iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

A meditation on doing something few have done before.

Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

(Just as a side note) I got this second-hand edition last Christmas after seeing the film. It originally belonged to my grandfather and has "Property of New Jersey Public Library" marked inside. I hope the statute of limitations has lapsed by now...

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

The final betrayal: Teller's testimony at the 1954 security hearing. While claiming he believed Oppenheimer loyal, Teller said he'd lost confidence in his judgment. Coming from a fellow physicist, this testimony proved devastating. Oppenheimer's clearance was revoked.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Edward Teller's rivalry added fuel. Oppenheimer had told Teller that Livermore Lab would be "second-rate" and initially resisted his H-bomb plans. Furthermore, Oppenheimer's own political advocacy seemed hypocritical - he'd warned Teller that scientists shouldn't influence policy.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

But personal grudges proved decisive. In 1949, Oppenheimer humiliated AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss in a Congressional hearing about isotope exports. Strauss never forgot. When given power over Oppenheimer's security clearance, he struck.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

For military leaders, Oppenheimer was becoming an obstacle. He advocated for tactical nukes and air defense instead of Strategic Air Command's massive bomber force. He questioned the rushed H-bomb development. His influence threatened military budgets and priorities.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Oppenheimer's 1930s communist associations - his brother, his wife, his friends - became impossible to ignore. The Klaus Fuchs spy scandal in 1950 amplified fears. The Eisenhower administration needed to prove its anti-communist credentials.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

By 1953, everything changed. The Red Scare gripped America. McCarthy's witch hunts were at their peak. When Attorney General Brownell accused Truman of ignoring communist spy Harry Dexter White, any past communist connection became politically toxic.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

J. Robert Oppenheimer led the Manhattan Project, creating the first atomic bombs. His brilliance and leadership made Los Alamos work. Post-war, he became America's most prominent scientific advisor, chairing the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

📚 Read "The Oppenheimer Case" from 1965. The political drama behind Oppenheimer's security trial is far more complex than just Cold War paranoia. Here's what sparked his downfall 🧵 #Oppenheimer

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

How about to edit posts before sending? When is “too much” ChatGPT?

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

When a function is exposed, it isn't the actual implementation that's sent over. Instead, a proxy is created in the renderer process, forwarding messages via Interprocess Communication (IPC) back to the main process. This ensures the renderer only interacts with a controlled interface.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

To use contextBridge, you define an API in the preload script with `contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld`. This method injects a specified API onto the window object in the renderer process.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

contextBridge creates a safe, bi-directional bridge between the main and renderer processes. It allows us to expose specific APIs to the renderer while keeping the rest of the Node environment secure, adhering to the Principle of Least Privilege.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

In Electron, we face a trade-off between security and functionality. We want to expose certain Node APIs to the renderer process without compromising security. The renderer can execute arbitrary code via dev tools, so limiting access is crucial. Enter contextBridge!

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

🧑‍🎓 Wanted to find the cleanest way to expose singletons in my Electron main process to the render process. Here's what I learned about using `contextBridge` for secure communication 🧵 #LearnInPublic

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

11/ I am building a flashcard app that integrates with #obsidianmd and #readwise that automates atomic flashcards from your notes and reading material. If you want to collaborate, DM me.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

10/ Plus, it forces you to have all your content upfront in a single file. Learning is incremental. Notes are dispersed. These single-time generations are not incremental, nor do they adapt to your workflow.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

9/ But there are no checks on quality, so you are back to non-atomic, poorly written cards (problem 2).

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

8/ Current AI tools try to bridge this gap, but often make things worse. For example, you can dump a text or PDF into a ChatGPT wrapper and get flashcards.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

7/ 3️⃣ There's a major disconnect between our workflows for learning/studying and the workflow for remembering with flashcards.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

6/ This lack of atomicity means a single card can take a minute or more to process, but without actually developing stronger connections in your brain. It's inefficient and counterproductive.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

5/ Non-atomic cards are a detriment to focused learning. They don't effectively train and reinforce specific neural pathways. You end up with a muddled understanding instead of clear, strong connections.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

4/ 2️⃣ Bad flashcards are time consuming to rehearse. Many flashcards are simply not atomic enough. They cram too much information into one card.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

3/ ...you won't have the time or inclination to make them for everything you read. And so, you'll inevitably forget much of what you've learned. This makes the time spent learning feel wasted.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

2/ You don't want attending a class or reading an essay, article, or non-fiction book to be a waste of time just because you forget it all a week later. But if writing flashcards takes too long...

