MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by tracker1 | 2025-07-28 16:52:59+00:00
I wrote an identity/auth service that had the backend like that intentionally. I wanted to be able to adapt it to pretty much any backend that was desired. Each identity had 4 entries with predictable keys, and the data was json that was optionally encrypted through the app, if using a dbms that didn't provide encryption at rest.

The data access interface was simple enough, that it allowed interface layering allowing for different backends, encryption, etc. to be very flexible.

I had adapters for SQLite (default), MS-SQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Cassandra and AWS DynamoDB. It was deployed for apps that went from embedded, to integrated with our applications, and external applications on internal and external infrastructures.

The only disappointing thing is that I wasn't allowed to open-source/release the application. The concern is it would be a security risk if anyone knew how the application worked. I still disagree with this decision. It was a bit simpler, and more flexible than "Identity Server" in use, but it served the needs of a lot of applications where an existing identity provider (IS, Octa, AD Auth, etc) wasn't already in place. Most of the apps I worked on at that company had used JWT allowing for somewhat flexible configurations of RSA signed providers... integration usually consisted of a bridge service for authentication going from the client's provider to an app targeted JWT. This kept integrations separate.

Sorry for veering off a bit.
by sunshowers | 2025-07-28 16:53:12+00:00
The important thing to recognize is that fairness is a pretty fuzzy concept and a lot of the boundary between fair and unfair is defined by particular societal norms (socially constructed, if you will).

All elite athletes have biological advantages not afforded to ordinary humans like us. People like Michael Phelps and Alex Honnold are specific examples of course, but even after years of training most people cannot perform anywhere near the level that elite athletes do.

Now, which biological advantages are fair and which are not is determined by society. We have somehow decided that chromosomal advantages are unfair, even though people have exactly as much control over them as they do over the amount of lactic acid they produce or how their amygdala behaves.
by doix | 2025-07-28 16:53:17+00:00
What do you mean by "scam"? That you pay and that they don't work at all? That they don't bypass the geo restrictions? Because they do.

Perhaps you mean that they are bad value(ripoff vs scam)? Then sure, probably they are. But you're basically paying to not get flagged by cloudfare. Back in the day, you bought a cheap server from OVH or some other lowcost provider, stuck openvpn on it (nowdays wireguard) and you were golden. But now that Cloudfare middle-mans half the internet, it doesn't really work anymore.

You pay the VPN providers for "clean"(ish) IPs so you don't get stuck behind Cloudfare captcha-loops.
by gruez | 2025-07-28 16:53:25+00:00
>You are not held up by a cyclist riding at 10mph if your average speed is at 5mph because of the traffic lights.

At a normal traffic light, maybe. But the whole premise of this thread is that the lights that only turn green when a car is approaching.

>Besides there is a good chance you are the one holding up the cyclists creating a mini traffic jam with fellow drivers at every traffic lights.

???
by bouyaveman6 | 2025-07-28 16:53:55+00:00
I think it’s an excellent idea, but since I don’t really know the criteria, I quickly find myself wondering, “how is this calculated?” and my lack of knowledge turns into doubt. Maybe a small explanatory page on how it works (or some tooltips near the prices?) would add more clarity?

In any case, I’m going to go make sure my domains are set to auto-renew!
by robocat | 2025-07-28 16:53:56+00:00
The faster you get your car to the inductive sensor in the road, the faster the lights change.

And plenty of turning lanes in New Zealand will not trigger the green turning arrow unless a car is waiting. If you don't get onto the sensor before the phase completes for the cross traffic, then you need to wait a full phase of lights before the green arrow is enabled (which can be quite a while, depending on pedestrians and other turning lanes etc).

It depends on time of day and wether cars coming the other direction are waiting to turn.

A few intersections are very cycle unfriendly, because they separate induction sensors for cycles are not installed for all lanes.

Not saying that your explanation is wrong, just saying that in some circumstances, hooning up to the light can reduce wait times for drivers.

