the time being paid to work in Lisp languages. A weird thing: whichever Lisp language I am currently using for work (or a side project) is my favorite.
22. 52.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    I love Racket, and have a ton of Racket code I have written over the years. When I get home from a vacation I will have an AI translate a small sample of my Racket code to Rhombus: easiest way for me to play with the language.
23. 53.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    Good list! Removing as much as possible all AI and surveillance features, then carefully adding back the very few I want is the way I roll.
24. 54.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    On our car I can hook up my iPhone via Bluetooth to listen to audio books and music, bypassing carplay.
25. 55.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    There are a near infinite number of Qi Gong and Tai Chi videos on YouTube. I prefer to following new videos, and where my wife and I live they have Tai Chi and Yoga classes. A great use of time, and the feeling good benefits are manefest.
26. 56.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    In the mid 1980s I wrote a commercial neural network product SAIC Ansim and I usually got things working in Common Lisp first, then manually translated to C++. Now we can write in CL and use coding agents to translate to other languages...
27. 57.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    I didn't try Hax but I hope someone who has can answer a question: does it support suspending current operation if user hits ESC key? EDIT: I just looked at interrupt.c in the github repo: handles user interrupts. I trashed my Common L
28. 58.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    I am only 75, but in a few years I have thought of downsizing to one device (and a VPS for a little coding). A future version of this phone that is triple fold would work for me.
29. 59.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    Thanks for the kind words. I just built the Chess example in my Clojure book and the executable was a tiny 18M.
30. 60.▲
    by mark_l_watson 2mo ago

    Great work. It just simply worked for me.