MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by theshrike79 | 2025-04-22 18:59:15+00:00
Over here in the cold Nordics I always keep warm blankets and at least two ways to make a fire in a small bag in my car.

The fire is just a bunch of (waterproof) matches and a few cheap Bic lighters and a german military stove from an army surplus store. Cost me maybe 8€ a decade ago.
by toomuchtodo | 2025-04-22 18:59:41+00:00
Related:

NOAA: Track Whale Detections With This Interactive Map - https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/track-whale-det...

NOAA: Passive Acoustic Cetacean Map - https://apps-nefsc.fisheries.noaa.gov/pacm/#/

WhaleMap - https://whalemap.org/WhaleMap/
by duxup | 2025-04-22 18:59:59+00:00
>Currently, it would let anyone with a “reasonable expectation of privacy” on their property use “reasonable force” to stop drones from conducting surveillance.

This is an interesting twist as since drones are new ... I have zero clue what "reasonable" is in either case.

I'd be a bit concerned if my neighbor decided he needed to deal with a drone and started shooting in the air. Bullets do come down.
by Centigonal | 2025-04-22 19:01:22+00:00
Dang, you really can make anything sound scary if you use the right language!

1. ChatGPT funnels your data to American Intelligence Agencies through backend infrastructure subject to U.S. Government National Security Letters (NSLs) that allow for secret collection of customer data by the US Department of Defense.

2. ChatGPT covertly manipulates the results it presents to align with US propaganda, as a result of the widely disseminated Propaganda Model and close ties between OpenAI's leadership and the US Government.

3. It is highly likely that OpenAI used unlawful model training techniques to create its model, stealing from leading international news sources, academic institutions, and publishing houses.

4. OpenAI’s AI model appears to be powered by advanced chips manufactured by Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC and reportedly utilizes tens of thousands of chips that are manufactured by a Trade War adversary of America and subject to a 32% import duty.
by Beijinger | 2025-04-22 19:01:34+00:00
The Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis posits that around 7,500 years ago, the Mediterranean Sea breached the Bosporus Strait, causing a massive influx of water into the Black Sea. This event transformed the Black Sea from a freshwater lake into a saltwater sea, resulting in a dramatic rise in water levels. This rapid flooding would have submerged large areas of land, displacing human settlements along the coastline. The catastrophic nature of this event is believed to have been preserved in the oral traditions of ancient cultures, leading to the creation of flood myths, such as those in the Bible and the Mesopotamian epics like the Epic of Gilgamesh. Archaeological evidence, including submerged prehistoric settlements and shifts in the Black Sea's shoreline, supports the idea of this sudden and profound flooding event. The Black Sea Deluge is considered a key historical event that likely influenced the development of various ancient flood myths across the Near East and beyond.
by ForceBru | 2025-04-22 19:01:42+00:00
In another post (https://alexshtf.github.io/2025/03/27/Free-Poly.html) the author fits a degree-10000 (ten thousand!) polynomial using the Legendre basis. The polynomial _doesn't overfit_, demonstrating double descent. "What happened to our overfitting from ML 101 textbooks? There is no regularization. No control of the degree. But “magically” our high degree polynomial is not that bad!"

So... are _all_ introductions to machine learning just extremely wrong here? I feel like I've seen tens of reputable books and courses that introduce overfitting and generalization using severe overfitting and terrible generalization of high-degree polynomials in the usual basis (1,x,x^2,...). Seemingly everyone warns of the dangers of high-degree polynomials, yet here the author just says "use another basis" and proves everyone wrong? Mind blown, or is there a catch?
by mz00 | 2025-04-22 19:01:56+00:00
different models. high level approach: N models receive the same prompt → responses are consolidated through a simple embedding-based similarity matrix → another model performs a simple assessment of deduplicated responses → these are then consolidated into a research report & data visualization.

the whole contraption uses ~10 different models, but more can easily be plugged into the initial generation phase. happy to demo it sometime! [edit: email on profile].
by calebio | 2025-04-22 19:02:43+00:00
> We found that the the Great Flood in the book of Genesis existed

