MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by NoImmatureAdHom | 2025-04-07 13:03:30+00:00
It is the case that the average person is way, way dumber than people here would like to admit to themselves. And half of the population is dumber than that!

I bet there's a small difference in the means between red and blue, but not much. The available literature exaggerates it because of publication bias / for political reasons. I guess what I'm saying here is: most people are idiots on both sides of the spectrum.

Team Blue has managed to capture more of the intellectual elite (nearly all of the institutions except the Supreme Court), which is probably the thing you're feeling here. I don't think they've managed to capture the hearts and minds of that much of the intellectual elite, though...they've just managed to create chilling effects, spirals of silence, suppress free speech, compel other speech, etc. Which is a huge part of why we are where we are.

In any event, I stand by my original comment. Painting them as one-dimensional doesn't help you. They aren't. Trump is...hard to understand, but Musk and Vance are smart people. There are a lot of other smart people involved on Team Red. Insofar as you operate on the assumption your opponents are as simple as you claim, you shoot yourself in the foot.

Enjoy your week!
by tpm | 2025-04-07 13:03:30+00:00
> then you'll have to accept you're doomed as a country and deserve that fate.

Or, you know, you try to limit the spreading of disinfo, simply to protect the weak. We could for example have a talk about how the people most prone to fall for disinfo are the old and farthest removed from the reach of the education system.

> if you're not planning to respect the will of the majority

You are the one who is not respecting the will of the majority. The government is formed by majority coalition coming from the elections, and the government is doing this. The will of the majority is respected by fighting the disinformation.

> Switzerland and nordic countries seem to be quite well educated and a decent democracy. So it is possible.

Nordic countries are part of the EU and on board with these policies, so no idea what are you on about here.

> People's political biases are always tied to their wealth and social class. Just compare a map with wealth/income distribution with a map with blue/red voter.

It would be nice if you tried to engage with what I wrote and not something completely different.

Ah yes.
by diggan | 2025-04-07 13:03:59+00:00
> do away with the worthless cookie banners requirement

Not a GDPR thing, and the reason you see the banner is because companies refuse to understand the regulation correctly.

> cut some generous but reasonable slack to small organizations

Some more slack you mean, since they already have a lot of slack compared to larger organizations?

What exactly is so cumbersome for a small business to comply with? They're generally "common sense" requirements, and most organizations who already take care of their data basically had to do nothing to be compliant. What are you doing that is so complicated or essential that it's hard to comply, as a SME?
by FrustratedMonky | 2025-04-07 13:04:38+00:00
Minecraft is ubiquitous now.

But I remember the alpha version, and NOBODY knew how to make a pick ax. Humans were also very bad at figuring out these steps.

People were de-compiling the java and posting help guides on the internet.

How to break a tree, get sticks, make a wood pick. In Alpha, that was a big deal for humans also.
by chimeracoder | 2025-04-07 13:04:40+00:00
> Exactly this. If someone from "high tier" countries like Canada and Germany can get locked up in ICE jails for several weeks imagine someone like me from a peripheral European country. Even worse, my youngest brother that has a more "tanned" appearance. tattoos, and a beard.

Out of curiosity, what do you think it's like to travel to Europe as someone who is dark-skinned, has a beard, and does not have a European passport?
by JohnBooty | 2025-04-07 13:05:03+00:00
Apple's eternal failure to make a decent mouse is, without exaggeration, probably the most baffling longstanding technology puzzle in the world to me.

Far from the most important mystery. But, the most baffling.

It's just bizarre because they tend to get other ergo factors right, such as making the best touchpads in the business.

Their 5-year nightmare of bad laptop keyboards was frustrating but at least there was an explanation: it seemed to pretty clearly be an artifact of Ive prioritizing thinness over functionality, and thankfully they belatedly righted themselves. The mouse situation just has no obvious explanation.

