MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by westonpace | 2025-07-24 22:16:13+00:00
Lance contributor here. This sounds about right. We haven't really innovated too much in the compression space. Most of our efforts have been around getting rid of row groups and the resulting changes in decoding patterns.

Our current approach is pretty similar to Parquet for scalar types. We allow a mix of general and lightweight codecs for small types and require lightweight only codecs for larger types (string, binary).

Nice work on the paper :)
by firasd | 2025-07-24 22:16:30+00:00
Hi folks, my project:

AlphaDec is a human-readable, lexically sortable UTC encoding. It's designed to be timezone-agnostic, reversible, and safe for use in LLMs, filenames, and database keys.

Examples like 2025_M4O2_todo.txt carry timing information (seasonal + positional) but avoid ISO collisions.

It encodes the full UTC year as a symmetrical orbital structure: 26 periods × 10 arcs × 26 bars × 10 beats. Each one tickable in JS, Bash, or Python.

Inspired by the clean abstractions of Snowflake IDs, but readable by humans and AIs.

Live clock: https://firasd.github.io/alphadec/

Interesting images of Claude reverse-engineering it:

1. https://firasd.github.io/alphadec/assets/2025_O3U4_alphadec_...

2. https://firasd.github.io/alphadec/assets/2025_O3U4_alphadec_...

3. https://firasd.github.io/alphadec/assets/2025_O3U4_alphadec_...

4. https://firasd.github.io/alphadec/assets/2025_O3U4_alphadec_...
by anthk | 2025-07-24 22:16:46+00:00
>mailx

mbox should die; or maybe set as a legacy option. Current systems can handle thousands of email by using maildirs.

Also, one day bsdgames will enter into POSIX maybe but as a test case, in order to be sure on how well the POSIX compatible API behaves.

Phantasia(6) could be rewritten for balance and such...
by actionfromafar | 2025-07-24 22:18:11+00:00
Mmm, the business opportunities! Who's gonna build all these S̶o̶y̶l̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶F̶a̶c̶t̶o̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ institutional facilities. I wonder who will get to explore this new money stream.

The funding may need some creative thinking... reducing Medicaid should also lead to more homeless "raw material", win-win!
by mianos | 2025-07-24 22:19:29+00:00
If you want to write new code and have a lot of influence over the overall implementation instead of fixing bugs on a years old steaming pile of tech debt.

Not all places with large existing codebases are that bad, but if you are experienced, it can be very personally satisfying doing something well before it has degraded over time.

I have worked in quite a few. One is a household name down here in Australia. I was the first engineer with the two founders. I worked 2 years 24/7 for half the salary I got when I left. I'll never get my money back but that's ok as I loved the time there.
by DaveZale | 2025-07-24 22:20:29+00:00
same with directors. BODs are incestuous, inbred.

The letter seemed contradictory: be a factory, but innovate on AI. Is AI actually smart? Human brains use the power of a dim incandescent light bulb, why does AI require so much power, that the processing chips overheat?

Sure, selected tasks can be done orders of magnitude faster, but do we, for example, really need that kind of output, like pi to a trillion digits? Or AI controlling stock market trading? How much liquidity is necessary for traders other than huge funds?
by vchere | 2025-07-24 22:20:44+00:00
The reason is always a secret coalition with a cool hand sign like the Illuminati.

But speaking of combining forces, Microsoft will be more likely to pick them up in a fire sale now, which I think would be best for all involved. Then you’re a couple of M&As away with first Dell and then Oracle.

Then they will select a champion to fight the Pentavirate at The Meadows!!
by mcapodici | 2025-07-24 22:20:51+00:00
There are other benefits over a test.

The compiler tests the type is correct wherever you use it. It is also documentation.

Still have tests! But types are great.

But sadly, in practice I don't often use a type per ID type because it is not idiomatic to code bases I work on. It's a project of its own to move a code base to be like that if it wasn't in the outset. Also most programming languages don't make it ergonomic.
by mzitelli | 2025-07-24 22:20:58+00:00
Brazil central bank introduced Pix a few years ago. It took over the country as the public basic infrastructure for money transfer. Totally free and instantaneous transactions between people and companies, available to all banks.