Can you elaborate what you mean by the "Great Flood"? There's certainly evidence for regional megafloods, but I'm not aware of any professional geologic body that recognizes what most people mean when they say "Great Flood", i.e. a single planet-wide flood around that time period.
by wizzwizz4 | 2025-04-22 19:03:08+00:00
Touché. Mastodon is the Internet Explorer of ActivityPub. There are other, non-Mastodon extensions, and some ActivityPub-spec functionality that Mastodon eschews but other implementations support, but overall this is an accurate summary. Especially regarding the C2S protocol: most apps just use the Mastodon API instead (see https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/10520).
by shayway | 2025-04-22 19:04:34+00:00
I've recently been delving into paleobiology, but what inspired it was very different from what's described in the post. I ingest a lot of pop educational stuff, mostly just for entertainment; but after a few years of just hearing the highlights and fun facts it became frustrating not being able to put all of it into context.

So I pushed myself a little out of my comfort zone and ordered a textbook and enrolled in a course. It made me realize how I've forgotten how to learn without it being entertainment. But, after some acclimation, I also realized that I don't really need an engaging presentation, because I really do just enjoy learning. So in a way my journey has been kinda the opposite of the author's - the 'fluff' around the information made it less appealing, not more. Though I suppose I might not have taken the leap to delve deeper into these topics in the first place if it weren't for the accessible versions.

Either way though, I think the real takeaway isn't that there's a right way to be interested in a topic - whether through stories and history or otherwise - but rather that school isn't the best environment for figuring out if something interests you, and it's worth re-visiting topics you might have written off with a fresh approach.
by btbuildem | 2025-04-22 19:05:15+00:00
Early 90's, especially on Amiga -- where a proper windowing desktop env ("workbench") coexisted with the wildest custom UIs. Maybe it was the roots of the machine, heavily used as a games console and a demoscene workhorse? It seems like at that time there was so much creative design effort put into UX -- and it didn't seem to get in the way, maybe because each genre of software was kind of on the cutting edge back then, establishing what would eventually evolve into conventions. Mod trackers, image editing, disk copying, etc. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia, but it felt really immersive to pull up a piece of software you were familiar with; each UI was so distinct and purpose-built, but it also had.. flourish? style? soul? Not so much now.
by taylodl | 2025-04-22 19:05:56+00:00
I don't understand this sentiment. Both Ford and GM have extensive operations, including R&D, outside of the United States, and these operations are heavily engaged in developing their respective EV platforms for vehicles sold in the US and abroad. The world is transitioning to EVs, and Ford and GM investors don't want to miss out on the global automotive market. So, I'm having trouble understanding how the US auto market "backpedaling" on EVs necessitates that the US auto industry will be "lost."
by bethekidyouwant | 2025-04-22 19:06:02+00:00
You just take the thermostat off the wall and put it in a drawer and then you buy a new thermostat and put it on the wall and then when you give the apartment back, you take the old thermostat and you put it back on the wall

Also, if you read this far, are you German or something? you can just do things. which OP seems to know. And even if the landlord came and saw the apartment as long as the new thermostat isn’t neon orange, he isn’t going to notice and even if he somehow noticed you would just gaslight him and say no that’s how it’s always been and how the hell is he gonna escalate past that? And why would he if the new thermostat is more expensive and has better features?
by FloorEgg | 2025-04-22 19:06:43+00:00
The relevant (unvalidated) theory is that Atlantis was an empire that covered north western Africa (Morocco, sharah, etc) - at least, and which had a port city around where Tangier is today, and a capital city at the richat structure (pre-younger dryas).