One can only imagine that the team responsible for designing the mice is some kind of third-class citizen inside Apple. But like... have the people on that team ever used their own products?!? How does that team use their own crap, and then use a Logitech mouse or even a $12 generic mouse from Amazon, and think they are competitive?
by shadowgovt | 2025-04-07 13:05:13+00:00
For everyone outside the US, the fact that half the country doesn't think ICE should be locking up tourists without good reason is irrelevant since that half isn't barricading detention centers and tearing prison gates open with their cars.

... not that these things would make it safer to travel to the US. In the short run.

The status quo of power is that it is less safe to be a foreigner in the US than it has been in a long time. Possibly at any point in time the US wasn't actively at war with another nation.
by taylodl | 2025-04-07 13:05:22+00:00
Why would a foreigner visit the US when you may be detained and treated like an animal at any time for the most trivial of reasons? Furthermore, why would you visit a country that's actively undermining others around the world? Why would you provide your financial support to that? It's the same reason Tesla sales have fallen off a cliff. You can only mistreat people so much before they push back.
by djha-skin | 2025-04-07 13:06:12+00:00
I think simplifying the law for companies smaller than the 500 person cutt-off makes sense. The Brussels effect is strong. I was just in a company of approximately ~150 people in America and a significant portion of our time went to GDPR/California law takedown requests. User data was everywhere, it was a nightmare. No one thinks of this stuff when everyone is still in sink or swim mode. We got it done though.

Maybe it's an argument for the other side though as well. The architecture of the system was designed to track people as much as possible so we could do A/B, app design, and marketing more effectively. It felt like it was the company's life blood.

I would say the law should at least make people get their architecture right when small so that when they're big it's not impossible to comply later.

One last thought: our company was small in head count but is getting much bigger right now in revenue. I've heard of small head count, billion dollar companies. What of them?
by BLKNSLVR | 2025-04-07 13:06:16+00:00
This is off topic, but I've actually found comfort in how it has galvanised Europe.

What worries me is which side the US (government, not people) would choose to support if EU states send troops to Ukraine's front lines, which would absolutely instigate a Russian response.

(Trump wouldn't like that the little EU states are messing with his negotiations for the shrinking and pillaging of Ukraine, and Trump is, if nothing else, vengeful).
by cxr | 2025-04-07 13:06:52+00:00
Hey, ChatGPT, tell me what's wrong with this person's comment.

> [T]he third comment violates the Cooperative Principle, specifically Grice’s Maxims of Relation and Manner, and ends up implying ignorance where there is none. Let’s break it down a bit more with that framework in mind:

> VIOLATION OF GRICE’S MAXIMS

> The second ["EPUB folks have continued to evolve their bespoke format instead of ditching it for something that legacy browsers already know how to handle"] commenter criticizes EPUB for continuing to evolve a packaging format that is not browser-native. They're not confused about what EPUB is—they're lamenting that it isn’t something simpler, like a plain web bundle a browser could just open.

> The third commenter responds by explaining what EPUB is, as if that somehow rebuts the original critique.

> Factually true.

> Entirely irrelevant in context.

> This failure to meet the relevance standard creates an implicature: the previous commenter must not have understood the format they were critiquing.

> THE IMPLICATURE TRAPS THE THIRD COMMENTER

> By stating something the second commenter obviously already knows, the third commenter unintentionally shifts the conversational footing in a way that belittles rather than builds. That’s why the tone feels off: not because of overt rudeness, but because the presupposition of ignorance is baked into the structure of the reply.

> FINAL THOUGHT

> The third comment reads like an attempted “correction,” but since the original comment didn’t contain a factual error, only a value judgment or proposal, this “correction” becomes a non sequitur—one that subtly undermines the prior speaker’s credibility while failing to address their actual point. That’s what makes it rhetorically broken, even if factually fine.
by potato3732842 | 2025-04-07 13:07:17+00:00
I'm not arguing anything. I'm agreeing. Why do I have to be arguing?

"ICE goes crazy looking for crimes, hapless tourists caught up in the boondoggle"

and

"ICE detaining tourists for no good reason"

Are both 100% true ways to headline the same events. Which framing is Europe getting?