Then, just last week, the US presidency launched an investigation considering Pix an unfair trade practice against the US.

Actions like that may show the current direction of the US government is aligned on preserving status quo. But still, I wonder how impactful a public digital infrastructure for the dollar would be.
by thewebguyd | 2025-07-24 22:21:51+00:00
Not just toothless, but also focusing on the wrong thing. Our antitrust laws haven't kept up with tech. They are still largely focused on consumer harm, which doesn't apply well when huge tech companies can offer stuff for free at a loss to snuff out any potential competition.

Instead we need antitrust legislation to look at unfairly favoring one's own service, attack bundling, and prohibit exclusionary practices/blocking access to protocols (Private APIs, basically Apple).

To use Apple as an example, we could legally mandate they provide APIs for third parties to access iMessage, AirDrop, SharePlay, etc. on their OSes so that third parties can offer accessories and services that compete on the same playing field as Apple's own accessories and services. Without mandating that openness, there can be no competitors. I can't make a smartwatch for iPhones and have it able to compete with the Apple Watch, Apple just simply gatekeeps and won't allow it - that should not be legal. Likewise for wireless headphones - no one else can make a set of wireless earbuds that can do device switching on Apple devices to the same level as AirPods, because Apple is gate keeping with proprietary tech.

The non anti-trust aspect of it with tech is mostly network effects. For mobile, the more users, the more apps, the more valuable that platform gets, starts to incur high switching costs, devs neglect or ignore any potential new entry into the market because it's not profitable to build for it, and that momentum is very difficult to overcome without regulatory action.
by Gene5ive | 2025-07-24 22:22:46+00:00
Ice caps? Try human beings.

Increased Mortality: Projections indicate an additional 14.5 million deaths by 2050 due to climate-related impacts like floods, droughts, heatwaves, and climate-sensitive diseases (e.g., malaria and dengue).

Economic Losses: Global economic losses are predicted to reach $12.5 trillion by 2050, with an additional $1.1 trillion burden on healthcare systems due to climate-induced impacts. One study estimates that climate change will cost the global economy $38 trillion a year within the next 25 years.

Displacement and Migration: Over 200 million people may be displaced by climate change by 2050, with an estimated 21.5 million displaced annually since 2008 by weather-related events. In a worst-case scenario, the World Bank suggests this figure could reach 216 million people moving internally due to water scarcity and threats to agricultural livelihoods. Some researchers predict that 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050 in the worst-case scenario due to natural disasters and other ecological threats.

Food and Water Insecurity: Climate change exacerbates food and water insecurity, leading to malnutrition and increased disease burden, especially in vulnerable populations. For example, a significant increase in drought in certain regions could cause 3.2 million deaths from malnutrition by 2050. An estimated 183 million additional people could go hungry by 2050, even if warming is held below 1.6°C.

Mental Health Impacts: Climate change contributes to mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and PTSD, particularly in vulnerable populations and those experiencing climate disasters or chronic changes like drought. Extreme heat has been linked to increased aggression and suicide risk. Studies also indicate that children born today will experience a significantly higher number of climate extremes than previous generations, potentially impacting their mental well-being and sense of future security.

Inequality and Vulnerability: Climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including low-income individuals, people of color, outdoor workers, and those with existing health conditions, worsening existing health inequities and hindering poverty reduction efforts.
by reaperducer | 2025-07-24 22:22:53+00:00
Google AI has been listing incorrect internal extensions causing departments to field calls for people trying to reach unrelated divisions and services, listing times and dates of events that don't exist at our addresses that people are showing up to, and generally misdirecting and misguiding people who really need correct information from a truth source like our websites.

Anecdotally, this happened back in analog days, too.

When I worked in local TV, people would call and scream at us if the show they wanted to see was incorrectly listed in the TV Guide.

Screamers: "It's in the TV Guide!"

