MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by deepspace | 2025-11-20 01:43:41+00:00
Quicker than an algebraic calculator, maybe, but very few people could get. faster with a slide rule than an ergonomic RPN calculator. like the HP 41 series. And I say that as an enthusiastic and experienced slide rule user, before I switched to a calculator.

One problem with a slide rule is that it only performs operations on normalized mantissas. You have to keep a parallel exponent calculation in your head, and that slows you down. Also, maintaining best precision slows you down.
by array_key_first | 2025-11-20 01:43:56+00:00
> For a tinkerer who's focused on the infra, then sure, hosting your own can make sense.

... or for a big company. I've worked at companies with thousands of developers, and it's all been 'self hosted'. In DCs, so not rinky dink, but yes, and there's a lot of advantages to doing it this way. If you set it up right, it can be much easier for developers to use than AWS.
by evanelias | 2025-11-20 01:45:36+00:00
I'm emphasizing the role of the license because the non-license parts are intangible, unmeasurable, and potentially imaginary.

How exactly do you differentiate between software authors who choose a FOSS software license based on it simply matching their desired terms for licensing their software, versus software authors who are opting into the social movement and social contract you're describing?

What are some examples of these utopian open source projects where there's a lack of constant drama, infighting, maintainer burnout, and sacrifices to functionality due to financial considerations?
by Papazsazsa | 2025-11-20 01:45:43+00:00
There is a podcast [1] featuring the showrunner Craig Mazin who is also a very conscientious and prolific podcaster [2] who cares deeply about balancing fact with a compelling narrative.

This is the basic difference between "based on" and documentary. Having worked as a screenwriter myself I can assure you that even if the script had been 100% factual, things would have been changed beyond the creators' control anyway.

1 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chernobyl-podcast/...

2 https://scriptnotes.net/
by jonahbenton | 2025-11-20 01:45:47+00:00
Doubly incorrect. There is no power by which the executive can "ban" any state action. Is not a thing. But that isn't what the piece says. The EO would set up a "task force" to sue states that did X or Y. That is something that happens, and when the theories are at the level of quality this admin produces, those suits fail.
by glenstein | 2025-11-20 01:47:28+00:00
I think too often these historical "debunking" exercises are really just exercises in overzealously uncharitable interpretation. Some of the distinctions drawn are asinine especially in the context of a dramatic presentation. And some are even importantly wrong, as you've now pointed out which I wouldn't have thought of on a skim-by reading.

Just like we have functional literacy and information literacy, there should be such a thing as Debunking Literacy. Are you actually debunking or just uncharitably interpreting?
by abigail95 | 2025-11-20 01:47:34+00:00
DNT headers are equivalent to those email signatures that pretend to be a legal document. You're just spamming the server with extra crap that does nothing and means nothing.

Actually it's worse, DNT headers are like posting a wall of text on facebook saying you do not consent to them using your images or posts for some purpose.

Track doesn't have a consistent definition across contexts, to regulate this you would have to fix it to something - what are your suggestions? DNT and the "deny optional" that foamed its way out of the GDPR aren't quite the same thing, and even if they are, it will take many court cases and years of time to figure that out.

If you have a better write on regulation lets hear it.
by kgwxd | 2025-11-20 01:48:05+00:00
My final Windows partition ever, exists solely for Roblox now. I was forced to "upgrade" my $200 Windows 10 Pro to 11 when Minecraft would no longer update. After installing 11, I find now Minecraft won't run unless you sign into the Microsoft Store app, not even the Java Edition. In Linux I can at least run Java Edition of MC, and all the other games I care about work perfectly, heck, sometimes better, through Steam. I love Valve.
by uberduper | 2025-11-20 01:48:55+00:00
I've made quite a career out of knowing how linux works and not reinventing the wheels it provides. I read man pages. I sometimes run `systemctl list-unit-files` and say, "hmm what is that??" then go find out what it is. I've been at this for decades and curiosity keeps pushing me to learn new things and keep up with recent developments.
by TZubiri | 2025-11-20 01:48:56+00:00
It's a challenge and you can do whatever version you want.

