MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by globular-toast | 2025-05-03 12:28:56+00:00
I've known quite a few guys who are hopelessly bad with women. You know the type, couldn't get a date in brothel. I'm pleased to say all the ones I'm still in contact with have figured things out by now, but all of them had one thing in common: they were miserable people, always complaining.

I can offer a piece of advice to men who think they are similar: do not ever talk to anyone about things you don't like. Just don't. Talk about things you do like. This is not to say you should be a pushover, but music you don't like does not need to mentioned really ever.

In my experience women tend more towards being realistic and possibly pessimistic. But for both sexes the best way to not be negative is to be ignorant. Ignorance is bliss. It's up to each individual to decide whether being ignorant is really a good life, though.
by neilv | 2025-05-03 12:29:08+00:00
The most unfortunate thing about much of corporate 'cybersecurity' is that it combines expensive and encumbering theatre around compliance and deniability... with ridiculously insecure practices.

Imagine, for example, if more companies would hire for software developers and production infrastructure experts who build secure systems.

But most don't much care about security: they want their compliances, they may or may not detect and report the inevitable breaches, and the CISO is paid to be the fall-person, because the CEO totally doesn't care.

Now we're getting cottage industries and consortia theatre around things like why something that should be a static HTML Web page is pulling in 200 packages from NPM, and now you need bold third-party solutions to combat all the bad actors and defective code that invites.
by jostylr | 2025-05-03 12:29:51+00:00
> since every computer will have rational numbers they can't exactly calculate as well

It might be better worded as "can't calculate a decimal version of every rational number". One can work quite easily nowadays with exact representations of rational numbers on computer. With Bigint stuff, it is easy to have very large (for human purposes) numerators and denominators. To what extent practical calculations could be done with exact rational arithmetic, I am not sure of though I suspect it is largely not an issue as precision of inputs is presumably a limiting factor.

Wildberger has specific objections to the usual definitions of real numbers and they vary based on the definition. For decimals, it is the idea that doing arithmetic with an infinite decimal is difficult even with a simple example such as 1/9*1/9 which is multiplying .111... times itself, leading to sums of 1s that carryover and create a repeating pattern that is not self-evident from the decimal itself.

For Cauchy sequences, he objects to the absurd lack of uniqueness, particularly that given any finite sequence, one can prepend that sequence to the start of any Cauchy sequence. So a Cauchy sequence for pi could start with a trillion elements of a sequence converging to square root 2. This can be fixed up with tighter notions of a Cauchy sequence though that makes the arithmetic much more cumbersome.

For Dedekind cuts, his issue seems mostly with a lack of explicit examples beyond roots. I think that is the weakest critique.

Inspired by his objections, I came up with a version of real numbers using intervals. Usually such approaches use a family of overlapping, notionally shrinking intervals. I maximized it to include all intervals that include the real number and came up with axioms for it that allow one to skirt around the issue that this is defining the real number. My work on this is hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/jostylr/Reals-as-Oracles
by testing22321 | 2025-05-03 12:29:57+00:00
I spent three years on Africa, and it’s the same story there. Literally everyday millions of africans laugh and sing and cry with joy at weddings, parties, birth of children. New hospitals get built, life is rapidly improving.

Basically nobody in the west has any idea, and people always assume I was in a hell hole the entire time. It’s wild what propaganda will do for knowledge of a place.
by jlaternman | 2025-05-03 12:30:22+00:00
I suspect the US definition of sandwich is different to the European one, but genuinely not sure. Curious — can someone give me a few examples describing the $10 sandwiches you get in the US? Are we talking warm, ordered off a menu, good quality meat, filling enough to serve as a meal?

This whole conversation has reminded me of the $5 milkshake conversation in Pulp Fiction.

I’ve signed up for the Kagi trial, so far I’m liking it. Breath of fresh air compared to the free ones. Best result, first position.
by hliyan | 2025-05-03 12:31:21+00:00
A few things came to mind as I read this.

