AI: Used AI to Beat Amazon’s Brutal Technical Interview

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

A Student Used AI to Beat Amazon’s Brutal Technical Interview. He Got an Offer and Someone Tattled to His University

https://gizmodo.com/a-student-used-ai-to-beat-amazons-brutal-technical-interview-he-got-an-offer-and-someone-tattled-to-his-university-2000571562

  • Roy Lee built an AI system that bypasses FAANG’s brutal technical interviews and says that the work of most programmers will be obsolete in two years.

By Matthew Gault Published March 4, 2025 

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Lee recorded his entire technical interview with Amazon and posted the whole thing, uncut, on YouTube. Then they made him an offer. He rejected it. For Lee, the point was proving that Interview Coder worked, not passing a technical interview and landing a position.

*** end quote ***

# – # – # – # – # 

Good for him.  Ethical shmethical.  Columbia is probably just pissed that they lost their market for over-priced computer science grads.  AMAZON just got embarrassed on YouTube.

​Looks like we old programmers got ours and got out before the robot uprising?

Wonder if AI does FORTRAN and COBOL?

I think my 360 Assembler experience is still unique. Too many ways to hide the methods in registers and absolute / relative addressing.  And no English language for AI to analyze.

Laugh!

P.S., The Gooferment and Big Banks still use COBOL.  Too much invested in it and too hard to recode.  I did a FORTRAN retrieval for one oil company that manage to misplace the FORTRAN source code for their refinery control code.  So there should still be work for us fat old white guy retired injineer who’s a poor old senior citizen on a fixed income to “save the day” as Mighty Mouse would say.

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DISCOURAGING: Animal left out in the cold by some callous individual

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

https://people.com/dog-found-abandoned-in-cold-looking-for-foster-home-11689843

Iowa Rescue Dog Dumped in a Cage and ‘Left Alone’ in 18-Degree Cold, Now in ‘Gentle Hands’

Rise, a 4-year-old dog left alone in a cage on Sunday, March 2, now has a name that “speaks to new beginnings,” per the Humane Society of Scott County

By Brenton Blanchet

Updated on March 3, 2025 04:40PM EST

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  •     A thin and scarred dog was found dumped outside the old location of an Iowa animal shelter on March 2
  •     A good Samaritan spotted the abandoned dog alone in the 18-degree cold and brought the canine to the Humane Society of Scott County
  •     The Humane Society of Scott County named the dog Rise to honor the pet’s resilience

A dog found abandoned in a cage in Iowa in 18-degree weather is ready to begin a warm and welcoming next chapter.

On Sunday, March 2, the Kings Harvest Pet Rescue No Kill Shelter in Davenport announced on Facebook that, earlier that morning, an unidentified person left a dog unattended in the cold outside of the shelter’s former location. 

*** end quote ***

Special place in Hell reserved for that person.  Only thing worse that that I can think of is: What if it was a child?

Would it have taken that much effort to bring it to the proper address that was on the sign where it was abandoned?

I find this very sad because all life is precious.

As Bob Barker always ended the Price Is Right tv show. “Remember to spay and neuter your pets.”  That advice should apply to some heartless people too.

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HEROIC: 2.4 million babies saved by one humble man

Monday, March 10, 2025

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4xqe60gyo?ICID=ref_fark

Australian whose blood saved 2.4 million babies dies
13 hours ago << EDITOR ADDED DATE 2025-03-03>>
Kelly Ng BBC News

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One of the world’s most prolific blood donors – whose plasma saved the lives of more than 2 million babies – has died.

James Harrison died in his sleep at a nursing home in New South Wales, Australia on 17 February, his family said on Monday. He was 88.

Known in Australia as the man with the golden arm, Harrison’s blood contained a rare antibody, Anti-D, which is used to make medication given to pregnant mothers whose blood is at risk of attacking their unborn babies.

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service who paid tribute to Harrison, said he had pledged to become a donor after receiving transfusions while undergoing a major chest surgery when he was 14.

He started donating his blood plasma when he was 18 and continued doing so every two weeks until he was 81.

*** end quote ***

We need more of these silent heroes.  Where do we get Anti-D?

I started donating blood in College.  I remember that the Christian Brothers really publicized the need.  Most were WWII and or Korean War vets and could really make us understand how important it was.  I remember one of them teaching “Engineering Measurements” saying that we were probably too dumb to be good engineers but probably smart enough to bleed correctly.  It was a big joke when we reported that we did “bleed well enough”.

Later in my life, when my sainted wife was mysteriously “loosing platelets”, she was getting four bags of them every week.  One of her last wishes was that I replace them.  I did and then some until I “aged out”.  Who knew that “old platelets” didn’t help those in need?

Anyway, I hope that everyone who can donates.  Maybe you might have the “golden arm”!

What a privilege to save lives.