The same thing can happen when walking (pressing the pedestrian cross button in time can reduce the waiting time before you can cross), or cycling (sometimes you need to get onto the cycle induction sensor to get the green cycle lights faster).
by jschveibinz | 2025-07-28 16:53:58+00:00
tl;dr investing in stocks is not investment in technology development.

There is a fundamental flaw in the author's analysis. The $2T invested in stocks is arbitrage--the investor believes that a return will be gained by the movement of a price of the underlying stock. That $2T hasn't gone away, and the underlying "asset" is still very liquid because there is a market. i.e. $2T today, $2.00001T or $1.9999T tomorrow.

The purchase of a stock on the open market--the exchange of currency for the stock asset--may result in a change in the company's balance sheet, or it may not. Buying $10k of IBM does not directly put $10k into IBM's coffers--but the purchase may result in a slightly higher or lower market price which results in a slightly different balance sheet.

Spending money on technology development and buying stocks on the open market are two very different things. VC's take high risk in the direct purchase of stock from a small business to help them develop technology. But those assets are not liquid, the chance of a ROI is quite small, and there are very few of these types of investors that are able to invest in this fashion. Most "stock investors" are either not qualified or don't have the stomach for this type of investing.
by ibash | 2025-07-28 16:54:07+00:00
I don’t think it’s a craft thing, I think it’s a speed thing. Senior engineers are faster in their existing workflows.

I’ve found ai tools most valuable for:

1. Quick “how to do x in y” language

2. Large scale refactorings that are mostly mechanical.

This still takes a bit of guidance to get the right output (and breaking down the refactoring an into multiple steps). But it does speed things up when I would touch 40-some files. I still review all the code.
by dangus | 2025-07-28 16:54:16+00:00
I feel like the Atomic Linux approach is already a better fit for desktop usage. Flatpaks for most user software along with other options to install packages with different methods if there are special/legacy requirements.

I think the only negative aspect of the approach is the sheer quantity [1] of package installation options available.

[1] https://docs.bazzite.gg/Installing_and_Managing_Software/
Show HN: Added stereo photo rendering to Our Browser Engine – With Copilot
by yorkie | 2025-07-28 16:54:25+00:00
Hi HN, author here.

I've been working on JSAR, a new open-source spatial browser engine. Our latest work was to render a stereo 3D photo using just a simple HTML tag (<img spatial="stereo">), without needing WebGL or shaders.

The interesting part is how I built it. I paired with GitHub's Coding Agent for the entire process. It was fascinating to see it suggest entire C/C++ functions for parsing attributes and calculating UV coordinates for the renderer. The whole implementation is in a single commit: https://github.com/M-CreativeLab/jsar-runtime/commit/ff8e291...

I wrote this post detailing the technical breakdown. The goal is to make spatial web development as easy as traditional web dev.

Happy to answer questions about the engine's architecture, C/C++, or what it's like to pair-program with an AI.
by nofriend | 2025-07-28 16:54:27+00:00
Such a person would lack a womb and ovaries and instead have internal testicles. Discovering that they are infertile is usually a shock to women, so it would at least prompt similar shock. Furthermore, discovering that the reason for their infertility is due to being biologically and genetically male would tend to prompt a similar gender dysphoria that trans people experience, I expect.
Show HN: Elkar, AI Agent for Excel and Google Sheets
by sarahslr | 2025-07-28 16:54:42+00:00
Hi! It’s Sarah and Laurent from Elkar, we built an AI Agent Analyst for Excel and Google Sheets.

Instead of spending hours on VLOOKUP formulas or manual data cleanup, you just type "analyze Q3 revenue trends and forecast for Q4" and it handles everything.

It helps with tasks like writing formulas, creating graphs, building financial models (DCF, Montecarlo simulation, forecasting models...), spotting errors, and even importing and formatting data from PDFs, all from a single prompt.

We just launched and we would love your feedback, especially from finance teams and analysts who live in spreadsheets all day!

It’s free to try, it’s an Excel add-in or Google Sheets extension.