1) About 8 years ago I was gifted a copy of Ray Dalio's Principles. Being a process aficionado who thought the way to prevent bureaucracy was to ground process in principles, I was very excited. But halfway through I gave up. All the experience, the observations, the case studies that had led Dalio to each insight, had been lost in the distillation process. The reader was only getting a Plato's Cave version. I used to love writing spec-like process docs with lots of "shoulds" and "mays" for my teams, but now I largely write examples.

2) I live in a Commonwealth country, and as I understand (IANAL), common law, or judge made law, plays a larger role in the justice system here than in the US, where the letter of the law seem to matter more. I used to think the US system superior (less arbitrary), but now I'm not sure. Case law seems to provide a great deal of context that no statute could ever hope to codify in writing. It also carries the weight of history, and therefore is harder to abruptly change (for better or for worse).

3) Are human beings actually accountability sinks? This is only possible if they are causal originators, or in Aristotlean terms, "prime movers", or have pure agency, or are causa sui. But the question is, once we subtract environment (e.g. good parenting / bad parenting) and genetics (e.g. empathy, propensity toward anger), how much agency is actually left? Is it correct for our legal and ethical systems to terminate the chain of causality at the nearest human being?
by scotty79 | 2025-05-03 12:31:37+00:00
No. Dogs also taste good but they are way less convenient to raise per kilogram of meat then cows. That's one of the main reasons we rather eat cows, pigs and poultry than dogs, dolphins, squirrels or guinea pigs.

People do a lot of expensive and wasteful things just because they are convenient in many domains of life.

Meat isn't tasty. If it was you wouldn't always eat it fried almost to a char with salt and spices. Tasty things you can just eat straight up. Meat is easy. It's easier to keep some cows on grassy hill then kill them, than to create and maintain a field there.

Meat is also easy to cook and eat. It digests nicely. It can be used in mono diet with no immediate ill effects. It's a no-brainer food even an idiot can use to sustain themselves. It's hard to poison yourself with it because if it's not fresh it stinks like hell.
by dmos62 | 2025-05-03 12:32:27+00:00
Apple locks down their devices, gaming consoles are locked down, most IOT and home appliance devices are locked down: even "modular" devices like PCs (and their components) lock down their firmware and close-source their drivers. Heck, most of publicly-funded software is closed-source. Entire industries are based on software that's shitty and closed-source (see Adobe or Archicad). In each of these cases opening up the relevant systems or diverting license fees to investments into open alternatives would be a dramatic improvement to status quo, and not only for the geeks, but for the average person. But, we've not yet realised that; what we're currently doing is what makes most sense to us. Oh well.
by motorest | 2025-05-03 12:32:35+00:00
> I've been wondering what is the benefit of putting up your own web server or scripts to serve your static content when you could put it in a Github repo or serve from something like S3?

I think you're overestimating the work required to put together a web server. For example, you mention dumping files in a S3 bucket, but that doesn't require much more work than whipping out a nginx instance and dropping said files in a folder.

Also, some people already run their own servers or deploy their services in some cloud procider. The work required to put together a blog is minimal.
by Rhapso | 2025-05-03 12:33:23+00:00
Honestly is is just like Insurance. You understand the value of things you are protecting (and simple compliance has a value to you in penalties and liabilities avoided) and make sure it costs more than that to break into your system.

At a corporate level, it is contractually almost identical to insurance, with the product being sold liability for that security, not the security itself.
by belter | 2025-05-03 12:34:17+00:00
Some of the seminal works on accountability as applied to systems and particularly the business world, are the works from Gerald M. Weinberg.

"Are Your Lights On?" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1044831.Are_Your_Lights_...

"The Secrets of Consulting" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/566213.The_Secrets_of_Co...

