Tag: TechStories

Soviet Space Satire: Rescue at Mars and Beyond | March 28 2025, 01:14

I finally got around to a Soviet movie from 1959 showing a rocket landing on a floating platform at the end. The film is quite amusing. It features valiant Soviet cosmonauts rescuing hapless and vile American astronauts who got lost on their way to Mars. By the way, the cosmonauts are dressed in jackets and ties.

The plot goes like this. A two-man crew, under the mandate of science and the communist party, is sent to Mars for strictly scientific purposes. In orbit, the “space shuttle” docks at the station (at the beginning, the chief developer says it hangs above the Earth at tens of thousands of kilometers), docking to prepare for the “final jump” to Mars. Suddenly, a request comes from the American colleagues to accept the “Typhoon” Shuttle at the station. Could our most humane and friendly cosmonauts deny their colleagues, even if they are damned capitalists? During a friendly banquet, the “dumb Yankee”, apparently having had one too many, blurts out about the goals of his project. Much to the surprise of the gracious hosts who did not expect such audacity from their guests, it turns out the goal is Mars, of course, but purely for commercial, acquisitive reasons, such as trading Martian plots, for example. The head of the Soviet expedition, obviously caught off-guard… also having taken one too many, responds admitting similar plans but exclusively in the name of science. The crafty Yankee, after taking some Alka-Seltzer, rats out to his leadership. The American leadership, driven by predatory bourgeois interests, orders an immediate start to Mars, despite the unfavorable astrophysical weather conditions, thereby endangering the most valuable thing – the lives of cosmonauts. Covertly, “under the cover of night”, while the hosts are knocked out, the treacherous Americans weigh anchor. Consequences soon follow; they run out of fuel and are blown towards the Sun, with the expected outcome. SOS! The foolish “Yankee” frantically signals, bathed in snot and tears. Calm and strong Soviet guys in their powerful rocket “Rodina” rush to the rescue and indeed tow the doomed spacecraft, but precious fuel is spent maneuvering, the Americans abandon their junk and transfer to “Rodina”. There’s Mars, its seas and canals already visible, but catastrophically short on fuel. Fortunately, an asteroid named Icarus is passing by, and our brave cosmonauts asteroid-hitch a ride on it. An emergency launch of a cargo spacecraft with fuel follows, but it crashes on approach. It is decided to send another piloted ship because what’s most valuable is human life and friendship. This time, all goes well, the rescued crew lands directly on the floating platform near Yalta, anticipating the pathetic plagiarism with “Falcon”. A crowd with flowers and red banners, pioneers in red scarves warmly welcome the international comical collective (I could not have written that, it’s all pasha_popolam).

Three years later, this propaganda flick caught attention in the USA and was re-edited under the name “Battle Beyond the Sun”. Directed by Roger Corman, assistant producer Jack Hill, and young student Francis Coppola – that’s the kind of films he grew up on! The budding director re-edited and redubbed the film, removing all “anti-American propaganda”, Cyrillic inscriptions, and filmed an additional scene of a battle between two Martian monsters – how could he not. The timeline in the film was shifted to the future, after Earth had suffered a nuclear conflict and was divided into two superpowers – “Northern Hemis” and “Southern Hemis”, located on their respective hemispheres. Coppola also shot several scenes of the battle between two space monsters, one symbolizing a phallus and the other a vagina, and inserted them into Soviet material. These scenes were filmed in a Hollywood studio. Coppola and Hill also filmed scenes from the Rose Parade in Pasadena.

The names of not only Soviet characters but also actors, as well as names in the credits were changed to American ones to mask the film’s origins. For example, Alexander Shvorin and Ivan Pereverzev became “Andy Stuart” and “Edd Perry”, and the directors Mikhail Karyukov and Alexander Kozyr became “Maurice Kaplan” and “Arthur Corwin” – and were demoted to assistant directors. The director of the film in promotional materials and the final version is listed as a certain Thomas Colchart; sources differ on who actually hides behind this name (Karyukov, Kozyr, Coppola, or an American dubbing director).