This is something to watch out for on all issues, not just immigration/foreign affairs.
by eCa | 2025-04-07 13:07:18+00:00
A few reasons come to mind, as a EU citizen:

* The US has repeatedly threatened military invasion of a country (Denmark) near mine.

* The US has basically given Russia the green light to invade the rest of EU when ready.

* Mentioned elsewhere in this thread: The many reports of travellers being detained for weeks.

* The US has recently started an economic war on the entire world, except Russia.

Why would I want to visit?
by Brendinooo | 2025-04-07 13:07:32+00:00
I get that narrative. I guess my point is that, if border crossings at the US-Mexico border are down 90%+ compared to last year, and if some migrants/asylum seekers fly in instead of crossing a border on foot/in a car, then how much of this decrease is would-be migrants deciding it's not a good time, and how much of this is would-be tourists being scared of detention? Is that even possible to know?
by jcranmer | 2025-04-07 13:07:57+00:00
A pencil is essentially a core of something that easily rubs off onto other things surrounded in a protective cladding of something that keeps it from rubbing off onto your hands; stuff like this has existed for centuries.

There is essentially only one place in the world where graphite suitable for pencils naturally exists, and this wasn't discovered until the 1500s. Making it artificially from powdered graphite was first done in 1662, and the first process that approximates modern pencil construction was done in 1795, which is probably what you're calling the invention of the pencil.
by unoti | 2025-04-07 13:08:05+00:00
> C++ is for when complexity cost is worth trading for performance gain. What type of person successfully finds simplicity working in C++?

> What type of person successfully finds simplicity working in C++?

Be the change you want to see!

Every language has the raw materials available to turn the codebase into an inscrutable complex mess, C++ more than others. But it’s still possible to make it make sense with a principled approach.
by PaulRobinson | 2025-04-07 13:08:37+00:00
People are staying away from an oligarchy where habeas corpus has been suspended for a wide range of situations, and that results in extradition without an option of release to El Salvador. That's the obvious bit the rest of us know and can see and TFA draws a line to that you can't see yet.

Tourism is not down in other countries. Migrants/asylum seekers don't typically fly in by plane to the top 8 airports in the US, and those that do, do not do so in numbers anywhere near large enough to account for the change in numbers.
by palata | 2025-04-07 13:09:00+00:00
When the President of the United States threatens to invade ex-allies, I don't think that the threatened people give a shit about what the American people think about it. The fact that this guy is the President means that most Americans were not against it, right?

Of course most Americans don't want random people detained. But still, this is happening in the US.

And one thing that I believe is absolutely clear outside the US (whether it's true or not), is that most Americans are perfectly fine with "America First". Americans don't really care about the impact of Trump on the rest of the world; they care about the impact on themselves. Boycotting US products is a way to impact the American people, in the hope that the American people will eventually realise that what's best for them is also better for the others.

Something that I found interesting: when Canadians started booing the US anthem in NHL games, Americans started booing the Canadian anthem. Why? Canada didn't do anything to the US. Does it sound that most Americans are against what's happening, when they defend it? There is this kind of American patriotism where people seem to be like "Yes, my government, is bullying you, but I won't admit it and I will fight against you if you say it. But I'm a good guy, I don't want my government to bully you. I'll just support it because it's my country".

So yeah... pretty sure that it feels a lot different from the outside than from the inside.
by kakoni | 2025-04-07 13:09:15+00:00
So KFW (state investment bank?) has a thing called StartGeld (startup loan). I've wondered about few practicalities 1) What sort of collateral does bank expect from you? 2) Can you really get 125ke or more like 10-20ke? 3) Interest rate is a single digit number? 4) Can you really get 10 year payback periods?

Reason why I'm asking is that in Finland(where I live) these startgeld terms seem like a dream come true for entrepreneur. To give you an example;

1) Tradiotional bank wants collateral for the loan. For a 5k€ loan, 5k€ in deposits are needed. 2) There a lots of Swedish/Norwegian "loan-houses" advertising their services for companies, with interest rates are somewhere between 23-30% per annum.
by josephg | 2025-04-07 13:09:32+00:00
> How does your camera shop decide what to stock? How do they discover new brands to include?

