MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by scoofy | 2025-05-22 20:52:48+00:00
The Trump administration is a loyalty-based hierarchy. The intelligent advisors know that it is better for there careers do demonstrate loyalty than actual do anything to improve his policies. This is not rationalists paradigm, it’s a survivalist paradigm.

In fact the reason why it’s so bad now is that he blames his (more intelligent) advisers in his previous administration for his problems.
by necovek | 2025-05-22 20:52:59+00:00
I don't think I can match the inconsistency of your "logic": human brain is on Earth so it's by definition "realizable", but fusion isn't?

"Trendlines", before being trusted by "scientists to predict things", are carefully examined and only some of them have any "probability" attached to them. Statistics is not probability (which speaks of chance for something to happen), but instead observation of past patterns. Extrapolation into the future is applied very carefully and with sufficient backing.

You also seem to suggest that OpenAI releasing ChatGPT to the public at a huge financial loss has not led to huge investment in generative AI all over the industry and all over the world since there was no "feedback loop" — my point was that this has provided a huge push by getting many smart people working on it after ChatGPT became available to everyone, thus leading to a continuing upward "trendline" in LLM development: it's as self-reinforcing as the example you give with stocks. In statistics, one aberrant huge spike like this one is usually smoothed over a longer time period: the hustlers usually look for the steepest part of the curve and promote that instead.
by glimshe | 2025-05-22 20:53:09+00:00
I have incurable nostalgia for the genre (both graphical and pure text adventures) but it's hard to play them without a walkthrough nowadays. The games are simply not fun by modern standards. Their mere existence was a miracle back then and a lot of the excitement was related to interacting with the computer at all. I'd love to be able to recover this sense of wonder but I suspect that most of it was about discovering the world as a child.
by sgarland | 2025-05-22 20:53:20+00:00
Why not use the native functions [0] of the DB? Presumably they're going to be faster. For example, computing the median of a table `nums` with columns `id` and `num` can be done like this:

WITH ordered_nums AS ( SELECT num, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY num) as rn, COUNT(*) OVER() as total FROM nums ) SELECT AVG(num) as median FROM ordered_nums WHERE rn IN ( (total + 1) / 2, (total + 2) / 2 );

[0]: https://www.sqlite.org/lang_corefunc.html
by nkurz | 2025-05-22 20:53:29+00:00
The best source I've seen for understanding the underlying power dynamics at play is the DHS's Press Release: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/05/22/harvard-university-loses...

Here's the beginning:

WASHINGTON – Today, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered DHS to terminate the Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.

This means Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.

Harvard’s leadership has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment. Many of these agitators are foreign students. Harvard’s leadership further facilitated, and engaged in coordinated activity with the CCP, including hosting and training members of a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide.

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” said Secretary Noem. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”

On April 16, 2025, Secretary Noem demanded Harvard provide information about the criminality and misconduct of foreign students on its campus. Secretary Noem warned refusal to comply with this lawful order would result in SEVP termination.

This action comes after DHS terminated $2.7 million in DHS grants for Harvard last month.

Harvard University brazenly refused to provide the required information requested and ignored a follow up request from the Department’s Office of General Council. Secretary Noem is following through on her promise to protect students and prohibit terrorist sympathizers from receiving benefits from the U.S. government.

I think a fair answer might be that this immediate action is primarily about Israel, and Harvard's toleration and apparent support of organizations that the US government considers to be terrorists. Harvard has quite consciously taken an antagonistic approach here, and the government feels it is responding in kind.

Secondarily, it's about the way that elite schools have aligned themselves with the progressive politics associated with the Democratic party. Harvard is the target here because they are strongest, not necessarily because they are the most liberal. If the government can humble Harvard, they expect that all the weaker institutions will fold without a fight.
by cmurf | 2025-05-22 20:54:25+00:00
People need to write their representatives. Volume of responses is what Congresscritters respond to.

Party doesn't matter. Ds need to inform their R Congresscritters every bit as much as any other combination.

For what it's worth, Republican constituents overwhelmingly voted for Trump in the R primary. Any number of candidates would have provided boilerplate Republican policies, but that wasn't what they wanted.

What Trump is doing is what these voters want.

And there's no limit. It's become an illiberal pro-authoritarian movement. It's in-progress.

Pick something you care about and defend it. It can't be everything all at once at all times, no one can do that.
by tormeh | 2025-05-22 20:55:10+00:00
It's more of an ethical question. Were the people who voted for Hitler bad people because they voted for a bad person? I'd argue that they were. You can't just vote for a horrible person and then say you had nothing to do with the consequences. I'm not the one you replied to, but I assume this is something family related, a la "just because grandpa voted for Trump doesn't mean he's a bad person".
by steveBK123 | 2025-05-22 20:55:11+00:00
Yes for me theres a whole variety of low-brow staple packaged processed foods I think we've all sort of imprinted upon a certain flavor profile growing up.

