MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by yonaguska | 2026-01-22 15:48:48+00:00
People were being unknowingly registered to vote, even if they weren't eligible to vote when they would get IDs. People move. They get sent ballots. Now you have tons of ballots that aren't really valid, but they're out there and usable. It makes illegal ballot harvesting a lot easier as well if there's no active step where the ballot must be requested. I have to request my ballot every election. it takes 5 minutes, I can do it online and I assert that I'm a citizen and am eligible to vote. I can also do that by mail and I get a mailer to do so. There's no reason to not implement that safeguard.
by sarchertech | 2026-01-22 15:48:53+00:00
I replied to you above for temperature but for human scale measurement, if you were to design a system for human scale measurement from scratch, you’d likely make 10 units equal to the average height (you could also argue for making 1 unit equal to that).

Feet are closer to that ideal than meters. That’s all that I meant. Also 12 inches is divisible by 3 and 6. And if you get into fractions of an inch, you always stick with powers of 2 which makes some math easier. Some math so much easier in metric.

The more important factor is obviously familiarity. Both systems clearly work. But neither is inherently superior in all applications.
by Amezarak | 2026-01-22 15:48:56+00:00
Yeah. That’s another good example. There are fads and trends in some academic circles that burst out into the Internet scene and become common “actually” rejoinders. Of course, some older claims about the Dark Ages were exaggerated and simplified. This led to an “actually the Dark Ages weren’t even real” reaction in a few papers which spread online. Of course there was a marked decline in social organization during that time period regardless.
by svieira | 2026-01-22 15:48:58+00:00
> So yes, I think you can derive an ought from an is. But this belief is of my own invention and to my knowledge, novel. Happy to find out someone else believes this.

Plato, Aristotle, and the scholastics of the Middle Ages (Thomas Aquinas chief among them) and everyone who counts themselves in that same lineage (waves) including such easy reads as Peter Kreeft. You're in very good company, in my opinion.
by emmaviolet | 2026-01-22 15:49:02+00:00
GitHub PM here working on how we can make this problem feel better for maintainers. Really appreciate how tiring this can be, especially when even low volume is sustained for many months.

Would love your thoughts on some of the things we're thinking about:
- Would it help to disable all PRs? All non-contributor PRs?
- Would a "close as admin" button help address the issue of not wanting to be rude or discouraging?
- What about Copilot doing an initial review and proposing to close anything that doesn't meet contribution guidelines - would that help a "close this" decision feel less personal?
by betty_staples | 2026-01-22 15:49:06+00:00
>Amazon right now feels to me like a large landlord seeking rent kicking people for no reason because they didn't like that some person spilled some water.

At Amazon scale they have people firehosing water and complaining about it, people punching holes in the roof causing water leaks, people messing with the pipes causing water leak, it's a lot, so they just wrote "ban water on floor bot" which clears 95% of the scammers and 5% of the innocents who had a small spill. Which sounds innocuous but, again, at scale, 5% of the innocents is a damn lot of people
by aebtebeten | 2026-01-22 15:49:22+00:00
Caste system, as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XmB59Ax4cE ?

Along the lines of https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel... , I'd maintain the US national fiction is "the US is a classless society".

lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPpjU1UeAo vs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TQmo5TvZQY vs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__HPfmvaWRw
by ZeroGravitas | 2026-01-22 15:49:29+00:00
I was going to comment something similar.

I was reading some GitHub comments earlier and the AI tone and structure in the comments posted by some users made me feel really uneasy for some reason.

I know a Brazilian who puts lots of emails through ChatGPT because they aren't confident in their English, but this seemed to be AI generating the majority of the content of the message too.
by paroxon | 2026-01-22 15:49:30+00:00
[Content warning: this post has been written while the author is on cold medicine and before having any coffee. Read at your own risk!]

But you know those other kids are going to go right back to being assholes as soon as "the magic of Christmastime" wears off.

It seems like the message is kind of, "It's ok to be an asshole, as long as at certain, 'special' moments, you show a token gesture of goodwill."