In the case of camera shops, camera brands actively reach out to the stores and have a relationship with them. The camera brands send reps out to train the sales people on the features of new camera models.

Likewise, brands partner with supermarkets to sell their products. Thats not advertising. Nobody is proposing or talking about stopping businesses from forming relationships with one another.
by potato3732842 | 2025-04-07 13:09:53+00:00
>Aren’t a lot of jails private and for profit?

No, it's a small-ish minority of them. Most are government owned and run.

That said, there's a huge incentive to piss away money holding people so you can justify your budget and use poor conditions to justify increases in budget. And on top of that the contractors that supply government jails are pretty evil too.

So it's really a distinction without a difference at the end of the day, it's all a pretty rotten system.
by _petronius | 2025-04-07 13:10:01+00:00
As a big GDPR fanboy, one thing I would be happy for them to remove is the portability between providers requirement: it was essentially dead on arrival, is not implemented, and could be done away with.

The other EU-level regulation that needs to be either removed or completely rethought (since it will clearly not be enforced in a way that makes sense) is the cookie regulation. It was well-intentioned, badly implemented, and the GDPR addresses more of the core problems, it is time to do away with it.

But as a whole, I push back against the idea that deregulation is the primary way in which the EU can or should become competitive with the US on technology. Lack of public investment, worse ability for companies to offer equity incentives, and timid private investment are all much bigger problems than consumer protection regulations.
by clmsoftware | 2025-04-07 13:10:02+00:00
Healthcare institutions operate in high-stakes environments where even small delays in incident response can have serious consequences. Whether it's a medication administration error, patient injury, or breach of protocol, incident response must be immediate, structured, and well-documented. Unfortunately, many hospitals still rely on outdated reporting methods such as paper forms, Excel trackers, or siloed internal email systems, which delay responses, create inconsistencies, and complicate compliance audits.
by jeroenhd | 2025-04-07 13:10:03+00:00
So far, the travel warnings I've seen all specify specific groups targeted by the American government, such as LGBTQ+ people.

News of tourists getting imprisoned for weeks or longer have been all over the news, but so far Europe doesn't seem to have actually brought out a general warning for that kind of danger.

That said, the people I've spoken to (most of which aren't LGBT+) are hesitant to go to the US now. There's a stark difference between the "haha, what the fuck, US" sentiment I used to sense and the "what the fuck, US" we're getting now.
by jasode | 2025-04-07 13:10:09+00:00
>Maybe this is a US centric definition.

It's a common definition for new companies that intend to grow quickly beyond a small/medium size and very often associated with funding from VC.

1st paragraph from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company :

>A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model.[1][2] While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to go public, startups are new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo-founder.[3] During the beginning, startups face high uncertainty[4] and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them do go on to become successful and influential, such as unicorns.

The characteristics in that paragraph don't apply to new mom & pop restaurants, dry cleaners, new law practices, etc so most people don't usually label them as "startups".

But there is no Global Language Police that everybody has to obey so if some folks wants to label their new neighborhood coffee house a "startup", nobody will stop them.

EDIT to REPLY: >If you keep reading we get to: "Unlike an entrepreneur, a start up founder doesn’t have a major financial motive." I'm not sure that is in line with the YC program.

I see that you're referring to a LinkedIn article that someone added to Wikipedia. I agree with you. That Linkedin blog by Japjot Sethi has bad heuristics and should be removed as a citation. The Wiki user that added it in May 2019 has been flagged and blocked for bad edits to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sensate8

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Startup_company&d...
by aurizon | 2025-04-07 13:10:11+00:00
The 'sea' of data is huge - I am doubtless entered into it multiple times with all manner of associated data. The ICE casts it's net (with a pack of valid as well as a far number of non-valid associations) through this sea and when it lifts it there are number of 'fish' therein. I will be in there, among the silvery bodies and the attached associations. I am 'by-catch' as I have no crime ever - but millions of tons of bycatch die even if discarded. There is an old French Canadian poem, that says, in essence - 'The wind might roar, and the waves they might dash, but you will not drown on Lac Sainte Pierre - so long as you stay on the shore.
by phh | 2025-04-07 13:10:23+00:00
> do away with the worthless cookie banners requirement

There is no such requirement. You're free to make a website that doesn't require cookies.

