MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by JoshuaDavid | 2025-05-27 22:40:12+00:00
Fun game! Though I dispute that people are "very close" to achieving a perfect pattern.

To get a "perfect" pattern you'd need to find three 7 letter words that can stack on rows adjacent to each other to form a 3 letter word in each column. Such arrangements do exist, for example:

o p e r a t e a r r o w e d r e s e n d s

but they are very rare - I estimate something on the order of 0.002% of combinations of three 7-letter words have any valid arrangements. Assuming that you're using standard ETAOIN letter frequencies, the typical bag of 21 letters will usually have just a handful of combinations of three 7-letter words so a given puzzle has a << 0.1% chance of having a perfect solution.

But there are 12,000x more ways to rearrange 21 tiles within an 8x3 grid, and the word choices are more forgiving as well (if you draw 7 letters from the etaoin frequency distribution, those 7 letters in order are much more likely to form a 3 letter word followed by a 4 letter word than they are to form a 7 letter word). Pretty much every puzzle should have at least some solutions fitting within an 8x3.

Additional note: 3 blank spaces is the best non-perfect arrangement, since the grid is only 10 tiles wide. One blank space could only be achieved by a single 23-letter-long word, and two blank spaces could only be achieved by a 10 letter word next to an 11 letter word, and an 11 letter word would not fit inside the 10x10 grid.
by leeroihe | 2025-05-27 22:40:14+00:00
Even though I can't really afford it I'm going to start seeing a therapist. Right now just reaching for some kind of knowledge work that won't torpedo my resume. If I really didn't care I'd just go get a job at Fedex in Maine or Vermont.

What's most embarrassing is potentially having to stay at my parents to avoid sinking into my savings further. Obviously others are having a hard time to, part of the mental hurdle is acknowledging that what I thought were "interesting choices" has lead to me being single at 30 with only a few hundred k to show for it.
by msgodel | 2025-05-27 22:40:17+00:00
I'm an autodidact. I've found leaked copies of university degree plans, pirated and read textbooks on all kinds of subjects, talk to experts for fun when I can etc.

American universities mostly get in the way of doing this sort of thing. You need a degree to be credentialed so you can get your "3 years of experience" that lets you apply for jobs. That's pretty much all its for these days.
by fitboyapp | 2025-05-27 22:40:31+00:00
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by caycep | 2025-05-27 22:41:30+00:00
agree; haven't been to Dallas, but in Westminster/Garden Grove and San Jose, where latin american communities and Viet immigrant/vietnam communities happen to live in close proximity, the cultural mashups and innovation have been striking in both ways. Some of the most remarkable dishes in one of the most remarkable restaurants in SoCal that I've eaten in the past few years were conceived of and cooked by a Mexican-american chef who grew up surrounded by Vietnamese food in Garden grove
by leeroihe | 2025-05-27 22:42:37+00:00
My resume seems too fragmented for eng management roles, same odd hurdle for product. The few bites I've gotten have all been technical product roles - which actually makes a lot of sense.

Part of what also drove me to hate SF is how so much of "business" there is entirely fake. It's vapid and disgusting.

Might take some time to see friends as well - I've just had a few very exciting years making ok money with very little consistency and all I want now is a normal job that maybe pays $140k or so. I don't feel like that's insane either - the notion that being able to pay for an apt food and a car is "entitlement" in 2025 is ridiculous.

but thanks for your kind words.
by kossTKR | 2025-05-27 22:43:11+00:00
Tangent but isn't this easily circumvented by Veo 3 and other newer models - when they become fast enough to respond quickly in a few years?

I wonder how long before the internet will become 100% bot noise - even previously valuable last bastions like hackernews, only battled with some kind of actually clever and at least semi anonymous Homo Sapiens verifier.

Is anything in the pipelines or will we eventually end up with some kind of Human ID's, and can be anonymised?
by ajb | 2025-05-27 22:43:40+00:00
Yeah. Given that they all move out on the same day, the most economically efficient way is to organise the reuse collection centrally, as some unis mentioned in the article do.

