Cory L. Rahman
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corylr.bsky.social
Cory L. Rahman
@corylr.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.1K following 880 posts
Same interests? Let’s follow each other!
• Lead Software Engineer @BoozAllen
• Mentor @ResilientCoders, #100Devs
• MS CS @ GMU by night

💙 Science & tech, TypeScript, Angular, GIS, Python, Rust, Go/Baduk, gaming, birds, photography

Views are mine
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corylr.bsky.social
Not sure how this cute Field Sparrow ended up in the Coachella feed but I’m not complaining lol
#birdsky #birds #birding

(Nice photo by the way, @dreamcatcher01.bsky.social !)
A screenshot of the Coachella Fest trending feed by @trending.bsky.app showing a post by user Dreamcatcher. Dreamcatcher’s post says “Field Sparrow Just pretty darn cute...” and shows a close-up image of a Field Sparrow which has the Alt Text “A white, orange, gray, black, and brown Field Sparrow is between two branches. The background is blurry blue.”. The post has 1 comment, 1 repost, and 35 likes.
April 13, 2025 at 4:48 PM
corylr.bsky.social
CAT
A low quality crop of the photo posted by Ethan, zoomed in to the page of the book depicting an image where some machine learning algorithm has drawn a blue box around a cat and labeled it “CAT”
March 8, 2025 at 3:24 AM
corylr.bsky.social
Look I know functional state machine diagrams can be useful, but in what world is this easier than just reading the code lol
A functional state machine diagram involving 3 functions: stut, check Dupes, and is Delimit. There are 19 nodes total and a lot of arrows going all over the place. The arrow lines being dashed makes it even harder to interpret.
February 9, 2025 at 4:22 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Important note on Ollama LLM memory usage: you can view the GB required for each model at ollama.com/search. This is the memory loaded during response generation.

Models are quantized to use less, e.g. 7b (7 billion param) models use ~5GB and 14b use ~9GB. For R1 I've found 14b to be superior.
A screenshot of the Ollama website displaying different versions of the DeepSeek-R1 model along with their corresponding memory requirements. The dropdown menu lists options such as 1.5b (1.1GB), 7b (4.7GB), 8b (4.9GB), 14b (9.0GB), 32b (20GB), and 70b (43GB). The 7b model is selected, and its memory usage of 4.7GB is circled in red. Other model version memory values are also underlined in red. The page shows that the model has been downloaded 5 million times and was updated 9 days ago. A screenshot of the macOS Activity Monitor's Memory Pressure graph, showing a large spike when I ran the DeepSeek-R1:14b model.
February 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
corylr.bsky.social
Once Ollama is set up, get Open WebUI, an open-source LLM chat UI with features like document input. It works locally with Ollama!

To install, visit github.com/open-webui/o... and follow the “If Ollama is on your computer” instructions.

Run the container, open localhost:3000, and that’s it!
A screenshot of the Open WebUI chat interface, which closely resembles ChatGPT’s UI. It is open to localhost:3000, indicating that it’s running entirely locally. The conversations sidebar is open on the left, showing past chats, while the main window on the right displays an ongoing conversation with user messages and AI responses. The first message from me says "Hello, world!" and the deepseek-r1 response is "Hello, world! 😊 How can I assist you today?". The input field and controls are at the bottom, along with a plus button for document input.
February 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
corylr.bsky.social
Guide to run DeepSeek-R1 100% locally & privately (or any #foss LLM):
- Install Ollama ollama.com
- Run `ollama run deepseek-r1`

Now you can chat in your CLI!

Browse models at ollama.com/search. Use in code: `npm i ollama` JavaScript / TypeScript, `pip install ollama` Python.

🧵

#webdev #100devs
Screenshot of a Ghostty terminal showing me using ollama to interact with a local DeepSeek-R1 model over a wallpaper background with a Monarch butterfly.
 Because DeepSeek-R1 is a "reasoning model", you'll always see "think" tags before the model's final response. Image Transcription: 
cory:~ ❯ ollama run deepseek-r1 >>> Hello, world! <think> </think> Hello, World! How can I assist you today? 😊 >>>Send a message (/? for help)
February 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
corylr.bsky.social
Lol. Tried the same search with DuckDuckGo, seems decent
A DuckDuckGo search for “pop culture references 2006” 2 results are shown: Mr. Pop Culture https://mrpopculture.com Pop Culture In Review for the Year 2006 Film The major movies of this year included 'Night at the Museum', 'Dead Man's Chest', 'Pirates of the Caribbean', and 'Cars'. 'Brokeback Mountain' was... Pop Culture Madness https://popculturemadness.com 2006 History, Fun Facts and Trivia - Pop Culture Madness An old concept, it reached mainstream Pop Culture this year. Created in 2000, Blu-Ray discs were made available in 2006. They can contain up to 5…
January 31, 2025 at 1:03 AM
corylr.bsky.social
I love that Bluesky lets you bookmark searches!