The entire episode from “The Heavens Call” about the flight from Earth to the orbital station with minimal changes was included in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Kubrick’s film also included a scene with a video phone call to Earth. The orbital station in Kubrick’s film was copied almost exactly from “The Heavens Call”.

Separately funny, the USSR named the American spacecraft Typhoon – Тайфун. In the USA the word Typhoon is called Hurricane, since typhoon names hurricanes happening around Japan, and understandably in 1959, maybe one out of a hundred Americans knew the word 😉

Links to the original and the pale American copy — in the comments

Navigating Job Interviews in the LLM and ML Industry | March 22 2025, 14:05

Mimansa Jaiswal shared her experience of interviewing for researcher/engineer positions in the LLM/machine learning (ML) field last fall. Over 200 applications, 100 interviews, numerous rejections, and several offers—she decided to outline the entire process, as well as the resources she used. It’s extremely beneficial material, especially for those looking for a job in this field.

Link in the comments.

Summary (TLDR):

Startups:

Interview processes are unique and depend on the company’s development stage. Candidates may face 5–6 stages, including programming tasks (often from Leetcode), ML coding, testing fundamental ML knowledge, and cultural fit interviews. Startups may also require face-to-face interviews, multi-day work assignments, or extensive presentations. Processes are less standardized, and roles often include a wide range of responsibilities.

“Unicorns” (e.g., Anthropic, OpenAI, Scale AI):

More structured processes, but still vary from company to company. Candidates face interviews on programming (not always Leetcode-based), ML design, discussions related to LLM, and presentations. The number of stages can be substantial, especially when applying to multiple teams simultaneously.

Large tech companies (e.g., Meta, Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft):

Rigid and structured processes, often lasting from 1.5 to 2.5 months. Expect Leetcode-style interviews, ML system design, LLM research design, presentations, and behavioral interviews. Questions can be both general and role-specific.

Main interview components:

Programming tasks: knowledge of data structures and algorithms is tested, practice on Leetcode is necessary.

ML system design: evaluates understanding of system architecture and ability to develop solutions.

Presentations: candidates may present their previous work or research, demonstrating professionalism and communication skills.

Behavioral interviews: assess compatibility with corporate culture and approach to problem-solving.

Key differences by company type:

Startups are less predictable and may prefer candidates ready to take on diverse tasks. “Unicorns” look for specialists with narrow and current skills. Large tech companies adhere to formalized multi-stage processes and assess a broad spectrum of technical and soft skills. Each type of company has its unique demands and offers different opportunities, so it’s crucial to tailor preparation to the specific format.

Expected timelines:

The process can take from several weeks to several months, with possible delays during holidays or peak hiring seasons. Offers often require a quick response—usually within 7 days—requiring the ability to make swift decisions or negotiate a delay. It’s important to strategically plan overlapping processes and manage multiple timelines simultaneously.

Innovative AI Drum Machine Transforms Vocal Rhythms into Music | March 02 2025, 17:27

Thought of a cool idea. Surprising that no one has done anything like it. Essentially, it’s a drum machine with AI that plays music to the rhythm and accents a person makes into a mic. Plus, you can overlay synthesized sounds, mimicking various instruments with your voice or lips, while the smart AI organically integrates it with the existing sounds, creating something new. So you could sing a rhythm, sing a melody, and have it layered over the rhythm.

Details are hard to whip up on the spot, but imagine millions of people playing with this out of boredom if even the basic version is implemented. You could create an entire store of paid add-ons. It’s possible to make a service that does very high-quality mixing in the cloud and outputs the source file and mp3

for use anywhere. Theoretically, it could be in the form of an app for iPhone.

Imagine TikTok or Instagram buying this and integrating it into their apps.

