MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by vintermann | 2025-07-01 14:51:43+00:00
I used to make a game out of that. Use words with just one word sound, and see how long it takes them to catch on.

As a tool for kids, I don't buy it. If you slip and use a word with two or more word sounds, that won't make it hard. So it's not a rule you need to use.

I had not heard of A. L.'s books, though. As word game, it's fun (though she cheats!). As school tool, as I said I don't buy it.
by yanneves | 2025-07-01 14:52:09+00:00
A platform for hiring and monitoring AI agent interns

https://gadabout.ai

This was an evening's experiment turned pilot that's now speeding forward with a strategic partnership with a revenue operations company.

I was originally trying to solve user experience testing of my own projects with multimodal LLMs. The intuitiveness of these models given a browser opened my eyes to the possibilities with tooling (what we now call agents), then expanded into long-term memory and personification.

Recently found PMF in what's best described as a signal-to-outcome workflow hooked up to companies' sales pipelines.

Landing page coming soon™ - feel free to reach me at yann@gadabout.ai if you're experimenting in this field too.
by moritzwarhier | 2025-07-01 14:52:25+00:00
The article about this study does exactly that?

> The study used a panel of 19 cytokines—small immune-signaling proteins—to assess inflammation patterns. While these markers aligned with aging in the Italian and Singaporean datasets, they did not replicate among the Tsimane and Orang Asli, whose immune systems were shaped by persistent infections and distinct environmental exposures.

[...]

> The authors call for a reevaluation of how aging and inflammation are measured across populations and emphasize the need for standardized, context-aware tools. "Factors like environment, lifestyle—such as high physical activity or a very low-fat diet—and infection may all influence how the immune system ages," said Cohen. "Understanding how these elements interact could help develop more effective global health strategies."

Not sure how you think your fictitious categories would help or present any new ideas. The study already does what you call for, but using science instead of imagination.
by nartho | 2025-07-01 14:52:39+00:00
I think the project itself is really cool, that said I really don't like the trend of having LLMs regurgitate content back to us. That said, this kinda makes me think of Browsh, who took the opposite approach and tries to render the HTML in the terminal (without LLMs as far as I know)

https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZq86XfBoRo
by nathan_compton | 2025-07-01 14:52:53+00:00
I don't know, from my point of view having both syntaxes is clearly more to think about, and all you get from the shorter one is typing a few fewer keystrokes.

Philosophically, I feel a little ambivalent about the briefer syntax because it mixes two sorts of denotations. Variables refer to scoped objects for which, from the point of view of what the program means, vanish (in compiled languages they literally can totally vanish - variable references are just resolved into the appropriate reference to memory). The keys of a hash table are totally different sorts of things and persist at runtime. I'd prefer that these two very distinct conceptual spaces remain separate, even if in a certain sense they overlap in a specific case.

Doesn't really matter, though.
by worldsayshi | 2025-07-01 14:53:07+00:00
If the web site is a SPA that is hydrated using an API it would be conceivable that the LLM can build a reusable interface around the API while taking inspiration from the original page. That interface can then be stored in some cache.

I'm not saying it's necessarily a good idea but perhaps a bad/fun idea that can inspire good ideas?
by ndriscoll | 2025-07-01 14:53:14+00:00
Yes that's the point. You don't need those things. The idea that a news article or blog post or e-commerce page could "crash" is ridiculous, and the law shouldn't humor that excuse. There's been standard ways to declaratively define such pages since before scripting frameworks gained popularity. Use those standard ways. If you're really building an app and need to performance test, buy some hardware in your target range. Privacy aware users block things like Sentry.
by diggan | 2025-07-01 14:53:31+00:00
> My history with email clients being acquired is not encouraging.

Ignoring the constraint of "email client", has there been any acquisitions where the acquired product got better post-acquisition?

I can think of countless examples where it got worse, but from the top of my head, I can only think of maybe YouTube, but then only in the initial post-purchase period, and same goes for a bunch of other examples. They seem to eventually always turn sour.