I haven't watched the whole show through in decades, so it's possible my memory is faulty, but I don't recall any of the mean kids making any sort of apology or atoning for their behaviour. It's just "and now we're all friends because Christmas!"

And then the next day, Lucy's back to tormenting her ostensible "friend".
by ch_123 | 2026-01-22 15:49:31+00:00
We might have to agree to disagree here, but I think the scenario where the IT guy uses XP and "finds" a license for it is the approach I would take if I was put in this situation. If the vendor for the CNC machine certified/tested their machine against Windows XP, and does not offer any support for new operating systems, I would be very reluctant to use anything else - whether it is another version of Windows which could accept the same drivers, or an open source clone. Again, I'm assuming that ReactOS manages to be a perfect clone, which is may or may not be in practice.
by pmarreck | 2026-01-22 15:49:34+00:00
While I have you on the line, I'm also experiencing tons of API request timeouts using Claude Code's own TUI client (on the $200/mo plan!!) and I don't know how to mitigate that, and it is frustrating

I'm not even using it particularly hard. Usually only one agent is running with possibly one sub-agent on occasion. Which is confusing because I've heard of people running ten at once and only then running into this issue...

Possibly related, I DID only upgrade to the $200 tier a few days ago... might there be a now-stale API rate limit in place?? Or maybe it's the long-running multi-compacted context that's the problem?

My account is tied to lumbergh-at-gmail-dot-com

I'm a dev so of course, happy to help run it down from my end

This tool is amazing btw. I'm currently working on a never-existed-before app that would have been impossible before AI... And it's going quite well
by apercu | 2026-01-22 15:49:35+00:00
That was sort of my experience as well. I already had more than a decade of development experience, asked maybe two questions in a 6 month window (not easy ones), and instead of answers got negative remarks. Never logged in again.

I should note that the first time I asked question, I also spent hours reviewing other unanswered requests - and if memory serves me - while I didn't have solutions for any of them, I gave concrete examples of how to debug the problem(s) to narrow down the variables.

I'd estimate that this was around 2012. Never went back after that.
by atiedebee | 2026-01-22 15:49:38+00:00
I thought the same, so I ran brotli and zstd on some PDFs I had laying around.

brotli 1.0.7 args: -q 11 -w 24
zstd v1.5.0 args: --ultra -22 --long=31
| Original | zstd | brotli
RandomBook.pdf | 15M | 4.6M | 4.5M
Invoice.pdf | 19.3K | 16.3K | 16.1K

I made a table because I wanted to test more files, but almost all PDFs I downloaded/had stored locally were already compressed and I couldn't quickly find a way to decompress them.

Brotli seemed to have a very slight edge over zstd, even on the larger pdf, which I did not expect.
by moduspol | 2026-01-22 15:49:58+00:00
It may just be to stop third parties from creating a whole business out of "shop for me" AI bots. Individual users getting away with it might not be a problem, but with it being against ToS, it'd be a lot more shaky to build a business out of it.

In fact, it may just be that eBay wants to be the business selling AI "buy for me" agents.
by FireBeyond | 2026-01-22 15:50:22+00:00
Relatively few that got to court.

While some farmers certainly did as you described (and while personally I disagree with the whole concept, leaving that aside for now), others just caught wind drifted seeds on their land.

The issue was that Monsanto et al would often put the onus on small farmers to prove they didn't deliberately breed the seed. Being civil, the issue became more "balance of probabilities" versus "beyond reasonable doubt". When you have Monsanto's army of lawyers, and a "generous" offer to "settle" for a licensing fee and agreement to purchase, then many of those small farmers rolled over. Often the ones that ended up in court were those who did actually have either sufficient resources, or were sufficiently pissed off to "stand their ground".
by Spooky23 | 2026-01-22 15:50:24+00:00
Dude, I'm getting a shovel factory for practically nothing. I'm easily realizing 5x value on that investment.

I'd say for an estate that I am the executor of, it probably saved me $50k in legal fees and other expenses because it helped me analyze a novel problem and organize it ask the right questions of counsel.