"More Secrets of Consulting" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/714345.More_Secrets_of_C...
by redeux | 2025-05-03 12:34:51+00:00
> How do you report spam? On the web, it is possible if you're prepared to enter the forbidden lair of ⋮. Click the one nearest the message and you'll see

It’s interesting that someone can be so curious about what’s in the ⋮ menu but so incurious about the icons at the top. The report spam button is right there, easily accessible at all times. No need to “enter the forbidden lair of ⋮.”
by captn3m0 | 2025-05-03 12:34:53+00:00
Something I’d like to see in browsers is native support for text/markdown and text/gemini.

If browsers can decide to render PDFs, surely a simple formatter and user-decidable stylesheets for markdown/gemini content can’t be that hard to ship.

As it stands you can write a text/plain blog but you will be hurt with SEO concerns since it isn’t really hypertext (maybe you could do some magic with link headers). Supporting other formats lowers the barrier to publishing in a neat manner and gives control back to users.
by xmcqdpt2 | 2025-05-03 12:35:08+00:00
I think it’s cheaper for student groups. If you google “student club sends satellite” you get a bunch of examples,

https://globalnews.ca/news/9818771/university-of-saskatchewa...

https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/09/16/satellite-developme...

https://www.utoronto.ca/news/launch-its-first-satellite-stud...

etc
by andrewaylett | 2025-05-03 12:35:11+00:00
It's only available for orgs, not for personal repositories, and when we tried to use it in my team the size of our OIDC claim meant something broke so we had to turn it back off again :P. So I didn't get much experience with it.

But it seems like it gives you a place in a queue, meaning you don't need to keep rebasing as earlier PRs get merged: you can see what the state of the main branch should be by the time your PR reaches the head of the queue and develop accordingly.

https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/configuring-branches...
Show HN: We're Building the Social Layer of the Web
by kadirkursater | 2025-05-03 12:36:02+00:00
We’re building Poppin — a browser extension that turns any webpage into a shared social space. Users can chat in real-time, leave post, or host voice spaces with their communities on any URL. It’s like turning the internet into a live Twitch stream or Reddit communities — for every url of the web without requiring integration.

Currently, we’re in invite-only beta and collecting feedback from early users.

Try it out and let us know what feels smooth, what feels broken, and what you’d want more of.

Intro Video: https://x.com/poppin_so/status/1843651417783054776

Request access at info@poppin.so - DM https://x.com/poppin_so
by ses1984 | 2025-05-03 12:36:22+00:00
It’s not like almonds have x calories for a certain group and y calories for another.

Being wrong about the number of calories in almonds doesn’t count as evidence that skinny people are skinny because they poop out undigested calories.

Also, I’m not saying digestive malabsorption is impossible, just that you shouldn’t assume it unless you have strong evidence to the contrary that doesn’t have another simpler explanation.
by jahbrewski | 2025-05-03 12:36:59+00:00
I've found myself finding more satisfaction and joy out of doing fewer things, but going deeper. Instead of picking up a new sport, I've gone deeper into running. Instead of learning a new instrument, I'm going deeper into the piano. Instead of re-inventing my business, I'm doubling down on what's worked in the past.

It's not the right mindset for every stage of life, but it's working well at the moment!
Show HN: Minimal Remote Editor – Fast SSH code editor for low-spec servers
by ocefree | 2025-05-03 12:38:32+00:00
Hi HN,

I'm a solo developer and recently released Minimal Remote Editor – a lightweight, cross-platform SSH code editor built specifically for low-spec servers and Raspberry Pis.

Most tools like VSCode Remote are powerful, but require a fair bit of setup or consume more system resources than tiny instances can handle. I built this to simplify that process:

- No server-side install - Just connect via SSH + SFTP - File explorer, multi-tab editor (Monaco), and optional terminal - Works on 512MB RAM VPS or Raspberry Pi - Windows version available now (macOS/Linux coming soon) - Free version available (Pro: $4.99)

I use this personally on headless Pi devices and cheap cloud VMs to manage dotfiles, scripts, and quick config edits.