Maybe GitHub? But it traded "no new features - no downtime" for "some new features - a lot of downtime" after the Microsoft purchase, so I guess it's very subjective, probably at least some people like that tradeoff.
by npalli | 2025-07-01 14:53:47+00:00
Sorry folks, asked PG what's the most important thing for startups (hoping to hear "make something people want") but got this goobledygook.

Paul Graham A question that gets to the heart of startup success! Based on my essays and experience, here's the most important thing for startups to focus on, followed by a brief elaboration and some secondary focuses tailored to different startup stages:

Most Important Thing: "Validate and Iterate on a Problem with a Large enough Market" (or more succinctly, "Solve a Big Problem People Will Pay For")

Elaboration: Validate:

Ensure there's a genuine problem or need in the market. Talk to potential customers to understand the pain point deeply. Problem with a Large enough Market:

The problem should be significant enough that solving it attracts a substantial user base or generates considerable revenue. Market Size: Ensure the market is large enough for your growth ambitions. Iterate:

Be prepared to refine your solution based on feedback and market response. Pivots might be necessary; being open to changing direction based on validation is key. Why This is Paramount: Reduces Risk: Focusing on a validated problem minimizes the risk of building something no one wants. Focus: Gives the startup a clear direction, helping allocate scarce resources efficiently. Scalability: A large enough market provides a clear path to growth. Secondary Focuses by Startup Stage: Idea/Seed Stage Secondary Focus: Team Building Assemble a balanced team capable of execution, adaptation, and growth. Early Growth Stage Secondary Focus: Scaling Customer Acquisition Efficiently Develop and refine a cost-effective user acquisition strategy to leverage the validated market opportunity. Later Growth Stage Secondary Focus: Operational Efficiency & Strategic Partnerships Streamline operations to maintain profitability with scale. Pursue strategic partnerships to further expand market reach or defend position. Example from My Essays ( referenced in your initial query's text block, though not directly asked about here): Relation to "Programming Bottom-Up" (Chapter 002): This essay emphasizes building upon and validating assumptions iteratively, similar to the iterative validation process recommended for startups. Connection to "Good Writing" (Chapter 229): While not directly about startups, it highlights the importance of clarity and iteration in communication, mirrored in the need for clear problem understanding and iterative solution refinement in startups. Actionable Advice for Startups Based on This: Action How Validate Problem Conduct at least 20 in-depth customer interviews. Assess Market Size Use publicly available market research reports and calculate your potential share. Iterate Based on Feedback Allocate 20% of development time to pivots or adjustments based on early user feedback. Review and Adjust Quarterly Schedule regular team reviews to assess progress against problem validation and market response.
by al_borland | 2025-07-01 14:54:06+00:00
So the issue has never been about the 30%, it’s about the closed platform? What if the App Store was free, would people still have an issue, because Apple is controlling the platform and software distribution? If so, why keep going after the 30% fee? It just seems like a convenient headline to use for the attacks.

Valve also makes the Steam Deck. In that case they do own the platform, but if the user wants they can install whatever OS they want… but as designed, and used by most consumers, it’s Valve hardware, running SteamOS from Valve, where people can run games they buy from Steam, Vavle’s game marketplace… where Valve takes 30% of the sales.

The only difference between the Steam Deck and an iPad is that the user can wipe SteamOS off it and use it as a generic system, likely killing most of the reason why they bought the hardware in the first place.

So if the issue is how open the platform is, that seems like an issue for the free market. A lot of people buy Apple stuff because it’s a closed platform that spends a lot of time dialing in the user experience, which is something that often seems lacking on more open platforms, because there are an infinite number of edge cases to cover. If customers want the closed platform, forcing it open end up reducing customer choice, as the closed, tightly knit, ecosystem option no longer exists.