Me (like a million times): "We decide what goes on the air, not the TV Guide."
by dwattttt | 2025-07-24 22:24:33+00:00
If a language is "memory safe", by some definition we expect safety from memory faults (for example, not accessing memory incorrectly).

If a language is "memory safe" but not "thread safe", is the result "the language is free from 'memory faults', unless threads are involved"?

Or to put it another way; when used however the term of art is intended, "memory safety" is meant to provide some guarantees about not triggering certain erroneous conditions. "not thread safe" seems to mean that those same erroneous conditions can be triggered by threads, which seems to amount to '"memory safety" does not guarantee the absence of erroneous memory conditions'.
by netsharc | 2025-07-24 22:25:09+00:00
Something to do with https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/news-and-insights/prosecutin... ?

> In particular, the TVPA imposes criminal liability upon corporations that benefit financially from human trafficking in “reckless disregard” that their business ventures engaged in such exploitation.

Not that digitally generated tits and asses have anything to do with human trafficking. But for a payment provider, porn sites are risky because their upload filters can miss content that violates these laws..

Russia's exclusion from Visa/Mastercard means cards there are on the Chinese networks and Russia's internal one.. it'd be interesting if adult content providers adopt these, bur I guess that means working with a Russian financial institute, which risks embargo from the US.

Imagine that, your porn stars ending up on the US embargo list...

Meanwhile, on the topic of human trafficking, Trump is panicking about being in Epstein's files...
by gmueckl | 2025-07-24 22:25:32+00:00
There are tons of incidents with intruders on military bases where I am from. They are atrractive targets for criminals like thieves, too. Guards aren't a very effective deterrent.

Also, everyone I talked to who found suspicious activity while on guard duty confessed to me that they were terrified in the moment even though they were trying to project authority on the outside.
by inetknght | 2025-07-24 22:26:12+00:00
> why do all these business leaders all do the same things at the same time? E.g. Layoffs + micromanagement + cost focus etc... Is this truly about macroeconomic forces that every business is responding to? Or is it just following the latest fad?

I thought about this a lot over the years.

I saw something that piqued my interest last year though, and kind've helped connect the dots. I was on a cruise, and most of the ship was available to guests. One day, one room was cordoned off to an invite-only meeting. The windows weren't blocked, but on the screen was a presentation about AI investments, number of jobs saved (reduced), and etc.

I found one of the attendants later during the voyage and chatted her up. She was head of HR in some big company, and the meeting was supposed to be private. But it contained a lot more than just spreadsheets about AI investments. There was homework and whatnot, but the attendees weren't all from a single company. It was "direction setting". I don't think it was Intel (topic under discussion) but certainly some loosely related tech industry.

I'm convinced that it was nothing less than business collusion.

So, back to your question:

> why do all these business leaders all do the same things at the same time?

Because they're told to.
by ggm | 2025-07-24 22:27:03+00:00
Personally I feel this is a non sequiteur. I feel exactly the same as I always did about lemon curd, bricks and bimetallism in 1920s economic theory. AI hadn't changed what I think about fireworks or chocolate snow shoes.

So if you mean the hype machine then yes, I do think AI has displaced endless dribble about Mars, and there is a commonality between them, my previous paragraph not withstanding: they're both Hype. There is no fundamental underpinning which means the door plate rating matches the engine speed.

Mars is fantasy. AI hype is fantasy.

Chocolate snow shoes at least got chocolate. Mmm chocolate.

(Bimetallism was a thing. Robertson Davies introduced me to it in "World of wonders", but the Bunker-Hunt brothers also raised the spectre with a spectacularly failed attempt to corner the world's silver supply in the 1970s, which led to government intervention)
by dilap | 2025-07-24 22:27:09+00:00
Personally I like it, and it catches bugs right away, especially when there are multiple possible ids, e.g.

func AddMessage(u UserId, m MessageId)

If it's just

func AddMessage(userId, messageId string)

it's very easy to accidentally call as

AddMessage(messageId, userId)

and then best-case you are wasting time figuring out a test failure, and worst case trying to figure out the bug IRL.

V.S. an instant compile error.