More generally, it's dumb that it's so much more work to give something away than to trash it - or even buy it in the first place. Our logistics for buying stuff is incredibly efficient, for reusing we're stuck in the 15th century - everything done artisanally (and with free guilt-labour)
by leeroihe | 2025-05-27 22:45:16+00:00
Haha, cool to see someone else who's done lots of work with Elixir! Most of my early career was building elixir for fintech companies.

Not sure that I'm ready to leave the U.S. yet - currently that would probably push my stress over the edge. Fortunately, I've never really gotten that much out of material things or clout chasing. That said, money is money and money gives you options.

That said, I solidly do not have any interest engaging in SF culture any longer. Frankly I find it kind of pathetic and entertaining.

I want to prioritize my life and find another GF (had a breakup about a year ago). Relationships (friends or otherwise) have always given me more than stupid startup clout, which has always proven to be single dimensional or fake.

Really appreciate the kind words. If I could make money doing it, I'd love to be an arborist in the east coast.
by jasoneckert | 2025-05-27 22:45:29+00:00
I'd argue that this hobby computer culture is still alive in well, but in a different form: the large number of vintage computing hobbyist groups that work to restore, understand, and make new hardware for the simplistic systems that formed the early days of computing. They enjoy the same optimism that drove the early hobby culture, but from a different vantage point - one of research and understanding - but the enjoyment and excitement are still there.
by snuxoll | 2025-05-27 22:45:42+00:00
Being a SWE doesn't mean you have to be involved in the startup grinder. I work for a privately owned company, and while my TC would be way better working for a FAANG or dealing with the startup world, there's no way I would mentally survive working in either of those environments for the 12 years I've done where I am now.

I don't work on glamorous projects; most of what I make will never be seen outside of my company, even. But I've got a child, got to move back to the rural town I was born in after I inherited my late grandfather's house (since I've been WFH my 12+ years), and I can genuinely say I enjoy my work most days.

If it's the actual job you hated I'd tell you to go back to school for something else or get into a trade, but it sounds more like you're just tired of the culture surrounding the startup and big tech scene. Go find work from companies that aren't "tech companies", you're less likely to run into leetcode interviews, shitty work/life balance, and the constant fear of your employer folding any morning.
by PunchyHamster | 2025-05-27 22:45:55+00:00
I've recently moved from apartment that I lived in for 10+ years. I can understand that.

Going thru literally thousands of items (many hobbies, too small apartment in short) and deciding where to pack which and what to throw away is gruelling.

If I had choice (I wanted to get deposit back and not leave a mess), I'd leave most of that after picking the most important items, as a lot of them can be replaced cheap for when (or if ever) I will need those items again.

But

> First, why do people throw away tennis shoes, unopened food etc? Why not take with them on to their next destination?

that is just weird (unless food is something that would spoil in few days I guess)
by pmarreck | 2025-05-27 22:46:13+00:00
It is insane that in 2025, this is an accepted way to type lesser-used characters on Windows still, when the Mac has had the Option key typing umlauts and em-dashes extremely simply (an umlauted U is literally option-u, u... Ironically, I'm currently on a Windows machine so I cannot even type it) literally since 1984.

My family is German (I'm firstborn American) so this was a huge sell for the Mac way back then

Sad to see that Windows is still stuck in the PS/2 days here
by AStonesThrow | 2025-05-27 22:46:39+00:00
Next time you're in NYC, try searching the web for "Thai Food Near Me"!

https://www.thaifoodnearmenyc.com/

There was a local food-truck operator named "Phở King" and eventually they established a storefront ... well, I see one closed, and another opened up. Formerly known as "Phở King Kitchen" and now there's the "Phở King Eggroll" place.

Fred Armisen did an SNL bit about this, too.