Open Bluesky in a browser (web or mobile), search something, then add a bookmark to save it.

One particularly handy search I have bookmarked is “from:me 📌 ToDo” so I can see all my replies I have pinned to do.

#BlueskyTips
A screenshot of my Bluesky bookmarks folder. You can see 4 search bookmarks: 1. bsky from:me 2. bsky To Do 3. bsky fave quotes 4. bsky my bsky tips
January 26, 2025 at 4:12 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Shoutout to the board game Most Wanted!

It's one of those rare games that scales extraordinarily well from 2 up to 8 players. It's poker-based, so you can get in on the action even when it's not your turn.

I discovered it at #MAGFest last year and we've been having a blast with it ever since!!
The board game box for Most Wanted. At the top it says "Ken Gruhl, Quentin Weir & Dominic Crapuchettes present MOST WANTED". At the bottom it says 15-35 minutes, 10+ ages, 2-8 players, and North Star Games (the publisher). In the middle is a woman dressed in a blue cowgirl dress and hat pointing a rifle up and to the left in front of a WANTED sign that says "REWARD $10,000". All the pieces of the board game are laid out in front of the box. There's a board with little character figurines sitting on it, each on a different row closer to the finish line. There's a pile of chips with moneybag icons, and a deck of playing cards (it's not a standard 52-card playing deck, it's specific to Most Wanted).
January 25, 2025 at 11:54 AM
corylr.bsky.social
I recently had a >100,000,000 hand and I was hyped!
A Balatro “game over” screen showing Best Hand as 101,707,776.
January 20, 2025 at 5:10 PM
corylr.bsky.social
I wish the sky was blue in Dhaka today! The haze was intense.
#bangladesh
Air quality in Dhaka Air quality index (AQI*) and PM2.5 air pollution in Dhaka • 00:00, Jan 9 US AQI*: 200 Unhealthy Main pollutant: PM2.5, 124.9 нg/m3 Temp: 15° C Wind: 11.1 km/h SW Humidity: 82% 11 Stations operated by 11 contributors
January 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Virginia's state motto is legendary:

“Sic Semper Tyrannis” —
“Thus Always to Tyrants”

On the Virginia seal and flag, this motto is paired with an image depicting the Roman goddess Virtus literally standing on a fallen tyrant!

#virginia #flag #history #usa #flags #vexillology
A cropped image of the Virginia state flag featuring the state seal on a blue background. The seal depicts the Roman goddess Virtus, a personification of courage and virtue, dressed as a warrior with a helmet and holding a spear in her right hand and a sheathed sword in her left. She stands triumphantly over a fallen tyrant, who lies on the ground with a broken crown and a whip, symbolizing the defeat of tyranny. Surrounding the scene is the Latin motto “Sic Semper Tyrannis” (Thus Always to Tyrants), emphasizing resistance to oppression.
January 8, 2025 at 2:54 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Here are bonus photos of the Allen’s Hummingbird. So fierce!

Do you think it’s drinking the water? Or just taking a bird-bath?
Allan’s Hummingbird facing right, flapping its wings, sitting on the edge of a waterfall. Allan’s Hummingbird sitting on the edge of a waterfall, flapping its wings with its head down. It has a fierce look on its face! It may be either taking a bird-bath or drinking the water.
December 29, 2024 at 7:14 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Best hummingbird photo I think I’ve EVER gotten!

Allen’s Hummingbird sitting on the edge of a waterfall.

San Diego Botanic Garden, Dec 26.

#birds #birding #birdsky #wildlife #nature
Allen’s Hummingbird sitting on the edge of a waterfall, facing right so you can see its eye and whole body. On his neck he has brilliant pink/orange/gold iridescent gorget feathers that look like scale armor.
December 29, 2024 at 7:14 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Trending is all South Korea right now 🔥 …but for very different reasons!
Image transcription: “Trending BETA What people are posting about. South Korea Han Duck-Soo Impeachment Squid Game”
December 27, 2024 at 3:48 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Merry Christmas all! 🎄

Started my morning with some birding. Really happy with this photo I got of an Acorn Woodpecker!

#birds #birding #birdsky #wildlife #nature
An Acorn Woodpecker facing left on the side of a tree. It has red on the top of its head, a black back, and a piercing white eye.
December 25, 2024 at 8:52 PM
corylr.bsky.social
I visited the San Francisco Go Club last night!! Oldest Go Club in the nation.