Another scenario i had to deal with i needed a mobile app to do something very specific for a few weeks. I specced out a very narrowly useful iphone application, built it out on the train from DC to NYC, and had it working to my satisfaction the next day. Is it production code ready for primetime? Absolutely not. But I got capability to do what I needed super quickly that my skill level is no longer up to the task to accomplish!

IMO, these things let you make power tools, but your ability to get value is capped by your ability to ask the right questions. In the enterprise, they are going to kill lots of stupid legacy software that doesn't add alot of value, but adds alot of cost.
by jFriedensreich | 2026-01-22 15:50:33+00:00
I am fully moving from local electron based vscode to using vscode-server inside docker inside a vm. It has just so many advantages besides security eg. being able to have multiple workspaces in tabs instead of separate electron windows, and having all the docker/vm tooling available. This can replace remote vscode, devcontainers and electron in a nice package. There is just no reality in which vscode with electron running as user account on a bare machine can be secure not even thinking about agents in the mix. We are working on a custom browser called darc based on chromium IWAs and controlled frames instead of electron and optimised for this. (apache 2.0)
by vidarh | 2026-01-22 15:51:31+00:00
This is the typical arrogance of developers not seeing the value in anything but the coding. I've been hands on for 45 years, but also spend 25 of those dealing with architecture and larger systems design. The actual programming is by far the simplest part of designing a large system. Outsourcing it is only dumbing you down if you don't spend the time it frees up to move up the value chain.
by labcomputer | 2026-01-22 15:51:47+00:00
> The others I agree with, but there's no evidence that HFCS or GM crops are bad.

That's a clever slight-of-hand.

Sure, GM crops are not intrinsically bad... it's just that they enable the farmer to spray pesticides and herbicides which are very clearly linked to bad outcomes in people who consume the food.

So the only way to ensure you're not eating food sprayed with those things is to choose a non-GM alternative.
by jcims | 2026-01-22 15:51:48+00:00
Classic perverse incentive.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive

"According to the story, the British government, concerned about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi, offered a bounty for every dead cobra. Initially, this was a successful strategy; large numbers of snakes were killed for the reward. Eventually, however, people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped, and the cobra breeders set their snakes free, leading to an overall increase in the wild cobra population."
Show HN: Pressmegpt.com Generate Classic and Gutenberg WordPress Themes with AI
by DillyDally125 | 2026-01-22 15:51:50+00:00
After running a web design company for 14 years and selling it, I was looking for a new way to build WordPress sites with AI that didn’t involve page builders, adding designers, bloated themes, or starting from a blank canvas every time.

A few challenges I faced in building, maintaining, and updating nearly 1,500 websites on Wordpress were:

1) Plugin bloat - The more plugins required, the slower Wordpress became.
2) Website Builders - Updating website builders without breaking client websites was a near impossible task.
3) Staff grew as we added customers - We were forced to add staff with specific skillsets to help build new sites AND also maintain website for customers.

So I tried building Wordpress sites the following ways:
* Traditional WordPress themes that never look like the demo without hours of tweaking.
* Wordpress builders that lock you into proprietary plugins that added bloat or broke sites when you try to update. This is what we did prior. Not much has changed.
* No-code & AI builders that could only export static HTML or web apps, not SEO friendly websites. This produced beautiful sites but they couldn't be indexed by Google and Bing as Single-Page Applications.

None of these fit my desired workflow so I built PressMeGPT.com:

PressMeGPT is an AI powered theme generator uses AI to design homepages and then turn it into a WordPress theme, not just HTML or a mockup. You describe the site in plain English, refine it with prompts, choose fonts, stock photos, and icons, and then export to either a Classic WordPress Theme, or modern Gutenberg Block Theme that works with Full Site Editor.

My goal was to cover the 80% of work that normally happens when designing a website, then customize it in Wordpress by reusing styles, layouts, and components across the rest of the site instead of rebuilding everything manually.