Not far from me, there is a ghost kitchen cluster. It's tucked away in a commercially-zoned neigborhood, and it serves all the food delivery services. Apparently, you can walk in too. I only accidentally patronized them once, when they had some great larb on offer. I think the report says there's 15 different menus and "virtual kitchens" in the building, just turning out food-to-go.
by anon291 | 2025-05-27 22:46:50+00:00
I grew up in SoCal (Westminster in particular), which is highly vietnamese, and in the context of SoCal, which is VERY Mexican. So, honestly, this aesthetic is very familiar to me. Most of my school friends(mexican and vietnamese) growing up were very into it. My Catholic parish was basically run by the Mexicans and Vietnamese communities. This combination is very common in LA / Southern California.
by wrboyce | 2025-05-27 22:46:55+00:00
I love a good semicolon, and it tickled me that your quote could be rewritten to include one.

> We know these things are hard to use properly; we’ll teach you how to do it, but it is usually better just to rewrite what you are trying to say using two sentences and avoid them.

Although it does make the sentence a bit long and unwieldy.

EDIT: hah, so can your second quote!

> Proper usage will help your score; you’d better make sure you’ve used it correctly.

But in that instance I think the dropped “but” is more important.

EDIT2: even better…

> Use at most one semicolon in the writing section of the SAT; proper usage will help your score. But you’d better make sure you’ve used it correctly.
by CobrastanJorji | 2025-05-27 22:47:52+00:00
Theorems 1 and 2 are a little weak. For theorem 1, once a mustard watch reaches a sufficiently enormous size, material weaknesses become relevant problems to overcome, and it is not clearly shown that adding a few more grains will in fact allow the watch to still operate. And theorem 2 doesn't discuss how much time is needed to measure the current time. I'm not entirely sure this has been peer reviewed. No notes on theorem 4, though.
by leeroihe | 2025-05-27 22:48:19+00:00
I'm working on this - but frankly most of these companies appear to have off-shored their roles or stop responding when they realize I'm not on H1B. Sometimes I think because I'm a black man they think I'm an immigrant that they can hire more cheaply. It's happened on numerous occasions before.

I've actually thought quite a bit about being an arborist. I've always kept trees at a few friends places and really enjoy the ecology aspect. That said, I don't want to live at or around the poverty line like I did while I was a founder at a prev startup only making $40k post tax. I'm just not about that life anymore.
by trinsic2 | 2025-05-27 22:48:33+00:00
> …personal computers have already proliferated beyond most government regulation. People already have them, just like (pardon the analogy) people already have hand guns. If you have a computer, use it. It is your equalizer. It is a way to organize and fight back against the impersonal institutions and the catch-22 regulations of modern society.[28]

And now look where we are at, we allowed impersonal institutions to use them against us.
by anon291 | 2025-05-27 22:48:52+00:00
Because they're both very Catholic. My Catholic parish was filled with this exact mixing. Easter Vigil Mass would be said in three languages -- English, Spanish, Vietnamese, complete with Mexican-Vietnamese Catholic hymn mashups (singing versus of the same song in different languages, with each choir taking a verse, one verse would be accompanied by mariachi, and the next by an organ, etc... fun times)>
by sshine | 2025-05-27 22:49:00+00:00
In my experience, it's 70% programming, 20% office politics, and 10% project management. People who realize late they're no good at programming, or don't enjoy it, will pivot towards other kinds of work, like project management. But people who think they'll have luck managing people without having any grasp of the skill set of the people they manage, they either need really good people skills, or they're obnoxiously incompetent in both humans and computers.
by creer | 2025-05-27 22:49:54+00:00
> The issue is that crap is produced incredibly cheaply

Not all of this is crap, far from it. I am selective - and get good results buying online (no choice - brick-and-mortar stock is sad and too uniform.)

But thing is, "incredibly cheaply" is the reality of the world. We can ignore it or we can live with it.

To reconcile with you: more freedom in pricing by whoever does that task might make sense. And some sections here do have a more interesting strategy where clothes are priced higher initially, then come down in price systematically week after week. Which the tableware departments never seem to use.

> we couldn't sell it for less without essentially making the thrift store not turn a profit, even though the products were donated.