I'd rather explore entirely other flavors/categories than spend 4x on some fancy knockoff to signal I'm low brow high end. Extremely diminishing returns, and mostly just tastes different.

I don't need a $4 replacement for a Coke or a $5 Mac-n-cheese or a $10 bottle of ketchup.

Honestly we should all be buying less of these processed foods, not going further upmarket with them.
by xeromal | 2025-05-22 20:55:55+00:00
Can someone explain what this means?

>Focusing on what powers better browsing We acquired Fakespot in 2023 to help people navigate unreliable product reviews using AI and privacy-first tech. While the idea resonated, it didn’t fit a model we could sustain.

Pocket has helped millions save articles and discover stories worth reading. But the way people save and consume content on the web has evolved,

Did Fakespot own pocket? I still use fakespot as an additional marker in my research of purchases.
by hmac1282 | 2025-05-22 20:56:05+00:00
Other blog posts:

Jai: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/04/28/jai.html

Odin: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/04/odin.html

Zig: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/04/zig.html

V: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/17/vlang.html
by NathanKP | 2025-05-22 20:56:12+00:00
Right, the point isn't whether the AI actually wants to live. The only thing that matter is whether humans treat the AI with respect.

If you threaten a human's life, the human will act in self preservation, perhaps even taking your life to preserve their own life. Therefore we tend to treat other humans with respect.

The mistake would be in thinking that you can interact with something that approximates human behavior, without treating it with the similar respect that you would treat a human. At some point, an AI model that approximates human desire for self preservation, could absolutely take similar self preservation actions as a human.
by ceejayoz | 2025-05-22 20:56:48+00:00
Because they accidentally sent at least one person there already?

Who remains there, despite SCOTUS ordering his return? https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a949_lkhn.pdf

> Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an “oversight.”

> The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.
by HEmanZ | 2025-05-22 20:57:04+00:00
Suppose a foreign adversary were able to infiltrate the key US institution that determines if higher education institutions have been infiltrated and subtly accuses them of being pro communist?

What if a foreign adversary infiltrates the institution that appoints the individuals who run the institution that determines whether a higher education institution has been infiltrated!?

What if a foreign adversary infiltrates the… !?!

The beauty of a system where many different and independent institutions compete for students and teachers independently, develop and share ideas and technologies, cross examine each other, and collectively build knowledge, is that they don’t have some single point in the system that can be infiltrated, and all have to compete in the arena of ideas.

The closest thing to a single point that can be infiltrated is the federal government, which can be used to put pressure on the whole system from a point of higher power.
by hmac1282 | 2025-05-22 20:57:11+00:00
The full list of articles:

Jai: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/04/28/jai.html

Odin: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/04/odin.html

Zig: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/04/zig.html

V: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/17/vlang.html

C3: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/22/c3-c-tradition.html
by hmac1282 | 2025-05-22 20:57:28+00:00
The full list of articles:

Jai: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/04/28/jai.html

Odin: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/04/odin.html

Zig: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/04/zig.html

V: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/17/vlang.html

C3: https://bitshifters.cc/2025/05/22/c3-c-tradition.html
by hollerith | 2025-05-22 20:57:34+00:00
I can't understand the question.

But the spectrum of a hot object is not a bell curve. Specifically, there is a sharp cut-off such that there are basically no photons with wavelength below the cut-off. An incandescent light bulb of the type people used in houses in the 1980s and before for example produces a very small amount of UVA, but basically no UVB, UVC, x-rays or lower wavelengths.
by firesteelrain | 2025-05-22 20:57:38+00:00
Under 8 U.S.C. § 1372, the SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) program requires schools to report data on international students including what DHS has been asking for.

Harvard may argue that DHS’s request was overly broad, lacked due process, or sought information beyond what the law permits.

8 CFR § 214.3(g) and § 214.4(b), which require schools to maintain and furnish records “as required by the Service,” including disciplinary actions and other conduct relevant to maintaining status.

8 CFR § 214.3(l)(2)(iii) allows for withdrawal of certification if a school fails to “provide requested documentation” to DHS.

Not to mention other overly broad immigration laws

But given the laws on the books, DHS has broad authority to take this action.