Rare Pedestrian Signals and the Legacy of Garrett Morgan | March 02 2025, 03:50

In the photo is one of the few pedestrian traffic lights in Guadalajara, a massive city — the second largest in Mexico. I spent half a day hunting it down. These extremely rare exceptions are all pedestrian crossings without those white figures, and often without the “zebra” stripes. The signal for pedestrians to go is the red light for cars. Or maybe “the cars still seem far away”.

Regarding the history of the traffic light, the name of American inventor Garrett Morgan is often mentioned. He patented a traffic light with an original design in 1923. However, he made history because he was the first in the world to specify in his patent, besides the technical design, its purpose: “The purpose of the device is to make the sequence of crossing at an intersection independent of the person sitting in the vehicle.

Politics of Unpredictability: The Impact and Ethics of the Madman Theory | March 01 2025, 17:10

In every corner, following the discussed theme, if we delve into history, the “unpredictability” or demonstrative “irrationality” were indeed often employed as tools by major politicians. On one hand, this could serve as a kind of “shock effect,” giving such a leader an edge in negotiations or governance. On the other hand, this tactic often led to severe consequences for their own country (and the entire world).

For example, U.S. President Richard Nixon tried to convince the leadership of the Soviet Union and North Vietnam that he could “snap” and resort to extreme measures, including the use of nuclear weapons if the conflict was not resolved. It was hoped that the fear of an “inadequate” American president would force the opponents to seek a compromise more quickly. Before Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower adhered to similar tactics, ending the Korean War with such methods.

This political strategy is called the “Madman Theory”. The underlying ideas were articulated as far back as the 15th century by Machiavelli, who noted that in politics, “it is sometimes useful to pretend to be mad”.

Overall, it is useful to indeed be a bit “nuts”. And better even more than a bit. The line between acting like a madman and being one is incredibly thin.

The “Madman Theory” is quite often criticized as an ineffective foreign policy strategy. In particular, it is noted that it can be considered a Russian roulette in international relations, increasing unpredictability and not always prompting the desired behavior from its recipient.

The problem is that the “Madman Theory” is associated not only with Nixon but also with Hitler, Mao Zedong, Kim Jong Il/Jong Un, and basically almost everything. If you look at it, something similar was present with Ivan the Terrible and Stalin. Under both, the country flourished. But there were a lot of corpses.

In business, the “Madman Theory” is primarily associated with Elon Musk (yes, they found each other).

There is also a negotiation technique called “Brinkmanship”. This is when one of the parties pushes events towards an undesirable, often catastrophic outcome for both parties, counting on the last moment that the other side will yield for self-preservation, thereby avoiding the catastrophe and gaining unilateral advantages.

One would like to think that behind all this there is some strategy, which so far shows only its corner. Who knows, such abrupt “turns” in politics might be a deliberate tactic related to techniques from the “madman theory” or “brinkmanship”. First, one side demonstrates unexpected loyalty, lifts restrictions, offers joint projects, and creates an illusion of long-term warming. The other side, sensing a benefit, starts to invest heavily and rely on new opportunities, which increases the “exit costs” from these relationships. Once the connection between the partners becomes close enough (which could happen literally within a month or two) and potential losses from a breakup are too high, the initiator of the “warming” switches to tougher demands, knowing that it is difficult for the partner to refuse: the stakes have already been raised, and the risk of loss has seriously increased.

Not sure if it’s like that, but in general, it’s also not out of the question. We will observe, it seems, for us there remains only observation

Trump Mistakes Ukraine for Russia in Diplomatic Blunder | February 28 2025, 01:25

“…A flustered Trump realizes that all this time he had been confusing Russia and Ukraine”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The new presidential administration encountered a rare public relations slip-up when a flustered President Donald Trump realized that he had been confusing Russia with Ukraine all this time.

The error was eventually detected by a White House aide who started asking questions after the president publicly stated that Ukraine was responsible for starting the war.