If I'm pedantring about it it's because it can be done with a stricter restriction (or at least I think it can be done).

I'd also add that it isn't a particularly hard problem, so I would recommend that if you are having trouble with solving for the hardest interpretation of the problem, that you keep on trying because there is quite a simple solution.

If I were hiring based on this, your answer is a pass for sure. But it isn't exactly clear to me that you know about cpu comparisions or conditional jumps. In fact I think if you knew about them you wouldn't call it an arbitrary line.

I think there is a python solution as a prototype, but of course the robust solution would be in python to ensure control over the cpu instructions and avoid conditionals for good.
by dmoy | 2025-11-20 01:49:08+00:00
USPTO doesn't really have the budget or even often the expertise/depth.

> Like the legal standards are easier for the patentholder at USPTO or something like that?

It is much easier to get a patent than it is to use that patent successfully in legal proceedings. The bar that you have to clear to get it through the USPTO has never been particularly high.

So this is kinda, if you squint at it a little, just writing down what the status quo already is.

(As sibling mentions - if it did work, of course it's way cheaper to nip it in the bud earlier. You just can't really guarantee that you'll get enough expert eyes to get a reasonable decision out of the USPTO)

I would have to ask more to be able to explain more, but that's how things have been explained to me growing up.
by tptacek | 2025-11-20 01:49:24+00:00
My new thing with articles like these: just search for the word "water".

I think that what is really behind the AI bubble is the same thing behind most money, power, and influence: land and resources. The AI future that is promised, whether to you and me or to the billionaires, requires the same thing: lots of energy, lots of land, and lots of water. Datacenters that outburn cities to keep the data churning are big, expensive, and have to be built somewhere. The deals made to develop this kind of property are political — they affect cities and states more than just about any other business run within their borders.
by chemotaxis | 2025-11-20 01:49:36+00:00
This is a really weird post. The thrust appears to be a contrarian desire to portray the Soviet government as capable and competent, and I wonder if it's the author's naivete or some sort of an agenda. The post latches on small discrepancies, but somehow ignores the entire impetus of Legasov's tapes. He sure didn't record them to praise the government:

"And when I visited the Chernobyl station after the accident and saw what was happening there, I myself drew a precise and unequivocal conclusion, that the Chernobyl disaster is an apotheosis, the pinnacle of all the mismanagement that has been carried out for decades in our country."

The show is obviously a "based on a true story" dramatization that invented personas, added tension where little existed, and so forth. But the overall thesis checks out: it was a massive failure of governance before the disaster and during it, including the well-documented fact that the Soviets were initially withholding information from the rest of the world and turning down aid.
by KarterF | 2025-11-20 01:50:08+00:00
Still hopeful but the biggest issue for a python user: Pylance

If you manage to even get the Pylance extension to show up (I had to change the "marketplace" settings) it will say: > This extension is not compatible with Antigravity

What the heck am I supposed to do with the Jedi fall back? Legitimate question: Can Jedi even highlight unused imports? Can it import symbols not found?

If Pylance doesn't work, fork it. But the LSP needs to just work out of the box.
by throw0101a | 2025-11-20 01:50:36+00:00
This education film from 1957 gives a good overview of using one:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYQdKbQ-sgM

"Professor Herning" (?) also has a good series of videos on the use of various scales as well:

* https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorHerning/videos

His playlist starting at the beginning (C and D scales) with a Manheim layout:

* https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_qcL_RF-ZyvWJJkJOk_O...

* https://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M37_Post_Manheim_Instruc...