Apple’s business model has also historically been about selling hardware to run their software. “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” Forcing them into a Microsoft-style business model is a fundamental change to their core business. There should be room in the market for different ideas. Microsoft, Apple, and Google all have very different business models which serve different types of customers. This is a good thing. I wish there was room for more business models to let the little guy move up, but forcing Apple to be Microsoft, Google, or whomever else doesn’t seem like a win, and it has little to do with the 30% App Store fee.
by jpd25 | 2025-07-01 14:54:28+00:00
Original author here. Those figures are from a local study done last year by the Laminar Collective (linked to in the piece). They do not account for state or federal rebates/incentives. They're included to demonstrate the wide range of installation costs, which can feel arbitrary to a homeowner and undermine their confidence, thus making it less likely that they will choose to install a heat pump.

Comparing the cost of a heat pump to window AC units is missing the point since, as you're well aware, a heat pump provides both cooling and heating. A homeowner who is considering a heat pump is almost certainly replacing a gas furnace and/or a central AC system. When you factor in the cost of replacing two systems with one, plus higher effiency gains/lower operating costs, and money back on rebates, heat pumps can be cost competitive.

Massachusetts (where this study was done) is still offering generous incentives as well as 0% financing through the Mass Save program.
by westurner | 2025-07-01 14:54:47+00:00
How to plant a pollinator garden?

How to counter parasitic mites? Aren't there new LLM applications for chemicals discovery?

> According to a preprint posted to the bioRxiv server this month, nearly all the dead colonies tested positive for bee viruses spread by parasitic mites. Alarmingly, every single one of the mites the researchers screened was resistant to amitraz, the only viable mite-specific pesticide — or miticide — of its kind left in humans’ arsenal

"Viruses and vectors tied to honey bee colony losses" (2025) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.28.656706v1....
by milliams | 2025-07-01 14:54:48+00:00
It would need to be put in the context of what a normal annual die-off is. I expect it's not 0%, and perhaps it's normal for keepers to need to re-establish some fraction of their hives each year.

Of course, 50-60% sounds alarmingly high, but I don't know enough to be sure.

Actually, I just followed the link in the article (good job detailing their sources!) and it looks like 40% is pretty typical, but with large error bars. 62% is definitely high, but not as earth shattering as it first appears.
by PaulHoule | 2025-07-01 14:55:13+00:00
My impression is that in the last month there's been a Cambrian Explosion in scam text of all sorts, also I see a lot of what I think are affiliation scams on Bluesky and Mastodon targeting, not least, open source developers, chronically ill people, transgender people, and anime fans. I just got a scam text last night that said I owed NY State a lot in freeway tolls.

I wouldn't be surprised if Scam, Inc [1] was branching out.

[1] https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/scam-inc-from-the-econ...
by benreesman | 2025-07-01 14:55:21+00:00
Look at marginal tax brackets at the top from WW2 to the present and say that again with a straight face.

Real wages and purchasing power at the median are so strongly correlated with 90℅ income tax at the top that the causality digression is a waste of time we don't have. Unchecked executive power via a lockstep legislative apparatus and meek courts is not some unprecedented thing, its a totally predictable response to privatizing the commons and selling it off to oligarchs.

It was a fucking disaster in Russia in 1992 and its shaping up no better here now.

Conficistory taxes at the top work, they keep real assets broadly distributed throughout society which gives everyone a stake in democratic institutions which creates stability and growth. That's recent, robustly researched history.
by beeman | 2025-07-01 14:55:57+00:00
I left my home country about 10 years ago when I got hired by a US-based startup that allowed me to work remotely.

Since then I've been living abroad and have often referred to myself and by others as a digital nomad, though some people might disagree.

I think the main thing that I did differently from a typical digital nomad described in the article is to not pursue continuous travel to new locations (that's what I take vacations for) but instead spend significant time each year in a few places around the world that you like, and come back to those places.

This allowed me to get to know a couple of cities pretty well. I got to know people and places, and it made it easier to get back in the flow when you come back, as you already know your way around, and you understand how things like money, groceries, transport and other services work.

Besides that I optimized for productivity. So I try to minimize the amount of time I need to depend on a coffeeshop by getting Airbnb's that have a desk or rent a desk in a co-working. I always bring a laptop stand, keyboard and mouse and sometimes use my tablet as a second screen to get max ergonomics.