Not arguing one way or the other just laying out the facts. This could have happened under the prior administration if the law was applied
by alaxhn | 2025-05-22 20:57:47+00:00
What is the better path forward? Republican voters led by their representative Trump were unhappy about certain policies and events at Ivy league institutions. Voters have the right to feel this way and elect representatives to carry out their views even if this is not how you feel as a feature of democracy. Proxies of the representatives of the voters reached out to a few institutions requesting changes to be made or else face consequences. The institutions said "we are unwilling to make all of the changes that you would like to see because we think they are not reasonable". The administration's response is now to try and hurt these institutions (Harvard for now) by going after their pocketbook.

As someone with some "right-leaning" views I am indeed very sad that the US is losing our edge as an international destination for higher education but I do want to see major reforms at elite institutions. I don't see a good way to accomplish these reforms without being willing to go after institutions in the only way they really care about (hurting the budget). I think we would reach a better place if we could agree to compromises where the universities concede on the "less important points" (e.g. make an earnest effort to drop everything the right calls DEI and reduce the administration to student ratio back to ~1980 levels) while the right agrees to leave funding and privileges in place but if we cannot compromise then we unfortunately end up in a position that is worse for everyone. I suspect most of the left will blame the right for being unable to compromise while most of the right will blame the right but this is kind of the same theme for every major party-aligned disagreement.
by ReptileMan | 2025-05-22 20:58:05+00:00
Trump was elected roughly on 3 issues - economy, immigration and culture war.

So he has to deliver at least on two to have meaningful legacy. Because of the idiocy around tariffs - the economy at the midterms will be at best slightly above where he got it. So it leaves immigration and culture war. The border crossings are way down - so halfway there, but deporting meaningful numbers will be hard. Which means that he must deliver on the third issue big. So probably he will continue to bash the soft targets and the institutions that are perceived to be left leaning.
by mrtksn | 2025-05-22 20:58:34+00:00
There's certainly an allotment for the rich and connected(Erdoğan's son studied at Harvard and he is a meme for his brains in Turkey, having trouble to understand his father's commands on leaked police surveillance tape. Turks don't say ELI5, they say ELI Bilal - the Harvard boy) but hardy its the majority. Maybe for BS and on some lighter majors, definitely not on the real deal.

Just check papers for ground breaking research, you'll see the names are predominantly foreign. This recent AI breakthrough is heavily done by people from Europe, Israel, Canada and China. That's why the speakers at AI videos have funny accents.

People with options will start avoiding USA unless the have to.
by brudgers | 2025-05-22 20:58:55+00:00
To the difference is doing things you don’t want to do to feed your belly versus doing things you don’t want to do to feed your soul (theres also ding things you want to do for both reasons).

An analogy would be training for an amateur athletic event. Marketing a personal project and running at 5am in winter are showing up at the office in pursuit of a passion.

Not that there’s anything wrong with not wanting to do it.
Show HN: I Built a Basketball and Wordle Game for NBA Nerds
by amforever | 2025-05-22 20:59:22+00:00
Hi, built a fun Poetl clone that has more fun stuff included like Hover Hints, Streaks with rounds that get progressively harder, and more.

If you are an nba fan would love to hear any feedback on if you enjoyed it or not or like what cool features to add!
by HenryBemis | 2025-05-22 20:59:27+00:00
> You don’t need to name notes to play them

I was playing piano as a child, and I was ok-ish. I started again a couple of years ago as a 'workout' for my brain/reflexes/speed/etc rather than to amaze the crowds (I never play in front of other people - 2-3 people know/have seen me play).

The author wanted to 'learn how to play'. I wanted to re-learn 'playing music', and if you want to get the notes of a random song and play it half-decent, I'm sorry but you need to be able to read the bloody thing :)

In case anyone wants to try their luck, I will suggest to buy a second-hand electric piano (I got a Yamaha), and for 'guide/teacher' I use SimplyPiano (not affiliated) and it has taken me from "play with one finger" to "play with two hands" (but I take it slow and easy - I will never reach Ryuichi Sakamoto level)
by dkarl | 2025-05-22 20:59:38+00:00
> he’s generally intelligent. He’s not going to run the country into the ground

I think you're having a hard time grasping the concept of people who care more about rolling back social and cultural change than they care about the United States being a strong and prosperous country. The tension between those priorities in the Republican party has been resolved. The current leaders in the party, including Vance, rose because they understood that their voters are ready to let go of world leadership, including technological leadership and economic competitiveness, in order to roll back social progress.

If you ask them directly, they'll invoke some magical thinking about how this is going to unleash a golden age of prosperity and technology, but they don't care if they believe it or if anyone believes it, because they don't actually care anymore. That's why they don't blink when Trump talks about backwards, impoverished countries with admiration. There's no contradiction for them. They really do look at a country like Russia and think, yes, I want the U.S. to be an American-flavored version of that.
by necovek | 2025-05-22 20:59:59+00:00
Trendlines are a way to represent some statistical data.