Some manuals / books on slide rules:

* 1909: https://archive.org/details/mannheimsliderul00coxwrich

* 1922: https://archive.org/details/cu31924002978561/mode/2up
by osm3000 | 2025-11-20 01:50:40+00:00
I would have accepted that if it wasn't for Craig Mazin (the creator of the series) insistence that he stuck to the details and the truth in the series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY0r1Ln6tkM

For the life of me I couldn't figure out what truth he is talking about (other than that Chernobyl happened, and some characters existed)
by analog31 | 2025-11-20 01:50:40+00:00
When talking among engineers about Arduino, I find that it always requires a bit of explanation, because there's Arduino, but then there's Arduino.

"Arduino" is the name of the original, humble little microcontroller board.

It's a brand name for a series of boards ranging from simple and cheap, to quite elaborate.

It's a ecosystem of firmware development tools and libraries that revolve around the Arduino API, that has attracted a large community of participants including hobbyists and students but also third party developers. Adafruit and PJRC (Teensy) are exemplars. This may be its most valuable part, at the present time.

I've been developing with microprocessors since around 1984, when I hand-assembled 6502 code for an Apple II. I wrote my own assembler for an early microcontroller, and built my own device programmer. As tooling evolved, I stayed a step behind the most advanced commercial developers, for instance by using a free vendor-supplied assembler, and then following that vendor when they switched to C.

I got one of the original Arduino boards and started playing with it. To be honest, I've always preferred tools that were favored by hobbyists and students, including 8-bit BASIC, Turbo Pascal, HyperCard, Visual Basic, and now Python. For anybody who's familiar with the Python ecosystem, "Arduino" is like that today. It's grown way beyond its original implementation, but I think you have to experience both the technology and the community to fully appreciate it.

I believe the original humble board, and bare bones IDE, still deserve a place, because there's such a huge amount of tutorials and easy designs that use them. They're still a good place for a hobbyist to get started.
by Symmetry | 2025-11-20 01:50:44+00:00
The bit about "The water tanks in the reactor were full, and the uranium fuel rods were at risk of melting through the water tanks, potentially releasing a force equivalent to a multi-megaton nuclear device and devastating much of Europe with radiation." is sort of complex to judge.

It is absolutely true that that scenario was impossible and couldn't actually happen. But as far as we can tell (documented in Voices of Chernobyl) someone at a similar meeting to the one portrayed in the TV show did really say that that could happen as portrayed in the TV show. But of course the audience is going to assume that things scientists say in shows like this are accurate.
by maximinus_thrax | 2025-11-20 01:50:54+00:00
You guys are the experts on this [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], so please educate us how it's possible. It's very well known fact that Russia was always friendly with the nazis. It all started with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pac....

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Utkin

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_National_Unity

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managed_nationalism

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Imperial_Movement

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryno-Skachevsky_gang

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Organization_of_Russian...

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusich_Group
by wsxiaoys | 2025-11-20 01:51:09+00:00
I’ve been experimenting with next-edit prediction for a while and wrote up how we trained the edit model that powers our Tab completion feature. This post is part of a broader series where we share how we built this feature from the low-level modeling right up to the editor extension.

The cool part is we fine-tuned Gemini Flash Lite with LoRA instead of an OSS model, helping us avoid all the infra overhead and giving us faster responses with lower compute cost.
by OptionOfT | 2025-11-20 01:51:12+00:00
The thing is, for us normal consumers AI only has downsides. AI blogspam is made to serve you ads and make you buy stuff.

AI posts / comments on Reddit are made to make you buy stuff.

AI videos are made to keep you engaged, and then serve you ads which at the end make you buy stuff.

Soon ChatGPT will start to weave ads into their output because they'll need to make $.
by _heimdall | 2025-11-20 01:52:26+00:00
The challenge with regulation is that its the result of those in charge of a power imbalance being able to decide what is "good" PR "bad."

Yes, some regulations will result in outcomes most might want and others may result in outcomes most don't want. In both cases, though, everyone not in power has to accept that they gave up some level of free will in hopes that those in charge will always wield that power well.
by esseph | 2025-11-20 01:52:52+00:00
Did you know a website can scan your lan through a browser now?

https://developer.chrome.com/blog/local-network-access

Did you know that a lot of current home router NAT implementations are currently broken, in particular for UDP traffic handling, and you can therefore spoof your way into the network?

https://www.armis.com/research/nat-slipstreaming-v2-0/

A lot of router vulnerabilities floating around out there.