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

1/ 1️⃣ Its time consuming to write flashcards manually, so we don't make flashcards for as much as we could. Ideally, you want to retain all the important info you learn.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

I am working on an exciting new AI Flashcard app, and here are the 3️⃣ core problems with current solutions and workflows 🧵

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Does Interpreter extend to IOS? I especially want to clip on the go, and this seems useful for those kinds of workflows (save fleeting article).

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Love your obsidian vault! What css or templates did you use to publish? Did you use Obsidian's Publish service?

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Low churn and organic growth. This is why I love obsidian

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Thank you! If you right click a folder, you can also tag everything all at once! Check out the settings for more ways to customize too

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

✨ Added Gemini support for the #Obsidian Arcana plugin (v1.6.17)! 🔮 You can now interact with your notes using OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google models! 🚀 buff.ly/3Zk95qX

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Summary of Improvements: 🎙️ Dictation vs typing (1 page/sec) 📂 Templates + auto-filing (2 keystrokes) 🔍 AI definitions vs web search (5s vs 30s) 📝 Custom formats without copy-paste Reduced from ~90s to ~10s per word!

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(7/n) Prompts For 'New Word Adder' and for Christie

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(7/n) Summary of Improvements: 🎙️ Dictation vs typing (1 page/sec) 📂 Templates + auto-filing (2 keystrokes) 🔍 AI definitions vs web search (5s vs 30s) 📝 Custom formats without copy-paste Reduced from ~90s to ~10s per word!

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(6/n) Creating the flashcard (pt. 2) Lastly, I use Arcana again to generate the definition, using the 'Christie' command. I've told Christie how to format the definitions when I say 'define'. Text generation has the file contents and name as context, hence how it knows that the word is 'Philistine'

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(5/n) Creating the flashcard (pt. 1) I use a 'Word' template (bound to Alt+W hotkey) to create flashcards. This adds tags for Spaced Repetition plugin to handle rehearsals, sets up two-sided card format, and triggers Auto Note Mover to file it in vocabulary folder.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(4/n) Selecting which words to learn After Moby Dick, I got 400 new words (SAT deck size). Since many are archaic, I only learn words I've either heard before & feel essential, or encountered in multiple books. Use Strange New World plugin or local graph (depth 2) to find repeated words.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(3/n) Compiling the list (pt 3) I now convert this list to a list of links. To automate this, I use Arcana's agent feature, which allows you to reuse the same instructions for multiple chats.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(2/n) Compiling the list (pt 2) When compiling new words from reading, I dictate while skipping through pages instead of typing to save time. I use Arcana's Speech to Text (powered by Whisper) in Socrates for better accuracy than built-in tools. Takes ~168 secs for 150 pages.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(1/n) Compiling the list (pt 1) As I read, I highlight words that I would be unable to give a good definition for. I used to underline in red pencil, but I found it easier just to draw a box in black pencil around the word so you can keep to only one writing instrument in bed.

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

(0/n) Pre-requisites The plugins I use are: - Arcana: For AI automation (github.com/A-F-V/obs...) - Spaced Repetition: For the flashcards - Auto Note Mover: For moving the note - Strange New World: For prioritizing words to learn @TfTHacker - Templates: For structuring the card

github.com

GitHub - A-F-V/obsidian-arcana: Supercharge your Obsidian note-taking through AI-powered insights and suggestions

Supercharge your Obsidian note-taking through AI-powered insights and suggestions - A-F-V/obsidian-arcana

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

I had an embarrassingly small vocabulary size... 🎯 So last year, I decided to create flashcards in @obsidian to learn new words. My workflow creates flashcards from books at 10 seconds per word. ⚡️ Zero manual dictionary searches. 🚫 Zero copy-pasting. Here's my #Obsidian workflow 🧵(/7)

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

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Alessandro Farace @alessandrofv.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

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