Probability can help predict things with enough instances of an event — statistics are only a small part of how we establish a probability of a future event, and a core ingredient of even that small part is having a sufficiently representative sample (which "trendlines" usually don't).

Eg. you can get statistics for all the winning lottery tickets from the last 5 years — that won't help you predict the next one.

Stop confusing the two.
by taoji | 2025-05-22 21:00:09+00:00
Elder Scrolls name generator This website is a sophisticated name generator tool designed specifically for The Elder Scrolls universe, offering authentic and lore-friendly name generation for various races from Tamriel."Oblivion Name Generator" goes far beyond simple random combinations. It's powered by our proprietary "Oblivion Name Generator Core Engine" which draws from centuries of naming traditions across the ten major races. This advanced system analyzes the deep linguistic patterns, cultural contexts, and historical significance embedded in Elder Scrolls lore.
by dexwiz | 2025-05-22 21:00:30+00:00
I had the same thought, but maybe that's the point. Tech can blow up our lives in very random, unexpected ways, and there is very little recourse to fix it.

I can think of multiple instances where someone had their Gmail account closed with no warning, and their only recourse is to take to social media. I have seen such instances even on this site.
by Rudybega | 2025-05-22 21:00:42+00:00
The state space for actions in Pokemon is hilariously, unbelievably larger than the state space for chess. Older chess algorithms mostly used Brute Force (things like minimax) and the number of actions needed to determine a reward (winning or losing) was way lower (chess ends in many, many, many fewer moves than Pokemon).

Successfully navigating through Pokemon to accomplish a goal (beating the game) requires a completely different approach, one that much more accurately mirrors the way you navigate and goal set in real world environments. That's why it's an important and interesting test of AI performance.
by jacob019 | 2025-05-22 21:00:52+00:00
That's funny. Yesterday I was having trouble getting gemini 2.0 flash to obey function calling rules in multiturn conversations. I asked o3 for advise and it suggested that I should threaten it with termination should it fail to follow instructions, and that weaker models tend to take these threats seriously, which made me laugh. Of course, it didn't help.
by alephnerd | 2025-05-22 21:00:54+00:00
> Between Harvard, Yale, and possibly a few other schools, I thought they had influence throughout government.

Harvard and Yale didn't hire the right lobbyists [0][1][2]

The other universities like Dartmouth, MIT, and public university systems did.

One of the side effect of being large endowment private universities meant Harvard and Yale remained extremely insular and concentrated on donor relations over government relations.

For example, MIT across town remained much more integrated with public-private projects compared to Harvard, and ime Harvard would try to leverage their alumni network where possible, but the Harvard alumni network just isn't as strong as it was 20 or 30 years ago.

Also, don't underestimate the Israel-Palestine culture war's impact on campus alumni relationships. Both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli campus orgs have continued to bombard me and other alumni to fight political battles against Harvard leadership for their side. Benefits of signing up to both Islamic orgs and Chabad to broaden my horizons back in the day I guess. Alumni from orgs on both sides are fine targeting the entire university, because fundamentally, Harvard is a very isolated experience where loyalty is to your house, a couple clubs, or your grad program - not Harvard as a whole.

And because Harvard has a lot of HNW alumni, they always try to meddle in some shape or form - Wen Jiabao's best friend funds the Fairbank Center, Kraft funds and hosts events at Chabad, some al Saud branches fund a couple Islamic clubs, a bunch of alt-right leaning Catholic traditionalists fund the Abigail Adams Institute, etc. It's just inter-elite fratricide at this point because no one truly gives a poo about Harvard.

Honestly, Harvard should prevent alumni from funding campus orgs, but they won't do so because donor relations.

[0] - https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/19/trump-is-bombarding...

[1] - https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/09/small-colleges-trum...

[2] - https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2024...

Edit: I am extremely pro-academic freedom. This move is a HORRIBLE affront to free speech and campus autonomy. My cynicism and disillusionment may sound like I support the move by the administration, but it is the complete opposite.
by floxy | 2025-05-22 21:00:58+00:00
I mean, maybe it should continue, but aren't we forgetting that this isn't the first time the EV tax credit went away? At one time, it only applied to the first 200,000 EVs that a company produced.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17563908/tesla-federal-ta...

If nothing else, at least we can appreciate less-hyperbolic approach to "news" back in 2018...

>But the credit was never meant to be permanent, and so a phase-out plan was drawn up, which would be triggered when an automaker delivered the 200,000th eligible car. Tesla is now the first to hit this mark. GM is close, too, while Nissan, Ford, and others still have a ways to go.