Ever hear of UPnP/UPnP2? Did you know that applications can trigger your router to open inbound ports for you?

There have also been some 0 click exploits lately, those are fun. You don't have to do anything at all!

https://github.com/Defense-Intelligence-Agency/Zero-Click-Ex...

Yeah, you're still at risk, and moreso because you're not aware of how open you are.
by todd_austin | 2025-11-20 01:53:15+00:00
I created Mojo-V.

There's no back doors, but there's no integrity checking either, so a Mojo-V voting machine could take an encrypted vote and throw it away and add +1 to the attacker's favorite candidate.

A computational integrity checking mechanism will appear soon that will add a concise proof to every encrypted Mojo-V value, that will prove to the data owner that their requested computation was faithfully performed. And the mechanism also supports safe disclosures, too.

This should give data owners strong controls over what can be done with their data
by int_19h | 2025-11-20 01:54:52+00:00
It wasn't even ten years ago when I was participating in user studies as a developer at MS. And it was the real deal: we had a bunch of people, specifically selected to give a diverse cross-cut of the user base (so varying backgrounds, experience level etc), sit down and try to do some simple tasks with our product, while devs and PMs watched over a camera. And, crucially, you couldn't ask questions or provide guidance during that time - only after they were done. That was incredibly informative, much more so than any telemetry I've seen before or after, and I wish that was the norm in all companies; but, in any case, Microsoft definitely had both the resources and the inclination to do that.

The problem is that no amount of studies or A/B testing is going to change a political decision inside the company. And with AI, I'm convinced that for all the big players it is political at this point simply because all the execs have bet so much money on it. If they can't make it work, we're talking about literally billions of dollars of responsibility. Hence these desperate attempts to shove it everywhere in hopes that something somewhere would work well enough, if not to recoup the investment, then at least to postpone the moment it all comes crashing down.
by embedding-shape | 2025-11-20 01:54:56+00:00
Just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean it's "folk magic incantation", hearing that is also exhausting.

I don't know the merit to what parent is saying, but it does make some intuitive sense if you think about it. As the context fills up, the LLM places less attention on further and further back in the context, that's why the LLM seems dumber and dumber as a conversation goes on. If you put 5 instructions in the system prompt or initial message, where one acts as a canary, then you can easier start to see when exactly it stops following the instructions.

Personally, I always go for one-shot answer, and if it gets it wrong or misunderstands, restart from the beginning. If it doesn't get it right, I need to adjust the prompt and retry. Seems to me all current models do get a lot worse quickly, once there is some back and forth.
by uberduper | 2025-11-20 01:54:57+00:00
It's difficult to quantify the value of "I know the shit out of linux" to a prospective employer when they're looking for cog developer #471.

In my experience it's the network of people you've worked with that know how beneficial you are and want to work with you again (this is key) that will keep you in demand regardless of the market conditions.
by hardwaresofton | 2025-11-20 01:55:05+00:00
Not to sound incredibly lazy (because I am), but is there anything off the shelf that does this? Anyone doing something similar would also be great -- I saw some UEFI-in-Rust projects recently so maybe it's not too hard to hack through myself.

That said, my original need for this was on Hetzner, and what I did instead was actually completely automate their reset setup (thankfully they have an API to that), so I have a solution, but I would much rather if I could prebake and load images much easier.

I think these days Hetzner has much more UEFI support across it's dedicated server fleet.

Side note: Every time I see tinkerbell and other relatively new PXE boot projecs and it's set of tools I feel relief, then dig in, then feel dread again around iPXE.