You can try it here: https://mre-dev.vercel.app

Gumroad (Free & Pro): https://ocefree.gumroad.com/l/minimal-remote-editor

I'd love to hear your feedback, bug reports, or use-cases! Also happy to answer technical questions.

Thanks
by dsego | 2025-05-03 12:39:08+00:00
> MOTs (annual vehicle safety tests) happen at any local garage.

Oh, I think we should have that in Croatia, since I'm doing yearly car service at my dealership and than still need to take my car to our national inspection station to get the car certificate renewed. Not sure why can't they organize a system were certified car garages can also inspect the vehicle and notify the Center for Vehicles. Maybe that would allow for more cheating but it's not like inspection stations employees are currently immune to taking a small bribe to overlook minor issues during the inspection.
by supermatt | 2025-05-03 12:40:44+00:00
I was under the impression that the games would download and be stored on the card. Is this not the case? My current collection of game cards exceeds any expanded storage by quite a wide margin…

Edit: I guess not:

“you must have enough free space in your Nintendo Switch 2 system memory or microSD Express card”

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/...

FFS. I never thought this day would come with Nintendo.
by homefree | 2025-05-03 12:48:10+00:00
I think the thing they got wrong is it’s not a grocery store. It’s a casino - you can have a good time there, but the house isn’t interested in what’s best for you, but what’s best for them.

Even that’s imperfect because Zuck really was interested in the interactions he thought were best despite them not being highest engagement, but you can’t only do that and stay alive in a competitive market.
by thomasmg | 2025-05-03 12:49:48+00:00
So, for this it sounds like you only need one Bloom filter (not multiple), and each subset is an _entry_ in the filter. The total set size doesn't matter; what matters (for the size of the Bloom filter) is the total number of entries you put into the Bloom filter, and the false positive rate. And then, you can do a membership test (with a configurable false positive rate, typical is 1%), to find out if an entry is in the set. BTW you can not use Bloom filters to store and retrieve entries: for that, you need something else (an array, or hash map, or a retrieval data structure; Bloom filter can't be used).
by HDThoreaun | 2025-05-03 12:50:54+00:00
In my Midwest city the reason for this is because a huge amount of the cost associated with building has nothing to do with construction. You have to bribe the local politician to get zoning approval and then hold community meetings run by expensive consultants you need to employ. With such huge upfront fixed costs it only makes sense to build luxury. If we reduce the friction to building, more housing would be built and affordable styles would be much easier to pencil out.
by tim333 | 2025-05-03 12:51:36+00:00
>the sorry state of the railways is just human-made and not dictated by economics

I'm not sure about the world in general but I've followed the HS2 line in the UK and the problems are pretty much economic. We have a couple of north south lines along the UK but they are basically at capacity so the idea was to build another and make it high speed but it's proved incredibly expensive, partly due to property ownership and housing along the line and partly due to environmental regulations leading to £100m shelters to avoid disturbing a few bats. (bat thing https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/25/environment-...)

Estimates for building it have gone from £38bn in 2011 to £136bn in 2023. They are still building some of it but brexit britain doesn't have that many spare £136bns lying around. https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3088/economics/pros-and-c...
by scotty79 | 2025-05-03 12:51:39+00:00
I don't see it natural at all. I think it's quite insane concept. A corporation is obviously not a person and even if you pretend it to be a person why only good things come from it for a corporation? Why isn't it sentenced to death and executed when it kills 11 people?

Why corporations are allowed to own other corporations? Isn't it a slavery?
by jetrink | 2025-05-03 12:54:50+00:00
It is an accurate depiction of how Chicago police operated, unfortunately. In fact, one Chicago detective who tortured suspects went on to work as an interrogator at Guantanamo Bay[2]. It's terrible that the series would glamorize that behavior.

1. https://chicagoreader.com/news/the-police-torture-scandals-a...

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Zuley
by Ygg2 | 2025-05-03 12:55:05+00:00
> Do you think that formally verified C isn't a thing? Because it's not used in Linux?