The theory comes with several hypotheses which have not been validated or invalidated yet. to invalidate the theory would require significant (strategically chosen) archaeological surveys of the Sahara and the richat structure. The theory is falsifiable, and has not been falsified yet. That doesn't make the theory of Atlantis true, it just makes it undetermined.
by sixhobbits | 2025-04-22 19:06:56+00:00
Reminds me of one of my favourite scenes from Snow Crash

QUOTE

Y.T.’s mom pulls up the new memo, checks the time, and starts reading it. The estimated reading time is 15.62 minutes. Later, when Marietta [her boss] does her end-of-day statistical roundup, sitting in her private office at 9:00 P.M., she will see the name of each employee and next to it, the amount of time spent reading this memo, and her reaction, based on the time spent, will go something like this:

• Less than 10 min.: Time for an employee conference and possible attitude counseling.

• 10-14 min.: Keep an eye on this employee; may be developing slipshod attitude.

• 14-15.61 min.: Employee is an efficient worker, may sometimes miss important details.

• Exactly 15.62 min.: Smartass. Needs attitude counseling.

• 15.63-16 min.: Asswipe. Not to be trusted.

• 16-18 min.: Employee is a methodical worker, may sometimes get hung up on minor details.

• More than 18 min.: Check the security videotape, see just what this employee was up to (e.g., possible unauthorized restroom break).

Y.T.’s mom decides to spend between fourteen and fifteen minutes reading the memo. It’s better for younger workers to spend too long, to show that they’re careful, not cocky. It’s better for older workers to go a little fast, to show good management potential. She’s pushing forty. She scans through the memo, hitting the Page Down button at reasonably regular intervals, occasionally paging back up to pretend to reread some earlier section. The computer is going to notice all this. It approves of rereading. It’s a small thing, but over a decade or so this stuff really shows up on your work-habits summary.
by philsnow | 2025-04-22 19:07:04+00:00
My interest in biology isn’t driven at all by stories, history, or “adventure”, but rather by the awe-inspiring complexity and majesty of all the microbiological processes and their interplay.

Yes, it’s pop science, but last be year I read through Philipp Dettmer’s “Immune”, and the description of how the immune system continuously generates random/arbitrary sequences of nucleotides, builds the proteins that those sequences encode, and then subjects the resulting proteins to a “is this a ‘me’ protein or an ‘other’ protein?” gauntlet, the latter path of which allows the body to create antibodies for completely novel proteins... is just incredible.

I have an idle fantasy that, in the afterlife, I’ll be able to ask God questions like “so what are quarks made of?”, “why is the speed of light what it is and not any faster/slower? What would the universe have been like if the speed of light were several orders of magnitude faster/slower?”, “is there a single force that unifies all the ones that humans know about? What would the universe have been like if the weak nuclear force were just a tiny bit weaker?”, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.
by insane_dreamer | 2025-04-22 19:07:06+00:00
I never carry cash with me.

I almost always pay with my phone using tap.

Some restaurants have a fully online payment system where you get the bill on your phone and pay from there through some online payment system. I've seen this at airport restaurants, where it makes sense as you may be in a hurry and don't want to have to wait to get the server's attention. I wouldn't like it at normal sit-down restaurants in other situations.

I don't think this is a technology problem. There are lots of lo-tech ways of signaling that would like the cheque.
by dang | 2025-04-22 19:07:16+00:00
On HN, dupeness is more a question of whether the underlying story is substantively the same or not—or, to put it slightly differently, whether the follow-up submission is able to support a substantively different discussion or not.

In this case, the answers appear to be yes, it's substantively the same story, and no, it can't support a substantively different discussion than the previous major thread. That's why we'd treat the follow-up submission as a dupe.

This is in no way passing judgment about the importance of the story! It's just that if we weren't careful and proactive about moderating HN in this way, the frontpage would rapidly fill up with variations on the hottest stories of the moment, and avoiding repetition is a core principle here (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...).

