I agree - MCP just standardizes APIs to make it easier for LLM clients to consume them. Imagine if we had to use standard APIs - it would be more difficult to enable any single one. That’s why the labs instituted MCP.
> The real "race to market" winners will just throw the credentials into the SQL connector and let 'er rip like a real man.
That's what we started doing... and never looked back. Now we're thinking of exposing parts of the database in readonly mode to in-house staff (non-developers) so they can vibe code whatever the hell kind of tools they want...
Regardless of the fantasy sold about what a university degree entails, it's ultimately designed to get your foot in the door, and maybe even prepare you at a very basic level for navigating the professional world. It sounds like it is certainly doing the latter. Especially with a rapidly evolving field such as CS, I would say it was the case for all of us regardless of the phase that whatever technology we were using in the coursework was at best going to be different by the time we got into the field, and at worst (and more likely) very outdated as it is taught at the time of learning it.
It is now, and always has been IMO, up to the individual whether or not they want to learn deeply the material being presented, or just do what is necessary to get the grade as a means to an end. In the past, accidently learning something deeply was a little more likely than having the answers at our fingertips via AI, but the possibility is still there depending on how you use the tool.
Do you have kids? I can assure you that children are quite good at automatically blocking out everything related to intercourse and other sexual acts until they reach puberty. Like an advertisement for mortgages, they will just treat it as something that is probably relevant to adults, but not at all interesting to them.
Seeing some girl getting ploughed by a slab of a guy might raise questions (which is excellent, questions are always good, because then you as a parent can guide their understanding), but it won't harm them in the slightest.
Repeated exposure to porn is a problem, but that comes from teenagers having an intrinsic interest in sex and private exploration of unsavoury websites on the internet, not accidental viewing of a naughty billboard.
It fascinates me what people will defend publicly in the name of “hacker good, advert bad.” One of these comments also just builds a straw man: “it’s like someone yelling ‘fuck’ at a ballgame… it doesn’t mean the kid’s ruined,” but at least they don’t go as far as claiming it might actually be a good thing because “seeing some girl get ploughed by a slab of a guy” might just raise a constructive question in a child.
It's like the kid hearing someone yell "fuck" at a ballgame. Just because most people in the culture might agree it's not particularly age-appropriate doesn't mean the kid's ruined.
There's a huge difference between regular exposure via neglectful or abusive parents and "oops I saw a thing". More than a few kids have "walked in" on their parents too, I assure you.
Do you already sleep with a wrist watch on? I got one for the same and realized I can't stand sleeping with something on my wrist. Also realized if I want to use it for anything else throughout the day, that's the best time for me to charge it.
From what I understand there are many different grades of helium and the shortages (at least when I initially was looking in to them) revolved more around the higher grades.
It's all the same helium, of course, going through different levels of industrial purification. I only clarify this as it isn't like we find super pure reserves in nature and that's what is lucrative, but instead it's all the same contaminated helium and then it gets processed to further and further levels of purification, like many other industrial products.
If there is a shortage of helium, it's a shortage of all the same helium. But so long as it's treated as a novelty gas, and so long as it continues to just be wasted, it's hard to take claims of a shortage too seriously.
As a fun fact, the vast majority of helium on Earth is courtesy of the radioactive alpha decay chain starting from heavy elements like Uranium and Thorium. Helium got trapped by the same geological formations that trapped natural gas, hence why they're usually found together despite being from completely different processes.
Yes, there are. The Semiconducter stuff is 6 9's 99.9999, then there's UHP .9995 which is what I use, then .999 mostly welding I think? Then goes down from there. Most 'balloon' grade has some oxygen in it since people like to inhale it and talk funny, adding a little o2 keeps people from dying.
I have to interject here because I think this is a slightly dangerous claim.
Balloon helium is just helium, broadly, at 98%+ concentration. It has a tiny amount of atmospheric gas, mostly nitrogen, in it as there is no need to go too far with purifying it, but there is zero intention of making it any safer to inhale. It is basically accidental contaminants.
If you inhale 98%+ helium, the diffusion gradient reverses and oxygen floods out of your blood. Did this once as a kid and actually blacked out. This is functionally just as true at 98% helium with some nitrogen and a tiny amount of oxygen as it is with 99.9999% helium. The difference for inhalation is a wash.
Inhaling helium is not advised. The protection we have, such as in my case, is that invariably our rapid physiological response stops us from inhaling helium and oxygen can return.
LEOs being a certain type of people is a big part of the problem. Compare to corporate IT, who have huge surveillance powers within their companies, but virtually none of them use it beyond their actual job duties.
I suspect it's human nature, earlier today I was reading about how some hospital staff had been fired [in the UK] for looking up details of patients they shouldn't have been involved with.
They should have known better, but despite constant training people just seem unable to help themselves.
Hospital staff have a certain reputation too. I've even heard nursing career being described as the female counterpart of police career, in that both of them attract the exact same type of person for the exact same reason (having people's lives in their hands). Can't say from my own experience if it's true or not, but I heard it often enough that I'm not terribly surprised.
I had a dentist once tell me they needed to graft my entire gumline with bovine tissue. Never been mentioned since, so I explicitly ask now and there's been no more concerns.
I had a root canal done on a molar when I was ~16 that a dentist in basic training said needed re-done, because it wasn't done correctly. At a different duty station a couple of years later it was required that it me redone again because it wasn't done correctly the second time. Years later a civilian dentist wanted to re-do it again, because it apparently wasn't done correctly the third time. I had never had any problems whatsoever with the tooth since the first root canal.
My old man is going through the exact same thing (squamous cell carcinoma, back of the tongue), kinda weird to see this on HN of all places. He did chemorad treatment and it appeared to get it all, but then they found another localized area they want to cut out. All of this has been very invasive physically and mentally, even for finding it "early."
I suggested getting a second opinion from MD Anderson, KU, etc., on the surgery but I ultimately couldn't contend with the sense of urgency to get this thing started and rolling. It's going to be another rough year.
Just like us to take something and limit it back to being useless until we implement the feature (tools).
The real "race to market" winners will just throw the credentials into the SQL connector and let 'er rip like a real man.
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