This started as a solution to my own workflow problem - a friend recommended I make it public so here it is.
by conductr | 2026-01-22 15:51:53+00:00
The football bit has a subtle touch that I’ve not seen mentioned anywhere. Because it’s not just kick(trust/risk) or not kick(distrust/preservation). When he kicks, he gives it his all, resulting in massive failure if he’s tricked. Yet, he never gives it half effort. Half effort would mean even if she moved the ball, he would still be standing there with only a minor whiff. Then he could slap the ball out of her hand and make her the laughing stock. Point is, he has a lot more than two options that are presented. And I think this says a lot about his character. He’s portrayed as a kid who will likely be a better adult than child. He’s more mature than his peers. I think that is the subtle part of his personality and character that is a little deeper than the obvious.
by tsunagatta | 2026-01-22 15:52:02+00:00
Bro literally everyone I know has watched at least the Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown Christmas. People my age regularly make memes based on the football gag. It’s a cultural icon.

As a general rule actually, I’d say that Gen Z is more likely than may be expected to know about culture from before our time - the internet, after all, is a back catalogue of the best hits of humanity. That’s why spotify thinks we all have a listening age of 70.
by embedding-shape | 2026-01-22 15:52:07+00:00
That's a lot of words to skip around the actual question at hand here:

> What are some concrete examples of how Europeans countries are now further away from each other, since the start of EU and because of EU?

Are you claiming that France and Poland are "further away" from each other today than before, because of those issues about the trucker?

Are you saying that Germany is now further away from the countries in Europe than before EU?

You're going on a wild tangent, and I gave you the benefit of the doubt to read all of it, hoping that eventually you'd get to the point. But it's all tangents, nothing about the topic at hand.

So again, the initial claim was "The EU was supposed to bring countries together, but I think it did quite the contrary", do you have any concrete instances of this happening? Not theoretical, not how one Frenchman now hates Poles, but actual instances of the countries not getting closer together, but further apart, because of the EU?

Because currently, your non-answer makes it seem like you don't actually have any concrete examples here, leaving your original comment looking like ramblings without any rationality.
by jimnotgym | 2026-01-22 15:52:32+00:00
Intersting. I used to be a professional woodworker, and can't stand the wood working channels. I love This Old Tony though.

I feel like doing a channel that brings in the reality of being a chippy. Tools that look like they were used outside in all weathers, having to make do with the tools you have with you. The crap timber that we have to deal with...I won't ever get around to it though.
by casey2 | 2026-01-22 15:52:36+00:00
The goal of any study is to build a mental model in your head. The math curriculum for example is based on analysis so we gain an intuitive feel for physics and engineering. If the utility of building a model for research is low (essentially 0 since the advent of the internet) this should be a specialist skill, not general education.

A general education should focus on structure, all mental models built shall reinforce one another. For specific recommendations, completely replace the current Euler inspired curricula with one based on category theory. Strive to make all home and class work multimedia, multi-discipline presentations. Seriously teach one constructed meta-language from kindergarten. And stop passing along students who fail, clearly communicate the requirements.

I believe this is vital for students. Think about Student-AI interaction. Does this thing the AI is telling me fit with my understanding of the world, if it does they will accept it. If the student can think structurally the mismatch will be as obvious as a square peg in a round hole. A simple check for an isomorphism. Essentially expediting a proof certificate of the model output.
by dangus | 2026-01-22 15:52:48+00:00
Have you...worked in software before?

His skills are applied to being essentially the product manager of the Linux kernel, just like any other senior engineer of his age and experience.

It's better that he not write code because he can have greater impact steering the direction of the kernel and reviewing others' work.

I'm also not sure why you don't like the guy on such a personal level. He only made Linux and git because he didn't have an alternative that worked for him. What did he ever do to you?