Side note 2: I really want to do two things:

1. Load OSes from the network easily

2. Run the OS in RAM (ECC)

I feel like it would take my server management experience to the next level -- I've spent an inordinate amount of time messing with Hetzner USB add-ons and Alpine to try to get things to work, but it wasn't reliable (it worked, but wasn't reliable).
by toastal | 2025-11-20 01:56:20+00:00
I tried out an alpha client once & can’t get the stupid pop-up about unverified devices to go away now. Another client didn’t have the verification flow even set up—this will end up being yet another barrier to entry for new clients. With the clients (yes, multiple) crashing often, constantly syncing for ages, & feature sets not on parity + without graceful fallbacks, I do not like the Matrix client space (nor the server space, but that is a different topic).

There has never been a better time to (re)embrace XMPP as your decentralized chat option. The clients are less buggy, handle missing features gracefully, & best part is, not being built on an eventual consistency model, you don’t have the constant syncing issue with delayed messages. If you wanted you could make an XMPP client in a day since the base spec is small/simple—& features like device verification would be seen as mandatory in the base specification.
by killerstorm | 2025-11-20 01:56:37+00:00
It's just a bad language.

It's the only programming language other than C which actually needs a tutorial on how to use arrays of arrays. It's a part of the standard Perl doc, appropriately named "perllol": https://perldoc.perl.org/perllol

Most popular languages (Python, JS, Java...) as well as classics like LISP manage references transparently - the distinction between "array" and "reference to an array" is abstracted out.

In Perl, it isn't. It's a language with some archaic elements of manual memory management and parameter passing quirks. It's very clear that Larry Wall was not guided by programming language theory or math-inspired abstractions, but "whatever shit would be easiest to implement" (from https://perldoc.perl.org/perlsub#SYNOPSIS):

> ... any arguments passed in show up in the array @_. The array @_ is a local array, but its elements are aliases for the actual scalar parameters. In particular, if an element $_[0] is updated, the corresponding argument is updated

Theorists described call-by-value, call-by-reference, etc. But our man Larry came up with pass-via-a-local-array-but-its-elements-are-aliases-for-the-actual-scalar-parameters. I can see how one can quickly hack this together. But maybe it's time to retire this.
by j1elo | 2025-11-20 01:56:40+00:00
If YouTube was an independent company, which it'd be nice if it was, then by paying for it you'd be supporting YouTube (in case you decided it was worth it and they treated you nicely). But as it is, you're supporting Google, which is arguably an undesirable thing to do given how "evil" they've become. So a first course of action could be to close the tap and don't give them your money for a service that they've enshittified in the name of profit.

They could also make the experience out of the box like SponsorBlock and skip the sponsorship segments, but they don't do that either for their paying users.
by TZubiri | 2025-11-20 01:57:11+00:00
Right, but if a country being at war or in a authoritarian regime is a precondition for the vulnerability to pose a threat, it's not really a scenario that would warrant a high scoring in some vulnerability scoring system. For sure it's a weakness and would score higher if the purpose of the technology were military.

But since this is a civilian application and not military, it doesn't seem sensible to rate vulnerabilities according to military use. The intended scope of the application makes a huge difference legally and operationally and should be triaged accordingly.
by snuxoll | 2025-11-20 01:58:16+00:00
I mean, I get it, but the big problem is, again, the different phases of execution. The projections you perform with a select can be absolutely arbitrary and do crazy ass things (like do more subqueries that return scalar values, and query planners are notoriously bad at pushing these down), which is why I was trying to say SELECT before WHERE (project before filtering) may be linguistically intuitive, but full of foot guns.

Something like a ‘let’ binding after the FROM/JOIN list would make sense, though - from the query planners perspective it’s nothing more than a token substitution and everything would compile the same.
by Lerc | 2025-11-20 01:58:54+00:00
Quite. I have yet to manage a verification between clients.

I have had all variations of clients ignoring requests, reporting requests only for the requesting client to ignore the response. Both ends quitting declaring that the other end cancelled, asking for the other end to input a code while the other end shows no interface for doing so.

It marked the end of me using Matrix as a platform. I'd go back to the old IRC channels if there were anyone still there.