Happy to answer questions!
by fsflover | 2025-07-28 16:54:50+00:00
> Contrast that with e.g. matrix.org (where the majority of Matrix users are)

This effectively confirms that federation is important, i.e., you shouldn't use the same server as everyone else, for your security.

> Due to its (afaik) unrivaled privacy-preserving architecture

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29888228

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39445976

https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/13842

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42788647
by andoando | 2025-07-28 16:54:58+00:00
I mean having an X or Y are pretty damn binary. DNA strand has binary pairs (A-T, C-G). The resulting codons have anitcodon pairs. Then within biological functions you have the parasympathetic system vs the parasympathetic system which do opposite things across the whole body, pro vs anti inflmmatory agents, activators vs inhibitors nearly on every level of biology.

Its actually rather astounding how much binary pairs play a role from the very core of physics.
by qcnguy | 2025-07-28 16:55:14+00:00
Stefan Niehoff was prosecuted for a tweet that compared the policies towards COVID-unvaccinated people to how the Third Reich treated Jews. He also made comparisons to the Nazis with respect to how the German government is treating the AfD. These are both criticisms of government policy with respect to public health and handling of democratic opposition parties. The man was put through a criminal trial and then found guilty, being fined for his tweets.

He is not an exception. Twice in August 2022, the American playwright, satirist and longtime Berlin resident C.J. Hopkins tweeted cover art from his book on The Rise of the New Normal Reich. This art featured an image of a Covid-era medical mask with a barely-visible white swastika superimposed upon it. In his first tweet, Hopkins wrote that “Masks are symbols of ideological conformity. That’s all that they are, and that’s all they ever were. Stop pretending that they were ever anything else or get used to wearing them.” In his second tweet, Hopkins simply quoted Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s notorious statement that “Masks always send a signal.”

For those tweets, Amazon Germany promptly banned Hopkins’s book, and eight months later the Berlin state prosecutor’s office informed Hopkins that he was under investigation, because they believed his tweets violated German criminal statutes against “the use of symbols of unconstititional and terrorist organisations.” In January of 2024, Hopkins was tried before the Tiergarten Berlin District Court and acquitted. In many countries that would be the end of it, but in Germany double jeopardy is not a thing. The prosecutor appealed, and Hopkins found himself on trial once again, this time before the Berlin Court of Appeals. The appellate court overturned his acquittal and found him guilty.

So these are two men who have been prosecuted for their criticism of policy, without groups being involved. But the more common pattern goes like this:

Activist: We must welcome infinity Muslim migrants.

Person: No we shouldn't. That would be bad.

Activist: Why do you say that?

Person: Because they commit crimes at a higher rate than we do and their culture is incompatible with ours.

Activist: That's hate speech and you are going to be fined/imprisoned for it.

When the left is obsessed with group-based identity politics, there's no difference between banning criticism of groups and banning criticism of left wing politics. Enforcing the former is simply a way to prevent anyone explaining or justifying their position, meaning they can't actually advocate for it. It's no difference to an outright ban on opposition.
by jajuuka | 2025-07-28 16:55:28+00:00
Companies are not moral entities. They will go whichever way the wind blows. Right now it's more profitable and avoid being singled out by the current US admin to not vocally support LGBT. We saw this during pride month this year where most major companies either pulled their support or were not vocal at all. We've seen plenty of companies drop "DEI" policies to curry favor with the admin as well.

If a group this small can get Visa/Mastercard to hand out ultimatums, then it's not that far of a jump for the same group or another who is against LGBT to recontextualize LGBT as something sexual or something targeting children. We've already seen this rhetoric from the current admin.
by bonestamp2 | 2025-07-28 16:55:38+00:00
I was going to ask the same thing and I hope they answer.

I can't speak for OP but I can report on what I'm seeing... I know a lot of British, Canadian, and Australian expats that have moved to California in the past 5-15 years.

Why? Healthcare is probably everyone's first concern, but expats tend to be well educated successful people who can afford excellent healthcare... I'm an expat from a different country and seeing the top end of the healthcare facilities in the States is a luxury experience compared to national healthcare where I'm from. I wish everyone here had access to that, but at least poor people in California do have access to state healthcare.