I watched the video of him hanging out with Linus from Linux Tech Tips and I thought he seemed like a relatively personable guy. Maybe he's somewhat opinionated on technology and wrote an angry email or two but certainly not a bad person.
by dfxm12 | 2026-01-22 15:52:54+00:00
I don't understand how this is a new or unique problem. Regardless of when or where (or if!) my coworkers got their degrees, before or after access to AI tools, some of them are intellectually curious. Some do their job well. Some are in over their head & are improving. Some are probably better suited for other lines of work. It's always been an organizational function to identify & retain folks who are willing and able to grow into the experience and knowledge required for the role they currently have and future roles where they may be needed.

Academically, this is a non factor as well. You still learned your multiplication tables even though calculators existed, right?
by nlawalker | 2026-01-22 15:53:04+00:00
>people maintain things literally all the time either purely for prestige, or because being a contributing member of a community, even a small one, makes them feel good, or because knowing that maintaining things leads others to also maintain things.

True, but the expectation means that taking on maintenance involves taking on and leveraging a large amount of reputational debt in a very risky way.

If you release something to the world and place yourself in a high-visibility maintainer position, burn out on it and then decide to drop it, it's very hard to ensure that your legacy and reputation in perpetuity will be "released something great and did the world a solid by maintaining it for a while" as opposed to "person who overcommits, bails, and leaves the world in a jam".
by starlight_nomad | 2026-01-22 15:53:25+00:00
> You don't see this in the pre-WWI authors. Look at Rudyard Kipling (see Mowgli who although Indian is very English). Look at Burroughs and Tarzan. Or even Fleming and James Bond.

Not to detract from your broader point, but Burroughs was an American writing a British character in Tarzan.
by CjHuber | 2026-01-22 15:53:26+00:00
I find this reply concerning.
If its THE security feature, then why is "Trust" a glowing bright blue button in a popup that pop up at the startup forcing a decision. That makes no sense at all. Why not a banner with the option to enable those features when needed like Office tools have.

Also the two buttons have the subtexts of either "Browse folder in restricted mode" or "Trust folder and enable all features", that is quite steering and sounds almost like you cannot even edit code in the restricted mode.

"If you don't trust the authors of these files, we recommend to continue in restricted mode" also doesn't sound that criticial, does it?
by JohnFen | 2026-01-22 15:53:30+00:00
> The picture this is trying to paint is that she was completely innocent and was shot for no reason.

No, the picture is that the shooting was unjustified, not that she was some uninvolved bystander.

> The only reason ICE had to get this involved in the first place is because cities decided to stop cooperating with them

This reverses the truth. Cities decided to stop doing more than is legally required to assist ICE because they became too heavy-handed.

The feds have certainly become even more egregious in order to punish those cities, but that just underscores the point. The violence being used against cities who, remember, are acting within the bounds of the law, shows the truth of how dangerous these agencies have become.
by CountGeek | 2026-01-22 15:53:33+00:00
Europe (Groningen, NL) with the largest natural gas field in Europe and one of the largest in the world have has shifted from relying on Russian pipeline gas to depending heavily on American liquefied natural gas (LNG). In Q2 2025, the United States supplied 57% of Europe's LNG. When considering all EU gas imports from non-European suppliers (excluding Norway and the UK), the US accounted for roughly 45%. In the first 11 months of 2025, US LNG shipments to the EU increased by 55% year-on-year. Industry forecasts suggest the US share could reach 70% by 2029.
by slavik81 | 2026-01-22 15:53:34+00:00
The Greener Home grants and loans you describe have ended, but the 160% tarrif on imported solar panel imports remains. Solar prices in Canada are still quite expensive, and regulations are needlessly strict (e.g., solar fencing is illegal in many jurisdictions, balcony solar is illegal everywhere, and utility-scale solar is effectively prohibited in most of regions with the most sunlight.
by dangus | 2026-01-22 15:53:36+00:00
I don't think the kids these days know that UNIX exists.

UNIX is also basically irrelevant unless you are talking about macOS technically being UNIX, so I agree with the kids.

The idea that Linux is a monoculture is also hilarious to me. That umbrella includes things like RHEL, SteamOS, Bazzite, Android, Chromebooks, Gnome, KDE, dwm, i3, your robot vacuum, car infotainment systems..."Linux" is the exact opposite of a monoculture.