I have seen errors like this many times, both written by myself and others. I think it's great to use the type system to eliminate this class of error!

(Especially in languages like Go that make it very low-friction to define the newtype.)

Another benefit if you're working with any sort of static data system is it makes it very easy to validate the data -- e.g. just recursively scan for instances of FooId and make sure they are actually foo, instead of having to write custom logic or schema for everywhere a FooId might occur.
by eYrKEC2 | 2025-07-24 22:27:25+00:00
In addition to the lost time, you'll have a hard time racking the slide from the adrenaline dump. Also, the bad guys always have first-movers advantage and you're always playing catch up.

After watching thousands of violent encounters on John Correia's "Active Self Protection" channel, I agree that round-in-the-chamber is absolutely necessary if you're carrying for self protection.

https://www.youtube.com/@ActiveSelfProtection
by recipe19 | 2025-07-24 22:29:14+00:00
Huh? Chinese citizens are free to apply to jobs in the Western world, and most companies are happy to hire them. Also, while the Chinese intelligence apparatus undoubtedly has easier access to Chinese nationals, the vast majority of these workers are not a part of a state-run syndicate to circumvent sanctions (or worse).

The NK thing is a fundamentally different scenario: you have people you're not allowed to hire lying to you and stealing identities to get hired. That's an obvious problem in itself, and the fact that it's orchestrated by the NK government to benefit the regime is only making it worse.

There are other parties that probably do the same, but NK is the industry leader, so to speak.
by mschuster91 | 2025-07-24 22:29:15+00:00
> They certainly aren't doing it out of Christian principles.

Said Evangelicals unfortunately know how to raise a stink, and with stinks comes bad press or, even worse, haphazard attempts to regulate stuff. Or, under Trump, it might draw the ire of the Dear Leader himself and suddenly even a company like MC/Visa finds itself in hot water.

Either of these results is expensive, much more a cost risk than the profit of something like Itch is worth.
by 9dev | 2025-07-24 22:29:28+00:00
From a life in a European city without even owning a car, I can tell you with confidence that I did not starve yet. You just go get groceries a few times a week, in smaller hauls, with the upside that you get fresh vegetables and fruits all the time. For family needs, get an e-cargo bike, and for the fringe cases where you must transport furniture or something, it’s still cheaper to rent a car or hail a cab.
by cbzoiav | 2025-07-24 22:30:35+00:00
Most credit cards in the UK at least (same cap) have no standard account fee. Those that do come with other perks / beyond the 'world elite' etc side Mastercard/visa aren't seeing that money - its going to the issuing bank. Bank accounts also generaly have no standard fees (and a lot of other things we take forgranted - faster payments (if I send money to a friend/business I can do it instantly for free without needing a third party solution), standing orders, direct debit etc. - that make banking far easier than in the US).

There is also regulation in place that restricts predatory fee practices, getting customers into revolving debt and protection that makes card issuers liable for purchases (Section 75 - e.g. if I order something paying with my credit card and the merchant doesn't pay, the card issuer is legally liable / I can claim from them and its on them to get it from the merchant)
by wat10000 | 2025-07-24 22:30:55+00:00
I blame Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich.

They heavily pushed the idea that the opposition could not have legitimacy. Gingrich did it through the exercise of power and Limbaugh did it on the airwaves. It wasn’t just that the opposition was wrong or bad for the country, standard democracy stuff, but that the opposition had no right to hold power at all. Once you start thinking that legitimacy is based on which side you’re on rather than who you are or what you do, you won’t care about bad leadership as long as it’s yours.
by inetknght | 2025-07-24 22:31:49+00:00
> Wonder if it’s “not illegal” if it’s done in international waters.