Politics is a shit show, and has gotten worse recently of course, but that's true in a lot of places now and everyone I know came in before the most recent decline. I know a couple of families who have gone back to their countries, but all of them went back because they wanted to be close to family again, but none of them left because they didn't like it here.

Across everyone I know, the main appeals for coming to California seem to be weather and lower taxes than their home country. Cost of living is similar to many of the big cities in the countries I mentioned above. I'm not suggesting America is a better place, that's a different calculation for everyone, just reporting on what I'm seeing.
by AnotherGoodName | 2025-07-28 16:56:03+00:00
>Most developers hate AI coding tools

Not sure about that. If you go online and post anything disparaging AI you will definitely get a lot of support and +1's but my opinion is that there's a lot of noise from non-developers in these.

As in make a blog post "AI deleted my code" or "AI is worthless and slows me down, here's a very singular and specific example where this is true" and you'll be re-shared across the web with downvotes to the reasonable followup questions of "Just revert?" or "Don't use AI in that specific scenario?".

In the real world talking to peers i hear; "it's really good for getting out the boilerplate", "it's great for refactors", "it's pretty good at writing tests", "it one shot the UI implementation". Etc.

As in i hear measured praise and measured criticism for it that you just don't seem to get online. I guess that's true of any topic but AI and programming is something i know enough about to see the unreasonableness of these extremes.
by JFingleton | 2025-07-28 16:56:06+00:00
I always thought a police state would demand identification at every street corner (perhaps I'm wrong?) and any minor breaking of the law being dealt with severe justice. The UK has always been against a "state ID" unlike a lot of European countries, so I'm not completely convinced the description of "police state" is accurate. In fact I think it's the opposite given people can freely break the law despite cameras being on every street corner.

The UK is basically an end-of-days advanced state: bureaucracy taken to the extreme, with a heavy dose of nanny-state "mind the gap" messaging.

Bureaucracy kills any kind of infrastructure project (see HS2), so don't expect any improvements any time soon.

We do have some nice cities: Manchester, York, Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge. (I've probably missed a few from this list). London feels pretty far from 30 years ago - and not in a good way.
by cogman10 | 2025-07-28 16:56:14+00:00
Cut the upper range in half, use 3 bytes and 2's compliment.

That gives you something like 20,000BCE -> 22,000CE.

Doesn't really change the math to spit out a year and it uses fewer bytes than what they did with dates.

I will say the math gets more tricky due to calendar differences. But, if we are honest, nobody is really caring a lot about March 4, 43-BCE
by jrm4 | 2025-07-28 16:56:44+00:00
Obviously, our two options here (and pretty much always are) "don't use this word because it hurts feelings and reinforces stereotypes" or "let's all step back and try to decide/encourage the idea that it is actually useful enough to use"

Here, the latter seems appropriate? "Disorder" is "out of order," it is something that is rare. I suppose "rare condition" might work too, I'm open to suggestions.
by flumpcakes | 2025-07-28 16:56:50+00:00
There's also a reported epidemic of women being choked during sex unprovoked, and who certainly don't want it. Unfortunately these laws are being made from things happening in the real world that get traction.

Is the law a good way to stop this? I don't know. The main tool of governance for our elected leaders are laws, and so that's what they do.
by jjkaczor | 2025-07-28 16:57:22+00:00
As others have said - it would be standalone, not connected to the internet.

Have debated making it "read-only", but then I would be culpable for the curation of content...

That and perhaps I just don't want to encourage people loitering around in front of my house for long-transfers...

OTOH - this could be useful for essentially a "dead-drop" independent standalone box for, uh... "civil disobedience" reasons... (or a free alternative to those "prepper-internet-in-a-box" devices they are currently selling...)
by Aurornis | 2025-07-28 16:57:31+00:00
> Can't know what is a disorder is or not when you don't know whats "normal"

I hesitate to wade into this discussion, but in the case of the conditions listed in the article there are a number of additional symptoms and medical difficulties that go along with the genetic variants. It's not a simple matter of confusion about sex.