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NEWJERSEY: Murphy spends tax money to subsidize or incentivize abortionists

Sunday, March 9, 2025

https://www.newsmax.com/us/incentive-budget-abortion/2025/02/28/id/1200846/

N.J. Gov. Seeks to Draw Abortionists to Garden State
By Nicole Weatherholtz | Friday, 28 February 2025 10:27 AM EST

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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has included a $2 million incentive program in his new budget proposal to draw “reproductive healthcare providers” to the Garden State, according to Catholic News Agency.

Murphy’s remarks on the 2026 budget indicate the initiative was designed to appeal to abortion providers in pro-life states, saying the program would bring reproductive healthcare providers to New Jersey who have been “targeted by politicians elsewhere.”

“I will certainly never back down from defending women — and protecting their access to reproductive healthcare and, especially, their right to an abortion,” Murphy said on Tuesday. “Those folks in Washington can try and push their anti-choice agenda on us. But as long as I am governor, they will fail.”

With the 2026 budget, the governor declared that his administration was “going to make the largest investment into protecting reproductive rights in our state’s history by fully funding women’s healthcare.”

*** end quote ***

As pro-life pro-choice little L libertarian I don’t understand why the Taxpayers of the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee have to subsidize or incentivize that Phil Murphy calls “reproductive healthcare providers”.

There is a lot of emotion in this issue and personally I believe that “abortion” is a tricky topic.

Up to a certain point, the Gooferment should have no role in what should be a terrible decision that has to be made by a woman.  Perhaps guided by her doctor, her family, and her Church, she should be free to chose what she sees as “best”.  

At some point, the child gets the rights of a human being.  I don’t know what that point is: conception, 3 months, viability outside of the womb, 6 months, at birth, at some number of days after birth, when they can assert their rights, at 18, at 21.  As I said, I don’t know.

But I do know, that the Gooferment should not add to the fury.  “It’s all sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  Using Taxpayer money to attract more killing of human beings seems like a failure to understand the basic role of Gooferment: “Protect its citizens!”

No mater what age they are. 

It’s a topic best left to the people.  If Murphy wants, then let him pay out of his pocket; not mine.  Or start a GOFUNDME!

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ENCOURAGING: One of my favorite books available for free — The Swiss Family Robinsson

Saturday, March 8, 2025

https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/johann-david-wyss/the-swiss-family-robinson/mary-jane-godwin_william-godwin

The Swiss Family Robinson
Johann David Wyss
166,675 words (10 hours 7 minutes) with a reading ease of 56.32 (fairly difficult)
Translated by Mary Jane Godwin and William Godwin.

# – # – # – # – # 

I found this book somehow and was totally absorbed by it.  Maybe that’s why I have sympathy for the survivalist lifestyle.  Maybe if I had made different choices, then I’d have different results.  

Amazing all the great, and not-so-great, books that are available here.  I’ve chipped in and hope you do too.

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HEALTHCARE: Here’s proof that postpartum depression has a physical manifestation

Friday, March 7, 2025

FROM 1440 https://join1440.com/

*** begin quote ***

Postpartum Neurology

Women with postpartum depression symptoms exhibited corresponding shifts in the size of certain brain regions, according to a study this week. The study provides the first neurological evidence of the condition’s impact, which affects as much as one in seven pregnant women worldwide.

Researchers analyzed a series of brain scans of 88 first-time mothers without a history of depression. They then compared the images to answers given in standard questionnaires used to diagnose postpartum depression. Nearly 30 women who showed moderate to severe symptoms of the condition saw enlargement of the amygdala and hippocampus, key regions of the brain that regulate emotion. Whether the enlarged anatomy causes the depression or vice versa remains unclear.

The condition has been studied for centuries, though data has stemmed from reported experiences rather than anatomical observations. Severe postpartum depression typically manifests as extreme mood swings, extended periods of sadness, and loss of sleep, and its severity distinguishes it from milder, more common “baby blues.”

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So this is another finding that it’s “not in your head” psychosomatic craziness.  It’s a real demonstrable physical symptom.

Do we have to revisit all the baby killings by moms with baby blues?

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POLITICAL: The right of self-determination trumps the desires of the status quo elite

Friday, March 7, 2025

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/02/ryan-mcmaken/secession-why-redrawing-us-state-borders-makes-politicians-so-mad/

Secession: Why Redrawing US State Borders Makes Politicians So Mad – LewRockwell
By Ryan McMaken
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2025-02-27>>

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The opponents of state-level secession should give it a rest. Few people outside Illinois with families and jobs—and who want to mind their own business—care if the border between Illinois and Indiana is changed. The same is true of the line between Idaho and Oregon. These lines weren’t drawn by the Almighty. Politicians care deeply about such things, however, because they care deeply about power, and about preserving the status quo that has served the ruling class so well.

*** end quote ***

At the risk of reigniting the War for Southern Independence aka the (un) Civil War, what’s wrong with allowing voters to change boundaries or even leave these United States?

From a just Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee POV, why shouldn’t Staten Island escape liberal New York and join the less liberal Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee?