I didn't ask. As I understand it, it's less about legality and more about plausible deniability; on a "party boat" with plenty of other public people to make it cheaper than renting a whole boat, plus the week for the cruise and time to relax -- seems plausible that these people "just happened" to book the same boat at the same time at peak tourist season and decide to throw a "private party". I should have asked more questions, but there were plenty of other people to chat up.
Show HN: Building "Love at First Mic" – Tech Clone of TV Show "Love Is Blind"
by fcpguru | 2025-07-24 22:32:06+00:00
If you are familiar with the show "Love is Blind" this concept is similar but 100% internet based. Using vdo.ninja and OBS (open broadcasting software) and a little javascript I think I have all the components to make this work. If you goto:

https://andrewarrow.dev/love-at-first-mic/

At the bottom of the page where it asks for an invite code enter "88c5_48c4_8cf6" it will add two iframes to the page. Accept the request for mic and camera access (if you dare!)

Then another person would enter the same code but select PersonB. The iframe on the left should be showing your camera view and the iframe on the right should be just a blank black box but audio from the other person should be coming through.

Then, the producer of the show (me) opens OBS on a desktop computer and uses that same invite code to add the full video and audio source from each person. OBS has many source options and one source can be "Browser" and it works perfectly. I can even crop and scale and position the two videos side by side and then save everything to a video file.

The best part? No backend server! All free! Amazing right? I've tried to disable javascript and right clicking as best as I can to prevent users from turning on the other person's camera. But if a person is determined to cheat, there are lots of other ways.

What do you think hackers? Has this be done before? Anyone want to be on the first season?
by gooseyard | 2025-07-24 22:32:53+00:00
I've struggled to teach this to jazz students, I know when I was a kid I read the same kind of advice in guitar magazines, and while I don't think that the theory-first advocates are malevolent, I think most of them were not serious jazz players and were getting paid to deliver a monthly column.

The analogy I've tried to use in teaching is that learning to play jazz is like being a comedian; when your skills are at their peak you're going to be inventing jokes regularly, but in the decades before you get there, you're going to be delivering other people's jokes putting a little of your own spin on them. The delivery matters a lot, and like good jazz playing it's pretty much impossible to write a book called "How to be Funny" that wouldn't just be an academic analysis rather than an instructional guide.

I struggled with jazz for the reasons I've alluded to above, and it wasn't until I started studying with a teacher who just had me memorize hundreds of standards that I got my playing together. We definitely talked about the technical bits of what was happening in the tunes, but those were really just interesting observations; repeatedly playing them in a group setting after woodshedding them at home between lessons, then taking a lot of solos was really what made it happen.

It really makes me happy to see up-and-coming killer players like Patrick Bartley espousing this same approach. Yeah it means you're going to spend thousands of hours memorizing tunes, but if that's not fun then playing jazz isn't going to be fun either.
by DragonStrength | 2025-07-24 22:33:22+00:00
The Capital Order lays out an argument that austerity measures are ultimately labor suppression, not necessary. Of course, that’s true of many pieces of policy wisdom: they start from an assumed good. In this case, the assumed good is the current winners should remain the winners despite, well, losing.

https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Order-Economists-Invented-Aus...
by pizlonator | 2025-07-24 22:33:23+00:00
> If a language is "memory safe" but not "thread safe", is the result "the language is free from 'memory faults', unless threads are involved"?

Yes.

If a language is memory safe but not thread safe, then you can race, but the outcome of those races won't be memory corruption or the violation of the language's type system. It will lead to weird stuff, however - just a different kind of weirdness than breaking out of the language's sandbox
by cptskippy | 2025-07-24 22:33:32+00:00
I'm trying to reconcile that with my memory. Pre-launch the AMD rep approached the electronics salesmen where I worked and offered us a deal to purchase a K7 700mhz for like $200. It came with a Biostar motherboard, a brand I'd never heard of back then.

I remember it was a K7 700 because it was the first from scratch PC that I ever built. Everything before and probably since has been a Ship of Theseus.
by Alupis | 2025-07-24 22:34:08+00:00
Many times it's a "watershed" moment.

Most of these businesses are feeling the same pressures and experiencing the same problems... in silence. Eventually one of their competitors breaks (because they are forced to due to economic realities, etc) and starts making necessary moves (layoffs, efficiency improvements, etc). The rest follow-suit, breathing a collective sigh of relief that they weren't the first to make all the headlines.