I wrote a long explanation about exactly this the other day—if you (or anyone) is willing to take a look at that (assuming you have the stamina) and still have a question that isn't already answered there, I'd be happy to take a crack at it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43738815.

p.s. The current case is unfortunate because the follow-up/duplicate post came a week later than the original thread. If it were hours later, or a day or two later, as is more typical, we would merge the threads and in this way avoid a split discussion. But 7 days is too wide a chasm to merge across.
by JamesSwift | 2025-04-22 19:07:27+00:00
Looks good. Id suggest making your `get` wait to acquire the lock until needed. eg instead of

@lock.synchronize do entry = @store[key] return nil unless entry ...

you can do

entry = @store[key] return nil unless entry @lock.synchronize do entry = @store[key]

And similarly for other codepaths
by NooneAtAll3 | 2025-04-22 19:07:27+00:00
> Russia was integrated in most diplomatic and economic circles before they started to invade multiple neighbouring countries.

...and how did that help solve the "european version of carribian crisis"?

ignoring reasons citing costs only expresses you having different values - but it doesn't solve the problem

there were attempts to make safeguards - to allow Ukraine into EU, but not NATO. Those failed

War is the result of those failures
by seanw444 | 2025-04-22 19:07:28+00:00
Plus all the details that conveniently line up. The mountains with rivers to the north. Being south of the Atlas mountains – Atlas being the first king of Atlantis. "Atlantis" meaning "island of Atlantis" is interesting because it's likely that if water were present in the rings, it would have the appearance of an island, and there are two forms of evidence that there was: zoom out on Maps/Earth and see the obvious water blast the sand experienced coming from the Atlantic; there is also salt present in the rings.

Is it Atlantis? Maybe not, but there a number of stiking coincidences.
by hashstring | 2025-04-22 19:07:33+00:00
It’s not exactly what I meant. I meant that any form of DEI is now considered “too progressive” by some, which has to deal also with right shifting to far right, which in turn shifts what is generally considered centrist.

Ultimately, DEI can mean thousands of things, and what is “progressive” left or “extreme” right to some may be centrist to others.
by wildzzz | 2025-04-22 19:08:23+00:00
It is somewhat possible but there's rumors that Intel intentionally nerfs the speed so as not to compete with their datacenter products. It could also just be some other resource limit in the hardware, you usually aren't saturating a thunderbolt connection with just one type of data stream. This guy built a small ring topology network using mini PCs and thunderbolt 4.

https://fangpenlin.com/posts/2024/01/14/high-speed-usb4-mesh...

The distance isn't great for USB/Thunderbolt 4 cables so it would really only make sense for cluster computing and since no switches exist for this kind of thing, you're limited in network topology. Generally, the kind of PCs that you'd need a fat pipe connected to already have the slots and lanes available for 40G or 100G cards. It's a cool experiment for the homelab but it's clear the industry isn't interested.
by leptons | 2025-04-22 19:09:13+00:00
I got a used internal LTO5 tape drive on eBay for about $150, and then an HBA card to connect it to for about $25 or $30. I bought some LTO5 tapes, and typically I pay about $3.50/TB on eBay for new/used tapes. Many sellers charge far more for tapes, but occasionally I find a good deal. Most tapes are not used very much and have lots of life left in them (they have a chip inside the tape that tracks usage).

Then I scored another 3 used LTO5 tape drives on eBay for about $100, they all worked. I mainly use 1 tape drive. I have it running on an Intel i5 system with an 8-drive RAID10 array (cheap used drives, with a $50 9260-8i hardware RAID card), which acts as my "offsite" backup out in my detached garage - it's off most of the time (cold storage?) unless I'm running a backup. I can loose up to 2 drives without losing any data, and it's been running really well for years. I have 3 of these RAID setups in 3 different systems, they work great with the cheapest used drives from Amazon. I'm not looking for high performance, I just need redundancy. I've had to replace maybe 3 drives across all 3 systems due to failure over the last 7 years.

On Windows the tape drive with LTFS was not working well, I think due to Windows Defender trying to test the files as it was writing them, causing a lot of "shoeshining" of the tape, but I think Windows Defender can be disabled. But I bought tape backup software from https://www.iperiusbackup.com - it just works and makes backups simple to set up and run. I always verify the backup. If something is really important I'll back up to at least 2 tapes. Some really important stuff I will generate parity files (win WinPar) and put those on tape too. Non-encrypted the drive runs at the full 140MB/s, but with encryption it runs at about 60MB/s, because I guess the tape drive is doing the encryption.

