GeorgeBuford
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2017–2026
5:36 · 62K views · Sep 3, 2007
A sketch from the Seattle comedy show Almost Live! in which Pat Cashman plays a US Bell rep explaining the new 425 area code. It first aired in 1997.
Seattle-area commenters bring it up as a nostalgic local joke when area codes or Eastside versus Seattle rivalry come up.
4 comments from Hacker News
Qwen HAS to be a part of the discussion here, even though Microsoft is a US based entity. Their 30b MoE models absolutely hit way above their weight when paired with the right harness program, and can be ran on "Costco gaming computer" specs when configured correctly in llama.cpp. Sorry Trump Administration, but while the US has been downloading more ram by throwing data centers at everything and burning up everyone's power and water, China has come out with what's effectively a prototype edge compute capable AI model - regardless of how they built it. And arguably I can tokenmaxx on it just fine at around 30-40 tokens/sec. And also, ASICs are on the way. Imagine one of those with a heavy hitting model (MoE or otherwise, Qwen or otherwise) installed in a PCIe slot at 10k+ tokens/sec and 75 watts max (maximum wattage deliverable by the PCIe slot alone) for $300-400 USD each. [LINK] ASIC demo here: [LINK] Sorry/not sorry to rip this whole thing to shreds. But I'm sick and tired of these inefficient LLMs being produced that seemingly can only be offered by subscription from a data center, when I'm running a full AI stack right now (model and all) on my computer at home on a 750 watt max power supply. Microsoft really needs to get with the picture here and compete more with Qwen instead of just the US/EU entities. Sincerely, your neighbor down in Tacoma. this video
Relevant video links: "OK guys let me see your Boeing employee IDs!" - [LINK] "You know the rules in Redmond. You're not allowed to play any kind of sports within FIVE MILES of the Microsoft campus except for hackey-sack." - [LINK] "Whadda ya mean you don't want to practice the accordion?!" - [LINK] "You're entitled to have a crystal present at any interrogation..." - [LINK] Not the same theme, but... "Did you have to dial a '1' before?" - this video
My favorite is the 425 area code skit, with a snobby lady (in character) complaining about Renton being in the same area code as Bellevue. No one outside of the Seattle area would ever get that joke, however. this video Done in the same style as the WSU drinking ban...another later classic: [LINK] Or Bill Nye as a street walking lawyer on Aurora avenue: [LINK] They put everything on YouTube. No need for a dvd :)
Reminds me of this classic Almost Live segment about the 425 area code switch over: this video At the end, an east side Bellevue woman snobbishly complains about 425 containing Renton.