And then you do have a problem also, because the result is no-sale, less-traffic and sending people to fast fashion, and Ikea.
by leeroihe | 2025-05-27 22:50:04+00:00
Idk how long it would take me to be interview ready - I know it's not a great look and above all it's really embarrassing... but leetcode seems like a waste of time and side projects seem like the only way to prep for non-leetcode pairing sessions where they always expect you to know all the bindings / syntax like the back of your hand.
by leeroihe | 2025-05-27 22:51:45+00:00
It's sad because SF is such a beautiful and culturally rich city. A deeply spiritual place in terms of it's geography. Unfortunately, the vibe always felt off to me - almost like someone had ripped out some part of the soul of the city. It feels like an economic zone many only travel to in order to extract money.

I'll be sad to leave SF, but frankly I couldn't see myself being happy here long-term.
by cgio | 2025-05-27 22:52:22+00:00
The logical click bait on this one. I could not resist thinking it’s like saying there is no circle other than a round circle, but I had no idea if it’s equivalent and fair comment given my limited cryptography knowledge (as in non existent). So I had to read it, and while I got little, by osmosis, I feel falling for the bait was worth it.
by marcus_holmes | 2025-05-27 22:52:24+00:00
To be honest, I found "the material" irrelevant, mostly. There's vast swathes of papers written about obscure and tiny parts of the overall subject. Any given paper is probably correct, but covering such a tiny part of the subject that spending the time reading all of them is inefficient (if not impossible).

Also, given that the subject in question is "business", and the practice of business was being changed (as it is again now) by the application of new technology, so a lot of what I was reading was only borderline applicable any more.

MBAs are weird. To qualify to do one you need to have years of practical experience managing in actual business. But then all of that knowledge and experience is disregarded, and you're expected to defer to papers written by people who have only ever worked in academia and have no practical experience of what they're studying. I know this is the scientific process, and I respect that. But how applicable is the scientific process to management? Is there even a "science" of management?

So, like all my colleagues, I jumped through the hoops set in front of me as efficiently as possible in order to get the qualification.

I'm not saying it was worthless. I did learn a lot. The class discussions, hearing about other people's experiences, talking about specific problems and situations, this was all good solid learning. But the essays were not.
by belter | 2025-05-27 22:52:41+00:00
This is is deeply troubling and underscores why companies like Google must be broken up entirely.

I’ve never had a Facebook account, but I saw an acquaintance try to sign up. To my shock, Facebook requires new users to enable their camera and take a selfie to "prove you're human."

This isn't just about access, it's biometric data collection...That selfie is scanned, stored, and likely used to train and feed current and future AI systems, enabling surveillance and tracking across the web and physical world.

Now Google appears to be moving in the same direction testing similar biometric requirements maybe just to access content like YouTube videos. This is not about fighting bots. It's about cementing their role as digital gatekeepers with unchecked power.

And it’s a warning. We are entering an era where personal identity becomes the price of admission to the internet.

This is a clear reason why Google must be broken up...Now.
by FLT8 | 2025-05-27 22:52:52+00:00
I can't help but wonder whether the solution here is something like building a multi-resolution understanding of the codebase. All the way from an architectural perspective including business context, down to code structure & layout, all the way down to what's happening in specific files and functions.

As a human, I don't need to remember the content of every file I work on to be effective, but I do need to understand how to navigate my way around, and enough of how the codebase hangs together to be able to make good decisions about where new code belongs, when and how to refactor etc.. I'm pretty sure I don't have the memory or reading comprehension to match a computer, but I do have the ability to form context maps at different scales and switch 'resolution' depending on what I'm hoping to achieve.
by tantalor | 2025-05-27 22:53:23+00:00
This greatly opens up the risk of footguns.

The doc [1] warns about prompt injection, but I think a more likely scenario is self-inflicted harm. For instance, you give a tool access to your brokerage account to automate trading. Even without prompt injection, there's nothing preventing the bot from making stupid trades.