Similarly, Texas, Hawaii, California, Alaska, and New Hampshire should all be allowed to decide their fates.  (Remember that only North Dakota currently has the ability to clear checks thru the (not) Federal Reserve System via their current Bank of North Dakota.)  All throughout the world, people should be allowed the right of self-determination.  Imagine how peaceful the world would be if the Straight Line Borders drawn my the English and French to divide ethic groups into “manageable” populations didn’t happen.  Ethinic minorities would be too busy fighting each other to focus on the foreign invaders.

Let’s all agree that the right of self-determination trumps the desires of the status quo elite.

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PHILOSOPHY: Are we in a simulation or a drug-​induced hallucination?

Thursday, March 6, 2025

https://nautil.us/can-we-prove-the-world-isnt-a-simulation-238416/?utm_campaign=website&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nautilus-newsletter

Philosophy
Can We Prove the World Isn’t a Simulation?

  • You might think we have definitive evidence we’re not in a simulation. That’s impossible.

By Dylan DiScenza January 26, 2022

*** begin quote ***

What about the other way around? Could we prove we are in a simulation? In The Matrix, Neo realized he’d been living in a simulation when he took the red pill and woke up in a different reality. He shouldn’t have been so sure. For all he knows, his old world was nonsimulated and the red pill plunged him into a simulation.

Still, we certainly could get very strong evidence that we’re in a simulation. The simulators could lift the Sydney Harbor Bridge into the air and turn it upside down. They could show us the source code of the simulation. They could show us private episodes from our past, along with the simulation technology that produced them. They could show me a film of my brain hooked up to wires in the next reality up, with an associated readout of my thoughts and feelings. They could give me control of the simulation, so that I could move mountains in the world around me just by pressing some buttons.

Even this evidence would fall short of absolute proof that we’re in a simulation. Maybe the world we’re in is a nonsimulated magic world, like the Harry Potter world, in which all-​powerful wizards are using their powers to convince us we’re in a simulation. Maybe most of my life has been nonsimulated but simulators have put me into a temporary simulated duplicate to fool me. Or maybe I’m having a drug-​induced hallucination. Still, I think that if I got evidence like this, I would probably be convinced that I am in a simulation.

*** end quote ***

If we are in either, what difference does it make?  We still have to “live” with the evidence presented us.  And, why would it be this way?  Is a wizard, a god, a space alien, or the flying spaghetti monster just playing with the equivalent of a kid’s train set?

Makes my head hurt so I’ll just pretend it’s “real life” until proven otherwise.

Ockham’s razor (i.e., fewest assumptions) says it’s “real life”.

Sigh! 

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VOCABULARY: mansplaining aka correctile dysfunction

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

https://www.boredpanda.com/offensive-things-people-say-to-women/

*** begin quote ***

Tempest 8 minutes ago

I remember a comment somewhere from some time ago which renamed mansplaining as “correctile dysfunction” and I’ve never forgotten it. Waiting for the day I’ll get to use it!

*** end quote ***

Pretty funny.

Never thought of it this way.

Some of the others are amazing as well.

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HEALTHCARE: Old medical bills and some tactics for dealing with them

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/how-to-not-pay-your-medical-bills-e9d195e6?st=Smcycm

How to Not Pay Your Medical Bills

  • Actually, that’s easy. This is how I paid a lot less.

By Joel Stein
Feb. 20, 2025 10:25 am ET

*** begin quote ***

As you probably recall, I had a mole removed about a year ago. As fresh as this is in all of our memories, a year is a fair bit of time, so I was surprised to get a bill in the mail for $604.80 from a company called DermTech. Apparently, much like wedding gifts, you have a year to send someone a medical bill.

*** end quote ***

A friend of mine, who is retired and better off than me, has a different strategy.  He calls and asks for a payment plan.  He offers 5$/month since that’s “all his budget allows”.  Each month he mails 5$ paper checks by US mail.  Sometimes people call and say don’t bother since processing the checks costs them more than 5$.  I don’t understand that but it seems to work for him. 

My only experience with “delayed billing” was with a hospital bill for my sainted wife’s last hospital stay that was about TWO YEARS prior.  It was bill for about 1½ M dollars.  That certainly made my eyes water. Talking to them yielded that someone forgot to send it to the insurance company and I should submit it to my insurance company. 

Instead, I called my lawyer.  His firm was conflicted out because they represent the hospital.  He recommended any local lawyer could take care of this with one letter.  Found one with an office near my home.  One visit.  TWO LETTERS required. 

First one to the hospital asking for their agreement with the insurance company.  After a two week delay, he sent a SECOND LETTER to the hospital that their agreement with the insurance company required all bills to be submitted within 180 days and, if not, were deemed “closed”.  A month later he got a letter saying basically “You’re right.  Have a nice day”.  Cost me about $400.  Slightly better than 1½ M$!   

At no extra charge, the local lawyer pointed out that the hospital wouldn’t want to make an issue out of it since the contract with the hospital applied to all hospital bills even if the patient was not insured or insured with some other insurance company.  I can understand why they don’t want that to become common knowledge.  Wonder if the hospital’s lawyers cleaned up their contracts?

Of course, YMMV.

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