No. It exists but is it practical to be used in an OS? From what I gathered from HN, sel4 is very limited in scope and extending that to a semi-usable OS (that uses ""proven"" C) is expensive time and money wise.

> still bidden to the technical debt of being a 30 year old hobbyist experiment

Citation needed. I admit it has limitations but it's not like the biggest corps in the world aren't working on it.

See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43452185#43454498 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43853283
by quuxplusone | 2025-05-03 12:55:24+00:00
I happen to agree with what you said. (Paraphrasing: A machine cannot have "real empathy" because a machine cannot "feel" in general.) But I think you're arguing a different point from the grandparent's. rurp said:

> Someone who sees a person stranded on the side of a road might feel for them and stop to lend a hand. ChatGPT will never do that [...]

Now, on the one hand that's because ChatGPT cannot "see a person" nor "stop [the car]"; it communicates only by text-in, text-out. (Although it's easy to input text describing that situation and see what text ChatGPT outputs!) GP says it's also because "the purpose of ChatGPT is to make immense amounts of money and power for its owners [, not to help others]." I took that to mean that GP was saying that even if a LLM was controlling a car and was able to see a person in trouble (or a tortoise on its back baking in the sun, or whatever), then it still would not stop to help. (Why? Because it wouldn't empathize. Why? Because it wasn't created to empathize.)

I take GP to be arguing that the LLM would not help; whereas I take you to be arguing that even if the LLM helped, it would by definition not be doing so out of empathy. Rather, it would be "helping"[1] because the numbers forced it to. I happen to agree with that position, but I think it's significantly different from GP's.

Btw, I highly recommend Geoffrey Jefferson's essay "The Mind of Mechanical Man" (1949) as a very clear exposition of the conservative position here.

[1] — One could certainly argue that the notions of "help" and "harm" likewise don't apply to non-intentional mechanistic forces. But here I'm just using the word "helping" as a kind of shorthand for "executing actions that caused better-than-previously-predicted outcomes for the stranded person," regardless of intentionality. That shorthand requires only that the reader is willing to believe in cause-and-effect for the purposes of this thread. :)
by spicyusername | 2025-05-03 12:55:30+00:00
why downvote for lots of people it's the preferred option.

I am going to guess the down votes represent dissent from the idea that renting is generally the preferred option.

Renting is definitely more flexible, but it is also basically just a regressive tax that transfers wealth from those at the lower end of the income distribution to those closer to the top.

If housing was affordable, I think you'd find that most would opt to own and there would be less ability for those with means to prey on those without.
by PostOnce | 2025-05-03 12:55:40+00:00
I do think medicine is a special category because people need it, whereas if there is a 36 month gap between a novel's first printing and second, I (being the radical copyright reform advocate I consider myself) wouldn't think we need an exception to allow other publishers to publish it during that window, as with medicine.

I do think that at some point that window is long enough that the author and publisher lose any logical justification for keeping something unavailable while the rest of us subsidize their ability (via courts, laws, and police) to do so. After all, if we're paying for that stuff, what are we getting in return?
by amos-burton | 2025-05-03 12:56:39+00:00
no, not religion, mechanical activation of our reward system for a given amount of effort. to be rewarding implies you find some good into it, so you will rinse and repeat, whatever it is. some people likes sado maschism and explore this activity. others ask themselves about stars. you hardly get to choose about your tastes, you can only explore them as long as your reward system works. different people, different ability to explore the same topic, or, be attracted to it to begin with.

can not be religion, even though you could use that lens; it is too much troubles, people can not find agreements based on beliefs. gotta be science oriented, debatable under human civilized behaviour.
by mannykannot | 2025-05-03 12:57:36+00:00
Starting in four days, you will need, to board a commercial flight in the US or enter a federal government facility, either a passport, an 'enhanced' or 'real ID' driver's license, or one of a small class of alternatives. This has increased the burden on state DMVs, and any resulting deepening of the accountability sink is at least partly due to not doing anything to mitigate a predictable situation.