[1] https://llm.datasette.io/en/stable/tools.html
by pragma_x | 2025-05-27 22:55:49+00:00
It's also interesting to look at other architectures at the time to get an idea of how fiendish a problem this is. At this time, Commodore, Nintendo, and some others, had dedicated silicon for video rendering. This frees the CPU from having to generate a video signal directly, using a fraction of those cycles to talk to the video subsystem instead. The major drawback with a video chip of some kind is of course cost (custom fabrication, part count), which clearly the Macintosh team was trying to keep as low as possible.
by simonw | 2025-05-27 22:56:01+00:00
I'm honestly really impressed with GPT-4.1 mini. It is my default from messing around by their API because it is unbelievably inexpensive and genuinely capable at most of the things I throw at it.

I'll switch to o4-mini when I'm writing code, but otherwise 4.1-mini usually does a great job.

Fun example from earlier today:

llm -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BenjaminAster/CSS-Minecraft/refs/heads/main/main.css \ -s 'explain all the tricks used by this CSS'

That's piping the CSS from that incredible CSS Minecraft demo - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44100148 - into GPT-4.1 mini and asking it for an explanation.

The code is clearly written but entirely uncommented: https://github.com/BenjaminAster/CSS-Minecraft/blob/main/mai...

GPT-4.1 mini's explanation is genuinely excellent: https://gist.github.com/simonw/cafd612b3982e3ad463788dd50287... - it correctly identifies "This CSS uses modern CSS features at an expert level to create a 3D interactive voxel-style UI while minimizing or eliminating JavaScript" and explains a bunch of tricks I hadn't figured out.

And it used 3,813 input tokens and 1,291 output tokens - https://www.llm-prices.com/#it=3813&ot=1291&ic=0.4&oc=1.6 - that's 0.3591 cents (around a third of a cent).
by joshvm | 2025-05-27 22:57:15+00:00
Having been in this situation a few times as an adult, it's a mixture of stressful and cathartic figuring out exactly what's worth keeping, storing or giving away.

The best approach I've found is to standardize packing into 60L industrial Euro crates. They're inexpensive, very strong, practically waterproof (will survive both puddles and rain) and you can even air freight them at close to $100/box if the contents weigh under 32kg. Most of the expense in shipping is volume and people massively underestimate how much they own. If you can keep things compact and dense, ground/sea freight is inexpensive if you don't have to do it very often and there is no practical weight restriction.

Furniture only makes sense if you can re-claim 80+% of the void space in items like shelves, or if it completely flat packs, and if the cost of re-acquisition would be high. Shipping companies usually have minimum billable volume (say 2 cubic meters). I was able to send an apartment's worth of contents in the same volume that a couch would occupy.

For everything else, either buy quality used things that you can sell without much depreciation, or cheap used things that you don't mind thrifting afterwards.
by erikerikson | 2025-05-27 22:57:25+00:00
I think the webhook producer tends to implement auth in both scenarios but agree that the webhook consumer executes auth in the webhook case. You perhaps meant this but I was initially confused by what you were trying to say here. You other comment was far more helpful, thank you for making it.

In summary of my other comment, it is the case that the implementation and execution roles are the same but the threat surface is very different.
by stavros | 2025-05-27 22:58:58+00:00
Have you guys had luck with tool calls? I made a simple assistant with access to my calendar, and most models fail to call the tool to add calendar events. GPT-4.1 also regularly tries to gaslight me into believing that it added the event when it didn't call the tool!

Overall, I found tool use extremely hit-and-miss, to the point where I'm sure I'm doing something wrong (I'm using the OpenAI Agents SDK, FWIW).
by marcus_holmes | 2025-05-27 22:59:35+00:00
Interesting question. It seems to me that the entire business academia could be following the method I've outlined and no-one would notice. Or care.

It's not like the hard sciences - no-one is able to refute anything, because you can't conduct experiments. You can always find some evidence for any given hypothesis, as the endless stream of self-help (and often contradictory) business books show.

None of the academics I was reading had actually run a business or had any practical experience of business. They were all lifelong academics who were writing about it from an academic perspective, referencing other academics.

Business is not short of actual independent thought. Verification is the thing it's missing. How does anyone know that the brilliant idea they just had is actually brilliant? The only way is to go and build a business around it and see if it works. Academics don't do that. How is this science then?