I love it, it has changed my data-hoarding life. At $3.50/TB and 140MB/s and 1.5TB per tape, it can't be beat by DVD-R or hard drives for backup. Used LTO5 is really in a sweet spot right now on eBay, but LTO6 is looking good too recently (2.5TB/tape). LTO6 drives can read LTO5 tapes, so there's a pretty easy upgrade path. I also love that there is a physical write-protect switch on the tapes, which hard drives don't have. If you plug in a hard drive to an infected system, that hard drive could easily be compromised if you don't know your system is infected.
by airstrike | 2025-04-22 19:09:19+00:00
I'm just a layman, but I can't see this design scaling. It's way too slow and "hard" for fine motor tasks like cleaning up a kitchen or being anywhere around humans, really.

I think the future is in "softer" type of robots that can sense whether their robot fingers are pushing a cabinet door (or if it's facing resistance) and adjust accordingly. A quick google search shows this example (animated render) which is closer to what I imagine the ultimate solution will be: https://compliance-robotics.com/compliance-industry/

Human flesh is way too squishy for us to allow hard tools to interface with it, unless the human is in control. The difference between a blunt weapon and the robot from TFA is that the latter is very slow and on wheels.
by ricardo81 | 2025-04-22 19:09:27+00:00
>I think the real takeaway isn't that there's a right way to be interested in a topic

I think a different perspective can sometimes illuminate though, it's not just about the person - it's them having an epiphany that motivates them to do something, like learn more.

>pop educational stuff,

I watch a lot of that as lazy entertainment, so much of it is factually incorrect (on YouTube etc). But I know better I guess.
by danlark1 | 2025-04-22 19:10:06+00:00
I am the author of the optimization of partial sorting and selection in Clickhouse. It uses Floyd-Rivest algorithm and we tried a lot of different things back at the time, read [1]

Overall clickhouse reads blocks of fixed sizes (64k) and finds top elements and then does top of the top until it converges.

[1] https://danlark.org/2020/11/11/miniselect-practical-and-gene...
by fsndz | 2025-04-22 19:11:01+00:00
and setting up postgresql on a simple VPS is so easy... You can literally ask Gemini 2.5 Pro or o3 or Sonnet 3.7 and do it in 15-30 minutes... Learned helplessness is really something and vibe coding is overrated imo: https://www.lycee.ai/blog/why-vibe-coding-is-overrated
by mleroy | 2025-04-22 19:11:07+00:00
I can really relate to this — in school, biology felt like dry memorization. It never clicked with me, and I wrote it off for years. If I could recommend one subtopic of biology to math and physic people, it would definitely be mycology!

It's like real-life Pokémon GO and field mycology has a "collect 'em all" vibe. You get out into nature, identify and catalog fungi — it scratches the same itch as exploring an open-world game.

Fungi are discrete, classifiable entities with tons of metadata: GPS location, substrate, time of year, morphology, spore prints, photos, microscopic features. Perfect for structured data nerds.

Unlike many branches of biology, you don’t need to go to the Amazon. You can walk into your backyard or a nearby forest and find species newly known for your country and sometimes even new for science.

Microscopes, macro lenses, chemicals, even DNA sequencing. There’s a hacker spirit in mycology.

Projects like iNaturalist, Mushroom Observer, and FungiMap are full of real scientific contributions from everyday people. The barrier to entry is low, the impact can be surprisingly high, and the community is genuinely welcoming. Many leading contributors — even those publishing in cutting-edge scientific journals — are passionate autodidacts rather than formally trained biologists.

High intra-species variance, subtle features — perfect playground for machine learning wich is not nearly "solved" here.

Cordyceps that zombify insects. Giant underground networks that share nutrients between trees. Bioluminescent mushrooms. Many weird stories.