I met my wife during one of these trips and we have been living and traveling together since 2018.

For the last 5 years we've rented several places for longer time that we call home. I typically spend around 6 months per year there, the rest I'm still traveling, my wife tends to spend a bit more time at home.

End of this year we'll move to SE Asia, we'll travel around for like 2 months before we decide where we want to rent a place to call home.

From there, we'll continue to explore the region and hopefully get to know some more amazing spots.

We feel we're not exhausted yet and are looking forward to what the next years will bring us
by nwatab | 2025-07-01 14:56:23+00:00
Search Navigator is an chrome extension that lets you browse Google Search without touching the mouse. It is Manifest V3 compatible and tiny (< 60 KB).

Usage:

- j/k (↓/↑): next/prev result

- h/l (←/→): prev/next page

- Enter: open (Ctrl/Cmd=new tab, Shift=new window)

- a/i/v/n/s: switch All/Images/Videos/News/Shopping

- m/y: jump to Maps/YouTube (with current query)

YouTube support is experimental—results navigation may be flaky.

GitHub repository:

https://github.com/nwatab/search-navigator

Would love your thoughts on UX, feature ideas, or any edge cases I’ve missed. Thanks!
by wyldberry | 2025-07-01 14:56:46+00:00
Honeybees are not all bees, and are less important than wild/native ground bees[0]. By making this about trump, you are burying the lede here:

"Alarmingly, every single one of the mites the researchers screened was resistant to amitraz, the only viable mite-specific pesticide—or miticide—of its kind left in humans’ arsenal."

This is to be expected, eventually evolution will produce a small amount of a species that is resistant to a chemical, then those will likely be hyper successful at breeding. Honeybees are not native to the Americas, it seems like we've imported a major feast for these mites. Perhaps there's another organism that preys on these mites. Nature often provides the a cure with the poison.

[0] - https://choosenatives.org/articles/native-bees-need-buzz/
by red_admiral | 2025-07-01 14:56:53+00:00
I'd be ok with one app store if the criteria for being included are transparent, reasonable and not biased towards less strict rules for big players.

Patreon was told to change its whole billing model until a court found in their favor: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1878206.html That's the kind of thing I think we'd both find unacceptable.

But I'd still be ok with "one store, resonable rules, respect user privacy".

Meanwhile on google's lawn, there's hundreds of things like this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.falnesc.to... a torch app that contains ads and shares your location with selected third parties. At least they don't require permission to read your contacts. (You can buy an ad-free "secure" version for $0.99, or you can just ... turn on your phone's LED for free because that's provided by the OS.)

Technically firefox extensions are "one app store" too - you can't sideload unless you install from the dev/nightly channel and fiddle with the settings. But at least it's a not-for-profit store. Chrome and even Edge allow you to sideload.
by nyrikki | 2025-07-01 14:57:14+00:00
Any discussion about AGI requires a written definition of the term to have a reasonable discussion.

What we have now matches what many of the popular texts would call "Narrow AI", which is limited to specific tasks like speech recognition or playing chess, or mixtures of those.

Traditionally AGI represents a more aspirational goal, machines that could theoretically perform any intellectual task a human can do.

Under that definition we aren't close, and we will actually need new math to even hope to reach that goal.

Obviously individuals concepts of what 'AGI' differ, as well as their motivations for choosing one.

But the traditional hopeful mnomics concept of AGI is known to be unreachable without discoveries that upend what we think are hard limits today.

Machines being better at arithmetic, the ties from to the limits of algorithms is actually the source of the limits.

The work of Turing, Gödel, Tarski, Markov, Rice etc... is where that claim is coming from IMHO

Fortunately there is a lot of practical utility without AGI, but our industries use of aspirational mnomics is almost guaranteed to disappoint the rest of the world.
by rorylaitila | 2025-07-01 14:57:27+00:00
So I do a lot of backward looking analysis and forward looking planning. All my reusable models are SQL based. I am certainly a top user in terms of intersection of database, programming and financial modelling. I meet almost no FP&A persons doing what I do.