Win: 1. Loss: 2.

I had a blast!

#baduk #gogame #igo
View through a window with a banner that reads “San Francisco Go Club Dojo”. Inside is a large room with numerous tables and red chairs, beautiful green plants, and a few people at tables playing the game of Go. There are plaques, photos, art, and clocks on the walls, and a large Go board sits upright on an easel, presumably for teaching purposes. A finished game of Go on a 13x13 board. I played as black against an experienced rank 5 Kyu player. I started with a 7-stone handicap. White and black hold territory in opposite corners of the board. Although Black is connected in the middle, white came away with more territory and won the game. A finished game of Go on a 9x9 board. I played against a beginner at about the same level as me. His name was Dee, we both started around October of this year. I played as white and won! He defeated me in our 2nd game, however. Two framed images on the wall. On the top is a photo of a Japanese Go master, with the caption “Wu Qingyuan, better known by his Japanese name (Go Seigen), was a Chinese-born Japanese master of the game of Go. He is considered by many to have been the greatest Go player of the 20th century.” On the bottom is artwork of three robed people looking contemplative, sitting around a Go board, playing Go.
December 23, 2024 at 4:59 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Just saw one of these in SF today! I’m from out of town so it was a bit of a shock.
Photo of a white Jaguar self-driving Waymo car with sensors on the sides and top.
December 23, 2024 at 6:19 AM
corylr.bsky.social
I like this! Appreciate the dark theme too.

One small thing I caught on mobile iOS Safari is that the nav bar doesn’t stick to the top when I scroll
Screenshot of the top of my mobile screen showing the nav bar floating 50ish pixels below the top, overlapping with text in such a way that text appears both above and below the nav bar
December 22, 2024 at 4:52 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Fred from Scooby Doo unmasks a culprit, who turns out to also be Fred. Image Transcription: Meme ["Let's see who this really is", featuring Fred from "Scooby Doo". Top image shows Fred from "Scooby Doo" reaching over to a villain dressed up as a ghost, who is bound up by ropes. The subtitle reads:] NOW WE'LL SEE WHO WROTE THIS TERRIBLE CODE [Bottom image shows Fred having the mask in his hand, revealing himself underneath.] Image transcription credit to u/seeroflights, link: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/s/TDR0Xkb5lW
December 21, 2024 at 2:45 AM
corylr.bsky.social
A "select all the boxes with bicycles" reCAPTCHA where a few pixels of a tire are over the line and Peele is sweating profusely because he's not sure whether or not to select the box on the other side of the line.
December 11, 2024 at 2:29 AM
corylr.bsky.social
This was such a cool project to build. Users could monitor local trends and share Status Reports for the current day, like this historical report from Nov 4, 2020
Historic Status Report for: Fairfax County Virginia 11/4/2020 Summary Fairfax County reported 943 new cases of COVID-19 over the selected week and the number of new cases was accelerating. A chart showing an upward trend in cases around November 4, 2020
December 7, 2024 at 2:08 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Throwback to when I made COVID-19-Watch in 2020!

I had so many users reach out, thankful for how easy it was to track trends and point to data. 💙

This video shows the first year of the pandemic.

More: covid-19-watch.com#/about

#foss #opensource #buildinpublic
December 7, 2024 at 2:08 PM
corylr.bsky.social
Interpolating HSL and RGB is very different. For example, let's take interpolating from red to blue.

For HSL, you're going to pass through all the other hues as you go from red to blue. For RGB, it's going to result in a more "direct path". Depends what you need!

🧵(4/4)
When you interpolate from red to blue using HSL, the hue shifts the color from red to orange, yellow, green cyan, and finally blue, looking like a rainbow. When you interpolate from red to blue using RGB, it goes from red to purple to blue, a sort of smooth, direct transition.
December 6, 2024 at 1:36 PM
corylr.bsky.social
I love HSL for color. It's so intuitive.

Example: What's the HSL for "slate" (bluish gray)?

- Hue: 210, between cyan and blue (0-360)
- Saturation: More gray than blue, 30% (0 = gray)
- Lightness: Dim, 40% (50% = neutral)

hsl(210, 30%, 40%)

Yep, that's what I was picturing!

🧵(1/4)

#css #webdev
An image showing slate gray on the VS Code color picker. The HSL value is set to `hsl(210, 30%, 40%)`. There are 3 sections of the interface, from left to right they are: 1. A large box allowing the user to select saturation and lightness on an x, y chart, 2. an opacity slider (not part of standard HSL), and 3. a hue slider.
December 6, 2024 at 1:36 PM