As for "normal": The biological systems involved are not functioning normally because a genetic mutation prevents them from doing so. For example, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome means the person's androgen receptors are dysfunctional, and therefore biological functions that rely on androgen receptor activation are not working.

I know the concept of "normal" and "disorder" can trigger people, but biologically speaking this condition arises due to rare genetic variants that stop biological functions from working as intended. The medical speak is not meant to cast social judgment on these people.
by Bender | 2025-07-28 16:57:44+00:00
For my silly hobby sites I block most VPS providers, especially the low cost providers. For some of my special purpose hobby things I also block wireless providers and anything sending a TCP SYN packet with a TTL greater than 128 or MSS outside of the range of 1220:1460 on IPv4 and I disable IPv6. I do many other things but those quite everything down a lot. To block archive.is I had to also block about 60 ASN's.
by Theodores | 2025-07-28 16:58:07+00:00
I like the cut of your jib. I see the class system in much the same way but with different analogies. The middle class professionals are like the 'house n-gro' described by Malcolm X and the minimum wage workers are like the 'field n-gro' (not sure we can use that word even in academic discussions given where the UK free speech laws are going!).

There is also a lack of a respected teaching class. With the changes to universities and schools, there is no longer any respect for those with an education and able to teach.
by ObscureScience | 2025-07-28 16:58:15+00:00
I don't believe that is true (but I am certainly outside of my expertise). As far as I understand it, sex chromosomes (specifically the Y chromosome) are responsible for genitalia differentiation, but the relevant genes of the chromosome needs to be expressed for it to happen. Whether it's the Y chromosome itself that is inactive, or genes on the other chromosomes that supress it I have no clue about.
by ibash | 2025-07-28 16:58:39+00:00
That’s not quite right.

The tools are going to get better, and it’s going to lift everyone while doing so. But it will vary across task.

The bottom tier of engineers will have improvements to their code.

The top engineers will move faster. Top engineers will still be great at what they do.

—-

The same thing is happening in music. Everyone gets lifted but on different dimensions.
by bakugo | 2025-07-28 16:59:37+00:00
If you're looking for security and stability, I would personally avoid this.

I took a glance at the code and it's... not great. It's absolutely full of short, meaningless 1-2 letter variable and function names that make it very hard to read and understand if you're not the original author. Wouldn't be surprised if it's full of security holes that will never be found.
by ryanegt | 2025-07-28 17:00:36+00:00
I started writing software in 2001 - I loved problem solving, or the act of creating the perfect snowflakes of SOLID code, the most beautifully optimized database query or the most developer friendly SDK libraries - probably stemming my experience joining projects where the code base was trash. But parts of the job do feel like repetitive drudgery... which is where I think AI comes in beautifully.

What I've learned so far is that AI is only as good as the average developer who writes code and is only as effective as the codebase is approachable... unless you let the AI contribute to the architecture at the ground floor it will get just as confused and write just as much spaghetti code as a human coder will.

Like other professions before us... this is a moment where software engineers must adapt or perish. It was a battle to overcome the stubborn mindset of being unchanged in my ways (and adopt AI)... but the writing is on the wall. And now I'm building and refining the very same AI tools that do the jobs of data analysts and software engineers.
by dangus | 2025-07-28 17:00:53+00:00
My main point is that the article is applying artificial constraints as a reason to avoid using a gold-standard plug-and-play solution.

Basically, I’m saying that if you need this quantity of storage and storage performance, you’re best off not artificially constraining yourself to running on your existing box or using a non-NAS oriented Linux distribution. You’ll have a much easier time going with a single-purpose storage solution like TrueNAS where it’s running a dedicated OS on dedicated hardware.

It doesn’t really have to be ZFS-based, either, but most people in the homelab community seem to agree that TrueNAS is a top option.

I would say that suggesting a web GUI solution versus a bespoke thing like we see in the article isn’t exactly a “zealot”-like thing to do.