After further investigation, the aide privately informed Trump that he had mixed up the two countries.

“It’s the other way around, as far as I understand,” Trump told reporters at an impromptu press conference in the Oval Office. “The country that started the war, invading another country, apparently was Russia. Honestly, they are easy to confuse. They are right next to each other. And the cold winters. Very cold. I always thought that this little guy Zelensky was from Russia. He sounds Russian.”

One administration insider said that Trump’s realization of the mix-up could potentially change the whole outlook for peace negotiations. “It’s kind of a substantial difference,” the source said. “He took such a tough stance on Ukraine because he thought they had started the war, when it was Russia who invaded. We had to pull out a big map and show him that Russia is actually big and Ukraine is small. All is well, he’s got it all figured out now.”

At the time of publication, Trump proposed a newly revised peace plan in which the United States would simply annex both Ukraine and Russia as new territories.

BabylonBee well done

Detecting ChatGPT Use in Job Interviews | February 27 2025, 03:46

Job interview. Tell me, how can you tell when the person on the other end is sitting with ChatGPT? And I don’t know, maybe a friend types up the questions, he sees the answers and tries to use them on the fly without really understanding them. I can’t say for sure that this was the case with the dude I recently interviewed, but it looked very similar.

During the process, I figured out that you can partly combat this by asking questions that don’t have a simple answer, and through rapid-fire questions which ChatGPT can quickly respond to, but if the person isn’t familiar with the topic, a quick LLM response won’t really help them, and there’s no time to read a long response. Meaning, ChatGPT will still answer correctly, but to use ChatGPT’s response, the person needs to carefully read through the whole block of text in the answer. And conversely, you shouldn’t ask questions that ChatGPT can immediately answer.

But generally, it’s quite a task to come up with such questions.

For example, instead of asking “How does SOAP differ from REST”, it’s better to ask “for which task might REST API not be the best choice”. ChatGPT starts giving a smart, bulleted answer, which you can’t simply read off the screen without understanding it.

But I’m really curious, what have HR departments come up with to combat tips from LLMs? After all, you could quite well train an LLM to display something you are generally familiar with, but recalling it yourself would take longer and with mistakes.

At the end of the interview, I requested a Live Coding – shuffle the array, where I planned to change the task setting after receiving the first version of the code. Well, you get it, there wasn’t even a first version beyond the shuffle() method header.

Kira Kuzmenko

Financial Service Frustrations: Navigating Modern Security Hurdles | February 24 2025, 12:44

It seems like financial companies are competing to see which one can “reinvent the wheel” first and in the most unconventional way. I needed to change something in my Fidelity account, where I handle my pension contributions. I log in, but the 2FA fails because, for some reason, they have my number incorrectly listed, so I can’t receive the SMS to log in. Okay, these things happen. But then they ask me to enter a code that the operator will give me if I call phone number XXX. So I call.

To get to this operator, you need to enter your SSN using the phone keypad, which is a bit of a stretch, but still normal. Usually, they just ask for the last four digits. But that’s not enough. Their robot asks me to enter my password! From the phone keypad! The very one I use on the web. How do I do that — literally pressing the keys ABC, DEF, etc. And my password is long, I at least need to see it in front of me. Okay, I managed to find it (meanwhile the robot tries to hang up because it thinks I’ve frozen). I laboriously entered the password. Clearly, things like case sensitivity aren’t considered, and luckily, my password doesn’t contain special characters that aren’t on a phone keypad — I can’t even imagine how I’d enter them.

It doesn’t go through! Damn, I have to repeat it. Last attempt, it says. Enter it again. I entered it a second time, this time correctly. The robot thanked me and said they are currently off, so goodbye.

In another service, UBS, I’m constantly asked to change not just the password, but also the username. In a third service, you can’t recover a password, you can only call to reset it, and they send the temporary password in plain text via email, and it’s not temporary at all.