But I still reach for Excel for exploration. And I also share these explorations with clients in Excel. Why? Because when you are exploring, you don't yet know the domain. There is no value in saving and building upon top of that kind of data. "What if" questions from clients are ephemeral. My pile of scratch pad queries is absolutely enormous. I don't need or want any of that stuff cluttering up my data sources.

My biggest challenge in complex analysis is keeping track of all of the branches and data lineage of the complexity of the models. Knowing what some metric I created "means" and if or how it can be used properly by something else.
by conductr | 2025-07-01 14:57:28+00:00
That’s mental fatigue from learning and being engaged on a topic for a duration. Maybe some additional from screen time/blue light fatigue. But it used to happen after studying for hours pre-internet.

Just my hunch, but post student life, I think many people are not actually using the internet regularly the way you describe. Only a small percentage of people are doing productive tasks, it’s mostly leisurely consumption
by mlsu | 2025-07-01 14:57:34+00:00
The liver does do this with a substance called glycogen. It’s called counter regulation. It has a store of glycogen, which it will release into the blood stream if BG drops too low. It is a finite store though, so if you exercise a lot (or overdose on insulin) you can metabolize most of it.

In this case, hypos will become more severe and happen easier.

Also, the store will be replenished by pulling excess glucose out of the blood over a period of roughly 24 hours after exercise or the hypo. So exercise has a beneficial effect of keeping BG lower for some time. That’s also why you should eat a little more and carbs after heavy exercise.
by TheOtherHobbes | 2025-07-01 14:57:36+00:00
Dogs certainly do understand things. Dogs and cats have a theory of mind and can successfully manipulate and trick their owners - and each other.

Our perceptions are shaped by our cognitive limitations. A dog doesn't know what the Internet is, and completely lacks the cognitive capacity to understand it.

An ASI would almost certainly develop some analogous technology or ability, and it would be completely beyond us.

That does NOT mean we would notice we were being affected by that technology.

Advertising and manufactured addictions make people believe external manipulations are personal choices. An ASI would probably find similar manipulations trivial.

But it might well be capable of more complex covert manipulations we literally can't imagine.
by Night_Thastus | 2025-07-01 14:57:39+00:00
The reason I think it's going to blow over is that even the best models are frequently quite terrible. The fundamental problems of how they work can't really be fixed because they're a feature - the way that LLMs work.

And no one has found a way to make any money with it. All the tech companies are burning money by the truckload so investors don't lose confidence, but none of them have actually shown it's a good financial investment.

At the end of the day, I don't think anyone is going to want to pay what it really costs to run these models, just for a result that is so unreliable. Once they start to stagnate everyone will lose interest.

The only reason it might stick around is because investors will get desperate to get returns and go full sunk-cost once it starts looking like they made a bad call. (Which they will blame the companies for, of course)
by gizmo686 | 2025-07-01 14:57:46+00:00
There's a similar term "phantom type", for when you have some sort of type variable that is never used as the type of an actual variable.

I've mostly seen in done in Haskell, but have used it in it Scala as well to simulate type hierarchies not present in the actual type system.

In a way, this union trick is kind of like a phantom type, since the secondary type is never actually used.
by RangerScience | 2025-07-01 14:57:51+00:00
AFAIK, this is only commercial bees, which have a pile of stressors (such as being shipped places frequently). Non-commercial bees are doing "better" (I remember hearing that they're doing fine, but poking around now that doesn't seem to be the case).

The other issue is crop pollination, which AFAIK has heavy reliance on commercial bees.
by teo_zero | 2025-07-01 14:57:56+00:00
Exactly, thank you.

I've always called "tag" the id that optionally follows struct/union/enum. Is it the wrong word? Some specs call it "name", but "unnamed union" sounds dangerously similar to "anonymous union", which is a different concept, namely (no pun!) an unnamed member of an outer struct or union whose submembers can be accessed as if they belong in the outer one. E.g.

struct { struct { int m; }; // no name: anonymous struct s; s.m = 1;