This very website on which we're discussing doesn't have a cookie banner, and isn't required to have one.

(I'm not saying HN is GDPR compliant though, it's missing a DPO mail address to allow edit/deletion of older PII messages and a privacy policy even though said policy would probably be max 10 lines)

> cut some generous but reasonable slack to small organizations.

I can't say for other countries, but in France there is already already a lot of slack even for bigger organizations. We have mainstream websites that are obviously violating the GDPR (most visited cooking site, most visited tv content provider, not allowing free choice of refusing tracking)
by ta1243 | 2025-04-07 13:10:24+00:00
What visa do you hold? I wouldn't be confident that organising a conference would fall under ESTA or B1, speaking at one should be, but ultimately it's upto the goon looking at your application at the desk. In any case ensure you immigrate as early in the day as possible to maximise the chance of a quick deportation if you are rejected.
by sofixa | 2025-04-07 13:10:25+00:00
> Out of curiosity, what do you think it's like to travel to Europe as someone who is dark-skinned, has a beard, and does not have a European passport?

Depends on which part of Europe. In the more diverse parts, nobody would bat an eyelid (even if border police might profile you).

EU Eastern Europe, you might get funny looks but it's still not an extraordinary situation to have various shades of skin colour (e.g. Syrians, various Central Asians are migrant workers in a few of the countries in question; a lot of e.g. the Balkans are on a palette of skin colours).

Non-EU Eastern Europe (referring more to Belarus than Montenegro here), might get casual racism.

Nobody will throw you in jail in indefinite detention in another country with no human rights because of your skin colour, beard, tattoos or anything of the like. Other than of course the usual suspects of Belarus, Russia, Azerbaijan and etc. who could for any reason.
by wizzwizz4 | 2025-04-07 13:11:00+00:00
The UK has updated its "Entry requirements" page, but not its "Warnings and insurance" section: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa

Last I checked, Germany's advice was similar (i.e., not a general warning); and from the article, it doesn't look like Portugal's advice is a Travel Warning either. There's a difference between making information available, and providing warnings.
by whoisthemachine | 2025-04-07 13:11:11+00:00
It's interesting and funny from a tech perspective that auto-suggestions on iPhone got him.

It's also proof that 1) security processes are important for a reason and 2) don't discuss information you don't want getting out on a consumer device (or really on any internet connected device) and 3) these guys' plan of using signal to avoid record keeping was foolish and stupid, more than just because of their silly fear that Democrats would release their records (that would require Democrats growing a spine).
by m00dy | 2025-04-07 13:11:22+00:00
Cookie consent banners might be one of the most frustrating aspects of modern web browsing. A better solution could have been a thoughtful extension or fork of HTTP, specifically for EU implementations, something that handles consent through HTTP headers instead. That would allow users to easily opt in or out, either globally or per tab, without the clutter. Ideally, technical regulations like these should be designed by people with a strong understanding of technology, to ensure practical and user-friendly solutions.
by PaulHoule | 2025-04-07 13:11:39+00:00
Don't know what's confusing about it... I mean, I shoot ARW with my Sony, these work fine with Lightroom and work fine with DxO PhotoLab [1] at least as long as my ARWs are not compressed (it's not that the compression is proprietary, it's that the compression is lossy and breaks denoising)

[1] Shoot ISO 12,800, process with DxO, people will think you shot at ISO 200; makes shooting sports indoor look easy, see https://bsky.app/profile/up-8.bsky.social/post/3lkc45d3xcs2x so I got zero nostalgia for film.